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墨書 Inktalez
The letter left behind by Deng Xuemei was elegantly written. I glanced at the other documents with text on them, and the handwriting matched perfectly, indicating that this letter was indeed written by her. This letter revealed Deng Xuemei's motive for murder and expressed the deep resentment she felt inside.
However, I noticed some contradictions in the letter. Deng Xuemei presented one version of herself while portraying another to others. The heartfelt words in the letter seemed to spill out all her life's frustrations, clearly reflecting the writer's emotions.
It was well-known that Lu Zhiqiu had supported Deng Xuemei. Therefore, when she realized her time was short, committing murder would not be difficult for her. The letter clearly stated that Deng Xuemei had never given up on finding the murderer; she wanted to identify the culprit and report them to the police. But with little time left, she decided to kill everyone instead.
Now, considering the time of the crime, the motive, the method, along with evidence and witnesses, both internal and external factors pointed to Deng Xuemei as a suspect in the murders. Moreover, she had admitted to her actions. Given the current circumstances, it seemed this case should be closed. Yet, something felt off to me; it felt like something was missing.
At the end of the letter, Deng Xuemei mentioned that she had fulfilled her wishes and had no ties left in this world. Her father, who had been her only companion, had passed away years ago, leaving her without any relatives. She had lost faith in this world, a world where everyone was selfish.
Thus, Deng Xuemei prepared for suicide, choosing a simple method: jumping off a cliff.
She wrote: There are many ways to leave this world; some choose hanging, others opt for pills. Regardless of the method, it ultimately requires someone else to collect their remains. But only jumping off a cliff—specifically into the sea—does not involve this. All life on Earth originated from the ocean; thus returning to it upon death might be the best choice.
Goodbye, this world.
Having read this far in the letter, it was clear from the beginning that Deng Xuemei intended to commit suicide; however, I did not expect her to choose such a method.
When we encounter a corpse, there are four possible causes of death: suicide, homicide, accidental death, or natural causes due to aging or illness. Among these four types of death, natural death is the easiest to identify.
Excluding natural death from consideration, it becomes challenging to determine the nature of death when we find a body under certain circumstances.
This includes cases of jumping from buildings or cliffs or into the sea. According to current forensic methods, these are among the hardest cases to solve. Without witnesses or evidence, distinguishing between these three scenarios is difficult.
For example, if someone falls from a cliff, how do we determine whether it was suicide, homicide, or accidental death?
If it was suicide, then they consciously jumped or walked off the edge. If it was homicide, someone may have pushed them gently or startled them into falling. If it was accidental death, they simply slipped and fell.
However, regardless of which method led to death in these three scenarios, they all result in fatal injuries from a high fall. Thus, police must gather substantial clues at the scene, interview witnesses, review surveillance footage to find out who was with the deceased at that time and whether they had any motive for murder.
For most people after committing murder, remaining calm and unflustered during police questioning is nearly impossible; they often reveal their guilt through their demeanor. However, if there truly exists such a meticulous murderer who leaves no trace and shows no signs of guilt during interrogation—if that's the case—how can we discern whether the deceased died by suicide, homicide, or accidental death?
In our country’s legal system emphasizes "no case without doubt," meaning one cannot determine if someone committed murder without absolute evidence. To avoid wrongful convictions or miscarriages of justice in such cases requires extreme caution. Just like now—we know Deng Xuemei is dead; based on her letter, she appears to have committed suicide.
But there was no body to be found. For someone who jumped into the sea, it was impossible to locate the body in a short time, especially if we didn’t even know where they had jumped. Even if we knew the location where Deng Xuemei had jumped, it didn’t guarantee that we would find her body. Every year, numerous bodies are retrieved from the coastline of Dongxing City, and many more people disappear into the sea.
It was a classic case of no evidence of death. Until we see a body, I couldn’t bring myself to believe just a letter. What if this was Deng Xuemei’s plan? Perhaps she faked her death to mislead us while she quietly left Dongxing City, waiting for her life to come to an end.
Trading a letter for two years of carefree living wasn’t entirely impossible.
However, there was another possibility—who could say whether it was suicide or homicide?
