☆, Chapter 21: The Culprit
The hype created by Hao Weiguo indeed had a significant impact on Hao Ren’s life. After becoming famous, Hao Ren was frustrated to find that she could no longer walk freely on the streets. Even a trip to the nearby park required her to wear sunglasses and a hat, just like a celebrity going out. Fortunately, wearing sunglasses and a hat in the middle of summer wasn’t too out of place.
Although Ah Hua was fine now, Hao Ren had been dwelling on the horrific scene from before. Whenever she recalled the tragic state of the four puppies being brutally killed and Ah Hua’s eyes, which were filled with despair, Hao Ren’s mood would inevitably become heavy. Even the most humble life is great! Even a dog has a family that loves it deeply. The actions of that culprit were absolutely unforgivable!
Moreover, there is a well-known rule in criminal psychology: many serial killers have a history of abusing small animals. Even if she didn’t punish the culprit, Hao Ren had to find him. She didn’t want a potential serial killer lurking in her living area without her knowledge.
After struggling for a while, she finally decided to go to the park to investigate the truth. Fearing that it would upset Ah Hua, she certainly couldn’t take her along for the investigation. Hao Ren simply left Daizi and Lucky at home to keep Ah Hua company.
Small animals definitely don’t recognize people by their faces. Hao Ren found that no matter how well she disguised herself, they could still recognize her at first glance. As soon as she stepped into the park, she was surrounded by enthusiastic stray cats and dogs.
Several days had passed since the tragedy, and the suffocating smell had long since dissipated. The park had returned to its usual liveliness. The small animals that had been hiding somewhere before had almost all returned. The park was quiet and peaceful, as if the horrific scene from before had just been Hao Ren’s illusion.
“Do you know who killed those four little puppies?” Since everyone was gathered around her, it saved her the trouble of asking them one by one. After greeting everyone, Hao Ren directly asked the question in her heart. When humans commit crimes, they certainly wouldn’t deliberately avoid the eyes of small animals, so the probability of there being a witness among the cats, dogs, squirrels, and small birds here was very high.
Sure enough, everyone knew something about the previous tragedy. Hearing Hao Ren’s words, the small animals, who had been overjoyed at her appearance, instantly fell silent, their heads lowered, their expressions solemn.
“Your Majesty, are you talking about the four children of that poor little mother dog? Sigh, how tragic…”
“Wooo wooo, how pitiful. They were so small, the same size as my little kittens…”
“Too cruel! Simply unforgivable!”
…
After a moment of silence, the small animals began to express their sympathy for the four puppies that had met a cruel fate.
“Does anyone know who the culprit is?” Hao Ren hadn’t come here to hold a memorial service. Seeing that their mourning was endless, she quickly and unceremoniously interrupted them.
After her words, the previous commotion quickly subsided, and the air was instantly so quiet that only the sound of the hot summer wind rustling the leaves could be heard.
“If we tell you who the culprit is, will you help those poor children get revenge?” After a moment of silence, a clear and cold male voice suddenly sounded in the air.
Hao Ren quickly looked and saw that it was a strong and sturdy German Shepherd. As the best breed for police dogs, they naturally had an imposing aura. With just one look from the German Shepherd, the pack of animals voluntarily made way for it. It held its head high and walked in front of Hao Ren, raised its head, and stared at Hao Ren’s eyes with a solemn expression, a clear look of distrust in its eyes.
“I will!” Feeling the challenge in the German Shepherd’s eyes, Hao Ren nodded with a firm expression.
“But the culprit is your own kind!” The German Shepherd still had a look of distrust.
“Of course, I know!” Realizing that the German Shepherd was afraid she would cover for the culprit, Hao Ren didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. It didn’t need to remind her of this. Small animals couldn’t have killed the puppies in such a cruel way.
The German Shepherd gave a look, and the small animals, who had not mentioned the culprit before, suddenly began to indignantly denounce the culprit’s atrocities.
“A human! A human child!”
