Chapter 368: Deserved Retribution?

Xiao Yu glanced around, feeling frustrated. There was no Skyeye surveillance.

Even in a city, the public camera network only covered about 65–75% of the area. There were many blind spots. In places like the capital or Shanghai, coverage might be 80%. However, achieving 100% coverage of an entire city was impossible.

“Coincidence? Or a deliberately chosen location?”

Xiao Yu’s thoughts were twisting in knots. The grassland wolf attack was certain, and human involvement also seemed certain. The problem now was that human involvement was too broad—essentially split into two main types: deliberate or accidental.

Deliberate was easy enough to understand.

For accidental, there were too many variables. But it would differ completely from an intentional crime.

What made the current wolf attack so puzzling was that Xiao Yu couldn’t imagine how someone could command a wolf to kill a person two hundred meters away. This wasn’t like commanding a dog—an owner shouting “Go bite him.” 

That was two hundred meters of distance. Even more crucial, how would the wolf identify its target? Random biting? No. 

From the surveillance, the wolf’s assault was very precise, rushing straight for the victim, Cao Xude, and finishing in under two minutes before fleeing.

“Boss, did you see anything?” Guo Qiang and the others approached him.

‘Honestly, I haven’t come up with any brilliant leads,’ Xiao Yu thought, his teeth clenching. 

If he admitted that, would it tarnish the tall, mighty image his colleagues had of him?

“Check the outskirts,” Xiao Yu decided. “If someone really raised a grassland wolf, they likely wouldn’t do it in the city. It’d be too risky. Also, look into the major fresh-meat markets for anyone frequently buying large amounts of raw meat. Investigate the victim, Cao Xude. If this was done on purpose, no one would kill for no reason. There are only so many psychos and lunatics in the world.”

Through their inquiries, something unexpected popped up with the victim’s wife.

***

Victim’s Home.

“My husband was murdered!” a woman wept as she yelled at Xiao Yu and the others.

Her name was Cui Ning, age forty. She was the victim’s wife, though she and the victim had only formed their family later—meeting and marrying seven years ago, with no children.

“Why are you so certain your husband was murdered?” Xiao Yu asked, meeting her gaze.

When Cao Xude died, Cui Ning had gone to the scene and saw her husband. She knew he’d been killed by a wolf. Yet now, she was insisting he had been murdered. 

Didn’t that seem odd?

“I just know,” she sobbed. “All along, my husband told me if one day he died, it had to be someone who killed him. He also told me if he died, I should go on living well. He said it would be… deserved retribution!”

‘Deserved retribution?’ Xiao Yu’s eyes opened wide. ‘If you put it that way, then I’m intrigued.’ 

What kind of person would say they themselves deserve retribution? 

What had the victim, Cao Xude, done in the past?

“Do you know what your husband did before, or why he’d say that?” Xiao Yu pressed.

“I don’t know. Some things he never told me.” Tears streamed down her face. “But he treated me so well, really, really well. Why…why would anyone want to kill him?!”

‘Maybe it wasn’t killing, maybe it was revenge.’ 

Xiao Yu’s expression grew complicated. Otherwise, why would a person say they deserved retribution? 

It seemed Cao Xude had known all along he might die.

After that, the Criminal Investigation Brigade launched a thorough probe into the victim’s past.

***

Xiao Yu quietly pushed open the front door at home, only to be met by a pair of sharp eyes and a gun barrel, aimed right at him.

“It’s me.”

He quickly smiled at the corner of the living room. Those lethal vibes and the gun muzzle vanished. Bai Ting stepped out of the shadows.

“Get some rest,” Xiao Yu said softly.

“Mm.” Bai Ting nodded and went to a room.

Watching her go upstairs, Xiao Yu smirked. A retired special operative carrying a gun was interesting. Whatever it was, at least with Bai Ting around, his wife was safe.

After washing up in the guest bathroom, Xiao Yu tiptoed into the master bedroom. Ever since becoming pregnant, Mu Qingwu’s sleep had been poor, and she was easily startled. Yet as if sensing his presence, she opened her eyes just as he reached the bedside.

“Wow, perfect timing. Sis, are you getting up to use the bathroom, or are you hungry?”

Mu Qingwu, “…”

Her initial look of surprise turned into a small eye roll. She stretched out her arms. “Hug me!”

“Hug time!”

He climbed onto the bed, pulled her into his arms, and planted a light kiss on her lips. The next moment, she latched onto his neck, biting him.

“Ow!” Feigning pain, Xiao Yu asked, “Why’d you bite me?”

“The baby bullies me, so I’m taking it out on you,” Mu Qingwu said with a mischievous flutter of her eyes. “Makes sense, right?”

“Uh…” Xiao Yu didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “Isn’t that a bit of twisted logic?”

“But I don’t think so.” Pillowed against her younger brother’s arm, Mu Qingwu said sweetly. “Friendship and love go both ways. Right now, I feel like bullying you, and you happen to like being bullied by me. Isn’t that it?”

She made it sound so plausible. Xiao Yu wanted to cry. If it wasn’t happening to me, I’d find it hilarious.

“Tell me a story, put me to sleep.”

Mu Qingwu didn’t care if her bad brother wept or not. She was in a good mood and would sleep well tonight.

“How about… a Hans Christian Andersen tale?” Xiao Yu’s eyes shifted. “Once upon a time, there was a little girl who sold nuclear bombs. She never sold a single one, plus she was really cold, so she detonated one. At that moment, everyone in the village got to see her grandma!”

Mu Qingwu, “…”

‘Are we sure this is Andersen, not Ann·Destroy Town?’

Her smile became a silent stare at her smugly grinning, mischief-loving younger brother. Then she bit into his neck again.

It hurt, but Xiao Yu was happy, grinning through the sting.

Sure, marriage is like a grave, but there’s nothing to be afraid of. If we men dare to jump in, we’re not planning on getting out alive.