Simulated Crime, This Criminal Doesn't Seem to Be Acting-Chapter 77

【I'm very curious, what kind of secret is it!】

【Seeing Yan Jiaojiao would reveal something amiss, but from what Yan Jiaojiao's mother said earlier, it seems Yan Jiaojiao didn't recognize Zhong Jia!】

【Qian Jiangde also knows this secret and has clearly deduced that it's worth Zhong Jia going to such extreme lengths. Given the name of the instance, "Life," it must be a life-altering event!】

The live streamroom erupted in discussion, everyone eager to know what could transform a seemingly plain, diligent woman who had endured years of domestic abuse into a murderer.

The humiliation Yan Jiaojiao subjected Zhong Jia to in the hotel room didn't qualify as a motivation.

Zhong Jia's personality, as demonstrated, was one of patience and softness. Such a person wouldn't be easily provoked into murder by a few sharp words, let alone a premeditated one with chloroform as proof.

The live streamroom was abuzz with speculation, and Ye Sangsang was unsurprised when the mission popped up.

From the moment she was brought back, Ye Sangsang had anticipated what was coming.

Looking at all the data, Zhong Jia was filled with despair and anguish.

Before this, she might not have had the intention to kill Qian Jiangde, even though he had abused her for years.

Killing someone requires immense courage.

So, she hadn't triggered the mission to kill Qian Jiangde.

Until.

She found out.

Qian Jiangde also knew that secret.

The secret that had altered her life, known only to her.

Before discovering that secret, she was firmly controlled by Qian Jiangde through simple traditional values and manipulation, making her believe she was barren. This belief allowed him to beat and exploit her without hesitation.

Zhong Jia even thought she wasn't good enough, so despite her resentment, she didn't kill him.

Until she realized he also knew the secret, sparking an inferno of rage.

Enraged, she killed him.

In a dark alley, two figures, one tall and one short, disappeared under the flickering streetlight into the depths of night.

The pair stopped under a streetlight about ten meters from the alley.

The shorter, slender figure took out a key and pushed the door open.

The rusty metal door let out a long, grating "squeak," making one's teeth ache.

Both entered the courtyard and then the house.

Dim yellow light flickered on, and Ye Sangsang's eerie voice echoed.

"When did you find out?"

She sat by the chair, lips pursed, one hand gently stroking the rough, worn, moldy, and chipped table.

Her expression calm, as if discussing an insignificant matter.

【Not sure why, but Zhong Jia seems particularly broken in this scene.】

【I just figured it out, it's betrayal, right?】

【That mission represents Zhong Jia's killing intent. I think Sangsang already knows, so she's showing this emotion.】

On the other side of the table, Qian Jiangde fiddled with his phone, his lowered head lifting as he looked at Ye Sangsang with amusement.

"Your parents didn't try to hide it from me. I knew before we got married," he rotated his old Nokia, looking smug. "If it weren't for Yan Jiaojiao wanting to attend your university, I wouldn't have married you. I even had to spend a pretty penny to get you!"

Qian Jiangde grinned at Ye Sangsang, a scheming grin that incited a burning anger.

He fiddled with his phone, which contained the number he had asked the detective for.

Not to pick someone up.

He knew the person in front of him and assumed it was just a momentary fit of anger that had passed. She must be scared now.

Anyone who killed someone would have to endure his control for life.

The live streamroom was baffled by this revelation. What did attending your university mean? The chat rolled with question marks.

Time for us middle-aged people to weigh in. This is a case of forging documents to attend university! Decades ago, when the internet wasn't widespread, you needed a paper admission notice to enroll. Some people had malicious intentions and illegally obtained someone else's notice, changed names and household registration, and went directly to school.

Some planned it out and changed the name and household registration back after graduating, making it harder for the victim to discover. Especially with some connections, certain things weren't too difficult to manipulate.

【A famous TV host almost got swapped this way, but family caught on and it didn't happen. It stopped later. Many young viewers don't know about this, so they didn't guess.】

The younger audience in the live streamroom was shocked by the idea of being swapped.

【Damn it, I just asked my mom, and she told me how hard it was back then to get into university!】

【I didn't understand Zhong Jia's anger before, but seeing my high school textbook, I get it. Studying is hard! Zhong Jia's anger makes sense to me.】

【But I'm a bit confused, why did seeing Yan Jiaojiao make it clear? She must have changed her name back, right?】

Ye Sangsang looked at Qian Jiangde, her eyelashes fluttering as she hid her thoughts.

