Chapter 12

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The murderer was set ablaze\n

Jiang Lanpei was held down on the ground, her eyes bloodshot, breathing heavily, yet the corners of her mouth were squeezed in a maniacal smile. “HahahaHAHA ……The police…..? What can the police do, THE POLICE ARE ALL TRASH! In all these years, was there one police officer that found me trapped in this hellhole? NO! THEY’RE ALL WORTHLESS!”\n

Her mind was muddled. Once she caught onto a single keyword, she would become obsessed with it for a good long while.\n

In the midst of her cursing, her loose hair was blown into her mouth by the wind. She spat it out, her eyes growing even more vicious—\n

“Now what? You’re going to kill me, aren’t you? The police are going to kill me to cover up their neglect of duty, aren’t they?”\n

As she spoke, a coldly beautiful smile appeared on her face, her expression still mocking even as she was restrained.\n

“I knew it—you men are all like that, absolute trash! No use whatsoever, and just inflicting your incompetence on women! I’ve been treated by everyone like an animal for twenty years…… Do you know what I relied on to keep track of time? I relied on the pictures that piece of shit hung on the walls every day! I looked at those disgusting things every day, the earliest one taken when I was only twenty-nine years old! Twenty-nine!!!”\n

“I’m fifty this year …… Huh? Maybe fifty-two? Fifty-one? Or maybe less than fifty?” She was disoriented again, the smile on her lips was creepy like arsenic seeping into wine. “Forget it, it doesn’t matter…… What matters is that I got out.”\n

“Do you know how I got out? I spent so many years coaxing him, catering to his ego. I was a crazy and stupid girl. He looked down on me but still wanted to screw me, used me to boost his pathetic male pride…… HahaHAHA…… I buttered him up so much that he was in over his head, and he gradually became more and more unsuspecting of me. Once when he took off his pants, he actually dropped the key to my door in the secret room.”\n

She seemed to whisper but couldn’t hold back a big smile of triumph. “But I didn’t take it.”\n

“I handed him the key that night and asked him what it was. He turned pale when he saw the key, but then saw that I was stupid so he let down his guard. He was sure that I was so ill…… to the point I couldn’t even recognize the key, HA!” Her eyes and voice suddenly became very sharp. “What kind of person can live such a life for twenty years without going crazy?!”\n

“He teased me with that key, treating me like some dead dog who didn’t know how to escape even when the exit was just there! He didn’t know that I could see the smugness in his eyes. I was so disgusted I wanted to vomit! But I’m good at acting—who said crazy people can’t act? I played the role so well and completely fooled him! Then he became more and more relaxed, more and more careless. Whenever he dropped the key, I would sneak out…… I’ve touched every brick of this asylum! But I’m not leaving! I’m going to make all these men go to hell!”\n

“Finally after I had everything planned out, and just yesterday …… He left the key again. So I took it and waited until night time, and then I went out…… and stole a scalpel.”\n

She was still clutching the scalpel in her hand, the blood had dried on the shiny silver blade and oxidised into an ugly brown color.\n

Xie Qingcheng knew that if he let go just a little bit, this woman would storm back up and thrust the blade into his chest.\n

The animalistic nature and aggressiveness on her face was too strong.\n

No matter how you looked at her, she was brimming with hatred. \n

Twenty years had transformed her from an innocent patient to a trapped beast that grinded its teeth and sucked blood.\n

“I hid the scalpel under the bed, and when he came again, rubbing his greasy mouth against me, I catered to him, slipping my hand under the mattress and……”\n

Her pupils seemed to spurt out the blood and screams from when she was taking revenge against Liang Jicheng.\n

“Hahaha…… hahaHAHAHA …… The blood was so warm……\n

Tell me—how can such a cold-hearted person have such warm blood? IT SHOULDN’T BE ……!”\n

“Later, I dragged him to the office…… I wanted to chop him up, but I heard movement outside the door and saw through the crack that it was an unfamiliar girl looking for something. Of course I wasn’t going to let her ruin my plans! I had waited so many years! So I hid the body in the closet, put on his name tag, and I walked out…… to talk to your sister……”\n

She twisted her face, as if narrating to Xie Qingcheng, but also as if talking to herself.\n

“That girl is pretty, and actually looks a bit like the ‘little snack’ that was brought back before and died after hitting the wall. I guess…… hehe, this is the reincarnation of the little snack …… Even if she isn’t, it does not matter. In fact, I don’t really remember what that girl looked like, but she’s about the same age as her. I think this is really destiny. So I tricked her into the office, and while she was not paying attention, I drugged her…… Of course I know which drug to use; looking down on the mentally ill is the most ridiculous thing you normal people do. I recognize that special drug too well—it’s the one Liang Jicheng would force on me when I wouldn’t obey!”\n

