暗黑者2:宿命

暗黑者2:宿命

anheizhe2: suming
Author 周浩晖 · Zhou Haohui
Series 暗黑者 #2
Language Simplified Chinese · Mainland China
Format Novel
Published 2018
Pages 552
Read 2026-05-30 → 2026-06-24
Finished ♥ Liked

Review

♥ Liked

I found the second volume of 暗黑者 overall entertaining and suspenseful, but it felt diluted at times, and even though it does have great plot, memorable scenes and good twists, it doesn’t have the impact of the first one in my opinion.
The plot is really great, there are several cases, several story lines, but everything ends up being connected. Everything makes sense, the plot is complex but easy to follow, there’s a lot of suspense too.
However, I found that some chapters, especially in the second half, tended to be repetitive (there’s one in particular that feels oddly placed), and there are a couple of things that I dislike in the author’s writing style. First, there is a tendency to conceal the identity of well known character when we open a new scene. They are even described as if it was the first time we saw them. This didn’t bring anything imo and was just annoying to read. Then there are the small commentaries: oftentimes, we get a dialogue, then the author would add something like “indeed, …” followed by generalisations, clichés or useless explanations for things obvious and simple.

I also find the characters are generally just all too strong and too perfect. Luo Fei’s observation skills could be a nice addition if they were not so exaggerated. Overall, male characters in the novel are all heroes, and female characters tend to be the weakest link. It’s pretty obvious (the person who lets Chengyu in the archive room is a woman, the nurse who lets the journalist visit Wu Yinwu is a woman, Mu Jianyun is the reason why Luo Fei had to let Eumenides kill Deng Hua in vol.1, and she let Chengyu plant a microphone in her phone, even Zheng Jiao ends up handing the recording to Chengyu without questioning what it could be).
On the contrary some characters like Han Hao and Ding Ke are overpraised. Ding Ke in particular was really annoying: the author kept praising him in such a superficial way it felt very strange. It was all tell not show, and the only things that the reader actually know are despicable: covering for student and son, fleeing and hiding from the consequences of his choices… Despite all these, the novel kept trying to make us admire and revere Ding Ke.

When I finish volume 1 I would have said without hesitation that I would read the whole trilogy, but now I don’t really feel like starting volume 3. I’m pretty sure the story will be great, and I will like it, but I’m afraid the things I didn’t like in the second one will be in the third one as well.


Updates

100%

Done! The last chapter was so good too!!
I was about to say that it’s the longest book I read in Chinese, but then I remembered 網內人 which is about the same length (and there’s the Gu Long novel too, but this one read so easily it didn’t really feel that long).
The book was good overall, but I felt like it had a tendency to drag on in the second half. Stil very entertaining!

96%

Finished chapter 27, just one more to go! :butterfly-side:

93%

Finished chapter 26! This one was long for nothing, the author is taking so much precautions to explain something obvious and simple as if it was a super complex and new idea that most readers wouldn’t understand.
I also think there are a lot of problems surrounding Ding Ke, that made the whole thing really painful to read. The fact that he covered for Yuan Zhibang twice, and then for his son, is described like something perfectly okay. The character of Ding Ke is unbearable. It would be interesting to make him ambiguous or despicable in some ways, but the problem is that the novel never stops to praise him, this is so annoying.
This chapter could have been so much shorter, I’m feeling more and more that the novel is dragging on.

91%

他 (Luo Fei) 终于知道,这个慈悲的老人 (Ding Ke) 虽然早已不是一名刑警,但他从来没有逃避过任何责任,他只是找到了另一种方法去化解世间的罪恶。这是一种更加温和、更加合理的方法,同时也需要更多的耐心和智慧。

Sometimes I just don’t understand what the author is thinking… Ding Ke covered for his student, then covered for his son, and both time we’re talking murder, yet characters are still sighing in admiration before him and even say 没有逃避过任何责任? Do the author expect the reader to feel the same way? It’s so weird…
It is also all tell not show, I think everything revolving around this character is by far the weakest part of the novel.

89%

Chapter 25 done! I’m nearing the end of the book now so the tension should be at the highest, but I’m starting losing interest in the story. I found some chapters a bit too long for nothing, there are some repetitions, and the tension feels diluted to me. Or maybe it’s just that I’ve been reading this book for so long now, I’m looking forward to reading something else.
The first volume being shorter was very impactful, there was no time to catch your breath, it was a real page-turner. With this one, I find the author tends to spend too much time explaining or describing things that are already obvious for the reader, making the book a bit longer than it needed maybe.

85%

Read another chapter today! This one was a nice change of pace, only based on discussion and deductions. But to be honest, I find all the psychological profiling not convincing at all, it’s full of generalisations and cheap shortcuts. Still enjoyed reading the whole chapter!

81%

Another example of sexist role attribution at the beginning of chapter 24: Mu Jianyun, a psychologist working with the police, unable to look at crime scene pictures because she’s a woman:
慕剑云却又和曾日华截然相反,只要遇到有照片的章节,她都于脆闭上眼睛直接跳过,即便如此,随着阅读的深入,她的呼吸还是变得越来越急促,像是有些承受不住的样子。
It’s so annoying… :jiong-judgmental:

80%

One more chapter done! It’s really going to take me the whole month to read this book.

78%

Read my daily chapter today!

75%

Finished chapter 21! That’s exactly why I love the series, this chapter was so great!

71%

That was an important chapter, things are taking a turn now it looks like!

68%

Read chapter 19 today too!

64%

Finished chapter 18, this one was really great, I might just continue and read 19 today as well.

59%

Either I don’t understand what I’m reading, or there’s a problem with the book. Talking about Han Hao and Eumenides, the book says:

那个“很坏很坏的坏人”,自然就是Eumenides! 正是他害得韩灏身负血案,不得不抛妻弃子,亡命天涯。

What?! Han Hao shot his colleague by mistake, then decided to kill the witness to protect himself. When another witness resurfaced, Han Hao decided once again to protect his position, by killing him and killing the captain of the SWAT team Xiong Yuan too who was protecting the witness. So this guy not only killed a policeman by mistake, but then coldly murdered three other persons to protect himself! Then he also killed Deng Hua thinking it was Eumenides but oh well. Eumenides had nothing to do with the shooting of the colleague and the first murder, and even though he did stage the setup for the two following murders, Han Hao didn’t have to play along, he is the one who took the decision to kill Xiong Yuan to continue hiding his secret. I just don’t get it, why is the novel describing it as if Eumenides was responsible and Han Hao was a victim?
More generally, I find the whole Han Hao thing very strange, like the man killed innocent people to protect his position and privileges, what could be more despicable? Even Eumenides kills for justice. But even though they had knowledge of all this, Yin Jian and his colleagues were still very respectful towards Han Hao at the beginning of the novel. It also always seems like Liu Song is singled out as being strongly vindictive for personal reasons - he loved and admired Xiong Yuan - but his attitude should actually be the norm rather than the exception.
And since I started pointing out things that bother me, it’s the same with Ding Ke. The single one argument to prove how good a policeman he was is the 100% success rate, something repeated several times in the novel. But to me, this looks extremely bad: a 100% conviction rate screams wrongful convictions. And everyone sighing in admiration when just hearing his name is just cringe. And when the characters thought that Ding Ke quit the police because he couldn’t face a failure, they still admired him? What is there to admire when someone flees as soon as things don’t go their way? But worse, we later know that Ding Ke covered for Zhibang, and the novel makes it look like it was the right thing to do, and he resigned to what? maintain his integrity? Like, knowing he covered for his favourite student - and not a slight mistake, Zhibang did kill a man (although I’m sure, we’ll learn he had no choice or a good reason to act so), shows him under a very bad light, but it’s almost described as a noble sacrifice.

