Kiwi Beyond the Cage 017

**Caged Bird (III)**

Ji Pingjiang had no intention of killing Sheng Long, and he likely couldn't even if he tried.

The people who deserved death had all perished, and the vengeance he sought had been exacted. Now, with the police on his trail, there was only one step left.

"Awake?" The sealed warehouse, with its windows and doors shut tight, was bathed in dim light.

Sheng Long slowly opened his eyes, only to find himself bound to a chair, his limbs immobilized. The grating sound of a sharpening knife pierced the silence.

Gloved hands unscrewed a mineral water bottle, rinsing the blade before examining it meticulously. Satisfied, Ji Pingjiang approached Sheng Long with the knife in hand.

"Do you remember that game over a decade ago?"

He brandished the knife before Sheng Long for a moment, then retrieved an alarm clock from his pocket, set the time, and placed it on the open ground directly in front of Sheng Long.

The time now was: 10:00 AM.

A two-day deadline.

If by 10:00 AM the day after tomorrow, no one found Sheng Long, Ji Pingjiang would sever his arms.

Another day passed without discovery, and his legs would be next. A third day, and it would be his head.

"Do you think someone will find you?" Ji Pingjiang shifted his stance.

In a hidden corner lay dismemberment tools, ready for use. Above them, surveillance cameras dotted the ceiling. For years, Ji Pingjiang had lived here, undetected. He was confident the police would never find him.

"Hopefully," Sheng Long tested the bonds, but the hemp rope held fast, allowing no movement.

In the darkness, he need not maintain his composure. Tilting his neck to expose his vulnerable Adam's apple, he closed his eyes and listlessly echoed, "Hopefully you succeed."

Ji Pingjiang laughed. "You still haven't changed."

Then, with a hint of resentment, he added, "Compared to me, you're better suited to be the butcher."

What confined his brutal soul?

2:30 PM, at the hospital.

The caregiver voiced her concern, "A few nights ago, Xiao Wei had another episode and scratched Mr. Sheng. He said it was his own fault for speaking carelessly and startling her. He felt guilty."

While Ou Yanglin and the others were busy tracking Wu Li and Ji Pingjiang, Sheng Long had remained at the hospital, devotedly watching over Ji Wei. This morning, when he went downstairs to buy breakfast, he specifically instructed the caregiver to keep an eye on her, promising he would return soon.

"At first, I thought Mr. Sheng was just delayed and didn't give it much thought. But by noon, when my calls went unanswered and the company said he never returned, I grew worried."

Having cared for Ji Wei for so long and witnessing the murder plot at the hospital, the caregiver understood the gravity of Sheng Long and Ji Wei's situation. After much deliberation, she decided to inform Ou Yanglin, ending with an anxious inquiry, "I hope I'm not interfering with your investigation?"

Ou Yanglin reassured her, "You've done well."

Thanks to the caregiver's prompt notification, they were able to quickly adjust their investigative direction.

"How is Ji Wei holding up?" Ou Yanglin asked, peering through the glass door of the ward.

The caregiver shook her head with a sigh, "No one knows what Mr. Sheng said to her, but it terrified her... Several times, I almost lost sight of her as she tried to run out of the room."

"Where does she want to go?"

The caregiver replied, "She claims there are monsters in the room and has thrown things at Mr. Sheng to keep him away."

Ou Yanglin frowned, glancing at her phone. A message from Zhao Liang indicated no trace of Ji Pingjiang had been found yet.

In such a vast city, blanketed by surveillance, it was baffling how Ji Pingjiang, with Sheng Long in tow, managed to vanish without a trace. Just like his previous crimes, which were executed flawlessly without a single slip, yet if he had the skill to avoid cameras, why deliberately let them capture the clear image of him abducting Sheng Long?

What was his true purpose, and what was he planning to do...

Ou Yanglin took a deep breath, her gaze returning to the ward.

On numerous occasions when they were at a loss, it was the ill Ji Wei who provided clues. So... what about this time?

"May I go in and see her?" Perhaps Ji Wei knew something.

The caregiver couldn't authorize it, but after obtaining the doctor's consent, Ou Yanglin gently pushed open the door.

Inside the ward, Ji Wei sat propped up on the hospital bed, gazing pensively out the window.

