Chapter 39

Chapter 39: Bloody Joy (39)

Based on Liang Lanjun's confession, Cheng Wei quickly found the hidden tranquilizer gun in the glass factory's repair workshop. Hai Shu, listening to Cheng Wei's report through her earpiece, observed that Liang Lanjun's expression remained numb, though there was a sense of relief on his face.

The details he provided mostly aligned with the evidence and the deductions made by the police. However, there was a very obvious omission—Zhao Yue had disappeared.

Hai Shu asked, "Did you act alone?"

Liang Lanjun instinctively straightened his back. "Yes, I did it alone."

Hai Shu asked, "Does Zhao Yue not know anything?"

Liang Lanjun showed a slightly disdainful smile. "She's a woman, only knows how to cook, and is timid. What would I tell her to do?"

Hai Shu continued, "Yes, she only knows how to cook. You don’t help her with housework, nor do you help with cooking, right?"

Liang Lanjun remained silent, his eyes turning cautious. Suddenly, his brows furrowed, as if recalling something.

Hai Shu said, "So, you've been married for over ten years, and she still doesn’t know that you can't even wrap dumplings? But when I came over to visit, why did she ask you to make dumplings? Was she just playing a show of a loving couple for me?"

It took Liang Lanjun half a minute to reply, "She has nothing to do with this case. I never told her."

Hai Shu asked, "But in the early stages, you spent a lot of time scouting targets and laying out the plan. You were out all night, wouldn't she ask where you were?"

Liang Lanjun said, "You've been to my house, right? You saw that Zhao Yue and I live in separate rooms? We’ve been married for so long, it’s not like you young people who need to know each other’s whereabouts all the time. We just live together, getting by."

Hai Shu asked, "What about when you got married?"

Liang Lanjun lowered his gaze. "It was just like that."

"Similar experiences and shared hatred brought you together," Hai Shu said. "There's something deeper between you than just being husband and wife."

Liang Lanjun shook his head. "What could there be? We’re both from the bottom of society, just two people huddling together for warmth. We needed a family, not love."

Hai Shu asked, "Then how do you explain how you managed to do all these things alone? Even at night, it’s not easy to drag a grown person away."

Liang Lanjun said, "So I made the gun. A person who collapses on the ground is like cargo."

Hai Shu shook her head. "You barely mentioned Zhao Yue earlier. You want to protect her, but a lie is still a lie. Haven’t you noticed? So many times, you’ve avoided mentioning her, but to do everything you described, she had to be there."

Liang Lanjun froze, and a faint light flickered in his numb eyes.

"You dragged Xue Ninglin into the car that time. When you ask for directions, the driver is usually in the driver’s seat. How did you drag her into the car while asking directions?" Hai Shu said. "Actually, it was Zhao Yue who asked for directions. As a woman, Xue Ninglin would be less guarded. Either you were already outside the car, or you suddenly opened the door and pulled her in while she was speaking."

Liang Lanjun shook his head slightly. "No, it was only me…"

Hai Shu continued, "The situation with Li Hui was even more obvious. The blood on the back seat—you said Li Hui woke up halfway. So, how did you, the one driving, suddenly move to the back seat to struggle with Li Hui? Either you were driving, and Zhao Yue fought with Li Hui in the back seat, or Zhao Yue was driving. I believe it was you in the back seat because driving carries less risk, and controlling Li Hui in the back seat was more important."

Liang Lanjun’s voice trembled slightly. "I said, I did all of this myself. It has nothing to do with Zhao Yue. She doesn’t even know. Didn't you check the Santana? Were there any traces of Zhao Yue on it?"

So that’s it! Hai Shu's thoughts became clearer. When Cheng Wei inspected the Santana, he said the situation inside the car was very strange. The floor mats were replaced with new ones, sprayed with alcohol, and there were no fingerprints on the doors or windows, but there were on the steering wheel. The suspect shouldn’t have cleared all traces except for the most obvious one—the steering wheel.

