Chapter 74: Memories of the Murderer
Shoutout to nyanmaru for the commission!
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After school, Xie Shiyu carrying a black backpack, entered the old residential building.
The lingering twilight seeped in through the ventilation slits of the corridor, casting a small square of blood-red hue in the dim staircase. In the dusk, the garbage in the corridor emitted a damp, musty smell.
This building was indeed too old, and many people had moved out. As he passed the third floor, he looked up at the doorplate of 304, which was spotted with rust.
No one had lived here for years.
The uncle who ran the convenience store in Room 304 had moved out years ago, but his words before leaving echoed hauntingly in Xie Shiyu’s mind:
“Hey, Little Shiyu, do you want to kill him?”
Uncle Ji Shiming wore a kindly smile on his face, squatted down with a gentle expression, and patted Little Shiyu’s head, saying:
“Uncle can tell~ What are you thinking about?”
It had rained heavily that night, and Little Shiyu got soaked all over.
In the evening, Dad didn’t have money for drugs, so he came back asking for money and beat Mom severely, causing her to bleed from the stomach and be hospitalized. Little Shiyu’s head was also cracked, and he had just returned from the hospital with stitches, without an umbrella, and the bandage freshly tied on his forehead was slightly damp.
He stared at Uncle Ji Shiming, pretending to be ignorant:
“I’m going home.”
Ji Shiming stared at him meaningfully, as Little Shiyu walked up to the fourth floor, step by step, getting further and further away on the stairs, almost out of sight—
“Didn’t you grab that ribbon?”
Ji Shiming suddenly spoke.
Little Shiyu’s heart skipped a beat.
It had been three months since he witnessed Uncle Ji Shiming killing the cat-abusing man and dismembering him.
Uncle Ji Shiming no longer doubted him, but now he suddenly brought it up…
Little Shiyu was surprised in his heart, but his footsteps did not stop. He pretended to be childish and muttered:
“You’re crazy!”
Little Shiyu walked straight back to Room 404 and slammed the door shut with a bang.
Listening to Little Shiyu’s reaction, Ji Shiming shrugged.
The boy behaved like a naughty child encountering a strange uncle he couldn’t understand, cursing him disdainfully as crazy before slamming the door and going home.
This meant that Little Shiyu had no reaction to the blue ribbon. He had no problems at all, just a sensitive-minded kid from a bad background.
For the past three months, whether it was threatening his good friend Chu Feng or testing him overtly and covertly, Little Shiyu had performed flawlessly. Ji Shiming couldn’t find any faults.
From a rational deduction, it could only be concluded that this child had nothing to do with the incident of killing the cat-abusing man on a winter night. A normal child couldn’t possibly witness a neighbor killing someone and dismembering them, then steal evidence, and act as if nothing happened for three months.
But Ji Shiming had a kind of intuition. He thought of a more terrifying speculation.
If everything that had happened in the past three months was guided and staged by Little Shiyu, then the seven-year-old child in front of him was a real demon.
A demon even scarier than himself.
A benevolent smile appeared on Ji Shiming’s face as he hugged the milk crate with strange knots tied on it, went downstairs, and prepared to drive to the nearby mountain to deal with the contents of the crate.
***
Little Shiyu hid behind the curtains, witnessing Uncle Ji Shiming pedaling the tricycle, with various boxes loaded on the rear. One of them was a milk crate tied with knots, mingled among them, and the plastic rope tied around the box resembled two knotted red earthworms.
Little Shiyu knew that inside that box was the body of Auntie from Room 401.
To be precise, it was body parts.
Little Shiyu calmly left the window and returned to his bedroom, took out the school uniform from the closet, and opened the pocket containing the red scarf:
The broken blue ribbon obediently lay inside.
This blue ribbon was the crucial evidence he had stolen. It had the bloodstains of the cat-abusing man and Uncle Ji Shiming’s fingerprints.
