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墨書 Inktalez
Countless Lights, yet this room is pitch black. It feels as if we are living in different worlds, completely disconnected from the chaos outside. The reason people share their miseries with others is not because they trust them, but because those others are equally miserable.
Those who are equally wretched, those who are deeply flawed, often see in each other the aspects of themselves that they have never acknowledged. It turns out there are people in this world who are worse off than you, and you watch them, satisfying that dwindling bit of vanity and pride within yourself.
The insecure are all self-important; we are all the same.
After five minutes, we put on another face, as if that would help us forget how disheveled we had just been. I feigned nonchalance and said, “To find my parents and learn about their fate, I first need to locate Lai San. To find Lai San, I must find Wu Zui. I suspect Guan Zengbin's disappearance is connected to Wu Zui.”
“First, we need to find Guan Zengbin.” I looked at Zhao Mingkun.
“Your girlfriend?” Zhao Mingkun asked.
I had no response. Suddenly, I remembered that both Guan Zengbin and Captain Shao wanted to apprehend Zhao Mingkun quickly to finally put an end to what happened seven years ago. And now I was going to search for Guan Zengbin with her enemy. Sometimes, this world truly is unfathomable.
I said, “There must be someone else pulling the strings behind this case. When I confronted Murderer, he was evasive about certain matters. Especially when the King of Hell wanted to kill me, another Uncle Personality interrupted him during their conversation. In that dialogue, I sensed the presence of another force.”
Furrowing my brow, I rested my chin on my hand: “It has to be like this. Including what I saw underground with Wu Zui, that might really be him. He told me that the real game is just beginning, but what kind of game is it? What else do you know about Wu Zui?”
Zhao Mingkun was silent for a moment before finally sighing and saying, “According to my investigation, Wu Zui grew up mingling with Criminals.”
I waved my hand dismissively and said, “If someone didn’t know better, they might think you’re talking about me.”
My words seemed to trigger something in Zhao Mingkun. She gathered the two bowls of porridge we had nearly finished into a plastic bag and then placed that bag into another one before speaking to me: “Yes, Wu Zui is quite similar to you. Like you, he grew up among Criminals. But unlike you, he didn’t have a Warden father to guide him; he had no one.”
“What is good and what is evil? What is right and what is wrong?” Zhao Mingkun continued: “Different people have different perspectives on these matters. And for Wu Zui, he was taught by those Criminals to become one himself. At the age of seven, he pushed someone off the Sixth Floor just to compete for a so-called girlfriend with his classmates.”
"To avoid suspicion, he jumped down himself." Zhao Mingkun said word by word, "However, his classmate died on the spot, while he fell on top of his classmate, only breaking a leg and an arm. After the police investigation, it was concluded that the two had accidentally fallen while playing around on the rooftop. No one would have thought that a seven-year-old child could harbor such evil within."
My heart stirred with Zhao Mingkun's words; evil had taken root in a person's heart and thrived for twenty years. What kind of wicked tree would that be?
Zhao Mingkun continued, "In his teenage years, Wu Zui felt his pocket money was insufficient, so he decided to earn some extra cash. If it were you, what would you do?"
"Get a job?" I replied, but then shook my head. "But no one would hire child labor."
Zhao Mingkun raised a finger and shook it. "Although you all grew up with Criminals and are well-versed in countless criminal techniques, one person uses this to catch Criminals while another uses it to commit crimes. Even if someone employed child labor, Wu Zui wouldn't go for that; earning money that way is just too slow."
"In middle school, Wu Zui observed a classmate who wore all brand-name clothes and concluded that this classmate must come from a wealthy family. So, Wu Zui used various means to get close to him, such as helping him out and finding him a girlfriend, eventually becoming his best friend."
"And then?" I asked.
Zhao Mingkun replied, "As friends, the classmate often invited Wu Zui over to his house and frequently bought him things. But Wu Zui was not satisfied; that way of making money was still too slow. After months of observation, Wu Zui discovered a pattern: every Friday afternoon, the classmate's father would definitely come home drunk."
"So, Wu Zui came up with a plan," Zhao Mingkun said. "At that time, Wu Zui had a girlfriend. One afternoon, he took her out for lunch and got her drunk. Afterward, he took a taxi to his classmate's house. There were many rooms in the house; he casually placed his girlfriend in one room to sleep while he played computer games."
At this point, I had already vaguely guessed how things would unfold next.
