27 Barbecue

When I learned that the human flesh served to the police officers included the stolen child of the killer, Chen Mu—a child who had been snatched from his biological parents only to be frozen like a piece of "zombie meat" for over twenty years before being cooked—I was utterly horrified. It was not just shock; there was a chilling sense of despair. To think that this child, already a victim of abduction, had been preserved in such a gruesome state for two decades, only to end up as a meal, was perhaps the most tragic thing imaginable.

I couldn't help but wonder if this was all my fault, or rather, the fault of my "brother," the other Chen Mu. If our very birth hadn't been the start of a sinister conspiracy, perhaps that poor child would never have been caught in the crossfire.

I let out a sigh. Jin Ze, ever the keen observer, noticed the change in me. He remarked that I seemed more resilient, with less of the aimless confusion that had plagued me before. He urged me to hold on and believe in myself, insisting that we would eventually bring the truth to light and allow the dead to rest in peace.

I nodded. Despite the heavy burden in my heart, a spark of strength flickered to life. I felt the weight on my shoulders grow, yet I stood taller. Before, I had known nothing and could live as a coward, but now that I knew I had once been an elite soldier, I felt compelled to regain a measure of that former self—especially since all of this was so deeply intertwined with my own existence.

Yet, for a moment, I felt a sense of helplessness; the harder I tried to grasp the truth, the more elusive it seemed.

Soon, Fang Qinghe took Jin Ze and me to the cold case unit’s office building for a small meeting. Knowing that Jin Ze was a brilliant psychologist and profiler—Fang’s most trusted aide—Fang revealed to him that I was a former special forces operative. Even the composed Jin Ze was taken aback. It was clear he hadn't expected that I had never truly been one of the "bad guys." He had once spoken to me about angels and demons, saying the past couldn't be changed but the future could be chosen; in truth, I had been an "angel" all along.

Jin Ze quickly regained his composure. He looked at me with a gentle smile and said, "Chen Mu, you are truly impressive. Even I was deceived by your performance. I never would have guessed."

I scratched my head, feeling a bit embarrassed. "It’s not that I'm impressive. I really had forgotten; I even deceived myself."

Jin Ze continued, "Regardless of who you were, you are who you are now. Be brave, but don't be reckless. Take things one step at a time. Don't push yourself too hard. We will solve this case together."

I agreed. We then shared our thoughts. I reiterated what I had told Fang: the killer wanted us to discover the origin of the human flesh. This had been confirmed; the fact that the "zombie meat" was from infants killed twenty years ago was truly inconceivable.

Jin Ze expanded on this, saying, "Looking back at this 'Return of the Dead' case, it’s clearly a continuation of the 'Murder Game.' Let’s assume the culprit is the killer Chen Mu. He never died; he is an assassin for the Avengers Alliance. He is targeting the Dawn organization, and he is using us, the police, to dismantle another one of their conspiracies—one potentially more dangerous than the underground base from the Murder Game, likely dating back twenty years to those infants. That is why he laid these secrets out for us; he is forcing our hand."

His reasoning made sense. Suddenly, my mind turned to Bai Ye, and a thought struck me: "If what Jin Ze says is true, did the Avengers Alliance know I was an undercover agent all along? Was it all a double-cross from the very beginning of the Murder Game, with me as their pawn? And was Bai Ye kept in the dark, too?"

Jin Ze nodded. "It’s highly likely. Under normal circumstances, you and Bai Ye should have died in the Dawn underground base. If you truly were the killer Chen Mu, would they have easily allowed such a valuable asset to die? They likely knew."

A shiver of fear ran down my spine, mixed with pity for Bai Ye. He was truly a disposable pawn, just as he had feared. I wondered, if Bai Ye learned the truth, would he seek revenge? Would he single-handedly tear the Avengers Alliance apart and break ties with the real Chen Mu? Part of me wanted to see that confrontation, but I doubted it would happen. Given Bai Ye's devotion to that sociopathic Chen Mu, he would likely accept his fate without complaint, even knowing he had been used.

As we spoke, Miao Miao knocked on the door. She had rushed over from the police station with an urgent discovery that couldn't be explained over the phone.

Her findings were significant. While the meat had been cooked at high temperatures, making forensic analysis difficult, some things were stubborn. They had detected substances in the samples that shouldn't have been there—likely remnants of pathogens. Miao Miao speculated that the infants had been infected with viruses. While it was hard to identify the specific strain, the possibility of something like HIV was high.

This discovery made Jin Ze’s theory even more plausible; it fit the twisted modus operandi of the Dawn organization perfectly.

Jin Ze suddenly realized something. "The case started with the death of infants, and it has returned to them. We must focus on these babies. If they were infants twenty years ago, they died back then. They were preserved by constant refrigeration for two decades. If the quantity of flesh served to the officers reached double digits, it implies a massive number of victims—dozens or even hundreds. Maintaining such a large-scale cold storage facility for twenty years requires constant power. That is our breakthrough."

Fang Qinghe, sharp as ever, immediately grasped the implication. He ordered his team to cross-reference electricity usage records for the city and surrounding areas over the last twenty years, looking for civilian facilities with the power consumption patterns of large industrial freezers.

With a clear target, the police moved quickly. Within a day, they locked onto several potential sites. We split up to investigate.

Jin Ze and I headed to a basin in the suburbs. It was registered as a livestock farm, but its electricity consumption was far too high for such a facility, and no one had ever seen large-scale farming activity there in twenty years.

It was night when we arrived. The cold wind howled, sending shivers down my spine. As we hid and peered toward the farm, I broke into a cold sweat; my scalp went numb.

Beside a bonfire sat a figure, back to us, holding a long iron rod over the flames. Skewered on the rod were not sheep or rabbits, but human heads—the unmistakable, small heads of infants.

Damn it. He was roasting the heads of infants.

My heart leaped into my throat. Jin Ze had been right. This was exactly the place we were looking for.