Chapter 14

Merrick first learned of her husband's affair a long time ago. While tidying Mister Tang's clothes, she caught a faint, almost imperceptible fragrance—the scent of a perfume she would never wear. At that time, she had just met Lu Jin, who was willingly devoted to her.

Merrick was actually very beautiful; if you only looked at her face, she was almost identical to Hollywood actress Greta Garbo. Time couldn't diminish her beauty; even as she aged, she would remain stunning. Her hair was chestnut-brown and slightly wavy, and her eyes were captivating, like amber. Because of her looks, she easily gained the favor of others; gradually, Merrick noticed that Lu Jin had become infatuated with her. Coincidentally, she also had a thorny matter that she needed him to solve. When Lu Jin reappeared before her, she feigned a pitiful, pleading expression, asking the young man to help her with someone.

Lu Jin couldn't possibly refuse. Merrick had a firm grasp on his feelings for her and sent him to kill a woman who worked at Dongyang Department Store. After many days of stalking and observation, she discovered that this woman had an intimate relationship with her husband.

Lu Jin actually did as instructed. Merrick saw the other party standing respectfully before him almost two days later, one afternoon. He seemed perfectly normal and whispered that the person had been taken care of. Merrick didn't ask how the person had been dealt with; he felt a sense of inexplicable satisfaction.

These vile women, those who dared to covet her husband, must all die. Kill them one by one. She thought.

As expected, Don Wilson returned home early that evening, looking dejected and exhausted. It wasn't hard to imagine what was troubling him. Merrick feigned concern, asking her husband what had happened. Mister Don, of course, wouldn't say, but instead, under her gentle words of comfort, leaned against her chest. She held her husband, a satisfied smile unconsciously curving her lips.

Lu Jin seemed unfazed by her outburst, and in fact, he followed her even more loyally afterward. Merrick was pleased, but worried that having him constantly by her side would be too conspicuous, so she ordered him to become the young master's bodyguard. Partly, her son's health was a concern, and partly, she didn't know why she had Lu Jin half-protecting, half-monitoring him. Her intuition told her that none of these men were good people; judging from her own son's behavior, he was bound to cause trouble sooner or later.

She kept her options open, continuing to observe and even physically monitor her husband's every move. She didn't consider herself a resentful woman; she believed she lived a carefree and independent life because, apart from that, she had almost no worries. But whenever the possibility of her husband having an affair came up, the anger in her heart grew wildly like weeds, relentless and unstoppable.

The second and third women were those she and Lu Jin had been stalking for a long time. One day, Lu Jin chose to end their lives in deserted alleys or in the early morning when they were hurrying along. Lu Jin would then deliberately throw their bodies into rivers or wells, making it seem as if they had vanished into thin air.

Lu Jin was a man of few words and wouldn't recount the details of the murders to her, and Merrick was content with this situation. She disliked the process of fighting and killing, and for her mental illness, hearing such stimulating things was extremely detrimental to her. Fortunately, Lu Jin had never mentioned it in its entirety in front of her, which was very considerate.

To her astonishment and reassurance, Lu Jin unexpectedly gifted her a metal pocket watch she had carried close to her body for a long time. It was one she had brought from Italy, with a photograph of herself attached to the underside of its metal case. She knew what Lu Jin meant, and this seemingly lavish gesture filled her with immense satisfaction and pleasure. She herself wasn't tempted, yet she thoroughly enjoyed the feeling. From then on, however, Lu Jin seemed to become even more infatuated with her.

Yet his infatuation was so subtle and restrained that Merrick sometimes barely noticed it. Even though she didn't genuinely want anything to happen between them, she was still surprised by his behavior, because she found that Lu Jin was almost never used to asking anything of her.

A fourth woman, unusually bold, left a miniature perfume bottle in Don Wilson Lois's briefcase, which enraged Merrick when she discovered it. She saw it as a blatant provocation, took the bottle out, and smashed it to the ground. The master wasn't there, and the glass bottle shattered with a crisp sound. Merrick stared at the broken bottle, thinking that the woman would probably do the same. Before her epileptic seizure, she summoned Lu Jin and ordered him to investigate the woman's identity.

Lu Jin quickly gave her a reply.

This woman has a beautiful name: Jiang Jiejie.

