The next day.
B City, central district.
The heavily guarded prison gate slowly opened. A black bulletproof car with Shenhai plates stopped in front of the sentry post, and armed guards carrying loaded weapons came forward and knocked on the window.
“Show your identification!”
The driver’s-side window slowly lowered. The person inside had half his face hidden behind a pair of sunglasses. The line of his exposed jaw was sharply cut, cold, and snow-pale. He faced them without saying a word.
“……”
The guards’ hair stood on end. “S-S-Supervisor Shen!”
Shen Zhuo did not speak. The window rose again, and the car drove toward the iron-gray prison building at the end of the asphalt road.
“I think this jacket is rather nice. What do you think?” In the back seat, the Witch of Italdo handed Bai Sheng Chanel’s newest seasonal catalog, condescending to ask his opinion.
Bai Sheng answered sincerely, “I think burgundy suits your hair color very well. Also, this dress, this suit, and this entire jewelry set… all look pretty good. How about we buy out every new release this season?”
The Witch was delighted. “Acceptable! Go arrange it!”
Shen Zhuo: “……”
Yesterday, after sending Kingston, whose leg had been broken in the fall, to the hospital, Bai Sheng had personally served as the Witch of Italdo’s shopping attendant for an entire afternoon. By the time she came out after shopping, the Witch of Italdo seemed like a different person. Now she was dressed head to toe in a full haute couture gown, the massive diamond ring on her hand nearly blinding, and the back seat was piled with her sixteen bags—eight Hermès and eight Chanel—which Bai Sheng had bought for her yesterday after closing down the stores for private shopping. His magnificent, money-is-no-object generosity had shaken the entire mall. In the end, when he signed the bill, all the sales associates opened champagne and applauded.
For the first time in her life, the Witch experienced the joy of saying “Except this one, and this one, wrap up everything else.” Because she had gotten too high off it, she spent all of last night dancing in ten-centimeter heels in the morgue, nearly scaring the midnight patrol guards sick. Before they set out this morning, she had already been impatient to change into a full Chanel outfit. On Shen Zhuo’s private plane, she had even taken several selfies with the blue sky and white clouds, posted a nine-photo grid to Shui Ronghua’s WeChat Moments, and received likes from every single person up and down the Supervision Office.
“Oh, no, don’t look at that. Aquamarine doesn’t suit you.” Bai Sheng leaned sideways and flipped through the same jewelry magazine with the Witch, kindly turning a page for her. “Look at these rubies. They go so well with your hair color. Later I’ll have someone make you a ruby crown, then put a one-to-one replica of the Iron Throne in the morgue. That way you can go to work every day like you’re ascending the throne. How’s that?”
The Witch imagined the scene. Royally pleased, she said, “Very good. Not bad. There aren’t many humans with taste like yours anymore!”
With a smack, the Witch and Bai Sheng high-fived, looking as if they were about to go swear brotherhood hand in hand, a great friendship that had clearly crossed the boundaries of cosmic species.
“……” Shen Zhuo withdrew his gaze from the rearview mirror and spat out four words. “Know when to stop.”
The Witch said, “Heh.”
“Dear, don’t worry, we didn’t forget you.” Bai Sheng smiled as he flipped through the magazine. “When the two of us were shopping yesterday, we specifically picked out birthday presents for you. A complete set of eighteen riding crops in various styles. The Witch said a few of them looked especially suited to your temperament. They’ll be packed up and delivered to the Supervision Office’s interrogation room tomorrow. From now on, when you beat suspects, you can use whichever one you like. How’s that?”
“……”
Shen Zhuo pressed one hand to his forehead without a word and stepped hard on the brake.
With a sharp screech of friction, the car stopped in front of the prison building, and the staff who had been waiting for some time immediately came forward to greet them.
The Witch lifted her skirt, stepped down in crystal high heels, her fiery red hair burning like flame, and proudly got out of the car under the dumbstruck stares all around.
Shen Zhuo got out and walked toward the prison building. Behind him, Bai Sheng hurried a few steps to catch up, forcibly hooked an arm around his shoulders, and hugged him with a grin. “Come on, Supervisor, try thinking about it from another angle.”
Shen Zhuo glanced sidelong at him, meaning, What angle?
Bai Sheng said, “Our extraterrestrial friend came all this way. Shouldn’t we show ourselves as warm and enthusiastic hosts and cultivate a sunny, positive new hobby for her? No matter how you look at it, liking handbags is much more convenient than liking human skin, isn’t it?”
Shen Zhuo said flatly, “I’m saving prison resources and incidentally rendering social garbage harmless…”
The Witch turned her hand left and right, admiring the manicure Bai Sheng had taken her to get yesterday. “Oh? Worried about your boyfriend’s wallet already?”