"Ji Wei," Ou Yanglin greeted her, uncertain of her current state, and introduced herself, "Do you remember me?"

Before she could finish, Ji Wei spoke first: "Officer Ou Yang."

Her voice was calm.

"What are you looking at?" Ou Yanglin leaned closer.

Without blinking, Ji Wei kept her eyes on the window, "Can a wingless kiwi bird fly to the sky?"

Outside, the sky was blue with fluffy clouds, and birds occasionally streaked across. After a moment's thought, Ou Yanglin replied, "Yes, it can."

Ji Wei turned to look at her.

Ou Yanglin smiled and said, "We don't have wings either, yet we can still soar through the sky, can't we?"

Without wings, one can still fly high and far, even reaching outer space where birds cannot ascend. "In my view, wings are merely external conditions. What truly matters is here," Ou Yanglin tapped the area over her heart, "Ji Wei, do you want to fly?"

Ji Wei stared at her blankly and replied, "I do."

"Then you must get well," Ou Yanglin encouraged. "Once you can leave the hospital and let go of your sugar box, you'll be able to fly to wherever your heart desires." Without wings, but with feet, as long as one lives and the heart beats, there should be no bounds.

Ji Wei fell silent.

After a moment, she spoke: "You've come to see me because... something's happened to him, hasn't it?"

Ou Yanglin finally noticed something was off. "You..." She sensed that Ji Wei was lucid at this moment. "It seems you already know."

Ji Wei nodded. "Aunt Zhang didn't avoid me when she made the call. I heard everything."

"Was it my father who showed up?"

Ou Yanglin had no choice but to activate the voice recorder and pressed on, "Are you in a clear state of mind right now?"

What constituted clarity, and how was illusion to be judged?

In Ji Wei's eyes, they were all part of reality. It was just that others couldn't see her mental world, only she could, and thus she suffered, leading others to label her as ill.

"I've always felt that I'm clear-headed," she said.

Just as a sick person tells others they are healthy and not ill, "Would you believe them?"

Ou Yanglin replied, "I do."

From the first time she met Ji Wei until now, whether in a delusional state or a normal one, Ji Wei had never lied to them.

"What do you know?" Ou Yanglin asked.

"I know... where he was hidden."

Ji Wei was in the seventh grade when, every day after school, she would return home with her brother.

That day, she waited for a long time in her classroom, but her brother never came to find her. She went to his class, only to find it nearly empty except for a few students cleaning. Wu Li, who was doing chores, told her that her brother had left early.

So he didn't wait for her and went home first?

Ji Wei returned to the Sheng residence alone.

In the empty villa, Meng Qingde secluded himself in the basement painting, and Sheng Linrong was, as usual, absent. Ji Wei knocked on her brother's door, waited for a long while with no response, found a key, carefully turned it, poked her head in... her brother wasn't there.

She waited until nightfall, but her brother never returned. Throughout the evening, she kept calling, but from the moment school let out, her brother's phone had been unanswered.

Was her brother also going to disappear like her mother?

Panicked, Ji Wei even sought out Meng Qingde, only to be met with silent indifference. At her wit's end, just as she was about to ask Sheng Linrong for help, a photo popped up on her phone—it was her brother.

**"Want to save him?"**

**"You have forty-five minutes."**

**"The game begins."**

Ji Wei didn't know who was on the other end, nor did she understand their intentions. She didn't dare to call the police, had no one to turn to, and her mind was consumed by the frantic ticking of time. Following the address sent to her phone, she went.

"I found my brother," Ji Wei said softly.

Ou Yanglin listened patiently, waiting for a pause before asking, "Was Sheng Long truly kidnapped?"

Ji Wei couldn't be sure, "I think... yes."

"Then who was the kidnapper?"

Ji Wei shook her head, "They never showed themselves from start to finish."

Sheng Long had been tied to a chair with a blindfold over his eyes; he claimed he didn't see who took him. "My brother said it might have been a prank," she added.

Since neither he nor Ji Wei, who came to rescue him, were hurt, and most importantly, the place where Sheng Long was held was right at their school, Ji Wei wasn't certain if the kidnapping was real or a prank. Sheng Long refused to acknowledge it, and in the years that followed, neither of them ever spoke of it again. But that didn't mean Ji Wei forgot.

