Chapter 248: Shooting

Han Meng pondered for a long time in the courtroom before turning to walk outside. As soon as he stepped out the door, the warm, intense sunlight made it hard for him to open his eyes.

Having spent so long in the dark black prison, Han Meng's eyes couldn't adapt to the sunlight for a moment. He shielded his eyes with one hand and squinted as he looked around...

Outside the courthouse, a crowd had already gathered. Seeing Han Meng emerge in his prison garb, they erupted into enthusiastic applause, seemingly cheering for the victory of justice and truth.

Han Meng's gaze fell on the newspapers in their hands. After hesitating for a moment, he asked:

"Excuse me, could I take a look at that?"

"Of course, Officer Han Meng!"

The passerby handed the newspaper to Han Meng. After he opened the first page, his eyes locked onto a massive headline—

"The Black-Clad Officer in a Chaotic Era—'Criminal' Han Meng"

Han Meng was slightly stunned. He quickly scanned the text below. The article detailed his time serving in the Third District, including but not limited to clearing out underground trades, purging internal officers in the Third District, fighting a Fifth-Tier Calamity alone, standing up to Aurora City to protect the Third District survivors, and even digging up his early years of executing the nephew of the Star Chamber of Commerce's president, which led to him being rejected by Aurora City and self-exiled to the Third District...

The article also recounted Fang Lichang's framing of him over the past few days, using a highly ironic tone to imply the absurdity and injustice of the court's verdict... Between the lines, not a single sentence was explicitly defending him; the writing was objective and fair, but combined, every sentence seemed to be clearing his name.

It was precisely this kind of ironic article that stirred the emotions of a large number of citizens, leading them to spontaneously pay attention to this trial and invisibly putting public pressure on the tribunal.

Han Meng frowned involuntarily. The article itself had no issues; all the content was true.

But the key was that it covered everything in such detail... it was as if the author had experienced it all firsthand.

His confusion grew deeper, and his eyes landed on the inconspicuous author's name at the top of the article.

"Lin Yan..." Han Meng muttered the name.

"Lin... Yan?"

……

The cold wind cut across Zhao Yi's face like a knife.

He kept his head down, moving quickly through the alleyways. In the pocket of his gray cotton jacket, his hand gripped a short knife stained with mud, his palm already slick with sweat.

Although Han Meng had been acquitted, the traitor Old Man Ding hadn't been caught; he had fled the courtroom in terror... Zhao Yi naturally wouldn't let him off so easily. He had to teach the man a lesson.

"Damn it... where did he go?"

Zhao Yi reached a fork in the road. There were no signs of pedestrians in either direction. He frowned and cursed under his breath.

Just as Zhao Yi was hesitating, Old Man Ding's terrified voice suddenly rang out from deep within the alleyway:

"'Spade 6'... he is 'Spade 6'!! Don't kill me... don't kill me!!!"

Zhao Yi's eyes lit up, and he immediately chased after the sound.

Two alleyways away, Old Man Ding was stumbling through the cold wind, his hands clawing at his messy hair. He stared at the empty air in front of him, his eyes filled with infinite terror.

"You are 'Spade 6'... no... he is 'Spade 6'!"

"I don't eat playing cards... I really don't eat playing cards!"

"You are 'Spade 6'! You're trying to trick me!! Fang Lichang! I... I... please let me go... I don't want to die!!"

"Ghost! You're a ghost!! Everyone is a ghost!!"

“……”

After two days of extreme nervous tension, combined with constant fear, and after a long period of numbness and stagnation, a massive amount of fear had been dumped back into his mind, completely shattering his sanity... Under this silent, inhuman torture, Old Man Ding had completely lost his mind.

He screamed mindlessly, running aimlessly through the alleyways as if something were chasing him, his eyes bloodshot.

Just as he was about to turn another corner, a figure suddenly appeared in front of him.

It was a young man in a brown overcoat, silver semi-rimless glasses perched on his nose, a long glasses chain swaying slightly in the cold wind. His indifferent gaze looked down at the stumbling, short figure...

Old Man Ding collided with his chest as if hitting steel, and he fell to the ground on his backside.

"'Spade 6'... don't kill me!! Don't kill me!!!" Old Man Ding screamed loudly, looking hollowly at Chen Ling.

Chen Ling just watched him quietly. A moment later, his hand slowly emerged from his pocket... A pitch-black, cold pistol was pressed against Old Man Ding's forehead.

The deranged Old Man Ding no longer had the reactions of a normal person. He just kept repeating that sentence, begging "Spade 6" not to kill him, like a squirming, ugly maggot.

"The performance was quite effective," Chen Ling's lips parted slowly.

"Congratulations on wrapping up."

*Bang—!*

Fire erupted from the muzzle in an instant. A bullet pierced Old Man Ding's skull, and a bouquet of blood splattered onto the surface of the brown overcoat. As Old Man Ding collapsed to the ground, stiff and vacant, a pool of blood spread silently through the alleyway.

At the same time, a figure in a gray cotton jacket hurried around the corner. After his gaze swept over the scene, he froze in place.

A wisp of blue smoke drifted from the pitch-black muzzle. Before the blood-stained brown overcoat, Old Man Ding's corpse lay in a pool of blood, his features twisted like a demon of fear...

"You..." Zhao Yi looked at the expressionless Chen Ling, his face full of horror.

He never expected that besides himself, someone else would want to kill Old Man Ding, and in broad daylight, no less?

Zhao Yi certainly remembered that face. Just a few minutes ago, they had been sitting side-by-side in the gallery, only that reporter, Lin Yan, had left earlier than him... Could it be that he left early just to kill Old Man Ding??

But... but why would he do that?

A cold wind blew through the alleyway. On either side of the bloody corpse, two figures faced each other in deathly silence.

Chen Ling hadn't expected Zhao Yi to appear at this moment, but looking at the other's appearance, he could roughly guess Zhao Yi's purpose... This kid, after killing someone once, was getting bolder and bolder.

Chen Ling narrowed his eyes at him, put the pistol back in his pocket, and turned the corner unhurriedly, leaving the scene.

"Wait!"

Seeing this, Zhao Yi immediately stepped over Old Man Ding's corpse and hurried to follow,

But when he turned the corner, the reporter was nowhere to be seen within his line of sight...