So, that fingerprint was intentionally left by Liang Lanjun. In the worst case, Liang Lanjun could take all the blame. He had already prepared himself to bear it alone.

Hai Shu said, "You love her."

Liang Lanjun's expression was somewhat incredulous, as if he couldn't understand the word "love." After a moment, he bitterly smiled and shook his head. "People like us, what’s the point of talking about love? She has suffered with me for half her life. The things I’ve done, I can't drag her into it."

Hai Shu sighed. "Then how do you explain being at the old workshop with Zhao Yue when I caught you?"

Liang Lanjun's eyelids relaxed, his lips moved, but no words came out.

"You haven’t thought of an excuse? Let me help you," Hai Shu said. "Wan Zeyu's body was found on the day of the wedding. You thought the police would investigate slowly, after all, Zhou Ping Town is a small place. You know how limited the local officers are. But you never expected that one of the invited guests was someone from the city's criminal investigation team. She called in the city's elite officers. You panicked."

"Or maybe, both you and Zhao Yue started to worry, constantly thinking about whether you had left evidence, and if the city's police would find the secrets of the old workshop. Unfortunately for you, we really did find the old workshop. During those days, you must have been on edge. But we didn’t find the most hidden part, the basement. The police temporarily withdrew from the old workshop, and you were both relieved and even more anxious. After all, it was where Yuan Zhong was killed. If the case couldn’t be solved, the police would definitely come back!"

"When people are anxious, they often do unnecessary things. You tossed and turned, thinking about the traces and fingerprints you left in the basement. You didn’t bother cleaning up before, because you thought no one would find the secret inside. Now, you had to clean it up. I was wondering what could have made you show up so early on the road from the old workshop back to Zhou Ping Town. It was cleaning! You spent the whole night getting rid of the traces you left in the basement."

Liang Lanjun still shook his head. "I was the one who killed them. That day, we went to burn paper."

The interrogation paused, and the Criminal Investigation Team sat down together to analyze.

Everyone knew very well that Liang Lanjun and Zhao Yue were accomplices, but no matter how much they interrogated him, Liang Lanjun insisted that Zhao Yue knew nothing.

"This couple’s family relationship is really strange," Sui Xing said. "The truth is likely that when they got married, there was no real affection. They just found someone who shared the same pain to get by. They might have discussed revenge, but it wasn't until Liu Xiang's suicide that they truly began to make plans. Who proposed it, though, is still unclear. Now, they seem like colleagues, and their shared mission is revenge."

Wen Xu said, "I've seen the food in their house. It's really like they're living separate lives, even making their own meals. No wonder Zhao Yue doesn't know that Liang Lanjun can't even make dumplings. He never made them for her."

Sui Xing grew more confused the more he thought about it. "So, it’s strange. There’s no affection in their marriage, but in the end, why won’t Liang Lanjun admit that Zhao Yue was involved?"

Hai Shu organized the materials and prepared to interrogate Zhao Yue again. "Actually, it’s not hard to understand. Between them, especially from Liang Lanjun to Zhao Yue, over time, feelings have developed."

Sui Xing froze, and after Hai Shu left, he came to his senses and looked at Wen Xu. "Can feelings really develop in a marriage like that?"

Wen Xu smiled. "Feelings, like water, are only known to the one who drinks."

Zhao Yue's hair was a little messy, and her eyes were tired. The two things Hai Shu had told her earlier seemed to have drained her mental energy. She repeatedly thought about asking for help from a teacher, only to be abandoned by the teacher she trusted. She also thought about Liu Xiang, who seemed so much like her, eventually taking the same path. It turned out that the reason for Liu Xiang's suicide was different from what she had assumed, and someone had already lost their life because of her initial misjudgment.

Zhao Yue's gaze slowly moved up, meeting Hai Shu's eyes. She murmured, "Officer Hai, you're here again."

Hai Shu said, "This time I want to verify Liang Lanjun’s testimony."

Zhao Yue snapped back to reality. "Old Liang? What did he say?"

