Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The level of the interrogation was obviously different for this case. The higher ups from the Nanjiang Provincial Office and the Bai Ling Police Station never thought that there would be a day that the suspect of the Headless Female Corpses Case in Jinzhong would be interrogated within their area of jurisdiction!
Although the Bai Ling Police Station had the biggest interrogation room, there was still a sea of people to be accommodated. This resulted in an overflow, as people were both inside the room, as well as lining the corridors outside of the room.
In the monitoring room, Division Chief Jiao Guofeng, who had the highest rank, naturally took the seat that was right in the middle. The other higher ups and professional technical staff were seated around her. In the end, only the bureau chief of the Bai Ling Police Station managed to squeeze into the room, while the other higher ups could only wait outside.
Meanwhile, in the interrogation room, Zhao Yu, who led the special investigation group was, naturally the leader in charge of the interrogation, while Wu Xiumin assisted him. Zeng Ke was in charge of recording the confession, and Ran Tao was in charge of passing on any relevant information during the proceedings.
As Cui Lizhu was heavily connected with the case and knew about the related secret insights of the thieves, Zhao Yu had requested that she also be in the interrogation room to assist Wu Xiumin especially. When everything was ready, the unprecedented interrogation finally began!
Surprisingly, although Zhao Yu was prepared to fight a tough war, Li Fei’s interrogation went unexpectedly smooth. Comparatively, it was even smoother than any ordinary case!
Before the interrogation took place, the psychologist Wu Xiumin had already communicated with Li Fei. Not only did Li Fei became emotionally stable, he was already prepared to plead guilty. He didn’t hide, but readily admitted his crime.
Hence, after the interrogation began, Li Fei started telling his story straightforwardly. More surprisingly, Li Fei started from the very beginning of the story, which almost covered his entire life. Although his description was inconsequential and somewhat jumbled, it still stirred the emotions of all the listeners present.
While Zhao Yu listened, he shook his head continuously. Although he had gotten the ending right, the specific details of the entire story and the emotional experience of the serial killer were vastly different than what Zhao Yu had first supposed.
“That old house was where our master took us in,” Li Fei said. “Back then, there were a few other kids that came from nowhere, just like me. Master and his wife took care of us, but in the end, there was only me and Tao Xiang left. Actually, Tao Xiang was the name that he gave himself after he gained fame. His original name was…Mm…. I don’t guess that’s important anymore…”
He sighed, then continued. “I am slightly older than Tao Xiang, but I have no idea how much older exactly! “We don’t even know our zodiac signs! You saw that the old house was right next to the cemetery, and it was located in a remote place. But, as it was not far from the city, it made for a very suitable lair!”
“Ever since we toddlers, Tao Xiang and I had been trained by Master strictly. From the minute we were out of diapers, we learned how to steal. You don’t know what we went through and how we survived the ordeal! If we were to not perform well enough, we would be beaten badly, especially by the wicked old lady!” he said with wide eyes.
“She’s sick! During every thievery lesson, she seemed like she was just waiting for us to make a mistake so that she could satisfy her abusive addiction, punching, kicking, and caning us with steel rods. She even used cigarette butts to burn us, a knife to cut us, and she even scalded us with boiling water.” Li Fei was obviously getting emotional, as he started pausing in between his sentences, while he was choked with sobs.
Judging from how he was behaving, the abuse that he experienced was unimaginable. As Wu Xiumin was experienced in these things, she immediately beckoned for everyone to remain silent and give Li Fei some time to calm himself down.
“If I took off my clothes, you would see…” Tears welled up in Li Fei’s eyes as he spoke emotionally. “Sixty years… Yet those scars will never go away.”
Li Fei sobbed for a while before he continued his story. “Tao Xiang got it even worse than I did, too. One time, our master’s wife even caused damage to his “particular place,” and he lost his manly functions ever since that time!”
“Ahh…” Cui Lizhu exclaimed in surprise. She never thought that Tao Xiang had lost his manly functions like that!