She always felt that her brother began to transform into a monster after that incident.

Ou Yanglin understood, "You believe the person who kidnapped Sheng Long back then was your father, Ji Pingjiang?"

Ji Wei neither confirmed nor denied.

"Where was Sheng Long held back then?"

Drip—Drip—

Before Ji Wei could respond, Officer Wang called, "We tracked a cloned vehicle. It's parked in the old district, empty, but there's a strange flyer inside."

The flyer was a deep red, with bold red text taking up most of the page: **Limited Time: Two Days!!!!!!**

Had it not been for Officer Wang's attentiveness, the flyer might have been overlooked. Upon closer inspection, he noticed the small print beneath the headline, densely packed and urgent: The deadline is at ten o'clock the day after tomorrow.

After ten o'clock, you will lose both your arms.

At the next ten o'clock, your legs will depart from you.

Ding—

The ten o'clock alarm will explode, and with it, your skull!

Will it be discovered? Will it be discovered? Will it be discovered?

When you find it, all that remains is a skeleton white as snow.

This is the final "Happy Birthday."

Happy Birthday to everyone.

Are you ready? The game—

Has already begun.

Looking at the flyer, Ou Yanglin recalled the text message Ji Wei had just mentioned:

**"Want to save him?"**

**"You have forty-five minutes."**

**"The game begins."**

"It's the same person..." Ou Yanglin was certain, "The person who kidnapped Sheng Long back then is your father, Ji Pingjiang!"

"Tell me quickly, where was Sheng Long held back then!"

Ji Wei also saw the words on the flyer. Since her latest episode, she had maintained this detached and numb expression, as if nothing could affect her, even though her brother, her so-called boyfriend, was about to be dismembered by her father.

Ji Wei made a request: "Take me with you."

"This is too dangerous!"

Ji Wei looked at her, "If the kidnapper is my father, what do you think his purpose was in kidnapping Sheng Long?"

"The two days are not time for Sheng Long to live; it's time he's given to himself."

"You can't persuade him, but perhaps I can."

Just as years ago, when he kidnapped Sheng Long to draw her out alone, perhaps it was just to catch a glimpse of her.

"..."

"..."

It was already evening, the sky at the intersection of light and darkness, the most depressing moment of the day.

It was summer vacation, and Songming Middle School lay silent under the night sky. The deserted campus brought some convenience to the police, but the rescue mission was still extremely challenging.

The place where Ji Pingjiang had kidnapped Sheng Long back then was the underground equipment storage room of the gymnasium. Years ago, the gymnasium had leaked and flooded the underground storage, and the narrow, steep stairs leading to the basement had caused several师生 injuries. Afterward, the underground storage room was gradually abandoned. Due to rumors of hauntings, over time, no one dared to approach it. With the turnover of several generations of师生, many were unaware that there was a basement beneath the gymnasium.

Ji Wei didn't know back then either.

When she followed the navigation to this place, she thought she had entered the hell her brother had described.

"There are no windows inside, only one exit, piled high with abandoned equipment. It's vast and pitch-black. If someone wanted to hide, even if all the lights in the storage room were turned on, it would take a long time to find them," Ji Wei described the scene she had witnessed back then.

At that time, she felt as if someone was watching them from the shadows, but her brother told her it was an illusion.

After navigating the complex terrain, the drone plan was abandoned, and the snipers couldn't find suitable hiding spots. Now, rescuing Sheng Long could only rely on blind search and rescue.

Ou Yanglin sat inside a concealed command vehicle, holding a walkie-talkie and closely monitoring the large screen. Officer Wang, a former member of the armed police, was already fully geared up and leading a team into the basement. Zhao Liang had his people surround the stadium, and the group moved in and out silently, not even disturbing the birds in the treetops.

"Preparation—" The walkie-talkie crackled with static.

As the large door was breached, dust filled the screen. Ou Yanglin sat up straight. Under the glare of the lights, she made out a dark corner of the storage room: Sheng Long was indeed there, bound hand and foot, his face hanging low. Behind him stood Ji Pingjiang, knife in hand.

