Upon hearing this, Qi Xia immediately pulled out a lighter from his pocket. This was what “Xiao Xiao” had lent him.

He lit the lighter and reached over with his hand.

Officer Li was startled, then cupped the flame with his blood-covered left hand and leaned over to light his cigarette.

A moment later, he patted Qi Xia’s hand.

“Hah—”

A thick stream of smoke exhaled, and Officer Li seemed to relax somewhat.

“Refreshing.” Officer Li smiled. “Now I won’t be afraid to die.”

“What do you want to tell me?” Qi Xia sat down across from Officer Li, looking at him with slight seriousness.

Officer Li didn’t answer. Instead, he asked, “Qi Xia, how did Tiantian and Qiao Jiajin die?”

“They were murdered.” Qi Xia answered without hesitation. “After noon yesterday, they were beaten to death by the owner of this lighter.”

As he finished speaking, he pushed the lighter forward and stuffed it into Officer Li’s hand.

Officer Li lowered his head to look at this green plastic lighter, his eyes somewhat dejected.

“I see…” He raised his head and said to Qi Xia, “When that person killed Qiao Jiajin and Tiantian… was there anything strange?”

“Anything strange?”

Qi Xia stroked his chin and organized his thoughts. There were actually too many “strange things” to mention. He simply organized his words and told Officer Li everything that had happened yesterday afternoon in full detail.

Including that woman’s bizarre physique, as well as the baffling poisoning.

Finally, Qi Xia added, “Oh right, before and after she killed them, I heard ‘bell sounds’ twice.”

After hearing this, Officer Li raised his cigarette and took another large drag with trembling hands. After exhaling clouds of smoke, he said, “When the bell rang, I happened to be in front of that giant display screen.”

“What?”

“That enormous bell sound rang beside my ear, making me think the entire world had exploded.” Officer Li said as if joking. “Do you know what the screen said?”

Only then did Qi Xia remember that the screen would display text for no apparent reason, so he asked, “What did it say?”

“I heard the echo of ‘Framing.'” Officer Li said word by word.

“Framing?” Qi Xia muttered to himself in contemplation. “Before it was ‘Attracting Disaster,’ this time it’s ‘Framing’…”

Officer Li handed Qi Xia the only remaining cigarette from the pack. “Want one?”

Qi Xia nodded and reached out to take the cigarette.

Officer Li used his left hand to light it for him.

“I knew you smoked.” Officer Li said with the cigarette between his lips, tossing the lighter to Qi Xia. “Smoking is most suitable when using your brain, right?”

Qi Xia didn’t answer. After catching the lighter, he took a puff of the somewhat moldy cigarette.

After being stored for a long time, cigarettes would develop a harsh taste. This one was no exception.

“I haven’t smoked in many years.” Qi Xia said.

“Yeah, quitting smoking is good.” Officer Li nodded. “Quitting smoking is good for your health…”

After he finished speaking, he paused, and the two fell into silence.

The two slowly exhaled smoke, like classmates hiding together in the bathroom to smoke during their school days.

“What about the second bell?” Qi Xia asked. “Were there new words on the screen?”

“No.” Officer Li shook his head with the cigarette between his lips. “When the second bell rang, that line of text disappeared.”

Qi Xia stared thoughtfully at the cigarette in his hand, feeling that things were still somewhat eerie.

“What does this all mean?” Qi Xia asked. “That bell isn’t a ‘death knell’ at all, but some other kind of warning.”

“I’ll leave this question for you to ponder.” Officer Li leaned against the wall helplessly, smoking the last cigarette in his hand. “I’m just telling you what I saw. You have more hope of surviving here than I do.”

“Why?” Qi Xia asked somewhat unwillingly. “Why can’t you survive here?”

“Because I’m a police officer.” Officer Li smiled and raised his severed right arm. “This hand was lost to save Lawyer Zhang. Originally, I didn’t have to care about her at all, but I couldn’t just watch someone die. But you’re different… Qi Xia, you have no burden.”

Qi Xia seemed to understand what Officer Li meant.

This man had wanted to save everyone from the very beginning.

His principles were consistent throughout and had never changed.

These principles would be the death of him here.

Qi Xia nodded with a heavy expression and asked again, “You asked me to stay alone—it shouldn’t just be to tell me these things, right?”

“Right…” Officer Li’s face became even paler. “Qi Xia, I have a secret in my heart that I’ve never told anyone. I don’t want to die with this secret, so I need to say it before I die.”

“Then why me?” Qi Xia asked in confusion. “You could clearly tell Lawyer Zhang.”

“Because you and ‘him’ are both liars…” Officer Li smiled bitterly and shook his head. “Although you’re nothing alike, when I think about it carefully, this seems to be an arrangement of fate.”

After hearing this, Qi Xia raised his cigarette and took a deep drag, then said, “Go ahead. I’m listening.”

Officer Li stared ahead with vacant eyes and slowly revealed his “true” story.

For a full ten minutes, Qi Xia quietly listened as he finished telling everything.

Qi Xia’s eyes kept flickering, as if he had heard completely unbelievable content.

“Officer Li… so you told such a huge lie in that first game?” he asked with slightly trembling lips.

Qi Xia had only felt that Officer Li’s account at the time was somewhat strange, but he never expected he had woven such an enormous lie throughout.

“Yes.” Officer Li’s eyes instantly turned red. “This was the biggest mistake I’ve made in my life…”

“Just a ‘mistake’?!” Qi Xia frowned and stood up, his previous respect for Officer Li gone. “You colluded with that swindler and kept trying to help him escape, yet you lied to us saying you were on a stakeout…? Although I’m not some upstanding citizen either, what I despise most in this life is a corrupt cop.”

Officer Li tilted his head back, and hot tears slid down his face.

“Yes, a corrupt cop…” Officer Li smiled bitterly. “When I arrived here, I wasn’t surprised, because I felt this was my ‘judgment’…”

“What…”

Qi Xia’s brow furrowed tightly as he looked coldly at Officer Li.

“Perhaps if I die here, it will be my atonement…”

Just as Officer Li’s words fell, an enormous bell suddenly rang in the distance.

“DONG!!”

Qi Xia turned to look outside, his face full of shock.

Why was the bell ringing again?

What words were written on the screen this time?

Officer Li acted as if he hadn’t heard anything. He extended his trembling hand to pick up the empty cigarette pack from the ground, then pulled out a cigarette from inside.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a metal lighter.

Under Qi Xia’s incredulous gaze, Officer Li relit the cigarette, revealing a relieved smile on his face.

Then he slowly lowered his head, seemingly muttering to himself, “Qi Xia, when I die, it will be my atonement…”

Qi Xia was stunned. Looking at that perfectly clean cigarette in his mouth, he felt the situation was extremely bizarre.

“Hey… Li Shangwu, don’t die yet…” Qi Xia rushed to Officer Li’s side and knelt down, discovering he had already stopped breathing.

The cigarette still dangled from his mouth, and in his hand he gripped a somewhat worn ZIPPO lighter.