“I thought you were going to reveal some earth-shattering truth. Turns out you’re just crazy,” Mrs. Shen muttered, casting a disdainful yet caring look at Bai Lixin. “Can you please stop causing trouble?”
Li Chongming: “So handsome, yet a lunatic. What a waste.”
Even Wang Tou’s eyes were filled with disbelief and helplessness.
Bai Lixin didn’t rush to defend himself. “We’re all stuck in this little house now, with nowhere else to go. Why not listen to what this lunatic has to say next? Just treat it like a story.”
The three exchanged glances, then Wang Tou nodded, “Alright, continue.”
Seeing Wang Tou’s agree, Mrs. Shen and Li Chongming didn’t argue further. They could only listen to this disturbed young man continue speaking.
Bai Lixin began, “Let’s first talk about how the people in this house died today.”
“When Cao Jiyun first entered the house, she was just unconscious. She wasn’t dead when we put her in the chair.”
“Later, while we were searching the room, someone took advantage of the distraction and killed Cao Jiyun. They cut off her little toe and left a note in her pocket.”
“Zhang Li had a heart condition, making her the most vulnerable to death from shock.”
“Then, a series of events unfolded. Whether it was the discovery of Cao Jiyun’s body or Su Xiaohua’s severed head suddenly appearing, it repeatedly tested her psychological endurance. The murderer took advantage of the chaos to place the note and Cao Jiyun’s little toe in Zhang Li’s pocket. When Zhang Li went to the kitchen, the unexpected little toe became a death warrant for her.”
“That was the cause of Zhang Li’s death.”
Mrs. Shen raised a concern, “There’s a problem with your theory. Zhang Li was the first to notice the problem with the box containing Su Xiaohua’s head and she started the commotion. Are you suggesting she killed herself?”
Bai Lixin: “Indeed, Zhang Li was the first to notice something was wrong with the box. However, if no one had cherished that box so much and just tossed it aside, would anyone have cared what was inside it?”
The three of them were stunned for a moment and looked at Ran Jingjing who was unconscious on the sofa.
Mrs. Shen’s lips trembled slightly, disbelief in her eyes. She pointed at Ran Jingjing tremblingly, then at the box. “Are you saying Ran Jingjing intentionally exposed the box to us…”
Li Chongming interjected, “The logic seems sound. If it wasn’t for the scramble for the box, the room wouldn’t have been so chaotic earlier. She’s a senior lawyer, a smart person. How could she not know the principle that an innocent man is guilty of possessing a treasure, but she still so blatantly protected the box. Isn’t it the same as writing on her forehead, ‘There’s something wrong with this box, come and grab it’?”
At this moment, Mrs. Shen was closest to the unconscious Ran Jingjing on the sofa. After hearing this, she instinctively took two steps back, distancing herself from Ran Jingjing.
But then she questioned again, “If she really is the murderer, why was she found dead in the bathtub?”
Bai Lixin’s next sentence was like a thunderclap in the living room.
He said, “Was she really dead?”
The three: “…”
Was she dead?
No.
Although she was near death, she was ultimately saved by Wang Tou.
When they found Cao Jiyun and Zhang Li, they were already beyond saving.
But Ran Jingjing’s death was handled in what could be called a gentle manner.
Perhaps they had been wrong from the beginning.
Thinking they had saved someone from the murderer, they had actually fallen into one of the murderer’s trap.
Feigned death.
To become a victim is the most effective way to eliminate suspicion.
Right?
“There are a few details you may not have noticed. Let me tell you a few more, and you can continue treating it as a story.” As the three people’s minds struggled to keep up, Bai Lixin resumed his storytelling.
“Li Chongming, did you secretly record videos of Xiaohua, but then those videos disappeared?”
Li Chongming, who was suddenly called out, nodded in a daze, “Yes, yes.”
Bai Lixin: “I can now tell you those videos were deleted by Lawyer Ran. She had a hacker friend do it for her. At the same time, she had seen the contents of those videos. The first point of suspicion: Li Chongming, as the voyeur, witnessed and filmed Cao Ji’an’s abuse and Cao Jiyun’s blackmail. As another viewer, Lawyer Ran claims to have never known about them.”
“What?!” Li Chongming exclaimed, “My videos were deleted by her? No wonder I couldn’t find them! So she knew from the beginning what Cao Ji’an and Cao Jiyun did.”
Mrs. Shen added, “No wonder back at the police station, Cao Jiyun pleaded for Ran Jingjing to let them off. The decline of the Cao family from a leading enterprise to its current state was probably all orchestrated by Ran Jingjing.”
Bai Lixin: “The second suspicion is that Lawyer Ran seemed to know from the beginning what was inside the wall.”
“Officer Wang, if you had a friend missing for ten years and suddenly found traces of them in a cave during an expedition, what would you do?”
Wang Tou pondered for two seconds, “I would charge in immediately. Even if there is a slight clue, I would find my friend.”
