Chapter 11: Since we can’t beat them, let’s just join “them”
"It is absolutely impossible for my mother to kill someone!" Meng Changshou said with certainty: "The forensic doctor also concluded that it is basically impossible for my mother to be the murderer. On the same day, my mother and my child Meng Chen disappeared together."
Leaning back on the sofa, Meng Changshou seemed to have lost all his strength while recalling these things. He spoke with some difficulty: "A few days later, the police found my mother and Chenchen in a cold storage container in the old city. Judging from their final postures of death, my mother had been protecting Chenchen. In other words, there was a third person present at the time, and that person was the real murderer."
"The old lady is not the murderer, but she knew there was a body hidden in the freezer of her store but concealed it on purpose. This means she must know the murderer and is very familiar with him." Li Xue quickly grasped the key point: "From what you said, I can feel that in your heart the old lady is a very kind person. To make such a person violate the principles, the murderer must be a close relative of the old lady. Narrowing the scope, the murderer may be among you three brothers."
"If the old lady just wanted to conceal the truth, she wouldn't have been killed in the end." Han Fei signaled Li Xue not to draw conclusions so early: "I feel like the old lady is more like giving the murderer a chance to reform, hoping that the murderer can surrender. She gave the murderer a week, but she completely underestimated the evil in the murderer's heart."
"The police had thought of what you said before, but they didn't find any evidence. However, not long after my mother died, the second brother Meng Changxi disappeared. No one knew where he went. No one saw him alive or dead. Neighbors speculated that he was the murderer." The middle-aged man shook his head painfully: "Although the second brother is introverted and gloomy, I know he would never do such a thing. In fact, none of us three brothers would do such a thing! It was obviously us who lost the people closest to us, but in the end we were the ones who were suspected!"
The middle-aged man became agitated. After he finished speaking, he started coughing violently and reached out from under the coffee table to take out a large bag of medicine.
"Meng Changxi just disappeared like that. If we can find his body, then the suspect list will be further narrowed. If we can't find his body, then he will probably always be charged with murder." Li Xue saw that the middle-aged man was about to take medicine, so she poured him a glass of water: "I think the second brother Meng Changxi is unlikely to be the murderer, what do you think?"
"I don't know." Han Fei hadn't said a second sentence yet. He planned to ask the old man in person tonight.
Looking at the black and white photo of the old man on the altar , Han Fei's mind came to the game.
He could not simply judge Meng Shi as a good person or a bad person. At this moment, he deeply felt the complexity of human nature.
Meng Changshou was not in good health, so Han Fei and Li Xue did not continue to disturb him and left tactfully.
An unsolved case from ten years ago has been brought to light. This serious case, which caused a sensation at the time, is now forgotten by not many people except the family members of the deceased and the police officers who handled the case.
Han Fei was thinking about something. After taking a few steps, he realized that Li Xue had been standing on the steps and had not followed him.
"Do you have anything else to do?"
"When I was helping you screen the data today, I found a coincidence. The residence of the deceased Meng Shi is in the same building as the residence of the victim in another case. What's even more coincidental is that both homicides happened ten years ago." Li Xue said as she walked upstairs.
Meng Shi lived on the third floor. Li Xue led Han Fei to the fourth floor. "Have you heard of the human body puzzle pattern from ten years ago?"
"It can't be such a coincidence, right?" Han Fei suddenly remembered what Director Jiang said. The crew originally wanted to shoot at the crime scene, but was rejected by the homeowner. Then they changed to No. 15 North Street.
"The murderer of the human puzzle case has not been caught yet. The first two victims of that case were found on the fourth floor of Courtyard 15. The deceased were a loving couple." Li Xue stopped in front of a door. "Ten years ago, the police also suspected that the murderer of the human puzzle case and the body hidden in the freezer case was the same person, but the modus operandi of the two cases is completely different. If the murderer of the body hidden in the freezer case is a mentally abnormal and twisted person, then the murderer of the human puzzle case is a complete demon."
After knocking on the door for more than ten seconds, the security door was finally opened a crack.
A skinny old man appeared behind the door. He frowned and looked at Li Xue and Han Fei outside the door: "Who are you looking for?"
"I'm a policeman." Li Xue took out his temporary district police ID. In fact, this ID was not effective for entering a house to search , but the old man didn't seem to understand this and opened the door reluctantly.
In the room of more than 70 square meters, all items are neatly arranged, and the old man seems to clean it every day.
Entering the house, there are many photos hanging on the walls of the living room. The old man in the photos is in good health and has a bright smile on his face. It is hard to believe that he is the same person as the skinny old man in front of me.
Apart from the elderly, the most common people in the photos are a young couple. The man is honest and simple, and the woman is virtuous and gentle. They are very much in love, and every photo is filled with happiness.
Next to the photo wall is a collection cabinet with many Lego toys displayed in the glass window.
"I go to the police station every year to ask, I don't know how many times in the past ten years, have you caught the murderer?" There was a hint of despair in the old man's tone. He touched the photo frame on the table, as if he still could not accept the cruel fact.
"I actually have a few questions for you." Li Xue took out her cell phone and opened several police apps in succession.
She was very skilled in her movements and kept asking questions, guiding the old man's recollections without causing him too much pain. Her way of questioning and her questioning skills were much better than those of Zhang Xiaotian and Zhao Mingqiang.
While Li Xue was questioning the old man, Han Fei stayed quietly by the side, silently looking at the photos on the wall.
The person in the photo is Wei Youfu, the character he will play.
In the game "Perfect Life", the old lady lives on the third floor and Han Fei lives on the fourth floor.
In reality, the old lady also lived on the third floor, and the murder house where Wei Youfu and his wife were killed was on the fourth floor.
Although the architectural layout was slightly different, this amazing coincidence made Han Fei cautious. He now suspected that the ghost he met in the game last night was Wei Youfu's wife, the woman who was killed by the murderer in the bathroom.
The seemingly unrelated clues intersected at this moment, and the point where they intersected was Han Fei himself.
Through Li Xue's questioning, Han Fei got to know Wei Youfu and his family. It can be said that this family are all good people who are dedicated to their duties.
If nothing unexpected had happened, they would have lived happily ever after.
"They were not malicious people when they were alive ." A very bold idea slowly emerged in Han Fei's mind: "If I want to survive in that underworld game full of ghosts and monsters, I must first have a safe home. If I can gain the approval of Wei Youfu and his wife, I can live with them in the haunted house! Then my originally doomed situation will have a way out!"
People who had long been dead reappeared in the game. Regardless of whether they were humans or ghosts, Han Fei decided to blend in.
With a light in his eyes, Han Fei stood up and sat next to the skinny old man.
Under the puzzled gazes of the old man and Li Xue, Han Fei said to the old man: "Grandpa, Brother Youfu and I are actually very good friends. Can you tell me if he has any unfulfilled wishes?"
