Chen Ge recognized all the people Captain Yan had mentioned. Jia Ming needed no introduction — he harbored another evil soul within him and had once served the Nether Fetus.
The family of three were passengers on the hearse who had followed Chen Be into Liwan Town.
The last one, Bei Ye, was a resident of Liwan Town — a murderer who had been hiding inside the man-eating hotel.
"How did these people end up together?"
Jia Ming was a calculating schemer, and Bei Ye was a twisted, deranged killer. How could the two of them possibly get along peacefully with that family of three?
In Chen Ge's memory, the father in that family was a spineless coward who bullied the weak but feared the strong, the mother never spoke a word and showed no reaction to anything in the outside world, and the little boy at the end was cute — but that was all he was. Just cute.
In the eyes of a killer and a lunatic, cuteness was utterly useless. It might even trigger the cruel instincts lurking inside them.
"Why didn't Jia Ming and Bei Ye kill that family?" To analyze a killer's logic, you had to think from a killer's perspective — to adopt their way of seeing the world. "Liwan Town isn't exactly far from the residential complex where the Ghost Fire Burning Building scenario is located, but it isn't exactly close either. How did this group of old, weak, sick, and helpless people manage to travel through the world behind the door?"
Chen Ge's mind raced through a flurry of possibilities. "Someone in this group knows the way. It could be Bei Ye, or it could be Jia Ming. They escaped during the chaos and headed for another door."
"That family of three are just ordinary people. If Jia Ming and Bei Ye went through all the trouble of protecting them and bringing them out of the world behind the door, they must have some ulterior motive."
"The middle-aged man is a gambling addict. He's the kind of person who would sacrifice his own daughter just to get what he wants — he's nothing but dead weight. The mother is also rather unusual. She seems to have suffered some kind of severe trauma. She's nothing more than a living shell."
"Since both adults are this unremarkable, the answer is obvious. The only reason Jia Ming and Bei Ye protected that family of three and helped them escape the world behind the door is because of the child."
"What could possibly be special about a child — something important enough to make Jia Ming and the killer Bei Ye risk their lives for him?" Chen Ge's eyes narrowed slowly as a possibility took shape in his mind. "That child is also one of the candidates for the Nether Fetus. The Nether Fetus could very well be inside that boy."
Based on the clues he had, Chen Ge had reached a conclusion very close to the truth.
"Chen Ge, what are you thinking about?" Captain Yan noticed that Chen Ge had been silent for a while and asked.
"It's nothing. I just find it strange — why would that family of three end up mixed in with fugitives." Chen Ge looked at Captain Yan. "The family traveling with them doesn't really seem like they're being held hostage. It's more like they're seeking their protection."
"We've considered that as well. The top priority right now is to capture Bei Ye and Jia Ming." Captain Yan produced another file. "They've been switching hideouts several times over this period, but the strange thing is, they haven't left Hanjiang once. It's as if there's something in this city that's extremely important to them — important enough that they're unwilling to leave, even at the risk of being caught."
The more Captain Yan said, the more convinced Chen Ge became that the child was extraordinary — that there had to be some connection to the Nether Fetus.
"Captain Yan, we can't give them more time. I have a very bad feeling about this. We need to bring them in as soon as possible." Chen Ge genuinely had no time to spare. With so little information in hand, finding the Nether Fetus within eight nights was going to be incredibly difficult.
"We've already locked down their location and the search radius is narrowing. We'll have them in custody within three days." Captain Yan was personally overseeing Jia Ming's case, which spoke volumes about how seriously he was taking it. Jia Ming's situation was about as dire as it could get — murdering his wife, assaulting a police officer, repeatedly taunting the authorities, and causing a massive public outcry.
"Within three days?" Chen Ge nodded slightly. "Captain Yan, when the time comes, could you bring me along?"