Chapter 51: Rescue

The young police officer knocked urgently on the neighbor’s door. After a moment, the homeowner walked out, his face full of impatience. He blocked the doorway, about to curse at the person outside. The Player didn’t have time to explain. He flashed his ID in front of the man’s face, squeezed past him, and rushed straight toward the balcony.

To his disappointment, the balconies of the two adjacent apartments were not directly connected. A gap of nearly one and a half meters separated them. Looking down from the glass window, it was a drop of over ten meters, a daunting height.

“Oh my god…” the young Player muttered. “Is this heaven testing my sense of justice?”

The homeowner shuffled after him in his slippers, shouting, “What is wrong with you people? Aren’t you sick of this? You’ve been making a racket outside since earlier. Do you know this is disturbing the peace? If you keep this up, I’m going to comp…”

Before he could finish, he saw the young police officer climb onto the window sill, nimbly arching his back as he moved to the outside of the glass window.

The faint sound of car horns drifted in with the wind, along with the slight creaking of the window frame under the immense strain.

Most of the young man’s body hung in mid-air, with only one hand gripping the window frame tightly. Even so, he was still recklessly trying to find a suitable position to pull himself up.

“Ah!” Seeing this dangerous, acrobatic stunt, the homeowner cried out in terror. “Calm down! What are you trying to do? Get down from there, quick!”

He didn’t dare reach out to touch him, only stamping his feet in anxiety.

The media waiting outside kept peering in, crowding the narrow doorway. Because they didn’t have the homeowner’s permission, they didn’t dare enter, only quietly aiming their cameras in a certain direction. When they heard the homeowner shouting “Someone help!”, they couldn’t wait any longer and rushed in with their equipment.

The cameramen carried their equipment, fighting on the front line. They rushed to the balcony, capturing the exact moment the young police officer gathered his strength and leapt, thrillingly crossing the one-and-a-half-meter gap to fly through the air to the other balcony.

The young Player’s landing spot was not ideal, as the balcony was sealed all around by glass windows, leaving no safe foothold. He ended up jumping onto the iron bracket used to hold the air conditioner on the outside of the balcony.

A deafening crash startled everyone. The iron bracket shook violently, causing the outdoor air conditioning unit to jump as well.

Fortunately, the young man was exceptionally agile. He grabbed the window frame in time and stabilized himself.

“Oh my god…” The homeowner clutched his chest, nearly fainting from fright.

The camera focused on the officer, shaking constantly, as the reporter broadcasted the situation in a hurried tone.

“For some unknown reason, a police officer has risked his life to force entry into Ning’s home! Is it because they suspect Ning’s mother is harboring a fugitive? As everyone just saw, it was incredibly dangerous! This action is highly unreasonable…”

The Player had already pushed open the window and quickly climbed inside. It was only when he landed that the crowd on the other side breathed a sigh of relief.

“Thank you, Sanyao!” The young Player pumped his fist in excitement. “I’m a hero!”

Who wouldn’t want to experience the thrill of leaping across rooftops?

He Jueyun heard the commotion and asked, “What happened to you?”

“Nothing!” the Player said. “I promise to complete the mission!”

He dusted himself off and walked into the study, completely oblivious to the worry he had caused.

The interior was completely empty. Even though he had just made such a huge noise, no one came out to check.

“Ms. Ning, Ms. Ning, are you there?”

The Player strode from the study to the kitchen, but he didn’t see a single soul. No matter how loudly he called out, there was no response.

“No one’s here?” The Player also began to get a bad feeling. He quickly quickened his pace to search the rooms.

When he reached the bathroom, a red liquid was seeping out from under the door. The Player froze. He kicked open the ajar wooden door and saw a woman lying in a pool of blood.

“Ms. Ning!” the Player cried out hoarsely, kneeling down to lift her up.

The person in his arms was light, so thin she felt almost weightless. Having lost a massive amount of blood, her face was a terrifying, deathly pale. There were multiple deep cuts on her wrists, clearly done with the intent of a quick death.

