Chapter 19

“Three people…” Cai Chengji neatly arranged over a dozen photos on the interrogation table: “Zhang Liang… From the time you were imprisoned until your temporary release due to injury six years later, Pei Shasha spent most of her time living and working in Jiangyuan City. Three unsolved female corpse cases bear an uncanny resemblance to the details of your crimes. Are you trying to tell us you broke out of prison to commit these?!”

The response was a suffocating silence.

Su Yan tugged at Cai Chengji’s sleeve. He glanced back at her, understandingly moved to sit beside Xiang Yang, leaving her alone facing Zhang Liang.

Suddenly, she smiled, her already delicate and pretty face becoming even more animated: “Zhang Liang, why are you doing this? Though we may not fully understand your relationship with Pei Shasha or the bond between you two, can’t you see something from her sudden abandonment of you?” Leaning slightly forward over the table, she whispered clearly: “You’re already Pei Shasha’s pawn.”

“You’re lying!…” Zhang Liang, having been awake for nearly thirty hours and mentally shaken by the photos on the table, blurted out instinctively. As soon as the words left his mouth, he saw Su Yan’s knowing smirk. Though he stopped himself in time, he had inadvertently revealed some information to the police—his response was practically an unconscious acknowledgment of his relationship with Pei Shasha.

“Officer, you police must speak with evidence! Pei Shasha and I have no connection whatsoever; it’s all your imagination.” He tried to twist the meaning of his earlier outburst: “Every interrogation is recorded, right? Be careful I don’t sue you for malicious coercion and mistreatment of a suspect.”

“Oh.” Su Yan responded impassively, lowering her head as if intently studying the photos on the table: “So Mr. Zhang is suggesting these cases in Jiangyuan City were committed by Pei An? But according to your previous statement, Pei An only partnered with you after you were released and returned to Great Peace Village. How do you explain that?” She seized on this inconsistency, pressing relentlessly.

Beads of sweat began to form imperceptibly on Zhang Liang’s forehead, but he stubbornly persisted: “Who knows? Maybe Pei An saw my earlier ‘masterpieces’ and wanted to pay homage? It shows we’ve long been kindred spirits, natural partners!”

Indeed, internationally, many notorious serial killers have admirers who mimic their crimes as tribute. But those being honored are invariably ‘world-famous,’ and after their capture, police publicly disclose many details of their crimes, allowing imitators to replicate their methods. Cases like Zhang Liang’s—three unsolved incidents not even classified as serial crimes—would never have their details released by the police. So how could anyone imitate them?!

“Then the two of you truly share an uncanny connection.” Su Yan randomly pulled out one photo from the stack—a close-up of a victim’s arm—and pointed at the needle mark. “Even the puncture wounds are identical in location. Moreover, the blunt force trauma on the first victim’s neck in Jiangyuan City was as amateurish as in your first case. To me, it seems someone abandoned you after you were unexpectedly imprisoned…”

Zhang Liang’s facial muscles twitched violently beyond his control.

Su Yan then selected three more photos and thrust them right under his nose, forcing him to look. “Mr. Zhang, take a look at the clothes these three victims were wearing—such stylish designs. You must know that a person’s aesthetic taste doesn’t change easily.”

“Have you ever considered why she would abandon you, if you were the only one in this world who treated her so well and helped fulfill her deepest desires?” Her words grew increasingly sharp, merciless even. “Because you became useless—a worthless cripple who couldn’t even handle the simplest tasks during the crimes! You’re doomed to rot in Great Peace Village, needing decades of careful medical care. You couldn’t accompany her to new hunting grounds or help her find suitable targets. Let me guess… the two victims in Great Peace Village, Zhong Yu and Ni Yue—Pei Shasha chose them herself, didn’t she?”