59%

I finished chapter 16, and I was not convinced at all by the whole thing, especially Huang Jieyuan’s plan to catch the murderer of the 1/12 case. It also felt very repetitive, like for example, we already went through the whole description of the special performance given at Jieyuan’s bar, but we have to go through the same exact description a second time.
Some details were also strange and not convincing.
I also find that some things that I would consider flaws in the novel but that I accept because it doesn’t prevent me from enjoying it, are becoming more and more pronounced to the point when it’s becoming irritating. (Some generalisations about policemen, women, etc., a tendency to over explain things that were obvious in the first place, some sexist attributions of roles, like Mu Jianyun being here mostly to fill the “woman” role - she can’t bear gory descriptions and gets really unsettled by the performance - a strong tendency to idealise characters, they are all so clever, perfect, diligent, fighting for justice, etc., and maybe it’s a writing style, but constantly adding small commentaries, for example describing a scene and then adding an explanation or a generalisation as to what happened or why characters react as they did, often feels like the author thinks the reader is stupid.)
I’m still really enjoying the book!

56%

Chapter 16 is great, and we finally get to know more about something the author has been teasing for a while, but I was so tired today, I could barely keep my eyes opened while reading, so I preferred to stop mid-chapter. I’ll continue tomorrow!

53%

I finished chapter 5, and this one felt oddly out of place. The chapter was okay overall, but there was a whole passage where characters seemed to understand something from the first time, when we already went over it previously. I’m pretty sure it must be a mistake, it felt very odd. Not only do the characters realise something everyone already knew, but we even already went through the consequences of it in a previous chapter.
I still enjoyed reading it, and I do still find the novel very suspenseful, but this chapter in particular felt quite repetitive.

50%

Finished chapter 14 and the first part too! There are two parts in total in the book.
I’m halfway through the book now, still loving it very much!

47%

Finished chapter 13, almost halfway through!

44%

Chapter 11 done!

41%

Finished chapter 10! This book is such a page-turner, exactly like the first one.

32%

Won’t have time to finish chapter 9 today, but I’m still happy with my reading progress.

30%

I finished chapter 8, it was another extremely suspenseful one! :book:

25%

Chapter 8 is very long, I just started it but was too sleepy to really focus, so I didn’t make any real progress today.

23%

Chapter 7 was not an easy read, not just because it was an unpleasant description to read, but it was also more difficult in terms of language level.

20%

Chapter 6 read! :snail:

17%

I was so sleepy today, but thankfully, chapter 5 was a suspenseful one!

14%

I finished chapter 4, I hope I’ll have time for one or two more chapters today!

12%

Finished chapter 3, so suspenseful!! :jiong-blushing:

10%

I finished chapter 2. This book is exactly like the first volume: fast paced, suspenseful and impossible to put down!

3%

I regret waiting so long before starting volume 2, it starts right where the first volume finished, and there’s no real recap.
This being said, I start remembering things better now, I’ll need to re-read my notes and really try to remember who is who and what happened. So I’m stopping here for now, and come back once I refreshed my memory.

Post

to knit (one's brows); wrinkled (of brows)

Saw this character in 暗黑者2, and it feels like I never saw it before. I know 皱眉 with the same meaning, it’s probably more common.

WordReadingDefinition
蹙眉cù méito frown
皱眉zhòu méito frown

There’s something with Zhao Haohui’s writing style I always find strange. We’re always following the same characters, but sometimes (or rather often), the author conceals their identity for a while (like the first paragraphs of a new section), sometimes even describe them (appearance, age, etc.), and after a while says: this man is Luo Fei, and the young man beside him is Zeng Rihua.
I don’t know, I find it odd every single time, I don’t know what purpose it serves, because usually the reader already knows which character we’re talking about, there’s no surprise.

Writing the summary of 暗黑者1 reminded me how good this novel was. I can’t believe so much happened in one volume (the first one was not long at all iirc) and the plot is so good too!

I found and re-read my notes about 暗黑者1, and they don’t make any sense :jiong-sad:
It’s fine I guess if you just finished the book and still know the story and characters well, but for someone who was hoping to remember the story through the notes, it doesn’t help.
My past self is quite disappointing haha.

Characters

第二十八章 宿命
童木林
Tong Mulin
the real web journalist who interviewed Wu Yinwu
龙哥
Long ge
From Longyu Group, close to Lin Henggan
阿杰
A Jie
Bodyguard at the Longyu Group
冯春玲
Feng Chunling
Student, victim of the 1/12 case
王文超
Wang Wenchao
38, cook for more than 10 years.
常凯
Chang Kai
Enjoys driving at high speed, killed a man with his car, but settled the case with money.
王东林
Wang Donglin
Police officer, Criminal Investigation Department of the Public Security Bureau, received Chen Tianqiao’s complaint in 1984 (April 7th)
许军
Xu Jun
Police officer, Criminal Investigation Department of the Public Security Bureau, recorded the complaint.
赵翠芳
Zhao Cuifang
Chen Tianqiao’s wife
王天宇
Wang Tianyu
Police officer of Dongba Police Station, secured the crime scene of the April 7th case.
殷正宏
Yin Zhenghong
Police officer of Dongba Police Station, secured the crime scene of the April 7th case.
黄杰远
Huang Jieyuan
In 1984: Police officer, Criminal Investigation Brigade of the Municipal Public Security Bureau
栗华
Li Hua
Police officer, Criminal Investigation Brigade of the Municipal Public Security Bureau
王伟达
Wang Weida
Forensic Pathologist, Municipal Public Security Bureau
徐键
Xu Jian
Photographic Technician, Municipal Public Security Bureau
颜冰
Yan Bing
Trace Evidence Technicians, Municipal Public Security Bureau
董徳一
Dong Deyi
Trace Evidence Technicians, Municipal Public Security Bureau
陈大扬
Chen Dayang
61, Expert at the oncology department of the Provincial People’s Hospital

Why so many names!? :jiong-dead:

吴琼
Wu Qiong
Ding Zhen’s secretary
丁震
Ding Zhen
42, Ding Ke’s son, professor and associate dean of the college of environmental engineering (provincial university of technology).
杜明强
Du Mingqiang
26, journalist who interviewed Wu yinwu
钟济民
Zhong Jimin
Ex SWAT sniper, now working at a shooting club
黄德阳
Huang Deyang
Huang Jieyuan’s son, 14.
杨林
Yang Lin
SWAT veteran, chosen to impersonate Zhong Yun, Xiong Yuan’s best friend
陈昊
Chen Hao
Ex SWAT member, used as first bait.
牛牛
Niuniu
Labrador, the violinist’s guide dog.
郑佳
Zheng Jiao
Violinist who plays at the 绿阳春餐厅
黄杰远
Huang Jieyuan
48, Owner of the 黑魔力酒吧, he was Ding Ke’s assistant in the 一三〇 case.
钟云
Zhong Yun
the SWAT sniper who killed Wen Hongbing.
刘薇
Liu Wei
Han Hao’s wife
韩东东
Han Dongdong
Han Hao’s son
吴嘉鸣
Wu Jiaming
Wu Yinwu’s son
陈天谯
Chen Tianqiao
From the 一三〇 case: 45 at the time, borrowed money from Wen Hongbing
文红兵
Wen Hongbing
From the 一三〇 case: 32 at the time. Criminal.
丁科
Ding Ke
Ex-Chief of the Provincial Capital Criminal Police Team, a legend with 100% success rate, quit the police in 1984, but reluctantly helped the police for a while before completely disappear in 1992.
文成宇
Wen Chengyu
Wen Hongbing’s son
张翠萍
Zhang Cuiping
Wen Chengyu’s mother
林恒干
Lin Henggan
Vice-president of the Longyu Group.
邓箭
Deng Jian
Deng Hua’s son, 12 or 13 years old.
阿胜
A Sheng
One of Deng Hua’s best bodyguards.
朱晓姿
Zhu Xiaozi
Contract employee at the Archives Management Center of the Provincial Public Security Bureau
徐战昆
Xu Zhankun
Police officer from the Criminal Investigation Division, Dongcheng branch
蒙方亮
Meng Fangliang
Same position as Lin Henggan.
吴寅午
Wu Yinwu
60, teacher of the three teenagers
谢冠龙
Xie Guanlong
Teenager with curly hair
赵铖
Zhao Cheng
Police officer of the public security office
阎王
Yan Wang
Teenager with the golden earring
林总
Lin
郑郝明
Zheng Haoming
48, police officer who investigates the 18-year-old explosion case.
郭美然
Guo Meiran
Owner of the 碧芳园饭店
袁志邦
Yuan Zhibang
Luo Fei’s friend at the police school, involved in the explosion 18 years ago
黄少平
Huang Shaoping
Got caught in the explosion 18 years ago and severely injured
慕剑云
Mu Jianyun
Psychology lecturer
曾日花
Zeng Rihua
Computer expert
尹剑
Yin Jian
Assistant of the captain of the criminal police
罗飞
Luo Fei
Captain of the criminal police of Longzhou
韩灏
Han Hao
Captain of the criminal police
熊原
Xiong Yuan
Captain of the SWAT team
薛大林
Xue Dalin
Deputy director of the Provincial Public Security Bureau(?)
邓玉龙
Deng Yulong
Police informant (rich and powerful)
邓骅
Deng Hua
Yulong’s other name
阿华
A hua
works for Yulong
孟芸
Meng Yun
Luo Fei’s girlfriend during police school, involved in the explosion 18 years ago
柳松
Liu Song
Works under Xiong Yuan, lock expert.
韩少虹
Han Shaohong
Accused of intentionally killing a man with her car
彭广福
Peng Guangfu
Killed Han Hao’s colleague in an old case, caught and released by Eumenides.
宋局长
Song
Chief of the municipal department(?)

This list is made from memory and some notes I took when reading the first book, there might be mistakes.

Quotes

所谓“高处不胜寒”正是这个意思。当你已经在众人心目中成为胜利的化身,那么胜利对你就不再具备更多的意义;人们对你唯一的关注点仅在于:你什么时候会失败。
所以你便会格外地害怕失败。当再有挑战到来的时候,你已经没有勇气去坦然面对。在这个时候,逃避就成了你无奈的选择。

可是转念一想,只要是自己选择的人生方式,不管别人怎么看待,对选择者本人来说肯定是最满意的一种吧。你不理解他,他同样还不理解你呢。这个世界本来就是多元的,又何必去妄自揣测别人的生活?

— Mu Jianyun

现在的职业学校,你也知道,赚钱才是第一位,学生是上帝,老师只不过是个打工者。

— Yin Jian

我们和Eumenides的战斗,也许现在才算是真正开始。

— Mu Jianyun

Summary

Summary (contains spoilers)

Chengyu seems to have abandoned Eumenides and go to see Zheng Jiao. She gives him the full recording of the 1/30 case without knowing what it is. Yuan Zhibang had given it to her, foreseeing that Chengyu might try to settle with her.
The full recording shows that it’s actually Chen Tianqiao who triggered Wen Hongbing’s reaction, not Chengyu.
Chengyu kills Chen Tianqiao.
He is arrested by Luo Fei who had discovered the truth a while ago: Du Mingqiang was Wen Chengyu. He killed the real journalist and took his place to get close to the police. He planted a microphone in Mu Jianyun’s phone when he changed the sim card during their first interview. The whole Chang Kai thing was a way to identify Liu Song’s men who were watching him.
Luo Fei tells him that he managed to take a fingerprint proving he killed Chen Tianqiao, but hearing this, Chengyu severs the tip of his finger with his teeth(?!?)
Chengyu says that Yuan Zhibang had provided him with several identities, Du Mingqiang being only one of them.
He is arrested for minor crimes, but not for murder.

第二十七章 亡者之礼 (contains spoilers)

Luo Fei explains the circumstances surrounding Wen Hongbing’s death to Du Mingqiang, gives him the recording and asks him to publish an article, hoping it would make Chengyu give up on the Eumenides’ role.
Before his death, Yuan Zhibang had ordered for a cake to be delivered to Luo Fei on his birthday. It also contains the identity and address of Chen Tianqiao. The police arrests him.
Du Mingqiang survives the month of his execution, Chen Tianqiao is set free, Luo Fei concludes that Chengyu has given up on Eumenides and that it will be impossible to find him. The team is dismantled.

第二十六章 论菊 (contains spoilers)

After a long analogy with flowers to convey something relatively simple, we learn that Ding Ke quit the police partly because he didn’t believe that punishing criminals made sense, and preferred working at the root of the problem by understanding what pushed them to crime in the first place and create conditions where this would not happen (though we don’t know what he is doing concretely.)
Ding Ke also said that he first chose Luo Fei as his “successor” but changed his mind because he created Eumenides.
He finally reveals the truth behind the 1/30 case: just as the situation was under control, Chengyu asked his father if he brought his birthday cake, which re-triggered Wen Hongbing's despair (not having enough money to buy his son a birthday cake), the situation escalated again and Yuan Zhibang had to shoot him. The question of why Zhibang, a trainee police officer, was on the front line, alone and armed, is not addressed.
Ding Ke gives the audio recording of the scene to Luo Fei in private, he thinks someone from the team might work with Eumenides, because he doesn’t think Chengyu could have work out the truth behind the 1/12 case without access to the files. He hints that he didn’t tell the whole truth about Wen Hongbing’s death.