The surroundings went instantly quiet.
Everyone looked at Bai Sheng in unison, their gazes filled with indescribable shock and admiration, unable to decide whether they should praise him for facing death unflinchingly or lament that lust had clouded his mind.
Bai Sheng secretly peeked at Shen Zhuo’s expression, then considerately explained to everyone around them, “Misunderstanding, misunderstanding. Supervisor Shen and I are friends. Twenty-four-karat true friends. Socialist brotherhood. Absolutely honest, fair to old and young alike!” Then he cupped his hands modestly.
Everyone: “……”
With expressions that said We understand, we understand, everyone nodded in unison with ingratiating smiles, their gazes turning back and forth between the two men. The air filled with an awkward aura of seeing through something but choosing not to say it.
Shen Zhuo pressed his temple and asked in a low voice, “Does being misunderstood make you that happy?”
Bai Sheng answered in the same low voice, “In your eyes it’s a misunderstanding. In my eyes it isn’t. Besides, I kept myself clean for twenty-seven years and got a beauty like you into a scandal with me. Isn’t this what I deserve?”
Shen Zhuo said softly, “That is called judging by appearances. You…”
“‘It is only shallow people who do not judge by appearances. The true mystery of the world is the visible, not the invisible.’”
In an instant, Shen Zhuo fell silent.
Bai Sheng smiled and said word by word, “1890. Oscar Wilde.”
For the next ten minutes, Shen Zhuo could not think of a way to refute Wilde, so he did not acknowledge a single word from the man surnamed Bai.
·
The prison warden stopped with fear and trepidation. “Supervisor Shen, this is it.”
This was a dim corridor inside the prison, shielded from light. The surveillance cameras on the ceiling had already been turned off. Not far away was a small cell holding more than a dozen prisoners. Hearing movement, they turned their heads one after another and sized them up with fierce, hostile gazes.
Shen Zhuo took the key from the warden. “You may leave. There’s no need to come back in.”
The warden had already regretted eight hundred times along the way that he had not called in sick today. Hearing that, he almost wept with gratitude, then withdrew at lightspeed with his subordinates. Before leaving, he thanked Shen Zhuo’s entire family in his heart.
In the cramped space, aside from a roomful of prisoners, only the three of them remained. Bai Sheng leaned not far away with his arms folded, while Shen Zhuo stepped forward and, under the Witch of Italdo’s barely contained excitement, used the key to open the cell door.
“According to our contract, one summoning requires eighteen people as offerings,” Shen Zhuo said. “They’re all yours.”
“You… what are you doing?” A prisoner glared at the Witch of Italdo and stood up warily. “What are you trying to do?!”
The Witch moved her fingers, still somewhat dissatisfied. “Why couldn’t we resolve this in Shenhai? Why did we have to come all the way to B City?”
“Interprovincial prisoner transfer procedures are too troublesome.” Shen Zhuo lifted his chin toward the cell. “I personally reviewed the case files and picked this group out. Most of them are from human-trafficking rings, with a few who beat family members to death and sexually assaulted little girls mixed in… I selected them very carefully. Make do.”
The Witch’s eyes rolled. She smiled sweetly and reached out to hook Shen Zhuo’s chin. “Handsome, why so cooperative this time?”
Bai Sheng said, “Ahem!”
The Witch actually withdrew her hand at once, then winked at her human good friend Bai Sheng in apology before walking into the cell with seductive steps.
“Don’t—don’t come over!”
“Motherfucker!”
The prisoners had probably already sensed something. Under immense terror, they scrambled backward toward the corner, but it was completely useless. A fierce light of joy burst from the Witch’s eyes. She reached out, easily seized the human trafficker at the very front, grabbed both his legs, and tore with force.
Crack!
A scream shook the air. The prisoners shrieked and tried to flee outward. As one brushed past, the Witch reached out and gouged into him. Scalding blood and flesh splattered across the floor, broken shards of bone flying up to the ceiling. Amid the prisoner’s piercing screams, the Witch dug out his heart, while the prisoner beneath her foot writhed on the ground like a bloody worm.
“Help—help!!” Someone screamed wildly and ran outward. Shen Zhuo stood outside the cell with both hands in his pockets, quietly leaning back a fraction. The man’s bloodied hand swung past his lashes.
Immediately after, the prisoner was caught by a heavy, icy force from behind, unable to advance even half a step. Then he heard the bell-like laughter of the girl he had killed back then beside his ear.
The next moment, he flew upward. As he desperately waved his arms in midair, he looked down and saw his waist, connected to both legs, still standing where it was.
