When the police were distracted by Yu Can's two boxes of fruit, many other events were unfolding simultaneously.
For instance, Ji Feng. He was well aware that there might not be any bombs in the fruit boxes at all, that the remote control could be just a bluff, but he couldn't afford to take that gamble.
There were far too many deranged individuals out there. Some criminals, knowing they couldn't escape, would try to take as many people down with them as possible. Who wouldn't feel wronged if they encountered such a situation? But once you're dead, you're dead.
Everyone only has one life.
And he only had one sister as family.
Moreover, Yu Can still had another hostage in his grasp.
But he still couldn't understand what Yu Can was trying to accomplish. Did he think he could escape by taking him hostage?
The car veered off the main road, heading towards the outskirts of the city.
Night had fallen deeply, and the white glow of the streetlights was bitingly cold, like winter snow, suddenly stinging the eyes. Ji Feng closed his eyes and suddenly said, "You threw away the phone. Can you tell me the truth now?"
Yu Can asked, "What truth?"
Ji Feng: "Why Li Xiaonuan?"
Yu Can countered, "Are you concerned about her because your father died in this case?"
"Because Li Xiaonuan is special," he replied calmly, not provoked. "She was the killer's first victim after five years of inactivity. They even prepared a scapegoat in advance, struck once, and quickly retreated. It's very different from the previous four cases."
Yu Can asked, "What do you think?"
"I can't figure it out, that's why I'm asking you," Ji Feng said. "You won't even answer this?"
The car turned onto a dirt road, with the scenery on both sides changing from highway railings to waist-high wild grass. As the tires rolled over the bumpy road, the car occasionally shook. After a while, Yu Can said, "She knew something she shouldn't have known."
As expected.
"What about the others?" Ji Feng asked. "Who were they, and why did you kill them?"
Yu Can didn't answer.
He continued, "They were all ordinary, decent people. Though young, you were also young in 2002. You can't have children, but they didn't have children either. Their financial situations weren't good, they weren't promiscuous, they worked hard... Ms. Yu, I don't understand, what was your motive?"
"Ordinary. Decent." Yu Can softly repeated these words, then suddenly laughed, his expression cold. "You think I was jealous, but can't find a reason for the jealousy, right?"
Ji Feng frankly replied, "Yes, that's why I'm curious."
Yu Can's hands gripped the steering wheel tightly, veins protruding on the back of his hands: "It's simple. Some things that seem ordinary and unremarkable to most people are things that some people can never have."
Ji Feng furrowed his brow, quickly running through the lives of the victims in his mind.
"I don't know how to explain my feelings to you. You wouldn't understand. She was lying there, her body so soft and beautiful. I couldn't control myself at all. I immediately took off her clothes and put them on myself. It looked so good, so beautiful. I look a lot like Eldest Sister, and in the mirror, it was as if I had become her."
Twenty years had passed since the first case in 2002, but at this moment, recalling that instant, Yu Can could still feel the tremors from back then.
He immediately made up his mind to replace Eldest Sister and become Yu Can.
Ji Feng asked timely: "Then what? How did you dispose of the body?"
"I thought about this question for a long time," Yu Can raised his head, recalling his feelings bit by bit. "To replace my Eldest Sister, I had to destroy her face. At that time, I didn't know about things like sulfuric acid. I only knew that after being burned by fire, you couldn't recognize a face anymore, so I decided to burn her."
Ji Feng nodded, thinking, this was the origin of everything.
"Who was the second victim? When did you act?" he asked, while an interesting thought suddenly flashed through his mind.
If Teacher Jian were here, he would surely say: "The second victim must have been your wife. She discovered some unusual traces, otherwise you wouldn't have acted against her so quickly..."
In short, speak the criminal's words, leaving the criminal speechless.
Perhaps this is the biggest difference between detectives and police officers.
Yu Can continued: "I hid the body in the woodshed behind the rental house. From that day on, I didn't let my wife go in there. But she didn't listen. That day, I went out to get gasoline, and the window was broken by the neighbor's kid. The wind kept rushing in, so she went to the woodshed to find wood to fix the window, and then she saw..."
He paused for three or four seconds before his voice resumed, emotionless, as if it had all been an illusion.
"She was a good woman, loyal to me. She didn't dare to say anything, pretending not to know, but I still found out. To be honest, I was very conflicted those days - every night, I would sleep holding her, and when I was drowsy, sometimes I felt it was just my body, but when I was awake, I was insanely jealous.
"I didn't want to kill her, but since she had discovered it, she would eventually speak out. So that night, when she came back from her night shift, I made her a bowl of instant noodles, added an egg and ham, and poisoned her to death."
He exhaled and said: "As for the two women afterward, just as you said, I was afraid of being discovered, so I decided to kill two more. I didn't think much when choosing them, just picked ones who looked similar to my eldest sister and my wife. Oh, right, that was also the first time I dressed up as a woman. In winter, with thick clothes on, and me being thin, it wasn't noticeable at all. My sister had a uniform issued by their agency, looking quite authentic, and they fell for it quickly."
Ji Feng asked: "What about Li Xiaonuan?"
"After 2003, I actually didn't want to kill anymore. There was no need," Yu Can voluntarily unveiled another mystery of the case. "I lied to my mother, saying my wife ran off with someone, and my eldest sister found a husband far away and wouldn't come back. I sent some money back, and they didn't ask much. Everything was going smoothly, but I had a bold idea in mind - I wanted to become a real woman."
"In 2007, I saved some money and went to the hospital for a check-up, thinking about having surgery. But unfortunately, I was hit by a car on the way. A kind-hearted young girl helped me gather my things and took me to the hospital. I wasn't careful, and she took my report. She returned it the next day.
"Although she said she hadn't looked at it, I wasn't at ease. The report was just a few pages, and you couldn't tell if it had been flipped through or not. But I pretended not to mind and managed to get her name. I found out she was studying painting, so I said I'd introduce some business to her... Then you know the rest. I found a suitable place and person, lured her there, and on the day it was about to snow, I went to check on her while buying lunch... It was that simple."
As the story of the past ended, so did the road.
The car stopped in the wild grass, with a dilapidated large building ahead.
Ji Feng, having studied old maps for the Li Xiaonuan case, thought briefly and recalled what this place was.
An abandoned thermal power plant.
"Get out of the car," Yu Can said. "Don't try any tricks. Your younger sister..."
Before he could finish, Ji Feng had already made his move.