“I can’t understand it either!” Wei Youtai’s eyes were bloodshot, his entire body trembling. “I don’t understand why I was so weak back then, why I couldn’t reach out and help him! I could have helped him! Feng Feng had money. Didn’t I have money too? I could have helped him…”
Wei dropped to his knees and pounded both hands against the floor, then struck his forehead against it as well. “I looked down on him because I thought he was weak, but I was the weak one! I was afraid that if I admitted I knew him, everyone would laugh at me and exclude me. They’d say, ‘You actually have a friend like that?’ Feng Feng would definitely have kicked me out of the group too. Back then, I thought being a delinquent, hitting people, making everyone listen to me gave me an incredible sense of accomplishment. If they had thrown me out, how was I supposed to live?”
Those words sounded absurd now. Even Wei himself began laughing miserably. “We buried Hao Le. I didn’t even know what I was doing. Feng Feng told me it was an accident, that none of us had wanted Hao Le to die, and that from then on we shouldn’t contact each other. Hao Le had no family and no friends. No one would report him missing. We were safe. When Feng Feng said we should stop seeing one another, do you know what I felt? Relief. I was finally going to escape being a delinquent. I was free!”
Wei began coughing dryly and struck his head against the floor again. “I stopped mixing with those delinquents. My mom and the others were thrilled and found me a job right away. Overnight, I became someone completely different. Feng Feng, Ke Shuer, all of them started new lives too. I didn’t dare think about what happened that day. I didn’t dare think about Hao Le. All these years, my career has looked pretty successful, but he tortured me every second of every day!”
Chen Zheng said, “How does a dead man torture you?”
“I dreamed about him constantly! The second my mind wandered, I saw him falling!” Wei screamed hysterically. “He was covered in blood, his skull smashed to pieces, his neck crooked. He asked why I didn’t save him. He asked whether I smelled like fish again. He asked why I hadn’t avenged him! I couldn’t take it. I couldn’t take it anymore!”
Chen Zheng said, “So Hao Le told you to kill someone?”
As though he heard the mockery in Chen Zheng’s tone, Wei froze. He straightened, opened his mouth several times, then covered his face and shook his head. “No. No.”
“Then what was it?”
“It was Feng Feng. He had forgotten the crime he committed!”
Hao Le had been dead for ten years. The teenagers who had once stood helplessly over a corpse were now seasoned adults in the workplace. Their agreement never to see one another again had become like a rusted lock or a book soaked through by rain, something that would crumble with the slightest touch.
Over the past two years, Wei occasionally ran into Feng Feng. He also heard about Ke Shuer from him. Those two were already well into adulthood, yet they had started carrying on a secret affair. Feng Feng had a girlfriend at the time, and Ke Shuer was dating a man who worked at a bank. Apparently the danger was part of the thrill.
No one ever mentioned Hao Le. No one mentioned why they had gone their separate ways. It was as if none of them had ever gone to Xuebu Mountain, as if Hao Le had never existed in the world at all.
Feng Feng traveled constantly because of his photography work and knew people from all walks of life. From time to time he sent business Wei’s way. Wei was always polite to him, and gradually Feng Feng started putting on his old “big brother” airs around him again.
Wei did not mind humoring him, but every time he saw Feng Feng, he inevitably thought of Hao Le. Finally, one day after drinking, Wei said, “Maybe we should stop seeing each other so much. That thing… it’s still stuck in my head.”
Feng Feng stared at him blankly. “What thing?”
Wei felt as if he had been struck by lightning. What happened to Hao Le was the secret all of them were supposed to bury forever. How could Feng Feng ask what he meant in such a casual tone?
Unease and anger surged through him, like ten thousand ants crawling across his skin.
“What’s wrong?” Feng Feng asked as though nothing were wrong. “Why are you looking at me like I’m your enemy?”
“Hao Le,” Wei said. “Did you forget what happened to Hao Le?”
Feng Feng set down his glass and seemed to remember. Wei breathed a sigh of relief, but then Feng Feng said, “A guy whose bones might already have turned to dust can still scare you like this? You… after all these years, how did you get even more timid?”
“You… what do you mean?” Wei struggled desperately to suppress his anger.
