Dark Light Chaser.

Chapter 10 The Killer of Anxiety

Ai Liang shook off Xia Qinian, and seeing that he was no longer following, she gradually slowed down and walked into a supermarket. Outside the supermarket, there was an advertisement for a store-wide discount for the third anniversary of the opening.

He came here not to buy anything, but to see the murderer himself.

Yue Qihua is right; you can't judge someone as a murderer without evidence, but Ai Liang does.

He saw the killer's appearance through Gao Jiajia's mind; there was no more conclusive evidence than the victim herself.

That Wang Zi is the real culprit.

The moment Ai Liang saw Wang Zi that morning, she memorized his brainwaves and biosignals and has been secretly observing him ever since.

After school let out for the holidays, he went home and locked himself in his room.

That's right, Wang Zi lives in the Jinyang residential area across the street.

Ai Liang took a bottle of mineral water from the freezer, paid for it, and then sat on a bench near the supermarket exit, scrolling through her phone and pretending to be a passerby who had come to the supermarket to cool off.

On the surface, he was looking at his phone, but in reality, Ai Liang's attention was focused on Wang Zi in the apartment building.

Boom, boom, boom.

Wang Zi sat at the desk, the powerful pounding of his heart echoing in his ears through his chest.

He stared at the cotton gloves and cell phone on the table, fidgeting nervously.

He spent the entire morning in a state of internal struggle.

They wanted to destroy the evidence but were also worried about getting their crimes punished more severely.

He wanted to turn himself in, but then he thought about the way his classmates, parents, and neighbors looked at him, and the label of murderer that would be permanently attached to him in the future.

Thinking of this, his courage to turn himself in vanished as he walked into the living room, and he didn't even leave the house.

"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!"

Wang Zi clenched her fists so tightly that she didn't even notice her nails digging into her flesh.

"What do I do! What do I do! Even if no one in my class knows about my relationship with Gao Jiajia, the police will eventually find me through our chat history! I'm in this state... Ahhh!"

Wang Zi slammed his fist on the table with a loud bang, trying to relieve his anxiety through the pain.

Ever since Ai Liang concluded that Gao Jiajia was murdered that morning, Wang Zi has been filled with fear and unease.

Wang Zi kept reassuring herself, "It's okay, it's okay. I used the rope from the broken-down house. If anyone's suspected, it'll be him. As long as I destroy these gloves, there'll be no evidence to prove I'm the murderer!"

Wang Zi kept hypnotizing himself, amplifying his wishful thinking, but the fear of being arrested by the police lingered in his mind like a dark cloud.

Intense anxiety and a rapid heartbeat have kept him gagging since morning, and he can't relax no matter what he tries.

In the end, he gave up the idea of ​​turning himself in and stared at the gloves on the table with a mad look on his face.

"Oh right! And the novel! It can't be left behind!"

With trembling hands, Wang Zi pulled a stack of A4 paper from the drawer, grabbed a pair of white cotton gloves, ran to the living room, took a lighter that his father usually used for smoking from the shelf, and slipped into the bathroom.

Wang Zi lit the paper with a lighter and then flushed the ashes down the toilet.

As the water gushed out, his mind strangely calmed down, which strengthened his resolve to destroy the evidence.

Ding!Ding!Ding!
No matter how many times Wang Zi touched the water filling button, the water tank stopped filling.

Wang Zi roughly turned on the tap, but there was still no water. Anxiety surged into Wang Zi's heart again, and his breathing became rapid, panting heavily like a bull with lung disease.

Wang Zi ran out of the bathroom and into the kitchen. There was no water from the tap. She turned on the water purifier, but there was still no water.

"Hoo-ha, hoo-ha, hoo-ha."

Wang Zi stood blankly in the living room, her eyes bloodshot, her eyeballs almost popping out of their sockets.

The fear spread like wildfire, his heart pounded violently again, and his mind began to race. He wanted to scream, but he was afraid of attracting the attention of his neighbors.

This oppressive atmosphere caused his mental state to deteriorate further, as if a group of ferocious rats were frantically tearing and gnawing at his soul.

He gripped the lighter and slammed it to the floor, stomping on it frantically with his feet.

His face flushed red, his eyes widened, and saliva and spittle flew from the corners of his mouth uncontrollably until an impatient roar came from downstairs, pulling him back to reality.

Wang Zi stopped what he was doing. He had stepped on the metal cap of the lighter and knocked it off, but fortunately the lighter was still usable.

His heartbeat began to calm down, as if the outburst had released all his anxiety and fear, leaving him feeling completely at peace.

Back in the bathroom, he lit the remaining papers with his lighter, a smile playing on his lips as he watched the A4 paper burn fiercely. But he stopped when only a few sheets remained.

These few pages only describe the protagonist's later life and have little to do with what came before. In the end, he folded these pages and planned to keep them as a souvenir.

Just then, there was a knock on the door, and his hand trembled so much that he dropped a spark onto his slipper.