Merrick met Jiang Jiejie at a banquet at the Lin Mansion. She had heard that Jiang Jiejie would be there, so she made a special trip to attend. She usually didn't like to come to such occasions because there were too many people and she wasn't used to it.

The gentleman was of high status. Merrick, as the wife of a wealthy businessman, was standing by the spiral staircase on the second floor, leaning on the handrail and chatting with her female companion when suddenly a snow-white figure appeared in her eyes.

Perhaps it was truly a case of her name reflecting her personality; the moment she stood there, Merrick immediately associated her with that name. Jiang Jiejie, dressed in a white dress, pure and dazzlingly white, slowly ascended the spiral staircase, holding onto the handrail. She wore an excessively high pair of stilettos, a very modern and novel style at the time, exquisitely beautiful, but at the cost of being somewhat inconvenient to walk in. Her slender wrists rested on the gray marble-patterned handrail, her lace sleeves and scarf at the neckline also pure white, and the fine white fur collar around her neck made her as elegant as a swan. She was chatting and laughing with her male companion.

It was truly a piece of understated white porcelain. Not a pearl, not a gemstone, but a restrained and gentle beauty; upon closer inspection, one could surely see distinct layers of luster. Merrick narrowed her eyes, gazing at her. She was indeed an extremely beautiful woman, a white swan of the East. At this moment, she felt a deep anger rising within her.

She intends to settle things with her at the Lin Mansion.

Merrick couldn't truly understand why her husband repeatedly betrayed her, especially in the years before—when she was young, her beauty undiminished, her figure unchanged. Over the years, she still didn't know how their marriage had reached this point. She harbored resentment towards Don Wilson-Loyce, but never delved deeper, never realizing the real problems between them. Her thinking was often unconventional; she wouldn't look for problems between them, and her reckless abandon and madness offered no answers. Only by eliminating those transgressing "them" could she find the answers. Her thinking was fatally naive and simple: once the people disappeared, the problems would end.

She won't give up until...

In the church, after finishing her prayers, she returned to her cubicle to rest when she suddenly heard voices and noises. Terrified, she peeked through the crack in the door and witnessed the horrific carnage before her eyes—her husband was among the unfortunate victims, and the killer was standing just a few steps away, his movements astonishingly swift. Having witnessed the entire massacre, she was naturally traumatized, driven mad, and with her ingrained resentment towards her husband, she went completely insane.

Yu Congyi left with Li Ming, and Merrick slid down the wall to the ground, her whole body convulsing. Through the crack, she saw several people lying on the ground not far away, looking like tattered black cloths, extremely conspicuous. Her eyes reddened, and she dragged a long gun from the corner of the wall... No one knew why she had left a gun here before, but now it had come in handy.

Since the person could no longer be considered human, Merrick raised her gun and aimed it at the body. She could hardly tell who it was anymore; she only felt that the clamoring sound in her ears was so piercing that it drove her crazy. The tinnitus sounded as if the whole world was about to collapse... Her fingers lightly pulled the trigger, and she didn't know how many times she fired. The loud sound of the bullets flying out of the muzzle drowned out her tinnitus. Her ears were in excruciating pain, as if they were about to explode... In a panic, Merrick lowered her hand, released the butt of the gun, and smashed it against her calf. Then she screamed wildly.

One evening a week later, Yu Congyi glanced at the clock as he left the military police headquarters; it was nearly seven o'clock. Winter had arrived, and darkness was falling faster and faster; at this hour, the sky was almost as dark as ink.

There wasn't much going on at the department lately, so he left early. With winter getting colder, the guards on duty downstairs were happy to slack off, huddled inside playing cards under the hanging lights, having pushed together long tables. Seeing him about to leave, a younger guard, who still had some sense of propriety, ran out of his room. "Boss, shall I call your driver?"

"Tell Xiao Li not to see me off, I have something to do." Yu Congyi remembered that Jiang Fengming had taken one of his suits to a tailor shop not far from the military police headquarters to be altered some time ago, and he happened to be passing by to see if the suit was finished.

The tailor shop was located in a narrow alley. The street was lined with shops, mostly teahouses and taverns, and it was bustling with activity at mealtimes—not too many people, but certainly not few either. Yu Congyi wasn't entirely sure of the alley's exact location. He walked along the main street, roughly estimated the direction, turned a corner, and entered a narrow alley.

