Luo Ren gestured for Mu Dai to get in the car, then knocked on the windshield, signaling Yan Hongsha to come in as well.

Yan Hongsha probably thought they were going to drive Mu Dai to surrender herself, and she grew increasingly stubborn through her sniffles and sobs.

Luo Ren didn’t try to persuade her: “Fine, then just keep lying there. We’re going to discuss something, and you don’t need to listen.”

After saying this, all the car doors were closed and the windows sealed. He said to Mu Dai: “I’ve thought of something…”

Being stubborn was one thing, but being truly isolated was another. Yan Hongsha climbed off the hood and pressed her face against the windshield, trying to look inside.

Luo Ren pretended not to notice.

Mu Dai waited for Luo Ren to continue. Cao Yanhua looked outside: “Are we really not letting Red Sand in?”

Luo Ren said, “Let her worry a bit.”

Yan Hongsha was genuinely anxious. Seeing everyone seemingly discussing something through the glass, she feared they were taking a vote on some decision, missing her crucial ballot—despite feeling somewhat embarrassed, she angrily knocked on the door: “Luo Ren! Luo Ren! Let me in.”

Luo Ren opened the door: “I thought you didn’t want to come in?”

Yan Hongsha rolled her eyes, ignoring everyone.

Luo Ren said, “Just now, I suddenly thought of something. I should thank Red Sand for the reminder.”

Suddenly being praised, Yan Hongsha couldn’t stay angry, though she didn’t understand which part of her emotional outburst had triggered his realization: “What did I say?”

“You said that Mu Dai, throughout her life, even with dissociative identity disorder, had never actually done anything bad.”

He looked at Mu Dai: “I still have reservations about Dr. He’s diagnosis. But if we assume what he said is true, your three personalities share a common purpose, which is to protect you as a person.”

“Little Pocket is soft and adorable, making people like you. Number Two might be rigid, but she appears at your most critical moments to protect your life. Eventually, Dr. He believes the primary personality returned because of an imbalance between the first two personalities, so it finally came to take charge—all three personalities, regardless of good or bad, are loyal to you and are all protecting you.”

“If there is a fourth personality, what has it done? For all these years, not a single clue, and then it appears on that particular night, doing something that pushes you toward a dead end. It makes no sense, it doesn’t hold up at all.”

Yan Hongsha listened with her mouth agape, nodding continuously: “Yes, yes, that’s exactly what I meant to express.”

Yi Wansan said, “Then you expressed it quite subtly.”

Mu Dai felt as if a small spark had ignited inside her. At this moment, any doubt that could stand up to scrutiny was hope for her, even if just a thread; she wanted to grasp it desperately.

Luo Ren said, “You mentioned that day, after learning about your mother’s HIV infection, you were extremely depressed and returned very late.”

Mu Dai didn’t understand why he suddenly brought this up, but she nodded: “Yes.”

“When you were washing up, did you tie your hair?”

“Yes.”

“Did you untie it before sleeping?”

“No.”

That day, she was deeply troubled and barely had the energy to respond to Zheng Li.

“The next morning, when you woke up, was your hair tied or loose?”

“Tied.”

Luo Ren pondered: “I remember Song Tie described your appearance, saying ‘like a quiet female student, with long hair,’ which means when he saw you, your hair was down. The photo we showed to Wu Yuping also showed long hair…”

At this point, he looked carefully at Mu Dai and reached out to take off her cap.

“A person with tied or untied hair looks quite different.”

Cao Yanhua nodded: “Yes, especially since it was at night, and they were all meeting my little master for the first time. They recognized her too accurately.”

Luo Ren agreed.

Ma Chao and Song Tie might be explained away—they both had reasons to have a deep impression of Mu Dai. But Wu Yuping, who was riding by on her bike and saw a girl after falling and getting up, hesitated, saying “I was a bit far away” before being shown the photos, yet recognized her so precisely when seeing the picture.

Luo Ren’s expression suddenly changed. He said, “I need to make a call.”

He asked Cao Yanhua for the information copied from the traffic police station and dialed Wu Yuping’s number, putting it on speaker.

Everyone held their breath.

Wu Yuping quickly answered: “Hello?”

Luo Ren said, “It’s me who just visited you. I’d like to confirm something with you. You fell off your bike and were steadying it when you saw her on the bridge, right?”

“Yes.”

“According to my understanding, you fell at the bridge approach, essentially already off the bridge.”

“That’s right.”

