ATFBETIBM Chapter 574

Mrs. Shen: “Is there any other reason?”

Bai Lixin : “But you have already given the answer, right, Mrs. Shen?”

Wang Tou and Li Chongming looked at Bai Lixin in confusion. Li Chongming scratched his head, “What answer?”

Bai Lixin : “Because Xiao Xin looks too much like Su Xiaohua.”

“Two years after Su Xiaohua disappeared, Shen Shukuang and his wife had a child named Xiao Xin.”

“This girl doesn’t resemble her father or her mother, but instead a stranger with no blood relation.”

“Mrs. Shen also found that Shen Shukuang paid too much attention to Xiao Xin.”

“Her own daughter doesn’t look like her, but instead like her former rival, and was now also taking away too much of her husband’s love. Even if Mrs. Shen wanted to love her daughter in her heart, she couldn’t let go because of these reasons.”

Li Chongming: “Mrs. Shen was about to abandon her daughter just because she looks like her former rival?”

Bai Lixin : “Of course not.”

“She wanted her daughter to stay because of a very complex emotion. She loves and hates her husband, loves and hates her daughter, but only loves herself.”

Bai Lixin pretended to rummage in his pocket and pulled out a photo album.

Li Chongming’s eyes went wide, “Are you Doraemon? How did such a small pocket produce such a big album?”

“It doesn’t matter how it was produced,” the young man’s eyes narrowed slightly, and the dim yellow light above his head cast a shadow on his thick eyelashes, “what matters is what’s inside the album.”

Li Chongming was dumbfounded.

‘Was such an unscientific act really unimportant?’

The album opened to reveal a happy family.

Shen Shukuang, Mrs. Shen, and Xiao Xin.

Wang Tou and Li Chongming leaned in curiously, while Mrs. Shen stood far away with a complex and inscrutable expression, as if she was holding back something.

Slender fingers flipped through the album, revealing more and more photos of Xiao Xin.

Xiao Xin as a baby, Xiao Xin at three or four, Xiao Xin at six or seven.

Sleeping Xiao Xin, eating Xiao Xin, laughing Xiao Xin, playing Xiao Xin, Xiao Xin in a beautiful princess dress.

Li Chongming couldn’t see any mystery in them, so he had to ask, “What’s wrong with these photos?”

The young man lowered his eyes, his fingertips gently pressed against the transparent film, and he flipped over a photo.

On the back of the photo, there was a line written in a flowery style.

—”Baby, you’re so lovely, just like Venus picking up Cupid’s bow and arrow.”

Li Chongming was somewhat bewildered. He looked at each word carefully. He knew each word and even this sentence, but strung together, they created an inexplicable and uncomfortable feeling.

Venus is the goddess of beauty, and Cupid is the god of love.

In Western mythology, men are driven mad by Venus’s beauty and influenced by Cupid’s arrows of love.

This was a sentence full of romantic sentiments.

But its front side showed Xiao Xin, with double ponytails, wearing a princess dress and holding a doll.

Li Chongming looked at Mrs. Shen behind him in surprise. Before Bai Lixin could do anything, he quickly pulled out another photo and flipped it over.

There was another sentence on the back.

—”I want to become that grain of rice.”

Li Chongming’s mind exploded with a bang.

On the front of the photo, Xiao Xin was bowing her head to eat, her chubby face with a grain of rice stuck to the corner of her mouth.

‘This was… too bizarre, right?

So disgusting.’

He thought he was already disgusting enough, but he didn’t expect this seemingly upright university professor to be even more disgusting.

“Shen Shukuang, he is…” Li Chongming stared at Mrs. Shen.

Before he could finish speaking, Mrs. Shen quickly interrupted him, “That’s right, I know!”

“I realized a long time ago what kind of disgusting thoughts Shen Shukuang had.”

“He deserved to die. I hate him, but he was the source of all my honor.”

“I also hate Xiao Xin. If she hadn’t been born, if she had been a boy, maybe he wouldn’t have acted this way. But Xiao Xin is my daughter.”

“Fortunately, Shen Shukuang only dared to think about it and never did anything to Xiao Xin, so I pretended not to know.”

“They were the ones at fault, but why is my life the one that’s a mess now? You all say that as a mother I should put my child first, but facing a child like this, I simply can’t devote myself to her. I don’t want to see her. Every time I see her, I think of Su Xiaohua’s face, Shen Shukuang’s past with Su Xiaohua, and his perverted thoughts about Xiao Xin. That’s why I wanted to leave her behind and leave myself.”

Li Chongming: “So, you killed Shen Shukuang?”

Mrs. Shen was on the verge of breaking down, screaming hysterically, “I didn’t! I told you it wasn’t me! I endured my husband’s inappropriate thoughts about our daughter for the sake of my happy life. What else can’t I endure? Killing him would only harm me, not benefit me. Why would I kill him!”

“It was indeed not Mrs. Shen who killed Shen Shukuang.” Bai Lixin reached into his pocket and took out several photos, laying them on the coffee table one by one.

Li Chongming glanced at the young man’s flat pocket, then at the square photos. He wanted to say something but held back.

The photos were laid out in order: Shen Shukuang, Su Hong, Cao Ji’an, Cao Jiyun, Zhang Li, Ran Jingjing, Li Chongming, Mrs. Shen, Wang Tou.

These photos were of daily life, and those present didn’t even know how the young man got their photos.

Wang Tou glanced at the order of the photos, “Did you arrange them according to the time of death?”