第二十五章 子亡父出 (contains spoilers)

Eumenides has sent the death notice to Ding Zhen and told him he knows about the 1/12 case, and that it’s just a matter of time before the police arrives at the same conclusion. Ding Zhen commits suicide. We learn that he was attracted to Wu Qiong but the trauma of seeing his mother with another man as a child has made him has led to sexual dysfunction. Feng Chunling had made fun of him, which is why Ding Zhen killed her.
Ding Ke shows up at his son’s funeral, and invites Luo Fei and the team to meet him when everything is settled.

第二十四章 疑凶绘像 (contains spoilers)

Eumenides has sent a death notice to the culprit of the 1/12 case, the date is this day. The team brainstorms ideas to find the murderer, and just like that they do what the Huang Jieyuan and the whole police force didn’t manage to do at the time, they find him: It’s Ding Zhen, Ding Ke’s son.

第二十三章 虎狼之约 (contains spoilers)

Meng Fangliang‘s wife received a recording proving that A Hua is responsible for the death of Lin Henggan and her husband. Before the police can arrives, two men from A Hua disguised as policemen take the recording, but got attacked by Eumenides soon after who disappears with it.
We learn the steps that led A Hua to form his plan with the help of Han Hao. He also knows that the recording must have been made by Han Hao and sent after his death. Eumenides comes to see him and trades the recording in exchange for Zheng Jiao’s protection and the promise to help her go to the US for the operation. Eumenides says his next opponent is now Ding Ke.

第二十二章 韩灏之死 (contains spoilers)

A Hua’s two men who were sent to fetch Han Hao were in reality there to kill him, as Han Hao is the only person knowing that A Hua is the instigator of the Lin and Meng’s death. Han Hao manages to kill them both instead, and end up taking A Hua hostage. The police is there too.
A Hua says that his men will kill his wife and son if something happens to him.
Han Hao asks for Yin Jian and threatens to kill A Hua if Yin Jian does not kill him first, which he does.
There’s no proof of A Hua’s involvement in the double murder, so the police lets him go.

第二十一章 血案真相 (contains spoilers)

During an anticipated football match featuring Longyu’s team on the day of A Hua’s execution date, both A Hua and Du Mingqiang are in the stadium, while Longyu Group security guards are hidden everywhere, thinking that Eumenides will strike during the match.
In a hotel near the stadium, Luo Fei, Yin Jian and Mu Jianyun are in a room, while Liu Song is disguised as Eumenides (using the foam in his clothes) alone in another room. Han Hao is watching Liu Song through CCTV from the hotel basement. When fans create turmoil in the stadium, he goes to Liu Song’s room and shoots him before hiding in another room. Liu Song had a bulletproof vest, so he didn’t die, but Han Hao managed to escape and is met by two of A Hua’s men.
Luo Fei had explained everything to the team beforehand:
A Hua and Meng Fangliang were accomplices to kill Lin Henggan, the whole thing had nothing to do with Eumenides. Motive for Meng Fangliang was succession stuff, but for A Hua, it was also a way to attract Eumenides. Meng Fangliang is the one dressed up as Eumenides who waved at the camera, the clothes and foam were hidden in the drawer. He killed Lin Henggan. When entering the room, A Hua and his man killed Meng Fangliang. He placed a fake death notice in the drawer so that the police don’t find it strange to find it empty. A Hua then let Du Mingqiang write his article to provoke Eumenides, in the hope he would appear at the stadium.
Luo Fei also rightly guessed that Han Hao and A Hua were accomplices, with the same goal of killing Eumenides, which would also explain why Han Hao was hiding so well from Yin Jian’s efforts to find him.
Luo Fei’s plan was for Liu Song to disguise as Eumenides to attract either the real Eumenides who would want to see who was impersonating him, and/or the A Hua/Han Hao gang who would genuinely think he was Eumenides.

第二十章 泡沫人 (contains spoilers)

Du Mingqiang has written his article, it shows how Meng Fangliang had shown remorse for his crimes and came out a new man after serving his prison sentence, putting Eumenides actions in a bad light.
Luo Fei cracked the mystery of the white plastic foam: it was used to make the man’s stature look bigger than it really was.
During the investigation, A Hua had mentioned A Sheng’s accident and said he thought he was killed by Eumenides. Luo Fei retraces A Hua’s investigation: A Sheng’s lighter brings him to the 绿阳春餐厅, he sees the three men on CCTV, but also spots Chengyu and immediately suspects him. The profile Mu Jianyun had done of Eumenides also matches: it’s possible he was drawn to the music and the violinist. Luo Fei interrogates her and she reveals that her father was Zheng Haoming, the detective in charge of the explosion case 18 years ago, who also suspected Eumenides to be active again. (He is the policeman who investigates by taking pictures of internet cafe users at the beginning of volume 1). He is also the first new victim of Eumenides. Zheng Jia thinks the case is closed with Yuan Zhibang’s death. Luo Fei asks her about the customer who sent her flowers, but she says she does not know him.

第十九章 现场勘查 (contains spoilers)

Mu Jianyun and Zeng Rihua join the team on the crime scene, they go over possibilities without success until the discovery of clothes and a rope indicating that Eumenides went through the window. Liu Song just arrived (bringing Du Mingqiang with him) and doesn’t think someone could be able to reach the room from outside.
They also find white plastic foam with blood on it, and Luo Fei remembers seeing similar foam on the street.
A Hua wants to use Du Mingqiang to change public opinion on Eumenides, Du Mingqiang says that Lin Henggan and Meng Fangliang‘s death notice gave “association with gang” as reason, but Meng Fangliang already served a prison sentence for that, so he was legally punished, and Eumenides should not have a valide reason to target him.
Luo Fei accepts under the condition that he can reads Du Mingqiang’s article before it gets published.
There’s a drawer in Deng Hua’s desk that was closed, no one, including A Hua and Long Ge, has ever seen what was inside. Police opens it, it contains A Hua’s death notice to take effect in a few days. Reason is also association with gangs.
Chengyu visits Zheng Jiao for her birthday, he thinks that taking care of her is his responsibility.

第十八章 密室血案 (contains spoilers)

The police arrives at Longyu Group where Lin Henggan and Meng Fangliang have just been killed. It turns out that they had both received a death notice.
A Hua was in charge of their protection, he supervised the operations and worked with his men, and Lin Henggan’s men. Long ge is also someone close to Lin Henggan. A Hua didn’t ask for help from the police. When Luo Fei asks him why, he reminds him that Deng Hua was killed by the Captain of the Criminal Police.
There is a gap in the surveillance video footage, and a man is visible in the room, even waving at the camera.
After ruling out several possibilities, Luo Fei and the others still have no clue how Eumenides could have enter the room and kill the two men.

