Unveiling
Three days after Xu Zhengbei's death, Xu Li returned home.
Since learning the news, Xu Li has stayed at the police station for the entire past two days.
Originally, they were supposed to sort through Xu Zhengbei's belongings, but everyone looked at Xu Li, who was slumped over Xu Zhengbei's desk, and couldn't bring themselves to do it. Perhaps Xu Li should be the one to sort through them.
For two days, Xu Li neither ate nor drank, nor said a word.
Duan Ruiming basically stayed by Xu Li's side the whole time, afraid that Xu Li wouldn't be able to hold on, and he patiently coaxed Xu Li to eat something.
Fortunately, it did have some effect. Xu Li and Duan Ruiming packed up Xu Zhengbei's things together. After they finished, Duan Ruiming told Xu Li to go back and rest. He said that if she wanted to come over again tomorrow, she could call or text him and he would come pick her up.
"Listen to me, Captain Xu definitely wants you to be alright."
Xu Li wiped away her tears and nodded.
Duan Ruiming took Xu Li home, and after watching her get into bed and close her eyes until she was almost asleep, Duan Ruiming drove back to the police station.
Xu's body was not discovered until several days later. The surveillance cameras hadn't captured the incident, and his phone had been lost along the way. Given the magnitude of the case, everyone in the police force immediately began collecting clues.
Xu Li fell asleep quickly, but her sleep was restless. She woke up once in the middle of the night and couldn't fall back asleep.
She groped her way to the living room in the dark to get a drink of water. Looking at the empty room, tears streamed down her face whenever she thought about how she would be the only one left in the house in the future.
She looked at her swollen eyelids and sunken eye sockets with dark circles in the mirror; she almost didn't recognize herself.
The windows rattled loudly in the wind.
Xu Li opened the door and entered Xu Zhengbei's room.
The last time Xu Li saw Xu Zhengbei at home was a week ago. The two had never officially met. It was in the middle of the night when Xu Li got up to go to the bathroom and saw Xu Zhengbei writing something on his desk through the crack in the door that wasn't closed tightly.
This scene was familiar, and Xu Li rubbed her eyes and went back to her room to sleep.
Who could have imagined that it would be their last meeting?
Xu Zhengbei's room was very simple, with a bed, a desk, and a wardrobe. He usually wore his police uniform, and there were only a few simple civilian clothes in the wardrobe.
The blankets were neatly folded, and the things on the desk were also tidied up in an orderly manner.
Sitting in Xu Zhengbei's seat, Xu Li felt a dull ache in her heart.
My gaze swept across the desk in front of me, and I happened to see a tan notebook tucked away in a crevice, which seemed out of place among the various crime-solving, criminal investigation, and legal books on the desk.
It looks like it has been written by Xu Zhengbei.
Upon opening it, Xu Li realized that it was Xu Zhengbei's diary.
As a police officer, he recorded his thought process in his diary and organized clues to gain more time to solve the case.
It was in the diary that Xu Li discovered a shocking secret, which could almost be considered the cause of Xu Zhengbei's death.
That's when it all started.
At that time, Xu Li understood nothing. She read the entire diary by herself, feeling the warmth, fairness, and courage in her father's every stroke of the pen...
In the diary, a name that Xu Li had never thought of appeared—Fei Li.
The diary records another missing person case that Xu Zhengbei is handling. During the investigation, Xu Zhengbei felt something was wrong based on his intuition. However, there was no evidence to prove the correctness of this feeling at the time. He mentioned it to Jiang Li, but in the end, nothing came of it. For clues without evidence, everyone still first investigated the clues that were more helpful to the case.
However, Xu Zhengbei was still investigating in secret.
During a casual visit, Xu Zhengbei bumped into Fei Li in the corridor of a KTV room. At that time, he did not know that Fei Li was Xu Li's classmate, but he knew that Fei Li did not look like an adult.
The door to the private room swayed open and closed with inertia, releasing a faint, unidentified fragrance that Xu Zhengbei was quite familiar with.
At the time, he didn't point it out. He only followed Fei Li after the private room ended. During the subsequent investigation, Xu Zhengbei learned that he and Xu Li were in the same school, the same grade, and even the same class.
At the time, Xu Zhengbei had other cases on his hands, so he didn't have much time to deal with them. However, he and Xu Li were in the same class, and Xu Zhengbei was always worried that Xu Li might be affected, so he was secretly investigating.
He had stopped Fei Li on the road a few times. Fei Li was a bit of a thug, but he didn't seem to be a drug addict. Xu Zhengbei breathed a slight sigh of relief.
However, this matter still involved drug use, and there might be a drug trafficking organization behind it, so Xu Zhengbei was still investigating in secret. Sure enough, one of the people he met in the KTV room last time had been in contact with the suspect in the recent disappearance case. In order not to alert the suspect, the others had been secretly following him. During this period, Xu Zhengbei met with Fei Li once.
After all, they were students, and they had to consider many factors, so no one other than the two of them knew.
