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墨書 Inktalez
Although this villa did not belong to Wang Xin, he still carried himself with the air of someone who owned one. As he set up the chessboard, he placed an incense burner to the side. Wisps of white smoke curled up from the burner, and Wang Xin leaned in to take a sniff, shaking his head before pouring tea for the two of us.
It seemed that Wang Xin did not regard us "police officers" highly, intentionally leaving us on the sidelines. From the moment we entered, when he pretended to forget our identities, it was clear that he was someone who thrived on pretense.
However, Yang Licheng had informed us earlier that this villa was not Wang Xin's, and he likely remained unaware of this fact. Many people behave this way; the more they lack something, the more they feel compelled to project an image of abundance. Wang Xin could have been more low-key but instead eagerly adopted the guise of a wealthy man, which was ironically sad since it was a façade of his own making.
Yang Licheng seemed to notice our discomfort and spoke up, "Please, have a seat."
Only then did Wang Xin feign realization and say, "Right, right! Look at my memory! Please sit down."
I shook my head gently and replied, "No need. We are just here to ask you a few questions. Once we finish our brief discussion, we will leave. It seems quite safe here, but remember that the Murderer is everywhere; you should remain vigilant."
Wang Xin placed a black piece on the board first and said confidently, "Don't worry; we won't be going out anymore. Besides, with so many people watching, there's no way the Murderer can come in and kill us."
Seeing Wang Xin's confident expression, I refrained from shattering his pleasant delusions. Based on our current investigation, even Wang Yikai—who had followed us throughout the night—met his end in a bizarre manner when the Murderer wanted him dead.
While I had pieced together some reasons behind other deaths, I still couldn't grasp how Wang Yikai died. This was one of the points I couldn't figure out: what method did the Murderer use to kill from afar without being present?
Yang Licheng noticed our silence and began playing chess with Wang Xin.
I took another look around the room, confirming that even if the Murderer had a sniper rifle, there was no way to shoot through the windows. This realization eased my mind considerably.
"Although there's not much left to ask, I've already questioned the other twelve thoroughly," I leaned against the wall and slowly looked at Wang Xin. "So I'll just go through the motions and ask you as well. On the night Lu Zhiqiu died seven years ago, where were you? Did you see anyone unusual?"
Wang Xin placed another piece on the board and sighed while shaking his head. "On that night seven years ago, I did see Lu Zhiqiu. Just as I was about to talk to her, she mentioned she had something else to attend to and left me hanging. She didn't seem very happy at that time; she had quite a bit of debt and trouble. However, she trusted me enough to share her problems. Perhaps because I treated her well, she had some feelings for me too."
Wang Xin appeared quite self-assured as he spoke. I observed Yang Licheng's expression beside me; he looked down with a bitter smile, seemingly reluctant to discuss this matter further. After all, Yang Licheng had once liked Lu Zhiqiu and confessed his feelings only to be rejected by her. Meanwhile, Wang Xin seemed lost in his fantasy that Lu Zhiqiu had once cared for him.
However, when Wang Xin mentioned that Lu Zhiqiu had gotten into some trouble, I couldn't help but wonder what kind of trouble it might have been.
Thinking of this, I spoke up, "Did you get into trouble because of Lu Zhiqiu?"
Wang Xin nodded and said, "What, you didn't know?"
"What exactly happened?" I looked at Wang Xin.
Wang Xin took another sip and drained the tea cup, then said, "It’s about an internship at the construction site where he bought a dog. At first, it wasn't a big deal, but no one paid much attention to it. Don’t be fooled by Lu Zhiqiu's calm demeanor; life has been tough for him."
I glanced at Zhao Mingkun; we really had no idea about this matter.
Zhao Mingkun asked, "What happened? We only heard someone mention it briefly. Can you tell us more about the situation?"
Wang Xin replied, "The incident itself wasn't serious, but because of it, Lu Zhiqiu's already tight life became even harder. You see, there were people killing dogs at the construction site, and Lu Zhiqiu stepped in to stop them."
"We only knew about that much," I said.
Wang Xin chuckled and said to Yang Licheng, "With my move just now, you're in danger."
Then Wang Xin sniffed the incense burner and started coughing.
After a moment, he said, "This incense really is a bit overwhelming, but it doesn’t smell like much. Anyway, back to what happened seven years ago. The workers at that construction site were quite uncouth. They looked decent on the outside but were ruthless behind the scenes."
I frowned and told Wang Xin, "Let’s stick to the main topic and not ramble."