Qian Jiangde seemed to have held it in for a long time, or maybe he knew how outstanding Zhong Jia had been. Facing the once both beautiful and academically gifted Zhong Jia, the inferior Qian Jiangde had felt inferior.

Seeing the now society's lowest rung Zhong Jia, he felt a secret satisfaction.

The secret he'd been holding in was driving him crazy.

Looking at her silence, he couldn't help but start blabbering.

"I knew Yan Jiaojiao was preparing for her wedding earlier. Funny thing, it just happened at the hotel where you work."

"She's such a dumb person. If you spent even half an hour with her, she'd gush about everything she has."

"From her family background to her new husband, she'd show off every detail of her possessions. You knew she wasn't good at studies, skipped the last exam to go to an arcade.

【Putting it together, you'd figure out she went to the university you didn't attend.】

He looked at the changed face in front of him and sneered.

Yan Jiaojiao probably never recognized the lowly server she looked down upon was the one whose admission notice she stole.

Her death wasn't unjust.

She was not only blind but also brainless.

Ye Sangsang lowered her eyes, her doubts confirmed.

The reason for Zhong Jia's murder was found.

【He's so smug, isn't he? Watching me be shackled by the family, losing everything.】

She looked blank, emotions unclear in her eyes.

Qian Jiangde stopped twirling his phone, firmly holding it, looking down on Ye Sangsang with disdain. "People! Have to learn to accept their fate, especially women. You were so amazing, making me look worthless. But reading so many books for what? In the end, no matter what you do, it's all about getting married and carrying on the family line."

【Damn, he's so gross! I want to slap him twice.】

【True that, Zhong Jia's actions aside, Yan Jiaojiao and Qian Jiangde deserved it.】

【I feel like the instance "Criminal File" was chosen well. This can warn some bad people not to mess with others, or they'll get revenge! Warning bad people is better than warning others.】

Ye Sangsang's eyes were no longer filled with despair and emptiness.

The despair was gone, replaced by raging fury, burning to cleanse all oppression.

And, a growing killer intent.

【"You haven't told the police I'm the one who killed Yan Jiaojiao, what are you planning?"】

Ye Sangsang looked up at him, asking what she wanted to say.

Even a psychopath would find it hard to understand the other person's mental state.

Talking to a murderer to control them—was this the normal world? It seemed wilder than a mental patient.

Qian Jiangde had a playful grin on his face. "It depends on whether you understand or not. I'll tell you, you'd better behave in the future. I'll soon tell my parents about this. As long as anything happens to me, they'll go to the police and tell them you're the one who harmed me."

Geez, is that male confidence?

Ye Sangsang looked at him, controlling a murderer and threatening them.

However, this wasn't the time to kill him.

Even though Zhong Jia was filled with anger, she never considered killing him now, because she still had a goal. Therefore, her method of murder was still focused on evading punishment.

"You want money?" she asked, her face showing a mixture of doubt and tension.

The tension was mainly to tell the other party that she was scared now.

Qian Jiangde "hmph"ed and stretched out his hand.

In this era, most transactions were done in cash. Ye Sangsang opened her bag and began to take out her money.

Seeing this, Qian Jiangde snatched the bag directly and quickly searched through it. He found over five hundred yuan in cash and pocketed it all.

As for the other items, they were scattered all over the ground and the table.

Looking at those items, Ye Sangsang silently bent down to pick them up.

Having found what he wanted, Qian Jiangde prepared to leave. Seeing her in the way, he shoved her aside, "Get out of the way, you're in the damn way. If you'd just done this earlier, I wouldn't have been delayed from finding someone to drink with."

Ye Sangsang fell to the ground, watching his rapidly retreating back.

She dug out the information about Qian Jiangde. His parents were ordinary workers, and he had two brothers in the family.

He was the younger brother, five years younger than his older brother.

His older brother was already married with children, while he had moved out with Zhong Jia, who supported him.

Perhaps it was because a post-marriage check-up revealed he was infertile, resulting in being kicked out by his parents.

Or maybe the couple had decided to move out to work, and knowing his infertility, he had chosen this parasitic lifestyle, hitting people to find dignity and drinking endlessly to numb himself.

Zhong Jia was truly unlucky to have encountered such bizarre people.