The meeting place was a trendy toy store in the snack street near the school, because this would dispel any suspicion from the consumer.
However, the conversation did not go smoothly. Fei Li was not meticulous and easily became nervous and unable to speak, so he started to cheat. Xu Zhengbei could not get any useful information out of him.
After that day, Xu Zhengbei knew that Fei Li couldn't calm down and would definitely look for the organization behind him, so he kept an eye on Fei Li. The very next day, Fei Li didn't take his usual route after school, but instead took a roundabout way and met someone one after the other in the depths of an alley.
To be on the safe side, Xu Zhengbei did not go in, so he did not know what the person looked like.
It was basically certain what Fei Liyi and the others had done, but Xu Zhengbei didn't have time to tell his teammates about his discovery. What he did receive was the discovery of Xu Zhengbei's body in the suburbs.
That's all for this diary entry.
Xu Li closed the diary; she didn't have the courage to read it a second time.
Xu Li had only one thought in his mind: to find Fei Li. Fei Li must know something, he must know why Xu Zhengbei appeared in the suburbs and their conversation, and what the organization behind Fei Li was.
At the time, Xu Li was immersed in the pain of losing her father, and she wanted to confirm any clue she found as soon as possible.
Little did she know that her nightmare would only truly begin the next day.
The next day after school, Xu Li arranged to meet Fei Li at the back hill of the school.
She desperately wanted to know the truth.
There was no wall around the back hill, nor were there any school buildings nearby. Few students went there because there were few people. The back hill was connected to a whole swamp, withered forest, and an undeveloped construction site, and the school did not build a wall around it.
Xu Li took a little-known path, and Fei Li did not go from the school to the back mountain, but climbed over the wall, so the surveillance cameras did not capture it.
At that time, only the class teacher knew about Xu Li's father; the other students did not.
As before, Fei Li patted his clothes while asking, "Xu Li, is that you? Why did you send me to the back mountain?"
Xu Li kept her back turned, afraid that she would lose control if she saw Fei Li: "Fei Li, you often go to bars and those kinds of places, have you done anything wrong?"
Fei Li was momentarily taken aback by the question.
Fei Li's eyes darted around, realizing things weren't so simple, and he began to probe, "What are you saying? I don't quite understand."
Why are you afraid to admit it? If it's true, then it's true; if it's not, then it's not. Why won't you answer?
As they were talking, Fei Li walked up to Xu Li and saw two lines of hot tears on her face.
Fei Li had a gut feeling that something was amiss: why was Xu Li questioning him as soon as she arrived?
Xu Li held onto Fei Li tightly: "Why won't you answer? Are you feeling guilty?"
Seeing that things were not going well, Fei Li turned to leave, but Xu Li held onto his clothes tightly.
The two fell to the ground during the struggle.
Xu Li persisted, and Fei Li spat in frustration.
"Fei Li! How...how could you do this! You, you...don't you have a heart!..."
Fei Li could sense that Xu Li was not in a good mood. He was afraid that if he called out to her like that, he would be discovered. However, during the pushing and shoving, Fei Li felt that Xu Li's energy was not even half as good as his own these past few days.
Seeing Xu Li fall to the ground, a strange desire to conquer suddenly arose in his heart.
He turned around and pinned Xu Li down, covering her mouth while reaching out to undo her pants.
For a moment, Xu Li didn't know what to do, whether to continue questioning him or to resist. She felt dizzy and as if she was about to die.
With a deafening roar, Xu Li could see Fei Li's ferocious face.
Feeling the hand on her waist moving up and down, Xu Li wished she could die right now.
She missed her father, she wanted to go home, and she didn't want to live such an unclean life anymore.
After regaining consciousness, Xu Li began to beg him, pleading with him not to do this, begging him to turn himself in...
When asked about turning himself in, Felice paused.
"What do you know? Why are you telling me to turn myself in?"
Gasping for breath, Xu Li gritted her teeth and said, word by word, "It was you...you killed...my father...you...drugs..."
Fei Li suddenly remembered a man he had met a few days ago who claimed to be a policeman, but Fei Li didn't know if his identity was true or not.
"Your father is a policeman?"
Xu Li didn't answer, but stared intently at him, a look that even Fei Li found a little frightening.
To be on the safe side, even though he wasn't sure, Fei Li still told his superiors this information. Later, they told him to pretend to meet with them and lure the police to follow him. Fei Li didn't know what their plan was, but he just did as they said. If he didn't do it, they wouldn't give him the goods. It would have been fine before, but these past few days he had also become addicted to this stuff and had no choice but to listen to them.
He didn't know what happened after that, but he hadn't seen the policeman in the past few days.
"That man is your father? I knew he was acting like he was on drugs today."
"You are...the murderer...you're the one who killed...my father, you...you...you will die a horrible death..."
Fei Li gasped. He never imagined that murder and arson would happen to him. He never thought he would kill anyone, but now that he had killed that policeman, Fei Li panicked.
