BXBX NOVEL Volume 2 Chapter 10
Volume 2 Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
“Yu!”
Yu immediately returned to his senses the moment he felt an abrupt pat on his shoulder. He turned around to see Yu Yin standing behind him with an expression of confusion. “What are you doing here? Come in and eat first.”
Yu Yin had just entered the living room after chilling the desserts and noticed that Yu still hadn’t come in. When he walked out to the entrance hall, he saw Yu standing at the doorway, already with his bag open and book taken out, in some kind of daze.
Yu turned and quickly shut the door. After placing the books down properly, he walked into the living room with his head down.
Yu Yin was completely unable to make any sense of Yu’s actions as he stared at the retreating figure for a while with a puzzled expression before following behind. “I put the puddings on the table along with the drinks from the food delivery.”
Yu sat down at the table with his gaze locked onto the puddings before reaching out to grab one a split second later.
Yu Yin sat on the other side.
The owner of the home returned probably around half an hour later.
“Your uncle’s group left. Ye Li Sheng was also brought back to the police station,” Yan Si blurted out the moment he walked in. “The inside of that cabinet also tested as positive for blood, so the owner was invited to the police station for a proper interrogation.”
“Is that so...” Yu Yin nodded. In actuality, he had roughly guessed that Ye Li Sheng was involved with Ye Xiao Xiang’s death, but he had this nagging feeling that something was wrong.
Would someone actually kill their biological daughter?
Especially when he doesn’t look like that type of person at all.
“What about the murder weapon?” He recalled that Ye Xiao Xiang had supposedly been killed with a blow from a heavy object.
“Wasn’t found, perhaps it was tossed.” Yan Si shrugged as he entered the living room. “How come you two didn’t eat first? It’s all gotten cold.” He opened the bags of food and began to take the entrees out one by one.
“Don’t you think it’s weird if we start eating by ourselves without the host?” Yu Yin chuckled from his seat at the table. He then tossed the change at him. “I also just thought of something. The last time we were here...which was also the day the body was discovered, we saw Mister Ye heading out to throw away a bunch of plastic bags, the really large, black-colored type trash bags. You later said that there were traces of being bound by bags on the body...I a.s.sume you get what I’m trying to say?”
Yan Si paused for a moment before slowly opened the boxes of food. “You mean to say that the reason we discovered so late was because he had placed it in the bags? As in, he only brought the body out that particular day to toss it?”
“Do you not think it’s possible?” Yu Yin glanced at him before pa.s.sing an entree over to Yu.
“It’s because I think it’s possible that I’m shocked. But it also would explain why I didn’t discover it if it was soaking for so long.” Yan Si immediately dialed a number on his cellphone as he gave a thumbs-up. “The disposal service our complex provides has non-working days: they come once every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday.”
In other words, it was likely that the bags were still in the disposal bins.
The line quickly connected, and Yan Si left his seat to stand next to the window while talking over matters with the other person.
“Yu, you still haven’t eaten?” Yu sat across him and seemed to be staring off blankly at a random spot on the table. Yu Yin reached a hand out to wave in front of his eyes.
As if waking up from a dream, Yu started suddenly and lowered his head to start eating mechanically.
Yu Yin grabbed one of the delivery-provided spoons to mix the exquisite food in the boxes while slowly pondering over what was fishy about the situation.
He really didn’t think Ye Li Sheng gave off the aura of a murderer.
But if he isn’t the murderer, then who is?
“Here’s some news.” Yan Si finished his call and walked back over to sit down with them. “Boss just gave me an update that the headless corpse is confirmed to be Ye Li Sheng’s wife. All possible tests have been completed, so there’s no doubt about it.”
In other words, there was over a month’s time between the deaths of Ye Li Sheng’s wife and his daughter.
“Then Ye Li Sheng was lying when he said his wife ran off with somebody else.” Yu Yin held the spoon between his fingers, his eyebrows furrowed.