"He admitted everything," Hai Shu said. "From him believing that Xue Ninglin harassed Liu Xiang, to transferring the hatred to wealthy gay college students, to targeting Ping Sheng and Li Hui, and even making the tranquilizer gun to commit the crimes."

Zhao Yue's expression gradually changed, and before Hai Shu had finished speaking, she shouted, "No! It was me who told him! It was me who instructed him to commit the crimes!"

Zhao Yue told a version of the story very similar to Liang Lanjun’s. In this version, she was the mastermind, and Liang Lanjun was merely manipulated by her.

After being expelled, Zhao Yue harbored deep hatred for lesbians. She didn’t just set up stalls outside Huiyong University, she also went to other universities. Earning money was just a facade; her real desire was to find other lesbians and kill them. But the idea was just that—an idea. She didn’t have the courage or ability to act on it.

It wasn’t until she met Liang Lanjun, who was equally broken. At that time, Liang Lanjun’s spine had been shattered; he was living like a walking corpse, incapable of even feeling hatred. But Zhao Yue was different. She had to take revenge, even if it couldn’t happen now, she would find a way to make it happen in the future.

She began to implant her thoughts of revenge into Liang Lanjun. At first, he was indifferent, but gradually, he started responding. When she saw the light of hatred in his eyes, she knew one day, Liang Lanjun would become her tool.

Sometimes, when suffering affects a person, and there is no further push, the person survives, eventually letting go. But when suffering affects two people, and they lick each other's wounds, the wounds never heal. The pain spreads and festers, eventually consuming them both.

Before Li Yun found them, Zhao Yue had already selected her target and was almost convincing Liang Lanjun to take action. But the old factory manager had given them stable work and a good life, and they left Huiyong City, finding a new way of life.

"Forget it," Liang Lanjun said. "Life in the town is good. Manager Li is a good person. I don’t want to disappoint him."

Zhao Yue wavered. Just like Liang Lanjun said, Li Yun was a good person, and she had met very few good people in her life.

They settled down in Zhou Ping Town, where others saw them as a strange but loving couple.

But only they knew the truth—they weren’t a real couple.

They came together because of shared experiences. No one in the world understood their pain more than they did. But there was no love between them. Zhao Yue had been raped and was extremely averse to normal married life. Liang Lanjun simply didn’t understand love. His efforts had all gone into his studies, and by now, his ambitions had dissipated. They agreed to live separate lives, only pretending to be a married couple in front of others. Zhao Yue had once cooked for Liang Lanjun and eaten together, but their tastes were different, so over time, they simply cooked separately.

Years later, a powerful female police officer came to Huiyong City and destroyed the criminal network built by Yongheng Group. Watching the once proud female executive Qian Ying being jailed, Zhao Yue cried tears of joy. But before that, something happened that cast a shadow of sorrow over her and Liang Lanjun’s home—the old factory manager Li Yun died after being treated in the city.

Liang Lanjun never mentioned revenge again, but Zhao Yue occasionally had the urge to act. One day, Liang Lanjun said to her, "Let’s sponsor a child. A child from a poor family like ours, someone who can walk the road we couldn’t."

And so, they became involved with Liu Xiang.

Zhao Yue sighed. "I never thought she would also meet such a tragic fate." She paused for a long time, then asked Hai Shu again, "Was Liu Xiang really killed by Yue Sheng Mountain Villa? Is it really unrelated to Xue Ninglin?"

Hai Shu told her the long truth.

Zhao Yue slowly leaned on the table and softly said, "I ruined Liang Lanjun."

That day, outside the Science and Technology University, it wasn’t Liang Lanjun who saw Liu Xiang and Xue Ninglin arguing, but Zhao Yue. At a glance, she knew that the tall, proud girl was a lesbian. Later, when news of Liu Xiang’s suicide came, she firmly told Liang Lanjun, "It was the lesbian who killed Xiang Xiang!"

