novelraw Chapter 297: Are You Really This Nice?
Chapter 297: Are You Really This Nice?
She shook her head slightly at the male officer.
The male officer softened his tone a bit. "I'm asking you a question! ID card! Understand? What's your name? Where are you from?"
Su Zhan continued his performance, flinching as if startled by the voice, shrinking his neck sharply and mumbling incoherent syllables no one could understand.
He subconsciously took a step back, nearly tripping over a roadside pebble, appearing even more wretched.
The two officers exchanged a glance, pity evident in their eyes.
The female officer put away her tablet, whispering to the male officer, "Forget it, he doesn't seem suspicious. Probably just a poor vagrant, maybe has some mental issues. We won't get anything out of him, don't waste time."
The male officer also nodded, waving his hand at Su Zhan. "Alright, alright, go on! Walk along the roadside, be careful!"
...
Since that first checkpoint on the National Highway at the foot of Cangmang Mountain, Su Zhan had encountered several more patrols from the Aberrant Purge Division.
The encounters were all largely similar.Sometimes at the entrance of a small town, patrol officers would stop him for looking suspicious.
Su Zhan would immediately switch into character, flailing his arms, muttering to the air, or suddenly letting out strange laughter.
The officers would frown, compare him to the wanted notices, and often wave him away in disgust. "Scram! Get lost! Damn nuisance!"
Sometimes Su Zhan would curl up on the ground, clutching his head, his body trembling violently as if under immense fright, his mouth repeating fragmented, unclear words.
When the officers tried to calm him, his reactions would become even more intense, even banging his head against a nearby railing.
He controlled his strength, of course.
The officers, helpless and afraid of triggering a more severe episode, could only hurriedly tell him to leave and not block the way.
There was another time.
On a country path, two officers on motorcycles spotted him.
Su Zhan, instead, ran towards them, extending his filthy hands, grinning foolishly, and slurring, "Candy... give candy..."
The two officers were caught off guard by his sudden approach.
Looking at the black grime under his fingernails and that idiotic grin, a wave of disgust hit them, and they quickly shooed him away. "Get lost! Stinking beggar! Get any closer and we won't be polite!"
These patrol officers might be ruthless in their duties, but they were also human, sharing the common instinctive aversion to filth and mental abnormality.
Faced with a mad beggar who seemed only capable of causing trouble, they subconsciously didn't want to engage too much.
Carefully compare facial features?
They did, but none saw through him because Su Zhan's face was too dirty, obscuring much of his appearance.
Su Zhan perfectly exploited this psychology.
It was more effective at confusing his pursuers than any masterful disguise.
He slipped past the Aberrant Purge Division's watchful eyes time and again.
Su Zhan's heart gradually sank.
The frequency and scope of the checkpoints had clearly increased.
It wasn't just transportation hubs and town entrances anymore. Even previously ignored country paths, areas near abandoned bridge arches, had started seeing the figures of Aberrant Purge Division patrols.
The targets of these patrols' inspections were no longer limited to suspicious young and middle-aged men. Even someone like him, looking utterly filthy and beggarly, was now being pulled in for questioning.
"They've noticed..."
Su Zhan's heart tightened.
This shift was no accident. It was definitely the Aberrant Purge Division's higher-ups adjusting their search strategy.
His disguise, while still effective, was no longer in the shadow of absolute safety. He was now exposed within their more meticulous screening net.
But he couldn't fight back.
No matter how harsh their attitude, even if pushed and driven away, he had to endure it.
If he acted, even just knocking someone unconscious, it would immediately expose that he possessed strength far beyond an ordinary vagrant, instantly drawing down a thunderous siege.
All his previous forbearance would be for nothing.
"Pace, can't lose it."
Su Zhan repeatedly warned himself.
Their increased inspection intensity aimed to create tension, to force him to slip up, either to flee in panic at an accelerated pace or to behave abnormally under pressure.
He absolutely could not give them what they wanted.
Su Zhan maintained that dazed, muddle-headed appearance, staggering along his predetermined route, moving south at a constant, slow pace.
Dig through trash when needed.
Sleep on the streets when needed.
Play the fool when encountering inspections.
Now it was a contest of patience and attention to detail.
Whoever lost composure first, whoever made a mistake first, would lose this chase.
He had to be more patient than them, more able to endure this omnipresent pressure.
Black City was not far.
For this final stretch, he had to walk it more carefully, more perfectly, than at any time before.
At a crossroads leading to a southern town.
Su Zhan was stopped again by two Aberrant Purge Division patrol officers.
One male, one female, both quite young.
After their routine questioning and facial comparison.
The male officer's face already showed clear impatience, waving his hand to shoo this filthy, crazy beggar away immediately.
But the female officer frowned slightly, looking at Su Zhan's disheveled, grimy appearance, his vacant eyes, his mumbling mouth, a pitiful sight. Her eyes showed compassion.
She tugged the male officer's sleeve, whispering, "Brother Li, look at him... he seems seriously ill. Letting him wander like this is too dangerous, not good for him or others."
The male officer called Brother Li curled his lip, but seeing the female officer's earnest expression, he asked patiently, "So what do you want to do?"
The female officer's tone was gentle. "I remember a new Anxin Mental Health Sanatorium just opened in town, with official subsidies. We could send him there. At least he'd have a place to stay, food to eat, and receive basic treatment. Better than him wandering outside and having an accident someday, right?"
Brother Li heard this and said helplessly, "Hmm... Xiao Ya, you're right, he is pitiful. Then let's do as you say, send him to the sanatorium. Count it as us accumulating some virtue."
Su Zhan, listening nearby, felt his heart drop, his whole mind going blank.
Seriously, miss?
You're this kind-hearted?
You're going to send me to a mental hospital?
He had calculated a thousand things, but hadn't accounted for running into someone so compassionate.
Go to a mental hospital?
Are you kidding!
He wasn't actually crazy, and he still had to travel!
Once sent in, if he escaped, it would inevitably be noticed as abnormal. So the best method was not to go in at all. The less he did, the fewer mistakes he'd make.
Su Zhan's mind was screaming internally.
He could only act even harder, making his body tremble more violently, putting on a look of extreme fear.
Seeing this, Xiao Ya's tone became even softer. "Don't be afraid, uncle. We're helping you, taking you to a place where you can eat your fill and have a bed to sleep..."