Now, this ribbon had undergone some changes. The bloodied part in the middle had been “cut off” by Little Shiyu, leaving only the ends with the fingerprints.
The part that was “cut off” was used by Little Shiyu to frame the old lady in room 401.
Of course, Xie Shiyu wasn’t foolish enough to actually use scissors to cut the ribbon, as that would be too obvious. Instead, he carefully tore off the bloodstained part, so that the ends of the ribbon would have frayed edges from tearing rather than a clean cut from scissors.
This “cut off” piece of the blue ribbon only had the blood of the cat abuser on it, and it was of no use to Little Shiyu. He didn’t need to report to the police that Ji Shiming had killed the cat abuser.
Ji Shiming was his trump card. In the future, if he ever killed his father, the police would find Ji Shiming’s fingerprints at the scene.
Even at the age of seven, Little Shiyu knew that 80% of murder cases were committed by acquaintances. If his father died, the first people the police would investigate would be their family: his mother and him, followed by his father’s drug-related connections to see if he had any enemies in society.
To avoid being investigated, he had to leave the police a new lead at the scene: Ji Shiming.
If Uncle Ji Shiming is really just an ordinary honest person, it might not be easy to frame him with just a fingerprint. Because the motive for murder doesn’t make sense; Ji Shiming is just the owner of a convenience store under the residential building, living on the third floor, and his relationship with Xie Shiyu’s drug-addicted father, who lives on the same floor, is merely that of neighbors who rarely interact.
The police would hesitate on the motive for murder.
However, Ji Shiming is not an ordinary person. Little Shiyu knows that this uncle is not only not an ordinary person, but also not an ordinary criminal; he is a serial killer wanted by the FBI.
Having committed twelve cases and still not been caught, he retired and stopped killing upon returning to China, feeling rampant and smug about escaping justice. Therefore, when killing the cat-abusing man, Ji Shiming was not as cautious as he used to be when committing crimes in the United States; he didn’t even wear gloves.
This might be the only fingerprint evidence left by Uncle Ji Shiming in his many years of killing career.
Little Shiyu can understand Uncle’s mentality; killing the cat-abusing man is different from killing others. It’s difficult to discover the cat-abusing man’s death; he died on a winter night in an old residential building in an old city area, with no friends or relatives around.
Moreover, this is China. In a different country, no one knows that Uncle Ji Shiming committed twelve dismemberment cases in the United States before.
Here, he is a new person. And this new identity has left behind fatal evidence.
From the way Ji Shiming desperately searched for the ribbon, Little Shiyu could tell that once the ribbon was exposed, Ji Shiming’s “new” retired life would also be over.
This indirectly indicates that Ji Shiming’s identity is not as impregnable as it seems.
There may not be any loopholes apparent under normal circumstances, but under the vigorous investigation of the police, the oddities about this person will definitely be discovered. Moreover, Little Shiyu suspects that the name Ji Shiming might not be the real name of Uncle from the convenience store. This person may have many identities.
If the police find that this person has more than one ID, they will start to be vigilant. Little Shiyu thought of Uncle Ji Shiming’s American doctoral degree; at least he used the name “Shiming Ji” for his education. He doesn’t know if the police can find information from the United States.
If Ji Shiming can be identified through fingerprints, and suspicions about this person can be raised through multiple IDs, and even information from the United States can be obtained, discovering that Ji Shiming is indeed a serial killer, then the motive for murder becomes easy to explain.
Ji Shiming himself is a serial killer. He doesn’t need a special reason to kill. He has seen Xie Shiyu’s father a few times when living on the third floor, and has targeted him as prey.
If the suspect is identified as a serial killer, and the case is characterized as indiscriminate killing, then Xie Shiyu, who has irreconcilable conflicts with his drug-addicted father, can be exonerated instead. In this way, he and his mother, who have suffered greatly, will go from being the most motivated suspects to people who will not be on the suspect list at all.