The embers of hatred reignited, burning hotter and fiercer with the years of suppressed anger and numbness. Zhao Yue kept telling Liang Lanjun, "We have to take revenge. How dare those people trample on others? Lesbians are the dirtiest garbage in this society!"

Liang Lanjun remained silent, but she knew that his hatred was being awakened by her. How could Liang Lanjun not hate? His desk was filled with professional books and publications from the academy. He spent a lot of time making small gadgets. Even small carts, he loved making himself. If not for the interference of lesbians, he should have been lecturing students in a bright classroom, showing them the small gadgets he had made!

"I found two 'second chairs,'" Zhao Yue said. Every time she went to the city with the glass factory, she didn’t have to move with the workers. She had plenty of time to go to universities to find targets. In July, she told Liang Lanjun about the target and urged him to make a tranquilizer gun. "Aren’t you the best at making things like this? There are only the two of us, but as long as we have the gun, we’re not afraid of anything!"

"It was all my idea!" Zhao Yue said, tears in her eyes, to Hai Shu. "Liang Lanjun never thinks that much. He just gets by, numb. If it weren’t for my strong desire for revenge, he never would have committed these crimes! Don’t lock him up, sentence me to death instead!"

Afterward, Zhao Yue also confessed to killing Wan Zeyu and dismembering him and Yuan Zhong. Cleaning up the traces in the basement was also her idea.

She looked at Hai Shu with a mournful expression. "It was that time, wasn’t it? That’s when you started suspecting us."

When Hai Shu told her that only Liang Lanjun’s fingerprints were found on the Santana, and that the fingerprints were on the steering wheel, she was dazed for a few seconds, then as if everything clicked, she said through her tears, "Liang Lanjun did it to protect me! Officer Hai, believe me, I’m the mastermind! He’s not very smart, he listens to everything I say!"

The investigation of the case had reached a point where the truth was finally clear, and the chain of evidence was nearly complete. Afterward, Hai Shu and the other team members interrogated Liang Lanjun and Zhao Yue a few more times. Without exception, both emphasized that they were the masterminds, and the other person was merely involved. They hoped to be sentenced to death, hoping the other would receive a lighter sentence.

"These two still aren't really a couple, but if we say there's no love between them, what exactly is there?" Wen Xu patted Hai Shu on the back of her chair. "Team Leader Hai, still busy?"

Hai Shu nodded. "I need to go over the case again and see if I missed anything. I don't want the prosecutor to cause us trouble."

Wen Xu made a "goodbye" gesture. "Then I, as the coroner, won’t stay to help. Off to work now."

Hai Shu smiled. "No need to send me off."

Her thoughts returned to the case. Hai Shu stared at the computer screen, but Wen Xu's words from earlier caused her to lose focus for a moment.

Liang Lanjun and Zhao Yue had once been victims, but now they had become irredeemable perpetrators. Xue Ninglin, Ping Sheng, and Li Hui, the three of them were all innocent. Though Xue Ninglin and Ping Sheng had tendencies toward homosexuality, they had done no wrong. Li Hui had been judged unfairly because of his appearance. None of them deserved to die.

The true harm to Liang Lanjun and Zhao Yue had come from Gong Zhao and Qian Ying of Yongheng Group. They were too cowardly to strike at those in power, too weak and despicable.

But when the truth could no longer be concealed, they hoped to take the fall for each other. They hadn't come together because of love, but at this moment, they must have loved each other.

Unfortunately, they hadn't been more honest about this love. If they had realized each other's feelings earlier, perhaps they could have been bound by it, and perhaps they wouldn't have been destroyed by hatred after Liu Xiang's death, committing such heinous acts.

But reality doesn’t have "what ifs." Their lives couldn’t start over, and neither could the three victims.

Hai Shu sighed and continued reviewing the files.

Recently, she had been handling many cases. Old cases piled on top of new ones, but the Criminal Investigation Team only needed to submit closing reports for three missing person cases — which had now become serial murders — and the cases of Wan Zeyu and Yuan Zhong.

