Chapter 675: The Forgotten Times
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
At first, after they heard Li Fei’s confession, everyone was in deep thought. Before that, no one would have expected that this major case would be so complicated. Li Fei’s dark and violent life shocked people, and also saddened them.
Everyone’s minds were in turmoil and were checkered with contradictions. No one could understand what Li Fei had done.
The only thing that one couldn’t deny was the fact that Li Fei’s unfortunate childhood did seem to have played a huge role in this major case! After all, Li Fei was clearly biased!
However, leading up to his murderous background, there were many thought-provoking facets. These included his experience with the lack of protection for non-adults, domestic violence, abuse, robbery and so on. As such, the problems that been unearthed by this major case were numerous!
But, before they all had the time to wrap their minds around the mountain of information that Li Fei had just shared, he had suddenly said something that was so shocking…
After Li Fei had finished speaking, Zhao Yu raised his eyebrows.
“Hey, what do you mean?” Ran Tao sent a death glare toward Li Fei. “Do you actually think that we got the wrong person?”
“I know Tao Xiang,” Li Fei said seriously. “He wouldn’t allow himself to be caught by the police so easily! Besides having perfect thievery skills, Tao Xiang is a master at disguising himself! Plus, in this world, there are very few who have seen Tao Xiang. So…”
“Don’t be silly!” Ran Tao interrupted him, then extended his hand and pointed at Cui Lizhu. “Take a good look at her! Do you know who this girl is? Let me tell you, she is Cui Fangyu’s daughter. She was brought up by Tao Xiang himself!”
“Hey, Ran Tao, what are you doing?” Cui Lizhu pushed Ran Tao’s finger away, as she found annoyingly too near to her face.
From the beginning, Cui Lizhu had been confused. Although she was willing to expose her ident.i.ty to Li Fei, as Li Fei seemed to be someone who was close to her family, the fact that Li Fei was the mad serial killer struck terror in her heart!
“What? You can’t fool me!” Li Fei was naturally shocked to hear this. Then, when he took a closer look at Cui Lizhu, he shook his head and said, “She doesn’t even look like Fourth Sis at all!”
“Bullsh*t. How can one fake DNA?” Ran Tao spat out the words.
“Oh yeah?” Li Fei creased his eyebrows. “You and that DNA again. It turns out that there was already such technology when Cui Fangyu died!”
“Ran Tao, inform Captain Sun to bring Tao Xiang here!” Then, Zhao Yu weighed his options and ordered Ran Tao to collect the prisoner.
Zhao Yu was actually worried that Li Fei might be right. What if the psychotic man that we arrested isn’t Tao Xiang after all? We’ll be in big trouble then…
Although the possibility was quite low, Zhao Yu didn’t dare do things the sloppy way. He knew that, from the very beginning, only Cui Lizhu’s one-sided statement had certified Tao Xiang’s ident.i.ty. Hence, he was worried that there might just be some cunning plot behind all of this.
Following Zhao Yu’s orders, Ran Tao soon brought the psychotic Tao Xiang into the interrogation room with Captain Sun’s help. As the real murderer had now been arrested, Tao Xiang wasn’t being guarded as strictly as before.
Just as Tao Xiang entered the interrogation room, Cui Lizhu lost control and immediately went forward to touch Tao Xiang’s hand. Her tears were flowing down her cheeks, which painted quite a heart-wrenching scene.
“Who is knocking on my window?” Tao Xiang was humming an old song and completely ignored Cui Lizhu.
“Sec… Second Bro… Tao…” Li Fei could see Tao Xiang’s face clearly, and his tears were falling uncontrollably too. He could barely get any words out, as he was so emotional.
Looking at the scene before them, Zhao Yu and the rest relaxed. Finally, at the very last moment of the case-closing period, there weren’t any other surprises. This psychotic old man really was the king of thieves, Tao Xiang!
“Dad, how are you? Did they put you in a difficult position? Dad…” Cui Lizhu was crying her lungs out, but Tao Xiang only pushed her away.
He then said, “Don’t disturb me. I can’t remember the lyrics. What’s the next line? Who is knocking on my window? Who… Forgotten the times…”
“You… Are really Fourth Sis’ daughter?” Li Fei was no longer in doubt of Cui Lizhu’s ident.i.ty, so he said emotionally as tears welled up in his eyes, “You are all grown up now! The last time I saw you, you were only a baby! It’s really you! Cui Fangyu, that b*stard, he only had one child three generations in a row. I thought he wouldn’t have anyone that carries his family name. Girl… Woo woo… Your mother and I… Woo…. I miss my Fourth Sis! I miss her so much.”
