CH 89

Translated by: Crooked

Edited by: Dust Bunny 

“What are you looking at, Gu Ge?” Fang Zhi followed him over and stood behind Gu Xizhou. “This, this is…” He pointed at the thing Gu Xizhou had fished up from the pot, and his face paled.

At that moment, they heard the sound of You Tianyi yelling outside. His complexion was deadly pale as he tottered out of the room. The lower half of his body was bound in gauze like a diaper. He entered his kitchen and looked at the thing placed on the chopping board, and he already understood what happened, directly fainting.

The company programmer entered the kitchen and spoke with a tiny and trembling voice: “That can’t be what I think it is, right?”

Gu Xizhou didn’t answer the man’s question. He hastily pulled out his phone and intended to dial 120. You Tianyi’s lower body was still seeping blood, and he needed the bleeding staunched quickly, or he would certainly die of blood loss. 

Ruan Shuyun stood at the side. Seeing Gu Xizhou holding a phone, she said faintly, “No need to call. I already notified 120 before you arrived. As for the police, you’re here. I don’t think I need to call to make a report, ba?”

After finishing this sentence, Ruan Shuyun directly entered the sitting room and sat down.

They were all stunned. After Gu Xizhou helped Fang Zhi lift You Tianyi onto the sofa, he suddenly turned his head to look at Ruan Shuyun. “When we arrived, you did it deliberately. You deliberately led us to the room and said he was feeling unwell, so you could wait for the water to boil!”

Ruan Shuyun didn’t refute Gu Xizhou. She used her hands to ease herself onto the sofa.

“You’re really amazing.” Gu Xizhou felt like he’d been made a fool, pointing at Ruan Shuyun, angry to the point of laughter.

“You’re also very amazing. In fact, I never thought you could catch me.” Ruan Shuyun smirked disdainfully. “I thought you would only catch me on the day I gave myself up to the authorities. I didn’t expect to only be able to cut apart three people before you came to find me.”

“How did you notice him? He still hadn’t asked those women out for a third time, and he always hid it very well. Even I, his spouse, was kept in the dark.”

“Right now I’m asking you questions, you don’t ask me.” said Gu Xizhou. “We only met once in his office. How did you know we were police officers?” 

Ruan Shuyun’s gaze dropped to the unconscious You Tianyi and then moved away.

“You policemen aren’t the only ones with good observation skills. Your skin color is a healthy wheat color. I inferred that you frequently run around outside. Your arms are also muscled, which is nothing like those office workers.”

“Then maybe I just like to exercise. That’s nothing strange.”

The woman acknowledged, “Right, do you still remember when the water almost fell to the floor? It was caught very steadily by your partner. He’s very skilled. 

“The most important thing was You Tianyi. When he ate lunch today, he answered your phone call and then told me his cold wasn’t good and was afraid to infect me, and he wanted to eat separate meals with me.

“Before, it might have all been my conjecture, but he proposed separate meals. I immediately knew you weren’t collaborating with him and were police officers.”

The more Ruan Shuyun expounded upon her cool-headed analysis, the more regretful Gu Xizhou felt. He never thought that that one phone call to warn You Tianyi would instead implicate him. Because of his warning, You Tianyi proposed separate meals because of his warning.

“No, you don’t need to feel like it’s your mistake,” Ruan Shuyun said mildly. She seemed like she was just an observer, and that everything was clear to her, and she could thoroughly understand Gu Xizhou. 

Gu Xizhou felt numb when he heard this sentence, and his eyes narrowed as he sized up Ruan Shuyun. The murderer in front of him was extraordinarily cool-headed, like she could see through people’s hearts.

“No need to be surprised. I’m a medical student. I took psychology as an elective in university,” said Ruan Shuyun. “If you hadn’t called, I could have directly killed him and not cut off his third leg.”

Gu Xizhou: “……”

“You called him, so he said he wanted to eat separate meals. That’s why I didn’t kill him. Maybe he still has me in his heart, but I don’t understand how that could be when he’s still sleeping around outside. 

“Do you know what I thought when I found out I had HIV? I thought for a very long time. I wondered whether I was infected by a patient during an operation. I didn’t understand, and I ran through a checklist of every possibility, but I didn’t expect it to be him.”

Ruan Shuyun stood up, gazing arrogantly at the unconscious form of You Tianyi. Ruan Shuyun didn’t speak again until the 120 ambulance arrived and carried him off to the hospital.

When she was arrested by the police department, Gu Xizhou sat in the interrogation room and looked at the taciturn Ruan Shuyun.

“Can I have a cigarette?” the woman asked with a lowered head. 

Gu Xizhou called for an officer outside to deliver a cigarette. After it was lit, it was handed to Ruan Shuyun. Her motions weren’t very skillful. It was obviously her first time smoking, and she was choked to tears.

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“Coafg ws LPN vljucbrlr kjr mbcolgwfv, P mtfmxfv jgbecv jcv yfujc ab byrfgnf tlw. Lf kjr lcvffv nfgs mjgfoei, yea ktfc j kbwjc tjgybgr atfrf rerqlmlbcr, rtf’r pera ilxf Vtfgibmx Lbiwfr. Snfc rwjii vfajlir mjc yfagjs sbeg rfmgfar.