“What illusions are you clinging to? The truth is she used you to set everything in motion—successfully eliminating Pei An while discarding you. Now she’s free of all burdens, off to Jiangyuan City with that young, strong accomplice who helps her commit crimes! Where do you think they’ll go? In earlier years, the underdeveloped police databases allowed her to roam free after so many crimes. But times have changed. My guess? They’ll probably travel the world.” Su Yan circled the interrogation table and leaned down to whisper in Zhang Liang’s ear: “As for you—this isn’t some petty assault charge. Even with your disability, five lives were taken. That’s the death penalty. Imagine where they’ll be on your execution day. H Province? X Province? Wherever it is, it has nothing to do with you. Pei Shasha won’t even remember you existed. You… were discarded.”

“NO!!! THAT’S ALL BULLSHIT! BULLSHIT! I’VE BEEN BY HER SIDE SINCE SHE WAS A CHILD! I’M IRREPLACEABLE, IRREPLACEABLE!!!” Zhang Liang’s eyes burned crimson, nearly bloodshot, as he suddenly lunged to grab her throat, howling hysterically.

Su Yan dodged swiftly. Restrained by handcuffs and his paralyzed lower body, Zhang Liang crashed to the floor. Even in collapse, he seemed oblivious to pain, glaring at Su Yan with murderous intensity. “I’ll kill you! I’LL KILL YOU!!!”

Cai Chengji and Xiang Yang rushed forward immediately—one pulling Su Yan to safety, the other pinning the thrashing man to the ground.

Xiang Yang half-dragged Su Yan out of the interrogation room, his brows tightly furrowed and his tone far from polite: “You’ve got some nerve!!!” He was even feeling a bit of lingering fear. Although he knew that a police academy graduate like her wouldn’t be some helpless damsel, the situation had still been extremely dangerous: “It’s just an interrogation—couldn’t you have taken it slow? Why push him to that point! You need to understand, if he’d been a normal person, you might have been seriously injured or even killed just now. Did you even consider the consequences?!”

“Although Team Leader Jiang approved your participation in this case’s formal investigation, I’m certain he wouldn’t agree with your current methods.” He could understand this rookie graduate’s pursuit of justice and that inexplicable confidence, but only seasoned veterans like them knew that work had to be done while ensuring their own safety first. What use was protecting the country and serving the people if you lost your life?

“Yes, Brother Xiang, I was wrong.” Su Yan admitted her mistake with startling speed, her earnest attitude leaving no room for argument: “I was just too anxious. If things really are as we suspect, Pei Shasha could leave Great Peace Village at any moment. Finding her afterward would be like fishing a needle from the ocean!” With the entire country to hide in, combined with her cunning nature and years of anti-surveillance experience, she’d be like a fish returning to the sea—free to roam as she pleased.

Xiang Yang felt the frustration stuck in his throat, unable to be swallowed or spat out. In the end, he could only sigh deeply and pat her shoulder: “To be honest, you weren’t entirely wrong.” He and Zhang Liang had been going at it for a while now, and deep down, he knew that man wouldn’t talk without drastic measures. He could only hope today’s dramatic approach would yield results.

“Go sit over there for a while, calm yourself.” Xiang Yang pointed to the rest area by the window nearby, then lit a cigarette himself, standing by the door to observe the situation inside through the small window.

Su Yan initially wanted to say she hadn’t been scared and that Zhang Liang’s reactions were within her expectations, but after a brief hesitation, she simply acknowledged and walked over to sit quietly.

Xiang Yang seemed quite satisfied with her ‘docility,’ thinking to himself that while the kid might be impulsive at times, she was overall quite promising. Young people… who wasn’t impulsive at that age? He even began reminiscing about his own early days on the job, exhaling smoke with a suspicious curl at the corner of his lips.

About a few minutes later, before Xiang Yang could finish his second cigarette, Cai Chengji suddenly opened the door and poked his head out. With a complicated expression, he looked at Xiang Yang by the door, then at Su Yan sitting by the window, before speaking: “I think we should call Team Leader Jiang back.”

“What? Did something happen?” Xiang Yang hastily stubbed out his cigarette, craning his neck to look inside.

“No.” Cai Chengji swallowed hard, his mouth dry: “Zhang Liang says he’s decided to identify Pei Shasha!”

!!!

…

Jiang Li returned quickly, arriving back in less than half an hour with a restless energy about him. When Su Yan followed him back into the interrogation room, Zhang Liang was no longer in his frenzied state. Instead, he had adopted an eerily calm demeanor.

