Muchuan And Xiang Wan

She had deliberately provoked the "manipulator" in her latest update before midnight.

From what she gathered on the character of the "manipulator", he would certainly be triggered and there was a high chance he would come to her book reviews and comments page to leave a comment.

Nonetheless, there was no sight of him in the book reviews and comments page.

In fact, he had not appeared for quite a long time.

Xiang Wan gasped, "I"ve never thought that it would turn out like this…"

"Me too," said Bai Muchuan, "but… reality is cruel. From the results of our investigation: the kidnapping of Fang Yuanyuan and the rest, the murder of Shanzi, deceiving Brother Steel; all these were planned by Liang himself. Oh yes, remember the hotpot restaurant at Xi City?"

"… I remember." Xiang Wan"s voice sounded a little cold.

"Those men who fought with me, two of them were caught at the base in Vulture"s Mouth. They gave the same statement that Liang had been bringing men to Xi City very frequently as he had been egging Brother Steel to expand the business. Instead of expanding the business, he was doing his own stuff secretly instead… Liang had used all of them."

"Liang made use of them, as well as Yu Bo?"

"… Currently, our investigations are geared towards that direction."

"But, Bai Muchuan—" Xiang Wan dragged her voice a little. "How do you explain the man I saw at Wen Xin Nunnery? Besides… Yu Bo said he has also seen Meng Chi… He couldn"t be spouting nonsense. No, even if he was spouting nonsense, what about me?"

What about her?

Of course, she was certainly not someone who spouts nonsense.

Bai Muchuan paused for a moment. "Xiang Wan, I understand, but you should also understand."

Xiang Wan could say nothing for a moment. "…"

Yeah, she understood that.

Before they could pin a crime on anyone, they would require evidence.

All of the evidence and clues they found had pointed Liang as the mastermind of the 121 case. If so, then they have to respect the facts.

Nevertheless, Xiang Wan could not convince herself.

"So does that mean you won"t be continuing the investigations?"

"… Investigations will continue!"

As long as there were doubts waiting to be cleared up, they would continue to investigate.

Xiang Wan was a little relieved to hear that. "That"s good. I hope this case would not be the same as the previous ones where there will be somehow an answered doubt so great that I will think about it every now and then… Bai Muchuan, did you notice? These few cases felt like they were created from the same mold. The similar approach, the deaths, the mentally challenged, and the murderer would always be dead."

Bai Muchuan remained silent for a while.

"Xiang Wan, I found another clue here as well."

"What is it?" Xiang Wan was curious.

"Yu Bo"s mother left a diary behind."

Diary?

A diary? In a digital era like this?

However, since she lived in such a remote and backward place, it seemed that keeping a diary was a good way for her to vent any unhappiness she came across.

Xiang Wan asked, "What did she write in there?"

"It consisted mainly of her daily life, well…"

He seemed to hesitate a little.

Xiang Wan felt uncomfortable when she was left hanging in the air. "What is it?"

Bai Muchuan replied as calmly as he could, "It was Yu Bo"s mother who seduced Brother Steel all along…"

"What!?" Xiang Wan was confounded.

"After Yu Bo"s mother married her husband for a few years, she never got pregnant. Consequently, there was so much gossip in the village that her husband started to hurl verbal abuse at her, accusing her of being a hen that doesn"t lay eggs. She couldn"t stand the humiliation…"

"So she decided to seduce her brother-in-law (Brother Steel) and got pregnant with his child… In the end, the two brothers turned against each other. One died and the other walked on the path to criminality, right?"

"Yes."

That was the gist of the story between Yu Bo"s complicated parentage.

It could be summed up in just a few sentences.

However, the ones in the story used their lifetimes to live it out.

They were deeply involved in it and were miserable.

"So what"s the clue you mentioned earlier?"

"Yu Bo"s mother was born in Jin City."

Jin City? Xiang Wan felt a tug in her heart.

… Was there somehow a connection due to fate or was there something that she needed to take note of?

