The killing intent outside the door subsided, and Jian Jing finally breathed a sigh of relief.
She collected her thoughts and said to the police dispatcher: "Relay what I just said to Ji Feng at the Criminal Investigation Unit. Tell them to coordinate with traffic police to set up roadblocks on the main roads to the airport as soon as possible to intercept them. Remember what I said - Zhang Feng and Wang Tan are the murderers in the dismemberment case."
The dispatcher: "Wait, wait, you're... no, the Criminal Investigation Unit, right?"
"Yes." She unlocked the door. Outside was empty - they had already fled.
Her phone displayed a low battery warning.
"My phone's dying. That's all," she said, taking a deep breath. Finally, she added, "Call an ambulance for me."
After giving the address, her phone shut off.
Jian Jing stuffed it into her pocket and rushed out in pursuit.
They had taken the internal elevator straight down. She had to use the panoramic elevator, descending floor by floor slowly. But it was truly too slow - the numbers changed one by one, and with each passing second, the chance of catching them diminished.
"System, I've already reported the culprits to the police. Is the mission not complete yet?" she urged.
[System: Mission complete. Does the host wish to exit the instance?]
Jian Jing immediately said: "Don't exit! Can I use cards again?"
[System: Cards are prohibited in Punishment Instances]
Jian Jing: "Even after completing the mission?"
[System: Cards cannot be used in Punishment Instances. The host may choose to exit]
Jian Jing didn't want to leave. She needed to ensure the criminals were caught, especially Wang Tan.
He had killed her before.
How could she let him go?
Ding dong, the elevator arrived.
She rushed out and saw two beams of light approaching from the underground entrance.
It was Zhang Feng and Wang Tan!
Jian Jing found strength from somewhere. Seeing the car climbing slowly, she sprinted directly to the car door and leapt onto the hood, completely blocking the driver's view.
"Are you insane?!" Zhang Feng cursed loudly, but didn't slow down. Instead, he stomped on the accelerator and sped out.
Jian Jing clung tightly to the windshield, gripping the side mirror.
Of course, she knew this wouldn't stop them from leaving, but wouldn't pedestrians find it strange to see someone on the car?
As long as there were traffic police blocking the road, or if anyone stopped to ask questions, they wouldn't be able to escape smoothly.
"What do we do?" asked Wang Tan.
Zhang Feng gritted his teeth: "Run her over. As long as we can get on the plane, everything will be fine." He glanced at his friend and said, "We're in this together now. How are your arrangements coming along?"
Wang Tan: "My plane is at the airport, ready to leave anytime."
"Good." Zhang Feng's eyes flashed with madness and cruelty. "Watch this."
The gates of the community had opened. The security guard, seeing the license plate and knowing these were people he couldn't mess with, pretended not to see anything and hid in the guard room.
The automatic sensor detected the registered license plate and smoothly opened the gate.
The car turned and drove onto the road.
Jian Jing felt the speed increasing. She felt like she could fly off at any moment.
Looking at the surroundings, this was a high-end residential area. At nearly 11 PM, there were almost no pedestrians on the road.
Just hold on a little longer.
She told herself, gritting her teeth and not letting go.
"Damn it, she's persistent," Zhang Feng raged. "What's it to you, you psycho?! Damn it, I'll run you over! We've already killed one, what's another?"
He cursed while frantically accelerating.
Jian Jing pounded on the glass with all her might, even though she knew she couldn't break it. She still tried to apply pressure: "Stop the car!!"
She screamed with all her strength: "Stop the car!!!"
The red light came on, but Zhang Feng ignored it, zooming through the intersection.
Spots of traffic appeared ahead.
Zhang Feng feared that once they merged onto the main road, some do-gooder might intervene. Steeling himself, he suddenly turned the steering wheel, crashing towards the guardrail.
Jian Jing realized what he was doing and quickly let go.
Her body rolled off, and while she wasn't crushed against the guardrail, she wasn't much better off.
She had been hit hard.
Her internal organs shook, and her ribs were definitely fractured. The pain made it difficult to breathe.
She lay on the ground, struggling to crawl towards the adjacent lane.
Zhang Feng turned the steering wheel, reversed a few meters, then stepped on the accelerator again, ruthlessly aiming to crush her body.
Jian Jing had already reacted as quickly as possible, but this body's agility was too low. Her brain told her body to dodge, but her body couldn't comply fast enough.
The wheels rolled over her, and the intense pain made her lose awareness of her surroundings.
Faintly, she seemed to hear police sirens.
"Car ahead, stop." A traffic police motorcycle wailed its siren as it pulled alongside. "Slow down! Stop the vehicle!"
Zhang Feng didn't listen, flooring the accelerator. The high-performance sports car instantly shot ahead a hundred meters.
"Traffic accident on XX Avenue, hit-and-run vehicle plate A74788." The officer was reporting when she suddenly saw two police cars approaching from the opposite direction.
One pursued the luxury car. The other stopped, and someone jumped out, crouching to check on the victim: "Miss Jian?"
"Chase them." Jian Jing pointed in the direction the vehicle had fled, blood gushing from her nose and mouth. "The murderers..."
Ji Feng drew a sharp breath, trying to stay calm: "I heard. When the call cut off, I had already heard what Wang Tan said."
