Chapter 1 Lin Yang Fails

Bai Ma Shan learned on the same day that Lin Yang had failed to bring Zhao Di home. He had anticipated this outcome all along. His intention in encouraging Lin Yang to do so was to use him to probe the abilities of Jia Wenjun and Wu Peng, as well as the extent of the police's deployment of manpower and surveillance at the hospital.

Knowing that Zhao Di was constantly guarded, Bai Ma Shan didn't sleep all night and went out early the next morning.

The plainclothes officers downstairs had been keeping a close watch on Bai Ma Shan. They saw him buy soybean milk and fried dough sticks outside the residential area and then take them upstairs, presumably as breakfast for his son, Bai Xun.

The police had learned that Bai Ma Shan had enrolled his son in a language school tutoring class after he stopped attending regular school. Bai Xun would go out for tutoring every day, but the time was not fixed, sometimes in the morning, sometimes in the afternoon, and sometimes at night.

It was an hour later when Bai Ma Shan came down from upstairs again.

Bai Ma Shan first went to a pet hospital. Around noon, he came out of the hospital, got on a bicycle, and headed towards the street.

"All units, be advised, the target is heading in the direction of Tongshi Road." The police, who were following Bai Ma Shan at a distance of more than ten meters, notified other colleagues for reinforcements because this direction was the same as the aquatic market where they had lost Bai Ma Shan last time. The environment there was complex, and to prevent the same thing from happening again, they had to prepare in advance.

Half an hour later, Bai Ma Shan, riding his bicycle, indeed stopped the bike near the market. Just as all the police officers were focusing their attention, he got off the bike and slowly walked into a KFC next to the aquatic market.

"He went into KFC?" Zhang Lin, who received the message, was silent for a few seconds.

He had arranged a large number of police officers in the market this time, almost every exit, and even the stalls with the best view inside the market, had people stationed. But Bai Ma Shan had not entered the market this time. Instead, he went into the KFC next to the market, which made Zhang Lin feel suspicious.

"Follow him and see what he's up to."

Two plainclothes police officers entered the store and found that Bai Ma Shan was nowhere to be seen in the two-story building.

The two searched up and down, even the toilets, but still couldn't find him. Finally, they asked the employees inside and learned that there was a hidden small door at the back of the store, which led to the alley behind.

That alley connected to many winding alleys in the old city. Not to mention people who were not familiar with the area, even people who lived there often got lost.

When Zhang Lin learned that Bai Ma Shan had been lost again, he almost smashed the walkie-talkie on the ground. This old fox was so deliberately trying to shake them off. There must be something fishy going on. Judging from the situation on the boat, he must have accomplices.

In order not to alert the enemy, he had been hesitant to take action, just wanting to catch them all in one fell swoop.

Wearing a helmet, a food delivery uniform, and carrying a food delivery bag, Bai Ma Shan turned several corners in the old city and arrived in front of the first floor of one of the buildings. He took out his key and opened the door.

The room was very dark, and a strong smell of urine hit him as soon as he entered. After entering the room, he quickly locked the door. The sound of the iron door hitting the wall caused a commotion in the room. The sound of claws and the friction between the claws and the cage was especially harsh. In the darkness, a pair of red eyes were staring straight at Bai Ma Shan from the cage. Da Huang (Big Yellow) had both front paws on the side of the iron cage, wagging its tail and making a whimpering sound.

Bai Ma Shan took out a box of fried chicken from the delivery bag. The smell of the fried chicken wafted into Da Huang's nose. Da Huang made two "wu lu" sounds in its mouth, and saliva spilled from its mouth.

Bai Ma Shan opened the side of the iron cage and threw the fried chicken into the cage.

Da Huang devoured it greedily. The hunger of this period had made it lose a lot of weight, and the desire for food made it almost choke on the chicken bones.

There was a "click" sound outside the door. Bai Ma Shan was startled, thinking that the police had arrived. Just as he was about to do something, he saw a black shadow wearing a black hoodie and a hat walk in.