This is what seven-year-old Little Shiyu is planning for his future. He didn’t think so much before because, given his age, even if he really killed his father, he wouldn’t be sentenced to prison, but…
That day, on the lawn outside the Youth Palace, Chu Feng, who dug up “treasures” together with him, said:
“Let’s grow up together.”
If he killed his drug-addicted father with his own hands, he would definitely be sent to a juvenile detention center. At least, he couldn’t go to school and leave with Chu Feng anymore. Even if he could still go to school, what would Chu Feng think when he saw him….
On that winter night, when he witnessed Uncle from the convenience store killing and dismembering someone, Little Shiyu suddenly found his scapegoat.
If false evidence is used to shift blame, it will be discovered. When the police solve the case, they will check the evidence, investigate the motive, and also consider the suspect’s confession. If it’s false, it’s ultimately false.
So, you have to use something half-true and half-false to do things. For example, if Ji Shiming is indeed a murderer, then the blue ribbon is indeed evidence of murder. When mentioning this ribbon with fingerprints, Uncle Ji Shiming cannot behave naturally like an innocent person framed for a crime.
Little Shiyu carefully wrapped up the red scarf, and the remaining blue ribbon was hidden in the closet again.
Now all he had to do was wait for an opportunity. Considering the feasibility of the matter, in the plan to frame Ji Shiming, the only difficulty was the dismemberment.
Uncle Ji Shiming must dismember when he kills, and he will cut into more than thirty pieces, each of which must be tied with a knot.
Dismemberment requires immense physical strength and sufficient time. Little Shiyu planned in his mind; with his current physical strength, it would be very difficult for him to dismember his father, who was 190cm tall.
Moreover, after dismemberment, the face needs to be destroyed. The best scenario is that the police cannot even identify the victim as his father from the face, so they cannot investigate him and his mother based on social relationships, only based on the only clue left at the scene: fingerprints, directly searching Ji Shiming.
Little Shiyu walked to the living room, took out a bag of milk from the refrigerator, and drank it down; he needed to grow taller quickly. He and his mother were almost unable to bear his father anymore.
The cold milk went down his throat.
Things were progressing very smoothly, but Little Shiyu felt vaguely uneasy.
According to his plan, he had to protect the ribbon he stole; if Uncle Ji Shiming found out, then he would be the first to die.
During these three months, Uncle Ji Shiming had threatened him with Chu Feng and tried to get Little Shiyu to reveal the location of the blue ribbon by using the pedophile in Room 104. But all were cleverly resolved by Little Shiyu.
Little Shiyu is well aware that once Uncle can’t find answers from him, he will turn his gaze to others—
Such as the aunt in Room 401, the smuggling accomplice of the cat-abusing man.
Compared to himself at the age of seven, this aunt is more likely to have gone to the fifth floor warehouse for smuggling on that night, so she happened to witness Uncle Ji Shiming killing someone and then took the blue ribbon in a panic, fleeing back to Room 401.
Uncle Ji Shiming probed the aunt, and Little Shiyu used the “cut-off” part of the ribbon, which was useless to him, to frame the aunt smuggling in Room 401. So, the murder case on that winter night became:
The cat-abusing man in Room 402 was lightly touching goods in the fifth-floor warehouse, and the uncle from the convenience store in Room 304 went up and killed him. At the same time, the aunt in Room 401 happened to go to the fifth-floor warehouse to check the goods, witnessing everything in panic and taking the blue ribbon, and then escaping back to Room 401.
—All unrelated to Xie Shiyu in Room 404.
So, last night, Uncle from the convenience store took action and dealt with the aunt in Room 401, retrieved the “cut-off” blue ribbon, and thought that was all of the ribbon.
Today, Uncle is carrying the box containing the aunt’s body parts, probably going to dispose of them in the mountains or by the river.
Little Shiyu placed the empty milk cup in the sink, turned on the hot water, and began to clean it—
Splash, splash.
Reflecting on his actions over the past three months, the seven-year-old realized that he had left no loopholes.