He just couldn’t understand. If the wife really eloped with someone, then what role did the private investigator that Zhao Liang Yi had mentioned play?
She had gotten on the car. If she had really gone to have an affair, then the private investigator should’ve reported her as missing ages ago.
But if she wasn’t having an affair...
Then who was she spying on?
Or perhaps the one actually having an affair wasn’t Ye Li Sheng’s wife?
Yu Yin thought of multiple conjectures. As he thought about it more and more, he began to feel his body grow cold. There were some probable coincidences that made him think they had overlooked a possibility.
He felt that Ye Li Sheng hadn’t personally murdered anyone.
All that person had done was toss the body.
Yu Yin didn’t believe he had done anything else.
***
“Ye Li Sheng confessed to the murder.”
Yu Tong reported this news on the second evening following the search. It was 7 PM. The television was currently broadcasting on the evening news that the girl in the water tower and the headless corpse cases were officially resolved. All the residents that had been interviewed condemned the perpetrator as cruel and merciless, while also expressing extreme shock, constantly saying that it was impossible and so on.
Yu Yin, who had been watching the news in their living room, paused. He then looked up at the person that had just walked in. “He conceded to all of it?”
“Mmm, he conceded to all of it last night actually, since the evidence all matched up. Traces of Ye Xiao Xiang’s blood were also found in the trash bags from the disposal bins, and Ye Li Sheng’s fingerprints were also found on the bags, so he admitted to doing everything.” Yu Tong pulled off his tie as he pushed his gla.s.ses up and said, “He confessed that, because his wife had been having an affair, he momentarily lost rationale and cut her neck with a kitchen knife. After chopping off the head in the bathroom, he carried the body out to the city outskirts to discard it. Because he was in a hurry, he doesn’t remember where he tossed the head and the murder weapon. The police are currently widening their search perimeters for the murder weapon around where the body was found.”
Yu Yin exchanged glances with Yu. “Where did he cut his wife’s neck?”
“The kitchen. He said his wife had been making a late-night snack at the time.” Yu Tong brought his work bag into his room and changed out from his suit into a lighter T-shirt. As he walked back into the kitchen, he said, “After discarding the body, things calmed down for a while. Because he was afraid of being discovered, he bleached, disinfected, and used any other cleaning solutions he could find to completely clean the kitchen and bathroom, which is why we couldn’t find anything.”
Yu Yin stood up to follow him into the kitchen. He kept an eye on Yu, who was currently changing the channel, as he chatted, “Then why kill his daughter?”
“It seems it was also a moment of lost control. After killing his wife, he was unable to sleep for many days and his temperament grew short while he also resorted to drinking and such. Because his daughter annoyed him one day, he lost control and grabbed something to hit her on the head. Only later did he realise he had messed up again.” Yu Tong took some vegetables out from the fridge and began to prepare them with practiced movements. A clear soup had already been made earlier and was sitting on the stove. “He put his daughter’s body into trash bags and just wanted to throw it away, so he tossed it into the water tower on the rooftop. However, he worried about it for a few days, and ended up running back to take it out from the bags.”
Everything sounded reasonable.
That’s right, a bit too reasonable.
It just made Yu Yin feel more doubtful instead. “What does Uncle think?”
“Xia doesn’t think he’s lying. He pa.s.sed the lie detector as well, so what he’s saying is the truth. But forgetting where he tossed both the murder weapons has become a big issue. I’m sure the investigation has already concluded and he’s just awaiting prosecution.” Yu Tong took off his fogged-up gla.s.ses as he turned on the stove and said, “So the cases should be resolved like this.” Since both cases had the same perpetrator, it reduced the amount of trouble required for investigations.
Yu Yin stared at the gas stove and suddenly thought of something. “Dad, you said just now his wife had been making a late-night snack at the time?”
Yu Tong turned to look at his son in confusion. “Yes, she was murdered while cooking.”
“Could you guys inspect one more place?” It really bugged him that Ye Li Sheng had confessed, since no matter how much he thought about it, there was something wrong.
