Volume 1: The Starting Chapter 10: Exposure

  "Van Ge, this kid really doesn't know the meaning of shame!" a burly man cursed, gazing at Xia Wenjie's back.

  Zhang Fan glared fiercely at the big man and continued, "Investigate clearly, which school he is from, what his family members do, I want to know everything about him."

  "Van Ge, I think he's just a student..."

  "Go investigate if you have to, what's with all the nonsense?" Zhang Fan scolded, and the big men around him were so frightened that they shrunk their necks and didn't dare to speak anymore.

  For more than two years, Xue Song's death has been a knot in Xia Wenjie's heart that he couldn't untie. Now that Jin Er is dead, Xia Wenjie feels like he has finally found relief.

  But after all this was over, he didn't feel the excitement he had imagined. Instead, he was reflecting on whether what he did was right or wrong and whether he was now a murderer.

  The next day, Xia Wenjie ran to school as usual, which had become his habit.

  Just as he was about to approach the school, a black sedan suddenly drove over and stopped at the roadside only half a meter away from him. The door opened, and a low, magnetic voice came from inside: "Get in."

  Xia Wenjie was taken aback, he slowly lowered his head and looked into the car. There were two people in the sedan, one was the driver, and the other was a middle-aged man sitting in the backseat, whom he had never seen before.

  This man is over forty years old, with a dignified appearance, a ruddy complexion, and eyes framed by gold-rimmed glasses. He wears a well-pressed gray suit, a neatly knotted tie, and holds a newspaper in his hand, looking somewhat like the boss of a certain company.

  After sizing each other up for a moment, Xia Wenjie asked with a puzzled expression: "Do... we know each other?"

  The middle-aged man sitting in the back seat smiled and said, "You're Xia Wenjie, right?"

  Xia Wenjie was stunned again, how did he know his own name?

  It seemed that he had seen the doubt in his heart, and the middle-aged man's smile on his face became even more pronounced. He said: "I not only know your name, but I also know what you did last night."

  This sentence was like a heavy bomb exploding in Xia Wenjie's heart, he suddenly stared wide-eyed, and a flash of surprise flashed in his eyes, but soon he returned to normal, shook his head and said: "I don't know what you're talking about, I have to go to school."

  After finishing speaking, he turned around and was about to leave.

  The middle-aged man burst out laughing and said: "I think you probably can't go to school now, but only to the Public Security Bureau."

  Xia Wenjie's foot, which had just stepped out, drew back in. He turned his head and stared fixedly at the middle-aged man inside the car. After a good long while, he asked: "Are you a policeman?"

  "Come in and sit down." The middle-aged man patted the leather chair beside him, smiling at Xia Wenjie.

  Whether it's good fortune or bad luck, the misfortune can't be avoided. Xia Wenjie muttered to himself and then bent down, getting into the sedan chair.

  "Close the car door." The middle-aged man said as he put down the newspaper in his hand on Xia Wenjie's leg.

  Xia Wenjie closed the car door behind him, puzzled, and picked up the newspaper on his leg. The headline on the front page caught his eye: "Mysterious Murder Case Reappears in Collapsed Building".

  Under the title, there was also a large photo, even though many places in the photo were mosaiced, Xia Wenjie could still recognize that it was indeed the scene where Jin Er was smashed to death.

  "Aren't you familiar with the photo above?" The middle-aged man looked at Xia Wenjie, who had a calm face, and smiled: "You're very calm, there seems to be a kind of calmness beyond your age on you. Although, in your heart, it's already started to churn."

  "I have no idea what you're talking about..."

  "If you didn't know, you wouldn't be getting on my car." The middle-aged man said with confidence.

  "Who are you, anyway? A cop? If you think I have something to do with what's been reported in the papers and you just happen to have evidence on hand, then go ahead and arrest me..."

  Xia Wenjie spoke impatiently, but before he could finish his boastful words, the middle-aged man took out his phone and handed it to him with a smile, saying "Take a look."

  Xia Wenjie took over his phone and glanced at the screen, which displayed a video interface. He subconsciously opened it, and inside, everything that had happened on the rooftop of the rotten building last night began to play back.

  Interestingly, the shooting angle of this video is exactly the same as that of the video he used to threaten Jin Er.

