Chapter 164: Why Should I?

The police sirens wailed.

Inside the speeding police car on the road,

“Gu Yunfeng, male, 47 years old, resident of this city. He has spent many years working away from home, but the specifics of his work are unclear. However, by tracking the use of his identification records, it was found that over the past twenty years, he has been to many places across the country, mostly in remote areas. No criminal record.”

As Guo Qiang read through the personal file on his tablet, he reported the details to Xiao Yu.

Xiao Yu’s mind remained in high gear. He constantly analyzed and reflected on the information Guo Qiang provided.

Logical reasoning isn’t exclusively for the exceptionally smart—it can be developed over time, much like problem-solving. Once familiar with a particular thought process, the brain naturally begins to use it for analysis.

When Guo Qiang presented the suspect’s file, Xiao Yu’s first thought was that Gu Yunfeng, like Jia Zhen, might have been involved in illegal tomb raiding in the past. This would explain why the weapon used to kill Jia Zhen was a military shovel.

Continuing along this line of reasoning, why would two individuals involved in tomb raiding coincidentally end up in the same city? 

Did they know each other? Was it possible they were familiar with each other’s work?

Otherwise, why would one tomb raider go out of his way to kill another tomb raider?

Further reasoning led to new questions. 

Could it be that the reason the Gu father and daughter discovered their enemies were Che Feiting and Jia Yanli was because of Jia Zhen? Was it just a coincidence?

Because Jia Yanli was Jia Zhen’s sister.

Reversing the logic, could Jia Zhen’s decision to steal his sister’s body have been influenced by information he learned from Gu Yunfeng? Did he find out from Gu Yunfeng that his sister’s death wasn’t due to natural causes?

Maybe Gu Yunfeng initially shared this secret with Jia Zhen by fabricating a lie. 

Perhaps he claimed that he heard from his daughter, who was working as a housemaid, that Jia Yanli’s death might have been a murder, and he informed Jia Zhen about it.

The goal? 

He might have wanted Jia Zhen to stir up trouble and push the police to perform an autopsy and discover the true cause of death. But things didn’t go as planned. Jia Zhen not only caused a commotion but also tried to claim his sister’s inheritance.

Jia Zhen then stole his sister’s body to intimidate Che Feiting, which inadvertently disrupted the plans of the Gu father and daughter.

So, this led Gu Yunfeng to track down Jia Zhen, kill him, and thereby lead the police to discover Jia Yanli’s body.

Was that how this case played out?

Reasoning through a case was like constructing a narrative—making educated guesses, hypothesizing, and imagining scenarios. It was not about wild speculation but about crafting a plausible sequence of events. You made bold assumptions, carefully verified them, and ultimately uncovered the truth.

***

Boom!

The door to Gu Yunfeng’s house was kicked open, and the detectives stormed in with their guns drawn.

But no one was home.

Xiao Yu, frowning, stepped inside and used his “Monarch Butterfly Nose” to memorize the scent of the place. Then, he activated his “Wax Moth Ears” to confirm that no one was hiding, deepening his contemplation.

‘If I were Gu Yunfeng, what would I want to do right now? Wait for the police to find out the truth from Jia Yanli’s body? Wait for Che Feiting’s downfall? After going through so much, how could I rest until I saw my enemy destroyed?’

The “Monarch Butterfly Nose” detected that Gu Yunfeng hadn’t returned home after the murder. The scent made it clear. After killing someone, he would definitely carry the smell of blood.

So, where would you hide… Xiao Yu stepped out of the Gu family home.

His mind was racing, considering one possibility after another. 

‘If I were finally about to avenge my late wife, where would I most want to go? The cemetery… to offer some solace to her spirit.’

***

When Xiao Yu and his team arrived at a certain cemetery, it was clear that Gu Yunfeng had been there. His scent lingered in the air.

But he wasn’t there anymore. Where would he have gone next?

‘Is he going… to find his daughter?’ Xiao Yu blinked, thinking, ‘Did you finally realize something was off?’

About twenty minutes later, Xiao Yu entered an apartment building and once again picked up Gu Yunfeng’s scent, along with a faint smell of blood.

Following the scent up the stairs, Xiao Yu made his way to the fifth floor. He stopped at the door of the suspect Che Feiting’s apartment.

He entered the code on the electronic lock.

The door opened, and Xiao Yu stepped inside. The smell grew stronger.

He slowly walked over to the sofa and glanced briefly at the large window in the living room. No, to be precise, he glanced at the floor-length curtains. He then sat down on the sofa.

“I’ve always had one question I couldn’t figure out,” Xiao Yu said, pulling out a cigarette, lighting it, and taking a drag. “Why go to such extremes? Why not call the police once you found them? You sacrificed your daughter, and now you’re about to sacrifice yourself. Just how deep does your hatred for them run?”

There was no response.

Aside from Xiao Yu’s voice and the sound of his cigarette, the living room was eerily silent.

“The police fully investigated Che Feiting and Jia Yanli’s situation,” Xiao Yu exhaled a puff of smoke, his voice calm. “There’s no need to go looking for your daughter. She’s currently in police custody. You killed Jia Zhen to make sure the police would find Jia Yanli’s body… and you’ve succeeded. But I can tell you this with certainty. Che Feiting’s crimes aren’t severe enough for the death penalty. For the hit-and-run that resulted in a death years ago, the maximum sentence is seven years or more. Adding in the poisoning of his wife, concealing the crime, and providing false evidence even if you stack it all together, the most he could get is life in prison. He won’t die.”

“No!”

A furious roar erupted, like the howl of a wild wolf.

A figure burst out from behind the curtains, brandishing a short engineer shovel. Its blade flashed as it slashed toward Xiao Yu, who was still seated on the sofa.

Was it necessary?

Xiao Yu stood up and swung his leg in a horizontal kick.

Thud!

His leg whipped across, connecting with the attacker’s head.

With his expertise in combat, Xiao Yu could have snapped the man’s neck with a full-strength kick. If he had used the Bear’s Strength ability, he could have crushed the man’s skull.

But…

Xiao Yu had held back, using only normal force and pulling back most of his power.

The man collapsed onto the living room floor.

After all, the man was nearly fifty years old. The kick left him dazed, unable to get up for quite some time.

Xiao Yu looked down at him—at Gu Yunfeng—with a calm expression.

After a long moment, Gu Yunfeng regained his senses and looked up at Xiao Yu. His eyes were filled with a mix of madness and despair, glowing red with fury.

In those eyes, Xiao Yu saw the gaze of a cornered, raging beast.

“Why? Why did my wife have to die so horribly? Why do they get to live? You tell me, why?” Gu Yunfeng roared like a wild animal, his voice hoarse and filled with rage.

Xiao Yu paused, looking at the man before him, who was consumed by pain and despair. Even someone as composed as Xiao Yu couldn’t help but feel a twinge of emotion.

Hate to the extreme turns a person into a madman.

That was exactly what this man had become.