Xiao Dawei was sent to the hospital for treatment. When the police found his hiding place, they realized just how much of a valiant criminal this guy was!
In order to stop the bleeding, he used a match to burn the wound. He had originally planned to avoid going outside for a few days but never expected the situation to develop in this direction. Knowing it might be a trap, he simply drank dirty toilet water to quench his thirst. Finally, when he couldn't bear it any longer, he slipped down to a tobacco shop to buy some water and was arrested.
Three days later, we met a healthy Xiao Dawei sitting in the interrogation room with a sneer on his face.
"Are you more energetic now?" I asked, taking a seat in front of him.
"You policemen have no guts. All you can do is stoop to shameless tricks,” he mocked. “Fight me one-on-one if you dare! None of you can beat me!"
Xiaotao ridiculed, "So you fled that night and were arrested for a sip of water. What a hero!"
"You little bitch, if you weren’t wearing that uniform, I’d fuck you till I get bored. And then I’ll..." cursed the man.
Xiao Dawei suddenly screamed at this moment, shaking as if he had received an electric shock as he tried to scooch backwards.
I stared at him with the Eyes of Yama for five seconds, refusing to stop until he begged for mercy. Then, I opened a bottle of milk and finished it. How dare he insult Xiaotao in front of me! It seemed like the man no longer had the desire to live!
The greatest advantage of the Eyes of Yama was the fact such an attack couldn’t be considered torture in the eyes of the law. Yet, the agony it inflicted was far worse than any physical pain.
I wiped away the milk at the corners of my mouth, "Go on then, big hero!"
Unaware of what had happened, Xiao Dawei looked at me with the fear a deer would have confronting a tiger, too frightened to speak.
"Explain yourself. Why did you kill them?!" demanded Xiaotao.
I never imagined how happy this guy would be confessing to his crimes. He explained that he was impulsive and irritable when he was younger, and because he had injured some people, he was imprisoned. There, he met some impressive inmates who taught him their skills. For example, his killer move with a mace was taught by a martial arts master.
After he was released, he couldn’t find employment because of his criminal record. He mixed in with the sordid, bottom rungs of society and did everything, living like a rat in the gutter.
Just looking at the wealthy made him boil with rage at how unfair the world was!
In the winter of 1999, he followed a rich woman home, raped her and then killed her. Watching the rich beg for mercy before him and struggle like a dog gave him a rush of power–the feeling of stepping on others and holding their fate in his hands made him euphoric.
From then on, he became addicted to murder and had to kill every once in a while.
He killed in the spur of the moment, without premeditation. Once he was ill and had no money to go to the hospital for treatment. Thus, he was upset after recovery. When he bumped into a doctor going home from work, he killed the doctor.
Over the years, he moved from place to place, having no fixed home. On his journeys, he made friends of the same “trade.” One time, when they were drinking and chatting, a man who committed a massacre boasted that his city was still in panic.
Then, another man scoffed and said that was nothing. He boasted that his previous case was adapted into a movie and became a household name. Even after watching the movie several times by himself, he still felt delighted.
Murderers also had their dignity and desire to keep up with the competition. By contrast, Xiao Dawei was a loser among murderers. Although he had killed many, he was still considered a small-time murderer with no sensational works to speak of. He failed to go down in history like these two predecessors.
Xiao Dawei held on to that thought, constantly cudgeling his brains for an idea that would shock the world.
Later, he returned to Nanjiang City where one of his lovers lived. However, he never imagined his lover would be tricked into becoming a prostitute by a pimp named Zhang Bing while he was away. She eventually caught an STD and died from the disease.
Enraged, Xiao Dawei went looking for Zhang Bing, ready to give him the beating he deserved. But the sniveling coward begged desperately for mercy and promised he would pay him to spare his life. Thus, they made an IOU–Zhang Bing owed Xiao Dawei one million yuan with an annual interest of 3%.
However, the sneaky bastard hid from him and refused to pay the money, dragging the matter on for five years.
A few days ago, Xiao Dawei went to Zhang Bing for money and the man happened to be cooperating with a human trafficking syndicate. The two had a conversation near the unfinished residential flats, where Zhang Bing claimed he was broke. He boldly suggested Xiao Dawei take one of the women for his own use to write off the debt.
Having looked forward to this huge sum of money for years, Xiao Dawei was enraged that he wouldn’t see a cent. How could it be written off just like that?
So he kicked Zhang Bing into the pool, and when Zhang Bing came up struggling for help, Xiao Dawei grabbed his mace and hit him on the back of the head. He watched Zhang Bing sink to the bottom.
At the time, Zhang Bing's cell phone fell onto the ground with Weibo on the screen. Xiao Dawei sat there reading the legend of the ghost bus, and saw the video sent by the blogger. Right then, a thought suddenly crossed his mind. Wasn’t this a great opportunity to make a name for himself?
Combined with the strange legend, the murder of all those people would be a sensation in China, let alone Nanjiang City. Perhaps it would be adapted into a movie and be played on the big screen. Wouldn’t that make him a celebrity murderer?
After finalizing his plan, he fished out Zhang Bing’s corpse, transported it to his flat and left it on the bed.
The next day, he prepared his equipment and pretended to be Zhang Bing when he asked out the two hostesses. Then, he rushed to the hotel to finish them off.
The remaining targets were a little troublesome, and the easiest one to locate was the blogger. Perhaps he might even find the others through the blogger. So he searched online and learned of Zhou Yang's notoriety and pretended to be a female fan to hook him in.
After he kidnapped Zhou Yang, he found Luo Youyou. By then, Zhou Yang was useless to him. Luo Youyou was only kept alive because Xiao Dawei was going to use her as bait to reel in the remaining three targets. Otherwise, with his Ten-step Flying Hammer, Luo Youyou would never have escaped.
However, he never expected the girl to be such a fast runner. While Xiao Dawei waited nearby for her to show herself, he flipped through Luo Youyou's cell phone and discovered where she worked.
When we came looking for Luo Youyou, Xiao Dawei was pleased with the way things were going. It was as if God was helping him. He planned to kill Luo Youyou and Dali first, then Bingxin and me. But never in a million years did he foresee Song Xingchen’s heroic rescue during the critical point, thus disrupting all his plans and forcing him to flee the scene...
Xiao Dawei tossed the car in the middle of his journey back to the city. In fact, he had already come to the store to investigate. At the time, Luo Youyou and Dali were both there but it was inconvenient to kill them in broad daylight. So he sneaked into the store to ambush them the next day but ended up getting shot by Xiaotao.
Xiao Dawei smiled, "But it doesn't matter, I’m quite satisfied with how everything turned out. It’ll definitely create quite a sensation when the article is published in the newspaper! Remember to write my real name. Don't give me any pseudonyms. And don’t forget to mention how great my Ten-step Flying Mace is! That’s my signature move!"
"You can dream on!” sneered Xiaotao. “Your case will never make it to the newspapers. So no one will know. You can wait to brag to your inmates in prison!"
"How can you do this?” Xiao Dawei asked in wide-eyed disbelief. “Such a big case doesn't make it to the papers but anything that makes you guys look good certainly does!"
"Would you like me to write a novel and post it online?" I asked.
Xiao Dawei seemed to take my words seriously, "Yes! That’s a great idea! Remember to use my real name!"
What had originally been intended as sarcasm ended up being a good idea! I thought to myself, Why not play to his fantasies and obtain all the information he knows of other criminals?
So I deliberately said, "I can't write a novel based on one case alone. You’ve got to tell me more about your experiences."