The rookie Player, who had never witnessed a death scene firsthand, completely lost his previous lightheartedness. He choked out, “What do I do? She slit her wrists!”

Although he asked what to do, his actions were swift. He grabbed a nearby towel and wrapped it tightly around Ms. Ning’s wrists to stop the bleeding, then carried her and ran toward the door.

Zhang Wuping’s voice instantly sounded exhausted. He muttered in a daze, “How could this happen…” They had clearly worked so hard.

No, he hadn’t been thorough enough. He hadn’t thought about Ning Dongdong’s family.

He Jueyun slammed his fist onto the steering wheel, causing the car horn to blare.

On the other end, the Player hurriedly unlocked the front door, trying to squeeze his way out. The flashing lights outside nearly blinded him. In a harsh tone, he growled, “Get out of the way!”

Only then did everyone see the injured woman in his arms, her body half-soaked in blood, and they quickly made way for him.

The silver-tongued reporters all fell silent. The cameramen hesitated over whether to follow. One of them raised a hand to cover the lens and whispered, “Stop filming.”

Seeing the urgency of the situation, a passerby voluntarily cleared their car and shouted for them to get in.

The Player held Ms. Ning tightly, feeling her body temperature. Suddenly, the person in his arms stirred. This clear sign made the Player almost weep with joy.

“Ning Dongdong was framed!” The Player squeezed her hand tightly and said loudly. “He didn’t kill anyone. He’s a good brother! He went to save Ning Tingting! Everyone knows now. We found the evidence. He wasn’t the one in the wrong.”

The person in his arms still didn’t open her eyes, but her fingers tightened slightly, gripping the Player back as a spark of hope for survival was lit. Tears streamed continuously from her eyes, all for these two sentences of validation she had never heard before.

This was truly too important to her. This was the obsession she had held onto for over a decade, one she had never dared to speak aloud to anyone.

“Yes, he was framed.” Seeing that it was working, the Player repeated it to her over and over. “You have to live. If you die, he won’t have a home anymore… We’ll find him and bring him back, and you two can start over… It’s going to be okay.”

·

The footage of Ms. Ning’s suicide attempt was broadcast live, quickly sparking a massive uproar online.

Before netizens could even recover from the tragedy of Ning Dongdong and his sister, they were hit with this terrible news, filling their hearts with profound sorrow.

“Leave her alone. She’s a victim’s family member too. Her daughter is dead, and her son was framed for killing her daughter. What did that pack of media outlets want to find out by blocking her door? What did they want her to do? She’s the one suffering the most!”

“Anyone who goes to bother her again is committing murder. Did she do anything wrong in all of this? If she really dies, are you all going to say Ning Dongdong killed his mother? No, it was you.”

“Why were those journalists who wrote the articles so convinced that Ning Dongdong was the murderer? Did they attack him so much before that they ended up believing their own lies? Did they have to find evidence to prove their own assumptions just to protect their authority? A journalist’s authority comes from the brave souls who risk their lives to seek the truth, not from you people bullying the weak!”

“The police risk their lives to save people, while disgraced journalists stab them in the front. What a tragic, ironic contrast.”

·

The viewers in the Live Stream Room were also discussing the matter.

Reviewing the entire case was like forcing them to confront their own mistakes. They had played a part in shaping this reality, and the loss of innocent lives was a resounding slap in the face, leaving them with no way to deny it.

“Did Fan Huai’s mother die in reality?”

“Yes, she did. 【Web Link】 The official media reported it, but not many people paid attention.”

“If I were Fan Huai, I’d want to take revenge on society too!”

“So where on earth did Fan Huai go? There’s absolutely no news of him now. I’m just worried, is he still alive?”

“Before, the media kept painting Fan Huai as a heinous villain, so I believed it when they said he killed five witnesses after getting out of prison. Now it seems the truth is likely different, because the evidence the media presented was entirely circumstantial, and the authorities have clarified it multiple times.”

