“Help! Help! Let go of me! Help!”
The ice-cold blade slid across the side of her neck, and her cries for help turned into screams.
“I’ve given you back all the money, please let me go, okay? I’m my parents’ only daughter, I can’t get into trouble, I—” mmph!
Pain struck her abdomen.
The fruit knife stabbed in and was pulled out.
Her clothes were stained red.
“Help, help, save me, save me…”
The man in front of her, wearing a cap and a black mask, stood up. The fruit knife dropped from his hand. On the inside of his wrist, a black tattoo extended up into the white glove.
“Help, save me, is there anyone who can save me…”
The pain slowly faded, and her vision gradually sank into darkness…
…
“Patient number twenty-three, please proceed to examination room three.”
“Patient number twenty-three, please proceed to examination room three.”
The mechanical voice rang out, and light returned to Su Miaoyi’s vacant eyes.
She gasped sharply, looked down at her abdomen, and reached out to touch it.
No wound. Everything was fine. No blood either.
She let out a slow breath and looked around her.
She was in a hospital right now.
Seated around her were patients and their families, all waiting outside the examination rooms for their numbers to be called.
Her breathing gradually steadied.
Su Miaoyi rubbed her cold arms.
This time, it wasn’t knowledge she’d never encountered before popping into her head. She had just seen a vision of herself being killed.
“Patient number nineteen, please proceed to examination room two.”
“Patient number nineteen, please proceed to examination room two.”
Su Miaoyi looked down at the queue ticket in her hand, stood up, and walked toward examination room two in the psychiatry department.
…
Coming out of the hospital, Su Miaoyi looked at the olanzapine tablets in her hand.
She read the indications on the back of the box.
The first line: Olanzapine is used for the treatment of schizophrenia.
Even though she had just walked out of the hospital entrance, Su Miaoyi opened her phone and searched for the symptoms of schizophrenia.
Hallucinations and delusions…
Seemed… pretty spot-on, actually.
She walked out while looking at her phone.
Suddenly, she collided with a man coming toward her.
“Sorry,” Su Miaoyi apologized, and at the same time, she saw the tattoo on the inside of the man’s right wrist.
It was a long sword.
It extended almost all the way to his palm.
On both sides of the sword’s hilt were a pair of spread wings.
It was the same tattoo as the one on the hand holding the fruit knife in the vision of her own murder.
Su Miaoyi immediately looked up at him.
The man also turned his head to glance at her.
Their eyes met.
Su Miaoyi saw another bizarre vision.
She saw a hand wearing a white glove holding a fruit knife, stabbing it into a girl’s abdomen, then quickly pulling it out.
Blood stained the girl’s clothes.
It also stained the fruit knife.
Then the fruit knife fell to the ground.
The scene shifted to that hand pressing down on a door handle.
As the handle was pushed down, the tattoo on the inside of the wrist was revealed, though partially covered by the white glove.
The door opened, then closed.
The final image lingered on that heavy door.
The room number on it was: 2001.
Sunlight hit her eyes, and Su Miaoyi snapped back to reality.
She looked at the man in front of her and immediately took two steps back.
The man frowned at her, then turned and walked into the hospital.
Su Miaoyi stood in place, watching his back, watching his shoulders rise and fall unevenly as he walked. It took her a while to snap out of it.
She looked up at the sun. It was blinding.
Ha… this is bad.
Her condition was getting worse.
She’d better go home and take her meds.
…
Jinrong Residential Community.
Su Miaoyi got out of the elevator and walked to the door of her residence. She paused when she was about to unlock it with her fingerprint.
She looked at the room number on the door.
In the vision she’d seen at the hospital entrance when she looked at that man, the room number on the door… aside from the number being different, everything else was exactly the same.
Su Miaoyi let go of the door handle, took a step back, and stood at the door rubbing her chin, staring at her own door.
Same community?
Assuming it was the same building, same unit.
Then wouldn’t 2001 be right upstairs?
Su Miaoyi rubbed her chin and looked up.
A streamer lived upstairs.
Every night, she could hear her live-streaming voice.
But last night, it seemed like she hadn’t streamed.
Maybe… she should go check?
With that thought, Su Miaoyi turned and walked to the elevator. Seeing that it was still on the first floor, she pushed open the fire escape door and took the stairs up to the twentieth floor.
She arrived at the door of 2001.
Su Miaoyi was about to knock when she noticed the door wasn’t fully closed—it was cracked open.
She still knocked: “Anyone home?”
No response.
Su Miaoyi knocked harder: “Anyone home?”
Still no response.
Su Miaoyi hesitated for a moment, then pushed the door open.
It was a fifty-plus-square-meter apartment. Opening the door gave a direct view of the living room.
Su Miaoyi saw what was inside and froze at the doorway.
A girl was lying on the living room floor, with a large pool of blood beneath her.
Seeing this, Su Miaoyi’s first reaction was to call the emergency hotline.
