I See Murders Before They Happen

Chapter 140: Chapter 138: There Is a Fourth Person

”Yes. I ended up like this, all for a man who wasn’t worth it.”

Zeng Shuang’s voice was utterly lifeless.

”Because of that incident, I suffered from insomnia. After a while, my health started to decline.” Zeng Shuang lowered her head. ”My boyfriend at the time was very concerned about me. He took me to see a doctor and a psychologist, but I still didn’t get any better.”

”That incident was like a festering wound in my heart. It wouldn’t heal. Instead, it got worse and worse, the rot growing larger. I knew that one day, it would rot my heart through, and I would die.”

”I wanted to carve out the rotten flesh. I thought if I could just carve it out, no matter what, I might have a sliver of a chance to live. So I told my boyfriend. He couldn’t accept it and broke up with me.”

”It’s understandable. Everyone has the right to make their own choices. I don’t blame him. In fact, for a few days, I felt like I could finally breathe again, like I’d been granted a temporary reprieve.”

”But what happened next?” Tears spilled from Zeng Shuang’s eyes as she spoke. ”My ex-boyfriend’s computer was still at my place, so I called to tell him to come pick it up. He thought I was calling to try and win him back.”

”Over the phone, he called me a bitch, a slut. He said I had seduced my ex-boyfriend. I never knew the man I had loved for years could say such hideous things. He said I was dirty, that I was disgusting, that I had hidden what happened to me from him.”

”And that for me to still be intimate with him made him feel utterly disgusted.”

Zeng Shuang kept her head bowed, tears falling nonstop.

Chu Xingrou handed her a tissue.

Wiping her tears with her head bowed, Zeng Shuang said, ”I carved out the rotten flesh, but the wound didn’t heal. It just kept festering.”

”This whole thing is going to be the death of me. I can’t cut it out. I’m not going to live much longer. So, I decided that before I die, I absolutely have to kill those two scumbags!”

Zhuang Yanzheng asked, ”How did you get into the men’s dorm?”

”The side door of the dorm building. There aren’t any security cameras there yet,” Zeng Shuang said.

”How did you know that?” Zhuang Yanzheng asked.

”I asked around. It’s the kind of thing you can find out just by asking,” Zeng Shuang said. ”The lock on that door is pretty much just for show; you can pry it open with a bit of wire. A lot of them use the side door at night.”

No student had mentioned this when they were conducting their interviews.

”I wore a hat, baggy clothes, and a face mask. It’s not like anyone knows anyone else anyway. Plus, it was nighttime, so the dorm hallways were pretty much empty. I didn’t run into anyone in the corridors or on the stairwell after I went in.”

”How did you know they would both be in the dorm?” Zhuang Yanzheng asked. ”Wen Zouyu’s parents said he usually lives at home. He rarely stays in the dorm.”

”We ran into each other the day before,” Zeng Shuang said. ”Wen Zouyu and his roommate started humiliating me again. I pretended to be scared and told them to stop, then said I could go to their dorm to keep them company. So we arranged to meet that night.”

”And what happened after you got to the dorm?”

”We had a few drinks,” Zeng Shuang said.

”Just drinks? What was in them?” Zhuang Yanzheng asked.

”Drugs,” Zeng Shuang said. ”The same drug they used on me. I put it in their drinks.”

”Do you know what drug it was?” Zhuang Yanzheng asked.

”I don’t know,” Zeng Shuang said. ”I tricked Wen Zouyu into getting it out, then I secretly slipped it into their drinks.”

Chu Xingrou’s brow furrowed.

Zhuang Yanzheng watched her, then after a moment of silence, asked, ”So you used the drug that Wen Zouyu had on him?”

Zeng Shuang nodded.

”And after that?”

”After that, once they passed out, I killed them with a fruit knife,” Zeng Shuang said. ”I knocked over everything in the dorm that I could. I was worried the other rooms would hear, so I was very quiet about it. Then, I staged the scene to make it look like they had fought and killed each other.”

”What about the blood in the sink?” Chu Xingrou asked.

”I was wearing gloves, but some blood splattered on my wrist, so I went to wash my hands before I left,” Zeng Shuang said. ”After washing them, I realized... if they killed each other in a fight, why would there be blood in the bathroom sink? So I used the hydrogen peroxide from their room to clean the sink.”

”I’d heard somewhere that hydrogen peroxide can clean up bloodstains so the police can’t find them,” Zeng Shuang said. ”Once I’d taken care of everything, I took the alcohol and the glasses and left the dorm.”

”Which school gate did you leave through? What time was it?” Zhuang Yanzheng asked.

”I left by the athletic field. You can hop the fence there,” Zeng Shuang said. ”As for the time, I don’t remember clearly.”

”You majored in economics in college,” Zhuang Yanzheng stated. ”Did you study medicine afterward?”

”No.” Zeng Shuang shook her head.

”You never studied medicine, yet the wound on the back was a direct hit to the heart, and the stab to the abdomen struck the liver. What’s more, the wound locations on both bodies are almost identical,” Zhuang Yanzheng said. ”How could your technique be so skillful if you’ve never studied medicine?”

Zeng Shuang blinked once, very lightly. ”I don’t know. Maybe it was a coincidence.”

Outside the interrogation room, Yan Cheng was listening to her words when something suddenly occurred to him.

He took off his headphones.

Su Miaoyi turned her head to look at him.

”I’m going to the autopsy room,” Yan Cheng said, and left.

Su Miaoyi looked back toward the interrogation room.

Zhuang Yanzheng asked, ”The fruit knife you used for the murder, was it also from Wen Zouyu’s dorm room?”

”Yes,” Zeng Shuang replied.

”You just said you felt you couldn’t go on living and wanted to kill them before you died,” Zhuang Yanzheng said. ”But if that’s the case, why did you go to the trouble of faking a scene where they fought and killed each other?”

”I got scared all of a sudden, so I just did it,” Zeng Shuang said. ”But then I thought about it later. The drugs in their systems would definitely be detected, so the idea that they fought each other wouldn’t hold up. They’d find me sooner or later.”

Zhuang Yanzheng said no more.

Seeing that his silence was intentional, Chu Xingrou also remained quiet.

Sure enough, just as Zhuang Yanzheng had expected, Zeng Shuang spoke up on her own.

”I killed them. It was all my doing,” Zeng Shuang said. ”They got what they deserved. I don’t regret it. My one life for their two—it was worth it.”

Zhuang Yanzheng didn’t say anything, nor did he ask any more questions. He simply walked out of the interrogation room.

Chu Xingrou found it very strange, but she didn’t say anything and followed him out.

Su Miaoyi took off her headphones and went to find them.

”Captain Zhuang, her story is full of holes,” Chu Xingrou said.

”I know,” Zhuang Yanzheng said. ”In a little while, you’ll go in and question her again.”

”Yes, sir,” Chu Xingrou replied.

Zhuang Yanzheng said, ”Go get your thoughts in order first. Question her again in half an hour.”

”Okay.” Chu Xingrou left.

”She’s not going to talk,” Su Miaoyi said. ”She’s too well-prepared. It’s like she anticipated every question and had an answer ready.”

”It’s hard to find a breakthrough with someone who’s dead set on dying,” Zhuang Yanzheng said. ”I still think that fruit knife is the key.”

As he said this, his phone rang.

It was a call from Yan Cheng.

He answered the call, and the first thing Yan Cheng said was, ”There’s a fourth person.”

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