Ye Sangsang thought for a moment and then stood up, walking into the room.

According to the timeline, she would soon have the opportunity to strike.

This time, the other party didn't use anesthesia, which was something Zhong Jia had struggled to obtain.

The inhaled anesthesia she had procured must have been tested to determine the appropriate dosage.

Yan Jiaojiao's situation wasn't one of complete unconsciousness. Zhong Jia had been extremely precise, calculating the right dosage to cause a state of mental blurring.

When Yan Jiaojiao was restrained, she struggled with shortness of breath, temporarily losing consciousness.

Once she was stuffed into the bedsheet at the foot of the bed, she immediately woke up and began to struggle violently.

This was exactly the effect the other party had wanted to achieve.

Because no matter who it was, facing death, they would certainly struggle.

Especially with hanging, the body would instinctively struggle.

If there was no struggle, it would only tell the police that the person was already unconscious when they arrived.

At that time, Ye Sangsang was impressed by the other party's boldness and meticulousness. She also realized that Zhong Jia possessed an extremely clear mind and a wealth of knowledge.

Such a person could excel in many industries.

Yet she didn't seem like an eighteen-year-old who had fallen into despair and chosen to marry, enduring domestic violence.

Moreover, Zhong Jia showed a triumphant smile when facing Yan Jiaojiao's parents, as if to say that they had schemed to the best of their ability, only for their daughter to die at the moment of triumph.

They had experienced the same despair and agony as she had.

And now, the second target had come.

Those who had casually destroyed and sacrificed her life would likely be sent one by one to hell.

Ye Sangsang had seen an internet phrase to describe it, "doing things with a calm madness."

The next day, when Ye Sangsang went out, Qian Jiangde hadn't returned.

With money in hand, he wouldn't be home for at least two days.

She still went to work as usual, and the hotel hadn't given Ye Sangsang any trouble, even after she was taken away by the police.

A colleague came up to Ye Sangsang and whispered in her ear, warning her to be careful recently. The manager had heard about her being humiliated by Yan Jiaojiao, and the Yan family suspected she had taken revenge, so they might come looking for her.

The colleague spoke a lot.

Ye Sangsang raised an eyebrow, finally understanding how Yan Jiaojiao had managed to get herself killed.

"Be careful, but don't worry. The manager won't do anything to you. You and the hotel are both victims. Besides, the boss isn't happy with the Yan family either. I've heard that he might even teach them a lesson," the colleague said, patting Ye Sangsang's shoulder before picking up her things and heading off to work.

Ye Sangsang "uh-huh" in response and joined the rest of the work crew.

In fact, apart from Chen Shu, ordinary people wouldn't suspect Zhong Jia, even if they were close.

But she had a question: Had Zhong Jia changed her name?

If she hadn't, and Yan Jiaojiao's parents knew her name, they should have realized it quickly.

Ye Sangsang skipped through the timeline bit by bit, and nothing relevant happened all day.

Perhaps Chen Shu really hadn't found any other way to uncover the key point, so there was no significant plot development.

What the other party most wanted to find was the motive for murder.

The process of the murder was currently unknown and couldn't be deduced, so they would focus on finding the motive.

For the police, if they could just find a suspicious person and investigate deeply, they could probably uncover the truth.

Zhong Jia being insulted wasn't enough, because based on her personality and her status as a waitress, it wasn't likely to be the reason.

Without a motive, there was no case, and there was no evidence at the scene sufficient for Chen Shu to initiate an investigation.

As for Yan Jiaojiao's case, no matter how much the Yan family made a fuss, it hadn't reached the stage of investigation and prosecution yet.

Chen Shu and another policeman were merely fulfilling their responsibilities by conducting a series of investigations.

If they couldn't find anything, they could only close the case as a suicide.

It was impossible to appease anyone's dissatisfaction by fabricating a murderer out of thin air.

Ye Sangsang started preparing to leave work, pondering why the other party hadn't chosen to strike today or even last night.

It seemed a bit slow.

Could it be that she hesitated?

After all, the person had already been out all day. Anything could happen when someone was out for so long.

After taking some painkillers as usual, Ye Sangsang changed into her casual clothes and went home.

The autumn wind was a bit chilly, and stepping out, she felt the cold of winter approaching.

She tightened her slightly thin jacket and walked out with her colleagues.

