Yu Zheng picked up: “Ah yes, the video camera—that was a useful tool. Though you couldn’t use it that time, I believe you did use it later, didn’t you?”
He deliberately paused, waiting for Cheng Zhou to continue, but Cheng Zhou only laughed again and then completely immersed himself in his memories, remaining silent for a long while.
Yu Zheng had to continue prompting: “Although your plan to stalk Lu Yan was interrupted, your ideas never changed. Schoolwork was too easy for you, your mother rarely supervised you, so you wandered everywhere. Your most frequent destination was No. 7 Middle School, where you monitored your old friend Zhou Zhicheng, and watched your new friend Jiang Chengyi. Especially the latter—you never tired of it, because seeing Jiang Chengyi experience setbacks made you happy.
“But after just a few days, you discovered that Jiang Chengyi actually won Lu Yan over, and ironically, the catalyst was your stalking of Lu Yan. Not only did you fail to kill Lu Yan, but you accidentally helped fulfill Jiang Chengyi’s wish. The development was opposite to your expectations—besides surprise, you must have been furious.
“What to do next? Jiang Chengyi and his girlfriend grew happier by the day. Watching this drove you nearly mad. How could you make the perfect Jiang Chengyi fall into painful despair? How could you punish these endless Li Xiaolans? Cheng Zhou, you’re much smarter than me—tell me how you managed what came next.”
Cheng Zhou made an ambiguous grunt.
Yu Zheng paused: “Was this when something new appeared among the female students at No. 7 Middle School? Something like… a website?”
“A bunch of idiots making wishes on it.” Cheng Zhou said arrogantly, “Zhou Zhicheng heard some rumors and told me about it, but he thought it was just students’ trivial entertainment. He didn’t think much of it and didn’t care what the website was actually for. It took me half a semester to hack into the website, and then I discovered many stupid women making wishes on it.”
“I imagine you found that Deng Man’s wish involved Zhou Zhicheng, though you already knew about that—there was nothing special there. What was most interesting was Ding Jing’s wish. She wanted Jiang Chengyi and his girlfriend to break up. You never expected to find someone whose thoughts aligned so perfectly with yours—it was exactly to your taste. So you switched your stalking target to Ding Jing, and through this discovered many secrets about her, didn’t you?”
“Hmph.” Cheng Zhou sneered, “That stupid woman made a wish but didn’t know how to fulfill it. After learning about Deng Man’s wish, she anonymously sent threatening letters to Deng Man, telling her to pretend to like Jiang Chengyi to destroy Lu Yan and Jiang Chengyi’s relationship. But obviously, Deng Man ignored that anonymous letter. However, this inspired me. I secretly sent Ding Jing the video footage I’d taken of Zhou Zhicheng and Deng Man being intimate, using this method to fulfill both our wishes. Fortunately, this woman wasn’t completely stupid—she quickly figured out what to do.”
“That was truly a clever decision.” Yu Zheng ‘praised’ him, “This method gave you a new experience—it turned out you could become someone else’s master too. That feeling was wonderful. Besides this, you also gave Ding Jing sufficient leverage to threaten Deng Man. You always believed all ‘Li Xiaolans’ in the world were hopelessly stupid, and naturally, the ‘Li Xiaolan’ by Jiang Chengyi’s side was no exception. But you hadn’t expected that although Deng Man was forced to follow Ding Jing’s demands, Lu Yan didn’t break up with Jiang Chengyi because of it—they didn’t even have a single argument.”
“They were truly unpredictable people. This time, besides being enraged, you were also confused, because both Jiang Chengyi and Lu Yan presented unexpected difficulties: they were as intelligent as you, they weren’t as easy to manipulate as others, and they had strong personalities. In short, you, who rarely lost, were thwarted again by this couple.”
Cheng Zhou made an icy grunt.
“You thought it over and still wanted to kill Lu Yan, but Jiang Chengyi never left her side—you had no chance to get close to her. Moreover, you’d seen how Jiang Chengyi beat up another suspected stalker. You knew that if you accidentally exposed yourself in front of him, it would be suicide. So you had to give up on Lu Yan and return to stalking Ding Jing and Deng Man. I imagine you must have discovered something in the days that followed.”
Cheng Zhou sneered with contempt: “Hmph, I discovered that Lu Yan was also very kind to Deng Man—a superfluous emotion, truly ridiculous.”
Yu Zheng pursed his lips: “It seems Lu Yan valued her friends deeply and cared about their happiness and sorrows. This gave you an idea—misunderstandings between friends had already been created, and now all that was needed was a death trigger. After careful consideration, you still chose Deng Man. Perhaps at the time you only wanted to make Lu Yan suffer, but looking back now, this plan was truly flawless: it caused Jiang Chengyi and Lu Yan to break up, fulfilled Ding Jing’s wish as her master, killed another Li Xiaolan, and successfully escaped legal punishment. Cheng Zhou, you’re the smartest person I’ve ever met. Can you tell me how you step by step drove Deng Man into despair?”
