The first thing that caught Eddard's attention was the wolf's roar, which was as piercing as a woman's screams when she was raped. So at last he walked a few quick steps to the familiar office door, and then habitually knocked twice on the door that had been opened, politely announcing his arrival. Then he noticed something strange about the door.

I didn't notice it when I knocked it, but in fact the whole door was deformed, the wooden parts were shattered to reveal the high-quality wood inside, and the steel parts were completely bent, especially the doorknob parts. There are also a few small shoe prints that can be clearly seen on it.

Ed didn't know if it was hard to imagine what it had been through or what it had been through, but he had pretty much guessed who it was doing. He tilted his head and glanced at Marcy in the room, his face expressionless.

Making eye contact with Eddard, Marcy blinked and threw her shoulders down. "The situation is urgent, and extraordinary measures can only be taken." She said dryly.

Ed's eyes were half-open, noncommittal, then he turned his head to look at the two men who were close to him behind his desk. He felt that if it weren't for the age gap, the scene would be a bit ambiguous.

"Hello, wolf." Ed curled the corners of his mouth, smiling rather than smiling, "We've finally met." ”

"You ......" the wolf looked at Ed, his expression far less friendly, even cold and terrifying, "you've disappointed me, detective." I think I might have done something wrong and that I should have killed you all as well, or had you removed you from my game in the first place. ”

"You say that, my friend," Ed said, looking at him, "but it makes me so sad. I think you're still quite a bit of a fun game. ”

"You abandoned him." The wolf snorted coldly, "You abandoned that child. Between him and you you chose yourself, and you gave up his life and dropped him to the bomb in order to achieve your own goal - to catch me! ”

"Bombs?" Marcy on the side glared at this moment and looked at Ed, "What bomb?" ”

Ed ignored Marcy, he just looked at the wolf with a strange look. "What do you think?" He asked flatly.

"I've calculated everything accurately, detective." The wolf gritted his teeth fiercely and said, "That time bomb - if you want to save him, you can only take him to the local police station in another smaller town near the outskirts of Belvedere, and you won't have time to return to Licheng City, let alone come here." Your appearance now can only mean that you have abandoned him. ”

Ed licked his lips. He turned his head to look at Marcy, who was also looking at him, like a wolf, as if trying to dig something out of his heart with a sharp knife.

Ed rubbed the tip of his nose.

"He's alive." He said.

"What?" Marcy's eyes flickered, but the wolf didn't react.

"Don't worry." Ed whispered to Marcy, then turned his gaze to the wolf, blinked calmly, and suddenly leaned back against the office door frame, his hands in his trouser pockets.

"You know what," he said, his tone calm, "it's not the first time I've seen that kind of time bomb. Actually, I'm pretty familiar with those things. Once upon a time...... Not very long, in fact—some days, bullets and bombs were all we had. And the kind of little toy that flashes red light, flashes countdowns, and keeps shortening the time, when I first see it, it is indeed a little fresh. ”

“……”

"It was the same as it is today, but instead of a child, it was tied to the waist of a friend of mine. My friend was a little fat, and that bomb belt was all in his belly. The cute little red number that beats on top of it is a single digit, and the decimal point is a number. ”

Ed said, making an expressive gesture, grinning at the corners of his mouth, as if he were saying something very interesting. Marcy and the wolf were strangely silent at this moment, looking at him, no one said anything.

"We were on the edge of a makeshift strategic outpost in the asteroid belt. He was missing and I found him on the edge of a cliff. He seemed to have been taught a hard lesson by the sneak attackers, his nose was blue and his face was swollen, but at least he was alive. They spared him, but not for long. Time didn't allow me to take him back to the station to find help, so I decided to take matters into my own hands - a rookie recruit who had never defused a time bomb, or any other damn bomb of any kind, trying to save with his own hands a poor remnant who had been chained around the neck of the Death Star God. ”

“……”

“……”

"As you can imagine, I failed, and rightfully so." Ed shrugged his shoulders and closed his lips with a helpless expression, "At that time, if I don't run, we will all die." And if I run away, and the bomb is so powerful, I'm still dead. So he kicked me out of the way, turned around and jumped off the cliff. Edby gestured as if something had fallen from something, "I learned later that it was a little trick that the enemy often played, and it was one of the few little pleasures they could find for themselves in those tense days of unrelaxation year after year. The bomb was very powerful, and by the time I found his body at the bottom of the cliff, he was mostly still intact. The bomb had only blown half of his stomach apart, and I could see the broken ribs in his intestines and chest that were half exposed. Normally, he would struggle, suffer, and then breathe in despair and helplessness. Luckily, though, he fell to his death before then. ”

Ed grinned, rubbed his finger against his nose, then pulled something out of his trouser pocket and threw it in the direction of the wolf and the dean. The thing made a beautiful curve through the air and landed on the large desk, where it jumped twice and stopped. A thick, long strip of black glass, but there were no more jumping red numbers on it.

