Volume One, Chapter 167: Is Justice That Comes Late Still Justice?

Page 1 of 3
[The Zhai Qingqing Case]

“Bzzz…”

The girl had tucked her phone into her waistband, and the notification for an incoming message made the pendant at her waist flash on and off.

It was the most fashionable kind of responsive pendant in Dijing at the time, blinking whenever a call or message came in.

She wore a white blouse, a gray pleated skirt that fell to her ankles, and a red coat over it. Her long hair was braided into two thick plaits—the famous educated-youth style of the era.

When she saw the message, a flicker of delight appeared on her downcast face.

Xi Huannian: “Don’t be unhappy anymore. I happen to have the day off. Would you like to come over and spend some time with me?”

Zhai Qingqing blushed. She had met Xi Huannian in a reading group, and every time they spoke, she could sense the deep refinement and learning he carried with him.

After growing closer bit by bit, the two of them had entered into a romantic relationship.

Xi Huannian was exceptionally thoughtful. He had told her that until their relationship had become completely stable, they should not make it public, or it might damage her reputation.

Zhai Qingqing was only eighteen or nineteen. At that age, when a girl was most susceptible to romance, she had fallen helplessly in love with this stranger she had never met, and longed intensely for the day they would finally see each other.

Yet out of feminine reserve, she still replied:

“It’s rather late today. I’ll come another day.”

Xi Huannian: “Do you remember the book we talked about last time? I finally managed to buy a physical copy a while ago.”

Zhai Qingqing’s heart was deeply stirred. She had always wanted to buy that book, but it was so popular that every shipment sold out as soon as it appeared on the shelves.

She was already beginning to waver.

As though he had sensed her struggle, another message arrived.

“I bought the book several days ago, but I still haven’t unwrapped it. I wanted to enjoy it together with the person I love, so… would you be willing to read it with me?”

A few sweet words were enough to shatter the last of Zhai Qingqing’s defenses.

Her heart pounded wildly. Her face flushed with shyness, and only after a long while did she type with trembling fingers:

“I’m willing!”

Unbeknownst to her, the man on the other end was wearing a cold, triumphant smile.

When she reached the appointed place, Xi Huannian came to pick her up.

Just as Zhai Qingqing had imagined, he was dressed in a black suit, refined and scholarly, with the air of a mature gentleman.

Whenever he looked at her, there was always a faint smile on his lips. The tenderness in his gaze left Zhai Qingqing nearly intoxicated.

She could never have imagined that a man so charming would lead her into eternal ruin…

That night, Xi Huannian personally prepared instant noodles for her.

But after she ate them, she began to feel dizzy…

When consciousness returned, she discovered that both her hands and feet had been bound to a cold metal table. The slightest movement sent a piercing pain surging from her bones through every inch of her body.

Terrified, she looked down—and discovered that her lower body was gone.

She tried to scream, only to realize that her tongue was gone as well.

“Mmm… mmm…”

That was the only sound she could make.

It was also what brought someone from outside.

Tap, tap, tap.

Page 1 of 3

Page 2 of 3

The sound of leather shoes striking the floor rang especially loudly in the darkness.

Zhai Qingqing was already terrified, tears streaming uncontrollably from her eyes.

Click.

The light in the darkness was switched on.

It shone directly above Zhai Qingqing. The harsh white bulb stabbed at her eyes, making her tears flow even more violently.

“You woke up half an hour earlier than I expected.”

As he spoke, the man picked up a white glove he had tossed aside and slowly put it on.

Slap.

Slap.

Slap.

The sound of white rubber gloves brushing against skin filled the air. To Zhai Qingqing, it was like a silent form of torture.

“Mmm! Mmm!”

She shook her head frantically, ignoring the pain in her body. Her eyes were filled with terror and bewilderment.

She could not understand how the man she loved so deeply could suddenly seem to have become an entirely different person.

The man appeared to understand what she meant. He gave a chuckle, and beneath the light, his face twisted into something grotesque and depraved.