“She passed out, then I dragged her to the secret room. I thought that after I get my revenge and her family came looking for her…… They would…… they would turn the place upside down! Not like me…… not like me…… me……”\n

As she said this, her expression dimmed again, she actually seemed a little lonely.\n

Xie Qingcheng’s sharp gaze stared at her. “So you originally hoped that after it was over, someone would find that secret room while looking for her?”\n

“……” The woman didn’t answer and gave a stiff, twisted smile. “None of that matters now.”\n

“After I locked your sister in the secret room, I dragged Liang Jicheng out of the closet again—I was going to die together with him there, in that place where I first met him! Just him and I, like when we first met…… with no one else! With no one to heed your calls, I’m going to personally, bit by bit, chop up his body and crush his bones—”\n

She paused and stared at Xie Qingcheng with bitter hatred in her eyes.\n

“But then you guys came. You disrupted me so that I couldn’t get my final revenge in that place!”\n

“You disrupted me …… You’re the police, aren’t you? You are the police. You officers always protect the bad guys. Just kill me. KILL ME, AND I WILL EVENTUALLY ALSO TAKE YOUR LIFE AWAY FROM YOU—!”\n

Hatred, determination, hideousness, lunacy. \n

It was almost like all of that was coming out of her face and turned into long fangs, piercing the man in front of her.\n

But Xie Qingcheng stared at her and said one word at a time. “I’m not a police officer, and I have no intention of killing you.”\n

The woman shook, unexpectedly. She bared her teeth and squinted her eyes.\n

“Then what do you want?”\n

“He wants to take you to the police.” He Yu handed Xie Xue to a female nurse next to him and settled her down, before walking over to Xie Qingcheng. It was difficult to see his expression in the night sky.\n

“To have you tell them about everything here.”\n

“I’m not going!” Jiang Lanpei yelled hysterically. “I won’t go! No one will believe me! I’m not going! Liars…… YOU ARE ALL LIARS!”\n

But He Yu slowly approached her.\n

Xie Qingcheng turned around and said in a stern voice, “What are you doing here?”\n

He Yu said, “Xie Qingcheng, you don’t understand her. You’ve been talking to her for so long, and besides getting insulted, did she pay any attention to you?”\n

The boy walked up to them, pulled Xie Qingcheng away, and helped Jiang Lanpei up. In that instant she exploded with surprising force and fiercely took the knife, about to stab He Yu!\n

But He Yu didn’t miss a beat and said a few words to her, and her hand instantly froze.\n

He said, “Jiang Lanpei, I am also crazy.”\n

The youth was less than a fist’s length away from her eyes. His almond-shaped eyes stared down into the eyes of the crazy woman.\n

His voice was so soft that no one could hear it except the nearby Xie Qingcheng. He then slowly raised his hand and stared into Jiang Lanpei’s eyes while he steadily, unmovingly, clutched the cold blade.\n

If Jiang Lanpei withdrew the knife now, he would be injured for sure. But He Yu remained calm. Although his body was tense, his face did not show a single disturbance, as if he was speaking to an ordinary woman, a mother, or any normal person.\n

“Did you know? I’m crazy too.”\n

The knife was silently switched into his hand.\n

It wasn’t until Jiang Lanpei lost the sharp blade that she immediately realized the danger. She stared at He Yu with a pale face. “You—”\n

But he didn’t have any intention of hurting her.\n

He flexed his fingers and slowly swept the woman’s loose strands of hair away, placing it behind her ears. He stared into her eyes. “I’m an isolated case. Look into my eyes—you’re a crazy person, can you tell I’m of the same kind?”\n

Jiang Lanpei was still full of wariness, but she did look at He Yu carefully, and even sniffed him.\n

He Yu did not have any expression on his face and stayed calmly as she used the most primitive way to confirm from looking at him, just like an animal. Perhaps every type of person has their own way of confirming their safety—and perhaps the madman’s animalistic nature and sixth sense were stronger than that of ordinary people’s.\n

Jiang Lanpei finally whispered, “You are.”\n

“I am.”\n

“Who did this to you?”\n

“I was born with it.” He Yu indifferently said, “I don’t even have a target for  revenge.”\n

“……” Jiang Lanpei.\n

“However, although I’m a mentally unsound patient, they believe every word I say.”\n

“Why?”\n

He Yu smiled. Under the miserable white moonlight, the cloudiness dispersed, making the bottom of his eyes seem to be ferried with a layer of frosty snow-like bright silver, and his exposed side teeth seemed very chilly and sharp.\n

He leaned over, as if he were sharing with a sick friend some wonderful way to overcome the disease, and softly whispered, “Because, just like you, I can pretend.”\n

“You pretended to be dumb, while I pretended to be normal.” He looked at her with icy frost at the bottom of his eyes and smiled. “After nineteen years of pretending, not many people have found out that I am sick. We all use a little bit of a disguise, don’t we?”\n

