Chapter 68: Anomaly
After hearing this, Qi Xia immediately took a lighter out of his own pocket – this was the one that "Xiaoxiao" had lent him.
He lit the lighter and reached it out.
Officer Li was startled for a moment, then covered the flame with his blood-soaked left hand and leaned in to light the cigarette.
A moment later, he patted Qi Xia's hand.
"Phew——"
A thick cloud of smoke billowed out, and Officer Li seemed to relax a bit.
"That feels good." Officer Li smiled. "Now I'm not afraid to die anymore."
"What did you want to tell me?" Qi Xia sat down across from Officer Li, looking at him with a somewhat serious expression.
Officer Li didn't answer, but instead asked, "Qi Xia, how did Tiantian and Qiao Jiajin die?"
"They were killed by someone." Qi Xia answered without hesitation. "After noon yesterday, they were beaten to death by the owner of this lighter."
With that, he handed the lighter forward and placed it in Officer Li's hand.
Officer Li looked down at the green plastic lighter, his eyes filled with disappointment.
"Is that so..." He looked up at Qi Xia and said, "When that person killed Qiao Jiajin and Tiantian... was there anything strange?"
"Strange?"
Qi Xia rubbed his chin and organized his thoughts. There were far too many "strange" things. He briefly summarized the events of the previous afternoon and told Officer Li everything.
Including the woman's bizarre physique and the inexplicable poisoning.
Finally, Qi Xia added, "Oh, and before and after she killed them, I heard the 'bell sound' twice."
After hearing this, Officer Li raised his cigarette, trembling as he took another large drag. After exhaling rings of smoke, he said, "When the bell sounded, I happened to be right in front of that huge screen."
"What?"
"The tremendous bell rang in my ears, making me think the whole world had exploded." Officer Li said jokingly. "Do you know what was written on the screen?"
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 'Blame Shift'." Officer Li said slowly, enunciating each word.
"Blame Shift?" Qi Xia muttered to himself, deep in thought. "Before it was 'Calamity Call', now it's 'Blame Shift'..."
Officer Li handed the last cigarette from the pack to Qi Xia. "Want one?"
Qi Xia nodded and took the cigarette.
Officer Li lit it for him with his left hand.
"I knew you smoked." Officer Li held his cigarette and tossed the lighter back to Qi Xia. "Smoking is best when you're thinking, right?"
Qi Xia didn't answer. After taking the lighter, he took a taste of the somewhat moldy cigarette.
After being stored for a long time, cigarettes become harsh and spicy, and this one was no exception.
"I haven't smoked in years." Qi Xia said.
"Yeah, quitting is good." Officer Li nodded. "Quitting is good for your health..."
After he finished speaking, there was a pause, and the two fell into silence.
They slowly exhaled smoke, like classmates who used to sneak cigarettes together in the school bathroom.
"What about the second bell?" Qi Xia asked. "Were there new words on the screen?"
"No." Officer Li shook his head, cigarette still in his mouth. "When the second bell rang, those words disappeared."
Qi Xia stared thoughtfully at the cigarette in his hand, feeling that the situation was still quite bizarre.
"What does this all mean?" Qi Xia asked. "That bell isn't a 'death knell', but some other kind of warning."
"Leave that question for you to figure out." Officer Li leaned helplessly against the wall, smoking his last cigarette. "I'm just telling you what I saw. You have a better chance of surviving here than I do."
"Why?" Qi Xia asked, somewhat unwillingly. "Why can't you survive here?"
"Because I'm a cop." Officer Li smiled, raising his broken right arm. "I lost this hand saving Lawyer Zhang. I could have completely ignored her, but I couldn't stand by and watch her die. But you're different, Qi Xia... You don't have that burden."
Qi Xia seemed to understand what Officer Li meant.
This man had wanted to save everyone from the very beginning.
His principles had been consistent from start to finish.
And those principles would get him killed here.
Qi Xia nodded with a heavy expression and asked, "You didn't keep me behind just to tell me all this, did you?"
"That's right..." Officer Li's face grew even paler. "Qi Xia, I have a secret in my heart that I've never told anyone. I don't want to take this secret to my grave, so I have to say it before I die."
"Then why me?" Qi Xia asked, puzzled. "You could have told Lawyer Zhang."
"Because you and 'him' are both liars, I suppose..." Officer Li shook his head with a bitter smile. "Although you're nothing alike, when I think about it carefully, this seems to be the arrangement of fate."
Qi Xia took a deep drag on his cigarette after hearing this, then said, "Go ahead. I'm listening."
Officer Li stared blankly ahead and slowly began to tell his "true" story.
For a full ten minutes, Qi Xia listened quietly as he recounted everything.
Qi Xia's eyes flickered constantly, as if he were hearing something completely unbelievable.
"Officer Li... So in the first game, you told such a huge lie?" he asked with slightly trembling lips.
Qi Xia had thought Officer Li's earlier account was somewhat strange, but he never imagined that the man had woven a massive lie throughout.
"Yes." Officer Li's eyes instantly turned red. "It was the biggest mistake I've ever made in my life."
"Just a 'mistake'?!" Qi Xia frowned and stood up, his previous respect for Officer Li gone. "You were in cahoots with that liar, always trying to help him get away, and yet you lied to us saying you were on stakeout...? Although I'm not a model citizen myself, I've always despised corrupt cops the most."
Officer Li tilted his head back, and hot tears streamed down his face.
"Yeah, a corrupt cop..." Officer Li gave a bitter laugh. "I wasn't surprised when I came here, because I think this is my 'judgment'..."
"What..."
Qi Xia furrowed his brows and looked coldly at Officer Li.
"Maybe dying here is my way of atoning..."
Just as Officer Li finished speaking, a tremendous bell sounded from afar.
「Dong!!」
Qi Xia turned to look outside the room, his face full of shock.
Why was the bell ringing again?
What words were on the screen this time?
Officer Li acted as if he hadn't heard anything at all. He reached out with a trembling hand, picked up the empty cigarette pack from the ground, and pulled out a cigarette.
He felt around in his pocket and pulled out a metal lighter.
Under Qi Xia's incredulous gaze, Officer Li relit the cigarette, a relieved smile spreading across his face.
Then he slowly lowered his head, seeming to mutter to himself, "Qi Xia, my death is my atonement..."
Qi Xia was stunned for a moment. He looked at the perfectly clean cigarette in Officer Li's mouth and felt that the situation was extremely strange.
"Hey... Li Shangwu, don't die yet..." Qi Xia rushed to kneel beside Officer Li and found that he was no longer breathing.
His mouth still held the cigarette, and in his hand was a somewhat worn-out Zippo lighter.