Volume One, Chapter 5: Evil Intentions (04)

According to the case files, at 6:00 AM on May 19, 2022, an elderly woman out for a morning exercise discovered a male corpse with a mangled, unrecognizable face at the Binhai Company grounds.

Police quickly cordoned off the scene, awaiting the arrival of local criminal investigators and forensic pathologists. The body was found with its lower body exposed, pants pulled down to the knees, and the face had been struck multiple times, causing severe deformation and exposing the skull. Blood and brain matter were scattered in droplets across the grass, already semi-coagulated by the time of discovery.

Not far from the body lay a bloodstained shovel, which forensic experts later identified as the murder weapon. This shovel was a piece of planting equipment from the "Planting Love Trees" matchmaking event held that day; a set of fingerprints was recovered from its handle.

Shortly thereafter, members of the public found a woman nearby who had fallen into a coma. Her clothes were torn in several places, leaving her partially exposed. Upon being hospitalized, it was discovered that she had multiple abrasions on her body, and semen from the deceased victim was found inside her. However, the fingerprints on the murder weapon did not match hers.

When the woman eventually regained consciousness, she kept muttering, "Don't come over," "Murder," and "Blood." She was unable to respond to police questioning, remaining in a state of mental confusion.

Ultimately, investigations confirmed the identities of the deceased man and the woman; they were both registered with the Civil Affairs Bureau as transient beggars. The deceased, Wang Bo, was a homeless individual, while the woman suffered from severe mental illness. Based on the case analysis, it was concluded that Wang Bo had been attempting to assault the woman when a passerby intervened, using the shovel to strike him repeatedly in the face until he died.

After finishing the thick case file, it hit me. That passerby was He Hui.

He Hui was soon summoned to the detachment. Although I had seen her just the day before, her state shocked me. Her hair was disheveled, loosely tied at the ends with a rubber band. She wore pajama bottoms with a coat thrown over her pajama top, looking as if she had just crawled out of bed.

I felt a pang of distress for the child in her womb—a life destined for hardship before it was even born. I wanted to offer a word of caution, but as a police officer, I held my tongue.

"He Hui, where were you on May 18 and 19, 2022?" the officer in charge of the interrogation asked, getting straight to the point.

She sat motionless in the interrogation chair, her gaze unfocused. Just as the interrogator was about to repeat the question, a faint voice replied: "I killed him."

Her admission was crisp and clear, but her account of the incident was fragmented, interrupted by moments of dissociation that required others to pull her back. It felt as if she were a sleepwalker. On the surveillance footage, one could see dense beads of sweat on her forehead, as if the act had required a tremendous amount of effort.

The entire case unfolded much as the police had hypothesized. As for why she did not stay at the scene to wait for the police, she explained that she had been "too terrified by killing someone for the first time." Since then, she had been plagued by nightmares every night.

That explained the long-term insomnia and the look on her face.

Due to various factors, the case was ultimately closed with a decision not to prosecute. He Hui showed no surprise or relief at this outcome; she merely projected a sense of indifference and hopelessness.

***

Immediately after the interrogation, Li Pingping came rushing in like a whirlwind. Perhaps because she was outnumbered by our team, she did not cause a scene this time and appeared relatively respectful. The lingering frustration I had felt from our previous encounters vanished, and I felt a sense of relief.

However, the first time He Hui saw Li Pingping, as she leaned on her for support, a flash of subtle malice crossed her expression. It happened so quickly that I wasn't sure if it was just my imagination. I knew I had to investigate Li Pingping further.

The detachment synchronized the latest investigation findings. Having ruled out motives involving insurance fraud or inheritance, Old Cui and I had not uncovered anything more substantial. The team was considering closing the case.

Before bed, I looked in the mirror and noticed my dark circles were getting worse. That night, I felt a hazy sensation in my brain, as if another person had gained control of this body and soul, organizing all the information regarding the Zhou Daliang case. They were filed onto mental shelves, and on a whiteboard in my mind, diagrams were drawn and clues were written down:

My best friend told me her boyfriend was cheating;
I argued with my own boyfriend and said I would cancel our registration on May 20;
That night, I killed a beastly man;
...

When I woke up the next day, I still had a faint impression of the character relationship maps and mind maps I had drawn in my sleep, so I quickly recorded them.

At the office, desperate to sort through these thoughts, I stepped into Old Cui's office. When I laid out my deductive clues before him, I reached a conclusion: He Hui had planned to kill her husband from the very beginning of their marriage.

Old Cui pondered the deductions for a long time before replying, "I fully agree with everything you've said. She is indeed highly suspicious of murdering her husband. However, if that is the case, she is a meticulous killer, and it will be difficult for us to find corroborating evidence."

"If she doesn't commit another crime, it seems this is where things must end," he said, shaking his head with a helpless sigh.

*No,* I thought to myself, *based on what I know of her, she will never just stop here.*

Afterward, based on her residency information, I called Li Pingping to arrange a meeting. Hearing her voice on the other end, I felt a weight lift off my chest. My intuition had been warning me that she might be in danger.

***

At 5:30 PM, I waited for Li Pingping downstairs at her apartment after she got off work. She opened the door, and as I followed her inside, a small white cat circled our feet, meowing incessantly.

Li Pingping immediately went to change the cat's water and add food. Only after the cat was settled did she go to boil water and make me a cup of tea. Looking around, her home was not particularly tidy; the small space was crammed with belongings.

Holding the teacup with both hands, she said, "He Hui's in-laws are just causing trouble because they want to divide Zhou Daliang's inheritance. No matter how much you police investigate, it's always the same."

"Sigh, poor Zhou Daliang. Such a happy, perfect family—gone in an instant. You can only imagine how difficult things will be for Huihui from now on. She has truly suffered endlessly since she was a child."

I seized the opportunity and asked, "Did she suffer a lot as a child?"

She looked at me and said, "Life is bitter for many people. Stop hounding Huihui."

I said, "I heard you mention that Zhou Daliang was cheating."

She replied, "That's not true. I saw with my own eyes how well Zhou Daliang treated Huihui."

I said, "But you said you saw it with your own eyes."

She paused, then said, "Human relationships are truly complicated; they never seem to be that pure. That day... I don't even remember what I said."

She sighed softly and added, "Sometimes, I wish I could turn into a cat, being gently stroked on the head."

I said, "So you are lonely, envious, and even resentful."

She didn't speak again, instead saying, "Isn't that normal?"

After a vague and confusing conversation, I left her home around 9:00 PM. I hadn't walked more than a few steps from the residential complex when I actually ran into He Hui.

She explained that she had come to check on Li Pingping. Perhaps because we were standing too close, our shadows under the streetlights were both elongated, intertwining for a moment like a net. He Hui remarked that she hadn't realized how late it was and planned to visit her friend tomorrow, asking if I could give her a ride.

Deep inside, my instincts sounded a desperate, rhythmic warning: *beep... beep... beep...*