The person in front of him is the policeman's daughter. After tonight, she will definitely report him to the police, and then he will go to jail. Will he be sentenced to three years? Five years? Or even the death penalty?
No, no, he couldn't let Xu Li get through tonight; he had to stop her.
He remembered the fruit knife he always carried with him, which he had originally used for his own practice recently. He never imagined he would use it on Xu Li.
The moment he drew the knife, Fei Li hesitated. He had never actually killed anyone before, and he was hesitant and afraid.
When his psychological intervention failed, Fei Li resorted to covering Xu Li's mouth and nose with both hands.
Xu Li struggled, and in the process, he touched a piece of scrap metal left at the abandoned construction site next to him. Without thinking, he slapped it on the back of Fei Li's head.
Fei Li's vision suddenly went dark, and his grip loosened.
Feeling a release in her chest, Xu Li got up, took a deep breath of fresh air, picked up the knife Fei Li had dropped, and before Fei Li could react, she stabbed him in the chest with anger and hatred.
With a swift motion, Xu Li never forgot Fei Li's wide-eyed stare as he looked directly at her.
Xu Li didn't have the strength to pull the knife out again. The previous strike had exhausted all her strength. Xu Li collapsed to the ground with Fei Li, completely drained.
Fei Li struggled beside him, but he no longer had the strength to stand up.
Xu Li looked at Fei Li, but she didn't feel the satisfaction of revenge. It seemed that such an eye-for-an-eye approach was too much for her.
Xu Li fled in a panic, unsure whether Fei Li was dead or not.
Xu Li couldn't face this place: her father's death, the alleged assault, and her own accidental "murder"...
So much happened that night. She needed time, she needed to escape this place, and she didn't have the courage to face it.
Where to go?
Xu Li immediately thought of Yangcheng, the place where her family had lived, a place where the shadow of home still lingered.
That night, Xu Li abandoned everything, took Xu Zhengbei's diary, and went to Yangcheng alone without telling anyone.
At that time, there were only a few days left until the college entrance examination.
Later, in Yangzhou, he met Zhou Ji, Zhou Junchang...
For Xu Li, life in Yangcheng was bound to end someday; it seemed inevitable. So she always knew that the day she would have to leave would come.
However, he encountered Zhou Junchang.
She lacked the courage to reveal her past experiences; subconsciously, she feared contact with the opposite sex, feared rainy and thunderous nights, and feared the endless darkness...
Every thing she fears is a piece of her past that she doesn't want to recall.
She didn't have the courage to tell Zhou Junchang these things. During those days she endured alone, she bore the unspeakable pain all by herself.
She attributed all her trauma to Xu Zhengbei's death, and she dared not speak of her tainted past.
She silently processed everything on her own and placed Xu Zhengbei's diary in an offering box in the cemetery. No one knew the contents of Xu Zhengbei's diary.
Whenever she felt sad, she would go to the cemetery to visit Xu Zhengbei's grave, whether it was after seeing Duan Ruiming or when Zhou Junchang was injured...
Sometimes she could stay in the cemetery for a whole day or even overnight, as if as long as Xu Zhengbei was there, she was not afraid of anything. Xu Li always thought that she should grit her teeth and bear it, thinking that each time was the last time she came here, but there would always be a next time.
Xu Li had been running away. Duan Ruiming had looked for her many times. It wasn't that she didn't want to go back, but she was upset that Duan Ruiming didn't believe her.
Actually, if you think about it this way, Duan Ruiming is the person closest to her. But he asked her to go back because of Fei Li's matter, so Xu Li was unwilling to go back. Gradually, she lost faith in Duan Ruiming and didn't want to see him anymore.
Later, after meeting Zhou Junchang, she became greedy and even more unwilling to return to Linpu, but in her plan, she always intended to leave.
Her departure was inevitable.
Standing at the starting point of their first encounter, she could foresee her own departure.
...
The day Xu Li returned to Linpu was a bright, sunny day, the sun so bright it was blinding.
The tree seems to have sprouted new buds again.
Xu Li was not wearing high heels, but ordinary flat shoes, and stood in front of a policeman.
"Officer Li, hello, I'm Xu Li."
——————
The night Fei Li lay on the hill behind the house, his phone vibrated in his pocket, but he couldn't answer it.
Meanwhile, in a store warehouse, a man in a suit kept making phone calls.
Finally, he said to the person next to him, "Go check his phone's location; we can't let him get away."
"yes."
...
When the two followed the GPS to the back mountain, Fei Li had already fainted.
One of them checked his breathing: "He's still breathing."
"Let's ask the higher-ups."
With a knife still stuck in his chest, Fei Li vaguely heard someone coming and thought he would be rescued soon.
The two reported the situation to their boss.
The voice on the other end of the phone said, "He might have been exposed, someone might have been watching him, and he might be of no use to us anymore. Let's just take him out now."
The two people on the other end of the line spoke like cold, robotic voices: "Yes."
A few days later, the police station received a report from an elderly couple who said their son had gone missing.
…………
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