Uncle had dealt with the aunt, and the blue ribbon incident had been completely resolved. Uncle should have no worries now.
But today, Ji Shiming still used the blue ribbon to test him:
“Are you sure you didn’t take that ribbon?”
Little Shiyu frowned and placed the cleaned cup on the table.
He hadn’t left any loopholes, and Uncle had no reason to suspect him.
But why ask about the ribbon today?
—Was it some kind of alertness as a serial killer?
Little Shiyu wiped his hands and walked back to his room. He still needed to be careful in the days to come.
In the following days, it didn’t take long for Little Shiyu to see a sign hanging downstairs at the convenience store:
【Refrigerator 20% Off】
“Hey, Li Dawei, what’s this promotion? Your convenience store never has discounts.”
The person at the checkout counter joked with Uncle from the convenience store.
Little Shiyu hid behind the shelves, selecting snacks like a clever little rabbit, ears perked up, listening:
Ji Shiming disguised himself with a smile like that of “Li Dawei”: “Haha, I’m moving.”
“Oh! Where are you moving to?”
Li Dawei: “It’s not decided yet. Things have been… not so good around here lately.”
“Well, it’s the West City area, all old neighborhoods. People are moving to the East City area! But then again, the rent in the East City area is so expensive! Are you really moving?”
Ji Shiming nodded with a pleasant smile and said very politely, “Over the years, I’ve saved a little money thanks to you all taking care of my business. When the time comes, I’ll open another convenience store over in the East City area…”
“Oh, don’t say that! We should be thanking you. You always deliver alcohol, cigarettes, and drinks, it’s all trouble for you…”
“Not at all.”
Then, the two of them exchanged pleasantries, finally finishing the checkout. The person grabbed their things and left. Ji Shiming sat by the glass counter, looking around to ensure nobody was there. He opened the drawer and took out the French cherry blossom-scented hand cream, starting to moisturize his dry hands…
Gradually, a subtle floral fragrance filled the air.
Little Shiyu wrinkled his nose. Objectively speaking, the scent wasn’t bad, but having witnessed Uncle personally dismembering a person and then seeing him wash his hands and apply hand cream, smelling this fragrance made Little Shiyu think of the blood and body parts of the cat abuser scattered in the living room.
“Are you happy that I’m leaving?”
Ji Shiming no longer maintained the friendly tone of Li Dawei, looking directly at Little Shiyu hiding behind the shelves.
Seven-year-old Little Shiyu ignored him and went straight to the glass counter, grabbing a row of discounted milk nearing expiration. He walked to the counter:
“Checkout.”
Ji Shiming: “Starting to drink milk now?”
Although it was the same milk, Ji Shiming deliberately examined each bag:
“Drinking milk to grow tall, when you’re as tall as your dad, you’ll be able to—”
Ji Shiming made a cutting motion with his hand, exaggeratedly saying:
“Snap!”
“Hahaha…”
He laughed maniacally as if he had discovered something extremely amusing.
Little Shiyu: “You’re sick.”
He was about to leave with the milk.
Smack—
Ji Shiming stopped him: “Have you heard of Schrödinger’s cat?”
“What?”
“Well…” Ji Shiming carefully observed Little Shiyu: “It’s a bit early to talk to a seven-year-old about Schrödinger. You’re in such an interesting state for me right now.”
From the causal logic, Little Shiyu didn’t have any evidence at the moment to prove he was like a devil, and there were no traces of him being “abnormal” from any angle. He appeared to be a 100% ordinary child.
However, an underlying intuition told Ji Shiming that he should be wary; Little Shiyu wasn’t that simple.
Right now, Little Shiyu was like Schrödinger’s cat, unable to know whether the cat was “dead” or “alive” until the box was opened. Similarly, Ji Shiming couldn’t know whether this child was truly ordinary or a real devil.
—Until one day when he witnessed this child truly killing his drug-addicted father, he would know what kind of child Little Shiyu really was.
Schrödinger’s devil.