She had complete evidence for all these cases, ensuring the prosecutor couldn't find any faults. However, the Yue Sheng Mountain Villa was fraught with problems. It was a place providing special services for middle-aged and elderly psychological deviants. They had already found over ten bodies. Guang Yongjun admitted to his crimes and revealed many clients, but he refused to talk about where the bodies in the B-pit came from. The police also hadn’t been able to trace who sent the mysterious emails.

Someone was watching Guang Yongjun and Yue Sheng Mountain Villa. Clearly, the person watching was behind Guang Yongjun. Guang Yongjun had been pushed out, but he refused — or rather, was too afraid — to reveal anything about the other party.

Hai Shu had the intention to join the investigation of Yue Sheng Mountain Villa, but not now. She had just been transferred to Huiyong City, and a seemingly simple case in Zhou Ping Town had already consumed so much time. Although her superiors supported her and her colleagues were helpful, there would inevitably be some behind-the-scenes calculation. The immediate priority was to close the cases in hand perfectly.

As night fell, the sounds of footsteps in the corridor, either light or hurried, gradually faded. Hai Shu stared at one line in the file and suddenly realized a problem: Yin Canxi hadn’t appeared in a while.

She should have reported to the city bureau after the Spring Festival, but she had suddenly received a call from her former informant, Yin Canxi, saying that she had gotten married and hoped Hai Shu could attend the wedding.

Hai Shu had come to Huiyong City early because of Yin Canxi. And because she was the first to arrive at the crime scene, Wan Zeyu’s case was quickly handed over to the Criminal Investigation Team.

If it hadn’t been for that, the case might still be unsolved.

It wasn’t because she was overly arrogant and thought other police officers were less capable. It was that in normal circumstances, cases in the town were investigated by local police. If that didn’t work, they would be transferred to the precinct, and only after that would they go to the city bureau. In this process, some key clues often disappeared.

Hai Shu stood up, holding her teacup, and recalled the timeline.

Whether Yin Canxi worked as an informant for her or married Guang Jun back in her hometown, it had all been to uncover the truth behind Xu Qiao's disappearance. Yin Canxi had come very close to the truth — she had traced Guang Jun as the person who coveted Xu Qiao and caused her death. However, Xu Qiao's body wasn’t where Guang Jun had said it would be.

Hai Shu's brows furrowed slightly. Having already gotten this far, Yin Canxi must care more about where Xu Qiao's body was than the police did. She had thought Yin Canxi would frequently appear in the police's sight, inquiring about the investigation's progress, but Yin Canxi seemed to have suddenly lost interest.

The crimes at Yue Sheng Mountain Villa were exposed because of Liu Xiang, and Guang Yongjun admitted that he had taken Xu Qiao's body. DNA testing had confirmed it. Hai Shu had planned to inform Yin Canxi, but Yin’s family said they didn’t know where she had gone.

She tried calling Yin Canxi, but the phone kept showing that it was off.

At that time, she didn’t have the energy to consider what had happened to Yin Canxi and had to temporarily set it aside. Now that the case had been solved, thinking back on Yin Canxi, she felt that there were many mysteries surrounding this woman, and the more she thought about it, the stranger it seemed.

Yin Canxi didn’t seem to have anything to do with the cases. She was just obsessed with finding the person who harmed Xu Qiao. But her presence was so strong that Hai Shu couldn’t ignore her.

She dialed the number stored in her phone again, and heard the same mechanical female voice as before: "The number you dialed is not available."

Saving the file and shutting down the computer, Hai Shu decided to go back to Zhou Ping Town the next day. Yin Canxi had become a point of suspicion for her, and if she didn’t find an answer, she couldn’t calmly submit the case closure report.

However, the next morning, someone unexpected showed up at the city bureau.

Sheng Kuiyan, the founder of Kuiyan Technology, and also a former classmate of Liang Lanjun and Ju Ning. Hai Shu had heard this name multiple times during her investigation. Ju Ning referred to him as a genius, and the Agricultural College still displayed his honors. Yet, whether it was the disputes from back then or the current case, he had no direct involvement.