第十七章 风波再起 (contains spoilers)

During a team reunion, Liu Song reports the latest developments with Du Mingqiang. Yin Jian says there’s no trace of Han Hao. He still hasn’t found Chen Tianqiao either but gives a report on his profile: he has constantly borrowed money without repaying, and is the instigator of a large scale fraud.
At Longyu Group, despite a tight surveillance supervised by A Hua, someone manages to access Lin Henggan and Meng Fangliang sleeping room.

第十六章 “一·一二”碎尸案 (contains spoilers)

Luo Fei and Mu Jianyun continue their discussion with Huang Jieyuan who talks about the 1/12 case. Given that he was in charge, he knows the case better than anyone: in 1992, body parts of a female students are found at different places, some have been boiled. The killer was never found, some body parts were never recovered. Huang Jieyuan asked for Ding Ke’s help who told him to come back in two weeks then completely disappeared. Huang Jieyuan was forced to step down when the case remained unsolved.
They watch Huang Jieyuan’s special performance. He explains that he is baiting the 1/12 killer by using:

  • heavy metal music, because the police found recordings in Feng Chunling’s possessions, but he overlooked its importance at the time because he didn’t read English (and apparently, no one did around him, and he also decided to ignore it rather than ask for a translator? that sounds unrealistic but oh well…)
  • sadistic and murdering impulse linked to the music
  • skill with a blade
    He thinks that Feng Chunling knew her killer, and that they got close through their common passion for heavy metal.
    He found a likely suspect: Want Wenchao.
    He says that if he can find the murderer of the 1/12 case, it’s possible that Ding Ke will come back (I don’t understand the logic behind this reasoning. Assuming Ding Ke really did disappear because he couldn’t solve the case - which sounds doubtful, because we now know it’s not the reason why he resigned, so why would it be the reason why he disappear? Characters strangely do not question this - it would be so weird to reappear when the case is solved, or is it just me?), so Luo Fei says he will help if needed.
第十五章 往事初现 (contains spoilers)

Luo Fei and Mu Jianyun are invited to Huan Jieyuan’s club.
It turns out that the two cases (both the 4/7 Chen Tianqiao’s robbery case and the 1/12 case) are important for Jieyuan because Ding Ke quit the force during the robbery case so Jieyuan took his place, and he himself quit the police after the 1/12 case.
Luo Fei tells him about the recent discovery: Zhang Cuiping suddenly found enough money for her operation, but when the police enquired about it, she gave up on the operation to protect the source of the money. And the policeman who questioned her deliberately hid this information from the investigation team and did not record it anywhere. Luo Fei asks for the name of this policeman and both him and Jianyun are shocked when they learn it was Ding Ke himself.
They arrive at the conclusion that Ding Ke didn’t quit the police because he faced an unsolved case, but because he solved it: he understood that his favourite student on whom he had placed a lot of hopes and expectations, Yuan Zhibang, was the culprit of the robbery case. Either he sent Zhibang in prison, which also meant that Cuiping had to give the money back, or he covered for him, which he did. Given that this action was against his integrity as a policeman, he retired.

第十四章 借刀伤人 (contains spoilers)

Liu Song and Du Mingqiang go in a restaurant where four men try to attack him. Liu Song and his men capture them easily.
Luo Fei recalls the day when Chen Tianqiao was attacked, Yuan Zhibang was willing to tell him what he had done, but Luo Fei chose to keep his rendez-vous with Meng Yun rather than listen to him.
Luo Fei interrogates the four men who attacked Du Mingqiang and realises that it’s a set up by Mingqiang himself. The leader of the group is Chang Kai, a man who got away with killing someone with his car thanks to his family money and relations. Du Mingqiang attacked him relentlessly in articles and revealed his identity.
Knowing that he was protected by Liu Song, he purposely revealed his location to Chang Kai so that the police capture him. Liu Song settles the score with him, and Du Mingqiang offers to cooperate, which will give more freedom to Liu Song to participate in the team efforts to find Wen Chengyu.

第十三章 案中案 (contains spoilers)

Luo Fei and Mu Jianyun study Chen Tianqiao’s complaint following the 1.30 case. He said that both his wife and himself have been attacked during the night at their home, then he was tortured into revealing the code of his safe. He said that his aggressor was Wen Hongbing’s accomplice. Nothing relevant was found on the crime scene.
Mu Jianyun thinks that Chen Tianqiao made the story up, but if it was that easy, Ding Ke would have spotted it. It seemed that, on the contrary, Ding Ke thought that the two cases were linked. At the same time, if the aggressor who took Chen Tianqiao’s money was Wen Hongbing’s friend, then the money could have paid for Zhang Cuiping‘s hospital fees, but we know she died soon after.
Luo Fei and Mu Jianyun visit the Chen Dayang, the doctor who took care of Cuiping at the time. He remembers that the family was poor, but after Wen Hongbing’s death, Zhang Cuiping said she had found enough money to pay for her operation, she explained it was money her husband had loaned to someone, and that she got the money back. But a policeman went and questioned Chen Dayang and Cuiping about it. Chen Dayang didn’t hide the money’s existence. After the policeman’s visit, Cuiping changed her mind and refused the operation. This visit hasn’t been recorded in the case file. Luo Fei shows Zhibang’s photograph and asks if he was the policeman in question. Dayang says he wasn’t, but he did come often take care of Cuiping.
Luo Fei and Mu Jianyun come to some conclusions: Cuiping didn’t want the police to know about the money, so she refused the operation. Because the money must have been illegally acquired, she could not legally give it to Chengyu so she entrusted it to her sister who must have kept it for herself while sending Chengyu to the orphanage after his mother’s death. Zhibang is certainly the man who stole the money from Chen Tianqiao, as a way to make up for killing Hongbing.
The identity of the policeman is still a mystery, Luo Fei tries to contact Huang Jieyuan to ask him about it, but he is not available (resting before one of the club’s “performances”).

第十二章 父子关系 (contains spoilers)

Ding Zeng says that his father Ding Ke quit the police because of the 一三〇 case, not for health reasons as was officially stated. Two months after the case, Chen Tianqiao reported being robbed.
Luo Fei and Mu Jianyun think that Ding Ke quit the police because he was unable to face a case he couldn’t solve. So when he disappeared 10 years earlier, it must be for the same reason. Luo Fei knows that the case in question is the 一。一二 case.
After gathering some more information Luo Fei and Jianyun conclude that Ding Zeng is workaholic who does not seem to have any sentiment and is not interested in building a family. Wu Qiong used to be his student and is in love with him, but he doesn’t seem to realise it or care. He resents his father for neglecting his family for his work, which led to his parents divorce. It’s then plausible that the two haven’t been in contact for 10 years.
Next step is to investigate Chen Tianqiao’s claim following the 1/30 case and see if the 1/12 case was really the reason behind Ding Ke’s disappearance.