"She got to know her husband when she worked in Xi City. They got married and lived in the village ever since…"

That village was located in such a remote region. What kind of love could actually make her willing to move and stay there for her lifetime?

Prior to reading the diary of Yu Bo"s mother, Xiang Wan was really bewildered by her story.

However, after reading her diary, she could understand her.

That woman used her crooked handwriting to write down what she had experienced all these years. Young and ignorant love in her teenage years, she had the traditional thinking that marriage was for life, and she had to accompany her husband forever without regrets… She was so in love with a man that she gave up everything without hesitation to marry him. Yet he blamed everything on her for not having a kid and abused her so much that she felt like she was no different from a pig or dog.

Not long after, she exacted vengeance on him.

She gave birth to a child with his younger brother.

For the sake of clearing up the humiliation of being accused that she couldn"t have children, she brought the whole family to h.e.l.l instead.

Xiang Wan mulled over it.

This case…

When compared to the 720 case, the case of the fountain G.o.ddess, Zhou Dequan"s serial murders… it was cast in the same mold.

Xiang Wan had used this idiom several times.

It was the same—about love, humanity, betrayal.

Oh, there"s also Jin City.

The previous three cases had taken place in Jin City.

There were also people from Jin City involved in this case.

"It must be that person…" said Xiang Wan, "the one whom I saw at Wen Xin Nunnery. Actually, even if he wanted to abduct me, he totally need not appear in front of me… But he got ahead of himself. The police couldn"t nab him all these while that he couldn"t help but wanted to challenge the police directly… to be exact, he challenged you. He thought he could kill us off or humiliate us."

"He"s dead," said Bai Muchuan suddenly.

What…

Who died?

Xiang Wan"s body stiffened and she couldn"t speak a word.

"Just this evening, we received a call from the police post at Wen Xin Town. A villager in their town found a body at the forest at the foot of the mountain when the snow melted today. The corpse wore a white Daoist robe, as well as a mask which resembled those of the Sichuan Opera… It"s the same as what you"ve described."

Good grief!

Xiang Wan asked, "How did he die?"

"The villager said that the corpse should have rolled down from the mountain and died." Bai Muchuan gave a short pause. "Cheng Zheng and Mei Xin are already on their way there. I believe we should receive their reports soon."

Xiang Wan had contemplated for a second before she exhaled a breath.

"I feel that this is an intentional homicide to cover up the facts!"

With regards to the fact that the mastermind was Liang, the only doubt left was that both Xiang Wan and Yu Bo had met someone whom they identified as "Meng Chi".

However, what if this person was also dead?

If this person was dead, then Liang would become the mastermind.

Xiang Wan spoke in a more vulnerable tone, "Bai Muchuan, I feel creeped out!"

"Don"t be afraid." Bai Muchuan could detect her emotions, and he consoled her in a rea.s.suring tone. "The more he tries to cover up, the more panicky he gets… For this round, he has actually lost. He had left behind loopholes, and we will be able to find him sooner or later."

Xiang Wan kept quiet.

A while later, she asked, "When are you coming back?"

Bai Muchuan replied, "I… you should get some rest. I"ll be back tomorrow."

Oh, tomorrow!

Xiang Wan narrowed her eyes for a second; she thought she heard a cat"s mewl.

"Aye, alright, see you tomorrow."

"See you tomorrow!"

…

Xiang Wan did not know when she had fallen asleep.

When darkness took over her head, she seemed to have seen the eyes beneath that mask.

He was sneering and looking at her mockingly as he stood in front of her.

The next moment, when Xiang Wan lowered her head, she realized that she was standing inside a black hole…

It was the dream she had experienced several times where there were a lot of black holes.

The black holes that would activate by itself, one by one.

In the past, it was always her who was standing on the ground, looking at the black holes.

However, at that moment, she was inside a black hole and—she was falling!

It was pitch dark around her, and she could see nothing clearly.

All except the mask of the Sichuan Opera which had a hideous smile on it.