Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Did he miss?

Impossible! Nan Mu recalled the scene and immediately dismissed the thought. He was certain he had stabbed the man. After pulling the blade out, he had even accelerated the blood loss.

There was no way Xu Lei could have survived without a trace.

Without a trace…

He abruptly stood up from his chair. “Qiu Ziyu, do you have Xu Lei’s autopsy report? Can I see it?”

“Xu Lei’s? His report is pretty straightforward. Besides, there was camera footage. There’s no doubt that Wen Tangtang killed him.”

“I know… I just want to confirm something else.”

=

Xu Lei’s autopsy had long been completed, and his body had already been collected by his relatives.

Qiu Ziyu could only pull out the photos and files from the autopsy process.

These records couldn’t leave the station, so Qiu Ziyu met Nan Mu at his office.

“Can you even handle this?” Qiu Ziyu looked skeptically at Nan Mu, who was taking deep breaths. “Don’t you get dizzy just seeing a body on a slab?”

Nan Mu finished his mental preparation. “I can do it.”

He looked down, but the moment his eyes brushed over the photos spread across the desk, his vision began to lose focus. Even though he knew perfectly well that he needed to check Xu Lei’s back for old wounds, his optic nerves were completely out of his control. His vision blurred, and his mind was flooded with a sea of red.

“Forget it. What exactly are you looking for? I’ll look for you.” Seeing Nan Mu clutching his head, Qiu Ziyu knew his condition was acting up again. He asked with a hint of annoyance, “Is there some secret you can’t even tell me?”

Nan Mu leaned back against the chair, covering his eyes. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Qiu Ziyu; it was because he trusted him too much that he didn’t want to put him in a difficult position.

Whatever Wen Xin had hidden in the house at No. 110 Lijiangbei Street in Lin’an District was clearly related to the case of Wen Tangtang killing Xu Lei.

If Qiu Ziyu knew about it, he would be duty-bound to report it.

But this was the legendary Time Machine. Once it was revealed, it would cause a global sensation. If national security got involved, would he still have the right to use it as he pleased?

If Qiu Ziyu didn’t know, that was one thing. But if he knew and failed to report it, he would be implicated if the existence of the Time Machine was ever exposed to the world.

“What exactly are you hesitating for?”

If Nan Mu had just given a flat ‘no,’ it would have been fine. Everyone has secrets, and perhaps this really was something he couldn’t share.

But Nan Mu’s current hesitation made it obvious that he *could* tell him-he just didn’t want to.

They had grown up together, and Qiu Ziyu considered them the best of friends. But now! The guy was actually hesitating!

“Not going to say? Fine, I’m leaving.” Qiu Ziyu kicked a stool to vent his frustration and turned to leave.

“The back,” Nan Mu finally spoke. “Check his back… see if there are any old scars.”

“That’s it?” Qiu Ziyu grumbled as he dug through the pile of photos for the ones showing the back. “Nothing.”

“Are you sure?”

Qiu Ziyu wiped a photo clean. The back in the image was completely free of scars. Wen Tangtang had attacked Xu Lei from the front, so his wounds were heavily concentrated on his chest and abdomen. Whether there were old injuries on his back was plain as day.

“I’m sure. Why? Why do you think there should be one?”

Qiu Ziyu shifted his gaze from the photos to Nan Mu. Nan Mu sat in the chair, hand over his forehead, head bowed. His face was buried in shadow, making it impossible to read his expression.

After a long silence, Qiu Ziyu heard his voice.

“Because I once stabbed him in the back.”

“Huh?” Qiu Ziyu dug at his ear. “What did you say?”

“I said I stabbed him with a knife. I drove it into his back… and I’m certain I hit his heart.”

Qiu Ziyu: “???”

Qiu Ziyu knit his brows, looking utterly baffled. “If you don’t want to tell me, just say so. Don’t go making up stories.”

He glanced at the bare back in the photo and couldn’t help but snark, “Look at you, acting all tough. Why don’t you just say you’re the one who killed him?”

Qiu Ziyu turned to pack up the files on the desk, only to hear Nan Mu’s hollow voice from behind him.

“I did. I’m certain I killed him, but he came back to life.”

The voice was enough to make one’s skin crawl.

Qiu Ziyu turned his head with a look of pure absurdity. “What kind of act are you putting on? I-”

Nan Mu interrupted him before he could finish.

“Yesterday, I took the Time Machine back to ten years ago. Using a scalpel…” Nan Mu gestured to the length of the blade, then walked over to a mannequin in the corner of the office to demonstrate the entry point. “I stabbed him here, then pulled the knife out. Do you think he could have survived?”

“Stabbed like that? Forget the heart, even the myocardium could have been severed. If the myocardium is cut or pierced, the heartbeat stops-instant death. Even if it wasn’t a clean cut, with the amount of blood loss after pulling the knife out, he’d have thirty minutes at most. There wouldn’t even be time for a transfer. Unless he had immediate surgery and a transfusion on the spot, he’d be dead for sure.” After answering, Qiu Ziyu asked, “Are you trying to discuss the mortality rate of a direct stab to the heart with me? You’re acting weird today. I don’t even understand what you’re talking about.”

“You also think he wouldn’t survive, right?” Nan Mu stared at the mannequin. “Then why is he still alive… and why is there no wound on his back?”

“Because that ‘stab’ must have happened in a dream!” Qiu Ziyu mocked. “Besides, why would you randomly stab him anyway? He wasn’t the killer.”

“It was him! He was the one who killed Wen Miao.”

Qiu Ziyu’s hand froze as he organized the documents. He looked up in shock, only to see Nan Mu speak each word with chilling clarity.

“I saw it with my own eyes.”