Feng Feng shrugged. “It was over a long time ago. We’re safe. Why are you still thinking about it? Hao Le… that was his name, right? Listen. We watched him fall to his death with our own eyes, buried him with our own hands. Who told him to be so weak? Maybe wild animals dug him up and ate him years ago. We’re innocent. Don’t let a dead man ruin the life you have now.”
Wei’s ears began to ring. Whatever Feng Feng said after that no longer reached him clearly.
From that day on, Wei dreamed of Hao Le almost every night. Hao Le cried as wild animals tore the flesh from his body piece by piece. Wei fled desperately through the dream, but Hao Le followed him like a shadow, his voice light and drifting yet wrapping around him like chains.
“Have you forgotten how I died? How can all of you just forget?”
Wei screamed, “I didn’t forget! Feng Feng is the one who forgot!”
Blood-red tears streamed from Hao Le’s eyes as he stared at Wei with hollow sockets. “Then avenge me.”
It was as though Wei could hear nothing but those words. He even went to a fortune-teller, who told him the voice he heard was actually the voice of his own heart. If he refused to follow what his heart truly wanted, he would never find peace in this lifetime.
“I… I didn’t want to kill anyone, but I had no choice!” Wei Youtai began crying again.
The thought of revenge had first appeared last year, but Wei never knew how to carry it out. Then, in August, Feng Feng suddenly told him he would be traveling north to Wanjun Mountain to photograph the autumn scenery.
Wanjun Mountain was famous for its autumn landscapes, and Feng Feng was a landscape photographer, so Wei initially thought nothing of it. But Feng Feng laughed and said, “That mountain’s pretty similar to Xuebu Mountain over here. Influencers really will risk their lives for views. They even want footage of someone falling off the mountain. They’re putting my technique to the test.”
Wei’s heart began pounding violently.
Sure enough, Feng Feng continued, “Good thing I’ve got experience. Never jumped myself, but I’ve seen someone else do it. Guess all that money I spent on Hao Le finally turned out to be useful for something.”
Wei ran to the bathroom and vomited until there was nothing left in his stomach. Staring at himself in the mirror, he finally made the decision to take revenge.
Feng Feng’s work trip to Wanjun Mountain was an opportunity sent by heaven. Feng Feng had no team of his own and was traveling alone. Even though the client’s crew had many people, Feng Feng would inevitably be alone at some point. Wanjun Mountain was also far from Zhuquan. If Feng Feng died there, the police would have difficulty tracing the case back to Zhuquan.
The problem was how to reach Wanjun Mountain without anyone knowing. He could not take public transportation if he wanted to leave no trail. Driving would take considerable time, and he would have to choose old roads whenever possible. If he stopped going to the restaurant for too long, people would inevitably become suspicious.
After thinking it over repeatedly, he decided to take annual leave on the excuse of back pain and recuperate at the family property in Huangqun Township. Huangqun Township was backward, remote, and located at the northern edge of Han Province. Wanjun Mountain was much closer from Huangqun County than from Zhuquan.
He needed to create the impression that he had remained in Huangqun Township the entire time. On the very first day, he conspicuously invited local young people over for mahjong and hot pot. His own car had to remain in Huangqun Township, preferably with someone else driving it, providing even stronger witness testimony. The car he actually used had to be a local Huangqun vehicle.
Even before arriving in Huangqun Township, he had already selected the township’s invisible man, Xi Xiaoyong. If laziness was practically part of Huangqun Township’s atmosphere, then Xi Xiaoyong was lazy down to his bones. Because of gambling, he had already lost most of what his parents left him. If he kept losing money, he might soon have to sell his house.
A gambler was the easiest person to control. Wei quickly negotiated the car purchase with Xi Xiaoyong and offered another generous condition: as long as Xi kept his mouth shut, not only would Wei pay him hush money this time, but whenever Xi needed money in the future, Wei would do his best to fill the gap.
Xi Xiaoyong agreed eagerly.
Wei loaned his own car to A-Zhong, conspicuously bought enough groceries for a week, and announced that he was unwell and would spend the next several days resting at home. Late at night, he quietly drove Xi Xiaoyong’s car away and left Huangqun Township by a back road, heading directly toward Wanjun City.
