Chapter 20: Time to Clock Out

"We killed him," Sha Risheng said with difficulty.

"But the process wasn't easy. Chris turned into a full-fledged demon, to say the least. I don't know what other words I can use to describe him.

He was stabbed at least a dozen times, covered in blood, yet he acted as if nothing happened. A large group of us couldn't subdue him, and instead, he managed to kill several of our brothers and injure even more.

Later, Wang Ge brought a spray gun, and a single shot nearly shattered his abdomen. But he didn't stop. He continued crawling towards us, holding a blood-soaked knife. We could even see his spine connecting the upper and lower parts of his body.

What's even more terrifying..."

Sha Risheng held his breath, and in his already blurry vision due to blood loss, he seemed to see a nightmarish hallucination that reminded him of an extremely horrifying scene.

"He was laughing," Sha Risheng said. "I'll never forget it. Covered in blood, his broken body connected by a piece of spine, yet he was laughing manically until his head was blown into pieces of flesh."

Luo Yajun listened as he tossed away the cigarette, which was about to burn down to the filter. He replaced it with a fresh one, held it in his mouth, took out a lighter, and lit it, exhaling a cloud of smoke.

"We thought it was over, but it wasn't," Sha Risheng gasped and said, "Then came another group led by Yoshida.

I wasn't present at the scene that time; I only heard that it happened during a cargo unloading mission. Yoshida suddenly attacked without any warning, grabbed a pry bar, and smashed a brother's head in.

At that moment, he killed two of the seven brothers who were unloading with him. It was said that he was finally stopped when he was riddled with bullets, but even until the end, he was still laughing.

That's when we realized things weren't simple. That lingering laughter was like an infectious disease. You could kill those guys, blow their heads to pieces, but you couldn't kill that laughter.

Sure enough, two days later, another guy went insane, laughing hysterically and suddenly smashing a bottle on the head of a person nearby.

And then, the next day, someone erupted without any warning."

Luo Yajun continued to smoke calmly, his thoughts unknown.

"We're all going crazy. These past few days, every one of us has had to be extremely cautious. Everyone must constantly be on guard against anyone around them, even our closest brothers cannot be trusted.

We live each day in fear, and anyone who shows even the slightest suspicious action will immediately be restrained by those nearby. Oh, and there was this poor guy who got hit hard on the head when he was suspected of about to go berserk. He ended up with a concussion. But later, we found out he just wanted a tissue."

"Is that so," Luo Yajun roughly understood the situation. He pondered for a moment and asked again.

"After you killed that homeless man, what happened to the human stake made from him?"

"If you're looking for it, you might be disappointed," Sha Risheng said through gritted teeth. "We took care of that long ago. We checked his identity and found out that the poor guy's name was Guan Ye, an unemployed single man from the slums who was evicted by his landlord last month.

The boss didn't approve, but a few of us brothers went together and found the place where the human stake was buried. You know, there are always people in our line of work who are more superstitious. We all felt that these bizarre things were the result of being haunted by evil spirits."

"So we thought of digging him up and giving him a proper burial, thinking it might help," Sha Risheng said.

"And then? Did you dig him up?" Luo Yajun asked.

Sha Risheng swallowed hard.

"No," he shook his head, his hollow and fearful eyes seeming to relive the scene from that time.

His weak breaths became even more rapid.

"We found that cement stake, but there was nothing inside. The person was long gone."

"Oh?"

"I am absolutely certain we didn't mistake the location. It was there, that cement stake," Sha Risheng said, filled with terror. "I'm telling you, it's true. That guy named Guan Ye.

Maybe he turned into a ghost, or perhaps it's something else entirely. But he's fixated on us, and he won't stop until every one of us is killed in a frenzy of self-destruction."

"Well, that sounds interesting," Royajun grinned. "Alright, next is the final question. The address of that construction site, the headquarters of your gang, and the address of your boss."

Under the intense pain and the fear of death, Sha Risheng transformed into a classic villain who would answer any question, whether asked or not. Everything he could say and couldn't say burst out of his mouth.