The hotel had night shifts, from 8 PM to 8 AM the next day. Normally, if there were no meetings and only shift handovers, it could be done quickly.

So when they walked out, it was only 8:10 PM.

She and her colleagues lived in different places, so they soon parted ways.

When she reached a relatively secluded location, Ye Sangsang clearly felt that there were footsteps following her.

Will there be any criminals? What should Sister Sang do!

I've sensed it; it's aimed at Sister Sang.

I'm a bit scared, this is so unlucky.

Ye Sangsang's footsteps paused, and the footsteps behind her immediately stopped as well.

She pursed her lips and continued walking forward, her eyes flashing with thoughts.

Who was following her, and what was their purpose?

She was now on a main street, with occasional open shops on the side, and streetlights every few meters.

Ye Sangsang looked across the street and then quickened her pace slightly.

The person following her seemed to have panicked and quickened their pace as well, making the footsteps more hurried. Judging by the sound, it was a man.

And based on the trial-and-error—when she slowed down, he slowed down, when she sped up, he sped up—it seemed he was indeed following her, though not a professional.

Zhong Jia didn't have many enemies.

The ones that could be called personal enemies were only two.

So the person tailing her was self-evident.

Ye Sangsang quickly calculated the surroundings and, under a streetlight, turned around to look behind her.

Soon, a figure turned and darted into a nearby alley.

Ye Sangsang turned back, only able to see his black back.

But that was okay. She would send him to the police station for a lesson.

Thinking of this, she took out her phone and turned around, starting to run swiftly.

As a law-abiding citizen, encountering this kind of situation should lead to calling the police.

She took advantage of the moment when the other party had hesitated and couldn't hear, dialing quickly and panicking to describe the current situation and address.

Then she hurried toward the direction where the police would come.

According to the map, there was a local police station nearby, and police would be dispatched from the nearest station.

Having reported the incident, her pace quickened significantly.

Just as she thought that the other party's purpose was merely to question her, the person suddenly emerged from the alley behind her and began chasing Ye Sangsang without any pretense.

This time, the person no longer cared and charged straight ahead.

With a trace of resolute determination.

A couple of minutes later, Ye Sangsang intentionally paused.

Since the other party had come, she might as well play with them for a bit.

So when she paused, her shoulder was grabbed from behind.

She was scared and turned her head, stepping back instinctively to create distance. What she saw was a pair of eyes filled with fury.

It was Yan's Father.

He glared at Ye Sangsang with fury, raising a knife towards her as he approached, "Why did you kill my daughter!"

Ye Sangsang's gaze fell on the surveillance camera on the roadside, shaking her head repeatedly at him.

“No, I don’t even know your daughter that well, we’ve only exchanged a couple of words. How could I have killed your daughter?” she paused and refuted, “Your daughter committed suicide, so why blame me, a waitress?”

As she spoke, she stepped backward, her face filled with panic.

Yan’s Father brandished a knife, slowly closing in, his expression twisted with fury.

“My daughter wouldn’t commit suicide!” His voice was filled with anger.

“With a father as overbearing and impulsive as you, I wouldn’t have believed your daughter would take her own life before, but now I can see why she might have felt unhappy and chose to end it.”

Ye Sangsang’s words cut like a knife into Yan’s Father’s heart.

Seeing that Ye Sangsang refused to admit anything, he advanced toward her, his other hand revealing a newly purchased knife hidden behind his back. He raised it and slashed downward at Ye Sangsang. Clearly driven by rage and lacking experience with knives, he resorted to a simple vertical slash. His foolish behavior suggested that his daughter, Yan Jiaojiao, likely inherited his recklessness.

Ye Sangsang saw her chance and thrust both hands forward, gripping his wrist tightly to keep the blade from reaching her. The tip of the knife was only a few centimeters away from her, making the situation look extremely dangerous.

Yan’s Father trembled with fury, his voice low as he said, “I know. I just asked your colleagues at the hotel! You’re Zhong Hua from back then, with the same surname, it was easy to guess! I’ve been observing you, and seeing your face, I’m certain it’s you.”

“Even if you’ve changed your name and altered your appearance, I’d still recognize you!”

“It was definitely you who killed my daughter! I’ll kill you today to avenge my daughter!”

