Chapter 111: Forming a Task Force, The Full-Scale Hunt for the Sewer Rats Begins!

A violent explosion erupted.

The blast caused the microphone on the stage to emit an ear-piercing buzzing noise.

In everyone’s field of vision, there was no trace of Zhou Shirui anymore. Under the impact of such a high-explosive bomb, his body had long since been blown to pieces.

His head was separated from his torso, and his internal organs and blood spilled across the stage.

A single severed, bloodied hand had even landed in front of a senior master from the sculpture community—the highest-ranking artist present—who had chosen Zhou Shirui’s Bandaged Girl statue as the recipient of the Fifth Luban Award.

“Ugh—”

“Ugh——”

“Ugh———”

All around, the majority of the artists present had never witnessed such a horrific scene before, and they couldn’t help but vomit uncontrollably.

Those who managed to hold back their nausea still had pale faces, clearly shaken by the gruesome spectacle.

Of course, the criminal investigators and SWAT officers on the scene remained unfazed.

However, the image of Zhou Shirui pressing the detonation button without a second thought left even them momentarily stunned.

Just how deranged and extreme did someone have to be to commit suicide with such absolute decisiveness, as if he had no fear of death at all?

What was even more shocking was his final message:

He hoped that the esteemed artists present would be inspired by his suicide performance.

He wished for them to use this inspiration to create a perfect masterpiece in his honor.

Even in the final second before his death, his mind was still consumed by his work—his obsession reaching a level that defied human understanding.

At the very least, in Lin Tian’s twenty-plus years as a detective, Zhou Shirui’s extremism and madness ranked among the top three he had ever encountered.

…

Because the explosion came from a high-explosive bomb rather than a fragmentation grenade, there were no metal shards scattering through the air.

Additionally, the conference hall was quite large, and Zhou Shirui had been some distance from the front row when he detonated the bomb.

As a result, miraculously, no other attendees suffered any injuries. That, at least, was the best possible outcome.

As for why Zhou Shirui didn’t wait for the SWAT team to move in before triggering the explosion—

One possibility was that he feared some unexpected interference might prevent his suicide.

A more likely reason was that he wanted this moment to serve as pure inspiration for the artists present—he didn’t want anyone else to interfere or share in it.

Zhou Shirui, with his extreme obsessive-compulsive tendencies, sought to maintain the purity of his final act down to the last second.

At that moment, Lin Tian clenched his fists tightly for several seconds before slowly releasing them.

He repeated the motion over and over, revealing the storm of emotions raging within him.

This incident had cost him the opportunity to extract crucial information about a massive drug-trafficking syndicate from Zhou Shirui.

However—

It had also finally brought closure to the gruesome 5.13 Shanghai Dismemberment Case from twenty years ago.

Compared to spending one or two years capturing Zhou Shirui alive and putting him through the legal process to eventually receive the death penalty—Lin Tian preferred to see him pay with his life immediately for the heinous crimes he had committed.

And now, that justice had been served.

His body had been blown to pieces, mirroring the very crime he had committed two decades earlier.

But at the same time, all crucial leads had been lost.

Lin Tian stood in silence for several seconds before exhaling a deep breath and issuing commands in an indisputable tone.

“Photograph and clean up the scene.”

“Retrieve as much of the bomb casing, explosive fragments, and the suspect’s remains as possible.”

“We’ll need to conduct an identity verification later.”

“Also…”

Lin Tian glanced at the recording cameras and the numerous media personnel present, his brows furrowing.

“To all members of the press—I must ask you to delete all footage you’ve recorded of this incident. We will oversee the process to ensure compliance.”

“At the same time—We will extract surveillance footage from the conference hall to check if anyone used their phone to record this event. Those recordings must also be deleted.”

“I ask for your cooperation. You all heard Zhou Shirui’s final words.”

“This case is not just related to the twenty-year-old dismemberment case—it is also tied to a massive drug-trafficking syndicate.”