Feng Feng took the photography project seriously, but inexplicable anonymous phone calls and messages disrupted all his plans. A mechanically altered male voice said over the phone, “I know what you did on Xuebu Mountain ten years ago. Stop your work and come to Heiwen Town to meet me. If you don’t, I’ll hand the evidence over to the police.”
Feng Feng was shocked. “Who are you?”
The mechanical voice said, “You haven’t forgotten that you saw someone else in the woods that day, have you?”
Feng Feng felt as though he had fallen into an ice cellar.
The anonymous caller was Wei Youtai, using an expensive overseas relay. He never expected a single threat to make Feng Feng take the bait. He had plenty of time, and before killing Feng Feng, there was still a great deal of preparation to complete.
His original plan was to kill Feng Feng on Wanjun Mountain. Hao Le had died in the mountains, and Wei wanted Feng Feng to experience the agony of falling from a cliff, then have his remains buried deep in the mountains, undiscovered for decades.
But after examining the area in person, Wei realized that would not work. The client’s entire shoot was taking place on Wanjun Mountain. If Feng Feng disappeared, the police would search Wanjun Mountain first. There was no guarantee they would not discover something.
While continuing to provoke Feng Feng, Wei traveled to Heiwen Town on the opposite side of Wanjun Mountain. Although Heiwen Town and Weizhao County both fell under Wanjun City, the mountain between them meant their customs and economies were very different. Heiwen Town had a factory that had been abandoned for years. It stood far from the new town center, and because a worker had once killed himself there, the locals considered the place unlucky and strictly forbade children from going near it.
The moment Wei saw it, he thought the factory was the perfect graveyard. All he had to do was wait there for Feng Feng to bite.
At first, Feng Feng did not react the way Wei wanted. Wei continued sending anonymous messages. “Do you know Zeng Yan has already paid the price? The current ‘Zeng Yan’ isn’t the Zeng Yan from back then.”
Wei had not known about the “Zeng Yan” situation before. Of their old group, Zeng Yan was the one who had truly cut off all contact with everyone. It was only after Wei began planning his revenge against Feng Feng that he started observing his former “accomplices” and discovered that the woman selling cold dishes was no longer the Zeng Yan he remembered. He did not know what had happened, nor did he need to know. This shocking revelation was certain to affect Feng Feng’s judgment, and that was enough.
Sure enough, Feng Feng could no longer continue the shoot. He was willing to pay compensation rather than stay and immediately set out to find Wei. Wei knew Feng Feng was coming to silence him.
The fish had finally taken the bait.
Wei contacted Feng Feng as himself, sounding utterly panicked. “Brother Feng, did… did you get a call?”
Feng Feng understood immediately. “You got one too?”
“I… I did. He told me to go to Heiwen Town and meet… meet him! Who the hell was that person in the woods that day? What are we going to do, Brother Feng?”
“You’re here too? Perfect. There are two of us. What are you scared of?”
“Zeng Yan… Is Zeng Yan really dead? Then who is the current ‘Zeng Yan’?”
“No idea. We’ll deal with it when we get back to Zhuquan.”
“Are we going back now?”
Feng Feng gave a cold laugh. “Of course not. We solve this problem first.”
Wei dropped to the ground. “Then… what do we do?”
Feng Feng toyed with the dagger in his hand. “Simple. Doesn’t he want to report us? Make sure he can never speak again.”
Not long afterward, both of them received another message. Feng Feng was instructed to go to the abandoned factory, while Wei was told to go to a warehouse outside town.
After reading Wei’s message, Feng Feng laughed. “He’s deliberately separating us so he can deal with us one at a time. Even more reason not to play along. I’ll go to the factory. You come with me.”
Wei looked on the verge of wetting himself. “But he told me to go to the warehouse. If I don’t…”
Feng Feng glared viciously at him. “Who exactly are you listening to?”
“You. You, of course!”
After all that fear, Wei appeared weak and insisted on eating a bowl of noodles before they left. Feng Feng was hungry too, so they found a roadside stall. Wei went to the tobacco shop next door and bought water and cigarettes. Feng Feng suspected nothing. After finishing his noodles, he smoked while waiting for the slower Wei to finish eating.