“What kind of tragedy is this? This is clearly murder. A bloodless knife, an unsharpened blade, yet it can kill in a single blow.”

·

In an alley on the outskirts of the commercial district.

Qiong Cang sat in the car, quietly watching the footage from the dashcam.

Because the police had set up checkpoints at various intersections, traffic on the outskirts was somewhat congested. Some of the road conditions were updated in real-time on the navigation app, while others were not.

The car owner had originally come from the west side of the city, taking XX Mountain Road. Hearing the navigation warning of traffic congestion ahead, they had made a turn to enter the commercial district from another direction, only to get stuck again. This allowed Qiong Cang to pinpoint the scope and locations of the police deployments even more clearly.

She turned off the screen, leaned her head back against the seat, covered her eyes with both hands, and massaged her temples with her thumbs.

She conjured a map of the entire city in her mind and, based on the information she had just gathered, drew red circles around several key locations.

If the viewers could see the image in her mind, they would find that the red circles she drew overlapped almost perfectly with the checkpoints set up by Zhang Wuping.

The allocation of urban development resources followed patterns, especially in a metropolis like A City. Hospitals, schools, fire stations, and roads all required precise calculation and planning, so the police would naturally arrange their deployments based on traffic conditions.

Any problem with a pattern could yield a close approximation of the answer.

After finishing, Qiong Cang sat blankly for a moment. She leaned over to take a few tools from her bag, hiding them in her sleeves and pockets. As she prepared to get out of the car, she hesitated, then reached out to turn on the car radio.

A woman’s heavy voice spoke:

“…Alright, we have the latest report from our reporter on the scene. Just moments ago, Ning Dongdong’s mother locked herself in her room and slit her wrists. Fortunately, an officer noticed something was wrong in time, broke down the door, and rescued her. She has been rushed to the hospital for emergency treatment. As for her specific condition, our reporter is still waiting at the hospital…”

“If any citizens spot Ning Dongdong, please report the clues to the police immediately. And Ning Dongdong, if you are listening to this broadcast right now, your mother is currently at the City People’s Hospital, and she is not out of danger yet. Please come back. Please come back and see her. She needs you.”

Qiong Cang listened to the broadcast intently, her train of thought suddenly slowing down, halting on the words “emergency treatment” for a long time.

It suddenly occurred to her: did her blocked memories contain Jiang Ling’s ending?

Perhaps Jiang Ling had not been as fortunate in reality as she was in the game. Perhaps she was already gone.

Qiong Cang curled her lips in a mocking smile. “Humans always love to do meaningless things for self-consolation…”

She would not abandon her plan for an NPC, nor would Jiang Ling come back to life because of a game setting. The opposing commander was even allocating limited manpower and going to great lengths to save an NPC, pouring so much emotion into them. Was there any point to it?

They had used so many methods just to get a “fugitive Player” to change their mind. Was there any point to that?

The muscles in Qiong Cang’s face twitched, beginning to tremble almost imperceptibly. By the time she noticed, a wet drop had already fallen onto her pants, forming a dark circle.

Qiong Cang raised her hand and wiped away her tears with force, looking through her blurred vision at the towering buildings ahead.

There was.

A profession that could decide the fates of others truly required a bit of faith and selflessness.

If only the people handling the case back then had been them.

Qiong Cang lowered her head, wiped her face clean, and put on a mask. Having composed herself, she stepped out of the car with determination.

·

Ten minutes later, He Jueyun, who was patrolling the streets in his car, heard a frantic report from his colleague over the communicator.

“This is bad! A warehouse in the eastern commercial district is on fire, and there are a lot of flammable materials nearby. The caller said someone is trapped inside, but the exact situation is still unclear. Because of our checkpoints at the intersections, traffic is backed up in several areas, and the fire trucks are stuck outside… They’re asking us to clear the roads as quickly as possible to help them control the fire. What should we do?”

He Jueyun froze. It took him a long moment to squeeze a sentence from his throat: “…She really is one ruthless woman.”