Chapter 285: Liang Mei Under Suspicion

2022-05-20

It seemed like Gu Chen’s investigation was making significant headway. Maybe they’d catch Lü Xiangyang soon. Still, I couldn’t help but wonder—could a seventeen-year-old like Lü Xiangyang really have been so cold-blooded and meticulous? The killer clearly knew everyone’s personalities too—the ones who might die of fright, and the ones who’d need more extreme measures.

According to Wang Ang, Lü Xiangyang’s classmate, Lü Xuangiang always liked messing around with mysterious stuff. Maybe he really did kill using some method none of us understood. Otherwise, why did he buy a train ticket, wander around the train station, but ultimately not board the train and leave?

And why did Lü Xiangyang book the ticket with his girlfriend Li Xiaojuan’s phone? Was it possible he knew that after the murder, people would dig into the case from seven years ago, and uncover that Lü Zhiqiu had a younger brother? Once they learned that Lü Zhiqiu and her brother got along, they’d definitely look into Lü Xiangyang.

Maybe Lü Xiangyang saw it coming. So he booked the ticket with his girlfriend’s phone, thinking he could use her testimony as his alibi—redirecting suspicion to someone else.

I tugged at my hair, thinking it through. If revenge for his sister was the motive, Lü Xiangyang had the time—he’d disappeared two and a half weeks ago, plenty of time to plan out a murder.

No doubt, Lü Xiangyang was a prime suspect.

Now, all we could do was hope Gu Chen caught him soon. Then, maybe we’d finally get some answers.

Zhao Mingkun revved his motorbike, heading to Liang Mei’s company.

For now, we put the Lü Xiangyang case on hold. I trusted Gu Chen to track him down. The priority for me and Zhao Mingkun was finding Liang Mei. According to Zhao’s info, she worked at a design company, earning over ten thousand a month—good salary, nice benefits, nine-to-five hours. Not a bad job for a single mom.

But when we arrived, it wasn’t just us looking for her—even her boss was searching too. When we met her department manager, we were told Liang Mei had an unfinished project on her plate, but she was nowhere to be found.

Manager Wang led us to Liang Mei’s office as he talked.

The moment I stepped in, something about her desk felt off.

From the looks of Liang Mei’s desk, she hadn’t gotten it repaired. Files were piled up in a messy heap, as if someone had just been reading through them. Nothing was sorted, which meant she must’ve left in a hurry.

I turned to Manager Wang. “When was the last time you saw Liang Mei?”

“Two days ago,” Manager Wang replied. “Just a regular morning—she came in early like always, headed straight for her office. Like you can see, she even has a private office. I don’t know when she left though.”

I went over and pulled open a few desk drawers. Aside from a few files, there was nothing personal left. Looked like she’d already cleared out anything that belonged to her.

After the class reunion, Liang Mei went home and immediately said she wanted to move out. The next day, she left her apartment, and that same morning, turned up at the office early to take away her stuff. It all pointed to her deciding to leave after the reunion.

I rubbed my chin, remembering something Yang Licheng once told me.

I asked, “What’s Liang Mei like as a person?”

Manager Wang scratched his head and sighed, “Honestly, I can’t say I’m surprised by what she did.”

“How’s that?” I asked.

“She came to our company a few years ago. Her biggest trait is being stubborn. She’s lost a few clients just because she refused to budge on her designs. All she had to do was make a compromise, but she wouldn’t.”

“But because of that, if she sets her mind to something—even near-impossible designs—she always finds a way to get it done,” he went on. “She could’ve gotten promoted to manager soon too, I thought. But who knows—guess this is just her style.”

Right now, it seemed clear—Liang Mei left on her own, and didn’t tell anyone why she was leaving. I brushed a few documents aside, accidentally nudging her mouse. Suddenly, her computer screen lit up. She never shut it down.

“Who’s touched this computer?” I asked.

Manager Wang shook his head. “No one. She’s been gone two days, we have no clue where she is. Maybe just out for market research? You see her desk, her computer—no one’s touched anything. It’s been two days and no way to reach her.”

“This building keeps the power on at night?” I pressed.

“That’s right,” Manager Wang said. “Otherwise, her computer wouldn’t still be in sleep mode.”

If someone left in such a hurry but forgot to power off their computer, it had to mean something on there was important to them—or they needed to take something with them.

I combed through her computer files, but aside from office software and a few design blueprints, nothing unusual came up. Frowning, I paused to think, then opened up the browser. The search history was completely wiped clean.

That was odd. Most people don’t delete their browsing history—unless they’re searching for something they really don’t want others to see. Why did Liang Mei clear hers? What was she hiding?

Shaking my head, I admitted it—Liang Mei had really planned her exit. Even if she was still in Dongxing City, we’d have a hard time finding her.

I was just about to close the browser when I accidentally right-clicked the mouse. There—an option to paste. Everyone knows that only shows up when someone’s hit copy or cut before.

I clicked paste without thinking. A file appeared on the desktop—a photo.

I quickly opened it. The moment it popped up on screen, Manager Wang jumped back, startled.

“What… what is that?” He clutched his chest, pointing at the monitor, his voice trembling. “That’s terrifying. Why would something like that be on Liang Mei’s computer? It’s got nothing to do with design work… Was she trying to get inspiration from this?”

I shook my head, not answering.

Zhao Mingkun strode over in a few quick steps. “Isn’t this picture…”

I nodded, staring at the screen.

Both of us fell silent. This photo made Liang Mei look very suspicious. It wasn’t just any photo—it was the same one we saw on Hu Pei’s swapped phone. Lü Zhiqiu’s severed head, only this time it was the original.

Unlike the phone version, there were no added words like “I’m back” written on the edges. It was way clearer too. The image on the phone must have gotten distorted from being transferred.

But this one was sharp—painfully clear.

As we understood it, the students only saw Lü Zhiqiu’s body after the investigators arrived. Yet this photo was obviously shot by someone right next to the corpse—the camera right up close. I could picture the photographer standing with their feet on either side of the head, bending low for a close-up shot.

The ground was still yellow dirt, but the background was dark. That meant the photo was likely taken at night. So why did Liang Mei have this picture? Everything about it—from the lighting to the angle—said it was taken by the killer.

How did it end up on her computer? And why did she leave so abruptly after the reunion? I remembered Wang Yikai had insisted all thirteen of them stay in Dongxing City for the investigation. None of the others had left, yet Liang Mei dropped her job and home of three or four years, taking her child and vanishing.

“Something’s off,” I told Zhao Mingkun. “There’s definitely something up with Liang Mei.”

Zhao Mingkun looked at me and nodded. “You can see it—whether it was seven years ago or now, Liang Mei’s always been strong-willed. People assume the quiet, agreeable types have no backbone. But really, it’s those people who know exactly what they want. They’ll go with the flow on small things, but when something crosses their line, they’ve already made up their mind.”

He added, “Otherwise, she would’ve never had Yang Licheng’s child.”

“So what are you saying?” I asked Zhao Mingkun. “You really think Liang Mei could be the killer?”

Zhao Mingkun waved it off. “I’m just saying—if she decided to kill Lü Zhiqiu, she’d definitely be able to go through with it.”