"Screech—boom—"
The tires made a sharp friction sound against the road before the car collided with the vehicle in front, causing both occupants to lurch forward violently.
"Thud—"
Xiao He hadn't expected Li Zhicheng to react like this. His nose smashed directly into the front seat, bringing tears to his eyes, while Li Zhicheng appeared to have strained his neck, his face contorted in pain.
"You okay?"
Xiao He immediately snapped out of his previous mood, covering his nose as he answered nasally: "Y-yeah, I'm fine."
Damn it! He had every reason to suspect this guy did it on purpose!
Li Zhicheng turned to look at Xiao He, quickly masking the murderous glint in his eyes as he rubbed his neck. "Sorry about that, the car ahead braked suddenly and I couldn't react in time."
"It's fine, really..."
While they were talking, the people in the front car reacted more dramatically than expected. The doors flew open as two black-suited bodyguards accompanied a young man wearing a mask and baseball cap towards them.
"Fuck! Where did these stalkers come from? Un-fucking-believable, following us all the way here!"
The young man cursed violently while pounding on their car window with no semblance of gentleness, as if ready to smash through the glass any second.
Neither Li Zhicheng nor Xiao He had anticipated such an aggressive response.
Judging from his words, was this guy some celebrity? Had they been mistaken for stalkers?
Li Zhicheng's face darkened instantly as he rolled down the window, glaring coldly. "You're the ones who slammed on your brakes! And who the hell are you? Starting with insults right away? We don't even know you!". "Oh? Following us the whole way and now playing dumb?"
The masked man sneered, immediately grabbing for the driver's side door handle. "Motherfucker, get the hell out! I'll make you famous nationwide today!"
"What are you doing?"
Li Zhicheng locked the doors and shouted back, while Xiao He in the backseat had already dialed traffic police and emergency numbers.
At that moment, a middle-aged man in a gray suit stepped out from the front car—looking every bit the respectable professional. Xiao He guessed this was probably the guy's manager.
Sure enough, the manager rushed to restrain the masked man: "I've called an ambulance! Get back in the car—I'll handle this!"
"Fuck! Brother Cheng, I can't swallow this!"
"Shut up! Watch your mouth!" The manager clearly possessed more composure. After reprimanding the younger man, he turned a venomous glare toward Li Zhicheng. "What's your name? Do you have any idea who you've hit? Let me tell you—this isn't over! You'll pay for this!"
Li Zhicheng scoffed. "What's your problem? Being a celebrity means you can falsely accuse people? You're the ones at fault here—how does this become our responsibility?"
Li Zhicheng's booming voice carried far in the area near the film studio, attracting curious onlookers from the sidewalk.
"What happened?"
"Car accident?"
"Who was in an accident?""Isn't that Cheng Hongwen?"
"Who?"
"Ran Yunrui's manager!"
"What? Manager Cheng? Then does that mean something happened to Brother Ran?"
"Look—isn't that Ran right there—"
As the crowd's murmurs grew louder, Cheng Hongwen's expression darkened further. He shot a meaningful look at the bodyguards, signaling for Ran Yunrui to return to their van immediately.
But just as Ran Yunrui tried to leave, Li Zhicheng grabbed him: "Hey! Don't run off! We haven't settled this yet!"
"Let go!"
Despite his bluster, Ran Yunrui turned out to be physically weak—nearly stumbling when pulled. The bodyguards immediately intervened, plunging both parties into chaos.
Meanwhile, Xiao He...
Xiao He was secretly recording everything.
To be precise, he'd started filming right after the collision to preserve evidence.
His roommate had lent him this GoPro to capture footage around the film studio, though he'd forgotten about it until now. Better late than never to document this "wonderful life."The altercation didn't last long before traffic police arrived. Xiao He promptly submitted his video evidence.
The investigation revealed Ran Yunrui's group hadn't been lying—they indeed had a stalker following them recently, driving the same model car as Li Zhicheng's, which explained their aggressive reaction toward perceived "stalkers."
Turned out, these particular occupants were completely innocent.
However, without dashcam footage from Li Zhicheng's car, there was no definitive proof whether the front car had braked maliciously—a claim Ran Yunrui's group naturally denied.
Furious, Li Zhicheng demanded a thorough investigation. But Ran Yunrui's manager Cheng Hongwen proved quick-witted—once realizing this was all a misunderstanding, he promptly apologized to Li Zhicheng, offering full compensation plus hush money.
Even Xiao He received an envelope.
"This was entirely our mistake. We hope you won't pursue this further."
Faced with Cheng Hongwen's smile and compensation, Li Zhicheng's protests died in his throat.
He glanced at the thick envelope in his hand, hesitating.
Truth was, this wasn't even his car—it belonged to the film crew.
But with things having developed this way... he'd naturally keep the money for himself.
"W-well, don't let it happen again..." Li Zhicheng's attitude shifted instantly as he pocketed the envelope.
Cheng Hongwen then turned to Xiao He: "What about you, sunglasses guy?"Xiao He shrugged. "I'm cool with it."
Thus the matter was settled amicably.
---
By the time Xiao He exited the traffic police station, dusk had fallen.
Streetlights flickered on as Xiao He exhaled deeply, his gaze following the illuminated road until it landed on the district police station directly across the street.
Watching Li Zhicheng still conversing with Cheng Hongwen, Xiao He rubbed his chin thoughtfully—
This was perfect timing. The murderer stood right here, just a street away...
Though all his probing had basically confirmed Xiao He's suspicion—that Li Zhicheng was indeed Zhu Third Brother, the fugitive from the "Killing Life" case—he still lacked concrete evidence.
Perhaps Li Zhicheng had undergone plastic surgery—his face bore no resemblance to the wanted photo, explaining why police hadn't recognized him all these years.
Xiao He had also noticed during routine ID and license checks that no issues were flagged—meaning Li Zhicheng might have assumed someone else's identity without detection.
The thought sent chills down his spine.
For all he knew, Li Zhicheng could have committed other murders over the years!
Yet the man's behavior baffled Xiao He—why voluntarily join a film crew dramatizing his own crime? This "delivering himself to justice" approach seemed downright absurd...
As Xiao He lost himself in thought, someone who'd just passed by suddenly backtracked to stand beside him: "Student Xiao?"
Xiao He looked up to see Officer Li—the rookie cop from his previous mistaken police report incident.
"Officer Li?"
The young officer glanced between Xiao He and the police station, his expression complicated. "Student Xiao... what are you doing here?"
Standing outside a police station with such a hesitant, conflicted expression... it reminded Officer Li uncomfortably of that wife-killing dismemberment suspect who'd turned himself in last week.
Was this guy here... to confess something too?