Chapter 38

Outside the hospital's wall was the Chunzhi Street area, and at the base of the wall was a pile of debris, like a staircase, but it was difficult to spot because of a clump of trees nearby.

This "shortcut" was created by the families of patients who rented in Chunzhi Street to make it easier to deliver meals to the patients. The stepping stones inside and outside the walls were deliberately placed by the families.

When Chang Ting searched up to this point, his vision was blocked by the bushes and he didn't see the pile of debris. He simply turned south along the wall and looked for the gate in the opposite direction, and missed it.

Song Zhou successfully arrived outside the hospital wall.

With his hands in his pockets, he walked through the alleys and streets of the tenant area and arrived at the archway at the intersection of Chunzhi Street.

From the seventh floor of the ward building to here, the entire route had been carefully surveyed to make sure that no surveillance camera could capture his figure.

The first surveillance camera is located under the eaves of the old archway.

After leaving Chunzhi Street, he walked towards Linhuai Road at a leisurely pace. His shoulders swayed a little as he walked, and his cold and sharp eyes swept to both sides from time to time.

This kind of somewhat dissolute and threatening characteristic would never appear on "Song Zhou".

He turned onto Linhuai Road from a side road, and a silver-gray Hyundai passed him. Seeing the license plate clearly, Song Zhou's eyes flashed with a smile.

It was Xu Candong's car, and it arrived as promised.

A sneer flickered across Song Zhou's eyes. The timing was perfect.

This was no coincidence. He had such a precise grasp of the situation because he had been watching Xu Candong for far longer than Qin Xiuzhu had. He knew his lifestyle like the back of his hand. He even knew Xu Candong better than Qin Xiuzhu did.

He knew that Xu Candong was fond of gambling and the casino he often went to was in an alley ahead.

According to observation, even if the sky falls, Xu Candong will not be able to hold it in for more than three days. Today is the third day that the anchors have been besieging his home. Xu Candong is afraid that he will not be able to leave the house in the first half of the night, but the anchors will also leave in the second half of the night, which must be the time for Xu Candong to leave the nest.

He also knew that the surveillance in this area had been out of order for years.

In front of it was a water station. It had long since closed, and a few empty buckets lay outside. Every night, there were empty buckets outside the entrance of this water station that hadn't been collected in time.

He picked one up and quickened his pace. His left hand, which was in his pocket, held a syringe with anesthetic in the needle.

There was no streetlight at the entrance of the alley ahead. In the dim light, one could vaguely see a silver-gray sedan parked by the side of the road, its lights off, and a dark shadow standing in front of the car.

Is it Xu Candong?

If Xu Candong wasn't in a hurry to go gamble, why was he standing next to the car?

Song Zhou was a little confused, so he slowed down and took shelter behind a telephone pole. He could vaguely see that it was a man dressed as a maintenance worker.

The mechanic opened the hood of the car and seemed to be busy with something. Song Zhou heard the sound of the car engine starting, but the car did not move and the headlights did not come on.

After a while, the maintenance worker carried a bucket of purified water and entered the alley.

A bucket of pure water exactly the same as the one in Song Zhou's hand!

Song Zhou had a bad feeling.

After the repairman disappeared, Song Zhou quickly walked to the side of the car and saw that the hood was still open, with a thin tube pulled out of the fuel tank and hanging in front of the car.

He was shocked. This was the method he had intended to use to extract the oil!

His original plan was to follow Xu Candong into the alley, knock him out with an anesthetic needle, and get the car keys from him.

Then he went back to Xu Candong's car, unscrewed the oil inlet pipe connecting the fuel tank and the engine, and inserted the pipe mouth into the empty bucket.

Then use the car key to start the car, and the oil in the tank will flow into the bucket along the pipe. Half a bucket is enough.

Then he turned off the car, returned to the alley with the barrel of oil, and threatened to burn Xu Candong to death, forcing him to reveal something.

Who stole my idea?

Song Zhou, bewildered, tiptoed along the wall of the alley. Not daring to get too close, his shadow blending into the black clothing as he watched from afar.

Xu Candong had obviously been injected with an anesthetic. He fell to the ground, but he was not completely unconscious. He struggled to crawl to the wall, but he didn't have the strength to stand up.

