The story behind it wasn't complicated. A thirteen-year-old girl attended a training class and caught the eye of the class owner's friend. He said, "A hundred thousand a month—be my girlfriend." Faced with this man who was more than a decade older than her, the girl didn't hesitate and rejected him outright. A few weeks later, one evening, her grandmother waited for her to return home from school, but she never came. Instead, in a locked classroom, her mutilated, exposed body was found. The killer had subjected her to unspeakable horrors. The image of the grandmother crying over her granddaughter's body stirred immense sympathy online.
The case caused an uproar, with countless netizens petitioning for the killer to face harsh punishment. But just six months later, new celebrity gossip and sports scandals emerged, swiftly diverting public attention. Gradually, fewer people remembered the case. On the day a story about a celebrity using a surrogate made the top trending list, the killer was quietly released.
One brave journalist followed up at the police station and wrote an article titled, "Rich Kid Murder Suspect Released Without Charges—Where Is the Justice?" The report clearly stated that the police released the suspect on the grounds of "mental illness," an outrageously unfair ruling for the victim. Half an hour later, the article was scrubbed from the internet, and the journalist was fired. It's said that to this day, no media outlet dares to hire him.
In my office, the old woman sat in a corner of the couch, head bowed. She held a black-and-white photo tightly to her chest. The girl in the picture smiled brightly—a stark contrast to the tragic details of her death in the news. Half an hour earlier, the grandmother had knelt outside the doors of our enforcement agency, begging for help. Ever since the killer's release, she hadn't known a moment's peace. The man was notorious for his lawlessness, and now he was fixated on revenge—determined to torment the old woman just as he had tormented her granddaughter.
Finally, the grandmother heard about our agency's reputation and decided to take a chance.
"No one else is willing to help me, but Ruirui's teacher said maybe you could..."
"Please, I beg you, help me. I'll do anything to repay you."
I invited her into the office and listened to the entire story. Afterward, I tapped at my keyboard, and soon, the deleted data was restored. The printer hummed, and out came a photo. In the image, the man walked out of the police station, casually putting on sunglasses. Seeing the camera, he didn't flinch. Instead, he arrogantly flipped off the lens. I pointed to the man in the photo.
"Him?"
"Yes, that's him! I'd remember his face even in death!"
"They say his parents are powerful officials, and everyone tells me to accept it. But how? How can I accept it?"
"Ruirui was only thirteen, so young, and when she died, there wasn't an inch of her flesh left intact. Why should I accept this?!"
By the end, the old woman's voice broke. She covered her eyes with both hands, but tears still slipped through her fingers. I handed her a tissue.
She clung tightly to my hand, sobbing uncontrollably. "That animal even said he'd destroy tuition grave, dig her up and desecrate her corpse—"
She choked, "I'd give my life for you to stop him, is that enough?"
The old woman's face, wrinkled like a dried date, blurred in my mind, overlapping with an image of my own grandmother. I smiled faintly and stubbed my cigarette out on the man's face in the photograph. The paper quickly burned a hole, distorting his face, hands, and body. I shook the photo and said gently, "I don't need your life, but his—I'll take."
The old woman's lips quivered. Suddenly, she stood and knelt before me, knocking her head against the ground in desperate gratitude. At that moment, the long rays of sunset poured in, illuminating her thinning white hair and casting a clear light on the burned face of the man in the photo.
I helped her to her feet and, with deliberate weight in my voice, made her a solemn promise:
"Not only will I kill him, but I will make the entire world desperate to see him dead."
I'll strike terror into the arrogant. I'll reduce the ruthless to fear. And I'll ensure that even the powerful are punished by a greater power. Until he begs like a dog, and even then—he will still have to die.
That is my judgment.