Chapter 111
The moonlight filtering in through the window was a dim blue. Xing Yao was so absorbed in recalling the details that she didn't notice the change in his expression. She continued:
"I first looked around your little room and saw a small peach pit tied with a red string on the desk. I knew it was yours."
He fiddled with the peach pit on his left wrist. "What I planned to do that day was a big event, of great significance. So I put it on my hand as a souvenir."
Song Zhou slowly raised his face and looked at him intently.
"Then..." Xing Yao left the tire and walked towards the distribution box, replaying the trajectory of that day, "I walked into this workshop, just like today, and flipped the switch first - the power went out.
"I heard you fussing in the bathroom. I was walking back and passed by here..."
He walked back a little, passed by Song Zhou, and suddenly reached for his waist, pulled out a dagger, and stabbed it towards Song Zhou's neck!
Song Zhou dodged to the side, and with a "clang" sound, the tip of the dagger stuck to his carotid artery and pierced the iron oil drum he was leaning on.
Xing Yao grinned at him from nearby: "Back then, the oil drums here were made of plastic. They would break if you poked them."
Song Zhou remained silent, showing no fear of the knife at his neck. He did not respond to Xing Yao's provocation, and there was no ripple in his dark eyes.
It didn't seem like calmness, but rather like two deep caves that were about to swallow each other silently.
Xing Yao felt inexplicably uncomfortable. He withdrew his dagger, stood up, and continued walking towards the back door. Standing at the small door, he gestured: "Before you come out of the bathroom, I will go back the same way and leave through the yard, lighting a cigarette as I go..."
He returned, squatted beside Song Zhou, and pointed diagonally upwards: "Climb up the unfinished building next door."
Song Zhou raised his head and followed the direction he pointed, looking through the high window at the dark windows of the gray building.
Xing Yao withdrew his hand, spread it out, and continued, "What happened next... is almost the same as what your girlfriend drew. However, she drew your clothes incorrectly. You were not wearing work clothes at the time.
"At that time, I looked through this window and saw you wearing a T-shirt and a towel on your head, walking into this oil pool..."
He traced his finger in the air, pointing from the high window to the floor, "You have a flashlight in your hand and are going to check the switch.
"I put the cigarette butt in the bullet bag..." Xing Yao made a slingshot gesture, "Whoosh - bang! Wow, the flame is so beautiful. The way you rolled in the fire was really..."
Bloodshot slowly appeared in Song Zhou's eyes.
"No, no..." Xing Yao shook a finger, "There's a problem with this link."
He suddenly realized something and gasped, "The guy who came out of the bathroom wasn't you! Who was he? Weren't you the only employee in the store at the time?"
Song Zhou just looked at him without answering. His eyes were like looking at a dead person.
Xing Yao figured it out and slapped his head, "I know, he is Song Zhou!"
His eyes sparkled as he grabbed Song Zhou by the collar and said, "The one who was burned to death that day was a kid named Song Zhou, and you, who escaped, took his place!"
Song Zhou said nothing. What was there to say to a dead person?
Xing Yao was performing a solo in this empty workshop. The darkness of the night became even darker, and it felt like something icy and cold was attached to his back. Xing Yao frowned slightly, not liking this feeling.
He wanted to break this weird atmosphere.
As if he suddenly thought of something, he raised his voice and said, "No, it's more than that, right? Xiaosong, you wouldn't deliberately leave him to die just to take his place, would you?"
"I never thought you could be this selfish and sinister! You're always said to be a male bodhisattva, but it turns out you're just a fucking hypocrite!"
Xing Yao laughed wildly as if he had discovered some secret.
Song Zhou suddenly lifted up his bound legs and kicked Xing Yao's calves hard with both feet.
"Oh, my clothes are dirty!" Xing Yao dodged and brushed his trouser legs unhappily.
Song Zhou took a deep breath, his chest rising and falling slowly, and finally spoke: "All these years, I always thought it was an accident.
"I always thought that it was because one of his students had no safety awareness and went to check the switch with a lighter, and the oil barrel happened to leak oil, which is why the accident happened.
"It wasn't until I met you in the hospital a few days ago and saw the peach pit on your hand that I realized..."
