Chapter 233: The Missing Time

2022-05-20

We’d just gotten back from Xingdong Village, but now we were heading back again. I barely knew these people—Xiao Liu picked them after we left, and clearly, they were his trusted followers. Xiao Liu deliberately had them come with me, so they could report to him the moment anything happened. I understood exactly what he was getting at.

No one talked on the way over. Each of us was lost in our own thoughts. The killer just stared out the window, silent, while I had no idea what was running through their mind.

Meanwhile, I couldn’t stop worrying about Guan Zengbin’s safety. Who sent those texts to everyone, and where was Guan Zengbin now? The whole thing felt orchestrated, and it seemed aimed directly at me.

I’ve caught plenty of criminals over the years, and sure, I’ve made enemies, but no one should know about the Special Investigation Team, let alone anything about Guan Zengbin.

As far as I could remember, there was only one person with that kind of reach—Wu Zui. From the very beginning, Wu Zui seemed to be targeting me, whether it was causing me to develop Guilt Delusion, or his tactics in the Liu Yinyan case, or the unsettling things he said—real or not, dream or reality.

And this killer, sitting harmlessly beside me, was definitely hiding something too. Whenever I pressed for details, they just dodged or stammered. Which personality was keeping secrets now?

According to the Uncle Personality, even though he’d integrated all personalities, there were still stretches of time he couldn’t account for. During those gaps, nobody knew what personality was in control. Was there a connection between that missing time and Wu Zui?

I closed my eyes and replayed all the details in my mind.

Suddenly, something clicked. I quickly asked the killer, “Tell me, how many people have you really killed?”

Still staring out the window, the killer turned at my question and said, “What do you mean? I’ve already told you.”

I studied the killer closely. Sensing I was serious, the killer replied, “Eight. Eight people.”

“Eight?” I repeated, slowly and clearly. “Are you sure about that?”

The killer let out a sudden, cold laugh. “First off, let me be clear—those eight people weren’t killed by me. Yama killed them. And yes, eight is correct. From the start, there were two white-collar workers.”

As he spoke, the killer raised two fingers. I frowned.

He went on, “That’s two, then there was the little girl’s family—three more.”

I held up five fingers—now we were at five.

The killer glanced at my hand and said, “Okay, that’s five. There were three more: a noisy little boy, a seductive widow, and Old Wang.”

He flashed eight fingers and said softly, “Eight people, three stories. After Wu Xiufang died, Wu Xiufen took everything from the house, including the twelve Zodiac Bowls. Their designs were beautiful, so even though they had no real value, no one knows who ended up with them.”

The second I heard this, cold sweat trickled down my spine.

I took a deep breath, then asked, “But there were nine victims.”

“Nine?” The killer frowned. “I only remember eight.”

From the look on the killer’s face, they seemed genuinely confused. And if the killer already admitted to eight murders, what difference would a ninth make? Why lie at this point? Then—who killed the woman boss?

Back when I spoke with the Uncle Personality, he also insisted he’d only killed eight. The woman boss’s body was discovered much later than the others—by then, she was already just bones.

According to the witness, the man boss who had a thing with her, he saw a young girl leave the shop. The timing matched the killer.

Out of all the killer’s personalities, only Ze was an ordinary woman.

So who was this female personality?

Suddenly, I remembered—Ze never killed, not once. Guan Zengbin said the woman boss was bitten to death—a brutal way to die, not something Ze would ever do.

I looked at the killer, meeting his confused gaze. He’d said before that every day, there was a stretch of time he couldn’t account for. In that lost time, surely some other personality took over.

Everything was getting more tangled. There were still hidden personalities inside the killer.

I asked sharply, “Are you sure there are no other personalities left in you?”

The killer fell silent, and only after a few minutes did he speak. “No. I’m sure. There’s no one else. I’m the one in control now.”

I ran my fingers through my hair, lost in thought. Who had taken over the killer’s body during those missing times? Who killed the woman boss? And what was the real motive?

While I was lost in thought, my phone suddenly rang.

The phone’s timing made me uneasy. If someone had tampered with it, it wouldn’t be hard to plant something. But I had no way to ignore the call.

“Gu Chen?” I answered. “What’s up?”

Gu Chen said, “I’m already at Xingdong Village. What should I do next?”

I glanced at the killer and said, “I’ll give you a chance. I know you have notes on your multiple personalities, and you might have other clues. Remember, at one point, it was just us two down there. You get what I mean?”

I stared straight into the killer’s eyes, my words deliberate. “So I’m asking you—do you know where that underground room is or not?”

The killer looked at me, then at the others, and replied, “Are you threatening me? How is that by the book?”

Everyone in the car heard him, and so did Gu Chen on the other end. I knew this wasn’t exactly protocol, but I never was one to play by the rules.

I said slowly, “Yeah, everyone heard me. When it comes to the underground, it was just us two. If I say you’re the killer, you are. If I say you’re not, you’re not. I could say you tried to kill me to keep me quiet and that I caught you in the act.”

A tense silence settled in the car.

I pressed on, “Maybe Ze did it. But you know better than any of us where that room is. You’d better tell me, or everything falls on your head.”

The killer sat up abruptly and shouted, “I’m telling the truth! Ze really acted alone. She said this one didn’t need to die. She told us not to look. She never let me see when we went underground. Once the personalities merged, we all agreed we wouldn’t keep secrets from each other!”

I stared the killer down. “That’s not good enough. You definitely know more than me.”

“Ten, nine, eight…”

The killer’s face turned red. “You’re framing me! Everyone heard him—he’s threatening me!”

“Seven, six, five…”

The car was dead silent.

The killer finally said, “Five years it’s taken me to get this far. You can’t do this! Please, you know I didn’t do it!”

When it comes to life and death, nobody stays calm. The killer wanted to save his own skin; my priority was Guan Zengbin’s life.

“Four, three, two…”

Suddenly, the killer blurted out, “Every time I woke up not knowing what I’d done, I always found myself standing in front of a tombstone. If I had to guess, it’s beneath the tombstone. Underground, under the tombstone.”

I nodded. “That’s the spot, then. Gu Chen, did you catch that?”

Gu Chen answered, “The tombstone, huh? Makes sense. I’ve already turned Xingdong Village upside down since early this morning, but found nothing. The entrance is probably up on the mountain. I’m heading up there now. If I find anything, I’ll call you.”

I said, “Move fast. It’s been twelve hours since last night at nine. I bet Guan Zengbin, who hates the dark, is close to breaking down. We have to find her before it’s too late.”

Gu Chen was silent for a moment, then said, “Wu Meng, before she was a little woman, do you remember what Guan Zengbin really was? She’s always been ready to lay down her life for this job. Do you get that?”

I didn’t reply.

Gu Chen went on, “Calm down. I can feel your anxiety. Anxiety and reason never coexist. I’m hanging up and moving fast, so don’t worry. Guan Zengbin isn’t someone so easy to kill. Stay steady.”