Chapter 506: She Took Everything from Me

Zhang Jinlei continued to resist. “Just because I don’t have an alibi doesn’t mean I’m the killer. This is slander!”

Chen Shi shook his head. “Your problem isn’t that you don’t have an alibi; it’s that you can’t prove where you were during the critical times the killer was active. So, if you were in my position, what would you think?”

“I… I refuse to answer.”

“Exercising your right to remain silent, huh? Unfortunately, you don’t have that right.” Chen Shi smiled. “Fine, on the night of the 7th, you were at the bar drinking a bottle of Red Label. Then you drove away in a car registered to your mother. This car was spotted at the scene where the body was dumped. How do you explain that?”

“How could I kill anyone? How could I kill her? We had just gotten into a prestigious university and were about to be happy together. Why would I kill her?”

“You’re right. You didn’t kill her!” Chen Shi raised his voice, startling even Lin Qiupu. He stared into Zhang Jinlei’s eyes and said, “You killed other girls. Your motive? Unbelievable even to me. Every year on the Qixi Festival, you replicated her death to ensure the police would continue investigating until the real killer was found. You never considered that the girls you sacrificed to draw attention also had families. One girl’s sister began her own investigation, and when she got too close to the truth, you killed her too. This mistake exposed your cover.”

“How is this possible?” Lin Qiupu whispered in disbelief.

Zhang Jinlei swallowed hard. “Do you have any evidence?”

“We will soon. For now, you can sit here and think about it.” Chen Shi signaled to Lin Qiupu, and they both left the interrogation room. Lin Qiupu asked, “Is this true? Or just a wild guess? If this is his motive, it’s beyond absurd!”

“Don’t worry. The evidence is on its way.”

While Zhang Jinlei and Xiao Ran were being brought in, the police were searching their residence, a move Chen Shi had orchestrated.

In the other interrogation room, Lin Dongxue dropped a bombshell. “I visited your alma mater and found out you scored over 500 points on your college entrance exam, enough to get into a top university. But you chose to enroll in a third-tier university.”

“It’s my choice where I want to go to school!” Xiao Ran said, looking down.

“Coincidentally, this third-tier university was initially chosen by Yan Qilin, which Zhang Jinlei intended to attend despite his family’s objections. But over the summer, Zhang’s family made a compromise, securing a special admission for Yan Qilin at a top university, so Zhang Jinlei followed his family’s wishes. You, on the other hand, had to settle for the third-tier university.”

Xiao Ran’s hands clenched, revealing her inner tension.

“I called the third-tier university. You received the admission letter but never attended. Instead, you worked in Long’an City until you started living with Zhang Jinlei.”

Xiao Ran looked up. “I admit, I secretly changed my application. When I heard Zhang Jinlei wasn’t going, I didn’t go either.”

“It seems you loved him deeply. Yet, every time we met, you appeared so magnanimous. Your best friend and the man you loved got together, and you just cried silently without saying anything.”

“What could I do?” Xiao Ran shouted. “He was captivated by Yan Qilin. I couldn’t win him back. If I didn’t act high and mighty, should I go around complaining like a pathetic woman?”

Lin Dongxue said, “You just pretended to be magnanimous. In reality, you were helping Zhang’s family break them up. You were there when Yan Qilin was almost arrested as a street girl. But we heard another version: you were the one who pushed her into that situation.”

Xiao Ran gritted her teeth. “So what if I did? Even then, Yue Chao came to her rescue. No matter what, there were always guys willing to do anything for her while I could only be secretly jealous.”

Lin Dongxue paused. “So you killed her?”

Xiao Ran’s eyes widened. “I didn’t…”

Lin Dongxue placed a piece of paper in front of her. “This is a document from your workplace. The handwriting on it matches the numbers written on Yan Qilin’s arm. We had it analyzed.”

“That’s impossible! Impossible!” Xiao Ran reached for the paper, desperate to see it for herself.

Lin Dongxue pulled it back. “Yan Qilin’s phone records show you called her twice the day she died. You claimed you just wanted to hang out. But your classmates said you hardly interacted with her during that time. Reviewing the old case files, we found a small detail: you were the first to arrive at the crime scene and the first to call Zhang Jinlei and Yue Chao. It made sense to call Zhang Jinlei, but why Yue Chao? Because you wrote those numbers on her arm, numbers related to Yue Chao. The police didn’t figure it out back then, but even Yue Chao himself mentioned it later. It was your childish attempt to frame him.”

“I… I have an alibi for every year! How can you suspect me?”

“I’m not saying you committed the later murders. I’m saying you killed Yan Qilin. Despite your hatred for her, you visited her grave every year out of guilt.”

Under the relentless questioning, Xiao Ran’s mental state finally crumbled. She looked at her hands and said, “I hated her! She took Zhang Jinlei from me and then my chance to attend university. During the summer, she pretended to be kind, telling me she and Jinlei planned to attend the third-tier university together. I foolishly gave up my spot at a top university, changing my application to follow her. Later, I found out Zhang’s family had secured a special admission for her at a top university. She wanted to ditch me forever! Why did she take everything from me? She took everything, so I…”

“So you killed her?”

Xiao Ran was speechless, tears streaming down her face. She looked at Lin Dongxue, who stared back with intense pressure. It was the final straw that broke her.

“I originally just wanted to talk to her and clear things up. You’ll never understand what she was like in private. She always acted as if she deserved the best, and everyone else was just there to serve her. I lost my temper and slashed her with a box cutter from my pocket, yelling, ‘Shut up!’ When I realized what I’d done, she was on the ground, bleeding. I was terrified but also exhilarated. For the first time, she looked helpless and pathetic in front of me. I picked up a bag of salt and poured it on her, wanting her to suffer more. At that moment, I felt triumphant. But the real nightmare began after that. The police were everywhere, and I was terrified they’d find out. I started having nightmares, seeing her bloody figure demanding my life. Even after getting together with Jinlei, I could feel he never truly saw me. His eyes always held only her! She won. She became the perfect memory, and I was just a pathetic replacement.”