【!!! Ahhhhh, this is a clear-cut case of seeking revenge by taking someone’s life!】

【The progression is so fast. This guy’s eyes are sharper than his daughter’s, he actually figured it out.】

【Hmm, no evidence but just a suspicion. Does he know Sangsang would be hard to pin down, so he’s here to take revenge by killing her directly to avenge his daughter?】

His brief words resolved the question in Ye Sangsang’s mind about whether she had ever changed her name. But now wasn’t the time for that; the priority was dealing with the situation in front of her.

Ye Sangsang’s eyes flashed with a cold light, realizing that this man couldn’t be left alive.

Zhong Jia surely would face a similar situation, and this probably wasn’t an unforeseen accident caused by the butterfly effect.

So, how did she handle it?

She was a very clever girl, undoubtedly aware that if she wasn’t killed and both survived, she would expose her involvement in the murder.

She had prepared for the possibility of exposing her crime, but not now.

Ye Sangsang looked up at him, seeing the certainty in his eyes. With a look of anxious fear, she taunted softly, “Your daughter died painfully, you know. She was drugged and hung up there, struggling fiercely.”

“But she couldn’t do anything, she couldn’t grasp any lifeline. As parents, you were powerless to protect her at that moment.”

“I watched her take her last breath. Who asked her to take my chance at university?”

As Ye Sangsang spoke, the man’s emotions grew more and more agitated.

“Shut up!”

Yan’s Father roared in anger and pressed down forcefully toward Ye Sangsang.

Ye Sangsang pretended to weaken, her legs buckling, narrowly avoiding getting slashed across the face.

Yan’s Father glared viciously at Ye Sangsang, pushing down hard on the knife in his hand. “You couldn’t go to university because you weren’t allowed, you were locked up and forced into marriage! Why blame my daughter for that?”

“Your family took the money, so why pin it on my daughter? She was innocent!”

“No matter how good your grades were, how clean you tried to be—I’ll kill you, and then you’ll just be dead!”

He roared the last word with all his might.

His voice echoed through the quiet night street like a beast’s growl.

A few passersby glanced over, but upon realizing what was happening, they dared not approach, fearing to get caught in the fray.

Ye Sangsang seized the moment, gripping his wrist with both hands and pulling it forward, driving the knife into her shoulder just above the blade. She had calculated it just right—this would only result in a superficial wound.

Seeing that he couldn’t kill Ye Sangsang, Yan’s Father grew even angrier.

His eyeballs bulged with rage, and he showed no intention of giving up. He raised the knife again and charged at Ye Sangsang.

Ye Sangsang retreated several steps, but her relentless pursuer kept coming.

In a crucial moment, she stepped on a stone, tripping and falling to the ground.

He immediately pounced, aiming the knife at her abdomen, gripping the knife with both hands and driving it downward.

Ye Sangsang, on the ground, wasn’t in the line of sight of the surveillance cameras anymore, concealed by the greenery.

With a swift kick, she struck his hand.

He yelped in pain but was flung back by the impact.

Both realized the situation and began struggling to grab the knife.

In the distance, police cars flashed their lights and wailing sirens closed in on their location.

Ye Sangsang acted quickly, seizing the knife first and adopting a defensive stance facing Yan’s Father.

Upon hearing the approaching police car, his eyes flashed with the thought of giving up.

Ye Sangsang brought the knife to her lips, whispering softly, “Her death must have caused you great pain. Well, you deserve it!”

Upon hearing this, Yan’s Father’s fury overwhelmed him, and instinctively he reached out to grab Ye Sangsang’s hand in an attempt to wrest the knife away.

Ye Sangsang, gripping the knife, stepped back subtly.

He charged forward, seeing this as his chance to seize it.

He believed his strength would ensure success.

But the next moment, a sharp pain shot through his neck.

Unexpectedly, Ye Sangsang had altered the direction of the knife as he went for it. With his momentum, he sliced his own neck, “unaware” of the change.

The police rushed toward them, hearing a резкий sound, the sound of a knife slicing through flesh.

Seeing the scene, the police were horrified, their souls nearly fleeing, and quickly charged forward.

“Ahhhhh!!!”

Ye Sangsang widened her eyes, appearing petrified, her shocked scream piercing the night street.