Yu Tong put down the things he was holding and narrowed his eyes slightly. “Ah Yin, what do you want to know about?”
“The gas stove.” Yu Yin’s gaze stayed on the currently lit gas stove and replied, “If her neck got chopped while she was cooking a late-night snack, there must be traces of blood on the gas stove. The crevices underneath the plates would definitely have it, and I’m sure no matter how much he tried to clean, he probably didn’t clean down there.”
He recalled that when he had pa.s.sed through Ye Li Sheng’s kitchen, it had indeed been very clean. However, it wasn’t to the point where it gave off that overwhelming sparkling aura after a thorough cleaning.
“If there are traces of blood in the gas stove, that means the female owner truly was murdered there.” Yu Tong looked at his son standing a few steps away, immediately understanding the train of thought.
“If there aren’t, it means Ye Li Sheng is lying.” Yu Yin snapped his fingers.
“But I can’t imagine any reason for him to lie, all the evidence points at him as the murderer behind both cases.” After these words, Yu Tong also felt like something was off and began to think it over, contemplating both views in his head.
“But isn’t is really strange that the murderer forgot the whereabouts of both weapons?” Forgetting one would be fine, but isn’t forgetting both a bit too ridiculous? Yu Yin believed that there was a very big problem there.
“You think there’s a second person.” Yu Tong shrugged. “Alright, I’ll give a call to your uncle. If they find any blood traces, you should stop holding your suspicions.”
“Ok.”
Yu Yin retreated out of the kitchen. After glancing at Yu Tong who was now on the phone near the window, he turned to go back to the living room.
Yu was still sitting on the sofa watching television. He had wrapped himself like a ball around a large pillow, withdrawn into the corner of the sofa.
Currently, some kind of animal-type cartoon that was popular among little kids was playing on the screen. However, this wasn’t what Yu typically watched - he normally watched talk shows or channels like National Geographic and such. Although he occasionally watched animated series, he would never watch this kind of kid’s show.
This made Yu Yin feel something wasn’t quite right with Yu the past few days.
“Can I change the channel? Seven is still the news period.” Yu Yin sat down on the other end of the sofa and tried to call out, “Yu?”
As if jolted awake, Yu suddenly turned to look at him.
He’s not watching the television at all?
Yu Yin paused before asking, “Can I change the channel?”
This time, Yu quickly nodded and with the large pillow still in his grasp, he shifted his line of sight back onto the television as if focusing on the news report. He didn’t particularly have any different reaction.
Suspicious, Yu Yin secretly shot glances at the person next to him. Although unsure of the reason, Yu Yin felt like Yu was acting very strange...even though he was typically pretty strange already.
The television report mentioned a fire that had broken out in another county that had burned down people’s houses. Luckily n.o.body had been inside. Then it switched to a burglar group that had just been captured...
Yu Yin wasn’t actually concentrating on the news, as he only understood about 3/5 of what was being reported. Instead, he focused on what looked like a damp water stain next to Yu’s hand.
The matter still had not ended.
“Yu.” Yu Yin shut off the television and patted Yu’s shoulder. “Is there something you’re not saying?”
Yu let go of the pillow he was holding and raised his head slightly to glance at him briefly before shaking his head.
“I feel like you’re lying. You’ve been dazing off for a while now, not even caring about the case Dad mentioned earlier, which is extremely weird.” Yu’s interest in cases wasn’t any less than his own. Yet it seemed like he hadn’t listened at all, which made Yu Yin feel even more suspicious.
The violet eyes met his gaze for just a few seconds before a pillow was tossed at Yu Yin’s head, and the person stood up to walk back to his own room.
Alright, I guess I was being too nosy.
***
“There aren’t any traces of blood in the gas stove.”
Yu Xia returned home a bit later with this news. “I had them take apart the entire stove, but there was not a single sign of blood to be found. It looks like the murder location wasn’t the kitchen,” he said as he randomly tossed his jacket.