Jiang Lanpei looked like she was in a trance for a moment , but she quickly came to her senses again.\n

“No…… I’ve killed people, my disguise is blown—”\n

“You can’t trust them, but maybe you can trust me. First, let me tell you a secret”\n

Jiang Lanpei opened her eyes wide and listened.\n

He Yu lifted a finger and gently pressed it to his lips, “Soon, the police will come.”\n

“!!!” Jiang Lanpei’s pupils rapidly shrank. “What is this? They called the police? They still called the police!! Those cunning—”\n

“I’m the one who called.” He Yu looked calm.\n

“Why would you …… We are the same …… Why would you take their side, you should…… you should ……” The woman got up in her confusion.\n

“I am on your side,” He Yu said.\n

“But do you want Liang Jicheng’s reputation to remain pristine after his death? Twenty years worth of time and you just let him die for nothing—and after dying, he became a victim. Perhaps he’ll even be memorialized as a great entrepreneur, his tombstone filled with flowers, and the patients’ families hidden from the truth coming to mourn him, one by one…. While you become an infamous murderer with your ugliest picture printed out on the front page of the newspaper, with everyone calling you an ungrateful beast. No one knows the burdens you suffered, and after you die, you will be scorned as inferior to him.—You do the math, do you think it’s worth it?”\n

“……”\n

“Tell the police everything, you may not have to face a dead end. Liang Jicheng’s person is already dead. You can let him die twice—once in person, and second in name.” He Yu tilted his head sideways and whispered in her ear, as if bewitching her. “What a bargain. Why don’t you do it this way?”\n

Jiang Lanpei’s heart seemed to be moved by his words for a moment.\n

It was also at this time that the sound of sirens came racing towards this mental hospital towering in the darkness from all directions like a distant tide.\n

“Get out of the car!”\n

“All of you, get out of the car!!!”\n

Jiang Lanpei’s gaze shifted and struggled as she tried to get up. The security guards saw this scene and showed their intention to restrain her, but He Yu very gently helped her up.\n

“I will accompany you to take a look.”\n

“Go and take a look. In front of you…… may still be a way out with light.”\n

Jiang Lanpei, as if compelled, trembled and walked forward, reaching the edge of the rooftop railing, fiercely clutching the cold and rusty iron railing with her hand and stretching her neck to look down.\n

Her blurred vision reflected the flashing red and blue police car lights, all brightly lit. At first glance, it was a sight she had never seen in all her years in ‘prison’.\n

As if all the grievances, shame and suffering she had endured could be illuminated— as if the dark room, which had been dark for 20 years, could be exposed to the light under the sun.\n

She looked at the view in front of her, overwhelmed with emotions. Tears flowed down her eyes.\n

She slowly turned back to the night breeze, her red dress—the one that Liang Jicheng bought for her to put on for his own fetishes, under the guise of caring for the ‘ownerless’ patients; the same dress that was often lewdly stripped from her—blew in the night, \n

“…… It’s so bright,” she murmured softly. “It’s like dawn.”\n

“Thank you.”\n

“But ……”\n

Overlapping with the last few syllables that escaped from her red lips, were the calls of police officers coming from their PA below—\n

“All trapped personnels, please calm down! All trapped personnels, please calm down! Do not take the elevator! Find a water source around you if possible! Moisten a piece of cloth! Cover your mouth and nose! Keep your body down! The firefighters are on their way! If possible, please use any visible object around you as a rescue mark! You will be rescued immediately!!!”\n

Jiang Lanpei’s eyes dimmed. “It’s already too late. —Twenty years was enough for me to hate everyone.”\n

“My plan came to its final step when you broke into the office. Young man, I can’t go back.”\n

As if confirming her words, suddenly—\n

BOOM!!\n

An earth-shattering blast!!!\n

The staff trapped on the rooftop rushed to the edge in panic and saw a tightly-closed glass door at a location near the asylum’s laundry room that was finally violently blown open by a raging wave of fire and gas from inside!\n

Jiang Lanpei slowly said in the light of the fire. “Cheng Kang Hospital has a lot of hidden things. Liang Jicheng set up many secret rooms in the hospital, which hoarded gasoline and incendiary devices …… He did not dare to say it in front of anyone, and only dared to flaunt it in front of me, the fool, that he only had to press the hidden button in his office, and within ten minutes all of it would start to burn ….”\n

“He was guilty. The smoke alarm system and surveillance system in this hellhole broke down long ago, and he was talking to someone on the phone about it while he was doing those kinds of things on my bed. I heard it all clearly. I’ve been more familiar with Cheng Kang than anyone else over the years.”\n