The ​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌‌‌​‌‌​​​‌​​​‌‌‌​​​​​‌‌​‌​​​‌‌​​​​‌​​‌‌​​​​​​‌‌‌​​‌​​‌‌​‌‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​​‌‌‌​​‌​‌‌​​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌​​​‌‌​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​​​‌‌‌​​​​​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​​​​​‌‌​​​‌​​​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌‌‌​​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‍scattered passersby, seeing the police arrive, began converging toward the scene.

Ye Sangsang released her grip on the now-powerless knife and looked at the police, her hands instinctively raised. “I… I… wasn’t… I didn’t mean to… He rushed at me on his own; I didn’t plan to attack! He did it himself!”

Her voice trembled as she looked at the fallen knife, her lips quivering as she muttered her innocence repeatedly.

After Ye Sangsang took a step back, Yan’s Father clutched his neck, glaring at Ye Sangsang, and let out a choking "cough cough cough" before collapsing backward with a "thud."

Blood gushed out rapidly, arterial blood from the sliced neck pouring out, completely beyond his ability to staunch with his hands.

【The moment he realized it, if he had told the police the truth, he might not have died, right? But this guy was a lawless maniac; it seems he’d committed plenty of illegal acts before, so when trouble arose, his first instinct was to take revenge himself.】

【Actually, Sangsang wasn’t intentional; he was truly terrifying, relentlessly trying to kill her.】

【His own family’s misdeeds made them believe they were blameless. Out of love, they blamed everything on others. Now, they’ve got nothing to say, right?】

The police, seeing the scene, were overwhelmed.

They hurriedly dialed 120, hoping for a chance at rescue.

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Ye Sangsang was crouched on the ground, trembling, her voice shaking uncontrollably and unable to form coherent sentences as the police questioned her.

But in caution, the police still decided to cuff her hands.

There was a hospital nearby, and the ambulance arrived quickly.

Ye Sangsang was taken along too, as there were only two officers on the scene, and they needed to go to the hospital to monitor the man who had been slashed.

His condition was critical, and it seemed he was on the verge of dying, so leaving him wasn’t an option. Going back and bringing Ye Sangsang in was also too impractical.

So, they had no choice but to take her along, keeping an eye on her as they went.

Once in the car, Ye Sangsang glanced at the pool of blood on the ground, her expression numb, her neck instinctively shrinking.

She seemed to be trapped in a nightmare, still dazed about what had just happened.

The police, aware that Ye Sangsang had reported herself, began asking the officers roughly what had transpired.

Ye Sangsang spoke in pieces, piecing together what had happened.

In her dazed state, she was unable to clearly recount truthfully.

She didn’t mention that he had discovered her name and come after her. She only said he believed she was the killer of his daughter and began questioning and brandishing the knife.

The police sighed in regret.

They wouldn't argue about who was right or wrong; they only knew that Ye Sangsang had been caught in a terrible predicament.

Once the man died, Ye Sangsang would at least be detained.

Whether she would be charged with a crime was uncertain, but her life would certainly be difficult.

It was unclear what the truth actually was.

The police car passed under a series of streetlights, and beams of light shone on Ye Sangsang's cold, pale face.

Another policeman was already calling for backup, while also dispatching someone to retrieve the road surveillance footage. The police were well aware that there were cameras at the incident site, which would capture the entire event.

By then, the truth would be largely revealed.

Upon arriving at the hospital, doctors quickly began the emergency treatment.

After a series of preparations, the victim was swiftly injected with anesthesia and wheeled into the operating room for surgery.

No one knew better than her that the man wouldn't die.

He would only suffer from excessive blood loss and extreme weakness because she had calculated the depth of the cut and which blood vessels were severed.

The man had been cut on the internal carotid artery, and since the wound was small, there was still hope for recovery.

He was expected to lie in the ICU for four or five days and might have a chance to wake up.

This was the most time Ye Sangsang could buy, and even Zhong Jia might not have been as precise as she was.

Yan Jiaojiao's mother was soon called to the hospital, and the police officers' reinforcements arrived quickly at the scene. Ye Sangsang was taken to another location to treat the cut on her shoulder.

The police explained to the mother the events of how Yan's Father had impulsively attacked, only to be injured himself, at which point she fainted and was led away by the nurses.

After Ye Sangsang finished treating her wound, she was taken to the police station to give a statement, detailing the entire incident.

Her emotions had stabilized, and she explained everything very clearly, matching the footage captured by the surveillance cameras.

However, the cameras couldn't record what they said, as most surveillance systems in that era lacked audio capabilities.