Bai Lixin nodded and crouched slightly by the coffee table. He tapped Shen Shukuang’s photo with his finger, “Shen Shukuang once attempted to assault Xiaohua, and later developed a sinful obsession with his young daughter.”

“Su Hong forced Su Xiaohua to make explicit videos for profit.”

“Cao Ji’an forced Su Xiaohua into a relationship, beat and raped her, and later deliberately injured her in an abandoned factory.”

“Cao Jiyun insulted and threatened Su Xiaohua, forcing her to have an abortion.”

“Zhang Li was Su Hong’s accomplice.”

As his finger moved backward over each photo, Bai Lixin listed their crimes.

When he reached Ran Jingjing’s photo, Bai Lixin paused, “Ran Jingjing ignored Su Xiaohua’s pleas for help, leaving her isolated and helpless.”

“Li Chongming installed hidden cameras in Su Xiaohua’s rental apartment and secretly filmed her.”

“Mrs. Shen bought explicit videos of Su Xiaohua and Shen Shukuang from Su Hong.”

“Officer Wang, Su Xiaohua’s case remains unsolved for ten years.”

“These are some of your connections to Su Xiaohua. Have you noticed any patterns?”

Mrs. Shen: “Patterns? All of them wronged Xiaohua?”

Li Chongming: “All harmed Xiaohua?”

Bai Lixin raised his chin slightly and narrowed his eyes at the focused policeman, “Officer Wang, what do you think?”

Wang Tou looked at Mrs. Shen and Li Chongming, then at the unconscious Ran Jingjing on the sofa, and finally at the row of photos on the coffee table.

He hesitated, “The order of the killings corresponds to the severity of their crimes?”

“As expected of an experienced detective.” The corners of the young man’s lips raised slightly, and the stars in his eyes flickered, like starlight blooming in the galaxy, dazzling.

His smile instantly made the room feel like spring had arrived. The three were momentarily stunned, and even the fear of death faded somewhat.

Mrs. Shen was the first to regain her senses. She pointed at Shen Shukuang’s photo, “If it’s according to the severity of the crimes, shouldn’t Shen Shukuang not be first? He only almost slept with Su Xiaohua but stopped later.”

“But he was a pedophile.” Wang Tou’s eyes darkened, “And towards his own daughter. It’s not just a legal crime, but a moral one. His crime might not be the heaviest, but it’s certainly the most intolerable, even if he never acted on it.”

Bai Lixin nodded, “That’s why Shen Shukuang was the first to die.”

“By following this moral transgression order, it aligns perfectly with the sequence of deaths.”

The young man’s finger traced the table, sliding from Shen Shukuang’s photo on the left to Zhang Li’s.

Mrs. Shen: “Then what about Ran Jingjing? According to this logic, shouldn’t Li Chongming be the next to die, not Ran Jingjing? Is there something else she’s hiding?”

The young man’s finger gently tapped on Ran Jingjing’s photo. In the picture, she was wearing a well-fitted white blouse, with one button undone, revealing a slender and fair neck. Her arms were slightly raised in a cross-arm stance, showcasing her long and elegant fingers.

“Yes, Li Chongming is not yet dead, so why was it Ran Jingjing’s turn?” the young man pondered, casting a sidelong glance at Li Chongming.

Li Chongming’s face flushed with shame, then turned pale as a sheet. “Am I the next one to die?” he stammered.

Bai Lixin: “Because we found that skeleton, Ran Jingjing had to die.”

Wang Tou was baffled, “What does the skeleton have to do with Ran Jingjing’s death?”

Bai Lixin: “Ran Jingjing told us that ten years ago, when Cao Ji’an trapped Su Xiaohua in the factory, Su Xiaohua had called for her help. Ran Jingjing went to the factory, found the buried Su Xiaohua, and rescued her. At that time, Su Xiaohua was still breathing, but later, Ran Jingjing was knocked unconscious. When she woke up, all she saw was Su Xiaohua’s head.”

“This head, right here.” As he spoke, he lightly tapped the box beside him.

“Only the head remained. So where did Su Xiaohua’s body go?”

“You’ve spent ten years searching for Su Xiaohua’s body without finding a trace, right, Officer Wang?”

Wang Tou lowered his head in shame, “It’s our inability to handle the case.”

Bai Lixin shook his head, “It’s not that you are incompetent, but your inherent logical thinking is too constrained to continue the search. Su Xiaohua’s body is not hidden in some mysterious place.”

Wang Tou’s head shot up and he asked in an urgent voice, “Then where is it?”

The young man pointed to the unconscious Ran Jingjing behind him, “It’s right beneath Lawyer Ran’s neck.”

“Lawyer Ran’s body is actually Su Xiaohua’s body. The skeleton we found in this cabin is Ran Jingjing’s own body.”

“Ten years ago, it wasn’t just Su Xiaohua’s head that was severed. Ran Jingjing’s head was also cut off. Then, Su Xiaohua’s body and Ran Jingjing’s head were put together, creating the current Ran Jingjing. As for Ran Jingjing’s own body, it was buried in this house and has lain here for ten years.”

“Hahaha,” Mrs. Shen burst into laughter. “Are you kidding me? Heads being switched with bodies? What kind of ghost story is this? How can you still live after your head is cut off! You would have died long ago!”

Bai Lixin responded calmly, “In the real world, of course you can’t survive if your head is cut off. But what if this is a world of psychosis?”

No wonder! This copy felt so unhinged 😅. I must have lost a few brain cells trying to understand the clues.