Bai Ma Shan watched him close the door, his face, which was still in shock, was now filled with anger. He lowered his voice and said, "Didn't I tell you not to come here anymore?"

The black shadow squatted in front of the dog cage indifferently: "I came to see it."

Bai Ma Shan clenched his fists: "Are you not going to shed tears until you see the coffin?" (idiom: will not admit defeat until faced with absolute proof)

The black shadow slowly stood up: "You are more dangerous than me now. You are not afraid, so what am I afraid of?"

Bai Ma Shan knew that he was being watched closely by the police. In order to catch his breath, he had also given the couple across the street a sum of money to destroy the surveillance footage. But he knew that there would still be plainclothes officers below the residential area who knew his whereabouts.

Bai Ma Shan's temples were throbbing with anger: "You! Are you not afraid that I will hurt this dog?"

"Mm." The black shadow admitted frankly, sat down on the chair next to him, took out another box of fried chicken from the delivery bag, grabbed it, and started munching on it. Feeling that it wasn't enough, he took out a cup of cola from the bag, took a big gulp, and burped.

Bai Ma Shan knew that he had to stay calm at this time. Things were already like this. They couldn't continue to be suspicious of each other. If they couldn't work together, it would only be a matter of time before they were caught.

"You're right. I did misjudge the situation before. I didn't expect Zhao Di to recover so quickly. Although she can't say anything specific yet, it's only a matter of time before she tells the truth."

The black shadow heard him finally admit his mistake. He put the cola cup heavily on the table: "I said a long time ago to find a way to kill her in the hospital. If you hadn't stopped me, she would have been dead by now."

Bai Ma Shan frowned: "It's easier said than done. Jia Wenjun and Wu Peng are guarding the hospital, and the police also have surveillance. How could it be so easy to kill her? If we failed to kill her, we would have only gotten ourselves caught."

The black shadow didn't appreciate it: "That's because your plan wasn't thorough enough. Otherwise, how could you not even kill a vegetable!"

The fire in Bai Ma Shan's heart was ignited by the black shadow's words. He stood up and walked back and forth in the room, suddenly kicking the dog cage, scaring Da Huang, who was eating, and almost choking on a chicken bone.

Bai Ma Shan put his hands on his hips and pointed at the black shadow, exasperated: "Killing people, killing people, killing people, do you think it's over after you kill someone? If you hadn't killed that girl, Zhao Di wouldn't have seen it, and I wouldn't have had to find a way to kill Zhao Di, and now I wouldn't have been forced into this situation by these messed up things!"

The black shadow was impatient to listen to his nagging: "There's no point in regretting it, and I won't regret it! The only thing I regret is that I didn't kill them all on the boat before."

"That's courting death!" Bai Ma Shan glared fiercely at the black shadow: "If you had done it on the boat, the police would have solved the case long ago."

The black shadow sneered: "I have a way to prevent them from solving the case. If you hadn't stopped me, it would have been closed long ago. Now, being forced into this situation by the police is your own fault."

Bai Ma Shan's heart was filled with mixed feelings. If only there was a regret medicine, so that he could have stopped this tragedy from the beginning, and wouldn't have had to be drawn into this vortex.

Unfortunately, the vortex was getting bigger and bigger, and he was sucked into it, unable to swim out no matter how hard he tried.

The two were silent in the dark room for a long time. Bai Ma Shan turned around and put all the food from the bag on the table: "I'm leaving. Don't act rashly about Zhao Di's matter. Wait until I've thought of a plan. Also, don't come here again. I'll find a way to come and feed the dog."

The black shadow didn't speak. Bai Ma Shan went up and grabbed his collar, lowered his voice, and warned, "Did you hear what I said?"

The black shadow forcefully tore his hand away and sneered, as if agreeing.

Bai Ma Shan gasped for breath, put on his helmet, observed the situation outside from the window, then put on his bag, opened the door, and quickly walked out.