“Hey, Yan, isn’t it strange? How come he just decided to spill everything after you provoked him like that?” Cai Chengji sidled up to Su Yan, who was sitting near the corner of the room, and whispered, “No wonder he’s Pei Shasha’s lackey—this guy must have a masochistic streak! But then again, didn’t you say that submissives never betray their dominators?”

“He didn’t betray her… He just couldn’t accept that there might be someone else who could replace Pei Shasha. It’s not just dominators who feel possessive over their submissives—Zhang Liang’s obsession with Pei Shasha is even more terrifying. Haven’t you heard the saying, ‘If I can’t have you, no one can’?” Su Yan replied in the same hushed tone.

*I love you so much, how could you have someone else? It’s fine, I don’t mind if you have others. You were always meant to be mine. No one in this world can give you what you want except me, so let’s die together.*

Su Yan, who had long since deciphered Zhang Liang’s psychology, pressed her lips together and lowered her head, fiddling with a pen. Though her eyes were fixed on the pen flipping between her fingers, her full attention was directed toward the interrogation table.

“Start from your first crime with Pei Shasha,” Jiang Li said casually, signaling to Xiang Yang beside him to begin taking notes.

“Sha Sha had just moved to the city back then. To stay with her, I came to the city to work too.” Zhang Liang’s expression softened unnervingly. “After I started earning wages, I often took her out to eat her favorite foods. Then one day, she pointed at a worker in the shop and said, ‘Zhang Liang, I want her…’”

*Thud, thud, thud!*

Jiang Li rapped his knuckles on the table three times, cutting off Zhang Liang’s nostalgic recollection. “Zhang Liang, listen carefully. I’m asking about your first crime together.”

Xiang Yang and Cai Chengji exchanged puzzled glances. What Zhang Liang had described *was* the first victim—a fast-food worker before her death. There was no mistake in that.

Su Yan, however, raised her head, her eyes widening slightly as she stared at the back of Jiang Li’s head, realization dawning on her.

“……” After being interrupted, Zhang Liang locked eyes with Jiang Li in silence before finally letting out a cold snort. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You know exactly what I mean.” Jiang Li pulled out his phone, swiped to a photo, and tossed it onto the table. Watching Zhang Liang’s stunned expression, he said, “Why don’t you tell us how Pei Shasha’s mother died?”

Xiang Yang and Cai Chengji both leaned in to glance at the phone screen. Su Yan also stood up to look from a distance, recognizing the photo as vaguely familiar—likely evidence seized from Pei An’s home. It must have been from an old photo album. In the picture, Pei Shasha appeared to be in elementary school, standing beside Pei An and a woman in her twenties, who smiled gently.

“I went to the local police station to check the cause of death of Pei Shasha’s mother, Li Yunxiang. She was pulled out of the water with trauma on the back of her neck, and the cause of death was drowning,” Jiang Li said coldly. “What a coincidence—both her father and mother died by drowning. The injury on the back of her neck was initially determined to be from hitting rocks at the bottom after falling from a height into the water…”

Zhang Liang’s hands, resting on his legs, slowly clenched.

“A woman in her twenties, with long hair, and a height within a certain range… Now look at this photo. Li Yunxiang’s clothing had a distinct personal style, eye-catching and vibrant.” Jiang Li swiped through his phone screen, displaying several photos that showed Li Yunxiang’s preference for fitted floral dresses and blouse-and-skirt combinations.

So… Cai Chengji and the others were visibly shocked. Was Pei Shasha’s first victim actually her own mother?! And all these years, had she been using Li Yunxiang as a reference to choose her next victims?!

Killing female victims and then dressing them up to resemble her mother—this meant Pei Shasha had been mentally reenacting the murder of her mother over and over again, year after year.

“Heh… hehe… hahahaha…”

In the silent interrogation room, Zhang Liang’s initial cold chuckle escalated into unrestrained laughter, tears nearly streaming from his eyes. Then, after a few seconds, he abruptly stopped, his gaze turning venomous and ruthless. “So what if that’s the case? Hmm?”