Chapter 3
Edward Quan ·
9
His voice was unmistakably panicked.
“Old Lin... he's contacted me.”
He Ze said the man had given him three days to confess.
Otherwise, he'd hand the evidence to the police.
“Don't be afraid,” I reassured him. “He hasn't got any evidence.”
I told him everything that had happened on the drive and what Liang Bo's letter said.
It didn't calm him.
“He has evidence!”
My phone chimed.
He Ze sent a photograph.
One glance froze the blood in my veins.
The place was all too familiar.
Our school's roof.
Where we'd pushed Huo Ran off.
The photograph was blurry, but I could vaguely make out a boy gripping a girl's throat.
In the darkness, a luminous ring on his hand glowed green.
He Ze.
He'd threatened her that way that night, saying he'd strangle her if she kept refusing.
I hadn't been there then.
I wasn't in the photograph.
Later, to avoid leaving fingerprints, he'd carefully wiped her neck with a wet cloth before pushing her off.
Looking back, perhaps he'd intended to kill her from the beginning.
I swallowed nervously.
“Could it be...”
“No,” he immediately said. “Even if the photograph was staged later, he must have seen my ring that night. He knows it was me.”
He sighed.
“Old Lin... we've been exposed.”
Only then did I realize I'd underestimated this person.
He'd been careful enough not to tell Liang Bo the truth.
Why?
Afraid Liang Bo would be impatient and lose his composure?
Or did he know Liang Bo was close to me and wouldn't resist confronting me?
No.
Neither.
Perhaps he'd seen two people at the scene, but it had been too dark to identify the other one.
That was why he'd staged this performance for Liang Bo: to observe He Ze's reaction.
Hearing it, He Ze would instinctively look at his accomplice.
Just as I'd looked at him tonight.
Damn it!
We'd given ourselves away!
10
“Old Lin? Say something.”
I irritably crushed out my cigarette.
“What else did you talk about?”
“He said I had three days. If I don't confess, I can wait to pay with my life.”
Three days.
Three days again.
The familiar phrase brought Huo Ran to mind.
Did this person really know everything?
But things were different from fifteen years ago.
He was hidden. We were exposed.
There was no opportunity to silence him.
“Fuck it. Maybe we should just turn ourselves in.”
He Ze's voice came clearly through the phone.
“No!”
The reply was almost instinctive.
“Why not? Prison's better than death. You really want to die for that bitch? You've got a wife. I'm still fucking single.”
He could say “turn ourselves in” so easily because he knew that even after a few years in prison, mountains of money would be waiting.
His father doted on him. With enough favors called in, he might even get him acquitted.
I was different!
Prison would end everything.
Not just my job.
My family would suffer too.
My daughter was only five.
Branded a murderer's child, she'd be despised, isolated, and bullied all her life.
The thought crushed my heart like countless cars running over it, until I couldn't breathe.
I truly didn't understand.
Fifteen years had passed.
Huo Ran might have been reincarnated several times by now.
Why dredge it up?
Even if we went to prison, even if we paid with our lives, would she come back?
The dead were dead.
Couldn't they let the living have a little peace?
Selfish bastard!
I wouldn't let him destroy my life.
“Fuck, say something! Why are you so quiet? When we killed Huo Ran, you even—”
I cut him off without hesitation.
“We'll talk in person. I'm coming over. I've thought of a way.”
11
On the drive to his house, I gradually calmed down.
There really were only two possible endings.
Prison.
Or death.
But we didn't both have to die.
If He Ze died, no one would know I'd helped kill Huo Ran that night.
As for the person behind it all...
I instinctively glanced at my phone.
Ten minutes earlier, an unknown number had messaged me.
【Someone has to pay for Huo Ran with their life, don't they?】
I understood.
He was giving me the choice.
Kill He Ze.
Or wait to be killed.
Naturally, I chose the first.
Of course, I wasn't stupid enough to make the police suspect me.
In recent years, He Ze had picked up every vice imaginable.
To keep people from getting anything on him, he'd deliberately bought an isolated hillside villa.
