The Mystery of the Inner Demon

Chapter 262 Blank Paper
"Your old friend is nothing but a coward. I can't understand why you can't forget her," Zhong Kui retorted with disdain.

Xi He's gaze instantly turned sharp, and he said fiercely to Zhong Kui, "You have no right to judge her. Also, if you don't want to disappoint Qi Fei, you'd better keep your sharp tongue to yourself, or Qi Dongjun will be the next to die."

Zhong Kui's face darkened, knowing he meant what he said. Xi He, meanwhile, turned his attention back to Qi Fei: "Let me hear what you've discovered along the way. Have you investigated the skeleton in the little white house thoroughly?"

"You went to all this trouble just so I could investigate the cause of Feng Yongshou's death?" Qi Fei stared at Xi He's face and asked, puzzled.

Strangely enough, when Qi Fei asked this question, Xi He's lips unconsciously curled up, as if he had already won the first move in this invisible game of chess.

"All along, I've been wondering why you went through all this trouble?" Qi Fei continued, "Until just now, Feng Yongfu's death made me understand."

"Oh?" Xi He seemed quite interested, but a subtle surprise flashed in his eyes, as if Qi Fei's words had taken an unexpected turn.

“Your biggest mistake was killing Feng Yongfu,” Qi Fei said, pointing to the corpse lying on the ground. “You told Zhong Xiaoyu that this person was related to our mother. However, all the clues we’ve been following have led us to believe that Feng Yongshou and Xi Ziyun had some connection.”

"Feng Yongfu, this outsider, why has he suddenly become so important, so important that you want to kill him? Xi He, you're being too hasty." Qi Fei's eyes burned with a fierce light. "Because he's about to expose the biggest flaw in your entire scheme to mislead me—Zhong Kui was subconsciously driven to settle in Sanwu Town for Feng Yongfu, not Feng Yongshou—if the story about Feng Yongshou is false, then the story about Xi Ziyun is also false."

When Qi Fei got to this point, Xi He suddenly burst into laughter. The laughter was eccentric and echoed in the culvert, its ending sounding more like a mournful cry.

"What are you laughing at?" Qi Fei questioned.

"Qi Fei, have you become paranoid from spending too much time with this sorceress? Where did these unfounded assumptions come from?" Xi He pointed at Zhong Kui and said loudly to Qi Fei.

"No, I'm pretty sure what I'm saying. All of this is based on you, not Zhong Kui. You reminded me to look back to the beginning. But you showed me the beginning of our parents' life, while what I saw was the beginning of what you did—there have only ever been three people in our world: Mom, me, and you. Everything else is just a smokescreen."

"You want me to tell you what I've investigated? Shouldn't you know this before I do? Did you not kidnap Dad and kill Feng Yongfu just to test my investigative abilities? That can't be, can it?" With that, Qi Fei took a few steps forward, now only a meter away from Xi He—the closest the brothers had been in years. His voice slightly hoarse, Qi Fei spoke to Xi He, word by word, "What you want is to destroy their spirit."

Xi He simply looked directly into Qi Fei's eyes without saying a word.

As if exploring Xi He's dark inner world, Qi Fei continued, "All the clues point to Mom, to Xi Ziyun. You guided me to discover these clues so clearly and so easily. I admit that I struggled painfully during this process. The Xi Ziyun I pieced together from the investigation was the black glove who made her fortune in Qi Dongjun, the conspirator who manipulated Feng Yongshou to commit murder. She is too incongruous with the gentle and kind mother in my memory."

As Qi Fei spoke, he suddenly began to recite a passage of scripture: "All phenomena are illusory perceptions, like dreams, flames, the moon in water, or images in a mirror, arising from delusion." This was the passage of scripture that Cui Nian was fixated on in the case of the demonic mirror, and now it became the key for Qi Fei to solve the mystery of Xi He. "You taught me to question those seemingly impeccable 'facts'."

I just examined Feng Yongfu's injuries and noticed a clear burn scar on the back of his neck. How could a craftsman who makes urns for ashes have such a burn? He would have had to go into the kiln before it had completely cooled down. But shouldn't it have been Feng Yongshou who had done that?

In analyzing the relationships between the characters, I found that the information about Feng Yongshou mainly comes from two people: Feng Yongfu and an old lady in Baishui Community who had met Yu Hongxia and the Feng brothers.

However, when I carefully recalled the scene when we met the old lady, it was Feng Yongfu who took the initiative to strike up a conversation with her and mentioned that he was one of the two brothers who had stayed at Yu Hongxia's house years ago.

The old lady didn't recognize him anymore, but he reminded her that he was the more mischievous one, and that his younger brother, Feng Yongshou, was the more well-behaved one.

It was also the old lady's recollections of Feng Yongshou that led us to turn our investigation towards Xi Ziyun.

However, the old lady only remembered that the child who played closely with Xi Ziyun was the well-behaved boy. As for whether the boy's name was Yongshou or Yongfu, it was Feng Yongfu who told her that day.

So along the way, you've always been one step ahead of us, arranging everything in advance, because Feng Yongfu, this fake victim, is actually your informant and puppet, right?

The boy who took Xiaoyun to the old lady's house to play back then was not Feng Yongshou, but Feng Yongfu.

This means that all the information obtained from Feng Yongfu needs to be re-examined.

You must be enjoying this moment. I can't give you a definite answer because it's impossible for anyone to overturn all the previous clues and sort out a complete case in such a short time.

However, I cannot tarnish Xi Ziyun's name before everything is clear. She holds a much heavier place in my heart than you can imagine.

"Tsk tsk tsk." Xi He praised sarcastically, "Very touching, but I only care about the result. If you can't give me an answer, Qi Dong County is doomed." As he spoke, he began to imitate the sound of a clock ticking, "Tick-tock, tick-tock..."

The two seemed to have returned to the living room of the little white building, back to their childhood. The hands of the antique clock turned with Xi He's voice, getting closer and closer to Qi Dongjun's death.

However, Qi Fei, standing opposite Xi He, remained unmoved, allowing Xi He to provoke him, as if it was Qi Fei, not Xi He, who was stalling for time.

A cell phone suddenly rang in the culvert. Wu Shanqiu answered the phone and said, "Brother Fei, the game is over."

With a "click," the handcuffs were on Xi He's wrists, handcuffed by Qi Fei himself. Not far away, Zhong Kui already wore a victorious smile...