Snow mixed with frost flew outside the window, hitting the glass and making a rustling sound.
But it was warm inside the house. The electronic fireplace embedded in the wall raised a steaming, simulated flame, and the hidden heating vents made the room as warm as spring.
The light and warmth of the flame clung to Huo Ranyin’s cheeks. The criminal investigation team captain, who had been looking through the workbook with a bland expression, looked up. A smile slowly bloomed on his face, like ice melting and spring flowers blooming.
He said, “That day will surely come. So Ji Xun, are you willing to help?”
“Help?” Ji Xun savored the word.
“Yes, help me. Willingly tell me everything.” Huo Ranyin grabbed Ji Xun’s hand, his right hand. “You don’t dare to use this hand that pierced your sister’s to pierce yourself, so hand the knife to me.”
He took Ji Xun’s hand.
He lowered his head, first sniffing, as if sniffing the lingering scent of blood on this hand, the smell of murder, and then he placed a kiss, light, like a subordinate to a king.
“Grant me the right to judge you.”
Desire weighed heavily in Huo Ranyin’s eyes. Those dark eyes, from bottom to top, looked deeply at Ji Xun, wanting to devour him.
“Judge?” Ji Xun met Huo Ranyin’s gaze and said with understanding, “Besides chasing my secrets, you have also been inviting me to explore yours. You want to judge me, and even more, you want me to judge you, right?”
Huo Ranyin responded to Ji Xun with an ambiguous and vague action. He did the most transgressive and tempting thing one could do at a crime scene. He gently licked the back of Ji Xun’s hand.
A cool, wet sensation spread across the back of his hand.
Then, as if an electric current had entered water, the back of Ji Xun’s hand began to feel numb and tingly, so painful that his nerves throbbed.
And he couldn’t hide it, couldn’t deny it, couldn’t resist it—
At this moment, Huo Ranyin was just like the Huo Ranyin of that night, possessing a fatal attraction for him.
Only when you are with someone similar, no matter how much you resist, you are still drawn to each other.
Huo Ranyin and he were the same kind.
They both had secrets, both had weaknesses, both had confusions. In their hands, they both held the weapons of the hunt. The deeper the weapon pierced the other’s chest, the closer they became; until the weapons pierced through each other’s chests, and they would be tightly embraced together.
A trace of heat was running rampant in Ji Xun’s body. It was strange, even though Huo Ranyin had already let go of his hand. He stood up, opened the window, and let the fine snow and wind cool his body’s temperature down.
Huo Ranyin teased from behind him, “I smelled the scent of the sea on your hand. Did you spray a similar perfume?”
The back of his hand felt like it was on fire. Ji Xun brought the topic back to the case. “I didn’t. Do you think I’m like you? Still wearing perfume. Let’s talk about how Zhuo Cangying is going to create an alibi. Is it a delayed device, remote control, or some kind of timetable trick? If it were me, to kill someone I live with day in and day out, I would choose to use a probabilistic crime. If it doesn’t work this time, I’ll try again next time. An accident is more aesthetically pleasing than directly covering their mouth and nose with something containing cyanide.”
“Ji Xun, do you think I’m still flirting with you?” Huo Ranyin sneered. “I’ve said so much and you still haven’t noticed—emotions can always disrupt your intelligence. When I said ‘sniff,’ I meant I got some inspiration from it. Besides covering with something, there are other ways for poison to enter the mouth and nose.”
Ji Xun turned around and saw Huo Ranyin pointing at the humidifier on the bedside table. “You can also use this.”
As luck would have it, at that very moment, Ji Xun’s ears twitched slightly. He heard the sound of high heels on the floor coming from outside the half-closed door. She was walking very slowly, not with the flamboyance and confidence of Hu Yuan, and certainly not Wen Yangyang, who was wearing sneakers.
Excluding all the wrong options, only one correct option remained.
Wei Zhenzhu.
Ji Xun thought with some hindsight that he hadn’t even noticed she had changed her shoes.
Wei Zhenzhu was wearing high heels. Why? Given her aversion to men, she certainly wasn’t wearing them for him or Huo Ranyin. And her usual attire was all about comfort and naturalness, mostly sneakers and cloth shoes. A person who didn’t even care much about her face wouldn’t deliberately wear uncomfortable shoes.
