Chapter 56 - Devil Exchange
Translator: Yuzu
Zhou Yingmei tapped her fingers on the table and had an unpleasant look. Her usually calm expression even showed anxiety that could not be concealed.
There was a pile of materials related to the case on the table.
She has been staying up for several nights! Not only was the case unsolved, but at such a critical time, the school had a series of murders. Not only did the school’s leadership have a problem with them, but the higher-ups in the bureau also had complaints. Even in the city, the rumors had spread, causing panic.
At this point, she scratched her hair anxiously.
Zhou Yingmei pursed her lips, looked at the details of the case, and scowled slightly.
She shook her head and couldn’t help the doubts that arose in her mind.
Whether it was Li Da’s death, w.a.n.g Jingyi’s death, or even Jiang Ling’s death, the information was clear when the case was first investigated. However, the strange thing was that the more the case was investigated, the clues that surfaced became more and more confusing, like a spider’s web that was randomly woven together. The more you looked into it, the more complicated it became. Some clues seemed like they were made up by someone who deliberately wanted them to be discovered.
However, these clues appeared abruptly. They made sense but were also puzzling.
When she thought of this, Zhou Yingmei’s expression became even more serious.
As a woman’s sixth sense, she somehow felt that there was some force majeure that kept steering these cases in the same direction.
And the scary thing was that some of these clues were strangely pointing to the same person.
Zhou Yingmei’s brows furrowed deeper, and that person’s face appeared in her head.
Xiao Chen.
Zhou Yingmei shook her fist.
At the beginning of the investigation of Li Da’s case, their first targets were Li Da’s ex-girlfriends, including w.a.n.g Jingyi, all of whom were suspected by the police. However, before they could investigate all of them, they were led to investigate Xiao Chen’s case and his family affairs, and even his potential danger.
In w.a.n.g Jingyi’s case, Xiao Chen has no suspicion because the results of their investigation show that the two basically have no intersection. Still, at the time of w.a.n.g Jingyi’s death, Xiao Chen appeared near the library and was filmed by surveillance cameras.
Immediately afterward, the police started investigating w.a.n.g Jingyi’s communication tools and software. They found the chat logs between Xiao Chen and w.a.n.g Jingyi, which showed that Xiao Chen had ambiguous thoughts about w.a.n.g Jingyi and even sent some explicit messages.
The common ground between Jiang Ling and Xiao Chen hasn’t surfaced yet, but Zhou Yingmei has this hunch that if the case continues to go on like this, Xiao Chen will definitely still be the object of suspicion.
And her sixth sense as a woman was always very accurate.
Night.
The wind blew and moved the treetops. The leaves cl.u.s.tered together, rubbing back and forth against each other.
There were no stars tonight, much less the moon. When one looked up, it was dark and lifeless.
“Ding!” Xiao Chen’s fingers that were rapidly tapping on the keyboard stopped. The frame of his gla.s.ses covered his eyes. He moved his head, and his eyes fell to the table next to him, to his phone screen.
It was the sound that only rang when a message was sent.
Xiao Chen scowled, not rushing to pick the phone up.
“Ding! Ding! Ding!” The messages sounded as if they were continuously bombarded.
Xiao Chen’s eyebrows furrowed even deeper.
Something was wrong.
He was quite isolated and rarely revealed his personal information. The communication software he used only added Zhou Ming as a friend. He entered one of their cla.s.s groups, but he never sent messages to the cla.s.s group and blocked them.
Zhou Ming doesn’t use the software to contact him and usually just makes a phone call. Both of them are not the kind of people who are friendly and talkative.
When Xiao Chen thought of this, he was filled with doubts, and his heart felt a bit stuffy. He slowly picked up the phone and opened the screen. When he saw the content, his expression slightly wavered.
Zhou Qiqi from the “Socialism is Good” group chat initiates a group chat with you.
Zhou Qiqi: Eh! Do you really like w.a.n.g Jingyi?
Zhou Qiqi: You didn’t kill Li Da, did you?
Xiao Chen’s fingers touched the screen. The further he scrolled down, the tighter his expression became.
What is this nonsense?
Li Kekou: 【Picture】【Picture】【Picture】
Li Kekou: Is this really all from you?
Xiao Chen was shocked and clicked on the picture. When he saw what was in the picture, his fingers trembled slightly.
–
Yang Sun pinched his lips and scratched the beard on his chin. The bruises under his eyes were getting worse, and there were even several blotches underneath the bruises, giving him a hollowed-out and weak appearance.
There were instant noodle containers and sticky toilet paper all over his desktop, and the corners of his desk were covered in mold.
He had one leg propped up on the chair and the other hanging down.
There was a computer and several gaming devices on the table, and his phone had its screen on.
Hmm? Xiao Chen? Another big melon to eat?
Yang Sun scratched the back of his head and sneered. He slid his fingers across the screen, his eyes glued to the school’s posting page.
[Shocking material! The computer science student Xiao Chen is secretly in love with w.a.n.g Jingyi. On the night of w.a.n.g Jingyi’s death, there are photos proving that he was near the library! There are pictures!!!]
1L: No one has ever known that Xiao Chen is secretly in love with w.a.n.g Jingyi, right? The landlord heard it from someone in the know!