“But that young woman was on the bridge. Theoretically, as you rode across the bridge, you should have seen a person standing there first, rather than noticing someone on the bridge only after you fell.”

There was a moment of silence on the other end, then Wu Yuping hesitantly said: “I suppose so. I didn’t pay much attention before I fell.”

Luo Ren didn’t allow her to be ambiguous: “Is it that you didn’t pay much attention or that you didn’t see her?”

Wu Yuping seemed genuinely uncertain: “I… don’t quite remember.”

…

After hanging up, Luo Ren looked at everyone: “Doesn’t it seem strange?”

He reminded them, “Don’t you think Mu Dai appeared very suddenly? In the middle of the night, a girl was standing on the bridge—if I were riding by, I’d have seen her from far away. But Wu Yuping says she doesn’t quite remember.”

Yi Wansan exclaimed: “Damn! Ma Chao too! Ma Chao too!”

He was so excited he could barely articulate: “Remember what I said? At that time, Ma Chao got up to urge Zhang Tong to leave, but Zhang Tong said he needed to urinate…”

Afraid he wasn’t explaining clearly, he flipped over Cao Yanhua’s paper with the copied information and drew a diagram: “Ma Chao took a few steps first. He was heading back to the city, definitely walking toward the left side of the bridge, while Zhang Tong was urinating behind him, so Zhang Tong’s position was toward the right side of the bridge.”

“Then Ma Chao looked back and saw the inn owner’s wife pushing Zhang Tong, which means the inn owner’s wife came from the right side of the bridge, from the direction of the rural suburbs… but the restaurant is in the city. Even if the inn owner’s wife developed another personality, got up from bed in the middle of the night to go to the bridge and kill someone, she would have had to cross the bridge first…”

Afraid he wasn’t explaining clearly, he was sweating profusely: “Do you understand?”

Luo Ren said, “I understand.”

Yi Wansan had discovered an existing loophole.

If Mu Dai had indeed gotten up from bed that night and rushed to the bridge to kill someone, then when she crossed the bridge, Ma Chao or Zhang Tong would certainly have noticed her.

Yet the fact was, no one saw her crossing the bridge, but they saw her pushing someone on it.

It was the same with Wu Yuping. She didn’t see anyone when riding across the bridge, but saw her after getting up.

Mu Dai seemed to have been arranged to appear abruptly at a specific point.

Yan Hongsha pressed her lips tightly: “This… doesn’t make sense. It’s unreasonable.”

Luo Ren smiled: “Red Sand is right. It’s unreasonable. We’ve been confined by the concept of ‘reasonable.'”

He crumpled the paper Yi Wansan had drawn on and said, “We were misled from the beginning, heading down the path of Mu Dai having multiple personalities, and then we sought to make it reasonable. So no matter how we argued, Mu Dai was a murderer.”

“Now, let’s throw all that away, free ourselves from the constraints of reality, let our imaginations run wild. If it wasn’t Mu Dai, what situation might most likely have occurred?”

Yan Hongsha was the first to speak.

“A ghost.”

She ignored Yi Wansan’s eye-rolling: “Didn’t you say to let our imaginations run wild? I think it was a ghost that took on Mu Dai’s appearance. Ma Chao saw a ghost when he looked back. Wu Yuping saw a ghost when she fell and got up. Song Tie also saw a ghost when he passed the bridge entrance. Our Mu Dai was sleeping in bed, with her hair still tied.”

After finishing, she raised her chin toward Mu Dai.

Mu Dai felt a warmth in her heart and said, “Little girl.”

Cao Yanhua also let his thoughts roam: “Maybe it was a disguise! That person disguised themselves as my little master and performed an act on the bridge. She might have seen my little master before, copying her clothes and hairstyle exactly. But man proposes, heaven disposes—she never imagined that my little master sleeps with her hair tied up!”

Cao Yanhua gritted his teeth: “See, no matter how cunning the fox, it can’t escape the eyes of a good hunter!”

Yan Hongsha disagreed: “That ‘Mu Dai’ appeared suddenly. Don’t you think this suddenness is abnormal? A ghost makes more sense.”

Only Yi Wansan remained silent.

But he had something to say.

Luo Ren noticed: “Yi Wansan, what about you?”

Yi Wansan said, “Luo Ren, we all seem to have forgotten a good friend.”

There was meaning behind these words, but Luo Ren didn’t want to waste effort guessing: “Just say it directly.”