She nodded slightly, then suddenly began vomiting blood uncontrollably.
"Hang in there." Ji Feng searched for her wounds, trying to stop the bleeding. "The ambulance will be here soon."
Jian Jing didn't speak.
She saw the mission panel.
[System: Instance countdown: 00:03:00]
I have three minutes left in this world, she thought clearly, suddenly wanting to laugh.
Actually, when she first returned, she had harbored a strange hesitation: if she could choose to stay after completing the mission, should she?
Theoretically, of course.
This was the world where she grew up, a peaceful, orderly, ordinary world.
She was an average, ordinary girl who went through the motions of school, graduation, work - no murders, no psychopathic killers, no thrilling and exciting stories.
She didn't need to match wits with criminals, experience life-threatening situations, or repeatedly confront supernatural forces.
As an ordinary person, her biggest problems were how to face her parents' pressure to get married, how to get a raise at work, how much bride price to ask for, and whether to have children in the future.
If she stayed in this familiar world, her life would be predictably mundane and cozy.
Perhaps she would find a decent man, marry him, and live a life of daily routines. In her spare time, she might write novels and post them online, only to be brutally panned and lose interest, never writing again.
Her parents would live well, and she could spend decades with them, being filial, occasionally arguing, until they passed away in their seventies or eighties.
If she hadn't seen another possibility for the world, this wouldn't be so bad.
Everyone lives like this.
The dreams of youth are just dreams. The protagonist of our teenage fantasies grows up to become a faceless background character.
Saving the world has nothing to do with us; we're all just mindless drones in the rat race.
However... having seen the magnificent scenery, how could one be content with the mundane?
I'm not content.
She couldn't ignore the longing in her heart.
But her parents were still here.
If she returned to the other world, what about her parents?
Could they bear the pain of losing their daughter?
Moreover, in that world, during the quiet of night or the festivity of New Year's, when she was alone celebrating by herself, wouldn't she miss her parents?
She would. She really missed them, missed her ordinary parents who loved her.
Jian Jing couldn't bear to leave them.
At this moment, facing death again, she felt no fear like the first time. On the contrary, she felt relieved, embracing both reluctance and guilt, finally not having to make a choice.
"Ji Feng." When the body experiences extreme pain, the brain cuts off sensory input. She felt her limbs go numb, but her mind was incredibly lucid. "Ji Feng..."
Ji Feng leaned down, his tone gentle: "I'm here. It's alright, the ambulance is coming soon."
"Ha!" She burst out laughing.
This was truly laughable. Just three days ago, she had said the same words to him.
How the tables have turned.
It was too funny.
"I... I want to tell you..." She grabbed his collar, speaking in fragments, "Tell my dad... my mom, you help me..."
Her words were disjointed, but Ji Feng understood.
He didn't say anything about her telling her parents herself. Sometimes, people don't get the chance to say a proper goodbye.
"Alright, go on."
"Don't worry about me. I'm going to another world," she said slowly, as blood invaded her airways and her body's functions shut down. "There, I'm a famous writer, earning lots and lots of money every year. I'm doing very well, very... Many people like me... *cough cough cough!*"
Blood flowed continuously from her nose, occasionally choking her airway. No, perhaps it was blood from her trachea, constantly gushing out of her mouth and nose, staining her face red.
But her eyes were bright, showing that their owner was fully conscious.
For a moment, Ji Feng almost believed that what she said wasn't a farewell lie, but something that truly existed.
"I have a beautiful Western-style house, and a dog, a German Shepherd named Knight..." she described life in another world. "There are often murders there, and I always come across murder cases, but each time, each time I catch the culprit... Being a detective is really interesting... I have friends, a boyfriend... I'll have one, don't worry about me. Marriage is a bit far off... maybe... *cough*"
Her vision gradually darkened.
She blinked hard, trying to speak more clearly: "I'm sorry, Mom and Dad. Forgive me." Tears finally spilled from her eyes. "Forgive me, I chose the life I wanted more, the days I wanted more."
"They will forgive you," he said.
"Really?" A sudden burst of clarity came with her last moments, the previous attachment disappeared, replaced by a solemn rationality. "Zhang Feng was the mastermind, but Wang Tan killed me. Don't let him get away. No one can kill me and escape."
Ji Feng: "Alright, I'll remember. Wang Tan attempted murder, correct?"
She smiled faintly.
It was the most moving smile Ji Feng had ever seen.
[Countdown: 00:00:09]
She was running out of strength, closing her eyes tiredly and murmuring, "I'll miss them... Don't think of me... I'm really sorry, I... go back..."
Ji Feng called to her, not letting her sleep: "Jian Jing? Jing Jing?"
She didn't speak again, just gazed at the night sky. On the deep blue curtain, faint clouds drifted like wisps of smoke. The moon hid behind them, its halo hazy and indistinct, as if holding back words.
Perhaps this was the last time she'd see the moon of her homeland.
She would never return again.
"I regret it a little," she said. "But staying or going back, I'd regret either way."
Ji Feng wanted to say something, but the ambulance had already arrived. The doors flung open, and two paramedics jumped out: "Where's the injured person?"
"Here," he quickly replied. "Please save her."
The paramedics immediately began emergency treatment.
However, the young girl's face was covered in blood, and she had already stopped breathing.
She had already gone back.
