The exhilarating discovery instantly wiped away any drowsiness Guan Xia and her team had felt. After reporting all relevant buyer information to the task force, they regrouped with others and threw themselves into investigating the buyer who had taken Ning Ping'an.
But before they could uncover anything, Xu Nian received an alarming call from colleagues surveilling Wu Xingxian—delivering devastating news.
Guan Xia noticed Xu Nian's expression shift from calm to stunned as she raised her voice in disbelief. "What? Who died? You're saying Wu Xingxian is dead?" By the end, Xu Nian's voice cracked with shock.
The team jolted up from their chairs, momentarily frozen in disbelief.
Two minutes later, Xu Nian hung up and said, "Guan Xia, this is huge. Wu Xingxian is dead—along with several employees from his company. The task force has already locked down the building and is hunting the killer."
Guan Xia blinked. "The killer's still inside? They haven’t escaped?"
Xu Nian nodded. "The task force reacted fast. The moment something felt off, they called for backup. They split into two teams—one securing all exits, the other going upstairs to check. That’s when they found the bodies."
Baffled, the team rushed out. Guan Xia pressed, "But how? With so many eyes on Wu Xingxian, how did someone slip past and kill him right under surveillance?"
As they descended, Xu Nian explained, "It wasn’t negligence. No one expected the killer to disguise themselves as a food delivery worker, waltzing in with takeout boxes. At first, they assumed it was just another late-night order for the company—it’s happened before. But when the ‘delivery person’ didn’t come back down after ten minutes, they got suspicious. By then, it was too late. The victims were already dead."
Sprinting toward the parking lot, Guan Xia asked, "Is backup there yet? We can’t let the killer escape. I doubt Wu Xingxian’s murder is tied to Wu Yingze’s case."
The moment she’d heard about Wu Xingxian’s death, Guan Xia had sensed it. She’d planned to dig into his connection to Wu Yang and the criminal organization after resolving Ning Ping'an’s case—but now, he was gone.
They practically leaped into the car. Lu Tingfeng, taking the wheel, floored the accelerator, speeding away from Nanping Station.
En route, Guan Xia called Xu Nian on speakerphone to continue the discussion.
"This doesn’t add up," Guan Xia said. "From the second I heard Wu Xingxian was killed, I felt it—his death has nothing to do with the Kangjian Medical Center case. The criminal organization likely sent someone to silence him."
The others looked startled, but Ji An seemed thoughtful. Xu Nian agreed, "The timing is suspicious. His behavior lately also suggests this isn’t tied to Wu Yingze. Plus, the killer acted too swiftly—just like in our previous cases."
Guan Xia immediately recalled Lu Manqing’s public execution under police surveillance. The parallels were undeniable.
"Guess we don’t need further proof," Ji An said. "The organization’s reaction alone confirms Wu Xingxian’s involvement. They eliminated him before we could arrest him."
Guan Xia sighed. "Let’s just hope the killer’s caught. At least then, the trail won’t go completely cold."
But given the organization’s methods, she doubted it would be that easy.
Her fears proved right. By 3 a.m., as they arrived at Wu Xingxian’s office building, Guan Xia and Xu Nian led the charge toward the entrance—until a sudden chill shot down Guan Xia’s spine. Her knees buckled, her body erupting in goosebumps. She nearly collapsed, but Xu Nian yanked her upright.
Before anyone could ask what was wrong, a deafening thud echoed ahead. Something warm splattered onto them.
In the dead of night, the team whirled around to see a mangled figure facedown on the pavement—limbs twisted, bones shattered, twitching grotesquely as blood pooled beneath.
Guan Xia had witnessed crime scenes before, but never something this visceral. Her mind blanked, eyes locked on the unrecognizable corpse and the glaring crimson.
While Guan Xia and Pang Le stood frozen, the others sprang into action. Xu Nian shielded Guan Xia, covering her eyes. "Lao Lu, contact the task force! Wang Yu, call for backup—forensics and techs, stat! Jiang-ge, check for signs of life. If there’s a pulse, get an ambulance!"
Blinded, Guan Xia’s hearing sharpened. Her mind rebooted, replaying the gruesome scene. Even without medical training, she knew: survival was impossible.
Sure enough, in the next moment, Jiang Yingyao spoke: "Captain Xu, there are no signs of a heartbeat anymore. Based on the amount of blood loss, the victim has already died on the spot."
Guan Xia heard the sound of footsteps, and then Qi Bai's voice chimed in, "In the middle of the night, at the very building where Wu Xingxian’s company is located—it can’t be that someone suddenly decided to jump, right? Judging by where he landed, it was right along our path. If Guan Xia hadn’t stopped us just now, one of us might’ve actually been crushed underneath him."
Hearing this, Guan Xia’s heart skipped a beat. She quickly grabbed Xu Nian’s hand and pulled it away from her eyes. After taking this time to steady herself, her emotions had settled somewhat.
The moment her vision cleared, Guan Xia immediately looked at the clothing of the deceased, whose identity was still unknown. To her surprise, it wasn’t a food delivery uniform.
Just as Guan Xia was about to take a closer look, she heard a flurry of hurried footsteps approaching from the left. Turning her head, she saw a group of people running toward them. From a distance, she couldn’t make out much, but as they got closer, she noticed bruises and marks on some of their faces—likely members of the task force who had engaged with the suspect during the arrest, though the operation clearly hadn’t gone smoothly.
"Expert Guan, Captain Xu," the lead detective from the task force greeted them before turning his gaze to the body on the ground, his expression a mix of regret and fury.
Guan Xia glanced at the others behind him and saw similar expressions. Realizing something, she asked, "Is this the killer who murdered Wu Xingxian and several of his employees?"