This intrigued Ji Shiming more than a 100% pure devil because if he could be 100% sure that Little Shiyu was a devil, he would definitely deal with the child first. If this child wasn’t ordinary, then perhaps this little guy could cause trouble in the blue ribbon incident.
But considering Little Shiyu was Schrödinger’s devil and there were no clues indicating his involvement in the blue ribbon incident, and the aunt who took the ribbon had already been taken care of, Ji Shiming decided he could observe this child for now.
“Don’t be so nervous. Uncle won’t do anything to you.”
Ji Shiming pointed to the sun outside:
“It’s broad daylight, and besides, I never harm children.”
Ji Shiming deliberately said this, thinking to himself that it wasn’t untrue. Before Little Shiyu, no child had ever made him entertain thoughts of killing because they were too childish and didn’t deserve his attention. He had previously killed young and middle-aged adults, which gave him a greater sense of accomplishment. Unless they threatened his own interests, he never killed children or women for fun:
“Killing something weaker than yourself doesn’t give me any sense of achievement.”
Little Shiyu was shocked. What did he mean… He knew Uncle was a serial killer.
But Ji Shiming shouldn’t know that he knew Uncle was a serial killer.
The blue ribbon incident had been completely resolved, and now, Ji Shiming seemed to be about to confess his past experiences of killing to him.
Every alarm bell in Little Shiyu’s body was ringing. What did this mean? If he listened to Uncle’s thoughts on killing, would he still be able to leave the convenience store alive?
Or… was this just the final test?
A child who didn’t know anything about Uncle’s background suddenly heard Uncle confessing that he was a serial killer and expressing his thoughts on killing,
versus a child who already knew the neighbor was a serial killer but had been pretending and hiding it all along, suddenly hearing Uncle confessing his thoughts on killing himself…
Were there any differences in their reactions, expressions? How should he act?
Little Shiyu calculated rapidly in his mind.
At the same time, Ji Shiming’s eyes were fixed on Little Shiyu’s every move like a venomous snake, monitoring his eyes, eyebrows, the twitch of his nose, the beads of sweat on his forehead—everything was under his surveillance.
Ji Shiming reached out and grabbed Little Shiyu’s wrist, now even the child’s pulse was under his control.
“Uncle is moving away. Will Little Shiyu miss Uncle? Come here—”
Click—
Outside the convenience store, another person came in to buy things.
Little Shiyu concentrated, from the perspective of outsiders, his relationship with Uncle at the convenience store seemed fine. He used to play with Uncle’s cat Xiao Qi at the store, and he occasionally came to buy things. His mom also sold stolen goods through Uncle…
If he showed strong resistance now, it would raise suspicions among others.
Little Shiyu remained silent.
Ji Shiming also resumed his demeanor as Li Dawei.
After the other person finished shopping and left, walking away—
“Hmm…” Uncle Ji Shiming let out a satisfied sound, “That person’s back resembles the ninth piece of my work, broad-shouldered and strong, especially powerful when struggling, haha.”
Little Shiyu said nothing.
Uncle was now holding his pulse.
At first, Little Shiyu wanted to calm himself down, but he quickly realized it was wrong. A normal child hearing strange things from a usually honest uncle, being grabbed like this, would definitely feel nervous.
Little Shiyu began to think of things that made him nervous, like the way Chu Feng sat next to him attentively in class, his big round eyes and long eyelashes…
Thud, thud, thud…
Ji Shiming felt the child’s pulse start to quicken. It was obvious; he was nervous.
“Don’t be nervous, Little Shiyu, Uncle already said he won’t harm children. Oh, I don’t find children particularly cute, so I pity them. I never think children are cute; children are never as innocent as adults imagine. Adults easily forget how mischievous they were as children.
“But, one thing children have over adults is that children always have hope…”
Ji Shiming suddenly lowered his head, leaning close to Little Shiyu, and whispered:
“You never know, among those children, which one might become a real devil.”
