Crimson Instinct

Chapter 116: Showdown in Tianjin (9)

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Duan Deming laughed in amusement as he looked at Liao Huifang's frozen expression. She stood shocked as if a bolt of thunder struck her hard.

Duan Deming

She couldn't say anything for a few moments. But it then registered that it was the truth.

"You...you were sis's b-boyfriend? The person she was chatting with at that time...was you?"

Duan Deming chuckled sinisterly. "Yes, little sister. It's yours, truly. I was behind the other side of the chat, talking and whispering sweet nothings to your sister."

Liao Huifang stared at him in silence. Her eyes teared up. She raised her hand to slap him, but Duan Deming pressed the gun to her temple.

"Na, na, na. Don't make the mistake of slapping me, you bitch." His gaze darkened, and a dangerous glint flickered through his eyes. "Just touch me, and I will shoot the bullet right through your skull. Your brain would hang out of your head in a lump of mess."

Liao Huifang froze. The way he talked scared her shitless. She felt a madness in his voice, and she understood that he wouldn't hesitate to shoot her, so she retreated her hand.

Duan Deming smiled. "Good girl, just like your sister."

The mention of her sister made her clench her fingers into a tight fist.

When she calmed down a little, she felt messed up in the head. Everything was confusing to her. She couldn't place the pieces of the puzzle into their right places.

She raised her head to look at Tian Song, who looked deadly serious. Not a trace of emotion could be seen on his face.

Then she looked back at Duan Deming.

"I don't understand. D-didn't Tian Song kill Ming?"

Duan Deming tilted his head with a questioning gaze. "Ming? Oh yes! That useless worker from Natural Park?"

Liao Huifang shuddered with the cruel way he spoke so lightly of Ming as if she was just an ant in his eyes, which he can crush anytime.

"Song. She wants to know what happened. Why don't you tell her who 'actually' killed Ming?"

Tian Song didn't respond.

"Oh come on, Song. You are so boring." Duan Deming sighed. "Be a sport. Forget it. I will tell you, little sister. Yes, I killed Ming."

Liao Huifang already expected the answer.

"But I saw-"

"But you saw Tian Song holding the knife stuck in her stomach when you entered the scene," he completed her sentence.

She said nothing.

He lazily scratched his head and said, "What you see is not always the truth, dear. Tian Song wasn't killing her. He was trying to save that pathetic woman. But sadly, he couldn't."

Liao Huifang slowly said, "You took her in custody because you wanted a chance to kill her."

She didn't ask. She stated.

He sneered. "Yes. I relayed a fake message to the officers guarding outside that I was in trouble, so I needed their help. They went away. I entered in the dark. Ming was surprised to see me, but then she looked at me in shock when I stabbed her. Just then, Song barged in. We fought and he could overpower me because I was hurt in the thigh. That's when you saw Song and thought that he killed Ming, which was convenient for me."

He sighed. "That idiot woman. I told her to shut her mouth and not say a word about that she saw Fu Ting go back. But bitch fell into Bai Li's words and decided to testify. I had no choice. I had to kill her."

Liao Huifang remembered. "Y-you slid the note to her."

"Yup," he carelessly said.

Liao Huifang widened her eyes. She covered her mouth as things fell into place. "That day in Andingzhen when Chu Jie was kidnapped, you came on purpose to"

"Ding, ding, ding! Correct answer. You score 100 points. Congratulations," Duan Deming was cheering her as if it was a game.

Liao Huifang was furious at his dry humor. "You"

"I came to distract your trio group so that Sufy could escape with Chu Jie. I pretended to chase after her, but I just helped her get in the car, dumping Chu Jie inside with her."

She blinked her eyes.

"But why would she shoot you in the leg?" This was something that she didn't understand. 

Weren't they on the same side?

"To make everyone believe why Duan Deming couldn't catch her," It was Tian Song who spoke after a long time, "Even if he had to get shot in the process, he didn't mind it as long as Chu Jie was sent away with her. At any cost, he couldn't let Xin Lei and Bai Li save Chu Jie."