Suddenly, I recalled seeing some items on the list that Deng Xuemei would never need in eight lifetimes, like a bait tray. This was something used for fishing. If a girl had a hobby like fishing, it seemed rather odd. So I wondered why she would buy such things—was it simply because they were on sale?
Now that I thought about it, if Deng Xuemei were going to the beach, having a bait tray wouldn’t be strange at all. But would someone intending to commit suicide go fishing first? If that were the case, then she must have been remarkably composed; someone with such an optimistic mindset probably wouldn’t consider suicide at all.
I frowned and tugged at my hair. The suicide note left behind had too many loopholes. Analyzing from various angles, I felt that Deng Xuemei wasn’t someone who would take her own life. So the question arose: where had Deng Xuemei gone?
“This letter has issues,” I said. “There’s definitely something wrong; Deng Xuemei wouldn’t commit suicide. From what we’ve observed, she seemed to be living well in this house, in good spirits enough to go on shopping sprees and cook herself plenty of meals. When she left, she even dressed up nicely—would someone planning to commit suicide have so many other thoughts?”
Zhao Mingkun shook his head and replied, “Someone truly intent on dying wouldn’t make such a spectacle of it. I also have this nagging feeling that Deng Xuemei’s letter is just too… how should I put it? Too ostentatious.”
Zhao Mingkun’s words struck a chord with me. I gestured for her to continue.
“Think about it: if Deng Xuemei had no relatives left in this world, then who was this letter meant for? If it was for the police, why go through the trouble? After all, she had already killed those she intended to kill; the murderer is among them—so why come out at all? Moreover, the letter emphasizes her motives for killing too much.”
Zhao Mingkun continued shaking her head as she spoke: “And yet the rest of the content takes up very little space, as if Deng Xuemei was determined to shout out that she killed those people, wanting to tell the whole world. The leftover chemicals also suggest this point; I can’t shake off the feeling that she might have overdone it.”
I slapped the table and said, “Exactly! That feeling is too jarring. She wasted too much ink emphasizing this point—it feels excessive.”
“It’s as if!” I looked at Zhao Mingkun seriously and said, “She wants to take ownership of the murders.”
We both fell silent; Deng Xuemei’s behavior was far too abnormal and contradictory.
At that moment, the phone rang. I glanced at the caller ID—it was Gu Chen calling.
“Gu Chen?” I asked. “Do you have any leads?”
Gu Chen's voice came through, "We have a lead. According to Mary's investigation, the details you asked her to find about Jiang Xiaochun revealed something very strange."
"Something strange?" I asked.
"That's right," Gu Chen replied. "During her investigation, Mary discovered that Hu Pei's daughter is not actually Jiang Xiaochun's child."
"What?" I was a bit confused.
Gu Chen continued, "Hu Xiaoxue is indeed Hu Pei's daughter, but her mother is not Jiang Xiaochun. Hu Xiaoxue's mother is a woman named Xu Man. Seven years ago, Hu Pei had an affair with a girl while he was still with Lu Zhiqiu, and as a result, one woman ended up pregnant."
"At that time, Hu Pei didn't know. It wasn't until Xu Man's pregnancy became obvious that she approached him. By then, it was too late for an abortion; she had to wait to give birth. But Xu Man knew that Hu Pei had a girlfriend named Lu Zhiqiu and wanted to confront her on the night after Hu Pei's internship ended."
"Xu Man was terrified. She used Hu Pei's money to rent an apartment for herself. During Hu Pei's internship, she experienced severe abdominal pain. Frightened, she called Hu Pei, but he was busy at the construction site and didn't respond. In desperation, Xu Man called her parents, who could never have imagined their daughter would find herself in such a situation."
Gu Chen paused for a moment before continuing, "Xu Man's parents were shocked to learn that their daughter was pregnant and that it was too late for an abortion. That night, they severed ties with her. In despair, Xu Man took a taxi to Hu Pei's construction site to confront Lu Zhiqiu."
"Did Hu Pei find out about this?" I asked.
"I don't know the details," Gu Chen said. "Mary only uncovered this much information. You can ask Xu Man about what happened next. Anyway, after giving birth to a child with Hu Pei, Xu Man left him. However, Mary found out that Xu Man is currently working as a princess at a kV..."
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