Translator: CinderTL
Separated only by a semi-transparent shower curtain, A'Qiang felt like he was being driven insane.
He couldn't take it anymore. Shouting furiously, he charged forward, yanked open the curtain, and slashed with the kitchen knife, determined to kill whatever was behind it!
But the instant he ripped the curtain aside, all sound vanished.
Behind the curtain was only an empty bathtub, spotlessly clean. Not even water stains remained, as if it hadn't been used in ages.
"How... how could this be?"
A'Qiang sank into deep self-doubt. Frantically, he inspected the shower curtain and the bathroom floor, only to find that the standing water and bloodstains had vanished completely. Everything that had just happened felt like a dream.
"No, it must have been a hallucination brought on by my extreme anxiety!"
A'Qiang dragged himself out of the bathroom, his head throbbing as if pierced by thousands of needles. He couldn't even be sure if he was now sane or still trapped in a hallucination.
Clutching his head, he staggered toward the bedroom. But as he passed the large mirror diagonally across from the bathroom, his footsteps froze.
Through the mirror's reflection, A'Qiang saw a bloody handprint with a missing finger imprinted just below his pants pocket.
Trembling, he reached into the pocket and touched something cold, hard, and slightly fuzzy.
The next moment, when he pulled it out and saw what it was, A'Qiang screamed and collapsed onto the floor.
It was a wooden comb, tangled with messy strands of hair that were still dripping wet.
A'Qiang couldn't bear to stay in his house any longer. At the first hint of dawn, he rushed to his friend's place, finally realizing that the ghost wouldn't leave him alone.
Fueled by alcohol, he told his friend everything. His friend's words gave him a new perspective.
His friend speculated that the ghost had had several opportunities to kill him but had spared him. This suggested she didn't necessarily want his life, especially since A'Qiang wasn't her murderer.
Perhaps she simply wanted A'Qiang to help her seek justice—to catch the real killer, the person who had ridden in his car that night.
A'Qiang found this reasoning compelling. Encouraged by his friend, he reported the incident to the police.
A'Qiang recounted every detail to the police: how he had picked up the person on that rainy night and dumped the suitcase into the lake.
Based on his information, the police retrieved a suitcase from the lakebed.
When news of the discovery reached A'Qiang, the strange occurrences that had plagued him vanished as abruptly as they had begun. Overwhelmed with relief at his narrow escape, he wept uncontrollably, realizing for the first time how profoundly grateful he was simply to be alive.
A few days later, the police contacted him, saying the case had been solved but that they needed him to come in to help refine some details.
However, the moment A'Qiang stepped into the police station lobby, officers ambushed him, tackled him to the ground, handcuffed him, and dragged him into an interrogation room.
Inside, the detective presented several photographs—snapshots of A'Qiang with his ex-wife.
Pointing to her image, the detective said, "The autopsy report on the body in the suitcase is complete. It's your ex-wife."
Furthermore, they had found her red wallet and the gemstone ring she wore on the night of her death during a search of A'Qiang's home.
The ring, the detective added, was the engagement ring A'Qiang had given her, a fact her parents could verify.
Meanwhile, the police located the shop where A'Qiang had purchased the suitcase.
According to the shop owner, a man had come in to buy a suitcase some time ago. It was already dark, and the owner was about to close up for the night.
The man had acted suspiciously, the owner remembered clearly. After he left, the owner's wife had even remarked that he didn't look like a good person.
When the police showed A'Qiang's photo to the shop owner, he immediately identified him as the man who had bought the suitcase.
Furthermore, numerous fingerprints belonging to A'Qiang were found on the suitcase containing his ex-wife's body.
The motive for the crime was also easy to deduce. According to A'Qiang's gambling buddies, his constant gambling and heavy drinking had strained his relationship with his ex-wife, leading to frequent arguments.
A'Qiang had also demanded money from his ex-wife to cover his gambling losses, and when she refused, he had physically assaulted her.
During drunken card games, A'Qiang had even boasted about killing his ex-wife, though no one had taken him seriously at the time.
A'Qiang was completely dumbfounded. He stared at the photos spread across the table, each one a damning piece of evidence against him.
But he didn't even recognize the woman!
"No, this can't be true!" A'Qiang roared at the officer, who stared coldly back. "This is all a setup! Someone's framing me!"
"I don't even know her!"
"I first saw that suitcase that night, during a heavy rain. I picked up a man wearing a baseball cap."
"It was... it was on that small road leading to Tongcun Village. The man I picked up—he's the real killer! He's the one who murdered her!"
The officer slammed his fist on the table, shouting, "Even now, you're still trying to weasel out of it?!"
Another officer chimed in, "You probably don't know this, but even that secluded road to Tongcun Village recently had surveillance cameras installed."
"They caught you driving past."
"See for yourself!"
The officer pulled several photos from his briefcase and angrily tossed them in front of A'Qiang. The images showed a car driving down the road.
"The angle is perfect. The driver's wearing a baseball cap, clearly trying to hide his face. There's no one in the back seat, but there's a large suitcase standing upright."
"This is A'Qiang's car."
Even though the driver's face was only partially visible in profile, his facial features unmistakably identified him as A'Qiang.
Staring at the photos, A'Qiang's eyes widened, his expression turning eerily blank. His lips twitched uncontrollably as he muttered incomprehensible sounds.
"Why? Why is this happening?! It wasn't me! I didn't kill anyone! The dead woman isn't my ex-wife—I've never even met her! I never gave her a ring, and I never bought that suitcase. No, none of it! I swear, I didn't do it!"
A'Qiang broke down, sweeping all the photos off the table. He roared at the interrogating officers, "I didn't kill anyone! You can't frame me! Hahaha! I didn't kill her! My ex-wife is still alive! Hahaha!"
Clutching his face and sobbing, A'Qiang continued to shout at the officers. His face flushed crimson with rage, yet his lips stretched into a grotesque, bone-chilling grin.
Startled by this sudden outburst, the officers decided to stop pressing A'Qiang for now. They would let him calm down before calling for a psychological evaluation.
(End of the Chapter)
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