After frantically extinguishing the sparks with the remaining water in the showerhead, he tiptoed into the living room and peered through the peephole towards the door.

It wasn't a policeman outside the door, but a middle-aged man in a vest. Wang Zi recognized him; he was a resident downstairs.

"Is there a problem?"

Wang Zi opened the door a crack and peeked out.

"What are you doing at your house? All that 'plop plop' noise! ​​Isn't it annoying in this hot weather?!"

The middle-aged man stared at him with an unfriendly expression, his tone filled with impatience. He sniffed and asked, "Why does it still smell burnt?"

"Sorry, there was a cockroach in the room just now, and I was busy killing it, so I made a bit of a commotion."

Wang Zi forced an apologetic smile, but a murderous intent surged within him.

The murderous intent startled even him, and he quickly bit his tongue to dispel it.

"Killing cockroaches? You make more noise than you would hitting a person! Remember to be more careful next time, or I'll complain to the property management!"

The middle-aged man only went upstairs to warn him because of the hot weather and he got angry. Seeing that the man's attitude was good, he didn't bother to continue arguing.

"I'm sorry, it won't happen again."

Wang Zi watched as the middle-aged man slammed the door shut behind him. He then leaned against the security door and slowly sat down on the ground, his shirt soaked with cold sweat.

After sitting on the ground for a while until her legs regained feeling, Wang Zi returned to the bathroom.

The paper was processed, but the gloves were still missing. The two gloves fell on the ground and got wet, so he tore open a garbage bag and put the gloves inside.

There are surveillance cameras everywhere during the day, which will definitely leave traces, so he plans to go out at night to dispose of the gloves.

Little did he know that Ai Liang had seen through all his actions and thoughts.

A few hundred meters away.

Sitting in the chair, Ai Liang was a little puzzled. How did Wang Zi, with such a strong mentality, come up with the idea of ​​wearing gloves to commit the crime and framing the glasses?

Based on the psychological analysis just now, it's more likely that he committed the murder impulsively.

Unable to figure it out, Ai Liang decided to probe into Wang Zi's memories, fearing that everything Wang Zi did was instigated by someone.

The outcome was unexpected.

These techniques were learned from the A4 sheets of paper he had just burned, which contained a novel.

The protagonist of the story has a personality very similar to Wang Zi. She is introverted and has few friends. She keeps to herself in class. Because her mother is a teacher, she is very strict with her studies, even to the point of being repressive.

The father unexpectedly made a fortune and started a small business; this is practically Wang Zi's own life story.

This book mainly tells the story of the protagonist's life in junior high school: The protagonist was originally an inconspicuous member of the class. He met the class beauty by chance when he rescued her. Their relationship quickly warmed up after an incident. This relationship was not announced in class. On the surface, they were strangers, but they would occasionally go out shopping together on weekends.

Whenever people around him praised the class beauty, the protagonist would secretly smile, feeling proud that he was the one closest to her.

This relationship lasted for nearly two years. Just when the protagonist was about to confess to the class beauty during graduation season, shocking everyone, he heard some shocking news: the class beauty was planning to confess to a boy from the next class.

Unable to accept the rumors, the protagonist asked the class beauty to meet him and ask if they were true. She gave him an affirmative answer.

It turns out that from beginning to end, the class beauty never treated the protagonist as a romantic partner, which made the protagonist feel betrayed.

He tolerated the class beauty's antics with other boys and her flirting with other girls because he knew he was closest to her. But all of this was just the delusion of a teenage boy; reality is cruel.

One night, the protagonist used a note to lure the class beauty out, then strangled her and framed a scavenger who came to the school to collect recyclables, thus escaping legal punishment.

The story has no ending. It ends when the scavenger is sentenced and the protagonist starts a new life. Perhaps the author hasn't finished writing it yet.

Wang Zi found this stack of novels on a stone table in his neighborhood two years ago. Because the author's writing was so profound, the plot was so vividly portrayed, and he and the protagonist were so similar, he couldn't bear to throw them away.

After reading the novel, he rescued Gao Jiajia, who was being harassed, from an old man who collected scraps.

During that time, Wang Zi even regarded this stack of A4 papers as a cheat code in online novels. He not only wrapped it in a cover but also gave it the name "Book of Prophecy" and frantically searched for the rest of the story.

Later, Wang Zi gradually matured and calmed down when he entered the third year of junior high school.

Like the protagonist in the book, he enjoys sharing a secret with Gao Jiajia and firmly believes that he will not repeat the same mistakes as the protagonist.

Because the red string tied on his left hand was a gift from Gao Jiajia, and he didn't take it off even though it was frayed. He was different from that simp protagonist.

Arrogance can blind a person to their own limitations; in fact, he is no different from the protagonist.

Wang Zi recalled the plot of the novel, the sincere emotions of the protagonist in the story, and applied them to himself. He also recalled the bits and pieces he and Gao Jiajia had experienced. Jealousy and anger clouded his mind.