“His two phones are identical. Once, when he returned home, he brought back the wrong phone. As long as it was locked, it was impossible to discern from his normal phone. I opened the screen and found that it needed a passcode to unlock instead of a fingerprint. I immediately knew that this cell phone wasn’t the one he used before. 

“Sometimes, he was very busy and simply didn’t have the time to put in the passcode, and fingerprint locks are the quickest. He and I were together for a long time, and I understood him best.”

Gu Xizhou frowned in response. “You know his passcode?”

Ruan Shuyun looked at Gu Xizhou silently for a moment before she spoke. “It was my birthday.”

“……” Gu Xizhou and Fang Zhi were both speechless. The phone You Tianyi used especially for hookups was set up with a passcode that was actually his wife’s birthday. 

Unlock hookup phone——Input wife’s birthday——Begin hookup…

This kind of process simply gave Gu Xizhou a headache.

“He was quite strange, right?” Ruan Shuyun smiled self-deprecatingly. “Today, when he asked to eat separate meals with me, there was a split second where I was going to forgive him.”

“Talk about the case.” 

Ruan Shuyun nodded. “After I unlocked the cell phone, I used the phone number to register for a WeChat account. After that, people started adding me as a friend one after the other…

“Tang Xiao asked to meet with him, and I answered her on WeChat. Then, downstairs in her neighborhood, I knocked her out and used a scalpel to cut off her chest.”

Fang Zhi cut in, “But this morning, You Tianyi told us you were at home together the nights that Tang Xiao and Hu Shanshan died.”

“He only thought I was at home, that’s all.” 

Gu Xizhou was silent for a moment before he said, “I can finally guess this one. She’s an anaesthesiologist with an accurate grasp on the dosage. Making You Tianyi think he was only asleep for a brief five minutes would be no difficult matter.”

“That’s right. At that time, I rendered him unconscious. Going to meet Tang Xiao and coming back took an hour and a half. After returning home, I adjusted all the clocks. After You Tianyi fell asleep, I used the same method to knock him out and adjusted them all back.”

Gu Xizhou looked at her. “In any case, you wanted to kill him. Why did you still want an alibi?”

“If a lot of people died, he would discover sooner or later that these people were connected to him. He would certainly suspect me, first. After all, I’m an anaesthesiologist. I wasn’t trying to prove to you that I wasn’t there. It was him who I didn’t want to know I was there.” 

When the woman spoke, the Jinluo police department officers monitoring from outside all let out a cold breath. From the beginning, she only wanted to catch everything in one net, even if it wasn’t simple at all to kill several people.

If not for Leader Gu fixing his attention on You Tianyi so quickly, the woman could have continued her murder spree!

“Leader Gu, come out for a bit,” said Lao Guo, opening the door to speak to Gu Xizhou.

After Gu Xizhou went out, he asked, “What is it?” 

“There’s a phone call from the hospital. The victim wants to talk to you.”

Gu Xizhou took the phone. The person on the other side was silent for a long time. Gu Xizhou could hear the faint sound of weeping.

“Police officer comrade, is it my fault she killed those people? …Because I fooled around outside, and I infected her?”

“She had already confirmed the diagnosis several months ago.” 

You Tianyi sat on the bed holding a recently obtained hospital report. HIV positive. He had just been diagnosed with the disease.

“I’m sorry… I’m sorry…”

Gu Xizhou listened to his inarticulate weeping and repetitive apologies. He wasn’t sure who You Tianyi was apologizing to.

After Ruan Shuyun pled guilty, the case was clarified bit by bit. She only had one request. She hoped they would notify her hospital and have those sick patients she had contact with be examined to see whether or not they were infected. 

It was already ten o’clock at night when Gu Xizhou left the police station. He parked downstairs in the neighborhood. A downpour cascaded outside. Raindrops pelted the car roof like small pearls falling on a jade plate. The sound was noisy but peaceful.

At this time, Gu Xizhou’s phone got a WeChat notification.

Si Yu: How is the case?

Gu Xizhou: The murderer was brought to justice. 

Si Yu: That’s good.

Gi Xizhou: Thank you.

Si Yu: For what?

Gu Xizhou: If you hadn’t helped me, I would probably have to work overtime for many more days. 

Si Yu: Oh, don’t mention it. Next time you ask me to help, don’t buy me noodles.

Gu Xizhou: You mean I can ask you for help at any time as long as I don’t buy you noodles?

Si Yu: I didn’t say that.

Gu Xizhou: When do you go in next? 

Sitting in his drawing room, Si Yu held his phone and thought. “Wait until your time, ba. Mine isn’t urgent.”

Gu Xizhou: Ok.

Si Yu: En.

Their dialogue paused at the word “en”. Gu Xizhou was about to put his phone away when it went off again. 

Xiang Yuan: WTF, this case was actually solved in three days. When did you get so awesome?

Gu Xizhou: Who hasn’t had a time when they’re smart?

Xiang Yuan: Haha, I won’t argue with you. The sperm found in the body of the third victim has been identified. You’re all set to investigate, ba.”