The stab wound was an accident, and the surveillance evidence showed that the other party had attacked first.

Ye Sangsang did not intentionally harm anyone, nor was she acting in self-defense, which led to her injury.

Instead, the other party had charged forward themselves, not paying attention to where they were going, and ended up cutting their own neck. Such an injury, the police concluded, was self-inflicted.

The police told Ye Sangsang to stay at the police station for the night, and that she could likely sign out the next day.

The main concern was for her safety, fearing that the man with the knife might come back and cause further trouble.

The next day, the police informed her that the man had been successfully rescued; however, he had lost too much blood and remained unconscious.

Ye Sangsang acted very frightened and hastily signed the necessary papers before quickly leaving.

Perhaps good would always triumph over evil, as just as Ye Sangsang walked out, she encountered Chen Shu, who was arriving.

Upon seeing him, she knew her time was running out.

Chen Shu noticed her and approached Ye Sangsang with a gaze that was hard to decipher, "Last night, Yan Jiaojiao's father went to the hotel staff to inquire about your whereabouts, then observed you. It seemed like he had confirmed something and immediately went to buy a fruit knife."

"His actions were indeed excessive, but I have a question: why, after seeing you, did he so firmly believe you were the murderer?"

"Did you know each other before?"

His eyes locked onto Ye Sangsang, as if searching for signs of guilt or other emotions in her expression.

Ye Sangsang still showed traces of fatigue from not sleeping well.

She lifted her head to meet Chen Shu's gaze directly and firmly shook her head.

"I don't know him. He just kept shouting that I killed his daughter, and no matter how I explained, he wouldn't listen and insisted on killing me."

Ye Sangsang's expression was a mix of helplessness and fear.

Chen Shu nodded, "You can go back then."

Ye Sangsang agreed and turned to head back to the hotel to request leave.

Chen Shu entered the police station and immediately inquired about the details of the case, then requested a copy of the surveillance footage from the previous night.

He didn’t take any sides, showing no sympathy for either party; his only goal was to uncover the truth and let it be known.

For some reason, he felt that there was a hidden secret within this case.

But what exactly it was, he had no clues.

Yan Jiaojiao's father might have known, but he was currently in a coma, and the doctors said he wouldn't wake up anytime soon.

Yan Jiaojiao's mother couldn't provide any answers, only stating that she knew nothing.

Chen Shu was deeply troubled; this case was proving to be particularly difficult to solve.

He took the surveillance footage and returned to the investigative team, preparing to review it carefully.

Meanwhile, Ye Sangsang, having requested leave from her manager, returned home.

Qian Jiangde was not there, and his fate—his death—was set for that night.

Zhong Jia was a very intelligent person, knowing that the consecutive incidents would inevitably cause Chen Shu to closely monitor her. Therefore, she needed to be more cunning in handling things and avoid being directly caught and questioned.

What surprised Ye Sangsang, however, was that near evening, she saw Qian Jiangde.

He was still drunk, stumbling into the courtyard.

"Zhong Jia! Zhong Jia! You bitch, give me some money!" He was flushed from drinking, leaning unsteadily against the door, stretching his hand out toward Ye Sangsang.

Ye Sangsang did not comply but instead met his gaze and shook her head, "I don't have any more money."

In his drunken state, Qian Jiangde didn't care about anything else and began rummaging through Ye Sangsang's bag and pockets.

He searched clumsily but found nothing.

He glared at Ye Sangsang and started hitting her.

This time, Ye Sangsang did not resist but instead protected her vital areas.

After a few minutes of being struck, she finally begged for mercy.

"Stop hitting me... I'll get you the money..." She hugged her arms and pulled out a few red banknotes from a drawer.

Qian Jiangde grabbed the money, kicked Ye Sangsang's leg, and she cried out in pain and fell.

He spat at her and cursed, "You'd rather be punished than rewarded! Trying to argue with me, do you even know who you are?"

After taking the money and stuffing it into his pocket, he staggered out the door.

Ye Sangsang noticed the scent of perfume on him.

Five hundred yuan was quite valuable in 2009, more than enough for a few drinks, so it was likely he had spent it on another woman.

Remembering that they had been sleeping separately, it seemed they had already had an affair due to Zhong Jia's unappealing appearance.

She got up, put on her prepared clothes, and quietly followed him outside.

Despite her pain, there was a strange sense of excitement.