The lead detective nodded. "It’s him. We suspect he’s connected to the case we’ve been tracking. Not only was his method clean and precise, but he was also cunning and extremely familiar with the building’s layout. Even though we had plenty of officers, he managed to evade us for nearly twenty minutes, using the terrain to his advantage. Just when we thought we had him, he suddenly broke free, rushed toward the window, and jumped."
The task force members were still puzzled, but Guan Xia and the others understood—the killer must have seen them. Either he chose suicide to avoid capture, or he decided that if he was going to die, he might as well take someone with him.
Guan Xia exhaled heavily. Though the facts were undeniable, she still struggled to comprehend how things had escalated to this point. Wu Xingxian was dead, and the suspected member of the criminal organization was also dead. Most importantly, how had the organization gotten wind of this? Had they been monitoring Wu Xingxian all along, allowing them to silence him so swiftly?
Countless thoughts swirled in Guan Xia’s mind, tangled and chaotic. Unable to sort them out immediately, she shifted her focus to the situation upstairs.
The lead detective continued, "Including Wu Xingxian, there are four dead upstairs. Aside from him, the other three are his secretary, personal assistant, and the project manager—all adult males. We haven’t had time to take statements from the others present at the scene who weren’t harmed, so we don’t yet know if the three had any relationship with Wu Xingxian beyond work."
Four dead upstairs, plus the one here—five in total. Even though Guan Xia had braced herself, the sheer number sent a chill down her spine. She glanced at Xu Nian and asked, "Shall we go up and take a look?"
Xu Nian’s expression was grim, as were the others’. After exchanging glances, they followed the task force into the elevator, heading to the top floor.
Stepping out of the elevator, Guan Xia didn’t have to walk far down the hallway before spotting a large pool of blood and a body lying in it. Judging by the wound’s location and the blood loss, there was no need to check for a pulse—death was certain. The strike had landed squarely in the chest, and given the criminal organization’s modus operandi, it was likely the same as the four victims in Zhang Weiyan’s case: a single stab to the heart, instantly fatal.
Sure enough, Jiang Yingyao deftly pulled out shoe covers and gloves from his pocket, put them on, and crouched beside the body for a closer look. Standing back up, he confirmed, "Only one visible wound—to the chest, left side. A sharp object pierced the heart, causing immediate death."
Wang Yu retrieved shoe covers and gloves from her bag, handing them to Guan Xia and Pang Le. As she put them on, Guan Xia asked the task force, "Where are the other three bodies? In Wu Xingxian’s office?"
The lead detective replied, "The project manager was found in the hallway outside Wu Xingxian’s office. The personal assistant and Wu Xingxian himself were both killed inside the office—one near the entrance, the other by the door to the restroom. Based on the scene, we believe the killer disguised himself as a delivery person. The secretary answered the door and was stabbed in the heart from the front. After the secretary collapsed, the killer walked straight toward Wu Xingxian’s office. We think the project manager heard the commotion first, came out to investigate, and was killed. Then the personal assistant inside the office opened the door to check and met the same fate. Finally, Wu Xingxian tried to flee into the restroom but didn’t make it—stabbed from behind, straight through the heart."
As the detective explained the scene, Guan Xia carefully stepped around the first body and made her way toward Wu Xingxian’s office.
Along the way, she surveyed the surroundings. It was clear that the killer had passed several open work areas on his way to the office, yet the desks and floors—though disheveled—showed no traces of blood. This indicated that people had been working overtime in those areas during the attack, but the killer had ignored them, moving with precise intent toward Wu Xingxian’s office.
This suggested the killer had not only studied the company’s layout beforehand but had also planned meticulously—consistent with Guan Xia’s understanding of the criminal organization’s methods.
What remained unclear was whether the killer had recently arrived in Shangshuang City or had been stationed there all along. Guan Xia’s greatest fear was that he had been placed there by the organization to monitor Wu Xingxian. If so, then Guan Xia, Pang Le, Ji An, Zhong Xiaoyu, and even Lu Tingfeng might have already been exposed.
Compared to Xu Nian and the others, who were officially part of the police force, Guan Xia and her team were far more vulnerable. Though they were technically consultants, they weren’t yet fully integrated into the police ranks.
The moment this possibility crossed her mind, Guan Xia's barely calmed thoughts grew chaotic again. She desperately tried to recall how many times they had interacted with Wu Xingxian since arriving in Shangshuang City.
After racking her brain, Guan Xia concluded that while she couldn’t speak for the others, she and Pang Le had only observed Wu Xingxian from a distance once during their time in Shangshuang City. They had stayed inside their car that time, merely rolling down the window without stepping out.
After a moment of intense recollection, Guan Xia finally remembered that when she had used the system’s shared vision to confirm Wu Xingxian’s identity, aside from a few other soul auras tinged with blood-red on the same floor as him, there had been nothing unusual around their car.
Assured of her and Pang Le’s safety, Guan Xia let out a quiet sigh of relief. She then turned to glance at Ji An and Xu Nian, deciding she would ask them in detail later—once tonight’s business was over—whether they had noticed anything unusual while surveilling Wu Xingxian these past few days.
Guan Xia sincerely hoped she was overthinking things. Maybe the killer had only recently been sent to Shangshuang City and had only had enough time to investigate and plan for Wu Xingxian, without noticing their presence.
From the bottom of her heart, she prayed that things wouldn’t take the turn she feared most—the worst possible outcome.
[Author's note: Struggled a bit with writer's block tonight, so this is a few minutes late. Will do my best to post on time tomorrow. Love you all!]