Blood spread across the floor like a sluice gate had been opened. Severed limbs and organs lay everywhere, and at last the screams vanished completely.
The dim space was silent enough to make one’s skin crawl. Only the Witch’s satisfied breathing echoed again and again down the corridor.
Just then, Shen Zhuo’s phone buzzed. He lowered his head and glanced at it. An unread message from Chen Miao appeared on the screen:
[Senior, I’m downstairs.]
Shen Zhuo silently dismissed the message, then turned back and instructed the Witch of Italdo, “That’s enough for today. Let Doctor Shui come back.”
“Tsk, tsk.” The Witch savored the lingering taste, licking her blood-covered lips, and unusually friendly, threw Shen Zhuo a flirtatious look. “Call me again next time~”
The next instant, a strange light blossomed around her. The horrifying right half of her face became smooth, her features adjusted, and her bones shifted. In the blink of an eye, she vanished where she stood, replaced by a tall, capable female doctor.
Shui Ronghua wore a white medical coat, her thick black hair coiled behind her head. Carrying a silver field case, she swept her gaze over the cell piled with severed limbs and blood.
“……” She sighed and murmured, “So after the meal, cleaning up falls to me again?”
“I have something to handle outside. I’ll be back within half an hour.” Shen Zhuo turned and signaled to Bai Sheng. “Stay here and protect Doctor Shui.”
No matter the occasion, as long as Shen Zhuo was present, Bai Sheng’s attention would uncontrollably focus on him. Though to outsiders, he had merely been leaning against the prison door with his arms folded, like a lazy male lion. “What are you handling that’ll take that long?”
Shen Zhuo avoided answering. “Chen Miao needs me for something.”
Bai Sheng immediately said, “What kind of thing do you have to hide from me? That really hurts our relationship. What’s there between us that can’t be shared? Here, this is my bank card, this is my credit card, this is my WeChat Pay password…”
“Did the two of you progress that quickly during these two days I wasn’t around?!” Shui Ronghua turned back in shock.
“Oh, no, no. I’m still working hard.” Bai Sheng waved modestly. “At present I’m only the rumored boyfriend passed from mouth to mouth among the masses.”
Shen Zhuo: “……”
Shen Zhuo turned and left, not sparing either of them another glance.
Outside the prison building, the black sedan they had driven was still parked below the steps. A few steps away, at some point, another bulletproof SUV with Shenhai plates had also stopped.
“Senior!” Chen Miao pushed open the driver’s-side door and got out, quickly coming forward, a trace of worry in his eyes. “Do we really not need to tell Brother Bai about this trip?”
Shen Zhuo sat in the car. “No. He’ll definitely want to follow. Go quickly and come back quickly.”
“Uh, Senior, are you all right?” Chen Miao studied his expression worriedly. “Why do you look so tired?”
Shen Zhuo said, “Emotionally tired.”
Chen Miao understood. “Because of the Witch of Italdo?”
“No, because of the rumored boy…” Then Shen Zhuo’s entire body froze.
The air congealed for three seconds. Chen Miao’s expression went blank.
Shen Zhuo covered his eyes with one hand. After a long moment, he slowly squeezed out a few words. “Drive your car.”
“……”
Chen Miao made a zippering motion over his mouth, then climbed into the driver’s seat moving the same arm and leg at once. A moment later, the bulletproof SUV started up and roared out through the prison’s wire-mesh gate.
·
The prison was located in the suburbs. It was not far from B City’s public cemetery, and fifteen minutes later, the car stopped in front of the cemetery entrance.
Chen Miao stepped on the brake and glanced at the scene outside the window. In the end, he still could not help turning back to advise him one last time. “Senior, how about I go in with you after all? They hate me too, but if there are two of us, then at least if a fight breaks out, I can still—”
Shen Zhuo merely shook his head, pushed open the door, got out, and looked ahead.
Before him was a long flight of bluestone steps. At the end, they led toward the cemetery’s headstones. A group of evolutionists in Central Supervision Office uniforms were casting hostile gazes at him. A black-and-white banner hung in front of the steps.
Memorial Ceremony for the Third Anniversary of Fu Chen’s Death.
The black suit outlined Shen Zhuo’s slender, upright waist. Sunlight reflected off his frost-snow profile. His expression was silent and cool, his complexion even paler than the silk flower on his chest.
“My conscience is clear. I don’t need anyone with me,” he said flatly.
Shen Zhuo straightened his lapels. Ignoring the buzzing whispers all around him, he stepped forward and walked straight toward the headstone.
·
Why can’t one be too cruel to human traffickers and child rapists? The Witch of Italdo says she would also like to know.