Crimson Instinct

*WARNING*

The scene in this chapter could be disturbing for some readers, so I advise my dearest readers to please go ahead with caution. Please skip the part if you don't like it.

*Xin Lei*

Bai Li said, "Liao Huifang said that she saw some weird plants and mushrooms around this place."

She nodded. "Yes, I did."

I remembered as well

I didn't recognize the plants, and I couldn't see the mushrooms well either in that darkness.

"Those are the things that grow from the ground when a dead body is buried under it. The chemicals released from the decomposition give a different type of nutrients to the soil, and those mushrooms start to grow slowly. Hebeloma syrjense is a type of it that I have heard of growing at such places."

Silence.

"I thought of how Cocoa might have helped us sniffing the area to find some clue and what Liao Huifang said suddenly clicked in my mind."

I typed. "You really think that Bai Li?"

I wanted Bai Li to refuse it, but my heart already knew the answer.

Bai Li smiled, but it seemed sorrowful. "I really don't want to think any of this. I want this to be a lie the most. I am pretty sure we will find tools for digging the ground somewhere. Let's look for it."

I hated this the most, but Fu Ting and Fu Biyu are waiting for answers. They deserved to know the truth even if it is bitter.

I saw Bai Li clenching his palm into a fist. This was hard for all of us.

Oh God, please let this really be a lie.

---

As Bai Li said, we found the tools in a box for digging the ground, and my heart thudded even more on realizing that it might be true.

We held the tools with our handkerchiefs not to let any fingerprints come on it.

We went out to the place where Liao Huifang saw those plants and mushrooms.

Liao Huifang asked, "This area is quite big. How will we find the place where…"

She got quiet.

Bai Li said, "Tap the ground with your foot, and you will be able to sense where it is a little loose."

"Alright."

I held Bai Li's hand, and we slowly walked, feeling the ground beneath us.

It took us a while, but then I sensed my foot kind of like drowning under a patch.

"I feel it loose here." Bai Li said the same.

We heard Liao Huifang say from the other side. "I don't feel any loose ground here."

"Come here. I think we found it." Bai Li spoke in a louder voice.

We gathered around the spot. Bai Li said, "You two stand afar. Just give me the directions, and I will dig."

I typed. "I will help you."

"No. It's fine. I will do it."

I sighed.

Bai Li started digging while Liao Huifang and I were giving him the directions. It took a while, but then I saw something raised out of the mud.

I took a sharp breath, and I felt a bit dizzy. Liao Huifang noticed it too and suddenly said, "Stop. We see something."

"Where?"

It was a small hand that came out of the soil.

"Ughhh…" Liao Huifang knitted her brows and covered her mouth with her hand. This was disturbing for someone who never saw dead bodies.

Even if I am a doctor, and I had seen my fair share of deaths, I felt a knot curl in my stomach because I knew that it could be Fu Meili. A little girl buried here...I couldn't be so strong, and I tore my gaze away from it.

"T-there is a hand coming out from the right side."

Bai Li kept the ax to the side. We bent and started taking the soil out with our hands. Bai Li felt the way and was helping us.

My breath stuck in my throat when it was becoming clearer and clearer. I faintly saw a shape taking form.

When we completely took the mud off...there she was…We saw her.

Fu Meili.

She was indeed dead.

She was buried.

I burst into tears. I clenched my fingers into a fist. I felt so furious that I really wished to kill someone now.

Anger was an understatement.

I tremblingly took my phone and typed. "It is Fu Meili, Bai Li."

Silence.

We said nothing.

Fu Meili was lying there, and I recognized her from her photo. She was starting to...decompose.

I rushed towards Bai Li and dashed into his arms. This was too much to bear. I buried my face in his chest and couldn't control my tears anymore.

She was really dead. Fu Meili was no more. An innocent eight-year-old girl who accidentally stumbled on witnessing a crime was buried here.

They really killed her.

They killed a child.

Why? How can anybody be so cruel? How can anybody do that to an innocent child?

I sobbed hard, and I felt Bai Li slowly embracing me back with his long arms. He kept his hand on my head and was gently patting on it.

But for the first time, it didn't calm down my unsettled heart.

As a sign of respect for her, we stayed silent like that for a few moments.

Bai Li asked in a quiet voice. "Can you tell how did she…"

I bit my lip, and tears were continuously streaming down my eyes as I looked down at her. I forced myself to wipe them. I typed, looking at Liao Huifang. "Can you shine the flashlight here?"

Liao Huifang was a bit pale, witnessing everything, and she seemed scared and afraid.

Who wouldn't be?

She abruptly nodded her head.

As she shone the light, I observed her condition. It was a week since she was kidnapped, and the timing of her death matched it too. Her body was in a decomposition state, just like how it is when it has been eight to ten days after death.

The body turns from green to red as the blood decomposes, and the internal organs in the abdomen accumulate gas.

I scrutinized her and observed a mark on her neck.

I froze.

It was a slash mark from a knife that was aimed straight at her throat. At the center, I saw the wound that seemed deepest over there. She died from excessive blood loss. The cut was thin starting from left, and it grew deeper as it reached the center. There was dried blood around her neck.

Her death must have been so painful. Those bastards gave her such a torturous death.

It was difficult to breathe for me. I stumbled in my place, but Bai Li caught me.

"Xin Lei, are you okay?"

I took the support of his arms and steadied myself. It felt as if all the energy suddenly sucked away from my body.

Liao Huifang asked, "What happened? W-what did you see?"

I typed with shaking fingers that were causing me to misspell the words. "There is a mark on her neck. Slash mark from a knife. Somebody..."

I couldn't type anymore. The phone fell from my hands, and I broke down in tears once again.

"...Cut her throat." Bai Li still asked, no more like he understood my unsaid words.

I clutched his shirt and sobbed hard. It affected me to the point that I didn't want to face any of this anymore. I just wished to forget everything and run away.

Fu Meili must have suffered so much. Death from blood loss takes time. The person can feel his life slipping away while he can only helplessly beg for someone to save him.

It is so...painful.

Bai Li suddenly punched a fist on the ground. It made a thud sound, and I got startled.

Bai Li!

I took his hand, and his knuckles were scratched with dirt and bruise. I saw my teardrop fell on top of it.

Idiot.

I heard him grinding his teeth. I raised my head and the expression on his face looked dark and terrifying. There seemed pure rage and raw anger in his black orbs. It felt as if he would kill anybody who might come in front of him right now.

It seemed as if a deadly storm was brewing in them, threatening to swallow every one of those monsters who did this to Fu Meili.

I clutched his arm. I took his hand and moved his fingers.

'Don't hurt yourself like this. You should channel this anger at those vicious people who did such an unforgivable thing.'

Bai Li seemed to calm down after a while. I saw him shut his eyes for a moment and then he opened them with a resolve I never saw before.

"You are right. Those bastards...I will make sure they die the most horrific death. I will show them what death looks like. I will make them feel every moment of it when their life would suck out of their filthy bodies. Trust me. I will make them pay the price. With interest and with blood."