In the dark hold, Li Si’s voice was like thunder on level ground.
“After entering the ghost ship, I saw the mysterious black-clothed figure several times and discovered he had three black moles on his left hand. After Shan Jie and Ji Ming died horribly, I naturally connected the killer to the mysterious black-clothed figure.” Li Si said.
Jin Xue’er’s expression changed. “Wait a moment! What blue paper about three moles on the left hand… I don’t understand what you’re talking about.”
“You don’t understand because the blue papers for Xiao Lu, Shan Jie, and Ji Ming were written by you, but the blue paper I received didn’t come from your hand. Someone else wrote it for me.” After Li Si finished speaking, Jin Xue’er became even more confused.
“Who else besides me would write blue papers?”
“Don’t be impatient—let me finish.” Li Si said calmly. “After the fact that the Huilin fish was a hint about the embroidery woman Hui Ling was discovered, Yue Tianhong went to the cargo hold full of remorse, while I lost my footing and fell into the water pool. While sinking and floating in the pool, I suddenly saw the black-clothed figure outside the pool. The black-clothed figure abducted Su Qin. Later I escaped from the water pool and encountered the black-clothed figure again. In the black hole of the partition board, I exposed Xiao Chuan as the black-clothed figure.”
“However, I always felt something was off, until I thought of the flaw from the death states of Shan Jie and Ji Ming.”
“Xiao Lu had a congenital hereditary defect—he couldn’t clearly see objects within one fist’s distance to the left of his left eye, equivalent to losing that eye. The same defect also occurred in his brother Xiao Chuan.” Li Si paused. “If that’s the case, Xiao Chuan, who lacked one-third vision in his left eye, would have to slash from the victim’s left shoulder to right abdomen when wielding a blade to kill, to ensure a fatal blow. But the death states of Shan and Ji were exactly the opposite—both had knife wounds running from right shoulder to left abdomen.”
“Would a killer choose to attack from his blind spot? That’s unreasonable.” Li Si said. “Soon I recalled another detail from inside the partition board. I knocked off Xiao Chuan’s long boot and inadvertently touched his feet. Inside the foot covering was actually an embroidered floral pattern. In the Great Realm Dynasty, only women wear patterned foot coverings.”
“Nonsense! These are all your own wild speculations. Who says only women can wear patterned foot coverings?” Xiao Chuan was extremely furious. “Don’t slander me.”
“Very well, I’ll present the ironclad evidence.” Li Si sighed deeply. “After escaping from Huilin’s tentacles, I accidentally dove into another mysterious hold. This hold had a large amount of ice, and in the center surrounded by ice, I saw… a person!”
“What kind of person?” Jin Xue’er asked, while Yue Tianhong still knelt motionless before Jin Xue’er like a soulless corpse.
“A dead person. The dead one was precisely Xiao Chuan.” Li Si’s eyes suddenly shot forth compelling威pressure. “Although the ice delayed the appearance of corpse spots, based on the goosebumps that appeared on the skin of the ribs and back where they contacted the ice blocks, it can be determined that Xiao Chuan died before we boarded the ship.”
“The killer who murdered Xiao Chuan is undoubtedly the person who impersonated him afterward.” Li Si stared at Xiao Chuan’s face and said, “If you still want to deny it, I’m willing to take you to the mysterious hold to see Xiao Chuan’s corpse.”
“No need.” Xiao Chuan’s tense expression relaxed as he smiled. “God-Catcher Li is correct. I am not Xiao Chuan.”
“Who exactly are you?” Jin Xue’er asked in shock and suspicion.
“Why not ask God-Catcher Li?” Xiao Chuan laughed lightly.
“I’ve almost stated the answer. Someone who can wear patterned foot coverings is naturally a woman. On this entire ghost ship, apart from Miss Xue’er, there’s only one other woman—Su Qin.” Li Si said slowly.
Xiao Chuan nodded. “I am Su Qin.”
Jin Xue’er gazed at Su Qin who had transformed into Xiao Chuan. “Why did you disguise yourself as Xiao Chuan? Why did you kill Xiao Chuan, and then kill Shan Jie and Ji Ming?”
“I’ll ask you the same thing—why did you use evil spirit possession to impersonate Hui Ling? It was nothing more than wanting to make things simpler. I’m the same.” At this moment she should no longer be called Xiao Chuan, but rather Su Qin. “As for why I killed Shan Jie and Ji Ming, you should ask God-Catcher Li again.”
Li Si sighed deeply. “I believe it should be related to Miss Su Qin’s background. Although Miss Su Qin came from the Ice Person Family, no one has ever been to the Ice Person Family, and no one has deeply understood Miss Su Qin’s true circumstances.”
“Just now inside the partition board, besides touching the patterned foot covering, I also saw that above Miss Su’s ankle was a thumb-sized red lotus-shaped birthmark.” Li Si said.
“Good eyesight. I’m impressed.” Su Qin admitted what Li Si said.
Jin Xue’er’s emotions suddenly fluctuated. “When my sister and I were born, we both had a red lotus-shaped birthmark on our left foot… Could you be my sister?”
Su Qin remained silent for a long while, then nodded. “After all these years, some things ultimately cannot be erased or forgotten.”
“Sister! It’s really you—but didn’t you die of illness?” Jin Xue’er wept with extreme joy, unable to believe it.
“Dead—I suppose so.” Su Qin suddenly tore off the intricately crafted fake face of Xiao Chuan, revealing Su Qin’s features. But she didn’t stop there. Instead, she slowly and gently continued tearing at her face. In an instant, pieces of skin connected with fresh blood were torn away.
Su Qin faced Jin Xue’er again. A once-beautiful face now had only a few incomplete patches of skin remaining. The rest were sunken or grotesquely twisted horrifying flesh muscles. Su Qin smiled miserably. “From the moment I saw this face of mine, I died.”
“Why is your face…”
“Why?” Su Qin laughed, her laughter almost piercing her throat. “It’s because of you, my dear little sister.”
“Me?” Jin Xue’er was utterly shocked.
“I have this incomplete face thanks to you.” Su Qin said. “That year when we were five and fell gravely ill, Mother had to choose between saving one of us and letting the other wait for death. You were fortunate enough to be the former. The night before you recovered and returned home, my condition deteriorated so severely I was almost dead. Mother worried that seeing my sickly appearance would make you feel guilty, so before I could even breathe my last breath, she buried me deep in the wilderness.”
“It was a darkness and loneliness you could never imagine. I struggled and called for Mother inside the straw mat, but no one responded to me—only bone-piercing cold. I used all my strength to break through the straw mat and dig a hole to crawl out, and that’s when hunting jackals passed by the earthen grave and tore and bit at me, utterly defenseless. That was a bone-deep pain I could never forget in this lifetime—the feeling of my face being torn inch by inch, like a knife scraping down again and again.” Su Qin’s blood-black flesh muscles twisted together into a mass, grotesque and terrifying. “The next morning I woke in a pool of blood, extremely grateful I hadn’t been bitten to death. But after I saw this ruined face by the riverside, I regretted not having been bitten to death. How wonderful it would have been to be bitten to death—I wouldn’t have to live every day with this ghost face. Though alive, it’s as if dwelling in a hellish demon realm.”
“Do you know how much I hate, how much I resent? Why, when only one of us could survive, did it have to be you? You took Mother away, and even more, you took my life away.” Su Qin still smiled, her smile buried within that terrifying visage.
“So, just as you seek revenge, I too seek revenge. And my greatest enemy is you!” Su Qin said slowly.
Jin Xue’er stood woodenly, staring vacantly at the sister she seemed no longer to recognize.