“Ye Li Sheng was lying.” Yu Yin had intuitively believed this already. He looked at the person that had collapsed on the sofa to rest.
“But how does lying benefit him in any way?” Yu Tong asked in a puzzled tone as he walked over carrying a warm snack.
“Heaven knows. Where’s Xiao Yu?” Yu Xia picked up his chopsticks to eat the large bowl of noodles as he looked around and asked after only seeing the father and son pair.
Yu Tong glanced at the shut bedroom door before turning around and answering, “For some reason, he returned to his room early after eating dinner. He’s probably reading some book.”
“Mm.” Yu Xia didn’t dwell on the topic and as he chewed on his snack, he turned on the television. The news channel was still broadcasting about Ye Li Sheng as the main topic, continuously repeating the main points of the lead story. “I’ll have to interrogate him more closely again tomorrow at work to figure out why he lied.” Having many years of experience under his belt, he also felt like something was fishy.
“That...” Just as Yu Yin was about to say something, the sound of a cellphone suddenly interrupted his words.
Everyone’s gazes shifted onto the cellphone hanging at Yu Tong’s belt. “Hm? Why is Ah Si calling so late?” After seeing the name displayed on the screen, he answered the phone in confusion, “This is Yu Tong, is something the matter?”
As soon as the line connected, a whole bunch of blabber immediately rattled through the speaker.
“Wait, wait a minute, I didn’t hear that very clearly. Can you repeat again?” Yu Tong’s eyebrows furrowed as he increased the volume on his phone so that the other two people in the room could hear clearly too.
The other end was very noisy; there were many voices in the background.
“I said, who would have thought such a stupid mistake could be made!” In attempt to override the surrounding clamor in the background, Yan Si’s voice was extremely loud, to the point of shouting. “Boss is there too, isn’t he? Did you guys know? That idiot inspecting the corpse made a mistake!”
Yu Tong and Yu Xia subconsciously exchanged glances at each other nearly simultaneously.
“The headless victim wasn’t hacked to death, her head was chopped off after she died!” His tone had hints of anger as the background remained chaotic. It sounded like there were shouts for doing another examination.
“Wait, you meant to say that the cause of death doesn’t conform with Ye Li Sheng’s testimony?” Yu Tong hurriedly followed-up after a moment of astonishment.
“Right, the person that had originally been a.s.signed to examine the body didn’t go that day, and some rookie ended up going instead. He examined the corpse incorrectly. I personally examined the cut on the head just now; it was created after death, not while living.”
“Are you with the body right now?”
“Yes. I looked at the report again and thought it was strange, so I ran over to give it a check.” The clamor in the background seemed to quiet down a bit, so Yan Si’s volume also decreased. It sounded like there were some arguments going on in the distance. “This means that Ye Li Sheng’s statement of confession for the murder doesn’t match.”
Yu Xia immediately threw his chopsticks down and grabbed the cellphone with lightning speed. “Get the report ready, I’ll head over now.”
“Hey, are you a 24-hour convenience store, Boss?” A mocking tone came from the other end.
“Bulls.h.i.t! Tell them that if they haven’t started the report by the time I get there, they’re dead meat.” Yu Xia tossed the phone back at his twin and quickly lifted the bowl to gulp down all the noodles before pulling on the jacket that he had randomly tossed aside earlier. “I’ll head over to the office over there now and might not come back until tomorrow morning.”
“Drive carefully.” Yu Tong caught his cellphone and spoke into the microphone to discuss some more matters with Yan Si before hanging up.
Yu Tong placed the phone away and turned to look at Yu Yin. “I think that perhaps you are right.” It looked like they had overlooked some things.
“Ah, Dad, do you not have to go?” He thought that as someone in Internal Affairs, his dad would also have to run over to inspect the incorrect doc.u.ments.
“Haha, no need. My colleagues over there have probably already gone to deal with it. I can just go through it again tomorrow morning at work.” Yu Tong shrugged and smiled slightly, “After all, this case is mostly under your uncle’s responsibility.”
