Chapter 16

Chapter 16

I drove home as fast as I could.

I didn’t even have time to change out of my mud-caked shoes. I rushed straight into my room, turned on my computer, logged into my account, and found the user named “Si Ma Nan Zhui” in the backend.

Ever since our last conversation, he had never shown up again.

If he really was the killer, then what had he been feeling back then when he watched me draw Bai Yanmei?

My hands trembled as I sent Si Ma Nan Zhui a message.

“I know who you are.”

“Ma Wei.”

“Your father is Ma Jingyuan, the director of the Machinery No. 2 Factory back then. Your uncle was the deputy captain of criminal investigation.”

“September 15, 1993. Do you remember that date? You killed Bai Yanmei!!!”

“You think that just because you fled overseas, just because thirty-two years have passed, you can escape the punishment of the law?”

“Tomorrow morning, I’m going to the police! And if the police don’t do anything, I’ll expose your crimes on my account!”

“You can keep ignoring my messages if you want, but don’t get cocky. This is the age of the internet. It’s not 1993 anymore, when officials shielded each other and information didn’t travel. Your umbrella can’t protect you now!”

“Just you wait. Netizens all over the world will tear you apart! They’ll expose your address, your face, and your family!”

“You scum. You piece of garbage. Go to hell!”

…

After venting, I calmed down a little.

But that stifled rage and resentment still refused to settle.

I walked over to the rosewood cabinet and opened it. My fingertips gently brushed over the carved line of words, and tears fell beyond my control.

A little girl who had lost both parents at a young age, forced to live under someone else’s roof, had actually needed to carve her own name into her belongings to protect them.

Worse, because of her beauty, she had been coveted by that pervert and brutally killed.

How desperate must she have been the night she died?

I pressed my forehead against the cabinet and burst into sobs.

Just then, the computer behind me let out a ding-dong notification.

I turned around and walked over. Si Ma Nan Zhui had replied.

“Hello, streamer. I’m Ma Wei.”

“I don’t know where you found my information, but I need to tell you this: I am not the killer.”

What?

I hurriedly sat down and stared at the message on the screen.

Judging by his age, the person on the other end should be in his fifties now. His mind and way of doing things had to be quite mature.

He had definitely seen my messages before, but he had deliberately ignored them.

The fact that he was replying this time meant he was scared.

Of course he was. The son of a corrupt official who had fled overseas-what he feared most was being exposed, dug up by the internet, and having his descendants dragged down with him.

I sneered and typed, “Do you know who I met? Bai Yanmei’s cousin, Qi Xin.”

“You didn’t expect Qi Xin to still be alive, did you?”

I deliberately wrote some vague details. “Back then, your father intentionally arranged for that lunatic Qi Xin to be placed in the factory, didn’t he? If he had nothing to hide, why would he do that?”

Ma Wei sent me a “smile” sticker.

The moment I saw that sticker, rage flared through me. “Fine. You won’t admit it, huh? Then I’ll start a livestream right now, Uncle Ma.”

Ma Wei: “Young man, calm down first.”

I folded my arms across my chest and stared at the screen without saying a word.

Sure enough, it wasn’t long before Ma Wei sent me a very long message.

“I don’t know what Qi Xin told you, but I truly did not kill Bai Yanmei.”

“Bai Yanmei and I were classmates in middle school. I was one grade above her.”

“I have to admit, I liked her very much. Even now, I still dream about her from time to time.”

“Back then, she took the entrance exam for a secondary vocational arts school twice, but she didn’t get in. Later, she followed her family’s arrangements and went to nursing school, while I continued on to high school.”

“At the time, I was obsessed with her. I kept pursuing her, but she never responded.”

“She told me she already had someone she liked and told me to stop pestering her.”

After reading that, I typed a reply, pushing him even harder:

“So because you loved her but couldn’t have her, you climbed in through the Qi Family’s window in the middle of the night and killed her? Weren’t you afraid you’d fall to your death?”

Ma Wei sent me another smiling emoji.

Damn it!

I was so angry my teeth itched. You old bastard, send that emoji again and see if I don’t kill you!

Ma Wei: “The nursing school was strict, so I couldn’t usually get in. But I desperately wanted to know who Yanmei was dating.”

“I knew Yanmei had a habit of keeping a diary. In ’93, I once climbed into the Qi Family house and stole Yanmei’s diary.”

“Afterward, I was afraid Yanmei would find out, so I decided to quietly put the diary back.”

“On the night of September 15th, I climbed into the Qi Family house again. By then, Yanmei had already been murdered.”

“I will never forget that sight. Not even if I die. And I was certain the killer was still inside the Qi Family house. I was so scared that I hurried back the way I came. When I jumped down, I think someone saw me.”

I sat up straight at once and quickly typed: “How could you be sure the killer was still inside the Qi Family house? You’re not just making this up, are you?”

Ma Wei: “The lights were off in the Qi Family house at the time, but the streetlights outside were on. Even that little bit of light was enough for me to see clearly.”

“Yanmei was lying in a pool of blood. The killer had cut open her stomach.”

“I was so terrified that I rushed back the way I came. In my panic, I accidentally knocked over a vase on the writing desk.”

“It was a bouquet of white fabric roses. I didn’t have time to set it back up. I hurriedly jumped out the window.”

“You must have looked up Yanmei’s case online. That bouquet of flowers was later found inside her abdominal cavity.”

“I never touched those flowers. So it could only have been the killer.”

“Sigh. After I jumped out the window and ran away that year, someone saw me leaving the Qi Family house. That’s what led to all the trouble afterward.”

…

I carefully mulled over what he’d said and typed: “Uncle Ma, you aren’t making this up on the spot because you’re afraid I’ll expose you, are you? I heard you were already arrested back then, but your uncle was the deputy captain of the criminal investigation team and buried the matter.”

Ma Wei: “I did have a relative in the police department. But that case caused too much of a stir back then. It became famous nationwide, and experts from many provinces went to Cang City to assist in solving it. Even if my uncle had connections everywhere, he wouldn’t have dared to protect me under that kind of pressure. In fact, the higher-ups had already removed him from the special task force.”

I stared at the screen.

What Ma Wei said was, admittedly, airtight.

I typed back: “Even though you’ve said so much, I still can’t completely believe you.”

Ma Wei: “The innocent remain innocent.”

“How about this, streamer? Give me an address, and I’ll mail Yanmei’s diary to you. I believe you should be able to find clues inside.”

I frowned and replied: “You didn’t give the diary to the police?”

Ma Wei: “I didn’t dare. Back then, I was afraid of causing more complications, so I only said that I hadn’t been able to find Yanmei recently and was worried something had happened to her. I knocked on the door, but no one answered, so I climbed through the window to see what was going on.”

I pondered for a moment. “What about now? Why don’t you make the diary public? If you’d handed it in earlier, maybe this case would have been solved long ago.”

Ma Wei sent another smiling emoji.

I sent an eye-roll emoji.

Ma Wei:

“My whole family fled back then. How would we dare show our faces again?”

“In this life, I’m destined to die far from home.”

“Young man, I saw you speak up and raise funds for the girl’s mother in the Double-Corpse Case. I know you’re a good person. I hope that someday, you can find the killer and bring justice for Yanmei.”

“Lastly, give my regards to Qi Xin. She’s getting on in years, so she should take good care of herself.”

I quickly replied: “Can you tell me a little more? For example, on the night you saw the body, did you notice anything unusual?”

Ma Wei went offline. No matter how many messages I sent, he never replied again.