No cameras nearby.
As long as I left no evidence, no one would know I'd killed him.
Besides, disappearing for a while was nothing unusual for him.
And Mr. He...
I didn't think he'd dare let the police investigate his son's death.
There were other sons.
But if his company's reputation collapsed, he'd lose everything.
As for that other man...
I tightened my grip on the wheel.
Once I'd dealt with He Ze, I'd find a way to meet him.
Only the dead could truly keep a secret.
It was half past two when I reached the villa.
All was quiet, apart from the occasional insect.
Carrying the bottle of wine I'd already drugged, I whistled and knocked.
After tonight, it would all be over.
Smoke filled the living room.
Cigarette ends nearly overflowed the ashtray.
The moment I sat, he demanded, “What's your plan?”
I picked up the corkscrew on the coffee table and slowly opened the farewell wine I'd prepared for him.
“Remember what you said when Huo Ran gave us three days?”
“Kill her?”
I nodded and handed him the bottle.
Without hesitation, he tipped it up and drank.
“We don't even know who he is. How are we supposed to kill him?”
I silently breathed out.
Now I only had to wait for the drug.
“It doesn't matter that we don't know yet. We can lure him out.
“He doesn't know I was the other person who killed Huo Ran. Use that as bait to make him show himself.
“As for what comes next... I don't need to teach you, do I?”
12
He Ze smashed the glass in his hand onto the floor.
The shattering sound was piercing.
“Motherfucker! If he dares threaten me, he can't blame me for being ruthless!”
He took out his phone to send a message.
After tapping a few times, he stopped.
He looked between me and the phone in disbelief.
“What?”
His stare made me uneasy.
Had he noticed something?
Had the other man said something he shouldn't?
Without waiting for an answer, I stepped forward to snatch the phone.
He leaned away and backed up.
“Old Lin... are you hiding something from me?”
My heart tightened.
Damn it.
Had that man really told him everything?
It didn't matter.
The drug would take effect soon.
A little earlier or later, he'd die anyway.
My fists clenched instinctively.
Then He Ze asked, “Are you planning to leave me to kill him alone? I'm telling you, we're doing this together. Don't think you can stay out of it.”
I breathed out in relief.
I shouldn't expect too much of an idiot interested only in drink and women.
“What are you thinking?” I smiled. “Of course we'll deal with him together.”
“Good!”
He came over and held out his phone.
“Is this all right to send?”
I glanced at it and nodded vaguely before even reading it properly.
“I'm going for a piss. We'll wait for his reply.”
He casually took the wine bottle and drank as he walked.
Ten minutes later, he staggered downstairs.
“Fuck... I'm drunk. He says tomorrow afternoon.”
My phone immediately vibrated.
The same number.
【Make your choice before tomorrow afternoon.】
13
I'd never intended to let He Ze live through the night.
Thud!
He fell heavily.
His hands kept striking his temples, trying to stay conscious.
His increasingly unfocused eyes told me he was nearly finished.
I unhurriedly put on gloves, went over, and lifted his chin.
“Where's your medication?”
He had severe diabetes.
Drunkenly injecting too much insulin and dying...
A perfect death scene.
It had happened before.
Without getting to hospital in time, he'd have died long ago.
He still hadn't grasped the seriousness of it.
He kept waving his hands.
“No... that's not it. Just give me water.”
After the whole night's ordeal, my patience was gone.
“Last time. Where's your medication?”
My grip tightened.
He cried out in pain.
“In... in the refrigerator upstairs.
“Old Lin... are you going to kill me?”
I nodded.
“You were the one who pushed Huo Ran. If someone has to pay, it should be you.
“I was only an accomplice at most.
“And since I'd saved her once... that cancels out my earlier wrongdoing.”
As I stood, he grabbed my clothes with all his remaining strength.
“Please... don't... don't do this to me...”
His eyes were red.
Fear mingled with the pleading in them.
The sight carried me back many years.
That night, she too had begged me like this.
Not to do it.
To let her go.
For a blurred instant...