Courtyard House: First, kill the hypocrites, leave none alive.

When Director Wang opened the door, his hands were still shaking.

Today, when she went to the police station to report the situation, Officer Zhang's expression turned frighteningly grave after listening to her account. "Director Wang, if what you said is true, then Jia Dongxu is a prime suspect. But do you have any evidence? Besides Yi Zhonghai's confession?"

She couldn't produce any evidence. The bloodstains on the floral cotton-padded jacket only proved that someone was injured, not that it was Chen Xiaoyu, much less that it was Jia Dongxu. As for Yi Zhonghai's testimony? A cripple with a missing hand, and emotionally unstable, his testimony was highly unreliable.

Officer Zhang concluded by saying, "We will continue our investigation, but you should also be careful. Chen Feng might come looking for you again."

This question left Director Wang unsettled all day. The three-day deadline had passed. Would Chen Feng come? When? How would he come?

She went inside, locked the door behind her, and checked the windows again to make sure they were all closed before letting out a sigh of relief. She turned on the light, and the dim yellow light illuminated the small room.

Then she saw that person.

Chen Feng sat in her chair, staring at her expressionlessly. A dagger lay on the table, its blade gleaming coldly in the lamplight.

"Ah!" Director Wang exclaimed sharply, instinctively turning around to run outside.

"Director Wang, the three days have passed." Chen Feng's voice was calm, so calm it was chilling.

Just as Director Wang touched the doorknob, she heard the sound of a chair moving behind her. She turned around and saw that Chen Feng had already stood up, holding the dagger in his hand.

"Do you think you're faster, or am I faster?" Chen Feng asked.

The blade traced an arc under the light, resting firmly against Director Wang's neck. The icy touch instantly made Director Wang's legs go weak; had she not been leaning against the door, she would have almost collapsed to her knees.

"No...don't kill me," Director Wang's voice trembled uncontrollably, "I don't know anything! I really don't know anything!"

"You don't know?" Chen Feng sneered, the blade gently pressing against my skin. "If it weren't for you, would Yi Zhonghai dare to act so arrogantly in this courtyard? What were you doing when Qin Huairu framed me? What were you doing when my house caught fire? What were you doing when the Jia family seized my family's property? What were you doing when my sister went missing?"

With each question, he pressed the knife deeper: "Since she disappeared, have you even gone to look for her once? Hmm?"

Director Wang was drenched in sweat; the back of her shirt was soaked. She definitely hadn't. After the fire, she only went to the courtyard house once, accepted Yi Zhonghai's money, and then ruled it an accident. As for Chen Xiaoyu? She didn't care at all. Where could a fifteen-year-old girl go if she disappeared? Maybe she ran off to play and would be back in a few days.

But she never expected that the little girl's brother would come back and become a ruthless avenger.

"I...I was wrong..." Director Wang cried, "Chen Feng, please forgive me! I'll help you find your sister! I'll mobilize everyone in the neighborhood to help you find her!"

"It's too late." Chen Feng's voice was as cold as ice. "Tell me everything you know."

Director Wang began to speak, her voice trembling. She recounted how Yi Zhonghai bribed her, how Jia Dongxu hinted at wanting the Chen family's house, and how the people in the compound jointly wrote a letter demanding severe punishment for Chen Feng. She said that at the time, she felt it was better to avoid trouble, and after accepting the money, she turned a blind eye.

"After the fire, Yi Zhonghai gave me fifty yuan and told me to treat it as an accident. I said the fire started suspiciously, and he said everyone in the yard could testify that it was an accident... so I believed him..."

"What about Jia Dongxu? What does he have to do with the fire?"

"Yi Zhonghai said...that he saw Jia Dongxu carrying a kerosene can out of your house..." Director Wang said, "But that's what Yi Zhonghai said; I didn't see it with my own eyes..."

Where is my sister?

"I really don't know!" Director Wang cried out. "Yi Zhonghai said he saw her climb over the wall and run away, and Jia Dongxu chased after her... Later, Jia Dongxu came back with blood-stained clothes in his hand... but he didn't admit it..."

Chen Feng listened without any expression on his face. He had guessed most of it, and hearing it from Director Wang only confirmed his suspicions.

"Are you done talking?" he asked.

Director Wang nodded frantically: "I've told you everything I know! Chen Feng, please let me go! I promise, I'll help you find your sister! I'll testify for you and get Jia Dongxu locked up!"

Chen Feng stared at her for a long time before finally saying, "Fine, you can die now."

Director Wang froze, then shook his head frantically: "No! Don't kill me! You said you wouldn't kill me if I told you!"

"Did I say that?" Chen Feng tilted his head. "I only said to tell you what you know. I didn't say I wouldn't kill you."

"You...you can't do this!" Director Wang tried to back away, but there was a door behind him, leaving him nowhere to retreat. "Chen Feng, murder is a crime! You've already been sentenced to three years; another murder would be the death penalty!"

"The death penalty?" Chen Feng laughed, a cold and desperate laugh. "My parents are dead, my sister is missing, my life is ruined. Do you think I care about the death penalty?"

He took a step forward, the blade pressed firmly against Director Wang's neck: "How can someone like you be changed? Answer me!"

Director Wang opened his mouth, but couldn't utter a word.

"Only death," Chen Feng answered for her.

He didn't waste any more words and exerted force with his wrist.

The blade sliced ​​through her carotid artery, and blood gushed out. Director Wang's eyes widened, and she clutched her neck with both hands, but blood still seeped through her fingers. She opened her mouth to say something, but could only make a "hoarse" sound as blood trickled from the corner of her mouth, staining her clothes red.