“However, Tao Xiang was stronger than I was, as he endured the hardship and stayed on to pick up master’s unique skills!” Li Fei continued. “But, it was different for me! The inhuman abuse caused a severe mental trauma in my head. I couldn’t complete the training every time, so in the end, whenever I followed master out for work, I could only be a footman and serve as a lookout for enemies. I had obviously became useless!”
He shook his head, clearly lost in his memories. “Consequently, the frequency of my getting beaten became even higher after that. The master’s wife got more and more brutal too! It’s not that master didn’t know about her bad habit, but he ignored it. In the end, I found out that the master’s wife had a hidden illness that rendered her unable to conceive children! But, that was not our faults, so why would she mistreat us like that?”
He shook his head sadly. “Once master realized that I was useless, he took in more kids. In the end, he only kept two of them. The male’s surname was Cui, while the female’s surname was Du. Both of them were Tao Xiang’s and my’s Third Bro and Fourth Sis. According to master, they were more suitable to join the industry, as if they were to practice well, they would most likely be quite good at it!”
He sighed, then continued his story. “Although the two of them were much younger than Tao Xiang and I, we considered ourselves lucky to finally have companions. We were all very tight, like a real family. Fourth Sis was very pretty, and as us three guys had never really seen any other woman, we especially liked her the most. Whenever there was anything good or delicious to have, we would save it for her!”
He smiled for the first time, finally hitting one, albeit small, happy memory. Soon, the smile faded as he said, “However, no matter who it was, no one would be able to escape the witch’s evil hands. Every few days, she would find an excuse to beat us up, even Third Bro and Fourth Sis! Then, only Tao Xiang was doing well, as his skills got better and better. So, master would always bring Tao Xiang with him whenever he headed out on a job.”
He sighed. “Later on, maybe because master had more money by then, he got us a lair that was nearer to the city. He even covered up the place, making it appear to be a shop that sold aluminium alloy doors and windows. That year, I’m not sure if I was 17,18, or 19. Honestly, I maybe wasn’t even 16 yet.”
Li Fei continued to take a stroll down memory lane and said, “Then, master took in another two disciples. In chronological order, one one was fifth and another one was sixth. But, the two of them seemed to be his disciples only in name. They only came to learn his skills, but never stayed in the shop. So, they didn’t know about the “special habit” of the master’s wife!”
Li Fei let out a sigh yet again. “But, Third Bro, Fourth Sis, and I knew that, although our wealth and living standards got better, the special habit of the master’s wife never got better, but only got worse! Then, I have no idea about this menopause stuff, but later on, when I think back, the witch happened to be in her menopausal period too, which couldn’t have helped things.”
He got an angry look all of a sudden as he said, “The way she mistreated us was pushing us to the edge! It’s fine if she was only doing it to Third Bro and I. But, there was a day that I saw her strip Fourth Sis naked and wanted to pour a kettle of hot water on her chest! Fourth Sis was shivering in fear, but dared not fight back. She didn’t even cry or scream. What’s more, she was only 13! She was really frightened!”
His eyes teared up a bit as he said, “As I was scalded with boiling water by master’s wife when I was young, I knew that if Fourth Sis were to really be scalded with boiling water, her life would be ruined! So, I have no idea where my courage came from, but I dashed over and pushed master’s wife away, causing the kettle to immediately fall on the ground! After the witch got up, she suddenly started fighting with me. Although I was a teenaged young man, my body was weak, so I was easily pushed onto the ground very quickly!”
His eyes grew wide as he recalled the vivid memory. “Then, she took a shovel and slammed it down on me! Then, she looked as though she was crazy as she hit my head and body furiously with it, over and over! She looked like she wanted to beat me to death!”
Tears pricked at his eyes again as he struggled to continue. “I was knocked senseless, my face was covered in blood, and as such, I could barely feel the pain anymore. But, right after I came to seconds later, I suddenly realized that the witch had finally stopped!”
He paused for a moment, catching his breath, then said, “It wasn’t until I wiped away the blood on my face and turned around that I saw there was a pair of fire tongs on the witch’s neck! That pair of fire tongs went clean through her throat and her fell onto the ground, while her blood flowed out of her neck like a river!”
