It’s Him – Ch48

The Grand Finale (Part 2)

When the emergency responders arrived, they brought clothes and a hairdryer for the three of them.

The people from the Qian family were like a logistical team, and there were quite a few of them. They knew exactly what was needed and had thought of everything.

Li Xun changed into clean clothes while the doctor was cleaning her wounds, and Sun Ning was blow-drying her hair.

Sun Ning said, “Dry your hair first. You can wash it when we get back; the water here is too cold.”

Li Xun nodded. She was looking at the information about Zhao Xin’s car, which had been synced from the Qian family.

Zhao Xin’s car went straight back to the city, without stopping in the suburbs. It didn’t stop anywhere along the way, and it went straight home.

Li Xun was a bit confused. She picked up her phone and began typing, asking the people from the Qian family: “Did he go straight home? Didn’t he stop anywhere else in the city?”

“No, the lights are all green in the city at this point, and he didn’t stop even once in between.”

What’s going on? Did she make a mistake? Was Tao Feng actually able to resist? Or did Zhao Xin kill Tao Feng?

“Is Tao Feng still alive?”

“Yes, he’s alive.”

That’s strange. Why didn’t Tao Feng immediately confirm the location of the victim’s body?

Earlier, because Zhao Xin was able to directly open the basement door from below, Zhang Mingcai and Li Yuguai had suspected that he had such a basement and that he might have committed the crime there.

Afterward, they gathered together and first used the housing authority to find all the registered basements in Ping City. Then, they either rented or paid to visit these basements in order to check them all out.

Some houses had changed hands several times, and some had been rented out. Among the current residents, there were indeed several who didn’t even know that their homes had a basement.

However, their actions had only resulted in adding extra storage space, and they hadn’t found any clues.

At the time, Li Xun speculated that maybe the crime had been committed in the basement, and after an accident occurred afterward, the body had been moved.

As for the location of the body’s transfer, that was hard to analyze.

She could vaguely guess that the body had been treated with cement.

Li Xun had discussed the issue of disposing of the body with Zhao Xin before. At that time, she noticed that when she mentioned cement and iron barrels, his reaction was different.

Although it was very subtle, Li Xun still caught it.

She suspected that the children were sealed in cement somewhere.

The area around the school was thoroughly searched by everyone. Whenever they came across a place built with cement, they would wonder if the bodies were hidden inside.

They even worried that the bodies might be buried beneath a building.

But in the end, they found nothing. Now, Li Xun had a new piece of information.

Naturally, everyone was focused on Zhao Xin. When he returned home, everyone was confused.

His house was on the third floor, there was no basement, and he lived with his son. How could he hide a body?

Now, the people in the neighborhood were also helping to keep an eye on Teacher Zhao. The relationship network was very solid, tightly encircling Zhao Xin.

“He came back with a student-looking boy, and then the student left. Teacher Zhao didn’t go out, he’s still at home,” Teacher Mei, who lived next door to Zhao Xin, informed Sun Ning via WeChat about the current situation.

Teacher Mei’s mother even pressed her ear to the wall and reported while listening, “I think I heard them say they were moving.”

“Didn’t they refuse to move before? Why are they willing now?”

“Mom, be quiet.”

On the other side, Li Xun was still thinking about Tao Feng’s issue.

Had Zhao Xin told him the address verbally? Could Tao Feng really just let it go?

Or… were the children at Zhao Xin’s house?

Li Xun was shocked by this thought, but then she felt it was unreasonable.

Zhao Xin didn’t live alone. The dormitory was also already decorated, so there was no possibility of hiding seven children in the walls. Where were the children?

Originally, they planned to take advantage of today to capture them red-handed, but now it felt like a dud.

What should they do now?

“Wait one more day,” Li Xun said. “In the next couple of days, you need to act like I’ve already gone missing. Tao Feng may be more desperate than us.”

However, the next day, there was still no movement from Tao Feng, and Zhao Xin only contacted a moving company.

Li Xun quickly contacted the moving company as well, asking if there were any unusual details.

“What do you mean by unusual? From what I heard, they’re moving to the ex-wife’s place, which is already pretty unusual,” the person from the moving company said.

“No, I mean the things they’re moving.”

“The things? He’s moving a western kitchen Counter and an aquarium. I can understand the aquarium, but why move a western kitchen Counter?”