"I hate what you're doing, wolf. I think you should understand why too. Ed said, no longer showing any expression on his face, "But it's a good thing." If you had changed to a different approach, I might not have been able to resolve it so easily. ”

As he spoke, he lifted his back from the doorframe of his office, walked into the room with his feet up, and walked towards the wolf and the old dean. He's very, very slow.

"Ed!" Marcy was taken aback by Ed's rash gesture and shouted eagerly.

"Don't come here, stand there!" The wolf also howled at this time, his eyes widened, and his voice was fast and rapid, as if he was frightened, "I have already laid out enough bombs everywhere, as long as I move my fingers, everyone will go to heaven!" ”

"It's over, isn't it?" Ed grinned, "That's what you're going to do, it's a good plan to end everything where it all began." But the question is, can you really do it now? ”

"What?"

Marcy blinked, looking at the wolf. The wolf, on the other hand, stiffened his neck and stared at Eddard, his lips closed and his face flushed.

"You already knew that kid wasn't going to die, didn't you, even if you didn't know I defused the bomb for him. Because you know that the bomb won't kill him at all, whether I find someone in time to help him get it off. Ed looked into the wolf's eyes, "You won't kill the children, because they're orphans like you, and they're all longing for their families, longing for the future, and their eyes on hopes and dreams." You definitely won't really hurt them. ”

"You won't know."

"Probably, I'm just speculating, after all. But I'm willing to take a gamble. Ed said, getting closer to the wolf, "You've been 'negotiating' Miss Hayes for a long time, haven't you?" But I'm sorry, I stopped her evacuation when I came up, and all the children are still in the compound. As soon as you move your finger, they will all be buried with us. ”

"What?!"

The sudden surge of anger distorted the wolf's face, and the fingers holding the detonator clenched, and Marcy on the other side was terrified. But despite this, the heart tempered by years of on-site experience still made her eyes and expression remain quite calm, and all the external reactions were just gritting her teeth and taking a big breath, and her breasts, which were not plump at all, bulged.

"I know, it's a bit risky and very jerky to do that. I've dragged hundreds of innocent children into my gamble just because I believe in you. Ed had already walked through the spacious office and walked to the big desk, his steps slowing down, his eyes staring at the wolf without blinking, "So I've taken my sin on my back, and I'm ready to pay the price." If I lose the bet, I'll use my life – and her life – to atone for my innocence. ”

Ed said, pointing back at Marcy, who was leaning behind him, without turning his head. He pointed so accurately that he could poke Marcy's nose when he got closer.

"Hey!"

Marcy glared at Ed fiercely. Ed looked back at her innocently.

"I'm sorry, baby." He opened his mouth exaggeratedly and tilted his head in the direction of the doorway, "If you don't want to, it's still too late to run." I can talk with him here a little longer, and make sure I have enough time for you to leave. ”

“…… I hate you. ”

It only took a second for Marcy to let loose in frustration. She lifted her guarded posture, straightened up, took a deep breath of complete relaxation, and inserted the pistol back into the holster behind her waist.

Ed looked at her twice, then turned his gaze back to the wolf. The wolf was only a few meters away from him at this time, and his whole person seemed to be sweating as if he had just recovered from a serious illness, and his lips kept trembling.

Ed stood silent, looking at him and shaking his head. He calmly stepped forward, walked up to the wolf, and carefully pulled the detonator out of his hand, without much effort at all.

The wolf watched Ed's movements, watching him snap his fingers open and take the detonator out of his grasp. He could still press the button in that split second if he wanted to, but he didn't.

He let go of Dean Emily and let go of the arm that had been clasping her neck. Emily, who had already lost her breath due to poor breathing, almost fell directly to the ground, but fortunately, Ed reached out in time to hold her up, and barely stood firm. She put one hand on Ed's arm and rubbed her neck with the other, gasping for air, her flushed face could not be recovered for a long time.

"It's over, friend." Ed whispered to the wolf, "This is the way it really should end." ”

With a "plop", the wolf fell to his knees. He looked up and glanced at Ed with a blank look that had lost all power.

Ed lowered his head and looked at the wolf. Suddenly, for no apparent reason, his eyes moved a little further down where he was looking. Emily, who was being held by Ed, felt that the detective's fingers twitched inexplicably.