Little Shiyu shook off Ji Shiming’s hand, grabbed the milk, and tried to run: “I’m going home!”
Thud—
Ji Shiming suddenly stood up, grabbed Little Shiyu’s shoulder.
“Uncle already said not to be nervous, Little Shiyu, why don’t you listen. Come here…”
“Let go of me!!”
In the distance, someone else was coming to the convenience store to buy things because of the discount on the freezer. Taking advantage of this, Little Shiyu grabbed the milk and ran away swiftly. Behind him, Ji Shiming stared at him like a poisonous snake.
…
“You hold the knife quite well.”
Another day, Little Shiyu was in the courtyard of the residential building killing a chicken with his mother. His mother was a bit scared, and Little Shiyu did most of the work. The chicken hadn’t even crowed before Little Shiyu cut its neck.
“Haha, this child often helps me cook,” his mother replied.
Ji Shiming: “Is that so? At such a young age, your knife skills are impressive.”
His mother said with relief, “Yes, his slicing of fish is much better than mine.”
Ji Shiming stared meaningfully at Little Shiyu.
“Oh, I forgot something, wait for me for a moment, Yuyu…”
His mother turned and went back to the residential building to get something. She had no guard up against Ji Shiming; in her eyes, he was just someone with multiple identities who sold stolen goods.
Seven-year-old Little Shiyu poured the chicken blood in the yard, while Ji Shiming stared at him and suddenly said:
“Tell me, how do you plan to kill that man?
“A child like you must have a plan.”
“Uncle! Why have you been saying strange things lately, I really can’t stand it!”
Little Shiyu picked up the dead chicken, preparing to chop it into pieces.
Ji Shiming: “Yes, just like that, chop it into pieces, so it won’t be discovered… “
Little Shiyu felt extremely annoyed.
He did plan to carry out his plan against his father, but hearing Ji Shiming say this made him very uncomfortable.
“Do you know why I’m not letting go despite your lack of mistakes?” Ji Shiming spoke to himself, “Because I see similarities in you. No, I was nowhere near as good as you when I was your age; you could say the young surpass the old. The old waves die on the beach.
“Uncle knows that you’re definitely going to kill him, right? You’ve been enduring for too many years. If you don’t have the intention to kill your father at all, then what should I say… then you’re truly unfilial, or both you and your mom are suffering from Stockholm syndrome.”
Little Shiyu decided to completely ignore him.
Ji Shiming: “You handle a knife so well, perfect for dismemberment. Maybe you’ll have a brighter future than me. Even if it’s a crime, not everyone can commit a notorious case. Believe Uncle, Little Shiyu, once you’ve done it once, you’ll find that you’re really good at this sort of thing. Compared to learning boring arithmetic and reciting boring poetry with your classmate Chu Feng at school, you’ll find that this is where you belong.”
Little Shiyu, who had been ignoring him all along, suddenly lifted his head. “Try mentioning his name again?”
“Hahaha.” Ji Shiming laughed heartily. “You’re so worked up at such a young age. I haven’t done anything to your beloved friend Chu Feng, have I? Uncle keeps his word. I’ve said it before, I haven’t harmed any children, at least according to established facts, that’s the case.”
“Oh, right.” Ji Shiming looked at Little Shiyu, who cared about Chu Feng’s appearance, and suddenly added maliciously, “What if that Chu Feng decides one day not to play with you anymore?”
Little Shiyu’s hand paused.
“Your only friend Chu Feng, what if he hates you, ends your friendship, and starts playing with other kids instead? What would you do?”
Little Shiyu didn’t know. He had never imagined a day without Chu Feng.
…It shouldn’t happen, Chu Feng said they would grow up together. Little Shiyu thought silently to himself.
But, logically, Little Shiyu also knew that the possibility of being separated, such as being placed in different classes, existed. Later, Chu Feng might gradually drift away like other kids and no longer keep in touch.
