As You Mingxu finished speaking, a cold surge of bloodlust rose within her—the instinctive response of a criminal investigator. Though she had been on vacation in Tibet when news of the serial killer’s escape to the region reached her, and hadn’t even had time to rejoin her unit before beginning to watch for suspects along the way.

But as soon as she moved, her sleeve was grabbed. She turned to look at the fool, frowning: “Let go, don’t waste time.” She tugged, expecting to easily break free, but surprisingly found him stubborn, his fingers tightly gripping her T-shirt as he stared at her with wide eyes.

You Mingxu held her patience, smiled, and asked: “What’s wrong?”

He lowered his head: “Wherever sister goes, I go.”

You Mingxu: “…”

She said with an almost forced smile: “But sister is going to catch a bad person. You’ll get in the way and slow sister down. Be good, stay somewhere safe, and sister will come back for you.”

Those fingers clutching her T-shirt secretly tightened their grip.

A moment later, You Mingxu decided to give up arguing with him to save time. She said: “Alright, I’ll take you, but I’ll move fast—you’ll have to keep up. If you fall behind, you’ll have to work harder to catch up to me, okay?”

These words were meant to placate him, but somehow they seemed to strike a nerve. His bright eyes blinked, and his mouth slowly spread into an extremely brilliant smile: “Okay, I’ll chase after sister!”

You Mingxu: “…”

“If I catch up, what’s my reward?” he asked.

You Mingxu said impatiently: “Whatever.” Having decided to bring this burden along, she picked up her jacket she’d thrown to him earlier and said: “Don’t move.” He immediately dropped his arms, puffed out his chest, and stood still. You Mingxu found it amusing and sighed inwardly, bending close to securely bind the jacket over his right shoulder wound. As her face neared his chest, she again smelled the same cologne as Gu Tiancheng’s and realizing this man was the original owner of the scent, You Mingxu suddenly had a thought: Do police officers wear cologne? At least no one in her precinct did.

Though the fool’s shoulder wound still hurt sharply, he endured it strongly. He secretly looked down at You Mingxu’s black hair, soft and smooth, as her slender hands worked at his chest. It gave the fool a strange feeling, because just minutes ago, this woman had seemed so strong, fast, and imposing, like a stern mountain he had to look up to, but now she gave off a soft and caring impression.

Noticing her looking up, he quickly turned his head aside.

“Let’s go.”

Though they were tracking Gu Tiancheng, You Mingxu couldn’t simply break into a wild run. Instead, she followed the direction she remembered Gu Tiancheng disappearing in, combining it with traces and footprints on the ground, advancing section by section. She moved sometimes fast, sometimes slow, occasionally stopping to wait for the fool. The fool managed to keep up, though with effort. When she searched for tracks and signs, he stood to the side, showing neither curiosity nor asking questions, as if already familiar with such things.

“How did you end up getting hit by Gu Tiancheng’s car?” You Mingxu asked.

He blinked at her, looking completely bewildered.

Fine. You Mingxu thought for a moment and asked: “How did you escape from Gu Tiancheng the first and second time?”

This time he understood, smiled slightly, and said: “Woke up, then ran away!”

You Mingxu glanced at him, deciding not to waste energy. She had her theories: after being hit, the fool was locked in the trunk by Gu Tiancheng, unconscious and likely bound and gagged. The first time he ran out in the middle of the night, scaring everyone half to death, either he had another car key, or more likely when Gu Tiancheng went to puncture the tires at night, he’d unlocked the car and forgotten to relock it, allowing this guy to escape.

The second time, Gu Tiancheng had taken him and the two girls into the forest, and perhaps the fool’s police instincts remained, finding another way to escape. Right, and he’d brought Song Lan with him.

“You were carrying Song Lan then—were you trying to save her?” You Mingxu asked casually.

He nodded indeed.

You Mingxu asked again: “Then why didn’t you save Zou Furong?”

He paused, looking at her strangely: “How could I carry two people?”

You Mingxu thought, well, his mind seems much sharper than when we first met, even starting to question me back. And his speech is hardly stammering anymore.

“Then when you saw me, why did you drop Song Lan and come to grab me?” she asked.

He glanced at her, lowering his head somewhat shyly, and said: “I said I liked sister third best, so when I met sister, of course, I had to save you first, never mind the others.”

You Mingxu: “Oh.”

As they talked, the two had entered deep into the dense forest, but here the accumulated leaves were too thick and the ground showed no traces, making it virtually impossible to track. You Mingxu looked around gravely, recalling directions in her mind, doing her best to deduce Gu Tiancheng’s route.

“Sister…” he called.

You Mingxu didn’t even look at him: “Don’t disturb me.”

He immediately fell silent.

After a short while, just as You Mingxu was about to choose a direction to try her luck, her sleeve was pulled again. She said rather impatiently: “What now?”

The fool said carefully: “Actually, sister doesn’t need to hurry, he’ll come back. He won’t kill those people quietly because each killing is an ultimate pleasure for him, satisfying his desire for control and compensating for his inferiority complex. This time, being able to kill four people including me represents the peak and conclusion of his criminal career, a grand feast worth commemorating. It would be too wasteful without an audience. We will all be his audience, especially his sister. Because he likes his sister, he also wants to destroy his sister. Just imagining such a scene, such temptation, would make his blood boil, irresistibly. So, he will bring everyone back to find you. Kill them one by one in front of my sister. He no longer cares about being caught by the police.”

You Mingxu stopped, turning to look at him.

His gaze was clear and serious, with a hint of eager desire to please.

“You…” You Mingxu asked slowly, “who exactly are you?”

His snow-white, even, beautiful teeth bit his lower lip as he showed a stubborn expression, then slowly lowered his head. Such a tall man, now looking as wronged as a child: “I don’t know…”

As if to confirm his words, scattered footsteps sounded from the distance. You Mingxu’s head shot up, and seeing several vague figures, she immediately commanded: “Get down!” Finding a dense patch of grass, she pulled the fool in with her as they crouched low.

The fool was still muttering: “See, I told you he’d come back…” You Mingxu frowned, clamping a hand over his mouth with an expression of annoyance.