Sheng Kuiyan didn’t have the weathered look of Liang Lanjun nor the deliberately graceful demeanor of Ju Ning. His hair was grayish-white, his build thin, with sharp features that didn’t seem old at all but rather had a stylish air.

"I heard my old classmate made a mistake, and I wanted to come see if there's anything I can do to help," Sheng Kuiyan said, with an expression of regret. "I feel sorry for the victims."

Both Liang Lanjun and Zhao Yue had made it clear that they didn’t need a lawyer and were seeking death, and the crimes they had committed were certainly hard to escape the death penalty. Hai Shu spoke with Sheng Kuiyan for a while and learned that he hadn’t seen Liang Lanjun since their days at Huiyong University.

Sheng Kuiyan sighed, saying he had always admired Liang Lanjun’s dedication to learning, but when Liang Lanjun and Ju Ning were competing for a spot, he had been a poor student and couldn’t help. Over the years, whenever he thought of that, he felt regret.

As for offering legal aid to Liang Lanjun, Hai Shu had no say, but Sheng Kuiyan thanked her and said he would do his best.

Looking at Sheng Kuiyan's retreating figure, Hai Shu was momentarily lost in thought. She felt that this man must have a story to tell.

As Wen Xu was heading upstairs, he ran into Sheng Kuiyan coming down. Just as they were about to pass each other, he said, "Sheng Kuiyan?"

Sheng Kuiyan stopped and nodded kindly. "Officer, hello."

"Hello," Wen Xu nodded back. He had seen this person both on TV and in Sui Xing's investigative materials. What caught his attention was that they both came from the same place, Hanyuan City.

"Is there something?" Sheng Kuiyan asked.

Wen Xu realized his greeting had been rather abrupt, shook his head, and made a gesture, indicating for him to go on.

Sheng Kuiyan smiled and walked away.

After taking care of matters at the city bureau, Hai Shu drove to Zhou Ping Town.

Zhou Ping Town had been through so much, and the glass factory was gradually resuming operations. People were still talking about Liang Lanjun, Zhao Yue, and the Guang Yongguo family.

Hai Shu drove past the commercial street, and the door to Yin Canxi's cosmetics store was tightly shut. She got out of the car and asked a neighboring business owner, who said that Yin Canxi hadn't opened since the Spring Festival and was probably no longer in business.

Hai Shu then went to the Yin family home. Yin’s father and mother awkwardly greeted her. Yin Canxi's younger brother had already gone out of town for work.

"Is Yin Canxi not at home recently?" Hai Shu asked.

Yin's father shook his head, saying that Yin Canxi had been unpredictable in her actions these past years, leaving whenever she wanted. "I thought she was working with you guys on the case."

Hai Shu replied, "She wasn't working with me."

Yin's father complained a bit more, then said, "We just don’t understand what she's thinking. One minute she's going to marry Guang Jun, the next minute she's investigating how Xu Qiao died. Sigh, she didn’t even know Xu Qiao when she was little!"

A sudden jolt of realization ran down Hai Shu's spine. She understood where that sense of conflict came from. Yin Canxi had always said her family was biased against women, that Xu Qiao had given her warmth. But before the wedding, Hai Shu had felt that Yin Canxi's parents did care for her. Yin Canxi’s younger brother, who she often complained about, seemed to be an ordinary person, hardworking and diligent. On the night of the incident, when Yin Canxi had gone to the police station, it was her brother who had come to pick her up.

Hai Shu said, "But Yin Canxi said she often went to Xu Qiao's house to play, and Xu Qiao even lent her a dress."

Yin's mother thought for a moment. "No, it’s not like we never bought her dresses. She must be talking about Jia Jia. That child was always being bullied when she was little. Xu Qiao helped Jia Jia."

Hai Shu quickly asked, "And where is Jia Jia now?"

Yin's mother sighed. "From what Canxi said, she disappeared not long after she went out."