After hearing this, Qi Xia immediately took out a lighter from his pocket. This was lent to him by Xiaoxiao. He lit the lighter and reached his hand over.
Officer Li froze for a moment, then cupped the flame with his blood-covered left hand and leaned in to light the cigarette. A moment later, he patted Qi Xia's hand. Hoo— Exhaling a thick cloud of smoke, Officer Li looked a bit more relaxed.
"That feels good," Officer Li smiled.
"Now I'm not even afraid of dying."
"What do you want to tell me?"
Qi Xia sat down across from Officer Li, looking at him rather seriously. Officer Li did not answer, but instead asked, "Qi Xia, how did Tian Tian and Qiao Jiajin die?"
"They were murdered," Qi Xia answered without hesitation.
"Yesterday after noon, they were beaten to death by the owner of this lighter."
After speaking, he handed the lighter over, pressing it into Officer Li's hand. Officer Li looked down at the green plastic lighter, his eyes filled with a sense of loss.
"Is that right..."
He looked up and said to Qi Xia, "When that person killed Qiao Jiajin and Tian Tian... was there anything strange?"
"Anything strange?"
Qi Xia stroked his chin and gathered his thoughts. There were simply too many strange things. He briefly organized his words and told Officer Li everything that happened yesterday afternoon from beginning to end.
This included the woman's bizarre body shape and her baffling act of poisoning. Finally, Qi Xia added, "Oh right, before and after she killed them, I heard a bell ring both times." Hearing this, Officer Li raised his cigarette and shakily took another deep drag.
After exhaling clouds of smoke, he said, "When the bell rang, I happened to be right in front of that giant display screen."
"What?"
"That loud bell rang right next to my ear. It made me think the whole world had exploded," Officer Li joked.
"Do you know what was written on the screen?"
Qi Xia then remembered that the screen would sometimes display words for no reason, so he asked, "What did it say?"
"I heard the echo of Shifting the Blame," Officer Li said, enunciating every word.
"Shifting the Blame?"
Qi Xia muttered to himself in thought.
"Before it was Disaster's Call, and this time it is Shifting the Blame..."
Officer Li handed the last remaining cigarette in his pack to Qi Xia.
"Want one?"
Qi Xia nodded and reached out to take the cigarette. Officer Li lit it for him with his left hand.
"I knew you smoked," Officer Li said with his cigarette dangling from his mouth, tossing the lighter to Qi Xia.
"Smoking is the best when you have to use your brain, right?"
Qi Xia did not answer. After catching the lighter, he took a drag of the slightly moldy cigarette. When cigarettes are left sitting for a long time, their taste becomes harsh.
This one was no exception.
"I haven't smoked in many years," Qi Xia said.
"Yeah, quitting smoking is good," Officer Li nodded.
"Quitting smoking is good for your health..."
He paused after he spoke, and the two fell into silence. The two of them slowly exhaled smoke, just like classmates hiding in the bathroom to smoke together back in their school days.
"What about the second time the bell rang?"
Qi Xia asked.
"Were there new words on the screen?"
"No," Officer Li shook his head with the cigarette in his mouth.
"When the bell rang the second time, those words disappeared."
Qi Xia stared thoughtfully at the cigarette in his hand, still feeling that things were quite bizarre.
"What does this actually mean?"
Qi Xia asked.
"That bell is not a death toll at all, but some other kind of warning."
"I will leave that problem for you to figure out," Officer Li leaned helplessly against the wall, smoking his final cigarette.
"I am just telling you what I saw. You have a better chance of surviving here than I do."
"Why?"
Qi Xia asked with a hint of reluctance.
"Why can't you survive here?"
"Because I am a cop," Officer Li smiled and raised his severed right arm.
"I lost this arm to save Lawyer Zhang. I could have completely ignored him, but I cannot just stand by and watch someone die. But you are different... Qi Xia, you have no baggage."
Qi Xia seemed to understand what Officer Li meant. From the very beginning, this man wanted to save everyone. He stuck to his principles from start to finish, and they never changed.
These principles would end up getting him killed here. Qi Xia nodded with a heavy expression and asked, "You asking me to stay back alone couldn't have been just to tell me these things, right?"
"Right..."
Officer Li's face grew even paler.
"Qi Xia, I have a secret in my heart that I have never told anyone to this day. I do not want to take this secret to my grave, so I have to say it before I die."
"Then why me?"
Qi Xia asked in confusion.
"You could have clearly told Lawyer Zhang."
"Because just like him, you are a con man..."
Officer Li shook his head with a bitter smile.
"Even though the two of you are nothing alike, if you really think about it, this seems to be a twist of fate."
Hearing this, Qi Xia raised his cigarette and took a deep drag, then said, "Go ahead and speak. I am listening." Officer Li stared blankly ahead as he slowly told his true story.
For a full ten minutes, Qi Xia listened quietly until he had explained everything. Qi Xia's eyes constantly flickered, as if he had just heard something completely unbelievable.
"Officer Li... so you actually told a lie this massive during the first game?" he asked, his lips trembling slightly.
Qi Xia had only felt that Officer Li's story back then was a bit bizarre, but he never expected him to use such a monumental lie to cover it all up.
"Yes," Officer Li's eyes instantly turned red.
"It is the greatest mistake I have made in my life..."
"Just a mistake?!"
Qi Xia stood up with a frown, all of his previous respect for Officer Li completely gone.
"You were in cahoots with that con man, constantly trying to figure out a way to help him get away, yet you lied to us and said you were on a stakeout at the time...? Even though I am no model citizen, the thing I despise the most in this life is a dirty cop."
Officer Li tilted his head back, and hot tears rolled down his face.
"Yeah, a dirty cop..."
Officer Li gave a bitter smile.
"When I came here, I was not surprised, because I felt that this was my trial..."
"What..."
Qi Xia furrowed his brows tightly, staring coldly at Officer Li.
"Maybe my dying here is just atonement..."
The moment Officer Li stopped speaking, the booming sound of a bell suddenly echoed from the distance.
Clang!!
Qi Xia turned to look outside, his face full of shock. Why did the bell ring again? What words were written on the screen this time?
Acting as if he had heard nothing, Officer Li stretched out a trembling hand, picked up the empty cigarette pack from the ground, and pulled out a cigarette from inside. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a metal lighter. Under Qi Xia's incredulous gaze, Officer Li lit the cigarette again, a relieved smile appearing on his face.
He then slowly lowered his head and seemingly muttered to himself, "Qi Xia, my death will be my atonement..." Qi Xia froze. He looked at the perfectly pristine cigarette in his mouth and felt that the situation was incredibly bizarre.
"Hey... Li Shangwu, don't die just yet..."
Qi Xia rushed to Officer Li's side and dropped to his knees, only to find that he was no longer breathing. That cigarette was still dangling from his mouth, and in his hand, he held a rather old ZIPPO lighter.