Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
True is false and false is true. After saying goodbye to Ma Laodan and returning to the hospital, Zhao Yu wrote this sentence in the blank space of the whiteboard.
On the way back, he also searched it on the Internet. Turned out that this sentence had come from Cao Xueqin’s book.
It’s meaning was simple. When you regarded the real thing as illusory, the illusory thing was often more real than the real thing itself.
Zhao Yu looked at the whiteboard carefully and wondered… Is this the side adventure’s hint? Or… Am I overthinking this too much?
However, he thought it over some more and still felt that what this sentence said was very similar to the Devil Case. The Devil Case was quite complicated, confusing, and filled with illusions. As such, it was hard for people to distinguish what was true or false.
“Um… Good…” At this time, Cui Lizhu finished washing her hands and came out from the restroom. She then said to Zhao Yu, “I didn’t expect the hot pot mutton to be so delicious. It’s the most authentic that I’ve ever had!” After saying this, she even let out a hiccup.
“Um… You have to reflect on what you did today!” When Zhao Yu saw Cui Lizhu, he immediately frowned and started to criticize her.
He asked, “How could you throw the bottle at his head? You’re a special investigator! If you had hurt his head badly, how would you have explained that to the department? Don’t forget that you’re still on probation now! You must be more careful! Do you understand?”
“Um… I know… But…” Cui Lizhu, while biting her lip, timidly defended herself, “You don’t know how shameless that fellow was! He ruined me by using money! Alas! It was so bad, I don’t even want to talk about it.”
Zhao Yu then said, “I know the two of you have had a complicated history, but as long as he didn’t commit a crime, you can’t do such at thing to him! Besides, if he had done something really horrible, like killing anyone in your family, we should arrest him and put him in prison! Cui, if Ma Laodan was guilty of something really horrible, the Jinping police wouldn’t let him go unpunished, so…”
Cui Lizhu sighed, then said, “I understand. Although I lost a lot of money, at least nothing worse happened to me! You can rest assured that I will never be so abrupt in my actions in the future!”
Cui Lizhu lowered her eyes in shame, then added with a mysterious tone, “There is only one thing that I can’t understand now…”
“What’s that?” Zhao Yu was curious.
“I heard that you beat up Miao Ying’s father in the hot pot chicken restaurant!” Cui Lizhu exclaimed before she asked with a wicked smile, “I don’t understand… How can you criticize me, when you can’t even control your own temper?”
Zhao Yu stared at Cui Lizhu as he asked, “Little girl, are you tired of living?”
“Hey, I was just kidding!” Cui Lizhu quickly apologized.
Then, as she massaged Zhao Yu’s shoulder and back, she said, “Alright! I will be an honest person in the future! I’ll be as honest as you are!”
Seeing Cui Lizhu acting like a child, Zhao Yu couldn’t go on with his lecture. He could only ask her to concentrate on the massage.
At 9:15 p.m., the doctor changed Zhao Yu’s medicine. Maybe it was because the painkiller had worn off, or perhaps it was because he was tired because he had consumed too much energy that day, but Zhao Yu felt that his ankle in was in so much pain that it was almost unbearable, and he was very uncomfortable.
“What’s this? True is false and false is true?” Cui Lizhu saw the sentence on the whiteboard and asked curiously, “Boss, what does this mean? Do you think that there is anything that we still don’t know about the Devil Case? Hey, are you not so sure about what your violent girlfriend found out?”
Zhao Yu replied earnestly, “It’s not like that. I have asked others about Lang Xiangyang’s personality before, and no one said that he had any psychological problems! Also, we found no supporting evidence at his house. So, I feel that the devil suit in that box came out too abruptly!”
“Devil suit? Psychological problems?” Cui Lizhu wondered aloud. “Why do you think that the murdered had to have psychological problems?”
“Imagine that a person put on the devil suit and the devil mask, then killed more than nine people, all of whom have nothing to do with him, in a short period of time!” Zhao Yu sighed, then added, “Such a person must have mental problems!”
Zhao Yu then explained, “I’ve handled so many cases before, including Li Dan’s hand chopping case, the Qiu Xinyang’s Corpses in the Bank Case, and Li Fei’s Headless Female Corpses Case. The murderers from these cases all had psychological problems. But, Lang Xiangyang… He’s really not like that! He just doesn’t fit the profile.”