The sharp blade pressed tightly against Sheng Long's neck, already soaking his clothes with blood. During the time the police had been searching for him, Sheng Long had been beaten and lapsed into unconsciousness, his condition unknown.

"Do not move! Raise your hands—"

Dozens of armed police surrounded him. Faced with the guns pointed at him, Ji Pingjiang was not panicked; instead, he had the leisure to smile, "Quite a crowd we have here."

"Ji Pingjiang, you can't escape," Ou Yanglin's voice cut through the tension. "Release the hostage and don't make things worse."

"Wrong?" Ji Pingjiang laughed as if he'd heard a joke, his voice rising in challenge. "Do you think I'm in the wrong?!"

In Ji Wei's memory, her father was handsome and tall, always wearing a smile. He and her mother would turn to him for any difficulty, as if there was nothing in the world he couldn't solve.

Years had passed since she last saw him, and perhaps her memory had faltered, but Ji Pingjiang's features still bore the contours of his youth. Yet now, all his features seemed compressed, twisted and struggling into a vortex, transforming Ji Pingjiang into a monster with bloodshot eyes.

"I AM NOT WRONG!!" Ji Pingjiang spat, venom in his voice. "The best decision I ever made in my life was killing Sheng Linrong!!"

"He deserved death, Meng Qingde deserved death, all of you deserve to die!!" With that, he violently tore open his shirt, revealing explosives strapped around his waist.

Ji Pingjiang had killed so many; after exposing himself, he never intended to live.

Looking at the police encircling him, Ji Pingjiang sneered, "Do you plan to die with me?"

"Ji Pingjiang!!"

Ji Wei pressed her hand against Ou Yanglin's arm.

Watching Ji Pingjiang on the screen, she suddenly spoke: "Dad."

Ji Pingjiang froze.

"Was it you up in the ceiling on the morning of July fourteenth?" she asked.

Early in the morning, it was her birthday.

From the ceiling came thud after thud, fifty-four times in total. Ji Wei curled in the corner, unable to see a thing, yet she could feel the thick blood dripping onto her, suffocating her until she retched.

Ji Wei's hands began to tremble again.

Instinctively, she reached for her sugar box, only to grasp Ou Yanglin's hand instead. The warmth replaced the cold, lifeless box, and Ji Wei brushed away the monsters crawling atop her head, choking out, "Why did you do this?"

She fixed her gaze on Sheng Long's face.

He was held captive by Ji Pingjiang, blood still seeping down the blade, yet he hadn't moved an inch from start to finish.

But Ji Wei was certain Sheng Long wasn't dead.

Even if he wanted to die.

"Xiao Wei..." Ji Pingjiang murmured her name, "Is that you... Xiao Wei."

Even with Ji Wei's words, Ji Pingjiang still held Sheng Long firmly, and with the explosives strapped to him, the police were still waiting for a breakthrough.

Ou Yanglin signaled to Ji Wei with her lips to keep talking, and Ji Wei spoke: "Do you want to see me?"

She said, "I can come down to find you."

Ou Yanglin's eyes widened, her expression vivid for the first time.

Ji Wei smiled and repeated, "I can come down to find you, but you have to let Sheng Long go. Other conditions can all be negotiated."

Ou Yanglin was still shaking her head at her, it was too dangerous.

It had to be said, Ji Pingjiang, who had committed several major cases without being captured by the police, indeed had his skills.

After a moment of wavering, Ji Pingjiang was not beguiled by Ji Wei's offer. Instead, her words made him increasingly calm. Cautiously eyeing the surrounding armed police, he conceded, "I can let him go."

"But you cannot come down."

Ji Wei's expression froze as she heard Ji Pingjiang calmly say, "I want you to leave here now and walk to the main gate of Songming Middle School."

"What are you going to do..."

"Xiao Wei, don't lie to me," Ji Pingjiang mildly reminded, "I can see you."

"You know I can see you too."

In the apartment of Huanmeng Jiayuan, there had also been eyes placed by Ji Pingjiang.

Those eyes hid in the living room, not witnessing Ji Wei's smiles, but her anxiety and helplessness, her panic and unease. Her so-called home, riddled with holes by the devil's intrusion, was watched by a pair of eyes, countless eyes staring at her, driving her to madness, self-harm, and screams, "Who is watching me?"

"Who is watching me?!!"