The alley was lined with a few households, but it was much quieter. Perhaps it was because winter had arrived and the temperature had dropped, but these families stayed indoors, tending to their heated brick beds, and were too lazy to come out. They only left a small crack in the door and window, through which a faint yellow light could be seen from inside, creating a very tranquil atmosphere.

The tailor shop… Yu Congyi continued walking deeper into the alley. Having only been there once before, his memory of it was hazy, so he walked slowly, pondering his next move. Just then, a very faint rustling sound reached his ears from above, and Yu Congyi abruptly stopped. After this pause, he quickly pressed his back against the wall. He was alert enough, and his hearing was excellent; he immediately looked up in a certain direction—it was a patch of dark rooftops, and the intermittent sound resembled the scraping of shoes against rubble. Who would be hiding on the rooftops?

But when he looked up, there was no suspicious shadow on the eaves or wall. Was it a cat? Yu Congyi wondered, but the sound didn't seem like something a cat could make. His intuition told him something was wrong. Suddenly, a chill ran down his spine for no reason. He quickly reached for the dagger strap and pulled it out. The moment he did, he heard two soft "whoosh" sounds, and almost simultaneously, sharp blades tore through the air and flew towards him! Yu Congyi dodged to the side, and two steel knives, one in front and one behind, were plunged straight into the wall behind him. At the same time, two dark figures quickly emerged from the unknown darkness.

Yu Congyi saw that the two men had black cloths tied around their faces, and their eyes were fierce as they jumped down from the wall. In an instant, at least a dozen names of his possible enemies flashed through his mind. Which one could it be? But he no longer cared. Yu Congyi gripped his dagger and stood before them without fear.

The two men inexplicably raised their chins at him, but didn't immediately approach. Instead, they stopped a few steps away from him. Yu Congyi, puzzled, didn't act rashly. Just as the two were locked in a close watch, he didn't realize that there was a loud "whoosh" behind him. A third person jumped out, leaping from the eaves to the low wall and pouncing on him, instantly throwing out his stun gun.

Yu Congyi reacted as the stun gun was brought down on his neck, wrestling with the man. The man pounced on him, but Yu grabbed him by the collar and slammed him against the alley wall. At the same time, Yu himself stumbled and crashed to the ground under the man's momentum. He quickly braced himself with his arm, preventing his face from slamming into the cobblestones and bleeding profusely. The man was incredibly tenacious; despite the violent impact, he only shook his head and lunged at him again. Yu Congyi seized the opportunity to grab his neck… In the midst of the chaotic, fierce struggle, the other two, unwilling to stand idly by and determined to get a piece of the action, quickly surrounded him. One of them picked up the stun gun again and struck Yu Congyi heavily on the back.

The instantaneous high-voltage electric shock made Yu Congyi immediately release his grip. His entire body staggered, and he convulsed violently. A second blow struck the back of his head. Taking advantage of his momentary lapse, the person in front of him kicked him hard, knocking Yu Congyi away from his body. A third blow from the stun gun landed on his left shoulder. Yu Congyi felt a sharp pain accompanied by dizziness, and his vision blurred. He helplessly lost consciousness.

A bucket of cold water was splashed on Yu Congyi's face, which completely woke him up from his coma.

In an instant, Yu Congyi recalled what had happened before he lost consciousness. He subconsciously looked around. As soon as he moved, he heard a dull thud of metal clashing together. Sure enough, he was in what looked like a prison. He was sitting, but his hands and feet were shackled and strung together with a thick iron bar that could hold a wolf. He could hardly move.

The prison was dark and damp, almost completely dark. The only source of light was a sliver of eerie blue light filtering in from the iron-barred window, from which the basin of water had been poured earlier. Footsteps sounded outside the window, and two figures stood against the cold light, one taller and the other slightly shorter.

After blurring, Yu Congyi's vision focused again. The tall man had deep-set eyes and a distinctive head of straight black hair that fell to his shoulders. He had his hands in his coat pockets, leaned against the wall, and looked at him coldly. Who else could this be but Tang Zefei? And the person next to him, even a fool could tell it was Lu Jin.

