Chapter 5

Let the heroine be my scapegoat.

I could savor her punishment again and again, feeling as though I were being punished in some parallel world.

It eased the psychological strain of my crimes.

Very therapeutic.

The films were strictly confidential, part of my private collection, never released.

My fellow patients were like family. They would never betray me.

Neon lights flashed in the provincial capital, illuminating the fashionable young men and women in the central business district.

At eleven that night, a woman in a black coat strolled into a busy nightclub.

There she met a blonde who called herself Yiyi.

She knew the young woman wasn’t the real Yiyi, only an impostor.

The impostor had become addicted to using another person’s name.

Eight years had passed since the university entrance exams, yet she still couldn’t bring herself to reclaim her own.

After her father, Gray Owl, died, her life had gone downhill fast.

People accustomed to living off their parents often struggle to adapt when that support disappears.

To maintain her comfortable lifestyle, she would do anything—skirt the law, sell whatever she had.

The woman in black and the blonde chatted happily, as though they’d hit it off at once.

Finally, the woman in black arranged to meet her an hour later on the roof of a nearby high-rise for “a little excitement.”

The price was two thousand yuan.

“A big spender. The three of us can have some fun.”

That was what the woman in black said.

At midnight sharp, a young body tore through the darkness and struck the ground.

Blood splashed like a vivid fountain.

Blonde hair spread over the bloody flowers.

Police sirens shrilled. Flashing red and blue lights soon surrounded the scene, and cordon tape stretched around it.

Preliminary inquiries identified the dead woman as Yiyi, a young woman who had fallen into sex work.

Her records showed that she had once scored brilliantly in the university entrance exams and entered the best university in the province.

How had she ended up here?

On the night she died, a woman in black had invited her to a rooftop. They were supposedly going to sell sex together for two thousand yuan each.

But no “big spender” waited on that roof.

It was a death trap.

When the woman in black appeared, she said nothing. She suddenly thrust out both hands and pushed Yiyi over the edge.

Surveillance footage showed her afterward, perched sideways on the rooftop ledge, swinging her legs and calmly touching up her makeup in a little mirror.

The interrogation-room lights were painfully bright.

“That’s everything I have to confess.”

“Why did you push her?”

The officer stared sharply at the woman in black.

“No reason.”

She was perfectly calm.

After a day of questioning, the officers’ mouths were dry, but they had still failed to extract a motive.

Finally, they asked her to sign that day’s statement.

The woman in black carefully wrote her name.

Yang Li.

Yangjia Village.

Moonlight scattered over the leaves, clear and shimmering as a stream.

I sat quietly on the hillside, watching a new apartment building rise across from me.

After Yangjia Village’s demolition project was suspended, the land had been reclaimed for a new plan. Ultimately, the decision was made to rebuild on the original site so that the residents could return.

Yang Xinghua’s health had improved with treatment.

Losing his tongue had left him unable to speak, but fortunately his wife and son were still beside him. The three of them, all unable to speak, supported one another through an ordinary but happy life.

In another year, they would move into their new home and start again.

Sadly, Yang Li, his daughter by his former wife, was now in prison.

Under the moonlight, my first conversation with her echoed in my ears.

“What do you want me to do?”

“Find my real father and work out what happened. Can you?”

“Yes.”

“How much?”

“How much can you pay?”

“Five hundred thousand yuan.”

I raised an eyebrow.

“That much?”

“My mother died last year. Then I found out I had cancer. I don’t have much time left. All I want is to see my father once before I die. I sold my home. I have a million yuan. Find him, and I’ll give you half. I want to leave the rest for his retirement.”

I considered it.

“I don’t want your money. Kill someone for me. Would you?”

I gave her the identity of the fake Ye Yi.

She stared at me in astonishment, then finally nodded.

I didn’t want to do it myself.

Because I loved freedom.

Every person I killed increased my risk of losing it.

I was antisocial, not against the world itself.

I loved the world. I loved life.

I would live forever!

The closing music played. The episode ended.

Lily and I sat on the sofa, each holding a bucket of fries, looking at the projection screen and reflecting on what we’d just watched.

“Not bad,” Lily said. “That’s how I killed her. The way you taught me. I left the scene very clean. She was filthy, covered in sweat. After I pushed her off, I wiped my gloves twice with disinfectant wipes.”

“I don’t have much experience killing people,” I said with a smile, “but I have a gift for it.”

“Touching up your makeup really does help with the nerves afterward. Useful trick,” Lily said. “There’s something I don’t understand, though. Why did you write me as a cancer patient? My mother isn’t dead either. And I wasn’t arrested, so why make up the interrogation? Sounds like bad luck.”

“The scapegoat effect.”

“What does that mean?”

“The Yang Li in the story takes the punishment and suffering for you. The real Yang Lili gets to live a happy, carefree life without any burden.”

Lily looked at me and smiled as understanding dawned. We understood each other.

When Yang Xinghua was rescued from the psychiatric hospital, the abuse had left him barely recognizable. He had lost his tongue and could no longer speak.

“Dad was such an honest, kind man. His smile was beautiful, bright as July sunshine. He always told me that even though he and Mom had divorced, he’d always be my father, and his home would always be mine.

“But now he’ll never smile again. He can’t even speak. I’ll never hear him call me his little Li again.”

When Lily brought me her thank-you letter, she poured out her feelings through tears.

Fury burned inside her.

The anguish had twisted something in her. She had to let the hatred out, or it would choke her.

So she had made a decision.

She would kill her father’s enemy herself and avenge him.

She asked me who was behind it.

“The mastermind was Gray Owl,” I told her. “I’ve already killed him. The other accomplices have been arrested.”

For a moment, she looked both relieved and disappointed.

Relieved that her enemy was dead.

Disappointed that she couldn’t kill him herself and vent her hatred.

“But I still want to kill someone!”

Tears streamed down her face as she slammed her fist on the desk.

“How dare they do that to my dad! Did they think I was dead? I want to kill someone. I can’t stand it anymore!”

My eyes lit up. An idea came to me.

“If you really can’t hold back, kill someone for me.”

“Who?”

“An enemy of mine. A woman who calls herself Ye Yi. But think carefully. Once you’ve killed someone, you’ll be like me.”

“All right!”

Lily agreed at once, excitement flashing in her eyes.

Smiling, I opened my arms to her.

“Welcome to the lunatics’ club!”

Boom!

A deafening explosion sent a ball of fire billowing into the sky.

The empty Hanshan Psychiatric Hospital was swallowed by flames and reduced to rubble.

It had hidden countless crimes and trampled countless souls.

At last, I had utterly destroyed this hell on earth.

I stood on the roof opposite, quietly watching the explosion I had caused. Hot sparks drifted toward me on the wind like scarlet rose petals.

Police sirens sounded in the distance, drawing nearer.

The closing music played.

Golden words appeared in the center of the screen:

THE END.

In the end, all the criminals were arrested, brought to justice and duly punished.

—Yan Er, Thirty-Two Patients

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