She continued, "Sure enough, that afternoon the classmate's father came home drunk again and went to sleep in his room. Wu Zui used the excuse of going to the bathroom to place his girlfriend on the classmate's father's bed. Under the influence of alcohol, they did everything they shouldn't have."
I spoke up, "So, Wu Zui used this to hold something over the classmate's father? Threatening him for money?"
"That's why you're not Wu Zui," Zhao Mingkun said.
“Is there anything else?” I asked, puzzled.
Zhao Mingkun nodded and said, “That’s right. Just relying on that wouldn’t make the classmate’s father obedient. So, Wu Zui smothered his girlfriend to death with a towel he had brought from home. Then, he placed the classmate’s father on top of his girlfriend’s body.”
Hearing this, a chill ran down my spine. If an adult could do such a thing, it might be understandable. But for a teenager, barely in his teens, to be so calculating was truly terrifying.
Zhao Mingkun smiled slightly and continued, “After doing all this, he hid everything away. To prove he wasn’t at the scene, he deliberately soiled his pants. When his classmate thought too much time had passed and went looking for him, he was still in the bathroom washing his pants.”
“The classmate laughed at him for a long time, and Wu Zui even pleaded with him not to go out. The two continued playing games until it got dark, and Wu Zui never once mentioned his girlfriend or the classmate’s father. It was only when the classmate sensed something was off—having slept all afternoon without any noise—that he decided to check upstairs.”
“So, it was Wu Zui’s classmate who discovered what had happened first.” Zhao Mingkun shrugged. “Everything that followed fell into place. The classmate’s father also believed he had killed the girl, and as a result, Wu Zui received a hefty sum for silence. After hiding that money away, Wu Zui immediately reported the incident to the police.”
I paused for a moment before speaking. “Wu Zui reported it himself?”
Zhao Mingkun nodded. “When the police investigated, they found only two sets of footprints at the scene. Wu Zui had covered his tracks perfectly; after moving his girlfriend inside, he remembered to take her shoes too, creating the illusion that she had walked there on her own. After reporting it, Wu Zui even willingly testified that the classmate’s father had returned home drunk and was not in a clear state of mind.”
“And so, an unintentional homicide case was established,” Zhao Mingkun said. “Since the act wasn’t committed with intent to kill, the punishment wasn’t too severe. But if he hadn’t reported it and instead hidden the body, things would have been much murkier later on.”
Zhao Mingkun added, “Later on, the classmate’s father even thanked Wu Zui in person. If it weren’t for him, he might have faced the death penalty.”
An image of a criminal youth formed in my mind—a teenager filled with cunning who would stop at nothing to get what he wanted. Even his girlfriend could be so easily discarded without a second thought. And afterward, there was no sign of remorse; instead, he seemed to take pleasure in it.
Such a person was truly frightening. And after seven or eight years had passed, what kind of person would Wu Zui have become?
“Later on, Wu Zui burned all the money he had received,” Zhao Mingkun said as he looked at me.
"Burning the money?" I couldn't understand. "Isn't killing for money the point? Why burn the money after getting it?"
Zhao Mingkun sighed and repeated, "That's why you are not Wu Zui, and no one else can be Wu Zui either. At first, he did it for the money, but during the process of committing the crime, Wu Zui realized that the outcome wasn't the most important thing. What he enjoyed more was the act of committing the crime itself."
"The carefulness during the murder, the relief of a successful kill, the thrill of outsmarting the police, and the nonchalance of escaping suspicion—that's what ignites his passion. The process is what excites him the most."
Zhao Mingkun's expression darkened as he said, "The reason he burned the money is that he wants to continue committing crimes. The money is just an accessory; what he is infatuated with is the act itself. Your Shao Shilin refers to such people as..."
"Criminally insane."
I almost spoke in unison with Zhao Mingkun.
"But how do you know all this in such detail? It's as if you were there at the time." I furrowed my brows, looking at Zhao Mingkun, waiting for his answer.
Zhao Mingkun replied, "Because he told me himself."
"Told you himself?" I was filled with confusion and immediately asked, "So what is your relationship with Wu Zui?"
Zhao Mingkun stood firm and said word by word, "Because I am his sister, and he is also Shi Huacheng's adopted son. However, when my adoptive father took him in, he was already ten years old. At that time, Shi Huacheng was busy with human experiments and had no time to care for him; I was always the one looking after him."
"I just never expected him to turn out this way."
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