Case Files 013

Chapter 143: Truth

Er Xiao hugged Lee Danan and tears whirled in their eyes. Ol' Xia showed no emotions and watched the two hug each other. However, after a moment, Ol' Xiao couldn't hold it in anymore. Ol' Xia turned around to face the wall. His cries still made no sound. His shoulders shook. I had no idea why the 3 men were crying, I was within their grasp, but they didn't seem like they wanted to harm me. I had never encountered anything like this so I watched them quietly.

Er Xiao whispered through his tears. "This is not so bad. This way all 5 of us can be with you, Danan."

Lee Danan suddenly pushed Er Xiao away. Before everyone realized what was happening, Lee Danan knelt before me. With tears on his face, he pleaded, "Officer Wu, can you just do us a favor? I was diagnosed with cancer two months ago, I have less than 6 months to live." As if worried that I won't believe him, Lee Danan took out the hospital form from his inner pocket. It stated clearly that Lee Danan was not lying. He had late stage liver cancer. Lee Danan showed me the paper like a proud student.

Seeing my lack of reaction, Lee Danan kowtowed at me. The hollow sound echoed in the basement. Soon the smell of blood permeated the air. Lee Danan's forehead was a bloody mess. Lee Danan begged me. "Please, Officer Wu, this is the only bad thing Er Xiao has done! He is a good man! Just let me die for him. Can't you let him go? I did everything on my own, it had nothing to do with anyone else." But certain mistakes couldn't be overlooked just like that.

Lee Danan made his case. The words could soften anyone's heart but at the moment, I felt nothing. Luo Sumei's body was still there. When she died, she must have been in intense pain. The despair must be overbearing. Luo Sumei deserved justice, truth deserved justice.

Lee Danan then moved to hug my thigh and kiss my shoes. I was disgusted and pulled backwards. But Lee Danan clambered after me. If I didn't say yes, he would never stop.

Er Xiao hissed through his teeth. "Wu Meng, I've saved for a decade and finally bought a house in Dong Xing City 2 years ago. I'll give you the house if you let us go. The house is not big but the location is good. It's worth at least 2000000 RMB."

I didn't want money or anyone's pride. I just wanted the truth. Until now, I still couldn't confirm I was being told the truth. Lee Danan continued to beg, Er Xiao looked at me while Ol' Xia appeared to have given up. He continued to cry facing the wall.

Er Xiao suddenly said viciously, "Wu Meng, we've offered you everything we have, don't push it. Consider your own situation, if you corner us, do you think you can leave this place alive?"

Finally he reached the point I was concerned about. In this circumstance, I should be the one begging them to let me go, so why were they begging me instead? Was it because they believed they couldn't run even after killing me? Or they never meant to kill me in the first place? I looked at Er Xiao, Ol' Xia and Lee Danan.

After a long time, I said. "Since I already rejected you, I never plan to live here alive. But before I die, I wish for you to answer a few questions. I want to die with my curiosity satisfied."

"Questions?" Er Xiao repeated

I nodded and began, "If your goal is to confuse the police, why leave behind the taunting message on the wall? It'll only make us look for you harder. Why leave the blood message, why feed us human meat dumplings and send Captain Zhou the phone message?" I voiced the final questions I had, waiting for these people to answer. In my mind though, I already had the answers. Everything was strung together. I lacked only physical evidence. If Guan Zhenglin followed my instructions on the phone, if my hypothesis was correct, then we were safe. If I was wrong, then we might all die here. Gu Chen said that I had lost my confidence but at that moment, I seemed to have found that confidence again. If I had to take a risk, then the bigger the better.

Er Xiao didn't expect that I'd rather die than to let them go. Of course, I could have pretended to compromise and then later call the police to arrest them. But if I did, I would stray further from the truth. Therefore, I had to take this bet, even though the risk was 3 human lives.

Er Xiao said with some impatience, "Is the answer really that important? We did those things to distract you. Or perhaps we had strayed so far from the path that we became too much like the psychopaths we were trying to mimic.

"For this, I sneaked into your yard at midnight and left the message with blood." Er Xiao scoffed. "For this, we stuck the broken arm into the snow when no one was around; for this, we had Lee Luo make the human dumplings." Er Xiao charged at me and grabbed me by the collars. He pinched his face. "Look at me, look closer. Does this face not look like a psychopath? Is this face not extremely fake and ugly?" Er Xiao pinched his face like he was crazy. His expression was twisted. "For certain things, when one has started, there is no turning back." Er Xiao's body was shaking. The blood vessels on his neck bulged and his face was red. "We've already reached this step. I don't understand it, why would God be so cruel to us?!" Er Xiao said through heavy breaths, "You're not from Elm Town, I don't even know where you people come from and when you'll leave. But this has to happen when you're here."

I was silent before I said, "If we didn't come here, what do you think Captain Zhou would do in my place? Do you think he won't reach this stage of investigation?"

Er Xiao suddenly laughed. "I know Luo Sumei and I know she is Captain Zhao's girlfriend. But do you know why I dared to rape her? It is because she's his girlfriend. Honestly I have no idea how that man became the chief of the heavy crime unit. He's so dumb. All he knows is to bring his people to help out around the village." Er Xiao's tone turned up with derision, "After he came here multiple times, I got to know him better. He is a real dummy. If he had arrived here alone, we wouldn't have gone so far down this road! He would never have found the killer, he's too slow for that!" Er Xiao continued, "If not for the lack of serious cases at Elm Town, he would be fired already. But he had to come with you people."

Er Xiao pointed at me, "And you! You're too sharp. I knew from the moment I saw you that you are the real danger. Captain Zhou is nothing. When Lee Danan told me you saw the newspaper article in the toilet, I knew you would have guessed everything."

"So," I followed his thread of conversation, "You had Lee Danan come to dump the body and then had Ol' Xia purposely ruin the plan to lure us here. Inside Er Xiao Convenience Store, Lee Luo and Sun Kangning's father were laying in ambush to knock out Gu Chen and Captain Zhou." I continued, "After the two were dragged away, you returned the convenience store to its normal layout and waited for me to arrive. Then you purposely sent Lee Danan in and had him detain me and reveal the truth' that you wanted me to believe. And then at the last moment, you and Ol' Xia would barge in to save me from Lee Danan?"

Er Xiao nodded lightly.

After a pause, I added, "Then you performed the whole charade for me to pin the blame on Lee Danan. Once you succeeded, you would go and wake up Chief Zhou and Gu Chen. You would tell them we had all fallen for Lee Danan's tricks and you were also knocked out when you entered the convenience store. They might not believe you," I chuckled, "But I would support your statement once I bought the lie that Lee Danan was the killer. The plan is flawless, one segment joining the other."

Er Xiao waved his hands and sighed, "But you still saw through it. Chief Zhou would have fallen for it perfectly. I ask you one last time, will you let us go? If you need a killer, Lee Danan has already volunteered to sacrifice himself."

I said confidently, "I refuse."