Zhuang Yanzheng glanced at Su Miaoyi, whose gaze had grown distant, then turned his head to find Feng Ming trembling.
He abruptly yanked Feng Ming to his feet. "What do you think you’re doing?!"
Feng Ming had just started to resist when he was pulled up, and his shaking intensified. "I-I-I didn’t do anything. I want to see my daughter. I just want to see her."
"Qi Feng, get both of them out of here!" Zhuang Yanzheng yelled.
Qi Feng and several other officers immediately dragged them out.
The pair continued to pull, struggle, and wail.
But Su Miaoyi showed no reaction at all.
The scene before her eyes had changed to a notebook.
She felt herself huddled in a corner, her back against a cold wall.
A notebook rested on her lap, and she held a blue pen, scrawling crooked words onto the page.
Xiang Lianlian, hang on, don’t die! The people who bullied you aren’t dead yet! You can’t die! Don’t even think about dying. You can’t go crazy, either. There has to be a way out. There has to be. The proof of everyone’s crimes is in here. As long as I find a way to get out, none of them will escape!
Suddenly, footsteps echoed.
She clipped the pen inside the notebook and quickly stuffed it under the bedframe...
The wail of an ambulance siren sounded, pulling Su Miaoyi from the vision. She looked at the scene before her...
Officers from the local police station had also arrived.
The girl was loaded into the ambulance, and two female officers from the station got in with her.
Su Miaoyi watched the ambulance drive away.
Then she turned and went back into the girl’s room.
Zhuang Yanzheng followed behind her.
Su Miaoyi first swept her gaze across the room, then walked to the bed and lifted the bedframe with one hand.
"What are you doing?! Even the police can’t just search someone’s house! Do you have a warrant?!" Feng Ming shouted, trying to rush forward but was held back again.
It was precisely because they didn’t have a search warrant.
They had only been looking around the place.
It was definitely not by the book.
But Zhuang Yanzheng didn’t say anything.
He had brought Su Miaoyi here directly, after all.
He had, of course, considered all the consequences.
After lifting the bedframe, Su Miaoyi pulled a notebook out from underneath.
Feng Ming jumped in shock at the sight of the notebook. He had never seen it before, but he had a very bad feeling about it.
Su Miaoyi opened the notebook, and a blue pen fell out from inside.
The words in the notebook were crooked and messy, but the content was perfectly clear.
She flipped through it, then walked up to Feng Ming and shoved the notebook right in his face.
Her hands were trembling with extreme rage. "For the past two years, all the harm you’ve inflicted on the victim is recorded right here. What else do you have to say?!"
Feng Ming stared at the words in the notebook, steadying himself with a hand on the nearby wall. "I don’t know. I don’t know anything. What is all this?! This notebook can’t be hers! Why would she write these things?!"
"You don’t know?!" Su Miaoyi lunged forward and attacked. "You son of a bitch, you’re worse than an animal!"
The sudden move startled Zhuang Yanzheng.
Qi Feng quickly came over and pulled Feng Ming back.
Zhuang Yanzheng grabbed Su Miaoyi’s arm and pulled her aside as well. "You can’t get violent!"
"You guys can’t, but why can’t I?" Su Miaoyi glared viciously at Feng Ming, looking like she wanted to tear him to shreds.
"You came with us, so you can’t either." Zhuang Yanzheng said, then added, "No matter who you came with, you can’t resort to violence!"
Su Miaoyi stared at him, panting with anger. She met his gaze for a few seconds and realized she had overreacted. She turned to face the wall, intending to calm down.
Zhuang Yanzheng said, "Quite a temper."
Su Miaoyi didn’t say a word.
Zhuang Yanzheng had Qi Feng separate Feng Ming and Zhao Qin into two different rooms.
He then ordered the others to search the premises and to go question the neighbors.
They would file for the search warrant retroactively.
"Hey! You!" Zhuang Yanzheng called out to Su Miaoyi after giving his orders.
Su Miaoyi looked at him.
"Yes, you. Stop staring at the wall and come help," Zhuang Yanzheng said.
Su Miaoyi went outside, put on gloves, and helped collect evidence like fingerprints and hair.
At first, she followed the forensic technicians, worried she’d get in their way since she had never done this before. But soon, she was skillfully collecting evidence with tweezers and evidence bags.
Zhuang Yanzheng quickly flipped through the notebook.
It began two years ago.