Before nightfall, they set out for the abandoned factory. Feng Feng had already begun feeling unwell on the road. Wei kept muttering, “Brother Feng, if you don’t feel right, maybe we should just forget this. I’m not short on money right now. I can pay him.”
The more Wei said this, the more determined Feng Feng became to settle everything that very day. The abandoned factory stood in what was now practically wilderness, deserted even during daylight, much less around sunset.
Feng Feng’s vision blurred. By the time he finally realized he might have been drugged, it was too late. Before collapsing into the grass, he stared at Wei Youtai in shock. Wei dropped the cowardly, frightened act and finally revealed the cold intent to kill in his eyes.
Wei quickly bound Feng Feng to a cart he had prepared in advance. As the last glow of sunset disappeared, he slapped Feng Feng twice and woke him. “Wake up, Brother Feng. Take a good look at the sunset. It’s the last one you’ll ever see.”
Feng Feng tried to struggle, but the drug had already drained his strength. He was just like Hao Le lying helpless in the mud all those years ago, completely at another person’s mercy.
“You… you…” Feng Feng glared furiously at Wei. “It was you!”
“Yes. It was me.” Wei planted a foot on Feng Feng’s chest. “Every call and every message came from me. After all these years, you still think I’m the same little underling who used to run errands for you? It never occurred to you that I might be lying? You’re too arrogant. You deserve everything that brought you here.”
Feng Feng’s eyes seemed to be asking why.
“Because Hao Le is a thorn buried in my heart!” Wei jabbed violently at his own chest, his eyes bloodshot. “He helped me, and I was too afraid to even admit I knew him. I helped you push him toward his death! There hasn’t been a single day when I forgot what we did to him, but you forgot everything! How dare you talk to me about Wanjun Mountain being like Xuebu Mountain? Go to hell!”
Wei kicked the cart. Feng Feng let out a muffled cry as he plunged through the air, crashing onto the concrete with the fragile wooden board beneath him. The wood splintered apart, and thick blood spread beneath Feng Feng.
He did not die immediately. When Wei reached the ground floor, Feng Feng still reached out uselessly, trying to catch the hem of Wei’s pants. Wei retreated step by step and, beneath the pitch-black sky, heard the long final sound of Feng Feng’s last breath leaving him.
The terrace remained silent for a long time. Wei closed his eyes, as though savoring the memory of killing Feng Feng.
Chen Zheng asked, “What about ‘Zeng Yan’? Who killed her?”
Wei’s eyelids twitched violently. “Not me! I only discovered that the current ‘Zeng Yan’ wasn’t the Zeng Yan from before. I used that to threaten Feng Feng. I never planned to do anything to ‘Zeng Yan,’ and I never thought about killing her!”
Chen Zheng laughed softly. “Looks like the fake Zeng Yan suddenly being murdered was the biggest variable in your plan.”
Wei lowered his head for a moment, then smiled helplessly. “Yes. Feng Feng died so far away. If the fake Zeng Yan hadn’t suddenly died for no apparent reason, you never would’ve traced anything back to No. 2 Middle School. If you didn’t investigate the school, you’d never have learned about Xuebu Mountain. You’d never have found me.”
He looked up at the sky, tears sliding from the corners of his eyes. “Heaven’s will. Feng Feng being found was heaven’s will too.”
Haltingly, he explained that this had only been a missing-person case. Wanjun police never would have launched such an extensive search all the way to the far side of Wanjun Mountain if Zhuquan police had not pressed them. Heaven had played another joke on him. A factory abandoned for who knew how many years was suddenly visited by a group of outdoor content creators, and they discovered the body he had buried.
“Maybe Hao Le’s spirit never wanted me to avenge him by staining my hands with another life. He was a good person. He always was. But good people die young…” Wei wept silently. “Once the body was found, I knew I couldn’t hide anymore. That’s why I waited here for you. Once I finish telling what happened back then, I’ll end everything and jump from here.”
He rose unsteadily and started toward the railing.
“Did you really avenge Hao Le?” Chen Zheng’s voice was cold as a hidden blade.
Wei stopped abruptly and stared in shock at the phone outside the glass doors.
“Hao Le is nothing more than an excuse you found for yourself, something you can use to move yourself and stir public opinion,” Chen Zheng said. “That’s the real reason you insisted on climbing up to a rooftop today and demanded a livestream.”