In fact, ten years ago, after the explosion, he didn't see Xing Yao at the scene at all.
In the anonymous letter to Chen He, he pretended to have seen Xing Yao holding a slingshot and wearing a peach pit, just to tell her the key clues briefly.
Ten years later, he met Xing Yao disguised as a nurse in the hospital and found that the peach kernel pig that should have been burned in the fire was actually worn on Xing Yao's hand.
It was like a flash of lightning, illuminating the dark night ten years ago.
It turned out not to be an accident, but murder.
At that moment he hated himself, realizing it was too late.
It's too late.
If I had guessed it earlier, I wouldn't have allowed Xing Yao to get away with it for the past ten years.
If he had known the truth earlier, in order to avenge his unjust death, Xing Yao would have dug him out and sent him to the execution ground even if he had hidden in hell.
Or just kill him directly.
If he had been killed earlier, Qiu Yue and Chen He would never have encountered this demon.
Song Zhou's eyes fell on the ground.
This place. Right here.
It was here that Curly suffered the agony of being burned by the flames. How painful it must have been for him.
It was as if magma was gushing from the heart into the blood vessels, burning the internal organs.
It had been ten years since Curly was gone - the pain still lingered there. Song Zhou could feel it clearly and curled up in pain.
Xing Yao likes to see people lose control of their emotions.
Hearing Song Zhou's breathing getting faster and faster like a bellows, Xing Yao felt much happier: "Oh... So, the person who chased me that day when I went to the hospital to get rid of the root of the problem was you!
"Alas, that cunning policewoman pepper-sprayed my eyes, so I couldn't see your face clearly. But even if I had, I probably wouldn't have recognized you."
He kicked Song Zhou's calf with the tip of his boot and asked curiously, "Hey, you've been replacing Song Zhou for all these years, and you even became a doctor. Didn't anyone see through you? How did you do it?"
"Get lost, you don't deserve to know." Song Zhou replied hoarsely.
A shadow of displeasure flashed across Xing Yao's eyes, and he suddenly asked, "Does Chen He know about this?"
Song Zhou looked up suddenly.
Xing Yao understood and raised her eyebrows in delight. "Oh, she doesn't know. I was wondering why Qiu Song in her comics was also a ghost! So, she doesn't know you are Qiu Song?"
He leaned forward, his teeth glinting. "You called me a scumbag, but I thought you were so noble. Turns out you're a fraud who stole someone else's life and impersonated them! What would Chen He think of you if she knew?"
Song Zhou had a blank expression and remained silent.
Xing Yao became happier and laughed for a while, then wiped away the tears from the corners of his eyes: "Okay, time is running out, I won't play with you anymore."
He pulled something out of his windbreaker pocket and said, "I'll show you something interesting."
It was a silver tiger head lighter.
Song Zhou thought it looked familiar: "Is this... Xu Candong's lighter?" He had drawn it in Chen He's comics, and the pattern was the same.
"You're right. This is the souvenir I took away when I killed Xu Candong. It's such a precious thing, I gritted my teeth and was willing to give it to you. Xiaosong, do you know how much I value you?"
Xing Yao carefully opened the lid of the lighter and showed Song Zhou the structure underneath: "Look, I modified it and added a remote control ignition device."
With his other hand, he pulled out a key ring from his pocket. On the ring hung a remote control. "Here's the remote control. It's a modified car key."
He held the lighter upright and carefully placed it in the oil pool in front of Song Zhou: "Wait a minute, I'll go outside, just press it lightly..."
He gestured vaguely with his finger on the remote control, "Boom... you can go to the destination you should have been in ten years ago!"
He described it excitedly, his eyes fixed on Song Zhou's face, but there was no fear on his face.
The fear of prey is one of the important pleasures.
He frowned in disappointment: "Aren't you afraid?"
"What are you afraid of? I've died once."
Song Zhou was not afraid at all. He pointed at the lighter with his chin and said disdainfully, "Your lighter won't do."
"Why not?" Xing Yao was unhappy. "When you're crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, you'll know if it works!"
Song Zhou's face was full of disdain, and he shook his head: "You can't sing nursery rhymes."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