Li Xun didn’t know what a western kitchen Counter was. She usually lived in two-bedroom apartments and didn’t have the conditions to have seen such a thing.

The Qian family knew, and they immediately realized something and sent a photo to Li Xun.

In the picture, there was a rectangular marble table, about three to four meters long and 90 cm high. The width was hard to see, but it was definitely around 70 or 80 cm.

“This kind of western kitchen Counter takes up a lot of space. Most families wouldn’t build one.”

But Zhao Xin, who lived in a two-bedroom apartment, had definitely made room for this western kitchen Counter!

Whether it was Li Xun or the others present, when they stared at this thing, they had a premonition.

“Call the police.”

Teacher Sun Ning was in charge of calling the police, mainly because Tao Feng and Zhao Xin had murdered Li Xun, with video evidence to prove it.

At the same time, Zhao Xin was reported as the killer of the serial murders from the previous year, with the victims’ bodies hidden in his home.

At that time, Tao Feng was still at school.

After returning to school, he couldn’t sleep, and his condition became worse. It was nothing like what Zhao Xin had said, that a good sleep would make him forget everything.

He couldn’t sleep at all.

Every time he moved something, his hand seemed to tighten around Li Xun’s neck again. His hand still trembled, as if the aftereffects of exerting too much force remained.

At night, when he closed his eyes, he saw Li Xun’s face turning red from lack of oxygen and her wide-open eyes, staring at him as though she was about to seek revenge at any moment.

Whenever a police siren sounded outside the school, he would jump in shock, unable to stop himself from wondering if his crime had been exposed, if the police were coming for him.

Only when the sound gradually faded away would he feel at ease.

Murder wasn’t as simple as Zhao Xin had made it sound.

It was at this moment that Tao Feng realized how terrifying Zhao Xin was.

During lunch, Tao Feng still ate with his roommates.

He didn’t know who started the topic, but a few people began talking about the death penalty abolition issue in the West.

“If you ask me, people advocating for the abolition of the death penalty overseas are living too comfortably. They always think they’ll never be the victims.”

“There’s also a group of abolitionists in our country, and they’re pushing to abolish the death penalty.”

Tao Feng’s heart raced. He didn’t dare to say a word and kept his head down, eating, afraid of being noticed.

Another roommate who had been silent all along spoke up. “That was a few years ago. In the past two years, our country has already seen the drawbacks of abolishing the death penalty abroad. Because of it, prison resources are being wasted, and the judicial system is almost becoming a joke. Without the death penalty as a deterrent, their extreme crimes are still on the rise. Anyway, there’s no death penalty, so they do whatever perverted thing they want. And when the time comes, the state will still have to support them, and who knows, they might even live better in prison than they would outside.”

This roommate wasn’t a classmate of the same year. He was preparing to apply for graduate school at Ping City University, and since one of their dorm mates wanted to move out, he rented the bed space.
He was very skilled at socializing, even giving everyone rent money, saying that he wasn’t short on money. Coming to live in the dormitory was partly to experience the pure roommate relationships in university, and partly for the convenience of attending classes, as it would allow him to get to know his future mentor in advance.

This person was well-traveled and knowledgeable, and he got along very well with everyone in the dormitory. What he said naturally carried a lot of weight, and Tao Feng listened seriously.

He continued, “The country isn’t foolish. The former abolitionists have already seen the drawbacks. Haven’t you noticed that more and more people are being sentenced to death now? In the past, they used to say that we were the main base for abolishing the death penalty, but look, last year’s case where a woman was involved in a conspiracy to murder a child, the public was worried that the woman wouldn’t be sentenced to death, but both the first and second trials handed down the death penalty, and the execution was carried out promptly.”

“For such heinous crimes, the death penalty is practically certain.”

Tao Feng immediately thought of his own situation. The words “death penalty” were clearly weighing on his mind. What followed was a scene he had seen in films and TV dramas.

The criminal was strapped to a chair, and the lethal injection began. The needle seemed to pierce through memories and directly entered his veins.

A cold chill ran down his back, his hair stood on end, and his chopsticks couldn’t stop shaking. He quickly put the chopsticks down and said he was full.

“Why are you eating so little today?”

Tao Feng actually wanted to eat more, but his hands were trembling, so he said, “I ate something else in the morning, I’m not hungry now.”

“I’ll wait for you here, you can go ahead and eat.”

