“It’s tragic for Zheng Xiaorui to bawl so hard, but she had to pay the price for the things she had done. Why should Li Anqi’s death be so humiliating while she could somehow enjoy an amazing life herself, even going so far as having a spoiled rich boyfriend? There was no reason for her to enjoy such a blissful life!”
A smirk was formed on Dong Zhengfeng’s lips. The smile on his face gradually grew wider and it progressively became even more maniacal. He then said, “Then she was shoved down by that man. How Li Anqi met her end was exactly how that woman’s life ended as well. I am Li Anqi’s retribution! I’ve avenged her! Hahahahahahah!”
Dong Zhengfeng proceeded to lift his head up then began laughing maniacally. As he laughed like a mad man, the tone of his laughter gradually grew softer, then finally, the laughter faded away completely. After that manic episode, his entire face was covered in tears.
“It’s me… I’ve killed them…” Dong Zhengfeng’s tone suddenly shifted, and through that change, everyone knew the normal Dong Zhengfeng had returned.
Perhaps this entire debacle was caused by the other Dong Zhengfeng on purpose so he could find out the truth about everything. Alas, it seemed that the other Dong Zhengfeng had kept everything hidden from him on purpose.
“To be honest, I’m actually extremely timid, and as much as I wished the person who had caused Li Anqi’s death to die, I never had the courage to go through what I intended to. It was him… it’s him that had helped me pull it off.” Dong Zhengfeng grinned, a hint of sinister intent reflected from his smile. “I’ve known of his existence ever since I found the picture of Zheng Wentao and Zheng Xiaorui. A few days ago, a pair of mud-stained boots appeared in the house along with extremely dirty and tattered clothes. I knew it was him; a cowardly escape, simply pretending to be oblivious.”
“I had just graduated from my university back then and had just entered that highschool. I knew I shouldn’t even like Li Anqi since I was a teacher and she was my student. If anyone knew about how I truly felt, society would undoubtedly turn its back on me and would bring plenty of trouble to us both. Hence, I dared not let anyone know about how I truly felt, and as long as I get to look at her, it’d be enough for me. I wanted to wait for her to graduate and enter university to confess my true feelings to her. Who would’ve known that she actually liked me too.”
Dong Zhengfeng’s expression was slightly surprised as he recalled his past. He said, “However, we had never dared to show anyone our intimate feelings with each other to anyone. We agreed that we’d be a couple officially after she’d graduate. Who would’ve guessed Zheng Xiaorui would threaten Li Anqi just because the guy she liked never returned her feelings? It was never Li Anqi’s fault to start. It wasn’t Li Anqi’s fault to cause him to fall for her, and she had never even once flirted with anyone before. It was all because Li Anqi was brought to a secluded spot and was violated by that animal!”
“However.” Dong Zhengfeng gritted his teeth tightly then proceeded to continue, “Things will never be as coincidental as that, right? Why would she run into that animal the moment they left? It was all pre-planned by Zheng Xiaorui, so I’ll never believe anything no matter what! Even if she hadn’t pre-planned it, she had a hand in her death! She caused Li Anqi’s death. She fell to her death right before my very eyes; her fall cracked her skull and bled profusely. She looked so naturally beautiful, but it was after her fall, her entire skull cracked open, her brains spilled out, she was covered in her own pool of blood. Someone so cheerful and would poke fun at me every day was lying in her own pool of blood, completely devoid of even the slightest hint of life. I wanted to meet her when the rumors about her were spreading around in school. I wanted to tell her that these rumors never bothered me at all. And if she was worried about what others might think or say about her, she could apply to a university out of town after she’d graduate and I’d also resign from my job to head on to the same town she was studying in, to spend my life with her together. A place where not a single soul knew about her past. However, it was unfortunate that these words were too late to reach her; she jumped off a building. How could she be so foolish? So foolish!”
“I was standing at that spot back then, I watched her fall to her death. She was seemingly looking directly at me as she fell, almost as if she was apologizing to me back then. Why couldn’t she wait for me just a little longer? Why?!”
Both Dong Zhengfeng’s eyes were completely red at that moment. It was when Qi Youxuan assumed the other Dong Zhengfeng would surface again, he simply blinked then proceeded to calm down.
“I believe you guys had asked around for information in the school. Ever since then, I’ve become a germaphobe and can’t ever stand even a speck of dirt. During the earliest phase as the symptoms started to surface, no matter how hard I washed both my hands, it was almost as if I could still feel the blood that stained both my hands. It felt as if her blood had seeped through my skin and would never wash off. The strong harrowing stench of blood would always linger on my hands. During that period, my hands were so violently washed that not a single drop of sweat would even appear from my hands. The doctors told me it was all in my head, a mental ailment when I went for a check-up. After the diagnosis, I had also met up with a psychiatrist. I just never expected that although I could control the symptoms and I wasn’t as normal as I once was, I wasn’t as suicidal anymore. I thought I had fully recovered, but I never expected I’d develop a second personality.”
The maniacal expression on Dong Zhengfeng’s face was seemingly similar to another person’s personality. He then bragged, “Still, I regret nothing, they deserved to die! They all deserved to die!”
Qi Youxuan got out of there and had someone lock him away. At the same time, Zhang Ming too had returned. He said, “You were right, there was a male corpse found at the back of the trunk. We’ve sent the body over to the forensics team to get an autopsy report.”
