Wei Zhenzhu’s eyes darted around the room.
Despite the long string of words Ji Xun had spoken, she didn’t seem particularly moved. “Officer, I think what you said about the time I followed the police’s public account can also be explained this way: because I witnessed my husband commit murder, I was very scared, so I followed the police’s public account…
“As for whether my husband is gay, what does that have to do with him killing someone? Even if he is gay, he could still have had a quarrel with Zhuo Cangying and killed him in a fit of passion.”
Wei Zhenzhu sat on Gao Shuang’s bed. The starry sky bedsheet Mo Nai had changed felt as smooth as skin. She lifted her chin, her face even showing a hint of arrogance that she had never had before. “You can only beg me to confess myself.”
“…” Ji Xun.
To be honest, yes. Although he had already deduced a seamless and logical motive for the murder, that was subjective.
Objectively, this case was like the sensational Itaewon toilet murder case in South Korea many years ago. In a confined space, there was one deceased and two suspects, and you couldn’t confirm who had done it.
In the Itaewon case, the height and direction of force of the murderer could be judged from the deceased’s wounds and bloodstains, but the scene and body in this case had been completely destroyed by Mo Nai.
Under this condition, as a detective, his function had ended.
As a police officer, the most likely next step, if neither of them confessed, was to change the interrogation method and consider using the prisoner’s dilemma to obtain their confessions, because they also fit the criteria for joint crime, the only difference being the principal offender and the accessory.
Or, as Wei Zhenzhu said, if she was willing to confess and voluntarily give a statement, the case could be closed.
Should he call Wen Yangyang up? Ji Xun glanced at Huo Ranyin, asking with his eyes.
Given Wei Zhenzhu’s aversion to men, their interrogation would probably be counterproductive. If they brought up Wen Yangyang, who had always been closer to Wei Zhenzhu, the effect might be better.
Huo Ranyin was rubbing the edge of the body camera with his thumb.
His gaze was fixed on Wei Zhenzhu’s face, like two sharp blades cutting through flesh and blood, straight to the soul.
“You will confess. You never planned to escape from the beginning.”
“Never planned to escape?” Wei Zhenzhu asked cunningly. “I indeed did not plan to, nor did I need to escape, because everything I said is true.”
Huo Ranyin was not swayed by Wei Zhenzhu. He pointed out the strangeness in the interactions between Wei Zhenzhu and Duan Hongwen after the murder. “If you wanted to escape, you wouldn’t have acquiesced to your husband’s murderous intent. You are different from Duan Hongwen. Even if he is not the murderer, he is afraid of the police finding even the slightest fault. To hide the fact that he is gay, he is even willing to commit a greater evil. But you, after the moment of killing, have already fallen into your own conscience’s condemnation.”
“Is that so? Then why didn’t I turn myself in? Why did I tell so many lies?”
“Because you hate Duan Hongwen. You are playing with him,” Huo Ranyin pointed out calmly. “Since you got married, you have always been looked down upon, oppressed, and even beaten by Duan Hongwen, until after you killed in a fit of passion. You saw him, who was usually arrogant and high and mighty, suddenly become a paper tiger, a helpless baby. On the one hand, you despised him, and on the other hand, you were addicted to the pleasure of this revenge, even if it meant being killed by him. I have read your testimony in the interrogation room today. You said this: ‘If he says I’m the murderer, then just arrest me as the murderer too. I didn’t call the police and I told so many lies, I’m almost like a murderer. Anyway, it’s all so dirty.’ I think you said this, although with the intention of misleading the police, it also came from the bottom of your heart.”
Wei Zhenzhu seemed to have returned to that day.
She saw two men—her husband—entwined on the sofa—an unbearable sight.
At that moment, the lies she had desperately told herself to numb the pain when she was beaten, that marriage was like this for everyone, that everyone was like this, were torn to shreds.
In the end, Duan Hongwen was even lying to himself about his sexuality.
People’s lives are not like this at all!
She rushed in. She knew what she was doing. She picked up the bronze horse on the side table and smashed it down with force, again and again. She saw her husband’s horrified face, and also Zhuo Cangying’s bulging eyes.
Anger completely consumed her.
And then she felt—
No, not happiness.
She felt more and more nauseous, for her husband, for the deceased, for herself.
It’s all disgusting. Why is this world so disgusting!
Huo Ranyin finally said, “Wei Zhenzhu, confess. Only by confessing can you atone for your sins.”
Wei Zhenzhu’s lips trembled and twitched. The calmness on her face cracked. Pain, resentment, and self-loathing appeared on her face in turns. But soon, the crack healed. She numbly stretched out her hand and said, “Arrest me.”
Huo Ranyin picked up the walkie-talkie and asked Wen Yangyang and the forensic team downstairs to come up.
Wen Yangyang was completely stunned. She put the handcuffs on Wei Zhenzhu in a daze. It had only been ten minutes, right? How could Wei Zhenzhu, who had said she wanted to come up and take a look just ten minutes ago, suddenly become a murderer and have to be taken back to the police station for another interrogation?
Wei Zhenzhu did not resist. Just as she was about to leave, she stopped, turned around, and her gaze fell on the forensic officer who was examining the fingerprints. “The humidifier, is that how Zhuo Cangying poisoned Gao Shuang? Zhuo Cangying must have wiped his fingerprints very clean, just like Duan Hongwen.”
Huo Ranyin followed her gaze. The forensic officer had already put away the UV light and gave him a gesture indicating that nothing was found.
He walked over, picked it up with a gloved hand, and looked at it. This model of humidifier didn’t use much water at a time, but it was just out of water.
