Chapter 398 Suicide Out of Fear of Guilt? Qin Ye noticed that Su Tang's condition was not right.
It was an aura he had only ever seen on the most brutal battlefields, on those top mercenaries whose hands were stained with blood and who killed without hesitation.
It wasn't anger, nor sadness, but an extreme calmness, a state of pure "killing god" where all emotions had been drained, leaving only the desire for destruction.
Her world collapsed the moment she saw Wang Xiaoya's corpse. And for someone who has lost their world, the only thing they want to do next is drag the entire world down with them.
Bai Wei was still there, feigning tears, a faint hint of smugness on her lips, like a poisonous thorn piercing Qin Ye's eyes.
Almost instinctively, the moment Su Tang raised her empty eyes, his tall figure suddenly took a step forward, like an insurmountable mountain, firmly blocking Su Tang and Bai Wei.
He used his back to block that murderous gaze.
"Everyone, stand back five meters!"
Qin Ye's voice instantly drowned out all the noise and crying at the scene.
The soldiers instinctively retreated, clearing a space from the chaotic scene.
In the center of the open space, only the crooked tree remained, along with the cold corpse beneath it and two silent, confronting figures.
Qin Ye didn't turn around; he could clearly feel the piercing chill emanating from the gaze behind him. He didn't even dare to look at Su Tang's expression at that moment, and could only use the calmest and gentlest voice he could muster to softly call her name.
"Su An".
He dared not call her "Tangtang," fearing that those two words would be the last straw that broke her back.
He simply called her by her pseudonym, trying to use this most basic method to pull her mind back a little from the brink of destruction.
"Don't be impulsive." He lowered his voice, so only the two of them could hear, "Leave it to me."
He wanted to tell her that he would handle everything and get justice for Wang Xiaoya.
Just then, a series of hurried and chaotic footsteps came from down the mountain.
Immediately afterwards, a more authoritative and colder voice rang out.
"Get out of the way!"
The crowd parted automatically to make way, and Vice Minister Zheng Hongyi, dressed in a crisp military uniform, strode in with a stern face. Behind him followed several solemn-looking government officials, each with a frosty expression.
A person died in the camp, and it was by hanging.
In the 1960s and 70s, this was an absolutely devastating event, a veritable catastrophe. It wasn't just about a life lost; it was a politically serious incident with extremely negative consequences. From Lei Kuan, the head instructor, to Zheng Hongyi, the supervising leader, no one could escape blame!
Zheng Hongyi's gaze swept across the entire scene like a knife, finally settling on the corpse under the crooked tree, his pupils suddenly contracting.
"What happened?!" He practically spat out those words through clenched teeth, his voice brimming with anger enough to set the entire back mountain ablaze.
Lei Kuan was startled and was about to step forward to report.
A figure rushed out first, stumbling and crying.
Bai Wei rushed to a spot three steps away from Zheng Hongyi, and knelt down with a thud, tears streaming down her face.
"Reporting, sir! It's...it's Wang Xiaoya!" She sobbed uncontrollably, her shoulders heaving, looking utterly heartbroken. "She...she couldn't think straight and took her own life!"
Zheng Hongyi's brows furrowed into a knot: "Can't you think straight? Why can't you think straight!"
Bai Wei raised her head, her face streaked with tears, looking exceptionally pitiful. She glanced quickly at Su Tang in the crowd, a flash of resentment in her eyes, then lowered her head again, speaking in a trembling voice, as if both afraid and forced to.
"Reporting to the commander... A few days ago, Wang Xiaoya was... she was put in solitary confinement for hoarding and eating prohibited snacks of unknown origin, and was also involved in trespassing into the military restricted area behind the mountain at night."
She emphasized each word, especially the phrases "of unknown origin," "prohibited snacks," and "military restricted area."
“We all tried to persuade her to confess to the organization and try to get leniency. But she wouldn’t say anything and just carried it all on her own… We all thought she had come to her senses after being released, but who knew… who knew she had such a weak mentality? Because she was afraid that the organization would continue to investigate, she actually… she actually committed suicide out of fear of punishment!”
"Suicide out of fear of punishment!"
These four words exploded like a bombshell in the crowd.
The soldiers, who had been immersed in grief and sympathy, were suddenly thrown into an uproar.
"What? Suicide out of fear of punishment?"
"What did she steal to eat? And is it related to trespassing into a restricted area?"
"My God, could it be... something given to us by enemy agents?"
"No wonder he was put in solitary confinement; he committed such a serious crime!"
The whispers, like buzzing flies, instantly twisted Wang Xiaoya's death from a sympathetic tragedy into a dirty, questionable scandal.
The initial sympathy quickly turned into suspicion, contempt, and even fear in the face of "political stain" and "suspected enemy agent".
No one cared how much pain and cold the girl had endured walking barefoot along the mountain path. Their only concern was whether they would be implicated in the death of a "bad element."
Chen Xiaocao was trembling with anger. She pointed at Bai Wei, her lips quivering, but she couldn't utter a single word. She was tongue-tied and tears streamed down her face.
Liu Landi's eyes were bloodshot as she glared at Bai Wei with a look that seemed to want to devour her alive.
Gao Kai's fists clenched so tightly they cracked, and the anger in his chest was almost bursting out. He wanted to rush forward and tear apart Bai Wei's mouth that twisted the truth.
Jiang Yan's brows furrowed tightly. He looked at Bai Wei kneeling on the ground, then at the terrifyingly silent figure not far behind her. A strong sense of unease gripped him. He had a feeling that things weren't so simple.
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