Shopkeeper Tang turned his face around and looked straight at the sharp knife that had plunged into his waist. Once the knife punctured through his skin, suddenly all my fears evaporated.
He was just a person after all, not an invincible monster! I had no reason to be afraid of him!
This time, even though it was my first time stabbing someone with a knife, I was unfazed, partly because I knew that the position where he was stabbed meant that only his kidneys were hurt. This wouldn’t incapacitate him. Instead, it might irritate him and enrage him even more.
If I hesitated at this moment, both Xiaotao and I would surely end up dead.
I tightened my grip on the knife’s handle and pulled it out with force. Blood spurted out of the wound, and Shopkeeper Tang screamed in agony. He fell back a little, but soon regained his footing. He raised the cleaver in his hand and charged at me.
“Run away, Song Yang!” yelled Xiaotao.
I ducked and used Cave Vision to survey the room. With these eyes, I could perceive every subtle change in his muscles and predict his next move that way.
Because of that, I dodged his attacks easily.
Shopkeeper Tang slashed his knife like a madman in front of me, but I dodged it every time. This irritated him and he squealed like a pig. I took the opportunity when he was vulnerable to stab him in his right shoulder, cutting off his tendon there so he wouldn’t be able to lift his right arm.
Now that his right arm was weak, I stabbed the knife into his chest. The knife plunged through the ribs and pierced his lungs. I did all this with precision, as I was very familiar with human anatomy. I knew exactly where to stab to incapacitate him.
To him, I was just a bag of meat to be put into his buns; to me, he was just a walking corpse!
Shopkeeper Tang already found it difficult to breathe at this point. He glared at me with his terrible eyes. It was as if fire erupted from those eyes. They were full of murderous intent!
I did not anticipate what he would do next. He took the cleaver with his left hand and continued to charge at me.
However, his movements had slowed down considerably at this point. I plunged a boning knife into his left shoulder joint and left it there. That caused him to be unable to lift his left arm anymore. He stumbled forward with great difficulty. The three wounds on his body were spurting blood. His leather apron was now dyed red.
In the end, he slumped onto the floor. His eyes rolled to the back of his head and he fell to the ground with a heavy thump.
It was over now. I was immensely relieved.
I rushed to Xiaotao’s side and helped her up to her feet. She was shaking. When she saw that I was fine, she hugged me tightly. We didn’t say a word. I could feel her petite body shivering in my arms.
“It’s over now,” I comforted her, patting her back. “Let me see where you’re hurt.”
I examined her whole body and found that her forehead was bruised and bleeding a little. Her wrist was also injured, but it seemed that her bones there were not broken. I was very worried that her ribs might be broken. It would be really bad if the fractured ribs punctured her lungs. I wanted to ask her if I could examine her ribs, but hesitated.
Xiaotao saw through me and grabbed my hand to place it on her ribs. She groaned a little when I touched her. Was she hurt there?
I told myself this was not the time to feel shy, so I examined her seriously with my fingers. After a while, she asked me, “Are my ribs broken?”
“No,” I answered. “But there might be some internal injuries.”
“What about you? Where are you injured?”
“I’m fine!”
I was kicked in the stomach, so I thought the stomach lining might bleed a little since I could feel a burning sensation there. But this little injury was nothing to worry about.
She hugged me again and cried, “I was so worried that you might die!”
After that, I felt a few drops of warm tears stuck on my neck. Xiaotao had rested her head on my shoulder, and her hair was tickling my ear.
Although it felt good to stay that way, it just wasn’t the time for it yet. There was a much more pressing matter at the moment. I freed myself from her and said, “Hurry up and call 120!”
“But I’m fine…”
“No, we have to save him!” I pointed to Shopkeeper Tang who was twitching every so often.
Xiaotao widened her eyes and exclaimed, “You mean he’s not dead?! I clearly saw you stab him four or five times!”
I dialed 120 and gave him some first-aid treatment. His lungs were bleeding, the whole chest was under high pressure, and he had difficulty breathing. He would suffocate within a few minutes. He was in a condition called pneumothorax in medical terms.
I turned him over, took off his clothes, and raised his neck. I asked Xiaotao for a pen, then I cut it with a knife to turn it into a tube. I then pierced it right through the center of his chest.
The high pressure in his lungs was immediately released, and he violently coughed up a few mouthfuls of blood. This persisted until the paramedics arrived.
I had to keep him alive because I wanted him to be punished by the law. Also, I needed to know the truth from him.
“You knew exactly where to stab him, didn’t you?” Xiaotao eyed me suspiciously.
“Well, more or less. It’s not like I’m an acupuncture expert. At that time, all I could think of was how to incapacitate him. By the way, would that count as self-defense by law?”
“Of course, it does. It more than counts as self-defense! He was trying to stab you with a cleaver and turn us into food!”
“I’m relieved, then,” I sighed. “I was afraid that I’d be wearing ‘silver bracelets’ when the police came.”
Xiaotao smiled.
“Even if you end up in jail, I’ll make sure to send food to you every day,” she joked.
“Do you know how to cook?”
“No, but I can learn, can’t I?”
We both laughed, but my laughter was tainted with a fear that shrouded me. It wasn’t because I almost lost my life, but it was because I remembered the feeling of unspeakable pleasure when I stabbed the knife into Shopkeeper Tang’s body.
Was I actually a psychopath too?
When people heard of horrendous crimes in the news, they always felt that it was vile and revolting, that it was something they’d never do. But, in fact, we all had the potential to turn to the dark side if we were thrown into the ‘right’ circumstances.
Where there was light in this world, there would be darkness. People who often dealt with criminals were much more likely to become one themselves.
This is not to say that my feelings were justified. But from my point of view, it was important to understand our own dark side. Only that way could one prevent oneself from losing to one’s sinister tendencies.
About ten minutes later, the police and the paramedics arrived. They took over the scene and both Xiaotao and I left the basement. It was still sunny when we came outside. It felt as if we’d returned from a different world.
Someone handed us a blanket each. I used to wonder why they did that when I saw it on TV or in films, but now I knew that when something terrible happened, you would break out in cold sweat. You could be very chilly even if you were outside on a sunny day.
Residents nearby rushed to the front of the shop, so the police had to quickly cordon off the area. I looked at the dead body carried out from the basement and remarked, “Looks like I have to go back to work and perform an autopsy.”
“But the case is closed!” Xiaotao interjected. “The body will be handed over to the coroner. I’ve got no strength left in me. My legs are all wobbly like jelly. I just want to go home and sleep now.”
“You can go back first,” I told her. “I’ll go back to the police station with a police car.”
Xiaotao smiled. “What am I gonna do with you? Alright, let’s go!”