Both Li Fei and Cui Lizhu cried their lungs out.
“Shh! It’s so noisy. I don’t want to play with you anymore!” Tao Xiang waved his arms, which shocked the police detectives who were behind him. This was because they saw that Tao Xiang’s handcuffs were gone! They had disappeared in the blink of an eye!
“Hey!” The police detectives all yelled out simultaneously and moved towards him to pull Tao Xiang into their grasp. However, Zhao Yu extended his hand to stop them, while signaling them not to move any closer.
Li Fei finally realized something and quickly pointed at Tao Xiang, then asked Cui Lizhu, “What happened to him? He seems to be…”
“You forgot? He injured his head!” Ran Tao said. “His injury led to this mental instability that you’re now seeing before you! Now, do you know why Tao Xiang didn’t expose the secret in the old house?”
“Ah… It is no wonder you police were able to arrest him!” Li Fei shook his head in dismay, having finally understood the situation.
“Hey? What do you mean?” Ran Tao immediately stared at him. He then spat out the question, “Are you making fun of us?”
“Iit’s all my fault!” Li Fei didn’t bother with Ran Tao, but came before Tao Xiang and hammered his own chest, while he said, “Back then, I shouldn’t have hit you with the vase!”
When Wu Xiumin heard this, she couldn’t help but correct him. “Li Fei, can’t you tell? The external injury, of course, played a part in Tao Xiang’s going crazy, but actually, psychological stress was the biggest cause! If he hadn’t have seen the heads in the storage pit, maybe he wouldn’t be like this now…”
After Wu Xiumin said this, the room was completely silent.
“Who is playing the chords? It’s the forgotten times…” Tao Xiang was still singing that strange song.
“Woo woo… It’s my fault! It’s all my fault!” Finally, Li Fei knelt before Tao Xiang and wailed. “Second Bro, I’m sorry! I’m so sorry.”
“Eh? Master? Why are you here?” When Li Fei knelt down, Tao Xiang suddenly stopped singing and looked at Li Fei.
He then asked, “Master, why are you crying? Do you miss me? Master, I miss you too. Master, I’m sorry! It’s all my fault.”
“Junior, it’s me. I’m not Master.” Li Fei quickly touched Tao Xiang’s shoulder and tried to clarify the situation.
“That’s right. You’re my master. Master, I kneel down before you. Please forgive me… I beg you.” Then, Tao Xiang knelt down in front of Li Fei.
…
One night a dozen years ago in Bai Ling, in the courtyard of an alloy aluminum shop.
The sky was dark and there were a few people standing in the courtyard. Right in the middle of the courtyard, there was a woman’s body that had a pair of fire tongs stabbed through the throat. Her body had been laid on the ground and there was blood all over the place.
“Master, Eldest Bro was trying to save me. He didn’t want to do it. I beg you, please forgive me!” The girl named Du Manting knelt before an old man as she pleaded with him.
“Shut up! He ran away, yet he wants me to forgive him?” The old man’s bloodshot eyes were wide open as he roared and his body quivered. “He’s not a child anymore. He killed his master’s wife! How can I forgive him? I need to go and look for him. I need to catch him! He should pay with his life! I was so blind. I raised a wolf in my own home! Li Fei! I must tear him into pieces! Ah…”
“Master, master, it wasn’t Eldest Bro’s fault. Let him go. Actually… Woo woo… Actually…” Du Manting held master’s legs tightly and begged determinedly, “I was the one who killed master’s wife! I killed her by accident. You can punish me!”
“Fourth Sis, what are you talking about?” The boy named Cui Fangyu, who was next to her panicked. “What are you blabbing about at such a time?”
“Alright! You killed her, right? Then, I have to catch the eldest back to clarify this, too! The two of you better not even think about running away!” The old man kicked Du Manting to the side.
Then, he ordered the two other boys, “You two look after her! D*mn! Such a rebel! I am going to ask for help in getting Li Fei back.”
Just as the old man turned around, the older boy ran over and seized the old man’s throat!
“Second Bro! You…” Cui Fangyu was stunned and shouted, “What are you doing?”
“Tao, Xiang, you crazy b*stard! Oh, ugh…” The old man couldn’t speak anymore, and his face was red from Tao Xiang’s trying to choke him to death!
“If the master isn’t dead, Eldest Bro and Fourth Sis can’t live!” Tao Xiang seized control of the old man’s throat and said brutally, “So, today, we can only do this…”
“Ah!” Although Cui Fangyu was pale, he quickly went forward and pulled the old man’s shoulders so that he couldn’t struggle. Du Manting s.h.i.+vered as she clenched her teeth and held onto the old man’s legs…