"Hooo...you finally spoke!" Duan Deming was finding it way too interesting. "Yes. What he said is absolutely right."

"You are a monster! You pretended to be on our side this whole time, but you" Liao Huifang was trembling in rage.

"Monster? How am I a monster?" Duan Deming looked at her in horror. "This whole world is filled with insane people. Why are you only attacking me?" He whined as if she wronged him.

At that moment, Liao Huifang realized that he was a mad psycho. He was saying all these things as if it was just a part of his normal everyday life.

"But why do you want to kill me?"

"Reassurance, darling."

She wanted to puke when she heard the way he addressed her.

"What sort of reassurance?" She gritted her teeth.

This time Tian Song said, "You saw Ming's murder, and even if you misunderstood me as the murderer, he couldn't take the risk of you remembering something later that could put him in danger of being suspected. He didn't get the chance before because you always stuck to Xin Lei and Bai Li's side, but now since you are separated from them, he is using the situation to his advantage."

"Well done, Tian Song. You always impress me."

Suddenly, Liao Huifang realized that just when she was about to call Duan Deming earlier; he dragged her away.

Did he know that I would be killed, so he took me away?

"Why? Why did you kill my sister! What did she do to you? She didn't even know you!"

Duan Deming raised his eyebrow. "Darling little sister, your elder sister was not any exception. Don't treat her as if she was any special. None of the people that we killed knew us or had anything to do with us."

"So why!"

"Keep your voice down, bitch. I don't like it when somebody talks to me in that tone." He pressed the nuzzle of the gun harder on her temple. It was starting to touch the wound she got when she tripped and lost consciousness. She winced in pain as the gun was digging in her wound.

"And you don't need to know why we do this. Just know that you are going to die. This is where your life ends."

Duan Deming shifted his gun a little, and she gasped as the wound hurt her again.

"Ah"

Duan Deming then calmly looked at Tian Song.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk Song. First Ming and now this woman. How will your conscience allow you to be guilt-free that two women died under your watch, and you could do nothing?"

Tian Song stared at Liao Huifang, who was looking back at him.

Naturally, he understood her cry for help and the will to live only because she wanted to avenge her sister.

"Don't try anything funny, Tian Song. If you move an inch, then you know what would happen." He smirked. "You lost. She is going to die, and you couldn't stop the deal from happening either."

A flicker of something passed in his eyes but Tian Song said nothing. He never got affected by such provocations.

Duan Deming's gun was pointed on Liao Huifang, and Tian Song's on him.

Liao Huifang was scared to death. She thought that a bullet would pierce her anytime now.

'No...I cannot die now. Maybe, if I just buy some more time, then perhaps Bai Li or Xin Lei would reach here and save us from him.'

She looked at Tian Song, and then she realized something.

"I-if you are behind everything, then who is Tian Song? Why is he involved in this case?"

She thought it could distract Duan Deming for a while, plus she also wanted to know the answer to this.

"Ho! That's a great question!"

Duan Deming laughed. "I am so stupid. We talked so much on and on, and you don't even know why Tian Song is involved in this."

Duan Deming looked back at Liao Huifang and smiled. "Why don't you try a guess?"

Silence.

"No? Che! So boring. Mm...let me give you a hint. He is related to something that Xin Lei's brother does."

She faintly recalled Xin Lei talking about her brother once. She said that she didn't know where he was right now.

"Working as a cop in Dongcheng police headquarters was just a cover for him. He is actually a spy for some other secret organization."

Silence.

"Still nothing?" Duan Deming sighed. "You two are such boring peeps. Guessing games are always fun, like how your sister kept on guessing the moment she would breathe her last."

Liao Huifang's body violently trembled, hearing such heartless words.

Duan Deming sneered. "Meet Tian Song - an undercover cop whose real identity is an officer working in the Chinese Intelligence Services."