The Gentleman at the End-Chapter 653 - 651: The Criminal from Three Years Ago

In the early hours of the morning,

the thunder had ceased, but a light drizzle continued to fall.

The small county town didn’t have much nightlife to speak of, and the streets were eerily quiet, yet lights—or rather, candles—were lit in every home. The candlelight cast various silhouettes of people in different postures of worship onto the red cloth curtains.

William, Catherine, and little Fangfang sat in the backseat of the official vehicle, while two detectives sat up front.

In ordinary situations like this one, where there was no need to pursue a criminal, the detective with the character for "observe" on his face was responsible for driving, ensuring safety and reliability. However, in emergency situations, the one with "urgency" on his face would take the wheel.

In the passenger footwell, there was a black plastic bag stuffed with the smashed remains of the evil entity, ready to be taken to the crematorium for registration and incineration.

On the dashboard, there was also a small divine statue designated for police cars,

one hand holding a copper coin sword pointing forward, the other dragging a burlap sack as if intending to capture the evil entity within,

For some reason, the face of the statue had been peeled off, covered with a special gauze that reflected changing characters at all times.

As for the shrine and divine statues from the hotel owner’s family, they were all crammed into the trunk,

which was equipped with multiple layers of protection. The inside was plastered with yellow talismans, and the back of the car was sprinkled with black dog blood and adorned with chicken feathers, ensuring utmost safety.

On the way to the county train station,

the urgent character face, who was browsing online in the passenger seat, managed to find the news article from three years ago that William wanted. However, the content reported in the news had been edited and restricted to a minimum, occupying the headlines with scant textual and pictorial description.

"The omniscient net of heaven! The undead murderer finally caught in the web of law!"

On April 4, 2014, the notorious undead murderer—Yi Chen—was surrounded and forcibly captured in ** city. He was taken by national police inspectors to the Supreme Procuratorate for trial, sentenced to death, and executed immediately, with the order for the public execution signed by the president of the Supreme Court.

A fortunate draw allowed five hundred witnesses across the country to come to the execution ground to watch the entire process of the execution over seven days and nights, affirming the last moments of the undead murderer.

The accompanying picture in the news showed the moment the undead murderer was captured, and although his eyes were obscured by a black mosaic, William recognized the man’s identity at a glance.

[Yi Chen]

At this moment, the observing character face who was driving spoke up,

"That year, this undead murderer also passed through Yu Yuan County by chance. At that time, the entire police station was incredibly agitated, claiming to be assisting the investigation from above, but in reality, they didn’t dare to delve too deeply.

Because this guy never cared about the identity of his victims; several high-ranking officers from the municipal and provincial police departments have died at his hands.

While I was still a regular officer back then, I had a different thought,

I figured that if one chooses to serve the public, one naturally has to be prepared to lay down one’s life for others. Even if it means dying, I wanted to collect as many clues as possible and report the situation related to the murderer.

I had stared at the drawing of the murderer numerous times in private, memorizing all the features of his appearance in my head, remembering every detail very clearly.

Whether by coincidence or fate,

during one late-night patrol just when it was about to end, I happened to walk by a bus terminal. Leveraging the observational skills I was known for, I noticed a mysterious dark shadow that seemed to be leaning against the back seat of a bus.

As I was about to shift my flashlight to see what the shadow was, my survival instinct suddenly arrested the movement of my wrist, forcing the rotation of the flashlight to stop.

It was as if just by moving my flashlight over and seeing the face of the person, I would die as a consequence.

Ultimately, driven by biological instinct, I pretended that everything was normal and walked away. However, the sensation of being watched from the back seat of the bus persisted, lasting until I had walked three entire blocks before it completely disappeared.

Although I didn’t see anything, I had an answer in my heart; the dark shadow in the back seat was undoubtedly that murderer.

That’s why I have such a strong impression of him, and over the years, I’ve even had a number of related nightmares.

When I first saw you at the hotel, I was almost rattled. But upon closer inspection, there are many differences; after all, you have quite a few foreign traits, and your eyes are completely different too."

William feigned ignorance in response, "Looking at the breakthrough in the news, he does seem a bit like me... by the way, how many people has this guy actually killed?"

