“At that time, I had already picked out three targets.”

Sun Du had his targets in mind, planning to kill three people within three days. This speed would definitely catch the police off guard.

He waited for the flight attendant to fall asleep after taking sleeping pills, then used her fingerprint to unlock her phone. He downloaded a second-hand resale app because Zhang Haiyan was selling her bags on that website.

“I randomly added a few items to the cart and placed an order for one of them, casually mentioning to Zhang Haiyan that the buyer’s profession was a flight attendant.”

“After the incident, you would definitely check her purchase records.”

The rest of the time, he meticulously arranged the death scene. He controlled the dosage of the sleeping pills to be just enough to be fatal, allowing the flight attendant to live for a few more hours.

“Listening to the shallow, slow rhythm of her breathing, the whole world was very quiet.”

“I had to leave clues for you to find Zhang Haiyan. A purchase record alone wasn’t enough. To ensure you could trace it back to Zhang Haiyan, I placed thawed semen in her vagina.”

He laughed more and more wildly, “If necessary, I could even dig up the man’s corpse and deliver it to you.”

The next morning, a local courier delivered the package Sun Du ordered. He had the package left at the security guard’s post and took it when the guard wasn’t paying attention. At that time, the guard was troubled by the surveillance footage being tampered with and didn’t notice him.

The second-hand bag was opened and placed on the flight attendant’s sofa. He checked the time, just in time for his date with the kindergarten teacher. To deliberately create some evidence, he always carried the discarded network cable from Zhang Haiyan’s house, which could be used as a tool for hanging, as it had Zhang Haiyan’s fingerprints on it.

He used an inhaled anesthetic to knock the person out, hung them on a tree, and then began to admire this piece of art.

“Watching her die, I actually felt a bit numb, but thinking about the frame-up murder I designed, I got excited again.”

“After dealing with the kindergarten teacher, I was actually a bit tired and wanted to go back to rest. But then Zhang Haiyan called me, saying her stomach felt uncomfortable and she wanted to go to the hospital. I rushed to the hospital immediately. There were a lot of people there, and we had to queue.”

While queuing, Sun Du saw a nurse heading to the basement. He wanted to follow and see what was happening, only to find that there were just the two of them in the basement.

“Luckily, I had my tools with me, and a new idea popped into my head. This was much more interesting than the planned murder!”

At this point, he stopped and stared at Mo Lin with those deep, bottomless eyes: “No need for me to repeat the process, right? Nothing new. After going home, I told Zhang Haiyan a story. I’m actually good at storytelling. I didn’t expect her to cry. The story wasn’t anything special, her reaction was a bit much.

She’s a very special woman. Although she’s not good-looking, her heart is purer than many women.

She said if she were the heroine, she would keep the secret until death and said I was the sun in her life.

I think she must be out of her mind.”

Zhang Haiyan deleted all records related to Sun Du on her phone.

“She told me to leave, to go as far as possible. How could I leave? She’s too naive!”

After Mo Lin finished speaking, he took out an evidence bag containing a capsule from his suit pocket.

Inside the evidence bag lay a blue and white capsule, looking no different from ordinary bipolar disorder treatment capsules. Without careful observation, one wouldn’t notice anything unusual.

In fact, the capsule’s shell was made of plastic, so it wouldn’t dissolve in the body, having the same effect as a wax block.

Sun Du was unusually excited upon seeing the capsule: “You found the big gift I hid in Zhang Haiyan’s body so quickly! I thought you’d at least have to turn her intestines inside out!”

Mo Lin showed no surprise: “I met Zhang Haiyan yesterday. She kept holding this pill, hesitating whether to swallow it. I was curious, so I chatted with her a bit. When she’s not having an episode, she’s very quiet. She told me a story about a lonely girl who fell in love with a mystery novelist. No one knew the novelist’s true identity, except her…”

Mo Lin noticed a change in Sun Du’s expression.

“The girl had been following the novelist for many years, reading every book he borrowed, understanding his true inner world, and becoming his most loyal reader… But her story ended there. She probably didn’t want to mention the rest, like how you wanted to use the police to make her the culprit of a serial murder case, or how she was the last piece of the killer’s work.”

Sun Du suddenly let out a deep, terrifying laugh. After a long time, he looked up, staring at the capsule on the table: “Did she expose me to you?”

“On the contrary, she took all the blame for the murders and never mentioned you.” Mo Lin opened the capsule, revealing a note inside with two large characters: Judgment.

Sun Du: “I don’t believe you have such capabilities.”

“Recently, there’s a serialized novel online, with a plot identical to your crime plan. If I’m not mistaken, the story you told her should be this one. The reason she cried is that she had already read this story, so she could recount your crime process.”

Sun Du stared at the note with “Judgment” written on it, his gaze suddenly becoming a bit scattered. His handsome face showed an unnecessary gentleness: “She knew too much… Was she in pain when she died?”

“You’ll find out soon enough. The police will never let someone with such heinous crimes go unpunished…”

*

After the interrogation, Sun Du was escorted to prison by the guards. The sound of the shackles clinking echoed in the long corridor, leading to a darkness untouched by sunlight.