“You must be wondering why, aren’t you?”

He tilted his head and smiled.

Zhai Qingqing nodded. Her tears had already run dry. With her eyes swollen and red, she stared at him, desperately hoping to find an answer.

The man was immensely pleased with his handiwork. Throwing back his head, he burst into laughter.

“Do you know? I’ve been fascinated by dissection since I was a child. I’ve dissected puppies, kittens, even rats I found on the street… But I had never dissected a human being.”

He walked over to Zhai Qingqing and gazed admiringly at her lower limbs, severed with unnerving precision.

“Didn’t you say that you loved me more than anyone? Then you should be happy for me! To be dissected by my own hands is an honor!”

The man’s mind had become utterly twisted.

Only then did Zhai Qingqing see the true face of the demon before her.

Unfortunately, by then, it was already too late…

Xi Huannian had drugged her with an anesthetic that left her conscious while numbing her pain.

He made her watch as he used an electric saw to cut off both her hands.

Then he held those hands out before her as though they were priceless treasures.

“Qingqing, look! Aren’t they beautiful? They’re the most beautiful works of art in the world!”

Under that torment, Zhai Qingqing remained alive for six full hours.

For six hours, she felt her body being reduced piece by piece. She felt the man remove her internal organs one by one and throw them into a boiling pot.

At first, he had intended to eat them, but the rancid smell made him retch, so he abandoned the idea.

Wanting his work of art to be seen by more people, he packed the more than two thousand pieces of her body into black plastic bags.

The first bag was thrown into a narrow alley in the city center.

The area was crowded, and before long, a street-sweeping woman discovered the bag of remains.

Page 2 of 3

Page 3 of 3

…

By the time the police began searching for him thoroughly, he had already cleaned up the entire scene and was preparing to leave.

As fate would have it, on the very day he departed, he encountered a young police officer.

The officer asked whether he had seen anyone suspicious.

Although cold sweat had begun to gather in his palms, the man felt a surge of victorious delight inside.

He chatted casually with the young officer, who ultimately found nothing useful and let him go.

He did not dare take a train, where he would have had to register his identity. Instead, he transferred between buses several times, until even he no longer knew where he was going.

His parents had died when he was very young, and he had been placed in an orphanage. The director there was a pedophile, and nearly every child in the orphanage had suffered his abuse.

The other children were luckier than he was. Before long, kindhearted people would adopt them.

But because he was withdrawn and constantly wore a sullen expression, no one was willing to take him in.

So he endured one day and night after another under the director’s torment.

Until…

The director suffered a relapse of his heart disease after being frightened by the perfectly dissected body of a rat and died.

Only then did the nightmare of his early life finally come to an end.

Of course, the rat’s body had been his masterpiece. He also knew that the director suffered from a serious hereditary heart condition. He had even hidden the man’s medication.

That was the first person he had killed…

And the beginning of his murderous career.

Later, he was adopted.

His adoptive parents came from an educated, intellectual family, and it was there that he gained a more systematic theoretical education.

Although his adoptive parents treated him extremely well, the murderous blood sleeping within him was never extinguished. On the contrary, the more it was suppressed, the more fiercely it yearned to erupt.

Later still, his adoptive parents died unexpectedly in a car accident.

He became like a horse that had broken free of its reins. Nothing could restrain him anymore…

—

Qin Yu watched the stream fill with messages of gratitude, but there was little happiness on her face. She was thinking:

Could delayed justice truly be called justice?

Afterward, Qin Yu did not hail a taxi, because Zhao Xiaodao was the one who arrived. He immediately offered to drive her home.

The place was too remote, and finding a taxi would have been difficult, so Qin Yu accepted without hesitation.

During the drive, Zhao Xiaodao’s admiration for Qin Yu flowed like an endless river.

Mu Ling’s expression twitched twice.

The boy certainly had a way with words.

Page 3 of 3