It’s unlikely that no one knows w.a.n.g Jingyi by now. After all, it was such a major murder case.
In case you don’t know about Xiao Chen, I’ll start with a paragraph of his introduction.
Xiao Chen is the top student in the freshman year of the Computer Science Department. He scored near-perfect scores on several major exams since the beginning of the school year. I forgot to mention that at first, the school arranged for him to speak as a student representative, but he refused. He generally has zero social life and spends most of his time in the library reading books. He is a quiet man and has never been seen talking to a woman. Some people even say that he is a monk and is as.e.xual. If someone hadn’t discovered his chats with w.a.n.g Jingyi, I would never have believed this matter’s credibility.
2L: [Picture] [Picture] [Picture] [Picture] [Picture]
Yang Sun took a mouthful of instant noodles and clicked on these screenshots of the chat logs.
The screenshots were from w.a.n.g Jingyi’s perspective.
Chen: The white dress you’re wearing today looks great.
Little Star: ……
Chen: You only had a cup of porridge for breakfast today. Won’t you be hungry?
Chen: Do you believe in constellations?
Chen: What did you choose for your PE cla.s.s?
Chen: Do you have anyone you like?
Little Star: I’ve got a boyfriend! Stop texting me!
3L: From the time shown on the screenshots, it can be seen that before w.a.n.g Jingyi’s affair with Li Da was exposed, Xiao Chen had been messaging with her one-sidedly, and his liking for her was undisguised, but w.a.n.g Jingyi was basically cold to him, with no response. After w.a.n.g Jingyi got together with Li Da, Xiao Chen never took the initiative to contact w.a.n.g Jingyi again, and his chats with w.a.n.g Jingyi came to an abrupt end.
4L: The landlord has to add that the following is the landlord’s own a.s.sumptions, with no real evidence. It’s just a reference, and you don’t have to agree with it.
On the day of w.a.n.g Jingyi’s death, the landlord is 100% sure that Xiao Chen appeared near the library many times. Even because of this, the landlord asked some of the students who went to the library on that day. They all can prove that, indeed, Xiao Chen appeared near the library on that day.
Yes, the landlord also needs to add that the day after Li Da’s death, Xiao Chen was called to the police station as a suspect and didn’t come back that night. Although I don’t know why the police suspected him, Xiao Chen is indeed very suspicious no matter how you look at it!
34L Melon Eater: F*ck, Xiao Chen is a murderer with no escape! It’s so obvious!
42L Sha Diao Xiao Mei: What the heck, what else is there besides this ambiguous chat log? Even chat records can be faked, okay? The entire article is written by someone in the know? Do you have the ability to tell me who the person in the know is? Don’t just accept everything, OK?
56L Orange Marmalade: d.a.m.n, who the h.e.l.l is Xiao Chen! Sh*t! I’m so curious! It feels like he’s just an idiot! Isn’t it too similar to a pervert?
Yang Sun put down the instant noodles in his hands, sneered, and jerked his sleeves as if he was ready to show off his skills.
85L Messenger of Justice: Heh, it’s all written so clearly! Xiao Chen is a murderer. He can’t escape! It’s disgusting. Who else could it be but him? Looking at the chat logs, I can tell he must have been stalking w.a.n.g Jingyi. He’s a psychopath, and this kind of person should go to h.e.l.l!
Yang Sun just clicked send. He has been around the bar for years and has a lot of fans. As soon as he sent out a comment, people quickly started responding to it.
Yang Sun was humming a little song as if he was brewing up words, waiting to continue his cursing.
Xiao Chen’s pupils contracted sharply as he read the screenshot of the chat log, his eyes filled with disbelief.
He hadn’t sent these messages at all.
At this point, he didn’t know what he was thinking, but he subconsciously went through his contacts.
He only had one category, and the number of people added up to no more than ten.
When he clicked on it, his expression changed from confusion to horror at a rate visible to the naked eye.
There was actually a strange female without a note on his friend list.
The screen name, Little Star……
And this person’s avatar is the same one as the one that the cla.s.smate just sent him!
Thinking of this, Xiao Chen’s hand paused and somewhat hesitantly clicked on the chatbox with her.
When he clearly saw what was inside, he directly sucked in a breath of cold air and was instantly dumbfounded.
What’s going on! There is actually a chat history in his phone of himself sending messages to w.a.n.g Jingyi?
It’s no different from the screenshots!
Xiao Chen squeezed his fist, his throat hurt, and his eyes were a little dizzy.
–
The man dressed in all black leaned back on the couch, and on his lap lay a boy in lion pajamas. The boy seemed young and looked to be at most twenty years old.
The man stared at the boy’s face with a torch-like gaze. He smiled slightly and held the boy tightly in his arms. He wrapped his slender hand around the boy’s neck and stopped at his collarbone, stroking the sickle necklace around him.
“Baby.” The man spoke with a husky voice.
The boy raised his head in response, meeting the other’s gaze as if to ask him what was wrong.
The man’s eyes were deep, like unfathomable stars. He patted the boy’s back and said softly, “Remember, if you wake up one day and find that the whole world has changed, even if there’s evidence that you’ve done something you didn’t do, you must remember that it’s not that you’ve done anything wrong, but that the world has gone mad.”
But that’s okay. You just have to remember that I will protect you.
I swear it in the name of Death.