Chapter 206 - 164: Howard Raven in the Light, Chu Bamboo in the Shadows (Part 2)

’Huang Mou! Huang Mou.’ The name spun in Chu Bamboo’s mind. He made a decision, closing his eyes and activating his Perception Ability. A look of surprise and joy spread across his face.

His Divine Thought couldn’t even seep out of his body at the moment, but it was as if he had a radar installed in his brain...

The positions of every living being around him naturally appeared in his mind. He could perceive them with relative ease within a fifty-meter radius. He could even manage a hundred-meter radius, though it took more effort.

Moreover, he could clearly feel the gazes falling upon him! And from these gazes, he could discern their emotions—astonishment, indifference, casualness... ’Heck, can I even subconsciously figure out their general personalities through these emotions? Though, discerning personality from a mere gaze is pretty ridiculous...’

The entire world had become completely different to his senses.

’No wonder my good buddy called this a sixth sense!’ Chu Bamboo’s interest was piqued, so he tried walking with his eyes completely closed. Of course, he paid the price almost immediately, nearly tripping over a loose brick...

’The Memory Divine Technique is indeed powerful, but it seems it can only sense the gazes and positions of living things, not inanimate objects like trees and bricks. That makes it vastly different from my Divine Thought, which can sense everything.’

Sighing to himself, Chu Bamboo opened his eyes and went back to walking normally. However, the massive amount of information from his sixth sense, combined with his normal five senses, was a bit overwhelming and took some getting used to...

He continued on his way, and soon the school was in sight, leaving Chu Bamboo a little confused.

’Why haven’t I run into any enemies?’

’Or were they targeted after leaving the school, once the meeting was over? That’s not what the intel seemed to say... Hmm?’

Chu Bamboo’s expression suddenly sharpened. He noticed Mrs. Lu say something to Lu Keke, then pull her toward a nearby alley...

Just then, a strawberry vendor happened to ride a small tricycle cart into the alley. A large loudspeaker on the cart continuously blared, announcing that a box of strawberries was only five yuan.

’This... Could it be?!’

Chu Bamboo rushed forward, but the police officers were a bit slower. As mentioned before, they had no idea anything was about to happen; they were just treating it as a routine patrol to kill time!

The moment he entered the alley, Chu Bamboo instantly sensed a fleeting gaze on him, one filled with confusion and a hint of malice.

Without even looking up, he pulled a small stone he had pocketed earlier from his coat and, following the target locked on by his divine sixth sense, flicked it out.

"AAAH!" The strawberry vendor was knocked to the ground, and a short dagger shot out from his sleeve.

Mrs. Lu stared, dumbfounded. She turned to Chu Bamboo in shock, "You—why did you hurt him?!"

She hadn’t realized there was a problem at all. As for the dagger that had shot out of the vendor’s sleeve... ’Isn’t it normal for a fruit vendor to carry a knife to cut fruit?’ she thought.

"...Mom!" Lu Keke tugged on her mother’s sleeve to stop her from speaking. She recognized Chu Bamboo... and though she was also confused about what was happening, she trusted him.

The next moment, several men in plain clothes rushed into the alley. They were the police officers who had seen Chu Bamboo take off and realized something was wrong.

Their leader, Xing Long, met Chu Bamboo’s gaze. When Chu Bamboo nodded, Xing Long, despite his lingering doubts, waved his hand and charged forward.

When the strawberry vendor saw the plainclothes officers pull out a pair of silver handcuffs, his pupils contracted. He scrambled up from the ground in a panic and tried to vault over the wall to escape.

That was all the confirmation the officers needed. One of them, who looked like a recent college graduate, grabbed the vendor’s pant leg and forcefully yanked him back down from the wall.

The remaining officers rushed forward, pinning his arms and legs and forcefully cuffing him!

"Don’t move!"

The strawberry vendor thrashed with all his might, yelling loudly. But it was useless. His hands were cuffed behind his back. The more he struggled, the deeper the handcuffs dug into his flesh...

"...This, you guys, me! What...?" Lu Keke’s brain completely short-circuited. Even for a math genius, she couldn’t compute the current situation!

"Why did you suddenly decide to go into the alley?" Chu Bamboo walked up to her, his brow furrowed.

"...Mom wanted to buy me some strawberries," Lu Keke answered subconsciously. "This vendor said he was sold out but had more at home nearby. He asked if we wanted to go there to buy them."

She hesitated, just about to ask a question, when she saw Xing Long walking over after identifying the vendor.

"This guy’s name is Huang Xiao! He did use to live in the Zhenghai area," Xing Long said, scrolling through data on his phone, clicking his tongue in amazement. He had, of course, already downloaded Z. He had only taken a picture of Mr. Huang’s face, and Z had immediately spat out reams of data.

After getting the tip from Chu Bamboo yesterday, he had already reviewed the information on the Zhenghai case.

Although the information he had was incomplete, he had at least learned the suspect’s likely shoe size, height, build, and weight, and had entered this data into the police department’s database.

Now, while the weight and build were a bit off, the other details matched up... ’As for those two, it’s normal for them not to match! After all, it’s been so many years,’ he thought.

And Z, based on the data he had entered yesterday, had given its comprehensive evaluation: The probability of this person being the murderer in the Li Family’s Mouth case was as high as thirty-seven percent! That might sound low, but it was mainly because the database contained little useful information on the Li Family’s Mouth murder.

However, the probability of him being the real culprit in the Nanyun Street random killing was as high as sixty percent!

In any case, Xing Long’s head was spinning as he read through Z’s reasoning process. He still couldn’t figure out how the AI had made these connections, but the problem was, what the AI said actually seemed to make a certain amount of sense...

"Whatever, let’s just take him in for questioning," Xing Long said with conviction. "Even if this guy isn’t the Nanyun random killer, he’s definitely got other skeletons in his closet!" ’Otherwise, why would he run the moment he saw the police? Is that what a good person does? And if he really is the one...?’

Captain Xing’s heart surged with excitement. He looked Chu Bamboo up and down, finding him more and more agreeable with each glance. ’This kid is practically my lucky star... no, wait, he’s not my subordinate. He’s my benefactor!’

"Good luck with it, then," Chu Bamboo nodded.

"Um, how about you come back... to give a statement?" Xing Long asked, rubbing his hands together awkwardly. Seeing Chu Bamboo frown, he quickly added, "If you don’t want to, then... uh, that’s fine, just forget it. I can just call you for a couple of questions for the report later. After all, if he’s really the guy... what you did counts as acting heroically for a just cause!"

"Will there be a commendation banner? If so, I’ll go," Chu Bamboo said, his interest piqued. He felt his collector’s instinct flaring up.

"..." Captain Xing was silent for a moment. "Why don’t you ask the person who was being targeted for a banner instead!"

"Young lady!" Xing Long turned his head to Lu Keke. After sizing her up for a moment, the smile he’d had while talking to Chu Bamboo vanished, replaced by a stern expression. "As for you, you will definitely have to come with us!"

"...Huh? What?!" Lu Keke was completely bewildered. Something about a murderer, something about being targeted... She felt like she should be able to understand what they were saying, but the information was too terrifying, far beyond what she could process... causing her brain to short-circuit for a second time.

As for Mrs. Lu, who had originally thought Chu Bamboo was a bad guy, she was now trembling, not daring to utter a single word.