第十一章 敌友难分 (contains spoilers)

Mu Jianyun tries to persuade Du Mingqiang to stay confined in police quarters instead of roaming freely, but he refuses and says that Luo Fei also doesn’t want it. Mingqiang wants the scoop, and Luo Fei wants two things: use Mingqiang as bait to catch Eumenides, and let Eumenides kill Mingqiang.
Jianyun confronts Luo Fei, accusing him of secretly approving Eumenides’ killings, and even make them possible by not obstructing Eumenides’ operations. Her proof is Deng Hua’s case, she knows Luo Fei suspected Han Hao, but he still let him control the operations, which resulted in Han Hao killing Deng Hua as Eumenides had planned. Luo Fei does not tell Jianyun the real reason why he let Han Hao do what he wanted (we know from vol.1 that Zhibang had planted a fake document on Jianyun to make Deng Hua target her, if Deng Hua had survived, he would have had Jianyun killed, so Luo Fei let Eumenides kill Deng Hua to protect her), and let her believe he secretly agrees Eumenides’ victims deserved to die. He asked her to keep this secret.
Their next step is to find Ding Ke’s son.

第十章 诱饵与枷锁 (contains spoilers)

Zeng Rihua found the identity of the so-called journalist who interviewed Wu Yinwu: his name is Du Mingqiang. The police found a death notice at his address and he is currently being detained. The date of the execution is smeared with ink and is not visible. Du Mingqiang is pretentious and arrogant, thinks himself a genius and sees the death notice as an opportunity for a scoop rather than a threat.
The team discusses the plan to protect Mingqiang. Mu Jianyun knows that Luo Fei intentionally revealed the details of Wu Yinwu’s death to Wen Chengyu to bait him to attack the journalist. But she also thinks that Chengyu used a pre-existing smear to hide the date, because he saw through Luo Fei’s plan. He is now forcing the police to protect Mingqiang for a whole month while he can fully concentrate on finding the truth behind his father case.
For Luo Fei though, the priority is to find the two witnesses: himself and Jianyun will look for Ding Ke while Yin Jian and Rihua will look for Chen Tianqiao. Liu Song is tasked with protecting Mingqiang.

第九章 弑父真凶 (contains spoilers)

The sniper of the Wen Hongbing case is called Zhong Jimin and is now working at a shooting club. Wen Chengyu talks to him and tries to get information on the case. Zhong Jimin reveals that he is not the one who shot Hongbing. Chengyu realises that it must be Yuan Zhibang, but as he was only a trainee, responsibility would have fallen on his superiors, so the shot was attributed to Zhong Jimin. He doesn’t know why Zhibang shot, and he couldn’t see the scene when it happened.
Chengyu makes his escape minutes before Luo Fei, Liu Song and Zeng Rihua arrive at the club.
Chengyu’s next step will be to understand why Zhibang killed his father. so the priority for the team is now to find Ding Ke and Chen Tianqiao who are the only two persons who know exactly what happened.
Chengyu had promised Zheng Jiao he would meet her every day after work, but he says he needs to do take care of something first and won’t be able to see her in the meantime. Her father was killed while working on a case, she says she wants to take revenge. Chengyu tells her he wants to pay for a treatment in the US that could cure blindness.

第八章 网络交锋 (contains spoilers)

The team prepares the confrontation, Zeng Rihua checks the computers of the internet cafe, and Liu Song suggests to choose a member of the SWAT team to impersonate the snipper who killed Wen Hongbing, “Zhong Yun”. The plan is risky, but Luo Fei agrees. The man who accepted to play this part is Yang Lin, he was Xiong Yuan’s best friend.
(We also learn that the man who drove Wu Yinwu to suicide is a journalist who intentionally pushed Yinwu to despair for a good story.)
Wen Chengyu is online, he asked Huang Jieyuan about the details of the 一三〇 case. Huang Jieyuan says that it’s Ding Ke who took Yuan Zhibang on the case, even though he was just a trainee officer at the time. Their plan was to use Wen Hongbing’s family to persuade him to surrender. It so happened that Wen Hongbing’s son, Chengyu, immediately trusted Yuan Zhibang, so Zhibang himself suggested to use the boy to warm up Hongbing’s heart. He bought him toys and put earphones on his ears and brought him to the scene. The dialogue between Yuan Zhibang and Wen Hongbing was recorded, and Ding Ke was listening to it live at the time, but neither Huang Jieyuan nor any member of the operation got to hear the recording afterwards. Huang Jieyuan thinks that the snipper fired by mistake. According to Ding Ke’s expression, the negotiations were going well, and Wen Hongbing was about to turn himself him when the nipper shot. He’s certain it was not Ding Ke’s order. Even though Chengyu was on the scene, he did not realise what had just happened.
Wen Chengyu asks for the sniper’s name, Huang Jieyuan gives him a fake bait that Chengyu immediately dismisses. He shows pictures of all the SWAT members of the time to Huang Jieyuan and shows a footage of his son. Huang Jieyuan gives Yang Lin’s name, but Chengyu wants him to go through all the pictures once.
He then asks to talk to Luo Fei to know how he found the files he was looking for so fast, while revealing how he saw through the garage set up. Luo Fei tells him that Wu Yinwu committed suicide after talking to a journalist.
Chengyu then asks to talk to Mu Jianyun.
In the meantime, Zeng Zhihua has localised Chengyu and Deyang location: a hotel room. He and Liu Song go there, followed by Luo Fei and Huang Jieyuan.
When Liu Song and the others rush in the hotel room, they only find Deyang. Chengyu has left just after the end of his discussion with Huang Jieyuan, and talked to Luo Fei and Mu Jianyun through a phone near to the computer microphone. They find the results of a lie detector test on the computer and Luo Fei understands it must have been hidden in the earphone: Chengyu used it to detect the real sniper when showing the pictures to Huang Jieyuan, and asked to talk to Luo Fei and Jianyun to gain time.

第七章 诱伏 (contains spoilers)

Huang Jieyuan is staging sadistic performances in his private bar to find someone. He is contacted by a man from the Public Security Bureau to exchange information: the man wants information on the 一三〇 case in exchange for info on the 一·一二碎尸案. Huang Jieyuan says his notes are in his garage.
We then learn that Huang Jieyuan was in contact with Luo Fei to fool Eumenides and lure him into the garage. Luo Fei and Liu Song do ambush a man paid by Eumenides to get the documents, but they soon after receive a message with a pendant belonging to Jieyuan’s son. The message gives an hour and a place: an internet cafe.

第六章 同是天涯沦落人 (contains spoilers)

Wen Chengyu talks to the violinist, she’s on her guard at first but warms up when she realises that he understands her music. Her father just passed away, he was a policeman. Someone, probably A Hua, went to see her about A Sheng’s death, thinking it might be linked to the tumult he caused at the restaurant. The violinist, Zheng Jia, thinks Wen Chengyu might be involved.
Zheng Zihua goes to see Luo Fei and learn about Luo Fei’s extreme observation skills. He found the name of Ding Ke’s assistant during the Wen Hongbin case, but it’s the only one he found. The sniper who killed Hongbin and who is the most likely target of Eumenides has disappeared. Luo Fei thinks his name was an alias to protect his identity.