She had changed into high heels… this was a ritual… this was a form of respect… a formal respect.
Who was she respecting?
The answer seemed to be on the verge of coming out.
He remembered the black down jacket in the photo he had just seen. The style was exactly the same as Mo Nai’s. The clothes that were a bit too big for Mo Nai would fit Zhuo Cangying just right.
There was also dried blood on that jacket.
When the inventory of missing property at the scene was taken, everything that had been rummaged through was in Gao Shuang’s bedroom and walk-in closet. Zhuo Cangying’s area had not been touched.
So, that jacket was most likely taken from Zhuo Cangying’s body.
Wei Zhenzhu had witnessed the scene…
She had left home at around six o’clock and came here early because she knew her husband would be here…
But these past few days… Gao Shuang was clearly…
The door moved. It was a heavy wooden door, so it made a “creak” sound. Ji Xun suddenly raised his hand and hooked it around Huo Ranyin’s neck. He put what he had just learned into practice. In the other’s astonished gaze, he returned what Huo Ranyin had just done to him. He buried his head in Huo Ranyin’s neck and took a deep breath.
Huo Ranyin, caught off guard, froze.
There’s someone behind me, and that person is about to come in!
The door was pushed open.
Wei Zhenzhu stood outside the door. The corridor was much brighter than the room. In the Roman-style arched doorway, there was light behind her and shadow on her face. Her hateful, twisted face was hidden in the shadows.
The skin on the side of Huo Ranyin’s neck was as soft as the finest silk, like a gentle dream.
It was hard for Ji Xun not to notice this wonderful feeling, but through his fingers and Huo Ranyin’s scattered hair, his eyes still clearly imprinted Wei Zhenzhu’s face.
So that’s how it is—it’s really like that!
Ji Xun pretended to have been accidentally caught, immediately let go of Huo Ranyin, and then casually asked Wei Zhenzhu, “Why did you come up? Where are the other police officers?”
Wei Zhenzhu obediently lowered her head. She walked out of the shadow area created by the light inside and outside the door and said softly, “I told them I wanted to come up and see if there was anything upstairs that I had seen at the scene.”
“Oh? Is that really the reason?”
“…I’m sorry, I lied. I just wanted to come and see what Gao Shuang’s room was like, how she lived at home.”
“You’re very interested in her.”
“After all, she had some relationship with my husband.”
“You don’t seem to have any ill feelings towards her,” Ji Xun said pointedly.
“Why should I have ill feelings towards her? To be honest, I don’t think my husband is worthy of her. I know she used to be a senior executive at a company and later resigned for her child, for her family,” Wei Zhenzhu said. “She’s not like me.”
Gao Shuang used to be a senior executive at a company?
Ji Xun was a little stunned. The impression of a full-time housewife and a lavish spender was too strong. Plus, with Mo Nai’s interference, he hadn’t looked at the deceased’s past background check in that much detail—to be honest, he had been negligent.
After all, if it was for having a child, Gao Shuang must have been working at the company at least six or seven years ago. Things they didn’t know much about, Wei Zhenzhu knew in detail.
Wei Zhenzhu’s hand gently and slowly caressed the expensive wooden furniture. “Are you surprised? Actually, I’m also very surprised. At first, I just thought she dressed very well and was very fashionable. Later, I secretly used my husband’s phone to talk to her and found out she was so capable. This house was actually bought by her. She used to have a very high salary and was very good at making money. You tell me, how can such a capable person also be so pitiful?”
She paused for a long time before saying, as if in a daze, “Clearly, they are all her own things, but it looks like she’s being given charity. All anyone sees is her husband, not her. Even the child, although he is more intimate with you, is actually more in awe of his father.”
“Is this also one of your motives for murder?” Ji Xun asked abruptly.
Wei Zhenzhu’s hand stopped. She raised her eyes. The flames of hatred there seemed to be buried, but they were still burning silently in her dark pupils.
She took a deep breath and sneered, “You guys are disgusting. I don’t want to talk to you.”
“Ah, don’t take it seriously,” Ji Xun said, as if making small talk with Wei Zhenzhu. “I was just using this police officer as a tool to test if you were homophobic.”
Huo Ranyin’s face was cold.