The specific poison reaction would need to be done in a lab to know, but the lack of fingerprints and water was already very deliberate and a clear attempt to cover up.
The humidifier’s Bluetooth was on. Like Gao Shuang’s window, it was controlled by a smart home system.
As long as the technical department verified the usage time of these home appliances later, the murder method he and Ji Xun had spoken of would be proven.
Very simple.
Put cyanide in the humidifier, turn it on after Gao Shuang is asleep on the bed, and she will die instantly. Then remotely open the window to let the air circulate, and the remaining poison will disappear with the wind.
The ever-advancing high technology of modern society had made murder without a trace a reality.
Based on procedure, Huo Ranyin would not answer Wei Zhenzhu’s question, but with such a simple murder method, once pointed out, everyone present had already guessed it.
A faint smile appeared on Wei Zhenzhu’s lips. The envy that appeared from time to time floated in her eyes again. “She died more gracefully than I will. That’s good.”
After she finished speaking, she seemed to have nothing more to say. She lowered her head and, without needing Wen Yangyang to lead her, she walked downstairs on her own.
The dust had settled.
Ji Xun also walked out of the room and leaned against the corridor. He wanted to check the time, so he pulled Huo Ranyin’s wrist and looked at his watch face.
“Eight o’clock in the evening,” he said, deliberately turning off the body camera, and then whistled. “It’s still early. Looks like we have the whole night.”
“We still have to go back to the police station later,” Huo Ranyin said. “We need to re-interrogate, and there’s still a tough battle to fight.”
“Don’t be so serious,” Ji Xun advised, not forgetting to turn off the body camera on Huo Ranyin’s hand. “I believe you can finish it. I’ll wait for you in bed tonight.”
This joke was probably not very appropriate, but it perfectly relaxed the tense nerves.
Huo Ranyin couldn’t help but smile. “…Alright then. I’ll definitely hurry up and rush to our appointment.”
As they were talking, Wen Yangyang and Wei Zhenzhu had already gone downstairs, passed through the living room, and were about to get into the police car. Wen Yangyang, her face still dazed, stopped. She not only stopped herself, but also pulled Wei Zhenzhu to a halt.
More and more anger appeared on the baby-faced female police officer’s face. She stared at Wei Zhenzhu and said loudly:
“How could you kill someone? How could you be so foolish!”
Wen Yangyang’s voice attracted the attention of Ji Xun and Huo Ranyin.
The villa had a spiral staircase, and the hall was open, three stories high. A crystal chandelier hung from the third-floor ceiling all the way down to the center of the second floor.
The woman who could be contemptuous and arrogant towards Ji Xun and Huo Ranyin suddenly showed a look of shame when facing Wen Yangyang.
“I…”
“Duan Hongwen beat you, right?” Wen Yangyang suddenly shed her gentle and soft side. Not only did she shed it, she also stomped on that gentleness and softness fiercely. She directly interrogated, “Why didn’t you call the police?”
“Even if I called the police… it’s a family matter…”
“How do you know it’s useless if you didn’t even call the police! How do you know that every police officer will tell you ‘we don’t handle family matters’ if you didn’t even call the police!” Wen Yangyang said resolutely. “I would handle it. Even now, I will definitely make Duan Hongwen pay the price he deserves!”
Wei Zhenzhu looked at her in a daze, tears welling up in her eyes. “He has a job, an income. Changchang can’t live without him.”
“You are afraid of change,” Wen Yangyang said word by word. “You are afraid that you can’t do it. But if you don’t try, how do you know you can’t do better than Duan Hongwen? You care about your daughter, you protect her by enduring humiliation for her, but a person in hell can’t possibly save another person in hell!”
Wei Zhenzhu’s sorrow, the reason she had come to this point, was not only Duan Hongwen’s evil, but also her lack of courage to take that step of divorcing and seeking a new life. Pain and numbness had drowned her, and had also made her make a huge mistake.
The voices from downstairs flew upstairs, Ji Xun thought.
As he was thinking, he noticed something strange. Wei Zhenzhu did not want to escape punishment, so why did she deny it so vehemently when her crime was first exposed by them? Was it just because of her consistent aversion to men that she was unwilling to confess in front of them?
She wore high heels… was it out of respect for Gao Shuang… was it only out of respect for Gao Shuang?
She went home, made a phone call… she definitely couldn’t bear to part with her daughter…
Daughter! Phone call!
“Wei Zhenzhu!” Ji Xun suddenly cried out. “You’ve thought about turning yourself in, but what about your daughter? Duan Hongwen is already meaningless. The phone call you made while cooking was to your parents, right? You wanted to entrust your daughter to them. How did they answer you? Did they refuse you?!”
Huo Ranyin had also thought of the same possibility. He let out a curse, suddenly looked down, and shouted “Wen Yangyang!”: “Did Wei Zhenzhu do anything unusual when she left the house?”
Wen Yangyang, who was glaring at Wei Zhenzhu, looked up. She was a little dazed for a moment and answered subconsciously, “Un, unusual? She gave Changchang a glass of water to drink, and then closed all the windows in the house. Does that count?”
Damn it!
Huo Ranyin slammed his fist on the handrail!
Amidst the loud noise, Wei Zhenzhu, next to Wen Yangyang, suddenly broke down. She burst into tears, as if she could no longer bear the weight of her body and head, and knelt down, her head lowered in repentance. “It’s useless. I gave Changchang sleeping pills and turned on the gas… It’s useless… There’s no need to go back… This is also good… This filthy world, there’s nothing to care about… I brought her here, it was my fault… Now I’ve corrected this mistake…”