Year XX, Month X, Day X. My name is Xiang Lianlian. Three days ago, Feng Ming came into my room while I was sleeping at night and...
He hasn’t let me go to school for these three days. He hasn’t let me go outside for three days, either.
Today is Year XX, Month XX, Day X. I am Xiang Lianlian. Feng Ming came into my room again tonight. I screamed, I fought back, I was beaten.
I saw Zhao Qin standing outside the door. She was crying, but she didn’t stop him.
I haven’t left my room in half a month. Feng Ming told the neighbors I have mental problems, that I scream and shout every day.
Today is Year XX, Month X, Day X. I am Xiang Lianlian. It’s been three months. Feng Ming... he comes to my room intermittently. I haven’t been outside in three months.
Today is Year XX, Month X, Day X. I am Xiang Lianlian. Feng Ming brought a man over. I know him. It’s Li the Second from the back street. I don’t know his full name. Li the Second gave Feng Ming some money. Li the Second came into my room.
Zhao Qin doesn’t cry anymore. I heard her laughing outside. I heard them say how easy this money was to make. I don’t want to live anymore. No! No! No! I have to live. I have to watch them all die with my own eyes!
...
Today is Year XX, Month X, Day X. I haven’t left this room in over a year. More and more people are coming. I know every single one of them.
Feng Ming’s relatives, the bachelors from this village, the married men from the next village over.
Li the Second came again today. I struggled and fought back, and I kicked him. I tried to run, but I was dragged back. I hit my head and was slapped across the face.
I thought I was dead. I think I saw Yama Hall. I don’t want to die! They’re not dead! I don’t want to die either! I woke up.
Today is Year XX, Month X, Day X. I am Xiang Lianlian. I thought they would leave me alone since I was injured. They didn’t. On the third day after I got hurt, I was standing by the window looking outside. After being beaten, I’m so scared. When I heard the door open, I fell off the chair and huddled in the corner by the bed.
They were haggling. Zhao Qin said she had given me a bath!
I hate them! I hate them! Go to hell! All of you, go to hell! This time it was a stranger. He choked me. Everything went black. It was that near-death feeling again. I don’t want to die. When I woke up, it was already the next day.
...
The rest was another year of intermittent records.
The names that appeared were mostly repeats.
The visions Su Miaoyi saw were from a year ago.
Zhuang Yanzheng took the notebook to the local police officers. He relayed the names and approximate addresses from the book to them, telling them to bring the people directly to the station.
As for the addresses of Feng Ming’s relatives and the stranger...
...they would have to get that information from Feng Ming and Zhao Qin.
Zhuang Yanzheng went to see Feng Ming first.
Feng Ming kept telling the police he didn’t know anything.
Zhuang Yanzheng sat down across from him.
Feng Ming said, "Officer, you’ve got the wrong guy! I really don’t know anything!"
Zhuang Yanzheng slammed the notebook down on a nearby cabinet, staring into Feng Ming’s eyes. "You don’t know anything? Then where did this notebook come from?! And why was Xiang Lianlian locked up at home for over two years without ever going out?!"
"Lianlian... she’s not mentally well. She often screams and shouts. Everyone around here knows," Feng Ming said. "We had no choice but to keep her at home. If there was any other way, who would want to live like this?"
"If she was locked at home, and if she’s not mentally well, then where did this boyfriend come from?" Zhuang Yanzheng asked sternly.
Feng Ming’s eyes narrowed sharply.
"Who is her boyfriend? What’s his name? Where is he from? How old is he?" Zhuang Yanzheng pressed.
Feng Ming’s lips began to tremble, and his hands started to shake.
Zhuang Yanzheng suddenly raised his voice. "Speak!"
Feng Ming flinched, and his legs began to tremble, but he still said, "I’m really being framed. I don’t know anything, I don’t know anything!"
"What were you trying to do just now? What were your hands doing under the covers?! Were you trying to silence a witness right in front of the police?!" Zhuang Yanzheng said.
"I wasn’t, I wasn’t," Feng Ming vehemently denied. "I was just touching her hand to warm her up. How could I possibly want to kill her? I really don’t know anything. I’m being framed."
"The names mentioned in this notebook... our people are already on their way to their homes." Zhuang Yanzheng’s fingers tapped on the notebook. "Fetal tissue can be used to extract DNA. And the last entry in this notebook was from yesterday. We can also extract DNA from her room. Are you going to wait for the DNA match results, or are you going to confess now?!"
...