Ji Xun continued, “Although in the eyes of the general public, a man’s affair partner must be a woman, your husband Duan Hongwen was actually having an affair with Zhuo Cangying—or rather, he might have really had a thing with Gao Shuang, but at the same time, he was also not clear with Zhuo Cangying. On the 11th, you witnessed them having an affair, and in a fit of rage, you killed Zhuo Cangying.”
Wei Zhenzhu ignored him, her gaze having long since moved away.
Ji Xun could only continue his one-man show. “It’s hard to make up a lie out of thin air. People subconsciously process the images in their memory, use them as material, and then weave them into lies. Both your and your husband’s statements are half-truths. Putting what you both said together can restore the truth of the matter.”
“On the 11th, after having dinner with your husband, Zhuo Cangying went home. The door was forgotten to be closed. You walked in and saw Zhuo Cangying, who was half-lying on the sofa, being intimate with your husband. Anger burned your nerves. You picked up the bronze horse and struck Zhuo Cangying’s head. In your haste, Duan Hongwen did not get up from the sofa. His hands became a cage, trapping Zhuo Cangying, making him unable to resist. In the most critical moment of his life, he could only futilely leave scratches on Duan Hongwen’s elbow. You therefore easily killed Zhuo Cangying, and Duan Hongwen acted as a passive accomplice. He was scared out of his wits and subconsciously wiped the fingerprints off the bronze horse and ran home with you.”
Wei Zhenzhu’s attention seemed not to be on Ji Xun’s words at all. Her eyes darted back and forth between the two of them, sneering contemptuously. “You and he have clearly been exchanging flirtatious glances for a long time, and now you’re still pretending it was to test me. Do you think Duan Hongwen would tell you he’s gay?”
For a moment, a suffocating silence filled the scene.
Ji Xun was telling the truth, but from Wei Zhenzhu’s perspective, what she saw was also the truth, wasn’t it?
Truth and lies, reality and illusion, perhaps this is reality…
Ji Xun couldn’t help but glance at Huo Ranyin out of the corner of his eye. Huo Ranyin was quite composed, watching his performance with his arms crossed. He even specially showed off the body camera on his chest, indicating that for the sake of procedure, it had been recording since Wei Zhenzhu came in.
Who knows where he got a body camera from!
For the first time, I feel like I’m doing a deduction like a thief.
Ji Xun hid his embarrassment and continued, “This is not speculation out of thin air. Your testimony has supporting evidence. Gao Shuang has been traveling these past few days. You said your husband has been coming to the villa at this time recently. If Gao Shuang is not here, it can only be to see Zhuo Cangying. Similarly, it is precisely because this relationship cannot see the light of day that it explains why your husband later wanted to hire a killer.”
“I think there must have been a discussion between you and your husband about the motive for the crime. You know that Duan Hongwen is unwilling to admit his sexuality, and he once had a connection with Gao Shuang. He is openly Zhuo Cangying’s love rival, the one with the most direct motive for killing Zhuo Cangying. You may have even shown him the intimate photos of him and Gao Shuang that you secretly took while following them. The fingerprints on the bronze horse have been wiped clean, and everything else makes him look more like the murderer than you, the real murderer. Instead, you have him in your grasp. So you, who have been a victim of domestic violence and have always been at a disadvantage, have turned the tables and are now in a position to suppress Duan Hongwen. He feels uncomfortable. He wants to call the police but is not sure what the outcome will be in the eyes of the police. He is very scared and hates you, so he wants to hire a killer to kill you.”
Ji Xun took out the photo from the amusement park and said, “You reporting Mo Nai was not an accident. That day, Duan Hongwen met Zhu Huan at around 11 o’clock and then went home. Your husband failed to hire a killer and was teased. You could tell from the recording how furious he was. You, who were skillfully following your husband, couldn’t have not noticed, but you stayed there. It wasn’t because of Zhu Huan, but because of Mo Nai. You saw the black down jacket on him and recognized it as Zhuo Cangying’s clothes. You couldn’t understand why the clothes from the body you had killed were now on this man.”
“Then, you recognized him as a fugitive, as you said, because you like to read the police’s official account. Of course, more reasonable than your hobbies, it should be that you subconsciously paid attention to the police’s crime notifications after you killed someone. You wanted to know when Zhuo Cangying’s death would be investigated by the police. And this is very easy to verify—”
“We can go to your computer right now and see which day you followed the official account.”