第五章 地铁追踪 (contains spoilers)

The team and men chosen by Liu Song watch Liu Wei and Han Dongdong, waiting for them to meet Han Hao. Han Hao manages to get rid of all the men watching his wife and they meet for a brief time. Luo Fei and Liu Song almost caught him, but he managed to escape. even though his right foot is clearly injured.

第四章 节外生枝 (contains spoilers)

Wu Yinwu is found dead, he jumped from the 7th floor of the hospital. Family said he looked depressed after the visit of a “policeman”. Luo Fei and Yin Jian understand that this can’t have been a real policeman.
A Hua informs Lin Henggan and Meng Fangliang of A Sheng’s death, mentioning the car must have been tempered with and the accident is actually murder. He shares his fear that Eumenides is the culprit and might be targeting the whole Group, hinting that Lin Henggan and Meng Fangliang are in danger.
The team concludes that the fake policeman can’t have been Eumenides, but his identity is still unknown. Yin Jian informs Luo Fei that someone contacted Han Hao’s wife, who then informed the school her son would not come to class this afternoon. They think they will try to meet with Han Hao.

第三章:Eumenides的身份 (contains spoilers)

Luo Fei reports to Director Song and sums up the 一三〇 case: Chen Jianqiao had borrowed money from Wen Hongbing who abducted him and threatened to explode a bomb if he didn’t give the money back. Jianqiao’s wife called the police who killed Hongbing. According to Luo Fei and Song, three things are strange: 1- the file is sloppy, especially the part about Hongbing’s execution. it’s strange that the file made it to the Archives as is. 2- Yuan Zhibang participated in the case although he was still a trainee police officer at the time and should not have been involved. 3- Xue Dalin was supervising the case, but at the time he was busy with the 三一六 case (the drug traffic case).
Luo Fei thinks that the best is to ask the one who wrote the report: Ding Ke, a former police officer who quit the police for illness in 1984 and never came back. He was considered a legend, and the police often consulted him after his retirement, even though it bothered him. He finally disappeared completely in 1992 to avoid being involved in more cases. Song said he’s going to look for the other officers who participated in this report at the time.
Zeng Rihua finds the identity of Eumenides; Wen Chengyu: born on January 30th 1978, his father Wen Hongbing was killed by the police on January 30th, 1984, and Chengyu disappeared from the orphanage on January 30th, 1987.
The team thinks Wen Chengyu stole the files to understand what happened to his father, what role Yuan Zhibang played at the time, and to take his revenge: not only against Chen Tianqiao, but against all the police officers who took part in the operation and signed their name on the files. Next goal is to find them.

第二章:暗流翻涌 (contains spoilers)

At Longyu Group, it’s decided that vice-president Lin will take on responsibilities as Group president until Deng Hua’s son is old enough to succeed his father. A Hua is only interested in killing Eumenides.
Han Hao escapes the detention center under Yin Jian’s watch by using the metal wire and his knowledge of the building.
Mu Jianyun didn’t get useful information from the female student, but she and Luo Fei agree that the new Eumenides has a different MO from his master.
She thinks that Han Hao will stay in the city to take revenge upon Eumenides. She also thinks that he will try to see his family.
A man, probably Eumenides, prints documents from the Archives under with a stolen pass. Even though he printed 13 files, Luo Fei manages to find out the one that Eumenides really cared about: 一三〇恶性劫持人质案, a case that took place on January 30th, in 1984, two monts before the 四一八 explosion.
Han Hao goes in a bar, but a man who knows his identity finds him.
We learn about the new Eumenides past: On January 30th, 1984, on the day of his sixth birthday, his father disappear and a man came into his life, taking care of him and his mother. But soon after, this man also disappeared, his mother died, and he went to the orphanage. Eumenides then came to him and he became his disciple. As Yuan Zhibang’s picture is displayed on the news after the explosion, the new Eumenides realises that his “master” and the nice young man who took care of him after his father’s disappearance are the same person.
On January 30th, his father never came back after going out to buy a birthday cake, but two policemen, one of them Yuan Zhibang, came to him instead. He last saw his father talking to a stranger.
In a restaurant he likes going to, he sees A Sheng talking business with Lin Henggan and Meng Fangliang and understands that he must have betrayed his loyalty to Deng Hua to strike a deal with the new president of the group (he knows them from studying Longyu Group’s members to kill Deng Hua). Drunk, A Sheng talks badly to the blind musician that Eumenides enjoys listening to. He attacks A Sheng.
A man manages to fool a nurse at the hospital were Wu Yinwu is resting, and goes to his room.
A Sheng dies in a car accident staged by Eumenides.

第一章: 新队长上任 (contains spoilers)

Luo Fei is appointed leader of the 四一八专案组. Yuan Zhibang is dead, but his disciple is still out there and just executed two high school students who posted a video of them bullying their professor, which started a real outrage. Three teenagers were involved and each received the death notice, but the professor cut his own hand to exchange for the life of the female student. Mu Jianyun will take care of her while Yin Jian will interrogate the professor.
Yin Jian interrogates Han Hao without success and allows him to keep a pendant overlooking an iron wire hidden in it.
Luo Fei thinks that Zhibang’s disciple must have been a child between 7 and 13 when he met Zhibang, which was probably as soon as he left the hospital in 1985. The child must have been without connection nor family. Zeng Rihua is tasked with looking for orphan and missing children.
Although Deng Hua is dead, the team still fear that his men will go after Mu Jianyun, so Liu Song will go with her.

暗黑者1: whole novel (contains spoilers)

This spoils the entirety of 暗黑者1, please don’t read if you haven’t read the book. It’s only intended to help me go back into the story with volume 2. Also, I wrote it from memory and based on notes I took at the time, there are a lot of details I don’t remember and many things might be inaccurate.