Ji Pingjiang, the invisible fourth observer.

He wanted to help his daughter dig out the other eyes.

This sentence was like a switch for a nightmare, awakening the dormant behemoth lurking in the shadows.

Ji Wei seemed to return to the room filled with eyes, all of them fixed on her, in which she saw the reflection of her own terror.

"Turns out, even in the schoolyard... there are eyes everywhere."

All the eyes led to the basement, piecing together the ceiling with blocks of screens, watching her every move.

Accompanied by police officers, Ji Wei took step after step toward the campus exit, as they reassured her, "Don't be afraid, everything will be alright..."

Would it really be alright?

"I've already lost..." Faced with Sheng Long, she had never won.

Bang—

"Did you hear that?" Ji Wei asked softly.

They had walked far away, the dark campus so silent that only the chirping of insects could be heard. Ji Wei lowered her face, tears dropping one by one onto the ground, "He's wishing me a happy birthday."

"Happy birthday, Xiao Wei."

The last birthday gift Ji Pingjiang gave her was himself.

Ji Pingjiang is dead.

After Ji Wei left Songming Middle School, he indeed released Sheng Long, but also triggered the hidden explosives.

With such a massive amount of explosives, no one could escape from the gymnasium, and even colleagues outside would be affected. So they pulled the trigger.

The gunshot rang out, Ji Pingjiang died, completing his final step.

The police swarmed in, and while dismantling the explosives on his body, they found them to be fake.

On Ji Pingjiang's person, they discovered a suicide note, bloodstained, with three elegant characters written on the parchment: "Confession Letter."

In the confession letter, he detailed his crimes, admitting to killing Sheng Linrong, Meng Qingde, Wu Fali, and Hong Mao. Even Wu Li met his end at his hands. All the deaths were his doing, all by him alone, no accomplices involved.

He stated that the first half of his life had been smooth and uneventful. Though not beloved by his parents or siblings, he was intelligent from a young age, quick to learn and master new things, and once had ambitious dreams of making a name for himself.

After meeting He Xiaoyuan, many of his ambitions faded. He only wished to earn a lot of money to help her repay her family's massive debts. Being able to marry He Xiaoyuan, and even father a lovely daughter with her, brought him such joy that he would wake up laughing in the middle of the night, only to provoke her irritation.

How did he end up in gambling debt?

His hands, once used for writing in school and typing on keyboards in his career, the only time he held a blade was to cook for his wife and daughter. How did he end up stabbing so many people?

The only foolish thing he did in his life was when He Xiaoyuan tearfully said it was over, and he, provoked by Sheng Linrong, thought she believed the slander against him. In a fit of impulsive anger, he fell into a trap.

By the time he came to his senses, He Xiaoyuan was already with Sheng Linrong. What he thought was "together," his daughter would still sweetly call Sheng "Uncle."

At that moment, Ji Pingjiang thought, perhaps it was better to just let it go.

Just let it be.

Until, years later, upon returning to the city, he found Ji Wei and secretly installed "eyes" in her home... until he learned of the existence of the D card from Wu Li...

After all these years, some form of retribution was due.

After Ji Wei turned five, Ji Pingjiang had been on the run, never celebrating another birthday with his daughter. Upon learning the whole truth, he decided to give Ji Wei a special birthday gift.

Every "Happy Birthday" was a corpse.

Every corpse was a blessing from him to his daughter.

In his letter, he hypothesized two outcomes:

The first, if no one found Sheng Long, he would be disassembled in the darkness, and he would turn himself in at the police station, then take poison and die.

The second, if Ji Wei could find this place, and if she still remembered the "kidnapping" from years ago, it would mean she cared for Sheng Long. He would grant Sheng Long a chance to live.

The kidnapping years ago was indeed him.

He had intended to kill Sheng Long as revenge against Sheng Linrong, only to discover that the brute didn't care a whit about the young one's life or death. Instead, it was his own daughter, trembling with fear yet crying her way there, foolish enough not to call the police, only to weep over Sheng Long.

So he let them go.

Now, he would let them go once more.

"Happy birthday, Xiao Wei.

Perhaps this is not the gift you desired most, but all your father can do for you and your mother is this."

A coin has two sides.

Human nature has good and evil.