Gu Xizhou looked at Xiang Yuan’s message and rubbed his aching temples. The chest cut murder case and the rape case were separate. According to Ruan Shuyun’s confession, she never directly killed the four victims. 

After cutting off the three women’s chests, she just threw them aside into the underbrush. She also couldn’t rape them on her own. Gu Xizhou guessed that after the third victim, Cao Li, was cut apart, she was actually found by a passerby. However, the other person didn’t save her. Instead, he took advantage of her comatose state and raped her.

Investigate, it was only natural that they investigate.

Gu Xizhou got rid of the matter in his head and went upstairs. Just before he took a shower, his work schedule was placed on the table for Gu Ji Ji to look at. After he finished bathing, he directly fell asleep.

In a sleepy daze in the middle of the night, he heard a sound inside his room… It was a ghost closing the window. 

But, Gu Xizhou didn’t see the ghost. He turned over and said, “Thanks, Ji Ji.”

The other ignored him. After shutting the window, Gu Ji Ji moved to the bedside in complete darkness, silently watching Gu Xizhou for a while. Then, he left the room, closing the door behind him.

For the next two days, Gu Xizhou and his team conducted a blanket investigation around the third victim, Cao Li’s death site. After two days, the owner of the sperm was finally identified. He was a scavenger nearby.

After finding Cao Li, cut apart and unconscious, the man didn’t save her, but instead took advantage of her comatose state and raped her. Such a brutal act made one shiver with fear. 

Gu Xizhou finally closed this chest slasher serial murder case. Suddenly, someone knocked on his door. Xiang Yuan energetically rushed in.

“Lao Gu, you’ll never guess who just came to our police department!” said Xiang Yuan.

Gu Xizhou raised an eyebrow, gesturing for him to break the suspense and spill.

“That one You Tianyi came here and said he doesn’t want to prosecute Ruan Shuyun!” 

“It makes no difference if he presses charges or not,” said Gu Xizhou indifferently. “Ruan Shuyun killed three people. She’ll definitely get the death penalty.”

Xiang Yuan agreed, “Yes, ah, but don’t you think he’s very contradictory? He’s the one who went out to find women, and he infected his wife, and now he’s the one who’s been maimed and doesn’t want to press charges to show his understanding.”

Gu Xizhou thought: You Tianyi’s eccentricities don’t stop there. What do you think is in his head every time he puts in the code to unlock his phone!

“Okay, don’t gossip,” said Gu Xizhou. 

“Dong dong dong.”

Someone knocked on the door. Xiang Yuan got up to open it and saw Ma Qi holding something in his hands. He came in.

“Am I disturbing you?” asked Ma Qi.

Xiang Yuan took a drink of his jujube juice and said, “No, I’ll leave first. You have something, you two talk!” 

Once Xiang Yuan left, Gu Xizhou invited Ma Qi to speak.

“The narcotics department over there looked at the information you gave them and already determined which employees at Jinfen Shijia were involved in the drug dealing. They asked me to say thank you.”

Although the drug dealing case was only coincidentally involved, the surveillance video they got through Gu Xizhou and the others was very useful, and it was a big help.

Ma Qi and Gu Xizhou were chatting when they suddenly heard several police officers outside. 

“Ma’am, you can’t go in!”

“Why can’t I go in? Oh, I know. He knows I’m pregnant, so he doesn’t want to see me?”

“N-no, you mean you’re carrying Leader Gu’s child? But your stomach…” is very flat, ah! Where do you look pregnant?

The officer didn’t dare to speak frankly. After all, the woman was very beautiful, and maybe she really was in a relationship with Leader Gu! 

Ma Qi pointed outside, silently asking if he wanted to go take a look.

WTF, when did I get someone pregnant? How did I not know?

Gu Xizhou moved quickly and pushed open the door. After he got a clear look at the woman outside, he was slightly stunned, raising an eyebrow. “It’s you? I don’t know when our relationship got so close. Accurately speaking, this is the third time we’ve met.”

The woman didn’t refute him and en-ed. She took a step forward and said, “I helped you twice before. It’s only fair for you to help me once.” 

Gu Xizhou raised an eyebrow. Strictly speaking, the woman really did help him twice. The first time was the Phoenix Mountain dismemberment case, and the second was the chest slashing case.

“What do you want me to help you with?”

“I want you to accompany me to the next world. You’re my only hope. I don’t want to die.”

“What hope?” 

Gu Xizhou looked at the woman. He guessed they were similar. She went through mission worlds to replenish her life just like them, but he didn’t understand a lick of the other things she said.

The woman stepped forward and grabbed Gu Xizhou wrist, saying ,”Sorry, it’s almost time. There’s three minutes left on the countdown.”

Ma Qi tried to get the woman to let go, but he didn’t know that the woman lied when she said there were three minutes.

The woman grabbed Gu Xizhou, and Ma Qi grabbed the woman. 

Ma Qi felt a familiar spell of dizziness, and there were only three words in his heart: fuck your uncle.

When Gu Xizhou opened his eyes again, he was surrounded by a cacophony of noise, and there were many different voices.

This was…

An amusement park?