“The fourth Death Bamboo. We’ve been dealing with Death Bamboos all along, and according to the timeline, the fourth one should have appeared by now. Moreover, Phoenix Lock did give some hints, although they were somewhat puzzling.”

Among them all, only Mu Dai didn’t know about this. She quietly asked Yan Hongsha, “What hints did Phoenix Lock give?”

Since there wasn’t much new to discuss at the moment, Yan Hongsha told Mu Dai in detail about the hints that Cao Yanhua and Yi Wansan had seen.

Unexpectedly, Mu Dai seemed to have a realization.

She frowned, trying hard to remember something: “That night, I think I was also mysteriously blown… by a wind.”

Luo Ren first took everyone back to the hotel, then went to the hospital to collect the test results.

It was only half a day, but the mood had completely changed. Mu Dai was half-lying on the sofa, feeling like everything that had happened before was just a dream.

Yi Wansan and Cao Yanhua gathered around the computer, searching online for all information about Tengma Diaotai.

Mu Dai heard Yi Wansan mutter, “There are plenty of reposts, but the content is almost identical. Who do you think was the first person to post this news online?”

Who indeed? Everything has a beginning. When Shen Gun told them about the seven Death Bamboos, he also said they recorded the seven earliest murder cases in the world.

Yan Hongsha came over, looking down at her, and reached out to pinch her cheek, saying: “Poor little thing, are you feeling better now?”

Mu Dai dodged her hand, unable to help smiling: “Go away, don’t call me ‘poor little thing.'”

Yan Hongsha made a face at her: “Today, someone was asking to be taken to surrender herself. Fortunately, I recklessly stopped it.”

Mu Dai didn’t speak. At the computer, Yi Wansan turned his head: “Rich lady, go buy some food for everyone.”

Yan Hongsha was furious: “Why should I?”

Yi Wansan said, “Can’t you see the men are busy?”

Yan Hongsha grabbed two pillows from the bed and threw them. Mu Dai heard Cao Yanhua shout: “If you’re going to hit someone, hit my Third Brother! Why hit me? I didn’t say a word!”

Yi Wansan also shouted: “Best two out of three, rock-paper-scissors, fair competition, no violence!”

The three of them were in a chaotic jumble, pulling at the corners of the pillows like children.

Mu Dai giggled, and as she turned her head by chance, she suddenly paused.

Luo Ren had opened the door at some point but hadn’t walked in. He stood at the doorway and beckoned to her when he saw her.

Mu Dai got up and went over. Luo Ren gestured for her to come out and gently closed the door behind them.

The corridor was extremely quiet. The sun was about to set, and golden light streamed through the window at the end, casting a long, bright shadow on the carpet. Mu Dai walked out, stepping right into this bright streak.

Luo Ren handed her a rolled-up paper. As it came close, she could still smell the distinctive medicinal scent of the hospital.

Mu Dai opened it.

Knowing it was a test report, she quickly scanned it but couldn’t understand it. There were many items with chemical symbols and codes, showing values and reference ranges.

But Luo Ren must have already looked at it.

Mu Dai looked up and asked: “What’s the result?”

Luo Ren looked down at her. She had truly lost weight these days—her chin had become sharper, there were pale, dark circles under her eyelids, her eye rims were slightly swollen, and in her gaze, there was much evasion and avoidance.

Luo Ren said, “You’ve gotten thin.”

He put his arm around her waist and lowered his head to kiss her lips. Mu Dai was startled and instinctively drew back. Luo Ren’s kiss missed, but stopped just at the edge of her lips, his warm breath brushing against her soft lips.

Luo Ren looked into her eyes and said: “Mu Dai, we never broke up, never.”

Sunlight fell on her face, half bright, half in shadow.

Luo Ren said, “Are you afraid of me now?”

Mu Dai shook her head, feeling a sting in her nose. She slowly rose on her tiptoes, her body trembling slightly, her lips gently approaching his.

With a loud bang of the door, Yan Hongsha’s angry voice rang out: “Are you even men anymore! Cheating at rock-paper-scissors with me!”

And then…

The two people… no, three people all froze.

Mu Dai’s face flushed red to the roots of her ears. She was still on her tiptoes, feeling as if her raised leg had become a rigid wooden pole, unable to bend.

It seemed like a century passed before Yan Hongsha said, “I didn’t see anything.”

She walked around the two of them stiffly. Just as Mu Dai breathed a sigh of relief, Yan Hongsha suddenly turned back with an expression of exasperation.

“Can’t you two be more considerate? Would it kill you to find a room without people?”