Chen Feng watched as she slowly slid to the ground, her body twitching a few times before finally going still. Blood spread across the floor like a strange flower.

He didn't leave immediately. He walked to the table, picked up a towel, and carefully wiped the bloodstains from the dagger. His movements were slow and deliberate, as if he were doing something very important.

After wiping the knife, he threw the towel on the body. Then he began searching the room.

Director Wang's house wasn't big, but it had a lot of stuff. There were nearly new clothes in the closet, various tickets and certificates in the drawers, and a tin box hidden under the bed. Chen Feng opened the box; inside was a thick wad of cash—over three hundred yuan. There were also gold rings and silver bracelets—all the gifts he'd received over the years.

He packed his money and valuables into a cloth bag, and also found some food coupons and cloth coupons. Finally, he took a bag of flour and a few eggs from the kitchen—he needed energy to escape, and these would provide him with some nutrition.

After doing all this, Chen Feng stood at the door and took one last look at the scene inside the room.

Director Wang lay on the ground, his eyes still open, dying with unfinished business. A large pool of blood had formed, staining half the ground red. The dim light shone on everything, creating an unreal atmosphere.

How many is this?

Qin Huairu, Yi Zhonghai (though he didn't die), is now Director Wang.

There are still many people.

Jia Dongxu, Sha Zhu, Xu Damao, Liu Guangtian, Yan Jiecheng... all those who participated in framing him that night, all those who took advantage of the Chen family's misfortune.

Not a single one will be left.

Chen Feng pushed open the door, walked out, and gently closed it behind him. The stairwell was pitch black, without any lights. He groped his way downstairs and out of the building.

The moonlight outside was beautiful, bathing the streets in a silvery glow. In the distance, the sounds of dogs barking and the faint strains of a radio could be heard, indicating that someone was listening to a model opera.

Life goes on, as if nothing has happened.

Chen Feng wrapped his tattered cotton-padded coat tighter, slung his cloth bag over his shoulder, and headed north of the city. He needed a new hiding place; Director Wang was dead, and the police would soon find out, intensifying the city-wide search.

He walked to the moat and looked at the dark water. The moonlight was reflected on the surface, shattering into pieces of silver scales.

"Xiaoyu," he whispered, "your brother killed another one. They're all the murderers who harmed our family. Will you blame your brother?"

The river flowed silently, offering no answer.

Chen Feng stood there for a long time until a whistle sounded in the distance. The sound grew closer and then faded away; it wasn't directed at him, but probably for another case.

But he knew that soon there would be more whistles, more police, and a city-wide manhunt for him.

He is not afraid.

From the moment he escaped from prison, he never thought he would leave this city alive. What he wanted to do was send all his enemies to hell before he was caught.

Chen Feng turned and left the moat, disappearing into the night.

The next morning, Director Wang did not come to work.

Li, the clerk from the neighborhood office, found it strange. Director Wang was usually very punctual, so why was he late today? He made several phone calls, but no one answered. At ten o'clock, he felt something was wrong and asked two people to go to Director Wang's house to check.

No one answered the door when he knocked, and the door was locked from the inside. Officer Li's heart sank. He called someone from the neighborhood committee, who opened the door with a spare key.

As soon as the door opened, a strong smell of blood hit us.

"Ah—!" the female staff member who followed screamed.

Director Wang lay in a pool of blood, already stiff. A deep gash ran down his neck, his eyes were wide open, and extreme fear was frozen on his face.

Officer Li's legs went weak, and he almost fell. He forced himself to back out the door, trembling as he said, "Call...call the police! Call the police quickly!"

Ten minutes later, the police arrived. Officer Zhang's face turned ashen when he saw the scene. He knelt down to examine the body and then looked at the signs of disturbance inside the house.

"The time of death was probably between 8 pm and 10 pm last night." The forensic doctor's preliminary judgment was, "A single stab wound was fatal, and the murderer's method was very skilled."

Officer Zhang stood up and looked around the room. The drawers had been ransacked, and all the valuables were gone. It looked like a home invasion robbery and murder.

But he knew it wasn't.

"It's Chen Feng," Officer Zhang whispered to his assistant. "He gave Director Wang three days. When the three days were up, he came to collect the debt."

The assistant's face turned pale: "Captain Zhang, this...this is the third life already. If we don't catch him soon..."

"I know," Officer Zhang interrupted him. "Notify all branches to increase patrols and conduct a city-wide search. Focus on abandoned houses, underpasses, and shantytowns. Also, send people to protect those people in the courtyard house; Chen Feng's next target might be them."

"yes!"

Officer Zhang walked out of Director Wang's house and lit a cigarette in the stairwell. In the swirling smoke, he recalled Chen Feng's eyes when he was taken away—cold, desperate, and filled with deep-seated hatred.

He felt at the time that this young man wouldn't give up easily. But he didn't expect Chen Feng to be so ruthless and decisive.

Three lives lost. No, Yi Zhonghai, though not dead, is crippled. That makes four.

And it's not over yet.

Officer Zhang took a deep drag on his cigarette, exhaling a thick cloud of smoke. He knew that Chen Feng was now a killing machine, his only thought being revenge. There were only two ways to stop him: either catch him, or… stop him before he kills all his enemies.

But how to stop them? Chen Feng is in the shadows, while they are in the open. Chen Feng has no fixed address, no social circle, and may not even have a stable source of food. People like him are the hardest to catch.

Officer Zhang stubbed out his cigarette and walked down the stairs. The sun was shining brightly outside, almost blinding. But his heart was ice-cold.

He knew that this game of pursuit and revenge had only just begun to reach its climax.

The price, however, may be more bloodshed and more lives lost.