According to the autopsy report, it proved the fluid found in Zheng Xiaorui’s body matched the male corpse’s DNA. Thus, Dong Zhengfeng would officially be charged with murder. Although he had split personality disorder and had the official reports from the hospital, he would be sent to a mental asylum instead of prison.
“Within this vast ocean of people, how could Dong Zhengfeng, a person who had resigned from his teaching job and had become a regular samaritan, possibly find the rapist’s true identity after all these years? All our leads turned out cold back then, and even if it were the both of us in charge of that case, it’d be an extremely difficult task to pull off,” Zhang Ming pondered aloud.
Jiang Yuecheng too had felt something off about this case. He said, “Head out to the mental asylum at noon and keep an eye on his mental state. If circumstances were right and the situation would allow, please ask him to clarify things for us. This case isn’t as simple as it seemed. Something just feels off to me, and I just can’t put my finger on it yet.”
The case was now closed and the murderer was indeed Dong Zhengfeng, hence there was no reason at all to probe things even further. However, it seemed the conclusion raised more questions. What exactly was going on with this complicated case?
“Sergeant Jiang.” Xing Jiadong walked in with a saddened, heavy look. He said, “Dong Zhengfeng had committed suicide in the hospital.”
Jiang Yuecheng stood up in shock since they had just discussed heading over to the mental asylum to question him. He had actually died the very next moment, and if anyone was to tell him there was nothing sketchy about this case, he would never believe that person.
“So it’s a confirmed suicide?” Jiang Yuecheng asked.
“The hospital had confirmed it. As Dong Zhengfeng’s mental state was stable, the staff never bothered to restrain him. He’d even talk a walk at a fixed time every day and was even capable of striking up a conversation with the more stable patients. When the nurse went to check on him after his afternoon break, he was found dead unexpectedly. He had bit his tongue to end his life.”
“Only the boldest of men would choose to bite their own tongue as a method of suicide,” said a wide-eyed Zhang Ming. This method of suicide was not seen in years.
Only people who were living in ancient times would choose this method of suicide. No modern people would even think about enduring such intense suffering. With that in mind, who would even want to die then?
Anyone who had chosen this method would have to be absolutely determined to do so as the entire process was excruciatingly painful. This would be torture for anyone.
There were only three main causes of death in this method of suicide.
The first was after the tongue had been thoroughly bitten off, a part of the tongue got caught at the trachea that caused the victim to choke to death.
The second was biting the rich and abundant blood vessels and veins in the tongue, causing a major loss of blood, thus ending the victim’s life.
The third would be, after biting off the tongue—which in turn caused the victim to temporarily lose control—such heavy streams of blood that got mixed with the victim’s saliva pouring into the victim’s mouth might get caught in the victim’s trachea, asphyxiating the victim. As the victim struggled to breathe, the phlegm and blood could most probably be forced into the trachea, blocking the airways which would result in the victim passing out, causing much more severe suffocation. This would result in the victim passing out then, ultimately, the victim’s death.
The human’s tongue was filled and rich with blood vessels; any damage to it would cause severe bleeding that would cause anyone to severely lose blood. In addition to that, since the tongue was extremely close to the human brain, the nerves on the tongue would also be plenty. Any serious damage to the tongue would also cause serious harm to the nerves, which could kill anyone.
Anyone that was not a eunuch or an ancient handmaiden forced into a corner would have never chosen this method as the main method of suicide. After all, no sane person would choose to endure such torture.
“Could it possibly be that, since he was successful in avenging Li Anqi’s death, he was finally contemptuous with his own life, thus choosing to end his life in order to spend his afterlife with her?” Xing Jiadong said confidently as he hypothesized on the main motive of his suicide.
He had observed how confident Qi Youxuan was in speculating as if he had all the answers, and even though he had always butt heads with Qi Youxuan, he was also secretly admiring Qi Youxuan’s keen mind. Hence, his current demonstration in order to satiate his lust for recognition. He felt amazing doing so.
If that were the case before, Jiang Yuecheng would be impressed by this theory. However, it seemed too far-fetched as the entire case was extremely sketchy. Thus, he was not convinced by this theory and felt Dong Zhengcheng’s apparent death was extraordinarily sketchy.
However, since there were no leads in this case, he had no choice but to rest this case.
…
Since Dong Zhengcheng’s case was closed, Qi Youxuan no longer had a reason to drop by the station every day. Qi Youxuan had originally said that after this entire case was closed, he would want Wei Muran to give him an answer. However, never did anyone expect that it would only take Qi Youxuan a couple of days to solve this case.
She had her entire focus on that case before and never had the time to seriously think and reflect upon Qi Youxuan’s proposal. She was completely unprepared to face him since the case was solved and close so unexpectedly fast.
The only thing she was worried and afraid of was Qi Youxuan showing up to the station unannounced for her. As much as he wanted an answer, she had no idea what to say to him.
However, it had been a couple of days and Qi Youxuan had not turned up to look for her. It was only natural for Wei Muran to be relieved about his absence, yet she felt extremely anxious and suffocating. It was as if something had been pushing against her chest.
“Everyone had pulled their weight and worked extremely hard these couple of days. Now that the case is officially closed, I’d like to treat everyone for lunch today since everyone never had the time to seriously take a break. Lunch is on me, and everyone may leave after lunch today. It’ll be a half-day, so go home and rest well,” announced Jiang Yuecheng.
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