“Well… Lang Xiangyang is dead, and we don’t know him. What if he has dual personality disorder or something?” Cui Lizhu asked. “Maybe… In front of people, he is a kind teacher, but behind their backs, he is a cruel devil!”
“If that is true, then the murderer should also have left some evidence. For example, Han Kuan at least drew and left behind those terrible paintings!” While Zhao Yu was thinking hard about this, his phone rang.
It was Zeng Ke. Zhao Yu had been waiting for him to call, so he answered it quickly.
Over the phone, Zeng Ke’s voice was coarse. It seemed as if he was about to announce some sad news as he said, “The devil mask and clothes are handmade, and there are no such products for sale on the market. And, the image of the devil mask is different from the traditional image of the western devil, so it must have also been handmade!”
He quickly added, “That is to say, the devil mask is unique! This must mean that the devil picture found in Zhang Jingru’s documents is absolutely related to the Devil Case!”
“Um… Yes! That makes sense! But, the test results… Um…” Zeng Ke hesitated, then said, “They found no viable fingerprints or dandruff tissue on the devil suit, not Lang Xiangyang’s, not Han Kuan’s, and no one else’s! It was too clean!”
“What?” Zhao Yu was stunned. “Nothing was found? Why?”
Cui Lizhu shook her head in frustration, then said, “I thought that we might close the case tonight, but now it seems that even Lang Xiangyang cannot be convicted! The box was in his basement, but it still did not prove that he had used the box and had worn the clothes.”
Zeng Ke then said, “Yes! Leader Miao is also depressed about this now, so she let me call you!”
“That box…” Zhao Yu pondered the case for a moment, then asked, “How long has it been in the basement of Lang Xiangyang’s apartment?”
“Um… When Ran Tao and I searched the basement, this box, as well as some other stuff from his basement had not been moved for a long time. There was thick dust everywhere! I think that after the old lady got sick, she didn’t move anything in the basement anymore,” Zeng Ke said.
“If the box was not touched by others…” Zhao Yu frowned, then said, “Then, we should be able to collect some valid evidence from the stuff inside it, right?”
Zeng Ke then said, “Yes, but the Forensics Department has already checked all of the stuff several times, yet found nothing of value! What a strange thing! So many years ago, Lang Xiangyang couldn’t have known about the extraction of dandruff tissue as a means to finding evidence and proof of guilt. And… Even if he had cleaned the suit, it couldn’t be so clean that no traces were left behind!”
Zhao Yu sighed, then asked, “Has the basement been sealed off?”
“Yes, but we did leave it unattended!” Zeng Ke answered.
Zhao Yu quickly ordered him, “You must send someone to watch it now! Place them on 24-hour duty, right now!”
“Ah? To the basement?” Zeng Ke didn’t expect this, and he said, “There is nothing worth anything there. After we found the devil suit, we really searched the basement thoroughly!”
“It’s not like that…” Zhao Yu thought for a moment, then said, “I’ll call Gao Facai now and have him send a more professional team over! After all, this is the Devil Case, so it must be treated with the highest standards!”
“Okay! I’ll do that right away!” As soon as he heard that Gao Facai’s team was coming, Zeng Ke immediately recalled the beautiful student, Zhang Peipei, that was among them, and he hung up the phone excitedly.
“No valid evidence has been extracted… Why is the scene so clean?” Zhao Yu wondered aloud.
As he spoke to himself, he suddenly raised his head and saw the words written on the whiteboard: True is false and false is true.
Although there was no valid evidence found on the devil suit, Zhao Yu suddenly felt that he was close to some unknown truth.
“Leader Zhao…” At this time, Officer Wang came over with a pile of papers. “Um… Excuse me, here are the documents regarding Jiang Ke’s case. You need to sign them. I heard from the Provincial Office that they will reward you and your team for your contribution in the robbery situation.”
“Oh? Really? Is there a bonus?” Cui Lizhu smiled, then asked happily, “Officer Wang… How much will I get?”
Zhao Yu suddenly interrupted Cui Lizhu, then said to Officer Wang, “Now, you need to book two tickets to Beiqian immediately! The sooner the better! We are leaving tonight. We don’t need to stay here any longer.”