“…… I didn’t intend to go to this extent, but you guys had to come when I was splitting up his body……  I didn’t want to fall into the hands of the police, and I had already pushed that button while you guys went to the secret room to save the girl. “\n

Xie Qingcheng shouted, “You—!”\n

“Yes—I brought you all up to delay time. When the fire spreads, no one can leave; when we all die together, death will not be so painful …… If you want to turn back now—” Jiang Lanpei smiled sadly and the words she said were heard clearly. “—It’ll be too late.”\n

“It’s too late…… It’s too late for me, too late for everyone too…..”\n

“It’s not too late!!!!”\n

Carried by the wind was a strange gruff voice’s shout. Jiang Lanpei glanced back and found that it was a specially trained fireman climbing up from the unburned part of the wall in the shortest possible time using a protective rope lock.\n

The fireman was a bear-like man in protective clothing, who probably did not hear what they were saying before. He probably climbed up and only heard this trapped auntie crying how it’s too late.\n

Was she doubting his ability at his work?\n

The bear-like firemen yelled, “It’s not late! I was already so fast!! Quickly, hurry up, come over, and get down now! The fire will soon reach to the north side! Hurry!! Let the women and children go first!”\n

“Me! Let me go first!”\n

To the little nurse that was scared silly, seeing the firemen was like seeing the gods descend from above. She cried and ran over to them. One after another, several firemen climbed up through the rope ladder, rushing to take them away before the fire spread out of control.\n

Xie Xue and other female staff were the first to be taken down. The firemen urged Jiang Lanpei, shouting, “Jie! Get over here!!! What do you think you’re doing, standing so far away all by yourself! We take you down! We will protect you, don’t be afraid! It’s time to take you home! Come on!!”\n

Jiang Lanpei’s body trembled violently, as if struck by an electric current. She stood under the tall water tower as the gust of wind blew her blood-colored dress.\n

But…. where was home?\n

And who…. was she?\n

Even if they saved her, where could she go? She had been mentally unsound for so long that she had long forgotten about the outside world—her world was just a secret room, with thousands of photos filled with hatred and infinite desolation. \n

She was going to hell with it all.\n

She was just waiting for the fire to burn up—waiting for it to spread and bring all the darkness to the sky, turning it into the first rays of morning sun that mark the end of the long night.\n

“Jie— Get over here—-!”\n

After the windows at the bottom were burst open by air currents, the fire was no longer spreading silently. It became a fire dragon, hissing angrily and spitting out black smoke, with the light of the fire reflecting the dark dome of the sky.\n

Jiang Lanpei trembled and took a step forward.\n

Then she stopped.\n

She tilted her head to look at the water tower behind her. That reserve water tower rarely opened, so there was not much water insi—no, it was not water.\n

The corners of her mouth lifted in a cold smile.\n

That was something she hid from Liang Jicheng countless times. She stole the key and sneaked out, taking a bit of oil from the storeroom. And the last thing she took was hidden in the bodice of her dress—something that would allow her to go to ‘heaven’.\n

……\n

“He Yu, come here!!!”\n

Xie Qingcheng reacted quickly and pulled He Yu by his arm in one motion, running towards the opposite direction.\n

Simultaneously, as they ran away, Jiang Lanpei smiled before taking a steel lighter from her chest, lighting it up and throwing it at the water tower that was continuously dripping gasoline……\n

BAAAAM!!\n

Light from the fire exploded and engulfed Jiang Lanpei’s entire figure in an instant!\n

Xie Qingcheng flopped to the ground with He Yu. Behind them was a rolling wave of heat. The firefighters were dumbfounded, watching the woman—who spread open her arms with her head held high in a gesture of expecting salvation from the gods, in a gesture of wanting to fly towards the sky—get caught in the blaze.\n

Xie Qingcheng and He Yu turned back. “……”\n

Fire sparks flew everywhere as the intense scorching fire fiercely spat out black smoke. A huge black cloud of smoke spread out. The smoke seemed to be mixed with a woman’s harsh wailing about her rotten life, while the fire danced madly. The blaze of fire and smoke cracked open the sky and broke the ground—rising up together towards the night sky, hitting it hard and tearing it apart, parting the mountains and crashing the seas, before surging away—\n

“It’s been twenty years. I no longer trust anyone. There’s no turning back for me. Those in heaven will come for me, and I will go to them.”\n

—never looking back.\n

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The author has something to say:\n

There are still some mysteries, such as when did He-laoban call the police…… I know you baobeis all have questions, but no haste, we’ll address it later~~\n

Mini Theatre:\n

Xie Qingcheng: Using a rope to tie me up is foolish…… Ignoring that I had two police officers in the family, do you know how many surgical knots, square knots, and slip knots I tied while studying medicine? I can even tie knots with one hand.\n

He Yu: I’ll remember that. I’ll keep that in mind for the future. 

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