  He was secretly shocked in his heart. He had specifically gone to patrol the vicinity of the rotten tail building, and there were no cameras around, but where did this video come from?

  He was not used to being threatened by others and disliked it. Although he was still unclear about the other's purpose, his intuition told him that it wouldn't be a good thing.

  He handed the phone back to the middle-aged man and said expressionlessly, "That's right, I was indeed at the scene when Jin Er was killed, but his death has nothing to do with me. The video is very clear, you should have seen it too. He was pushed down by someone else, and I just happened to be passing by."

  "Hmm." The middle-aged man chuckled and said, "A high school student who is about to take the college entrance exam, instead of studying or sleeping at home in the middle of the night, ran to a place more than ten miles away from home and even went up to the rooftop. Your words are hard to believe."

  "You can think of me as sleepwalking..."

  "Alright, I don't want to chat with you anymore. Since you're not willing to say it, I'll help you say it." The middle-aged man said slowly and calmly: "You have a grudge against Jin Er, your best friend was the one who was pushed down by Jin Er in that dilapidated building and died from the fall."

  He spoke slowly and calmly, but Xia Wenjie listened with a cold sweat, his face changing unpredictably.

  Later, you inadvertently obtained a video of your friend being killed. However, instead of reporting it to the police, you kept the video for yourself. You may not have trusted the police or wanted to take revenge into your own hands, or perhaps both reasons applied. You were very patient and waited for what you thought was the perfect opportunity, one that was flawless and left no room for error. After more than two years of waiting, such an opportunity finally arose when Jin Er made a huge mistake by having an affair with Zhang Fan's wife.

  "You first go find Zhang Fan, negotiate the terms with him, and then use that video to threaten Jin Er, lure him out to meet you. Jin Er thought you just wanted to extort some money from him, but he never expected that what you want is not only his money, but also his life..."

  "That's what he deserved." Xia Wenjie could no longer bear to listen, his fists clenched tightly, and the glint in his narrowed eyes was unmistakable.

  "Kill and be killed, owe debts and pay back, it's the way of heaven and earth. What's wrong with what I've done? Jin Er deserved to die long ago, letting him live two more years is already a mercy from heaven."

  "Whether a person should die or not is not up to you to decide, it's for the law to determine. If everyone were like you, using lynching to solve problems, then what's the point of having laws? What's the point of having police?"

  "Laws? Police? If laws and police can punish all the heinous crimes, who would dare to take risks? If laws and police lose fairness and justice, what are they called?"

  The middle-aged man did not respond, his eyes fixed on Xia Wenjie without blinking.

  The sedan suddenly became quiet, so quiet that one could hear the sound of their own heartbeat, as if a century had passed. The middle-aged man slowly opened his mouth and said, "Yes, therefore, some people are needed to maintain the fairness and justice of the law."

  Xia Wenjie looked at the middle-aged man in confusion.

  The middle-aged man said seriously: "I am not a police officer, I am an auditor."

  "An audit? Checking our finances?" Xia Wenjie asked subconsciously.

  Plop! The middle-aged man was pleased, nodded and shook his head, saying: "You know a lot, but what you said is financial audit, which has little to do with us."

  "So who are you..."

  It is a government agency.

  Xia Wenjie's face was even more puzzled.

  "Are you brave enough?"

  "What?"

  "Or are you afraid of death?"

  Xia Wenjie was confused by his question and didn't know what he meant by asking this.

  "If you have the guts, to the extent that you are not afraid of death, I hope you can join our audit. I think you should have a deep understanding of the harm caused by social injustice, and the responsibility of auditing is to investigate injustices, punish wrongdoings, how about it, are you interested?"

  He didn't come to catch himself, but to invite himself to join! This 180-degree turn left Xia Wenjie caught off guard, staring blankly at the middle-aged man, and for a long time he couldn't react.

  After a long time, he muttered: "I... I don't know you at all."

  "But I know you! Little Han." As the middle-aged man spoke, the person sitting in the driver's seat turned back, smiling at Xia Wenjie and asked: "Do you still remember me?"

  Xia Wenjie raised his head, took a closer look, hesitated for a moment, and then involuntarily opened his mouth wide, pointing at the driver and said: "Is... is it you?"