Chapter 1 The Tipping Point

Inside the Police Department Hospital, the officer guarding Da Xiong pushed open the door to the stairwell and dialed a number. "Hey, yeah, yeah, we have a suspect in our custody who's injured. Yeah, it fell on my head. I brought him out to see a doctor, but I didn't expect the hospital to be so busy. We've been waiting all night, and no one's taking care of us. Yeah, can you give them a call for me? Okay, okay, I'll be waiting near the surgery entrance on the second floor… Got it, thanks, Lao Wang. I'll visit you during the New Year!"

After hanging up, the officer guarding Da Xiong pushed open the door and returned to the corridor, grumbling, "One phone call, and I'll have to give one more gift during the New Year."

"Hey, if they can get us done sooner, that's better than anything," his colleague sitting next to Da Xiong replied.

The officer bent down to sit, turned to Da Xiong, and asked, "You're injured. I need to call your family to let them know. Can your family come to see you?"

Although Da Xiong was mentally challenged, he was very perceptive. He was slow to react, but he could figure things out if he thought about it long enough, so it wasn't hard for him to guess what the officer meant.

Four officers had been running around with him all day. The other party clearly wanted some kind of tip. With the New Year coming up, if his family came, they couldn't come empty-handed.

Da Xiong understood the meaning, but he still lowered his head and replied, "...I...my...no one in my family wants to care about me."

Hearing this, the officer immediately curled his lip and cursed, "Someone like you, no one in your family cares about you, and you're stupid. When the sentence comes down, and you're assigned to a regular prison, you're going to be abused to death sooner or later."

Others might not feel anything upon hearing this, but after Da Xiong heard it, his whole body twitched, and his eyes were filled with fear.

What was prison like? Was it even harder to survive than the detention center? Da Xiong was really scared, his face was pale, and his eyes were uneasy.

The officer ignored him and turned to chat with his colleague.

About five minutes later, a young doctor hurried down and asked the officers concisely, "Wang Zhuren's friend?"

"Yes, yes," the officer immediately stood up. "We brought a suspect to see a doctor."

"Where is he injured?" the young doctor asked.

"Eyes, nasal bone, and possibly ribs..."

"An explosive fire. The ophthalmology department is also very busy." The young doctor briefly examined Da Xiong's injuries and immediately said, "Let's go, let's find a place, and I'll take care of him. It doesn't look like anything too serious."

"Okay, okay." The officer immediately called out, "Let's go, hurry!"

Normally, this was the Police Department Hospital. Even if Da Xiong needed to see a doctor, he would have to go through an iron gate and receive treatment in the examination room inside. But today's situation was special. The examination rooms upstairs were full, and all of them were serious offenders who were dealing with fire medicine and illegally manufacturing explosives, so the young doctor took the group into his office area. There was no need to go through an iron gate here, and it was no different from a regular hospital examination room.

After entering the room, the young doctor turned around and asked, "What crime did he commit?"

"Murder," the officer replied.

"Murder?!" The young doctor was stunned.

"He's mentally challenged. It's manslaughter. The other person hit him, and he swung a hammer, and accidentally killed him," the officer explained. "It's not a big deal. He won't be sentenced too heavily."

Hearing this, the young doctor relaxed a little, pointed to the bed, and said, "Take off his shackles, I'll check him first. He'll have to go to the orthopedic and ophthalmology departments later for equipment."

This kind of situation happened from time to time. As long as the suspect needed a CT scan or something, they had to remove the shackles to receive treatment, so the officer bent down with the key and unlocked Da Xiong's shackles, but didn't take them off completely, only leaving one foot chained.

"Hold it up yourself, don't break the ground," the young doctor instructed.

"Ah!" Da Xiong nodded, lifted the shackles with his left hand, bent over and sat on the recliner.

The young doctor examined Da Xiong's injured areas, and the other four officers went to wait at the door.