18 years ago, Luo Fei’s best friend Yuan Zhibang and his girlfriend Meng Yun both die in an explosion. A man who was also randomly present at the scene, Huang Shaoping, is severely injured and lives isolated.
In present day, a policeman is looking for the culprit of this old case. He is trying to trigger Huang Shaoping’s memory by showing him photographs of people using a website where a certain Eumenides invites users to give the name of criminals who escaped justice so that he can kill them. We also learn that Xue Dalin, from the Public Security Bureau, was killed by Eumenides, but I can’t remember when this was supposed to happen…
An investigative team is formed with Luo Fei, Zeng Rihua, a computer expert, psychologist Mu Jianyun, young policeman Yin Jian. They work under the supervision of captain Han Hao.
The policeman who was working on the old case is found dead by Luo Fei. Some pictures on his camera have been erased, but Zeng Rihua finds the name and address of the person whose pictures have been deleted. They find him attached to a fake bomb with a notice announcing the next victim.
The next victim is a woman accused of intentionally killing a man with her car. She received Eumenides death notice for a certain date. The police watches her closely that day, but she still gets killed. The team realises that Eumenides must have been in a hotel room near the site, they go there and find the preserved body parts of Eumenides victims with videos of their execution. One man is left alive, Peng Guangfu. He has killed one of Han Hao’s colleague in an old case and injured Han Hao. His complice was shot, but he himself got away. Eumenides has provided a way to find Guangfu.
Meanwhile, both Jianyun and Rihua have suspicions about Luo Fei. We finally learn that Luo Fei and Meng Yun are the creators of Eumenides at the police school, but it’s confirmed he his not the present Eumenides. For a while, they think that Meng Yun might be still alive and the instigators of the murders, but Luo Fei confirms her death (I remember this scene, it was so so weird).
The signal to find Peng Guangfu goes live, and Han Hao, Yin Jian, Xiong Yuan (captain of the SWAT team who joined the team), and Liu Song (who works under Xiong Yuan) go to the site. Xiong Yuan’s role is to make sure that Peng Guangfu is rescued and brought to the station. The group has to separate to deactivate a bomb, and both Xiong Yuan and Peng Guangfu are killed. The others get out alive but no one knows what really happened.
Huang Shaoping contacts Mu Jianyun and tells her to investigate a case of drug traffic from 18 years ago. She realises that Xue Dalin, the second victim of Eumenides, was in charge of the case at the time and got tremendous success thanks to his informant Deng Yulong. His secretary, Bai Feifei committed suicide (because of Guangfu, but I can’t remember why).
Jianyun wants to investigate and goes to Deng Yulong, now called Deng Hua, but she learns that he just received Eumenides’ death notice. The police knows it and wants to protect him, but Deng Hua relies on his own men, especially the reliable A Hua. When talking with Jianyun, Deng Hua is surprised that she knows about Bai Feifei, and comes to the conclusion that her source is either Huang Shaoping or Luo Fei. Talking with Luo Fei confirms that it’s not him, so he sends his men to Huang Shaoping’s place but they don’t find him.
In the meanwhile, Liu Song thinks that Yin Jian is the one who killed his superior, Xiong Yuan, because of traces of blood found in the car. Han Hao covers for Yin Jian by making the traces disappear, which only reinforces Liu Song’s suspicions.
Luo Fei understands that the man who came out of the explosion 18 years ago is not Huang Shaoping. He goes to his place but doesn’t find him. Luo Fei now knows that Huang Shaoping is in reality his friend, Yuan Zhibang. (I don’t remember how Luo Fei finds out, and I remember a trick with the bomb timing, but I completely forgot the details.)
Yuan Zhibang takes a restaurant owner hostage and says he has a bomb, He asks to talk to three persons:
First, he sees Jianyun and gives her a document she should open on her own. Then he sees A Hua and tells him that Bai Feifei was his friend. She recorded a conversation between Xue Dalin and Zheng Yulong proving that both men were doing illegal activities. Dalin got the recording back and killed Feifei (she didn’t commit suicide). Zhibang says that he has a copy of the recording and that he just gave it to Mu Jianyun. Doing this, he knows that Zheng Hua will try to kill Mu Jianyun (and will likely succeed), so in order to save Mu Jianyun, Luo Fei will certainly let Eumenides kill Zheng Hua first. Finally, he talks to Luo Fei. He tells him that after the murder of his friend Feifei, he decided to become Eumenides to kill Zheng Hua, which was his real ultimate goal, and do justice to Feifei. 18 years ago, he used Luo Fei and Meng Yun to disappear, but Meng Yun somehow saw through the plan (I don’t remember the details) and detonated the bomb sooner, leaving him injured.
We then learn that Han Hao is the one who killed his colleague at the time (again, I don’t remember the details, but maybe the two policemen were drunk when they chase Peng Guangfu and his friend, so Han Hao shot his colleague when he thought he was aiming at the two men he was chasing). Han Hao then executed Guangfu’ friend so that he doesn’t talk, did some shenanigans with the bullets and said that Guangfu was the one who shot his colleague. He has been considered a hero. His goal has always been to find Guangfu to kill him and prevent him to reveal the truth. Eumenides had found Guangfu before him and learnt the whole story. He gave a second chance to Han Hao: the chance to kill Guangfu before he is brought to the police station. That’s exactly what Han Hao did during the operation, but as Xiong Yuan was guarding Guangfu, Han Hao had to kill him too.
Yin Jian who was falsely accused, realises that the culprit must be Han Hao. Luo Fei arrives to the same conclusion when examining the shooting case and the bullets.
Eumenides tells Han Hao that he has filmed the whole scene of him killing both Xiong Yuan and Peng Guangfu. He blackmails him into helping him kill Deng Hua. Han Hao accepts with the intention of killing Eumenides instead.
Luo Fei decides to let Eumenides kill Deng Hua in order to protect Mu Jian. (I think, the copy of the recording never existing, but Luo Fei still thinks she’s in danger… maybe he thinks Deng Hua will try to kill her anyway just in case? I don’t remember). On the day of Deng Hua’s execution, Eumenides is in contact with his “complice” Han Hao. He reveals his position to Han Hao: he is disguised as one of Deng Hua’s men. Han Hao goes straight to him and kills him. We then realise that he just killed the real Deng Hua who was disguised as one of his men (while one of his men was posing as Deng Hua, probably with something to hide his face, I can’t remember). That was a trick he always used when he knew he was targeted. Han Hao is arrested.

Vocabulary

第十八章 密室血案
WordReadingDefinition
心腹 xīn fù trusted aide; confidant
第十章 诱饵与枷锁
WordReadingDefinition
羁押 jī yā to take into custody, detention
第八章 网络交锋
WordReadingDefinition
鏖战 áo zhàn bitter fighting, fierce battle
服务器 fú wù qì server (computer)
链式木马 liànshì mùmǎ chained Trojan

The moment I looked up 服务器, its meaning became obvious :LOL:

第六章 同是天涯沦落人
WordReadingDefinition
慷慨 kāng kǎi generous; magnanimous, vehement, fervent
捧场 pěng chǎng to show one's support for a performer or theatrical troupe etc by attending their show; to attend an event to cheer on the participants
孝箍 xiàogū mourning armband
拉链 lā liàn zipper

I saw the word 捧场 in the novel! It’s a word I learnt recently in Yun Jin’s birthday letter!
If I understood correctly, 拉链头 is the part of the zipper you pull to open and close, so what they call 拉链扣 must be the small teeth along the zipper.

第五章 地铁追踪
WordReadingDefinition
坤包 kūn bāo woman's handbag or shoulder bag
揶揄 yé yú to mock, to ridicule
WordReadingDefinition
遗孀 yí shuāng (formal) widow
大嫂 dà sǎo older brother's wife
羁押 jīyā to detain, to take into custody
睚眦必报 yázì bìbào lit. to seek revenge over a dirty look (idiom)
惯性 guàn xìng (physics) inertia

I knew 收押 but not 羁押. The character 羁 means “bridle, halter” or “control, restrain”, I know it from 不羁 bùjī “unruly, inhibited” because it’s in the title of one of Inazuma battle theme.