“He first put the four children in his backpack so they couldn’t escape, then took them out one by one and killed them… The children were scared and desperately cried for their mother, but unfortunately, their mother had gone out to find food at that time…”
“How tragic… I still have nightmares these days of the youngest child’s miserable screams as its ears, limbs, and tail were slowly cut off…”
…
The small animals began to describe the tragic scene. Hao Ren, who had already been feeling less upset, felt her heart gradually tighten as she listened to their descriptions.
“Stop describing the scene. Tell me what the culprit’s characteristics are!” Hao Ren could only interrupt them rudely again.
“It was a child, a human child, male, about up to your chest in height.” The first to speak was the German Shepherd.
A boy, and if he was up to her chest, he should be an elementary school student. The culprit was actually an elementary school student, which was somewhat unexpected to Hao Ren.
“He’s quite handsome! Sigh, a human face with a beast’s heart!” The one who spoke was a stray cat.
Given the aesthetic sense of stray cats, “handsome” probably meant ferocious-looking.
“He was carrying a Pleasant Goat backpack at that time. He came in from the north gate of the park. He should be attending school nearby.” The one who spoke was a squirrel. Standing on a tree, its vision was indeed wider than that of other small animals.
If it was nearby, there was only one elementary school.
“If you see that child again, can you recognize him?”
“Yes!” The several witnesses nodded in unison.
Hao Ren was relieved. Since they could recognize him, the next step was simple. “I’m going to stake out the entrance of that elementary school. Who will go with me?”
“I will!” Before the other small animals could speak, the German Shepherd had already taken a step forward.
Hao Ren nodded and signaled for it to follow her.
There was still some time before that elementary school let out. Hao Ren found a place to sit in the park and chatted idly with the majestic German Shepherd.
“Are you their leader?”
“No, I just lived with humans for a long time and understand them better than they do.”
“Did you get lost, or… If you got lost, I can try to help you find your owner.” This German Shepherd really didn’t look like an ordinary stray dog. Hao Ren couldn’t help but say a few more words.
Unfortunately, the German Shepherd shook its head at her words and replied in a world-weary tone, “Let’s not talk about the past.”
Realizing that she might have accidentally opened an old wound, Hao Ren immediately fell into an awkward silence.
Fortunately, the German Shepherd didn’t mind.
“I heard you took the mother of those four children. Please give her my regards. Tell her to live well. There’s nothing in this world that can’t be overcome.” It was indeed a dog with a story. The cool and handsome way it spoke was very similar to Daizi.
“Okay.” Hearing this, Hao Ren couldn’t help but reach out and stroke its head. Although it hadn’t been very friendly at first, it was still a considerate and good dog at heart.
The German Shepherd probably hadn’t expected her to do this. Its body stiffened, and it subconsciously wanted to dodge, but it managed to hold back.
Seeing that it was about time, the girl and the dog slowly walked towards the elementary school. Hao Ren had guessed the identity of the culprit countless times, but she had never dreamed that it would be a child still in elementary school. So, on the way there, her mood was heavy, and she walked with her head down, not saying a word. The German Shepherd walked quietly by her side the whole time.
The girl and the dog hid behind a flower bed opposite the school and waited quietly for the school to let out. Unexpectedly, the target appeared much faster than they had imagined.
“That’s him!” Discovering the target, the German Shepherd quickly straightened up.
It was a boy in the third or fourth grade of elementary school, with a simple buzz cut, wearing a loose school uniform T-shirt and shorts, and indeed carrying a dirty Pleasant Goat backpack. At first, Hao Ren was worried that the German Shepherd might have made a mistake, but after seeing the small white dog tail hanging from the backpack, her doubts instantly vanished. That’s right! It was him!
When the child came out, he was being dragged out of the school gate by an adult pulling his ear. The man pulling his ear didn’t care about his feelings at all. His ear was pulled so long that it was red and looked like it was about to bleed. The man seemed very angry and was cursing the whole time.