"How could I, a county police officer, know such top-secret information? But from discussions with coworkers, I can confirm that he’s killed at least a hundred people... However, there’s a rumor.

Although most people don’t believe it, after that night, I do believe it,

The rumor says that the undead murderer targeted people who possessed a certain degree of ’evilness’—that is, those whose hearts weren’t pure, who were prone to breeding evil,

or those who had already bred evil but disguised it well—they were the ones who became his victims."

Because among the people he had killed, many of the victims had been found to be involved in activities that couldn’t withstand the light of day, big and small.

He seemed to be able to see through everyone’s "mask."

Just like that night at the bus station, I felt as if my physical being, my heart, and the thoughts in my brain were all seen through, as though I could die at any moment.

But I didn’t die,

and reflecting on that night’s events, my certainty that I was going to die was entirely due to the description of the killer in the case file and the psychological pressure, layer upon layer.

In fact, I didn’t feel any killing intent on the bus, it was more of a warning."

William stroked his chin, murmuring softly, "Killing only those who could become evil?"

"No one takes that claim seriously; in everyone’s eyes, it’s nothing more than a madman who kills indiscriminately."

William continued to inquire, "Since he’s known as the ’Undead Murderer,’ he must possess some undead trait, right? Did such a fellow really die in the end?"

"At least those five hundred people who came from all over the country to witness the execution said he died, but whether he’s really dead or not... it’s unclear... At least, from that time onward, the Undead Murderer never appeared in society again.

Many similar cases emerged afterward, but their methods were relatively crude, and they were quickly identified as the work of imitators. Each one a die-hard fan of the Undead Murderer, even wishing for the court to execute them in the same public manner.

Since he never reappeared, whether he’s dead or alive isn’t important anymore."

"Hmm. This ’Undead Characteristic’ of the Undead Murderer comes from a divine statue, doesn’t it? Can you still find such statues on the market?" William seized the opportunity to ask a question he was most concerned about.

"I’m not sure about that.

But the one he had contact with should have been categorized as a ’Forbidden Image’ by the state, a vessel for a deity that very few besides him could kneel before and survive.

Even if someone received a blessing from such a forbidden image, they would become like the living dead, utterly unable to maintain human integrity as he did.

’Forbidden Images’ are strictly controlled by the state; we police can’t touch them, and they’re generally seen in high-level research institutes or special areas."

"Hmm."

At this point in the conversation, Elbow-faced in the passenger seat nudged his neighbor, Checker-faced, with his elbow to signal that he had said a bit too much.

[Yu Yuan Train Station]

Four soft sleeper tickets were handed to William with a warning: "All four tickets are in one room, so no strangers will interact with you. Try not to cause trouble, and get off the train at the terminal station or any station along the way."

"Thank you, and see you again if there’s a chance."

"Better not—we’ve got a lot of cases to deal with."

After parting with the detectives, William and his group boarded the green train and found their assigned compartment.

Locking the door,

drawing the curtains,

as the train started moving, Fangfang unloaded a child’s backpack that had come from who-knows-where, taking out a ’Fertility Guanyin’ adorned with yellow talismans.

The two detectives drove back to the police station, and when they opened the rear compartment of the car, they suddenly felt something was off, as if the space had been slightly altered.

The shrine bound by ink strings was still there, but the divine statue inside had vanished, leaving behind a letter.

≮I’m borrowing the divine statue for a bit; I’ll certainly return it if there’s a chance in the future≯

"Well done—using a chat to distract us and then switching it out using the one who can alter geometric space, one of ’The Others,’ even managing to fool the barrier I set up... and considerately leaving a note."

"Should we pursue? We might catch up." Elbow-faced was already seated in the driver’s seat.

"No need... let them take it. After all, the incident in the urban village was something the old chief dealt with before, and dredging it up now would only bring us a lot of trouble.

Although I was certainly distracted by the chat, I was also observing them the whole time.

The lady had some malevolence and paranoia in her face, but also mixed with a bit of kindness and naivety.

And the fellow named William probably won’t do anything bad... Let’s leave this matter as it is, and go back to rest."

The sourc𝗲 of this content is fre(e)novelkiss