He used the methods described in the novel to fake Gao Jiajia's suicide, so that even if it turned out to be a case of suicide, he could pin the blame on Glasses.

It was precisely because of this double insurance that he felt safe and bold enough to do such a heinous thing.

Now, all that's needed is to destroy the gloves used in the crime, and there will be no more evidence to prove that he killed Gao Jiajia.

Having learned the whole story from his memories, Ai Liang remained speechless for a long time. After a long while, he took a sip of water and let out a long sigh.

Ai Liang hunched over, staring blankly at the people coming and going in the supermarket, quietly waiting for night to fall.

I don’t know how long it took.

Ai Liang was lost in thought when a fellow student from the same school came to the supermarket to buy things. He was more or less a celebrity on campus, and the kind that was widely known.

Ai Liang has been ranked first in the grade ever since he came to this school. He is always singled out for praise at every school assembly, and everyone is encouraged to learn from him.

He often speaks as a student representative, and with his handsome and refined face, it would be hard for him not to become famous.

When his classmate saw Ai Liang looking lost in thought, he assumed that Ai Liang was heartbroken because of Gao Jiajia, so he bought him a bag of cotton candy at the supermarket to cheer him up.

Although Ai Liang didn't recognize the unfamiliar female classmate who was staring intently at his face, he still said thank you.

Seeing that Ai Liang made no further move, the student pursed his lips and left.

Wang Zi had no intention of going out during the day, and Ai Liang showed no sign of leaving, so they just sat there until it got dark.

As night fell, the supermarket gradually became more crowded.

Ai Liang didn't wait for Wang Zi to leave; instead, she ran into the classmate from the afternoon.

"You're still here? You've been sitting here all afternoon, aren't you going home?"

This time, the female classmate didn't leave immediately, but instead plopped down next to Ai Liang.

Let me ask you all: if you were in school, and one day you found the prettiest girl in your class sitting alone on a bench, looking dejected (from a bystander's perspective), and hadn't moved for an entire afternoon...

If she sees you and you see her, would you simply ignore her and leave?
This was a match made in heaven, and the student decided to try again. She started talking to Ai Liang.

"What's up?"

Ai Liang turned her head and glanced at her expressionlessly.

He must be trying so hard not to cry!
Seeing Ai Liang's indifferent expression, the girl felt sorry for him: "It's nothing, I just saw you sitting here all afternoon and wanted to talk to you. Is it because of Gao Jiajia?"

"Excuse me, who are you?"

Ai Liang looked at her with great confusion. Who exactly was this person?

Even when he refuses to admit it and bears his pain alone, he still looks so cool.

The girl couldn't help but chuckle foolishly, but she quickly realized what she meant and coughed lightly twice with a serious expression: "Ahem, who I am isn't important. What's important is that Gao Jiajia doesn't want you to stay so depressed, right? Letting go of the unbearable past and starting a new life is the greatest way to remember the deceased."

After she finished speaking, she looked up at the supermarket ceiling.

Is this person out of their mind?

Even though Ai Liang is usually composed and doesn't show her emotions, she couldn't help but twitch the corner of her mouth.

The girl's eyes were almost blinded by the supermarket lights, but she still didn't hear Ai Liang's reply. She had no choice but to secretly observe Ai Liang's reaction out of the corner of her eye.

What a blunder! Now we can't see anything at all!
After staring at the light bulb for so long, all I could see were dark shadows.

"Sigh, no matter what, you have to pull yourself together!"

She instinctively patted Ai Liang in his direction, and thankfully she hit Ai Liang's shoulder: "It's getting late, let's hurry home!"

After saying that, the energetic young woman turned around and walked towards the supermarket exit with a flourish, then bumped her forehead into the glass door.

"Ouch, ouch, ouch."

Faced with such an embarrassing situation, she disregarded her composure and fled, only to trip over the threshold at the door and fall hard. She lay on the ground for about two seconds before suddenly getting up and sprinting away, disappearing from the sight of passersby.

'The encounters in TV dramas are all fake!'

"Where did this idiot come from?" Ai Liang stared speechlessly in the direction she disappeared.

As planned, she perfectly left a deep impression on Ai Liang, but unfortunately, it was all negative.

As night deepened, the people who had come out for a walk went home to wash up and go to bed. The supermarket was about to close, so Ai Liang found a bench in a nearby garden and sat down to wait for Wang Zi to come out.

Anyway, his parents rarely come home and would never find out that he stays out all night. Even if they did, they probably wouldn't care. In their minds, it would be better if Ai Liang were gone.

One by one, the lights in the apartments in the community were turned off. This is not the city center, and there are no entertainment venues nearby, so there are very few pedestrians. Only patrolling police officers occasionally pass by.

Ai Liang threw away the mineral water bottle and stood up—Wang Zi was about to go out.

(End of this chapter)