Cheng Zhou laughed. Deng Man’s death must have been one of the proudest achievements of his life. Even now, just thinking about it filled him with an uncontrollable sense of accomplishment.
“She was already in chaos because of the video.” He stopped laughing, “Failed the college entrance exam, friendships nearly falling apart—this fragile person lived each day in pain. To help her achieve the perfect ‘suicide,’ I made many preparations in advance. I scouted the riverbank where they dated and stole sleeping pills from a neurotic elderly person in our complex—two pills each day. I also printed out some intimate scenes from the video and tricked Zhou Zhicheng into recording two audio clips. After preparing everything, I waited constantly for that day to come.
“Later, one time Deng Man ran out of school crying bitterly. I thought she must have either been threatened by Ding Jing again or had completely fallen out with another Li Xiaolan. I guessed it was the latter and felt the opportunity had come, so I followed her home. But she quickly came out again and ran to the stationery store to buy a fountain pen.
“That night she met with Zhou Zhicheng. Afraid of their relationship being exposed, they felt the city wasn’t safe, so they always met by the river in the suburbs. That place was very secluded—few people passed by whether day or night, so they thought it was the ideal meeting spot. But as soon as they met, they started arguing. Deng Man wanted to confess everything to her friends, but Zhou Zhicheng disagreed because their teacher-student relationship began when she was still in high school, a minor. If it got out, he wouldn’t even be able to continue teaching. That stupid woman Deng Man loved Zhou Zhicheng deeply, practically considering him her life. Anyway, because of this, Deng Man couldn’t persuade Zhou Zhicheng, and they parted on bad terms.
“The next day, I went to Zhou Zhicheng’s house. Lin Chunmei had become like a wooden person, lying in bed all day. I put several sleeping pills in Zhou Zhicheng’s drink, and after he fell asleep, I turned off his phone. Then I waited under a tree where surveillance cameras couldn’t reach in the suburbs. Sure enough, she came. I ran toward her pretending to be very panicked, shouting: Someone jumped into the river. She was startled and asked what happened. I showed her the voice recorder and those black and white photos in my hand, saying I’d just found these by the river after someone jumped in.
“I let her look at the images of herself with her teacher, and played Zhou Zhicheng’s pre-recorded audio in front of her: ‘This matter has spread throughout the school, I can’t face living anymore.’ Deng Man believed it because Ding Jing had already sent her an anonymous final notice—if she didn’t do as required within the specified time, this matter would be made public. Although she probably guessed it was Ding Jing, she had no proof. Now I created a false impression for her: because she didn’t obey, Ding Jing had taken action.
“While speaking, I kept nervously watching her. I was thinking, that if she wouldn’t go to the riverbank, I’d kill her another way and frame Zhou Zhicheng. I told her: That person might be dying soon, you save them first, and I’ll go call for help right away. She was completely frightened and looked very anxious. As expected, she ran to the riverbank without thinking. Soon after, I heard the sound of someone jumping into the river. She probably knew how to swim, but that river had many water plants. After searching for Zhou Zhicheng for a long time without finding him, she began struggling and calling for help. I hid behind a tree not far away watching her, continuing to watch until she died before I left.”
Jiang Chengyi stared at Cheng Zhou expressionlessly.
Yu Zheng said: “I guess that scene that night left a deep impression on you because, through this method, you unconsciously replicated that night from many years ago. What particularly satisfied you was that this time, the person struggling painfully in the water was ‘Li Xiaolan.’ The huge void in your heart was filled. In short, this matter originated with Ding Jing—as her master, you fulfilled her wish while also entangling Lu Yan and Jiang Chengyi. This perfect crime established your three major elements for future crimes: wishes, ‘Li Xiaolan,’ and water. Moreover, from that time on, you began to pursue aesthetics in your crimes.”
Cheng Zhou closed his eyes slightly, showing an expression of endless satisfaction.
“I think your next target was originally Ding Jing because you had already become her master. You could throw her into the water at will like Li Xiaolan did years ago. So although Deng Man wasn’t the first in your ritual, she was the key figure in the transformation of your criminal method. Let me ask, why didn’t you immediately act against Ding Jing back then?”
“She went abroad.” Cheng Zhou said regretfully, “She thought Deng Man had committed suicide under her threats. She was afraid this would be exposed, so she fled abroad for four years, not even returning during summer breaks. I couldn’t find an opportunity to act.”