His roommates continued chatting, but Tao Feng could no longer pay attention to them.

He tried hard to imagine that when he became a child of the Qian family… At that time, he would do more good deeds… He needed to do more good deeds…

He could donate money to poor mountain areas and build hope schools…

Just like Li Shimin, Li Shimin had come to power illegitimately, killing his own brothers, which was a great sin. But after ascending to the throne, he listened humbly to advice, implemented a series of policies, and ushered in the prosperous reign of Zhenguan, becoming one of the most significant emperors in Chinese history.

This showed that past mistakes should be left behind, and what was more important was one’s actions in the future.

When he became the only heir to the Qian family, he wouldn’t squander his wealth, and he would do more good deeds.

As he thought, he began to feel much more at ease.

At that moment, two people dressed in black walked over and asked, “Are you Tao Feng?”

One of his roommates said, “That’s him.”

Tao Feng was very displeased with his roommate’s behavior.

In the school, people who dressed like this were usually staff members promoting the campus network, and Tao Feng felt impatient, saying, “I don’t need the campus network.”

The other person showed his ID: “We are from the Pingcheng Red Stone Road Police Station. There is a case that requires you to come with us.”

Tao Feng’s mind went blank, and by the time he reacted, he had already tried to run. Just then, a sudden push came from behind, and his body was forced downward, his face slammed onto the floor that had just been mopped in the cafeteria.

A thought flashed through his mind.

Unfair. This is unfair.

Li Xun, a swindler, no one had discovered her.

Zhao Xin, a serial killer, no one had discovered him.

But he, after committing one bad deed, how could he be found out?

———

Elsewhere, the door to Zhao Xin’s house was knocked on.

Zhao Jingzheng was about to open the door.

Zhao Xin asked, “Who is it?”

A familiar old lady’s voice sounded from outside: “It’s me, Zhaozhao’s grandmother. I heard you were moving, and I feel a bit guilty. My relatives just sent some spring bamboo shoots, and I stewed some pork ribs to bring to you.”

It was the neighbor, that old lady.

Zhao Jingzheng opened the door.

As soon as the door opened, two police officers rushed in quickly, one on each side, directly restraining Zhao Xin and pinning him to the table. After confirming he had no dangerous weapons, they cuffed him.

Unlike the situation with Tao Feng, these police officers knew exactly who they were arresting.

Zhao Jingzheng was frightened.

“You… you…”

The lead police officer said, “Zhao Xin, you are suspected of murdering Li Xun. Please cooperate with our investigation.”

Then, seven or eight more police officers entered and began searching the house.

Zhang Mingcai and Sun Ning were also outside, watching the situation in the house.

The two of them weren’t happy, only watching everything unfold. Their lives had been ruined by this person.

The police were searching inside.

They soon arrived at the kitchen. The kitchen was open-plan, connected to the living room, with a Western kitchen Counter, making the space quite cramped.

The captain knocked on the kitchen Counter, which had a marble surface.

“Let’s see if there’s anything inside.”

Zhao Jingzheng watched everything unfold. He wanted to say something, but didn’t know what to say, especially as they started to dismantle the kitchen Counter.

The Counter had been built by his father. At the time, one of his father’s students had a very wealthy family, and on that student’s birthday, they were invited to visit.

When they returned, his father said that the family’s kitchen was nice, so he had decided to build a similar kitchen Counter.

He had never thought much of it, but now, the police were definitely thinking there was something hidden inside.

What was it?

Did they think there was a body inside?

Zhao Jingzheng wasn’t being controlled, but he felt like with so many people in this small living room, the air had been squeezed out, and his breathing started to quicken.

First, the tiles outside, then the cement inside.

Meanwhile, Zhang Mingcai watched everything unfold. The Qian family and other victims’ families had also arrived, and everyone stared at what was happening inside, silent.

Their hearts rose and fell with the sound of the knocking.

Finally, someone said, “There’s something.”

Zhao Jingzheng’s heart completely sank, and everything before him turned grey.

The victim’s families at the door, unable to be stopped by the police, insisted on entering.

“What is it?”

“Let us in.”

“We won’t destroy the scene, we just want to see.”

The kitchen Counter was partially dismantled, revealing what was hidden inside.

It was a fragment of white bones, the bones of a human child.

Their children had, all this time, been living with a murderer.