Chapter 44: Demons Should Return to Hell
[Quack! Quack! Quack!]
Early in the morning, Fang Xiaocao was awakened by her phone’s notification sound.
Still half-asleep, she grabbed her phone and glanced at it.
It was a WeChat message.
Unlocking the screen, she tapped on the message.
[Hot Noodles: The case of New Heaven Community, Room 402, should be wrapped up today. If you get there before 10 AM, you’ll run into the culprit and Song Lin downstairs.]
Upon reading the message, Fang Xiaocao instantly sobered up. With a whoosh, she sat up straight in bed.
“Closing the case?”
“The reward money!”
Fang Xiaocao was instantly wide awake.
“Who’s the culprit?”
“Has Song Lin already caught him?”
“Did Song Lin work that fast?”
She hurriedly replied with a message to ask.
Checking the time—8:48 AM.
“Still in time…”
Muttering to herself, she started getting dressed.
[Hot Noodles: If the culprit was caught, what would you be needed for?]
[Hot Noodles: You’re here to run into them, of course.]
Seeing the message, Fang Xiaocao’s face immediately darkened.
“You’re never letting this go, huh?”
She rolled her eyes and replied.
[Hot Noodles: Exactly! ]
Fang Xiaocao: ……
“So annoying!”
“I really wanna smack myself.”
She had the urge to bite something in frustration.
[Hot Noodles: Get moving, buddy! Time to grab some cash.]
“I don’t even know who the culprit is!”
She grumbled as she put on her shoes.
With the three sled dogs staring at her in confusion, she grabbed her bag and car keys, then rushed out of the hospital room.
[Hot Noodles: I’ll give you a hint when the time comes.]
Feeling reassured, Fang Xiaocao quickly ran downstairs to the hospital’s parking lot.
“Good thing I had Zhi Qi’s bodyguards bring my car over last night.”
Muttering to herself, she scanned the lot for her vehicle.
Her red Land Rover was quite eye-catching.
It didn’t take long for her to find it.
She got in, started the engine, and drove out of the hospital.
The morning rush hour was winding down, so traffic was still manageable.
Forty minutes later, the red Land Rover arrived at New Heaven Community.
Current time: 9:48 AM.
“I’m here.”
She sent a message to Hot Noodles.
[Hot Noodles: Go straight to the apartment entrance!]
Nodding, she drove toward the building.
Three minutes later, she parked in front of the entrance.
Just as she was about to step out, she saw Song Lin talking to an elderly couple at the entrance.
The old woman was holding a young boy by the hand.
“Huh?”
“That boy looks kinda familiar…”
Fang Xiaocao muttered in confusion.
She felt like she had seen him somewhere before but couldn’t recall where.
[Quack! Quack! Quack!]
Her phone’s notification sound startled her out of her thoughts.
She picked up her phone and saw another message from Hot Noodles.
[Hot Noodles: Look at that boy carefully. Does he seem familiar?]
“Yeah, he does!”
She instinctively replied via voice message.
“But I can’t remember where I’ve seen him…”
She sent another voice message, frustrated.
[Hot Noodles: That’s right. Orphanage. The bully. Axi!]
Upon seeing the message, Fang Xiaocao was instantly dragged back into her childhood memories.
When she was six years old, she had just entered the orphanage—thin, small, and constantly bullied by other kids.
Among them, a boy named Axi left the deepest impression.
Axi was tall and strong for his age, the undisputed “king” of the orphanage.
He showed no mercy—beating and cursing the other kids, both boys and girls. He wasn’t like a child at all but more like a ruthless street thug.
Fang Xiaocao, like the other kids, lived in fear of Axi.
Then, a year later, Axi was adopted because of his sturdy build. From that moment on, he vanished from her life, and she was finally free from his torment.
“Wait… is that boy Axi’s son?”
She asked in confusion.
“No, that doesn’t make sense…”
“Are you messing with me?”
She suddenly shouted in disbelief.
“That kid looks like he’s seven or eight!”
“How could he be Axi’s son?”
She fired off a series of messages, unable to contain her shock.
[Hot Noodles: He…]
[Hot Noodles: IS Axi.]
Seeing this, Fang Xiaocao felt like she had been struck by lightning.
She stared at the little boy outside the car.
That arrogant yet obedient-looking child…
His image gradually overlapped with the nightmare of her childhood.
“It’s really him?”
She gasped.
[Hot Noodles: That’s right. It’s him.]
[Hot Noodles: Axi isn’t a normal child. He has dwarfism. His real age is over thirty.]
[Hot Noodles: His mind is severely twisted. For the past twenty years, he’s been venting his hatred on his foster parents—killing them one after another.]
[Hot Noodles: Over the years, Axi has drifted from orphanage to orphanage, committing countless murders.]
[Hot Noodles: In my world, five years from now, after killing yet another pair of foster parents, he’ll finally be identified by Wang Qiang and killed while resisting arrest.]
Reading Axi’s dark history, Fang Xiaocao felt a chill run down her spine.
Her whole body trembled uncontrollably.
This is a monster.
A demon that had crawled out of hell.
[Hot Noodles: Past me, the time for revenge has come. It’s time to bring him to justice.]
[Hot Noodles: Within three days, that elderly couple will be dead at his hands.]
[Hot Noodles: If you miss this chance, he’ll escape to the neighboring province, live there for five years, and then slaughter another foster family of five.]
[Hot Noodles: Only then will a special task force be formed to track him down—at which point Wang Qiang will recognize him.]
“No!”
“I won’t let him kill again!”
Fang Xiaocao clenched her fists, speaking firmly.
[Hot Noodles: Go! Expose this demon for what he truly is!]
“Demons should be sent back to hell!”
She sent the message before taking a deep breath.
With resolve, she put away her phone, opened the car door, and slowly walked toward the apartment entrance.
(End of Chapter 44)