Wang Xin laughed again and continued, "At that time, there was a stray dog that had already been hung up and was about to be killed. When Lu Zhiqiu saw it, he rushed over to stop them. Those migrant workers started mocking him, saying that university students had messed up their brains and that the dog had to be killed. But Lu Zhiqiu refused to back down, so we ended up arguing with them."
"Everyone was a bit agitated then, and one of the migrant workers shouted that since it was their dog, whether to kill it or not was their business. Later on, in the chaos, someone suggested that if they didn’t want to kill it, they would have to pay for it."
We nodded.
"Wang Xin" continued, "Then 'Lu Zhiqiu' had to buy it back for a certain amount. The other party quoted a price that was simply outrageous. You know, a local dog could be bought for just a few dozen yuan, at most a hundred. But guess how much they asked for? They wanted ten thousand yuan!"
"Ten thousand?" I exclaimed. "Could they really ask for that much?"
"Wang Xin" sneered, "Exactly. That's why these 'Migrant Workers' are like parasites. 'Kori Chiu' even paid three thousand yuan as a deposit to save that dog, and then somehow scraped together ten thousand yuan to buy that local dog. Those people are truly ruthless. Since 'Lu Zhiqiu' trusted me, I lent some money to 'Lu Zhiqiu' as well."
"It’s because of this incident that 'Lu Zhiqiu' has been feeling down lately," "Wang Xin" shook his head and continued, "So he keeps making mistakes at work, and his boyfriend doesn’t care about anything. What a pity; if 'Lu Zhiqiu' hadn’t died, he might have become my wife by now."
I shook my head. It seemed that "Wang Xin's" wish was noble, but reality was still quite cruel.
"Is that all?" "Zhao Mingkun" asked. "Just because you helped a little, someone is supposed to marry you?"
"Or else you’re being shallow," "Wang Xin" moved another piece on the chessboard, and it seemed to be a good move as "Yang Licheng" frowned and stared intently at the board.
"Wang Xin" glanced at "Yang Licheng" and continued, "At that time, I thought, even though they took the money, I couldn’t let them live comfortably. A dog worth only a hundred yuan was being sold for ten thousand; if they didn’t pay some price for it, how could that be acceptable?"
"So what did you do?" I asked.
"Wang Xin" smiled and said, "You would never guess my next move. So I posted online in various forums, especially those discussing cats and dogs. I claimed there were people on construction sites openly abusing dogs and even included some photos—though the photos were fake."
"You posted false information?" I questioned.
"Oh!" "Wang Xin" waved his hand dismissively. "Can this be called false? Is what scholars call false really false? I'm just trying to get some justice for 'Lu Zhiqiu.' That dog—do you think it’s worth ten thousand yuan? Ten thousand from seven years ago? Do you think that's a small amount? I just added some embellishments; these people specifically use poison to kill other people's dogs and then sell the meat to unknown consumers."
I frowned, feeling increasingly angry inside.
At that moment, Wang Xin did not grasp my thoughts and continued, "Back then, these Migrant Workers stole our dog, but it was their own dog they raised. They even killed the dog right in front of us. We wanted to get the dog back, but they insisted on ten thousand yuan."
"I didn't realize you were already using public opinion to incite the Crowd seven years ago," I said to Wang Xin calmly.
"The Crowd are fools," Wang Xin replied with a tone that suggested he had seen through the world. "They are just waiting to be stirred up. Later, I even saw someone on the forum establish some kind of Pet Dog Protection Association to go after those Migrant Workers. I didn't even have to step in; naturally, someone else took care of it for me."
"What happened afterward?" I asked.
Wang Xin shrugged and said, "I’m not quite sure what happened later, but it seems like someone caused a scene. As for those Migrant Workers, they all quit eventually. Haha, I guess that was a bit of revenge for Lu Zhiqiu."
However, considering Lu Zhiqiu's character, he would never tolerate Wang Xin doing something like that.
"Did Lu Zhiqiu know about this?" I asked.
Wang Xin shook his head and sniffed the incense burner before saying, "Naturally, Lu Zhiqiu didn’t know about this. Just think about it: a man quietly does so much for a woman; how touching that must be. I couldn't tell Lu Zhiqiu about this; he had to find out himself. But then, less than half a month later, this happened—Lu Zhiqiu actually died."
"You," Wang Xin looked at me and said, "Am I not destined for a rocky path in love?"
Looking at Wang Xin, a sudden feeling of disgust welled up inside me.
"Do you really think that by doing this, Lu Zhiqiu would fall in love with you?" I said. "Just by stirring up trouble online?"
Upon hearing my sharp words, Wang Xin's expression changed.
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