A familiar face emerged from around the corner. The moment their eyes met, time seemed to slow down and stretch infinitely…

Sun Du felt his head explode with a buzzing sound, drowning out all other noises. Zhang Haiyan, walking towards him, looked pale, her eyes empty, lacking the vitality of the living.

Her expression was wooden, her lips moved, saying three words, as if speaking to him or perhaps to herself.

Sun Du’s ears were filled with the buzzing sound, unable to hear clearly.

As her figure disappeared at the end of the corridor, he glanced back at her.

The guard beside him looked up at the clear, cloudless sky, puzzled: “It’s not dark yet! Did that woman go crazy from being locked up?”

Sun Du recalled the shape of Zhang Haiyan’s mouth when she said those three words and suddenly laughed mockingly.

He clutched the capsule with “Judgment” written on it and slowly disappeared into the darkness…

*

The evening sunset was excessively red. Gu Yuan stood on the rooftop to get some air. Not far away, a black luxury car was parked. Mo Lin leaned against the car hood, his long, straight legs crossed, his suit jacket lazily draped over his shoulder.

He looked down, texting, his hair falling over his brows, occasionally fluttering with the wind.

Slowly raising his head, his gaze drifted towards the rooftop, where that ill-tempered guy stood with his hands in his pockets, enjoying the breeze.

Gu Yuan’s phone rang, the caller ID showing an unfamiliar number. He frowned slightly and answered.

“The weather’s nice today. Want to go to the beach and enjoy the sea breeze?”

“Not interested.” Gu Yuan raised his hand to hang up.

“Wait…” Mo Lin anticipated his next move and immediately stopped him: “Come down and celebrate my birthday with me… I don’t like noisy people.”

The person on the rooftop decisively hung up after hearing the last sentence. A minute later, he walked out of the police station with a backpack, opened the car door, and got in: “You better hurry up, make it quick.”

Mo Lin thought: Celebrating a birthday, why does it feel like going to war?

No choice, to accommodate this “autistic” child, he quickly got in the car: “We’re so familiar, why not sit in the front?”

“Who told you we’re familiar?”

Mo Lin glanced at him through the rearview mirror, opened all the windows to let the air circulate, preventing him from getting angry.

“What did you say to Zhang Haiyan in the interrogation room?” Gu Yuan had always wanted to know what happened after Mo Lin unplugged the camera.

“Aren’t we not familiar?”

Gu Yuan took a deep breath: “Let me out of the car.”

Judging by the tone, the difficult-to-please master seemed angry.

Mo Lin’s fingers tapped the steering wheel casually, suddenly a meaningful smile appeared on his lips: “Once you’re in my car, there’s no getting out.”

“Are you forcing me to jump out?”

After Gu Yuan said this, the car windows slowly rose, making a “click” sound as the doors locked.

“You can try.”

A cloud of gloom enveloped Gu Yuan in the back seat.

“Be good, bear with it, we’ll be there soon.”

Gu Yuan: ……

The car drove at 40 km/h along the coastal road, the sunset dyeing the sea the color of the sky. When Gu Yuan had almost “endured” enough, the windows slowly lowered, letting the salty sea breeze blow in, carrying a bit of moist air. The waves crashed on the beach, occasionally a few seagulls flew by.

Even with Gu Yuan’s bad temper, he couldn’t get angry at such a beautiful scene.

Mo Lin found a parking spot, parked the car, and walked to Gu Yuan, opening the door for him: “What, reluctant to get out now?”

Gu Yuan left his backpack in the car, just as he extended one leg out, Mo Lin grabbed his ankle.

His pupils suddenly contracted: “What are you doing?”

The unfamiliar touch carried a warm temperature.

“Do you want to walk on the beach with shoes on?”

“Let go.” Gu Yuan quickly retracted his leg, his neck turning red as he bent down to take off his shoes.

Mo Lin awkwardly looked away, turning his gaze to the sunset. The sunset was as beautiful as a painting, but he wasn’t in the mood to appreciate it.

Women with hot bodies wore minimal clothing, children played in the water with swim rings, someone set up a barbecue grill and lit the charcoal…

Now without the scorching sun, it was the perfect time for a swim.

“Can you swim?”

Walking one after the other on the beach, Mo Lin suddenly asked.

“No.”

“Great, I can teach you.”

“Don’t want to learn.”

“Why?”

“Because it requires taking off clothes.”

Mo Lin suppressed the urge to laugh: “You don’t have to take off your clothes.”

“Still don’t want to.”

“Why?”

“Wet clothes.”

Mo Lin pressed his hand to his forehead, seemingly amused: “Not knowing how to swim is good… saves trouble…”

The beach had footprints of varying depths, Gu Yuan’s shadow elongated by the sunset, the sea repeatedly washing over the silhouette on the sand.

“Click.”

Time was sealed in the phone’s photo album, the sunset sinking, while the light in his eyes slowly rose…