Chapter 92 - 90: A Peculiar Matter, Fainting

Chapter 92: Chapter 90: A Peculiar Matter, Fainting

"I went to Jinghai."

Cao Hong said.

"When?" Zhuang Yanzheng asked.

Cao Hong thought for a moment. "The same day Su Miaoyi left Jinghai."

"The exact date," Zhuang Yanzheng pressed.

"June 29th, I think. The 30th is my birthday, so I remember it clearly," Cao Hong said.

"What did you do in Jinghai?" Zhuang Yanzheng asked.

"I went to toss Su Miaoyi’s place," Cao Hong said. "Searched it and put everything back, but I didn’t find anything."

"Back then, she was still living in that place called... Jinrong District."

"I went back to search it more than once, but I never found anything," Cao Hong said. "This time... I found out she’d moved. I was thinking of tossing her new place, too. If I found it, it would eliminate a threat."

"How did you know she moved?" Zhuang Yanzheng asked. "Did Jiang Junrui tell you?"

"How did you know?" Cao Hong shot back.

Outside the interrogation room, Kang Ting tensed at the mention of Jiang Junrui’s name and took a step forward.

Cao Hong continued, "When Mr. Jiang was in Jiangcheng, he had me help him mail something to Su Miaoyi. The address was Wangshu New Garden, under Su Miaoyi’s name. Once you know the complex, it’s not hard to find out where someone lives."

Kang Ting looked at Su Miaoyi.

Su Miaoyi’s expression was grim. After a few seconds, she looked at him and said, "He did mail me something. I refused to sign for it, and it was returned to sender."

Kang Ting said nothing.

Su Miaoyi turned her gaze back to the interrogation room.

"Anyway, since I couldn’t find it, I just let it go," Cao Hong said.

Zhuang Yanzheng narrowed his eyes slightly. "You just let it go? Weren’t you afraid she’d go to the police with the video?"

"But she didn’t, did she?" Cao Hong replied.

"Didn’t you kill Mo Xiaoxiao because you were worried she would report you?" Bloodshot veins crept into Zhuang Yanzheng’s eyes.

"Yes," Cao Hong admitted. "But we don’t just kill people unless we have no other choice. The more blood on our hands, the higher the chance of getting caught. Besides, we’d tracked down Su Miaoyi, but we weren’t sure if it was really her. We couldn’t confirm if what Mo Xiaoxiao said was true or false—maybe there was no copy to begin with. And since we didn’t find anything on her, what if we killed her and the police started looking into it? The risk wasn’t worth the reward, was it?"

Just as Zhuang Yanzheng was about to say something, Cao Hong suddenly added, "Isn’t Su Miaoyi perfectly fine? The only reason I’m sitting here is because she brought me in. If you don’t believe me, just go ask her. What, you don’t trust your own people?"

Zhuang Yanzheng fell silent.

Outside, Su Miaoyi’s hands clenched into tight fists.

’Something’s wrong.’

’According to what Cao Hong said...’

’I returned to Jinghai on June 29th.’

’They came that very day.’

’Tossing my place inside and out would definitely take time.’

’I had just gotten back from Jiangcheng, and I was terrified.’

’Back in Jinghai, back in Jinrong District, back somewhere familiar... I probably wouldn’t have gone out for very long.’

’I most likely wouldn’t have gone out to eat, either. I would’ve ordered delivery.’

’So where did they get so much time to search the place?’

’And he said they searched it several more times after that. Even if my mind wasn’t... filled with those extra things back then, and I couldn’t spot the signs of a search...’

’...how could they have had so many opportunities, so much time, to search it?’

’And another thing.’

’After killing Mo Xiaoxiao, they rushed to Jinghai.’

’Under those circumstances...’

’...before I even knew Mo Xiaoxiao had been murdered, before I had a chance to go to the police...’

’...killing me would have been the safest option.’

’How could they possibly have let me go?’

’That’s like leaving behind a ticking time bomb.’

’But... I am still alive.’

’I have memories from July.’

’And I don’t have any scars on my body.’

Su Miaoyi suddenly clutched her head.

It throbbed with a pain so intense it felt like it was about to explode.

"What’s wrong?" Kang Ting rushed to her side.

Su Miaoyi wanted to answer him, but the pain was so severe she couldn’t speak.

She slowly doubled over.

Kang Ting grabbed her arm. "Wh-what’s wrong?"

The moment he asked, Su Miaoyi suddenly collapsed backward.

Startled, Kang Ting quickly caught her, preventing her from hitting the floor.

"Su Miaoyi, Su Miaoyi?" Kang Ting called out to her.

But Su Miaoyi was completely unresponsive.

Kang Ting quickly pulled out his phone to call for an ambulance.

...

After fainting, Su Miaoyi seemed to be dreaming, but it didn’t feel like a dream.

She was in a pitch-black room without a single ray of light.

In the ten-square-meter space, the only thing she had was a bottle of water by her side.

For three days, she had been locked in this room. She hadn’t seen another person or heard a single sound.

For three days, she had eaten nothing. All she had was the water beside her.

She had shouted for help, but no one responded.

Confined to the dim, silent environment for so long, her anxiety finally erupted. She smashed everything in the room.

When there was nothing left to smash, she used her fists, relentlessly pounding them against the wall.

Until they were bloody and mangled.

The pain brought her back to her senses.

She slid back down into the corner, staring into the darkness before her.

She could feel the blood dripping from her hands.

She kept reminding herself, brainwashing herself.

’My name is Su Miaoyi, I’m twenty-six, I graduated from middle school, and I’ve worked odd jobs all over the country.’

’Then, through a contact, I got a job at a casino.’

She repeated it over and over in her mind.

’Don’t forget. I can’t forget.’

’I have to stay sane. Stay sane. Don’t die. Don’t kill myself.’

’And I can’t run. I can’t run away.’

’I worked so hard to get here.’

Almost another day passed.

The water bottle beside her was nearly empty.

Finally, there was a noise from outside.

The door opened, letting in a sliver of light.

She struggled to lift her eyes to look at the man walking in.

But whether it was because she was too weak or for some other reason, she couldn’t make out his face.

The harder she tried to see, the blurrier it became.

The man walked over and crouched down in front of her.

He first took her hand to examine it, then tilted her chin up to look at her.

"Making such a mess of yourself. It’s truly heartbreaking."

She stared at him.

She still couldn’t see his face.

"Why did you lock me up?" she asked.

"What do you think?" the man said. "You were dishonest, so of course you get locked up."

"How was I dishonest?" she asked again.

"Faking your identity is being dishonest." The man’s index finger tapped her cheek.

She looked at him.

The man continued, "Little girl, did you really think I brought you back just because you’re pretty? Am I that shallow and boring?"

She didn’t speak.

The man went on, "A man like me doesn’t just keep anyone by his side. What if they turn out to be an undercover agent, just like you?"

"I’m not," she replied, her two words sounding weak and pitiful.

The man chuckled. "Did you think that just because this isn’t China, and I haven’t been active there for a long time, that I wouldn’t have seen you before?"

The man’s hand squeezed her chin, shaking it slightly. "So it’s true, some people really do just scale up, looking exactly the same as they did when they were a child. How interesting. If your people had sent anyone else, I would have killed them the moment they got close to me. They never would have made it back here with me. But I never expected it to be you."

"You don’t remember me, do you? Makes sense. You were so little back then, you probably wouldn’t have any memories."

...