The Mystery of the Inner Demon

Chapter 147 Sacrifice
Chen Shan looked at Zhong Kui and realized that this person was the manipulator behind his discovery. He gritted his teeth and asked, "How did you find me?"

"It's very simple." Zhong Kui showed the contract of Hongde Culture that he had taken from Qi Fei at some unknown time.

"You and Huang Daqiu both have fingerprint fragmentation syndrome. This fingerprint is crucial. However, everyone's attention is focused on the text of the contract, and they forgot that this fingerprint was left on the purchase list.

Hongde Culture is a planning company, and they may not have the goods on the list themselves.

I've been to your house. You only have one Lucky Toad, but you have so many, not to mention the Six Yin Bronze Mirror, a Feng Shui ornament that's clearly inappropriate for your home. These things are an entire industry chain now, with each company having its own unique characteristics. You get these from the same source as Hongde Culture. Don't tell me you bought them from them." Zhong Kui gave Chen Shan an untimely, sweet smile, as if this was something very joyful.

Chen Shan responded to Zhong Kui silently, his eyes drifting towards the ground, avoiding Zhong Kui's clear and sharp gaze.

Zhong Kui didn't care about his reaction at all and continued to break down his psychological defenses. "But the most interesting thing isn't this. The basic door lock configuration of the high-end residential complex where you live is fingerprint locks, but your family has gone the other way and switched to ordinary mechanical keys. If I remember correctly, you don't use fingerprints to unlock your phone when you use it. Of course, these are all insignificant things until our Officer Qi cleverly discovered the abnormality in Huang Daqiu's fingerprints.

So, a lot of things that happened that day when I went to Nancheng Xiangxie became clear. But most importantly, I saw your fake happiness. It might be okay to fool ordinary people, but it's a bit difficult to fool me. You were clearly panicking, but you had to act so relaxed and happy. I couldn't help but wonder, what was your purpose? Haha, you can't say you're just trying to cheer us up, right?

At first, I didn't understand. So many people wanted to kill Huang Daqiu and Ying Shuigen, but you, alone, seemed to have no motive for their deaths. That was until I saw the jade ring in the toad's mouth in the study. It was patinated, evidently worn for years. But the bracelet was a woman's size. How did you, a bachelor, get it? Coincidentally, among our victims, only one was a woman. So, I checked her wrist. Sure enough, there were the marks of long-wearing bracelets, but her bracelet, well, was missing.

Plus, your excited reaction that day, the bloody smell of the jujube wood beads can't fool my nose..." Zhong Kui said, and suddenly moved closer to Chen Shan. A sweet fragrance with hidden murderous intent hit her face, "I can tell the difference between human blood and fish." As she spoke, she grinned, revealing her teeth as white as pearls, like a vampire.

Chen Shan lowered his head dejectedly: "I don't want to die..." He murmured, as if a person trapped in a swamp uttered the last desperate words.

……

The LED lights above the interrogation room hummed, casting spiderweb-like shadows on Chen Shan's lowered forehead. The one-way glass reflected his silhouette as he huddled in the iron chair; the clatter of his wrists against the metal armrests was especially clear in the enclosed space. The interrogation table in front of Qi Fei shone with a cold light. A pile of case files weighed down the Feng Shui ornaments seized from Chen Shan's home. The edges of Huang Daqiu's fingerprint identification report curled slightly, like a dead centipede. The sudden burst of cold air from the air-conditioning vents stirred the hairs on the back of his neck, giving him the illusion that Zhong Kui's lingering sweet fragrance was still lingering in his nostrils—a scent now mixed with the rusty smell of the stainless steel table legs, like a slippery snake burrowing into his stomach. The overlapping sizzling sound of Qi Fei slowly tearing open the sealing strip of the DNA test bag made his temples throb.

Qi Fei flicked his finger at the DNA report on the stainless steel table, which was shining with a cold light. Chen Shan's distorted face was reflected on the metal edge of the table. Qi Fei looked up at him and said, "When you knocked on the door for the first time, your pupils dilated - not because you were confused, but because you heard the killing bell ringing in your skull, right?" He glanced at the shackles on the other's wrists, and the string of jujube wood beads stained with the smell of blood was still on his hand.

Chen Shan's wrist thudded against the iron chair armrest. "If you'd revealed the blood test error three minutes later... I probably wouldn't have confessed." He forced a laugh uglier than tears, digging his nails into his bleeding palm. "I'm going to be frying anyway, so a few days earlier would give me a few more retributions."

"She Xiaohui is your real prey." Qi Fei suddenly threw the Hongde Culture contract on the table. The incomplete fingerprints on the purchase list looked like snake skin under the strong light. "Killing Ying Shuigen was just a waste of time, and you found the wrong person?"

"Rubbish?" Chen Shan arched his back like a poisonous snake that had been stepped on, the veins on his neck bulging like a coiled bronze serpent. "They've been playing me for a fool!" His bloodshot eyes were practically on fire. "Even when I close my eyes, I can still see Ying Shuigen caressing She Xiaohui's pregnant belly amidst the incense offerings on Jiangting Island. That adulterous couple gave me a golden dream, in which I personally offered a pregnant woman on the altar..."

Chen Shan's knuckles suddenly clenched the iron chair armrests, veins snaking like snakes across the rusted metal. "That gilded charlatan..." He stared at his distorted reflection in the one-way glass, as if he could see the bronze snake-headed incense burner at the Jiangting Island dock puffing out smoke. "When She Xiaohui dragged me through the thirty-three layers of cinnabar talisman curtains, Ying Shuigen was coiled on a red sandalwood lotus pedestal, counting money with a live snake wrapped around his wrist."

"The walls are covered with photos of him and dignitaries." His Adam's apple rolled as he swallowed the bitter memories, "President Wang of the Provincial Chamber of Commerce is holding the consecrated golden toad, and Mr. Li, the real estate manager, is kneeling to receive the bronze mirror for house protection... The date of shooting is stamped on the lower right corner of each photo, which is more real than my bank statements." The ceiling light in the interrogation room suddenly burst out with an electric sound, and the candlelight of the Taoist temple in those days exploded in his turbid pupils.

"He said this is the Snake Fairy's wedding custom." Chen Shan suddenly laughed nervously, the shackles on his wrists clanging against each other. "As long as we keep pregnant She Xiaohui hostage on the island, the business can be revived. What was the result?" He leaned forward suddenly, his nose almost touching the DNA report. "I really gave the evil god the fattest sacrifice!"

"Later, like a sewer rat, I spied on my son coming home from school. I could smell She Xiaohui's new Dior perfume from three blocks away." Chen Shan suddenly stared at his arm, which was covered in needle pricks, and sneered, "This damn psychopath played a trick on me, saying I had leukemia and needed a bone marrow transplant. I only realized then that all the hostages were a trap set up by those bastards."

(End of this chapter)