Yu Yin nodded. Although he didn’t quite understand the internal system, whatever his dad said had to be right.
He glanced at the living room clock; the short hand was nearing one. “I’m going to sleep, I still have cla.s.s tomorrow morning,” Yu Yin said with a yawn as he stretched a bit.
“Hm? It is pretty late. You should go back and sleep first then.” Yu Tong remembered that he still had some doc.u.ments to clean up, so he also stood up to slightly clean the things in the living room before heading back to his bedroom to work.
“Night.”
Yu Yin called out before heading back to his own room.
He shut the door. The whole room fell into silence - not a single sound could be heard.
After turning on the radio next to his bed to the station he typically listened to, he crawled onto his bed. Listening to the music helped him relax as usual as he closed his eyes.
Soon, the station’s music changed to a host speaking to the listeners.
He wondered who Ye Li Sheng was trying to protect by lying.
He turned around to pick up the notebook next to his bed. For some reason, he felt like he had to go over everything that had happened after he first heard that news broadcast once more.
At first glance, it didn’t seem like anything was connected, yet they were related.
That included everything he had seen while subst.i.tuting at the elementary school.
He wasn’t sure who Ye Li Sheng’s wife had been trying to monitor by hiring a private investigator. However, if she had been spotted going onto that person’s car near the school...
In general, a mother being around her child’s school was a common action.
But arranging to meet up with a private investigator near the school before picking up her child meant that the person they were trying to find had to be around the elementary school.
However, everyone at the elementary school was a student, who did she want to find?
“Wait, not everyone in the school is a student...” Yu Yin stopped writing and suddenly realised something.
Aside from students, there were also teachers in the school.
The one that Ye Xiao Xiang’s mother and the private investigator tried to find outside the elementary school is a teacher?
Then, which teacher has the closest relationship with the Ye family?
Yu Yin suddenly felt like he had an answer to his question.
“So that’s why she was like that...” Yu Yin tossed his pen and hurriedly reached out to grab his cellphone.
Just as his fingertips touched the phone, static suddenly rang out from his side. The voice of the host that had been presenting some music turned into a jumble of random noise, as if there was some kind of interference, and began to continuously emit sharp and strange sounds.
Yu Yin frowned and reached to change the frequency. However, after changing a few times, the high-pitched, hair-raising noises persisted. The noise didn’t change at all even after changing channels.
“Is there an interference with the current?” Yu Yin doubtfully turned off the power and after inspecting the speakers, turned the sound back on.
This time, nothing came out. Both the static and the broadcast had disappeared.
It was completely quiet.
For a while, Yu Yin stared at the radio that was clearly on yet silent. He put down his cellphone. If he listened closely, he could still hear the sound of the machine working, but the broadcast was completely gone.
He had never heard of noise disappearing due to static interference before.
He suddenly felt his back grow cold and gooseb.u.mps form on his arms. This familiar feeling made him realise something. “d.a.m.n it!”
Just when Yu Yin jumped off his bed, the power suddenly went off with a pop. Now he couldn’t even hear the sound of the machine running.
He quickly pulled out the power cord and looked around, afraid that the light had also been cut. He really hated encountering those kinds of things in the dark, as it made him feel their full menace.
Then he heard the sound of a bouncing ball outside the door. From the crack under the door, a shadow pacing back and forth appeared. However, Yu Yin recalled that if his dad had gone back to his room, he definitely would’ve turned off the hallway lights.
So how is there a shadow?
The temperature of his surroundings seemed to drop. Yu Yin furrowed his brows and took a few steps back. Just as he was about to do something, he heard a cackling noise from behind, and the radio’s power source red light lit up by itself.
He noticed that the power cord still wasn’t connected.
The only thing he was glad about was that his light was still on. “What else do you want? The police are already searching and will soon find the murderer. You should leave soon.” If his speculation was correct, they would lock onto the other person soon. It would just be matter of time before they were caught in the net.