The instinct to survive compelled him to spill all the information. Whether he would be held accountable by his boss later and torn to pieces was a problem for another time. For now, it was important to save his own life.

After much persuasion, Luo Yajun finally finished asking his questions and released the foot that was pressing against Sha Risheng's chest.

"It was a pleasant conversation," Royajun said, light-hearted and smiling.

For some reason, his cheerful tone and smiling expression made Sha Risheng feel as if he were saying, "We had a great chat, the child really enjoyed it, and for any unanswered questions, there's always next time."

"Oh, by the way, it's best if you tell the truth," Luo Yajun said as he was about to leave but suddenly remembered something. He turned around, gave a slight smile, and said, "Otherwise, the next time we meet, I'll break your other leg."

Sha Risheng was taken aback, wondering what it meant by breaking his other leg. He thought to himself, "I don't have a broken leg to begin with." Before he could figure it out, without saying a word, Luo Yajun swiftly fired two shots, hitting each of his legs with utmost precision, causing blood to splatter. Sha Risheng let out a howl of agony and finally passed out from the intense pain.

Chu Cheng pondered for a moment. Luo Yajun had said that if he told a lie, he would break his remaining leg, and after saying that, he immediately shot and shattered both of the person's legs. So, the remaining leg he mentioned was... Ouch, that was too cruel.

"Sorry to keep you waiting," Luo Yajun said as he sat back in the driver's seat and started the engine.

He glanced at Chu Cheng and smiled. "What? Do you think it was a bit too harsh?"

To be honest, Chu Cheng did feel somewhat uncomfortable witnessing such a bloody scene. Although he had seen more intense scenes before, they were always on a screen. As a student who grew up in times of peace, he rarely encountered such violent scenes in person.

"It's not that," Chu Cheng asked, "I was just wondering if doing something like this in the street would attract unnecessary attention."

Although this street looks relatively secluded, and not many people would interfere since they know the people in the bar are troublemakers, the commotion caused might still attract the attention of the Public Security Bureau.

"Unnecessary attention? The Public Security Bureau?" Luo Yajun shrugged nonchalantly. "Don't worry about it. This kind of thing will ultimately be handed over to the internal affairs of the Special Operations Unit Nine."

"But won't higher-ups intervene?" Chu Cheng suddenly felt that the Special Operations Unit Nine might be too powerful. How could they act so freely without facing any consequences?

"Of course they will," Luo Yajun took a drag from his cigarette and casually replied, "They'll criticize, write a report stating the reasons for disciplinary action, demote or dismiss you, and they'll even conduct a psychological evaluation. That stuff is so boring. I have to do it every few days, and it always makes me sleepy."

Every few days? So it seems that the higher-ups indeed think your mental state is not stable? Chu Cheng felt embarrassed.

"There's nothing I can do. I can't control myself when I dislike someone. If it weren't for that, I would have been promoted by now. It's an old problem that I can't fix," he recalled something. "Oh, by the way, did I forget to mention why I didn't work at the Public Security Bureau?"

"You haven't mentioned it," Chu Cheng replied.

Luo Yajun, dressed in a police uniform, appeared to be quite young in the office, indicating that some time had passed since then.

"Because back then, I couldn't control my old problem. There was this low-life pedophile who got caught, and when he came to the bureau, he acted all high and mighty, looking down on everyone."

Luo Yajun took another slow drag from his cigarette and exhaled a smoke ring.

"Then, in the interrogation room, I snapped his neck," he said calmly.

Chu Cheng: ...

"Naturally, I got fired for that," Luo Yajun chuckled, his tone sounding like he was talking about something pleasant. "Until later, someone discovered that I had some special abilities in the process, and then I ended up in Unit Nine."

He flicked the cigarette ash and smiled.

"But it's fine. These people today were somewhat sensible, relatively easy to talk to. That guy, Shao Risheng, was quite cooperative in answering my questions. The ambulance arrived in time, so he shouldn't be dead, just a minor incident."