About fifteen minutes later, the young doctor cleaned Da Xiong's eyes and shouted, "There's nothing wrong with the eyes, just bloodshot from the beating. Take some anti-inflammatory medicine and get two injections. But his ribs hurt, he needs to get a CT scan in orthopedics to see if there are any fractures."

"He needs a CT scan?" the officer asked.

"Of course, he needs one! You guys go get the forms," the young doctor replied.

"Damn it, I didn't even take care of my dad like this when he passed away..." the officer cursed and could only take the receipts and run towards the orthopedic department.

"You guys watch him, I'll go upstairs," the young doctor was also very busy. Seeing that Da Xiong was okay, he turned and walked out of the medical room.

At this moment, Da Xiong was sitting on the recliner, suddenly noticing that due to the time, the number of people in the corridor had decreased, and there were only three officers at the door.

Oppression, despair, confusion, fear, and even resentment, almost all negative emotions flooded into Da Xiong's brain after he saw the situation outside.

Before entering the hospital, Da Xiong had no thoughts of crossing the line, and was even considering how to face those who beat him in the detention center, but at this moment, his thoughts changed uncontrollably.

It seemed like he could escape!

If he escaped, he wouldn't have to face the inmates, guards, and officers who bullied him every day.

If he escaped, he wouldn't be sentenced and sent to that worse, more terrifying prison that people talked about.

If he escaped, maybe he could still find a way to have a full meal and see the bright fireworks on New Year's Eve...

Even if he died, it didn't seem unacceptable, maybe it would even be a relief!

In an instant, a thought that arose in just a moment quickly broke through all the burdens and reason in Da Xiong's mind. He looked down at the shackles on his legs and shouted as if possessed, "Guo...Guo Ge...my...my ribs hurt...too much pain!"

At the doorway, an officer surnamed Guo who was talking to a colleague turned his head upon hearing the shout, "He was just fine, why does it hurt again?"

"This...this...hurts!" Da Xiong pointed at his ribs and shouted, looking up.

"Always causing trouble!" The officer surnamed Guo stepped into the room, bent down and came to Da Xiong. "Take your hand away, let me see what's wrong."

"Bang!!!"

Da Xiong suddenly sprang up and punched the officer in the face. He was too strong, and the officer, who was a head shorter than him, fell to the ground with a thud.

After the man fell, Da Xiong took a step forward, picked up a medical glass bottle from the cabinet, and smashed it down like a slam dunk.

"Crack, shatter!"

The glass bottle shattered on the officer's head, and the latter fainted on the spot.

Da Xiong was very clear-headed. He immediately bent down and pulled the shackle key from the other party's waist.

What happened in these short two or three seconds clearly caught the other two officers at the door off guard. One of them reacted and immediately reached for his gun, "He's running!"

"Bang!"

Da Xiong picked up the iron chair in the room and smashed it out.

The two people at the door instinctively retreated to dodge.

Da Xiong rushed out of the medical room like a wild bear. When he reached the door, the officer on the left reached out to grab his arm, but Da Xiong directly used the momentum of his body to trip the other party to the ground.

The other person had just drawn his gun when Da Xiong grabbed his collar, and with a flick, the latter's body actually spun half a circle in the air around Da Xiong, and then was thrown to the ground.

"Bang!"

Da Xiong pushed open the door to the stairwell and rushed in. He went down half a flight of stairs in two steps and came to the window.

The windows of the previous examination room faced the street and had anti-theft bars, but this side of the stairwell did not, because its location was not inside the iron gate upstairs.

Da Xiong pushed open the window, climbed up nimbly, and jumped without hesitation.

When he landed downstairs, Da Xiong seemed to see nothing, and had no complex thoughts in his mind. He just ran wildly with all his strength.

...

At the Yu family, Su Tianyu shouted to An Qiqi, "Happy New Year!"

"Happy New Year, Gou Liuzi," An Qiqi replied cheerfully, "Happy New Year!"

"???" Su Tianyu squinted at her, "I don't think your address to me is very respectful! Haven't I spanked you enough?"

"Get lost! Don't they all call you that?"