Ji Pingjiang knew the world was not black and white; there were narrow seams where the two blended. That was not grayness, but choice.

Ji Pingjiang sought no vindication of justice; what he wanted was to trade life for life, to use utter evil to carve out that narrow grayness. He had made his best choice. Would the next person to stand at the crossroads give him the most perfect answer?

Alas, he would never see it.

Sheng Long lay in the hospital for half a month.

Multiple contusions covered his body, and the knife wound on his neck was stitched densely, likely to leave a scar.

Ji Wei, devastated by Ji Pingjiang's death, suffered反复illness, blaming Sheng Long for everything, convinced he had murdered Ji Pingjiang.

But it was the police who shot and killed Ji Pingjiang.

And Ji Pingjiang had been determined to die.

No matter how capable Sheng Long was, he couldn't unravel these loops of death, especially since he was ensnared within them.

During this time, the city was lashed by rain after rain, yet it seemed unable to wash away the bloody stench from the air, a constant reminder of how many people a father had killed to give his daughter a birthday gift.

Was he wrong?

He had committed crimes, broken the law.

Sheng Long decided to move Ji Wei to another city, to take her abroad for treatment.

Ou Yanglin wanted to stop him, but she had no reason left.

With Ji Pingjiang's death, the multiple murder cases linked to Sheng Linrong's death had all come to an end. Ji Pingjiang's confession letter was explicit: they had no evidence to prove that Sheng Long and Ji Pingjiang had conspired to orchestrate this killing.

Even with Wu Li still missing and the unresolved mystery of the fifty-four knife wounds.

"What does the fifty-four knife wounds signify?" On the day they left, Ou Yanglin asked Ji Wei.

Ji Wei replied, "It could be the age difference between me and Sheng Long, it could represent my father's hatred for Sheng Linrong, or it might mean nothing at all."

It was just fifty-four knife wounds, precisely fifty-four, with no explanation needed.

"Do you think your father committed these crimes alone?"

Ji Wei countered, "Do you have evidence that he had an accomplice?"

Given Ji Pingjiang's capabilities, it was indeed possible for him to act alone, even if it seemed overly difficult.

There were still too many doubts in this case. Ou Yanglin lowered her eyes, "If there's still time... perhaps we can find out."

But Sheng Long was no longer giving them time, and her superiors were no longer granting extensions. The Sheng Linrong case was too heinous, with multiple murders in a short period causing public panic. They needed closure, and Ji Pingjiang was the perfect answer.

The vengeance had ended. With his death, no more would perish in his name.

"Officer Ou Yang, do you like sweets?"

Sheng Long was upstairs packing. While no one was looking, Ji Wei evaded the "eyes," opened her sugar box, and secretly pressed a candy into Ou Yanglin's hand, "My brother says the gods favor sweet children. When you're unhappy, eat a candy, and the gods will come to cheer you up."

"My brother also says he is my god."

"I think as long as it can alleviate suffering, whether it's a god or a demon, it doesn't matter."

Ji Wei looked at Ou Yanglin, "Will you eat it?"

Ou Yanglin gave a wry smile, "I don't particularly care for them."

"Then keep it as a memento." Ji Wei propped her chin up, smiled at her with lowered lashes, her tone light, "I'm leaving soon... this might be our last meeting."

Though she was likely in the throes of an episode, her speech was remarkably coherent.

Ou Yanglin wished to converse further, but she was too busy. With the Sheng Linrong case closed, countless others awaited her attention. Behind every ray of sunshine lay the eternal struggle to eradicate the darkness within.

"Goodbye," Ji Wei waved without hesitation.

The warmth in Ou Yanglin's palm gradually melted the candy, its stickiness discomforting.

Ou Yanglin truly did not care for sweets; she had disliked them since childhood. Seated in her car, she contemplated swallowing the candy out of respect for Ji Wei's sentiment, but the motion of opening her mouth suddenly halted.

Ji Wei's words echoed again: **"Will you eat it?"**

**"My brother also says he is my god."**

**"Then keep it as a memento."**

Staring at the candy in her palm, Ou Yanglin found a bag to wrap it carefully and sped to the police station as fast as she could.

Could this candy be a chance granted by the divine?

Ou Yanglin did not know.