Chu Cheng fell silent.

Hmm, let's redefine what "relatively easy to talk to" means.

During their conversation just now, Chu Cheng had also noticed. The expression on Shao Risheng's face when he was being stepped on by Luo Yajun couldn't be described as resigned.

Based on Luo Yajun's manner, Chu Cheng estimated that there were probably very few people in the world who were difficult to talk to because they simply didn't dare.

"So, what's next? Should we go to their gang's hideout?" Chu Cheng heard Luo Yajun's final questions and tried to speculate on the next course of action.

"What would we do at their hideout?" Luo Yajun said, "Our mission is to follow the trail and eliminate the source. According to Shao Risheng, the source most likely refers to the homeless man they poured into the cement pile.

So, naturally, our next step should be to investigate his identity, as well as those who had contact with him."

Chu Cheng pondered Luo Yajun's words. According to him, their task was to track down and eliminate the root cause of the problem. And according to Shao Risheng, the root cause was most likely the homeless man who was poured into the cement pile.

"So, we should investigate his identity and the people who had contact with him," Chu Cheng confirmed.

"Exactly," Luo Yajun nodded, "We need to understand the background of this homeless man and his connection to the gang. Perhaps through him, we can find more leads to solve the root cause of this problem. By the way, do you have any clues you can provide?"

Chu Cheng thought for a moment and then replied, "I overheard some rumors at the bar that Shao Risheng and the others had visited a certain place, possibly the location where the human piles were poured. Although I'm not sure about the exact place, there might be some relevant clues there."

Luo Yajun nodded in understanding.

"Alright, first, we'll investigate the homeless man's identity and background, and then we'll proceed to that possible location. We need to find the source as soon as possible and prevent further harm. Get ready, let's go."

"But if we leave them alone, the gang might infect more people, right?" Chu Cheng asked.

"That would fall under the category of infection control, not our jurisdiction," Luo Yajun shook his head. "Our task is to investigate and eliminate. Once we report the situation, the relevant authorities will naturally take care of the infection control."

There is a specialized department for that.

"So, should the city be locked down?" Chu Cheng asked.

"If it becomes severe, perhaps. But it shouldn't come to that this time," Luo Yajun said. "Based on the current situation, the level of the infection source is probably not high, and its infectiousness is not very strong.

Impulsive infections generally occur when the latent targets have strong negative emotions, and they usually only infect those who already harbor darkness within. The stronger the darkness within, the more intense the manifestation.

Otherwise, like the students in your school yesterday, those with mild infection may experience temporary abnormalities but quickly recover.

So, I estimate that the infection is mainly concentrated among the gang members. As long as we control them and their contacts, it should be manageable. Of course, this is just my personal speculation. The specific actions and decisions will be made by the authorities responsible for infection control. It's not our concern."

"Well, okay," Chu Cheng pondered for a moment. "Regarding the illegal trade and the cement piles, should we report it to the Public Security Bureau?"

"Up to you. If you remember, go ahead and report it. But reporting doesn't necessarily mean it'll be of any use," Luo Yajun shrugged. "This kind of thing has happened before, and sometimes the Public Security Bureau knows about it, sometimes they don't. But as that scum just said, it's just an ordinary everyday occurrence.

Besides, it's just a homeless person who has been missing for so long and nobody cares about. Even if they don't investigate, no one will inquire. Trust me, there aren't many people in the Public Security Bureau willing to take on this kind of job. I came out of there, and I know best what kind of people are in there."

Luo Yajun flicked away the cigarette butt and lit a new one. Although they had only recently met, Chu Cheng was already starting to worry about this experienced senior's lungs.

"Alright, so where do we go next?" Chu Cheng approached the window, distancing himself slightly from the swirling smoke.

"Shall we go check out the cement piles?"

Luo Yajun lifted his wristwatch and glanced at the time.

"Yeah, let's do it tomorrow," he said. "It's time to call it a day."

Chu Cheng remained silent.