The Mystery of the Inner Demon

Chapter 201 A Gift of Sin

There was a knock on the door of room 301 in Guiyue Apartment.

Since Zhong Kui moved here, only one person has come to knock on the door—Qi Fei.

Grandma Meng impatiently opened the door, but standing behind the security gate was not Qi Fei, but a deliveryman in uniform.

"Is this Miss Zhong's home? We have a package."

"Just give it to me," Granny Meng said with a blank face.

"Um, are you the person in question? This package needs to be signed for by the recipient." The deliveryman looked at Grandma Meng with slight hesitation.

Granny Meng's frown lines became more pronounced: "Give me the pen."

As she spoke, she wrote the two characters "Zhong Kui" on the receipt.

The courier carefully examined the messy handwriting and checked the delivery information: "This package is addressed to Zhong Xiaoyu. The one you wrote is Zhong... um, Zhong Kui?"

Just as the deliveryman finished speaking, footsteps sounded from two different places.

One is downstairs in the hallway, and the other is inside the room.

In an instant, Qi Fei and Zhong Kui appeared at the doorway almost simultaneously, one inside and one outside.

"Send it to me by express." The two said in unison, their eyes meeting through the security bars on the window.
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In the police station, a small, palm-sized delivery box was placed in the center of the evidence table.

The ordinary yellow cardboard box was covered in dust and looked no different from ordinary express delivery packaging.

"Qi Fei, you're saying there are diamonds worth 20 million in here?" Liu Tong tilted his head to examine the box, looking rather incredulous.

"To be precise, it's ten million. According to the clues provided by Jin Yan, a young man wearing a mask quoted double the price to buy a loose diamond, specifically saying that it was to be given to Zhong Xiaoyu..." Qi Fei said, unable to help but look at Zhong Kui.

Upon hearing this, Liu Tong immediately laughed and said, "Ha, Qi Fei, this person isn't you, is it?"

Qi Fei was speechless for a moment: "Captain Liu, can we be a little more serious when we're investigating a case?"

Zhong Kui leaned against the wall, twirling her long black hair with her fingers, seemingly unconcerned, and said slowly, "What Liu Tong said isn't entirely unreasonable. Didn't he claim he was going to give it to his girlfriend, Zhong Xiaoyu?"

"Huh?" Qi Fei turned to look at Zhong Kui in surprise, not expecting her to add the information that she was "girlfriend".

“Girlfriend, those two words are very important.” Zhong Kui raised an eyebrow and looked at Qi Fei. “It seems that Xi He’s obsession with Zhong Xiaoyu has only grown stronger. Twenty million, hehe, that’s no small sum.”

It was a very strange scene. Zhong Kui, using Zhong Xiaoyu's body, was evaluating her relationship with Xi He from an outsider's perspective. Her face was completely calm, and she even seemed more objective than Qi Fei.

Liu Tong patted Feiqi's shoulder with a grin: "You're a mature criminal investigator now, but you still need to keep your personal and professional life separate. Zhong Kui is right, the information that the other party believes Zhong Xiaoyu is their girlfriend is very important, so you can't hide it when you report it to me."

Qi Fei changed the subject, saying, "Everyone, please take precautions. I'm going to open this package."

This might be the most serious unpacking of a package ever. It's hard to say whether the result will be a pleasant surprise or a shock.

Qi Fei carefully used a utility knife to cut the tape on the box.

The overhead light on the evidence stand cut the shadow of the box into several sharp angles. As the blade slowly sliced ​​along the tape seal, everyone present unconsciously held their breath.

A square cardboard box was tightly wrapped in foam paper.

Qi Fei peeled off the foam paper like he was peeling a rice dumpling. The ancient Greek words embossed in gold on the black cardboard box were all too familiar to Qi Fei now—people spend their whole lives searching for their other half.

This confirms that this is Xihe's masterpiece.

Zhong Kui, who had also seen the text, suddenly stepped forward and pulled off her mask, causing Qi Fei to panic: "Be careful, it might be poisonous!"

"This is a gift he gave to Zhong Xiaoyu. Don't worry, it's not poisoned. If he wanted to kill her, he would have done so back in Baicheng that year." Zhong Kui's voice was icy, like that of a hunter who had spotted his target.

She stretched out her jade-like hands and slowly lifted the lid of the box. Inside was a purple velvet jewelry box and a card, which, sure enough, depicted the smiling monster.

"Hmph, this damned sense of ceremony." Zhong Kui sneered as she took out the jewelry box. When she opened the lid, a dazzling light entered everyone's eyes, as if the whole room had been muted. A cherry blossom-colored diamond lay in the velvet recess, its cushion-cut facets refracting layers of iridescence under the cold light. The outermost layer was a light pink like peach petals, while inside, starlight intertwined with pale purple and orange-red hues surged.

"My goodness..." Wu Shanqiu couldn't help but exclaim, "This is even prettier than the one that Xiao Hei took away!"

Zhong Kui slightly raised her hand, and iridescent light flowed down her black hair to her pale collarbone: "It is beautiful, and its quality is very similar to the previous one. It seems that they are both from Angolan mines."

The question is, where is the person who carried it back from Africa?

"It's over, Xi He has already gotten the diamond, so Su Jing is..." Wu Shanqiu's initial excitement upon seeing the diamond was instantly overshadowed by worry, "The phone number Jin Yan got has already been cancelled..."

Qi Fei requested permission from Liu Tong: "Captain Liu, Su Jing went missing near Nanling. We need to conduct a thorough search of Nanling immediately."

At this moment, Zhong Kui, who had been staring at the diamond, suddenly spoke up: "Hmm? What is this?"

Her fingertips lightly brushed over the scratches on the edge of the jewelry box. Sunlight filtered through the blinds, casting fine golden lines on the velvet lining. Upon closer inspection, there was even a crescent-shaped dent on the velvet-wrapped box: "How could Xi He, this perfectionist, allow such a minor scratch on the box?"

Upon hearing this, Wu Shanqiu quickly grabbed a magnifying glass from the side and pointed it at the spot Zhong Kui had seen: "Huh? This mark looks so familiar!"

Just then, Qi Fei's phone rang. When he answered it, he heard an unexpected voice, sounding extremely anxious: "Officer Qi, this is Liu Binjie from Nancheng Zoo."

"Binjie, what happened?" Qi Fei asked, turning on the speakerphone.

"Little Black went missing last night. We've searched the entire zoo but haven't found it. We need your help!"

Upon hearing this, Wu Shanqiu immediately took the jewelry box from Zhong Kui's hand and excitedly pointed to the dents on it, saying, "I remember now! These are bird claw marks! I've seen many of them on Xiao Hei's live streaming shelf!"

Zhong Kui had already walked between Liu Tong and Qi Fei and said, "Given Xi He's style, he already put on a show in the Nanling Maze last time. It's unlikely he'll repeat the same mistake and imprison people in Nanling this time." She then sneered, "A zoo? That kind of place is more to his liking."