The Chen Residence.

When the police arrived, Chen Shuo was lying in the room he had prepared for Jiang Tao.

Inside the room stood a cherry-pink coffin. No one knew what method he had used, but Jiang Tao’s body showed no signs of decay.

A month had passed since Jiang Tao’s death, yet her corpse emitted no putrid stench. Instead, a strong, peculiar fragrance filled the air.

Chen Shuo lay on the bed beside the coffin.

When the police broke down the door, they found him kissing and embracing a wooden doll that resembled Jiang Tao-a doll that would never speak.

The scene left the officers utterly shocked.

Upon seeing the police, Chen Shuo showed no panic. He even smiled.

“Can you give me two minutes? I want to put on the jacket that Tao Tao always thought looked best on me.”

Of course, no one paid him any attention.

The police didn’t need to search hard to find evidence of his crimes.

Chen Shuo had recorded every instance of his abuse and torment toward Jiang Tao, including the final act of killing her.

To him, these were proof of their love.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

A fierce wind howled outside, blowing down the flowers Chen Shuo had arranged in the courtyard.

The once-composed man suddenly began thrashing wildly like a madman. “Let me go!”

“I need to save my flowers!”

“Tao Tao loved looking at them the most!”

After struggling futilely for a while, realizing no one would listen or help him save the flowers, his spirit shattered, and he burst into heart-wrenching sobs.

Then, as another gust of wind swept past him, his crying gradually ceased.

Chen Shuo’s face lit up with joy. “Tao Tao, is that you?”

“You came after all!”

A figure covered in bloodstains, her face and clothes marred with scars, slowly materialized before him, her eyes filled with hatred and loathing.

Chen Shuo’s heart ached under her gaze.

“Tao Tao… don’t-don’t look at me like that.”

“If you look at me like that, I’ll feel so terrible…”

The police thought he had lost his mind, muttering nonsense to thin air.

They escorted Chen Shuo into the police car, and Jiang Tao floated in after them.  

But she did nothing, only staring coldly at Chen Shuo.  

Seeing that she refused to speak to him, Chen Shuo suddenly grinned.  

“To be able to leave, you must have killed quite a few people, huh?”  

Jiang Tao and the police officers all stiffened at once.  

Even if the man was a lunatic, they couldn’t just ignore a statement like you killed quite a few people.  

Chen Shuo watched Jiang Tao’s ashen face and smiled in satisfaction.  

“Tao Tao, remember what I told you? That one day, you’d abandon your kindness and become just like me?”  

“You said it was impossible back then. But look—I still won in the end!”  

He laughed wildly, his expression twisted, reveling in his victory.  

Jiang Tao’s mind exploded with a deafening roar as she shrieked furiously, “You did this on purpose!”  

Chen Shuo tilted his head. “Of course I did. I deliberately had your soul trapped in the hospital. The only way for you to escape was to devour human souls and become a malevolent spirit.”  

“Tao Tao, you still ended up running straight to me in the end!”  

See? Even if Jiang Tao didn’t love him, her hatred was enough to make her abandon the principles she had upheld her entire life.  

“I know you’re kind and naive, gentle to everyone. But Tao Tao, I especially wanted to destroy that goodness—in my own way.”  

“Look at you now. You’re just like me.”  

Chen Shuo’s smile was cruel.  

Jiang Tao felt something in her mind snap.  

“I’ll kill you!”  

A surge of overwhelming resentment erupted from her body as she suddenly seized Chen Shuo by the throat, her pitch-black eyes tinged with blood.  

Chen Shuo didn’t struggle, only watching her with a smile.  

Just as he was about to suffocate, Jiang Tao released him.  

She looked at him coldly. “I won’t let you use me anymore.”  

“You’re not even worthy of dying by my hand.”  

With that, she ignored Chen Shuo completely and drifted out of the police car without a trace of hesitation.  

Chen Shuo’s smile froze on his face.  

“No!”  

“Jiang Tao! You can’t leave!”  

“You can’t be this cruel to me!”

He reached out, trying to grab her wrist, but only caught the fleeting breeze that slipped through his fingers.  

The police found the whole scene utterly bizarre—first, he started spouting nonsense for no reason, then, perfectly fine one moment, he nearly choked to death the next.  

Now, physically, he seemed unharmed, but his mind appeared to have snapped again.  

In the interrogation room, Chen Shuo confessed without resistance to the crime of murdering Jiang Tao.  

When asked about his motive, tears suddenly streamed down his face.  

“I was so grateful when she appeared and saved me, pulling me out of hell. She was so gentle, so kind—back then, it felt like a beam of light had broken through the darkness.”  

“But why couldn’t that light belong to me alone?”  

“I tried to become like her, but it was just too exhausting. I could fool others, but I couldn’t fool myself!”  

So later, he decided it would be better to lock Jiang Tao away.  

That way, perhaps, that light would belong to him alone.  

The murder case was exceptionally heinous, and once made public, it caused an uproar.  

[Damn! She had such a bright future ahead of her, and he ruined it all. Death penalty! He must get the death penalty!] 

[The death penalty is too lenient for him. Can’t we bring back the burning pillar torture?]  

[My God, how can someone be so evil? You say she was the light of your life, and this is how you treat your light?]  

[She was the light that illuminated you, but you snuffed it out with your own hands. Now you can rot in the darkness forever!] 

[Tsk tsk tsk, isn’t this the kind of yandere pretty boy some girls obsess over? Why is everyone in the comments freaking out?]  

[The guy above is so pitiful—so young and already an orphan.]

[He’s already parentless, just let him have this one.]

[Everyone knows, yanderes are only called “yanderes” in 2D. In real life, they’re just psychos!]

Chen Shuo was sentenced to death, with immediate execution.  

He thought that since Jiang Tao hated him so much, she would surely appear to witness his execution.  

But his hope was in vain.  

Even as the bullet pierced the back of his skull, Jiang Tao never showed up.  

…

Let’s rewind the timeline back to the livestream.  

Seeing so many ghosts lingering in the hallway, Huo Ning silently sighed.  

She pulled out a neatly folded yellow talisman from her bag and handed it to Director Qin.  

“Director Qin, could you burn this for me?”  

Director Qin took it to the restroom and set it ablaze.  

Before long, a group of underworld enforcers arrived, leading away the ghosts in the hallway—along with Jiang Tao.  

[Host, Jiang Tao killed so many people. Why isn’t she being punished?]

[Shouldn’t you enforce justice impartially?]

[Yeah, Host, are you just letting Jiang Tao off like that? Sure, her story is tragic, but she harmed so many people! Some of those patients didn’t have to die—she devoured their souls out of selfishness!] 

Huo Ning was a little exasperated.  

“She’s not my subordinate—it’s not my job to enforce justice.”  

“She will face punishment, but that’s the underworld’s jurisdiction, not mine.”  

With that, seeing there was nothing left to address, Huo Ning ended the livestream.  

Cheng Shuang leaped out of the jade bracelet, clutching her chest with lingering fear.  

“That scared me to death! I thought they’d take me away too.”  

Huo Ning chuckled. “It’s fine now. Let’s go.”  

Even though her current abilities were far from her peak, masking Cheng Shuang’s presence was still well within her means.  

And if raw power wasn’t enough—well, there was always the power of money!  

With the matter resolved, Huo Ning informed Director Qin before heading to the elevator.  

Bai Ye stood outside the hospital room, visibly relaxing only when he saw her return unharmed.  

He took a step forward, stopping at a safe distance, his gaze sweeping over her as if to confirm she hadn’t suffered a single scratch.  

Bai Ye’s fists clenched briefly before loosening. “Did everything go smoothly?”