The "repairman" stood in front of him, wearing gray-blue work clothes and a work hat of the same color.

Xu Candong twisted at the foot of the wall like a drugged rat, trying hard to raise his head and open his eyes, trying to see the other person's face clearly.

"You..." The words came out vaguely from his numb mouth.

"Long time no see." The man's voice was eerie.

Fear flashed in Xu Candong's eyes: "What do you want to do..."

The repairman didn't answer. He bent his knees and half-knelt in front of Xu Candong. He stretched out his hand wearing white work gloves, took out the cigarette case and lighter from Xu Candong's pocket, and then took out Xu Candong's mobile phone and put it in his own pocket.

Then, amid Xu Candong's terrified gasps like a bellows, he picked up a bucket of pure water and poured the liquid inside all over Xu Candong's head.

When Xu Candong tasted the gasoline, he must have thought of the experience of "Xu San" in the comics. He wanted to escape in fear and call for help, but under the influence of the anesthetic, he could only twist his body in the oil stains, making a low hissing sound in his throat.

The maintenance man threw the empty bucket aside, took a few steps back, took a cigarette from the box, and pulled his mask down a little to reveal his face.

Song Zhou, who was hiding in the distance, could only vaguely see his silhouette.

The maintenance man brought the cigarette to his nose and took a deep sniff.

"I haven't smoked in a long time. That person is too strict and doesn't allow me to smoke. Today I can take the opportunity to have one."

He held the filter in his mouth, lit it with a silver lighter, took a deep puff, and the cigarette butt lit up.

Holding a cigarette, he took out Xu Candong's mobile phone, shook it in front of Xu Candong's face, successfully unlocked the face, and retreated beyond the oil stain again.

"I have to record a video for you. Just say what you should say, don't say what you shouldn't say. Otherwise..." He raised the cigarette in his hand and hung it above the oil stain.

"No, no... I'll say whatever you tell me to say..." Xu Candong stiffened his neck and tried his best to speak.

"Very good. Just pretend that the person standing before you is Feng Xumei, and tell her how you killed her. Come on."

The maintenance worker turned on the video, holding the mobile phone in one hand with the camera aimed at Xu Candong, and holding the cigarette above the oil stain in the other hand.

Then he raised his chin and motioned for him to start.

Gasoline dripped down Xu Candong's hair. He bulged his eyes and cried, hoarsely saying:

"Teacher Feng, I'm sorry... That night, I... I hit you on the head with a rock and hid you in the women's restroom stall. You weren't dead yet... I went to the warehouse to get gasoline... and hid it in the restroom too... The next day... when the police came, I pretended to look for you and took the opportunity to set the fire, burning you to death... I told the police you were crazy and set the fire... I was wrong... Let me go..."

The repairman nodded with satisfaction and hit the stop button. "Very good."

Xu Candong looked at him and kept repeating desperately: "Let me go, let me go..."

The repairman ignored him, cigarette between his lips, and fiddled with his phone. "I can only do one thing for you—post this video to your video account... Oops, your account is blocked? You're really useless. Post it to the homeowners group in your neighborhood."

Xu Candong tried hard not to fall down, and suddenly gritted his teeth: "You... why did you do this to me... I killed Prisoner Feng because of you..."

The maintenance man shook his finger. "Don't be so rude. I didn't ask you to kill her. I just told her to shut up."

Xu Candong's breath was filled with tears: "That's not the same thing! I obey you like a dog... Why?"

The repairman chuckled. "Haven't you already given me the answer? Because you're a dog. A dog's life, and you say I don't care?"

Xu Candong showed an extremely terrified expression: "Please... I will listen to you, let me go..."

The maintenance worker sighed, his tone somewhat cheerful. "It's not that I don't want to give you a chance to live. It's mainly because keeping an idiot like you around will ruin everything."

With a flick of his finger, the cigarette flew out, and the cigarette butt drew a fluorescent red arc: "Happy rebirth."

With a loud bang, Xu Candong was engulfed in flames. He instantly woke up from the pain, but was still unable to stand up. He could only roar hoarsely and slowly roll around like a charred worm.