“Do you know how hard it is for me to raise you? I’m as tired as a dead dog every day, and I still have to worry about you. Can’t you be more considerate? Bullying classmates! You only know how to bully classmates! If you could use the ruthlessness you have when fighting with others on your studies, I would die in peace! You don’t study well! You only know how to fight with others all day! You’ve completely disgraced me!”
As he was cursing, the man finally let go of the ear. Hao Ren let out a sigh of relief. Although the child was no good, it was not a pleasant experience to watch him be abused by an adult. Just as Hao Ren was relieved, she never expected that pulling the ear was just the beginning. After letting go of the ear, the man fiercely slapped the child twice, and after the slaps, he began to punch and kick the child.
“I’ll teach you to bully classmates! Bully classmates! I should have just strangled you at birth!” It was not as simple as a parent disciplining a child. He was not hitting the fleshy and sturdy buttocks, which would not cause much harm.
The man’s face was ferocious, his movements rough, as if he were not hitting a child, but a punching bag with no feelings. Looking at the man’s relentless attacks, Hao Ren even began to wonder if he was planning to beat his own son to death right there on the street.
What shocked Hao Ren even more was that throughout the whole process, the child did not make a sound. He just curled up his body and tried to make a defensive posture, his eyes staring at the man who was attacking him. The hatred and resentment in his eyes were shocking. Hao Ren had never seen such a resentful look in a child’s eyes.
She hadn’t noticed it when he first came out, but now Hao Ren suddenly realized that the child’s exposed arms and legs were covered with chilling bruises, and there were even a few scars on the back of his hands that were clearly from cigarette burns. Witnessing the scene before her, Hao Ren would, of course, not be naive enough to think that those were from fighting with other children.
“Stop! If you keep hitting him, the child will be beaten to death!” A parent who had come to pick up their child from the side of the road finally couldn’t stand it anymore.
“I’m disciplining my own son. What’s it to you?” Unfortunately, hearing this, the man not only didn’t stop, but he hit even harder. The unlucky child had already been beaten into a ball under his fists, but he still didn’t make a sound.
Hao Ren couldn’t watch anymore. Although she had often been beaten by Hao Weiguo when she was young, they were all superficial injuries. Although they hurt, they never really harmed her body. Seeing the scene before her, she finally realized that she was actually quite lucky.
“Hitting a child at the school gate, what does that look like?” It wasn’t until a calm male bass voice sounded from the school gate that the man finally stopped.
“Yes! Yes! Principal!”
Hao Ren had always felt that the man looked somewhat familiar, but she hadn’t recognized him because of his ferocious expression just now. Seeing the fawning smile on his face now, she suddenly remembered that she had indeed seen him before. In her past life, she had accidentally seen that man at the Yuntian Construction site. At that time, he was being reprimanded by his immediate superior for something, and his face also had a disgusting smile like the one he had now.
When he was brutally abusing his own child, he probably never thought that the unbearable flaws in his child were precisely what he had learned from him. Every child comes into the world as a blank slate. Children are like mirrors of their parents, imitating their every move from birth. All evil and cruelty come from the parents.
Parents are abused by their superiors outside, and they come home and abuse their defenseless children. The children then go on to abuse even weaker small animals. What a sad food chain…
As Hao Ren was lamenting, the German Shepherd beside her suddenly tugged at the corner of her dress.
“Let’s go!” Its tone was calm, the excitement from when it first discovered the boy long gone.
“Just like that?”
“Yes!” The German Shepherd nodded with a gloomy expression. “I’ll warn everyone to stay away from him when I get back. As for revenge, there’s no need!”
Just a moment ago, it had been worried that Hao Ren would cover for her own kind, but now it had a complete change of attitude and said it would not pursue the matter. The change in attitude was so great that Hao Ren couldn’t react for a moment.
Perhaps sensing Hao Ren’s surprise, the German Shepherd sighed in a world-weary manner and said faintly, “The best punishment for a culprit is to let him fall into hell forever. But that child, he has been living in hell from the very beginning.”
Hao Ren glanced back at the child who had been beaten by his own father and was now curled up on the ground, unable to stand. She let out a long sigh. Indeed…