Wei’s pupils trembled. “What… what are you talking about?”
“I’m asking you, if you truly wanted to avenge Hao Le, why did you wait ten years? You always knew who caused his death, but you didn’t act until this year.”
Wei shouted, “I already told you! Feng Feng forgot! Not only did he forget, he turned Hao Le into a joke! I spent all these years tortured by my conscience. I couldn’t take it anymore!”
“Another question. You wanted revenge against Feng Feng. You couldn’t even be bothered to touch ‘Zeng Yan,’ so why play games with Ke Shuer? You were the one making those anonymous calls, weren’t you? You frightened her until she became paranoid. Was that your way of punishing her too? Because she stood by and did nothing back then, yet now she’s still secretly involved with Feng Feng?”
Wei trembled. “She wasn’t innocent either! She deserved to pay!”
Chen Zheng said calmly, “But your real purpose wasn’t to make her pay. It was to have her draw police attention for you.”
Wei stood completely still, like a post slowly rotting in place.
“Didn’t expect me to know that?” Chen Zheng laughed quietly. “Let me guess the real reason you killed Feng Feng.”
“Because of your agreement ten years ago, all of you had long since left one another’s lives and kept to yourselves. Maybe you occasionally thought about Hao Le and felt guilty, but your life still had to continue. You weren’t going to throw away everything you had now for Hao Le, just as you weren’t willing to risk being mocked by your delinquent friends for him back then. You never changed.”
“But after so many years, all of you knew Hao Le’s death could no longer easily come back on you, so you relaxed. Feng Feng and Ke Shuer started fooling around together again. As for you… You told us yourself that Feng Feng knew a lot of people and sent plenty of business your way. With his personality, I imagine he still treated you like his underling whenever it suited him?”
Wei’s expression changed instantly. It was as though Chen Zheng had struck the secret he least wanted exposed. He erupted in fury. “What do you know? You’re making things up!”
“Would my nonsense make you react like that?” Chen Zheng continued. “Feng Feng still treated you as an underling, but you’re nearly thirty and you’re a business owner now. How could you be willing to keep getting ordered around? Something happened between you two around the point when you deliberately brought up Hao Le. Did Feng Feng humiliate you? Did he say something that suddenly wounded your pride? That was when your desire to kill him exploded. You wanted him dead.”
Wei shook his head. “No! Nothing happened!”
“You made careful preparations for murder, including arranging for practically the entire Huangqun Township to provide you with an alibi. But you were still worried about what would happen if everything came to light. That’s when you began preparing for the worst-case scenario. The police identify you as the killer, but you can give yourself a moving motive.”
Wei stumbled backward, stunned.
“That motive was Hao Le. You knew that if you were arrested and told police you were avenging your dearest friend, then had your lawyer reveal the story to the media, your motive would win you an unimaginable amount of public sympathy. Of course you wouldn’t be acquitted, but if you’ve studied criminal law, you know sentences come within a range. Public opinion could help push yours toward the lighter end.”
“As for Ke Shuer, she’s emotionally unstable and simple-minded, and she also witnessed Hao Le’s death. You frightened her, knowing her extreme reaction would make the police focus on her first. You wanted the police to think Ke Shuer was the person closest to this case, while calm, composed Wei Youtai was merely some unlucky bystander dragged into the investigation.”
Wei rushed toward the glass doors, hatred filling his eyes. “You’re slandering me! I killed Feng Feng to avenge Hao Le!”
Chen Zheng abruptly changed tack and calmly held up a brown bottle.
The instant Wei saw it, his eyes nearly split with rage.
“This is one of the health drinks you gave Xi Xiaoyong. His health seems to have gotten worse after drinking them,” Chen Zheng said. “A sample has already been sent for testing. Feng Feng may not be the only person you tried to murder.”
Wei completely lost control. He backed away, shaking his head, then abruptly spun around and ran toward the railing.
He was going to jump.
Just as his hands seized the railing, an agile figure shot up from outside it like lightning and dragged Wei’s half-suspended body back onto the terrace.
Click. Handcuffs locked around his wrist. Ming Han, backlit by the sky, looked down at the struggling Wei Youtai. “If you’re a bad actor, don’t get so carried away with the role. You were really going to jump?”