What? You're a notorious bandit? What a coincidence, me too!

Lin Chang'an kicked down the broken soil on the top of the earthen wall, jumped over the wall, and landed in the alley behind it.

Lin Chang'an's gaze was fixed on the fleeing figure, his mind filled with the scene inside the earthen house, and he wished he could tear the other person to pieces.

"Yang Xinghai, I'll kill you!"

His deep, furious roar, like that of a mad lion, was as he drew his axe from his chest and gave chase.

At the end of the alley was a wide wheat field, which was muddy after the rain.

The dark figure ahead was clearly panicked from being chased. It slipped and fell on the ridge of the field. It scrambled to its feet and stumbled into the wheat field.

Lin Chang'an seized the opportunity, exerted force with his arm, and swung the axe in his hand toward the dark figure with a whooshing sound.

"Pfft"

The axe struck the man precisely on the back, causing him to scream and stagger to the ground.

Lin Chang'an rushed forward and bent down to grab the man's collar, when suddenly a sharp pain shot through his foot.

The man pulled out a hammer at some point and smashed it into Lin Chang'an's leg!

"You son of a bitch."

Lin Chang'an gasped and staggered back two steps.

The man rolled around in the field to get some distance away, then got up, swaying unsteadily.

"You're not a cop!" came the man's sharp, slightly stuttering voice, which trembled slightly.

"I'm your grandpa, fucking amazing!"

Lin Chang'an bent down to pick up the machete, his eyes filled with a murderous glint, like an enraged beast. The axe whistled as it cleaved toward the man's neck.

The man was clearly frightened, raising his octagonal hammer to block and retreating.

"clang"

The chop was powerful and heavy, and the man's raised arm was knocked off balance, causing him to roll twice to the side.

Before he could even stand up, the sharp blade came at him again. He raised his octagonal hammer to block once more, but this time he wasn't so lucky.

The force of the axe was so great that it sent the octagonal hammer flying, and then pressed down with it. With a "crack," the sound of bones breaking was heard.

"Ouch... my arm!"

The man's arm was struck by the back of the axe and twisted at an eerie angle.

He tried to struggle to get up, but Lin Chang'an didn't give him a chance to catch his breath and kicked him in the knee.

With another sharp crack, the man's kneecap collapsed instantly, and his lower leg bent forward like a dog's leg.

"thump"

The man, who had just stood up, fell heavily back into the mud, collapsing there and groaning in pain.

He looked at Lin Chang'an, who was closing in step by step, and a look of fear appeared in his eyes.

The person chasing him is a madman, an even madman than him.

"You're not a policeman, who are you? I haven't offended you, have I?" the man said, his voice trembling and unclear due to the pain and fear.

Lin Chang'an looked down at him, expressionless, the axe in his hand gleaming coldly in the moonlight: "You dare kill my woman? I'll show you what it means to wish you were dead!"

Before he could finish speaking, Lin Chang'an swung his axe at Yang Xinghai's other leg.

With another "crack," his left knee was smashed to pieces. Yang Xinghai's screams suddenly rose, echoing like a slaughtered pig in the wheat field.

He was now completely incapacitated, lying on the ground like a lump of mud.

Lin Chang'an was panting heavily, his anger unabated.

He stepped on the man's chest, raised the axe above his head, and aimed the blade at the man's head.

He wanted to cut off this beast's head to avenge Fang Qingzhu!

Just then, a burning, stinging pain suddenly shot through the gem in his chest.

Immediately afterwards, a golden task box popped up, and the text on it made him freeze in his tracks:

[Task to eliminate negative karma completed]

[Mission Outcome: The villain Yang Xinghai was successfully prevented from committing further murder. He has been subdued, and there were no further casualties.]

[Reward for Eliminating Karmic Obstacles: Merit Points +1400, Karmic Obstacles -1.4 (Current Karmic Obstacles: 166.6)]

[Unlock Permission: Treasure Vault of Merit]

"No...no new casualties?"

Lin Chang'an froze, his hand holding the axe hanging in mid-air.

The system message indicated that Yang Xinghai had not committed any further killings, which means... Fang Qingzhu is alright?

The thought struck his chaotic mind like a bolt of lightning, instantly bringing him to his senses from his rage.

He suddenly remembered that he had only seen the woman in the mud house, who was motionless, and assumed that she was dead.

Even if he wasn't killed, being targeted by a beast like Yang Xinghai would probably...

Lin Chang'an's eyes turned fierce again. He put down the axe, raised his foot, and stomped hard on Yang Xinhai's crotch!

"ah……!!!"

An even more piercing scream erupted from Yang Xinghai's mouth. His body convulsed, and he fainted from the pain a few seconds later.

"Pah, I thought you were some kind of tough guy!"

Lin Chang'an snorted coldly and kicked him again. Just as he was about to turn around and go to the earthen house to check on Fang Qingzhu's current situation, his cell phone suddenly rang in his pocket.

The call was from Fang Qingzhu's landline number!

His heart skipped a beat. He pressed the answer button, but before he could speak, a beautiful woman's voice came from the other end: "Chang'an."

It's Fang Qingzhu's voice!?

Wait, what's going on here?

"When I got back, my phone fell into the water and broke. Come to the store tomorrow at noon and buy me a new phone while you're there."

Fang Qingzhu's voice sounded somewhat helpless, but to Lin Chang'an, it was like heavenly music.

"Okay!" he replied after a moment.

After hanging up the phone, he let out a long sigh of relief, feeling as if all his strength had been drained, and plopped down on Yang Xinghai.

It turned out to be a false alarm.

The woman in that earthen house was not Fang Qingzhu; she was probably just wearing the same floral dress as Fang Qingzhu.

He took out a cigarette, took a deep drag, and then, without realizing it, heard police sirens nearby.

..............................

Police tape has been put up outside the low-rent housing.

Zhao Weidong pushed open the car door and stepped through the accumulated water into the cordon.

"Team Leader Zhao!" Zhang Changming, the head of the local police station, quickly came to greet him.

Zhao Weidong nodded. "What's the situation on the scene?"

Zhang Changming led Zhao Weidong upstairs. "The deceased was a woman, around 40 years old. She had been living in this low-rent apartment for a long time and worked as a sex worker... According to eyewitnesses, her last client was a man around 35 years old, not very tall, with a Yuzhou accent..."

Go up to the third floor.

Zhao Weidong put on gloves and went into the room, where the technical staff were working.

"Team Leader Zhao, based on our preliminary analysis, the time of death is estimated to be between 8 pm and 9 pm. The cause of death is a ruptured skull, with an irregular depression and obvious blunt force trauma marks on the edges."

Preliminary assessments suggest the murder weapon was something like an octagonal hammer, which closely matches the tools used in the serial murders across four provinces.

Furthermore, we extracted male bodily fluids from the woman's body...

Zhao Weidong nodded and gave instructions: "Notify all teams to conduct a comprehensive search within a five-kilometer radius of this low-rent housing building..."

Before he could finish speaking, a commotion suddenly broke out downstairs, and the murmurs of the crowd rose sharply, interspersed with a few gasps of surprise.

"What's going on?" Zhao Weidong walked downstairs.

The crowd outside the cordon parted to make way, and a man's voice came from within: "Excuse me, please make way, thank you."

Zhao Weidong frowned slightly. The voice sounded somewhat familiar. Then his pupils suddenly contracted.

Under the dim streetlights, a man walked in from outside the crowd, carrying a young girl on his shoulder. The girl was wearing a floral dress, her hair was disheveled, her face was pale, and her eyes were closed, as if she had fainted.

The man's other hand was dragging a man covered in mud, whose head was drooping like a pile of mud.