Yu Congyi had been searched, so although his clothes were intact, all his weapons and firearms were gone. Even the razor blade he had hidden in his shoe was likely gone; Yu Congyi felt the soles of his feet and sadly confirmed it. He struggled futilely, sat up, and in the silence asked the two men, "Where is this?"

Before the two could answer, he asked in a hoarse voice, "Why am I here?"

The aftereffects of the stun gun were his splitting headache and weakness. He didn't know how long he had slept. The prison had no skylight, so he had no way of knowing what was happening outside.

Tang Zefei's voice rang out, devoid of emotion, "You killed someone, didn't you know?"

To be honest, for the past ten years or so, Yu Congyi had been killing for others. He probably couldn't remember who he had killed or how many, nor could he possibly remember. He felt no sympathy for most of his victims. Being hired, doing things for others, taking the benefits, and leaving it to fate—that best summarizes his career as an assassin. However, he could still identify a few people connected to the other party. He knew that the man named Tang Lishu he had recently shot was probably Tang Zefei's younger brother, and now they had come to demand an explanation.

Yu Congyi didn't answer for a moment. Tang Zefei ordered Lu Jin to open the cell door. He strode in, stood in front of Yu Congyi, and looked down at him.

Previously, Yu Congyi was the one looking down on others from this position; now that their roles were suddenly reversed, he felt very uncomfortable. He coldly raised his eyes to stare at the other person, and slowly uttered, "You arrested me but didn't kill me; you came prepared, didn't you? What exactly do you want?"

Tang Zefei stared at him, meeting his gaze without moving. Lu Jin walked in, tugged at his collar, and squatted down in front of him. He pointed a hand at Tang Zefei's chest and said in a sharp, deliberate tone, "Sergeant Major, you killed Master Tang, you haven't forgotten, have you?"

Upon hearing this, Yu Congyi's heart skipped a beat. He clearly remembered only knocking the man unconscious, not killing him. Why...? He went through the incident in his mind, but couldn't come to a conclusion. He was certain of the force he had used; an ordinary person wouldn't die from that blow. "Speak!" Just then, Lu Jin suddenly grabbed his collar, forcing him to tilt his head back, and roared, "Shoot Master Tang! Do you plead guilty?"

“I didn’t kill him,” Yu Congyi said softly. “You’ve arrested the wrong person.”

"Who else could it be but you? Oh, I suppose I've forgotten, you not only murdered Master Tang, but you also shot down an entire squad of guards, Sergeant Major. Tell me, if the Guard Department finds out about this, how do you think the Military Police will treat you?" Lu Jin's voice grew lower and lower, his tone increasingly harsh, like a thorn slicing into Yu Congyi's heart. Faced with these two murderers of Jiang Jiejie, especially Lu Jin in front of him, a murderous urge surged within him. Yet, Lu Jin, oblivious to the consequences, stood up in front of Tang Zefei, stepping on Yu Congyi's chest, the mud and filth under his foot rubbing against Yu Congyi's clothes, intentionally trying to humiliate him.

Yu Congyi closed his eyes, the rage in his chest spreading like poison, making him tremble all over. But he endured this humiliation, knowing that he absolutely could not do anything out of line at this moment. Not to mention his current situation, he couldn't even show that he knew Lu Jin before, otherwise everything he had done would be in vain.

While his opponent was in the open, he remained in the shadows, his desire to kill Lu Jin and exact revenge never wavered.

Lu Jin lifted his shoe again, moving the toe upwards, intending to lift Yu Congyi's chin. A mischievous look appeared on his face. Tang Zefei, who had been standing silently beside him, spoke up, "That's enough."

Then he walked over and approached Lu Jin. Reaching a hand out of his pocket, Tang Zefei pushed Lu Jin away with a gentle push, but Lu Jin, who hadn't been steady, stumbled and almost fell. Tang Zefei ignored him, squatted down again with his hands in his pockets, his coat hem falling to the ground and soaking into the sewage, and looked into Yu Congyi's eyes, "Are you Yu Congyi?"

Yu Congyi did not deny it.

"Are you the chief sergeant of the Military Police Command?" Tang Zefei asked again.

Yu Congyi still did not deny it.

"I'll ask you one more time, why did you kill my father?" Tang Zefei looked intently into his eyes.