Ji Shiming lowered his head and said softly, “Where there’s one, there’s two; where there’s two, there’s three; and it goes on infinitely. You killed your father because he was bad, he did drugs, he hit you and your mother, he was despicable. After killing him, you’ll find you can’t stop. Later, you’ll slowly realize that your only friend, compared to your father, isn’t much better. You consider him your best friend, but he wants to end the friendship with you, play with other kids, truly despicable…
“You might as well kill him too.”
***
The old locust tree in the courtyard swayed in the wind.
Little Shiyu put the chopped chicken into a bag and turned to Ji Shiming. “Uncle, you really need help. Go seek it.”
“Hahahaha. Even if you say that now, these words will be etched in your mind forever. You’re good at this sort of thing. If you’re more skilled than most M country police officers and can afford the best lawyer, then you won’t get caught. Believe Uncle. That’s how Uncle lived his life.”
Little Shiyu didn’t want to listen to Uncle’s words. He observed the small courtyard, thinking about how to escape if Uncle were to make a move…
To his surprise, Ji Shiming seemed to have no intention of making a move. He seemed to genuinely be finding someone similar to express his final thoughts before leaving.
“Even if you think Uncle is talking nonsense now, if you follow what Uncle said, if you do it, even if you think you’re not that kind of person, even if you couldn’t possibly become like that, these words will still haunt you like a curse. That’s the power of language. Without using a knife or a gun, it can still leave scars on people.”
Little Shiyu thought it was nonsense. He and Uncle Ji Shiming were completely different people. Even if he did such a thing in the end, it would be his drug-addicted father’s fault. He and someone like Ji Shiming were fundamentally different…
“Everyone thinks they’re different when they’re young, that they’ll never become those kinds of adults. When they grow up, they’ll find out they’re just like everyone else.”
Ji Shiming seemed to see through seven-year-old Little Shiyu’s mindset.
“I’m one of the few people with self-control, so I can enjoy retirement. Do you know why Uncle is telling you all this?”
Ji Shiming squatted down and patted Little Shiyu’s head.
“Because you can’t afford a recorder, and at your age, even if you testify, the judge won’t believe you.”
“Goodbye, Little Shiyu.”
Little Shiyu cursed him in his mind to go away, but he couldn’t show it, or Uncle might notice.
…
The seven-year-old Little Shiyu, who did nothing, didn’t take those words seriously. Later, the murderous psychopath Ji Shiming moved away like that.
Now, the thirteen-year-old Little Shiyu withdrew his gaze, no longer looking at Room 304 like it was rusty iron.
Bang—
Little Shiyu returned to Room 404, slammed the door heavily, and entered his small bedroom.
The setting sun spread across the sky like blood.
Now he understood that his seven-year-old self hadn’t made any mistakes. What Ji Shiming said was nothing more than a last taste
If Little Shiyu were just an ordinary child, these words would seem like the nonsensical ramblings of a seven-year-old who encountered a strange uncle.
But if Xie Shiyu was not an ordinary child, then the words Ji Shiming spoke would haunt him like a curse.
Thirteen-year-old Xiao Xie pressed a pillow over his head.
Yet the words still swirled relentlessly in his mind, with Ji Shiming’s twisted tone:
“People don’t refrain from committing crimes because they are kind, uncle knows that very well. Most people are deterred by the fear of legal punishment. If someone realizes that the law cannot easily punish them, they will definitely do it, and they won’t stop.”
“Little Shiyu, who’s the next person you want to kill?”
Bang!
Thirteen-year-old Xie Shiyu threw the pillow forcefully, hitting the wall and knocking over the cup on his desk as it rebounded.
Crash, the milk cup shattered into four or five pieces.
Xie Shiyu sat up in bed, ready to clean up.
Ring ring—
The phone at home rang.
The shrill sound echoed in the twilight-lit house, and Xie Shiyu got up to answer the phone:
“Hello.”
“Hello, this is the police station. Is this Xie Shiyu?”
“…Yes.”
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