“I trust you can all weigh the importance of this matter. Do not sensationalize or overexpose the details. Even if you report on it, some information must be withheld.”

“I don’t want to see any of you appearing at the Huaihai Criminal Investigation Bureau tomorrow under charges of leaking confidential information.”

“Lastly—If any of you are experiencing extreme physical or psychological distress after witnessing this, I strongly recommend seeking professional counseling as soon as possible to prevent further complications.”

After giving these instructions, Lin Tian exhaled another deep breath, patted Su Ming on the shoulder, and said in a calm voice,

“Xiao Ming, come with me.”

With that, Lin Tian left the conference hall first, stepping into the hallway outside.

He leaned against the railing, took a cigarette from his pocket, and lit it.

Taking a deep drag, he exhaled the thick smoke, briefly veiling his expression before speaking.

“Xiao Ming.”

“Those two shots you fired just now—impressive work.”

“I’d wager…”

“Even military sharpshooters might have struggled to hit the narrow side of a knife under such intense pressure with just a handgun.”

“With your accuracy, I doubt you learned that from police academy training.”

“If I recall correctly, police academies offer firearm training, but nothing that sharpens skills to this level.”

Lin Tian looked at Su Ming with curiosity.

Su Ming remained calm and nonchalant.

“I’ve had good dynamic vision since I was a kid. When I played dodgeball, I made a lot of little girls cry.”

“Later, I got into those carnival shooting games with air rifles. Over time, I developed a sense for shooting.”

“Once I handled a real gun a few times at the academy, I picked it up naturally.”

His explanation was flimsy, at best.

But Su Ming didn’t care—after all, the police uniform he wore was proof enough of his capabilities.

Lin Tian studied Su Ming’s expression for a moment, then chose not to press further. He took another deep drag of his cigarette and muttered with regret,

“To be honest…”

“I should’ve anticipated that Zhou Shirui might have been wearing a bomb. I should’ve realized it much sooner.”

“Back when he forced Qu Pengfei to his death, he used a remote bomb too.”

“And considering how cautious the leader of that drug ring is, he was probably already aware that we’d be tracking Zhou Shirui.”

“But I was careless.”

“All this effort, and all we did was bring Zhou Shirui to justice for his crimes from twenty years ago. We learned nothing about the drug syndicate.”

“If this were twenty years ago, I’d call it a successful mission.”

“But under today’s circumstances, this counts as a major failure.”

This was the self-reproach of a seasoned detective.

He believed that if he had recognized the bomb threat earlier, Zhou Shirui might have been captured alive—leading to the downfall of the entire drug syndicate within days.

Su Ming thought for a few seconds before shaking his head in disagreement.

“No, Chief Lin.”

“Even if we had known about the bomb, we couldn’t have stopped him.”

“The moment he pulled out the detonator, he showed no hesitation—he was ready to die.”

“And given the layout of the conference hall, there was no way to intervene in time.”

“More importantly—I strongly suspect that the leader of the drug syndicate was well aware of Zhou Shirui’s extreme nature. That’s why they never sent anyone to silence him.”

“Otherwise, we wouldn’t have found Zhou Shirui alive at all.”

“So rationally speaking, we shouldn’t dwell on what we could have done better.”

“Besides…”

Su Ming rested his hands on the railing and gazed into the distance, his tone resolute.

“There’s no such thing as the perfect crime.”

“If we can track down a killer from twenty years ago—Then solving the other cold cases should be no different.”

“Honestly…”

“I’m looking forward to the day we drag all the rats out of the sewers.”

Lin Tian was momentarily stunned.

Then, he smiled with satisfaction, taking one final drag from his cigarette before looking up at the ceiling and declaring,

“You’re right.”

“There’s no such thing as a perfect crime.”

“Only a lack of skill in finding the criminals.”

“Tomorrow…”

“We’ll form a task force and begin a full-scale hunt for these sewer rats!!”