Bai Lixin chuckled softly, “Do you remember where each of you were standing in the kitchen at that time? Lawyer Ran was at the back of the crowd. According to her, Su Xiaohua was her best friend. Yet when there was a possibility that Su Xiaohua’s body was in the wall, she didn’t rush forward but stayed at the back.”
Li Chongming: “But she did insist that Officer Wang break the wall.”
Bai Lixin swept his gaze over the perplexed man, “Do you remember what you said then?”
Li Chongming thought for a moment, “I think I said, ‘This wall isn’t a plastic bottle. How can we open it without proper tools?’”
Mrs. Shen added, “If she knew from the beginning that the tools in this wooden house couldn’t break the wall, then what difference does it make whether she told Officer Wang to break it or not? It couldn’t be broken either way. I remember after she said that, Ran Jingjing still stood behind me without making any move to help. Even Li Chongming tried to pry it open a couple of times, though it was futile.”
Li Chongming smiled awkwardly.
“There’s another question I want to ask you.” Bai Lixin’s expression suddenly became serious, his gaze scanning past the faces of the three individuals, “Officer Wang, Mrs. Shen, Li Chongming, have you ever wondered if your world is…real?”
Mrs. Shen: “What do you mean by that?”
Bai Lixin: “Have you never encountered anything strange from childhood to adulthood?”
Wang Tou fell silent for a moment before speaking softly, “There was indeed something. It seems I was destined to be a policeman.”
Mrs. Shen: “Officer Wang, you joined the police right after graduation, so of course you’ve always been a policeman.”
“That’s not what I mean.” Wang Tou shook his head, “There were no police officers in my family before, and I was never taught to become one. I didn’t even watch police dramas. But for some reason, since I was a child, there was a voice in my head telling me I would become a policeman. Later in life, when I faced a fork in the road, I ultimately chose to become a policeman.”
Wang Tou’s words triggered certain memories in Mrs. Shen. She was stunned, amd her voice trembled, “Me too!”
“Before meeting Shen Shukuang, there seemed to be such a person in my mind. After meeting him, that voice grew louder, insisting I must marry him. I didn’t even know what was so special about him, but that voice compelled me to marry him. At the time, I thought it was a love brain attack.”
Li Chongming lowered his head, “I’m not sure if mine counts. I just have a voyeuristic tendency. I don’t know why, but for some reason, I just really want to.”
Bai Lixin’s gaze fell on the photos of the three people on the table, starting from Shen Shukuang, he summarized one by one.
“Shen Shukuang, desire for abnormal love.”
“Su Hong, desire to hurt family.”
“Cao Ji’an, desire for bloody violence.”
“Cao Jiyun, desire for power to oppress others.”
When he came to Ran Jingjing, he paused, then placed her photo at the back and moved the rest of the photos forward.
“Li Chongming, desire for voyeurism.”
“Mrs. Shen, selfish and marital desires.”
“Wang Tou, desire to become a policeman and uphold justice.”
“Ran Jingjing, desire to become a lawyer.”
“Each of you urgently desires something, representing a desire that Su Xiaohua buried deep in her heart and couldn’t release but urgently wanted to try.”
As soon as he finished speaking, the expressions of the three suddenly turned frightened.
But their fear did not come from Bai Lixin, but from behind Bai Lixin.
Bai Lixin turned around. He didn’t know when the previously unconscious Ran Jingjing had awakened. She sat up straight on the sofa, her body upright at 90 degrees and as rigid as two steel plates.
Ran Jingjing’s skin was pale, her eyes vacant. She stared coldly at Bai Lixin, her eyes unblinking. Water droplets formed at the ends of her hair, dripping onto her shirt. Her expression was eerie, like a water ghost that had just crawled out of a lake.
Bai Lixin shrugged, “You’re awake, Ran Jingjing.”
Ran Jingjing’s mouth opened slightly, as if she wanted to say something. But in the end, she said nothing, just stiffly raised her hand to rub her neck.
As her fingers rubbed, the faint foundation there spread out, revealing a clear and distinct line.
Below the line was a still fair neck and collarbones.
Above the line was skin that was two shades darker.
“Ahem, ahem.” Ran Jingjing coughed twice. Her throat seemed to be wrapped with thick phlegm, so her voice was hoarse, “Bai Lixin, how did you find out that Xiaohua’s body was on me.”
Bai Lixin: “You’re a meticulous and sophisticated professional woman. Even under intense work, you can still maintain the most perfect and delicate makeup, not even taking it off when you sleep.”
Ran Jingjing’s lips twitched stiffly, “What’s the problem with that?”
Bai Lixin: “It’s strange because it’s too perfect.”
“There is no one at home, but you refuse to let yourself relax. That is a problem itself.”
“Another thing, skin is very delicate. No matter how natural the foundation is, there will always be color differences between the face and neck after application. But in your case, when you apply foundation on your face, it still matches the color of your neck.”