The shadow’s movements outside the door quickened.
Yu Yin suddenly heard the radio start the broadcast from earlier. Slowly, he began to hear a faint sound among the screeching static sounds caused by the interference. It seemed like the voice of a little girl, constantly repeating:
“He personally promised to go with me!”
The voice filled with resentment from amidst the noise continuously repeated this sentence. The sounds of static gradually changed to that of water, which were subsequently distorted by the sound waves as well. It was an extremely bizarre sound.
“Who promised to go with you?” Yu Yin realised the implication of this phrase. He suddenly felt his whole body grow cold. “Promised to go with you?!”
He had an extremely bad premonition.
The voice suddenly cut off. The power light turned off and no more noise could be heard.
“Ye Xiao Xiang! You are not to leave until you say who promised you!” Yu Yin roared at the radio and turned around. The shadow that he had seen from under his door quickly disappeared. Without even thinking, he charged over to yank the door open.
Then, he froze.
What appeared before him wasn’t his hallway, but a place that was foreign to him.
He saw a door.
More precisely, through the door he could see another door: the closed doors of an elevator.
Yu Yin backpedaled as he saw the reflection of himself and his background on the glossy doors. Behind him wasn’t his room, but the inside of the elevator with three walls of mirrors.
He turned around, but the sight behind him was still his own bedroom.
With a ding, the elevator doors opened.
Outside was the yellow-stained ground, the moist air, and the sound of a machine.
A drop of water fell onto his hair.
He heard a noise.
From outside the elevator came the faint sound of a bouncing ball. It got closer and closer, coming from the other side of the door.
Yu Yin wanted to walk over to close his bedroom door, but he was unable to move his feet. He could only stand rooted in his original spot, staring at the small shadow walking over to him with a ball in her hands.
It was a girl with her head lowered, identical to what he had seen at the school and the complex.
The girl stretched her hand out to him.
Yu Yin watched the palm reaching out towards him. He felt like he absolutely could not touch it, or else something would definitely happen.
They remained in this standstill for a few seconds. With her hand still held up in midair, she slowly lifted her head. The ash-colored eyes on her intact yet deathly-white face stared at him as she opened her lips. “He promised to go with me...”
In that moment, the elevator doors closed. The bedroom door before Yu Yin was slammed shut with a loud bang.
The girl disappeared, and everything went completely silent.
When Yu Yin came back to awareness, he felt wet and cold. When he looked down, he discovered that his entire body seemed to be drenched, as if he had just been lying in water. He was even dripping water onto the ground.
He didn’t understand what it meant.
She had specially acted out that scene...
No!
He had gotten it all wrong!
Yu Yin instantly thought of something, and without any hesitation, threw open the bedroom door that had been taken over by a ghost just now and walked out to the pitch-black hallway. The door flew open with a loud bang.
A few seconds later, the bedroom door diagonally across from him was wordlessly opened as well. “Who’s there?!”
Yu Yin seemed to hear the sound of a gun being c.o.c.ked, but he couldn’t see anything from his angle. “Dad, it’s me!” He walked over a few steps to turn on the hallway lights before seeing Yu Tong put away what he was holding.
“Why did you slam the door in the middle of the night?” Yu Tong released his guard and glared at him.
“I’ll explain later.” Yu Yin quickly raced to Yu’s bedroom door and knocked heavily. “Yu, open the door!”
A while pa.s.sed without any response.
It was too quiet, there wasn’t a single sound to be heard.
“Use this.” Yu Tong quickly handed the master key to him.
Yu Yin accepted the master key and inserted it into the keyhole to unlock it. He hoped that everything would be just like what had happened with the bathroom last time, where the kid was just sleeping too deeply inside to hear anything.
The door opened within a few seconds.
What welcomed them was an uninhabited room with an opened window. The curtains were fluttering about wildly from the night winds.
“Yu is gone.”