After calling the emergency hotline, she went into the room to see where the bleeding was and try to stop it.
But it was only when she got closer that she fully saw the bloodstains were mostly dried.
And the girl lying in the pool of blood was already dead, judging by the color of her skin.
Su Miaoyi’s whole body froze for a moment, but she quickly accepted what she was seeing. She didn’t dare move recklessly, standing in place and taking in everything before her.
The girl’s hands were bound behind her back, her feet were also tied, and she had a knife wound to the abdomen.
The position of the wound, the fabric of the clothes, the color, and… from the perspective of the corpse, the layout of the surroundings, the furniture, the ceiling.
Everything matched what she had seen.
She hadn’t seen herself being killed—she had shared the victim’s perspective?
Su Miaoyi crouched down where she stood. Worried about leaving fingerprints, she pulled up the hem of her T-shirt and, using the fabric as a barrier, touched the girl’s neck.
Rigor mortis was strong; the time of death was likely between twelve and twenty-four hours.
That was the result her mind gave her.
She crouched there a little longer, looking around.
The living room showed clear signs of having been ransacked.
No obvious footprints on the floor.
This was the twentieth floor—the chance of someone coming through the window was slim.
So… Su Miaoyi returned to the door and checked the lock.
No signs of forced entry.
Someone she knew? Or the person outside had enough reason to make her open the door.
Su Miaoyi analyzed in her head, then turned to look at the body again.
She froze for a moment, then… screamed inwardly.
Holy crap! I’m done for!
Immediately, dizziness, nausea, and weakness in her limbs set in.
The fear hit her belatedly.
She hurried to the elevator, crouched down against the wall, and began to retch dryly.
She had been fasting since morning for the hospital check-up and hadn’t eaten anything.
There was nothing in her stomach.
Su Miaoyi was trembling, and her consciousness was starting to blur.
Clinging to her last shred of awareness, she dialed 110.
…
The police arrived quickly, and the twentieth floor was cordoned off.
Inside 2001, forensic technicians were busy collecting footprints, fingerprints, and other physical evidence from the scene.
The flashes and sounds of cameras going off came one after another.
Zhuang Yanzheng put on shoe covers and gloves at the entrance of 2001, walked over to the body, and crouched down.
The district coroner looked up at him: “Captain Zhuang.”
The district police had arrived first; the municipal bureau was farther away and came later.
Zhuang Yanzheng nodded in acknowledgment: “How did she die?”
“A knife wound to the abdomen—this position likely damaged the liver.” The coroner probed the wound with the handle of a scalpel. “Preliminary judgment is death from hemorrhagic shock. Based on rigor mortis, the time of death is between twelve and twenty-four hours. The exact time will need further examination.”
Zhuang Yanzheng looked at the large pool of blood on the floor, then at the fruit knife nearby, which had already been marked as evidence.
The coroner measured the wound on the body again: “The width, depth, and surface characteristics of the wound all match this fruit knife.”
The murder weapon was essentially confirmed.
“No fingerprints were lifted,” said the trace examiner.
Zhuang Yanzheng stood up and looked around the room.
The place wasn’t big—a one-bedroom apartment.
In the bedroom, there was live-streaming equipment.
The wardrobe and the bedside table drawers both showed signs of being rummaged through.
After looking around, Zhuang Yanzheng went out and asked, “Who reported it?”
“A young woman. She has low blood sugar and faints at the sight of blood—she’s sitting on the stairs in the fire escape.” said the district captain.
Zhuang Yanzheng walked toward the fire escape.
Su Miaoyi sat on the steps, her face deathly pale.
She hadn’t fainted after calling the police, but she felt completely drained.
It wasn’t until the police arrived and the coroner examined her, giving her a piece of chocolate, that she recovered a bit.
She now had a piece of candy in her mouth as well.
The officer had waited until she felt better before starting to take her statement.
He had just asked for her name when Zhuang Yanzheng arrived.
Su Miaoyi looked up, and the two locked eyes.
Su Miaoyi’s first thought was… so handsome.
Her second thought was a judgment: tall and imposing, fierce-looking, hard to deal with.
Zhuang Yanzheng, looking at her, narrowed his eyes.
He felt a sense of familiarity from her.
He walked closer and introduced himself: “Zhuang Yanzheng, Municipal Criminal Investigation Detachment.”
Su Miaoyi looked at him with no particular reaction.
Seeing how calm she was and that the name drew no response, he took the tablet from the officer, and his gaze paused on her name.
Without showing any change in expression, he raised his eyes and looked at her again.
Then he called her name: “Su Miaoyi?”
Su Miaoyi nodded: “Yes.”
Zhuang Yanzheng looked at her again: “Why are you holding your clothes like that?”
Su Miaoyi lowered her eyes to look at her clothes.
Her right hand was pinching the hem of her shirt with a delicate gesture, holding it up.
She had been holding it like that for a while now.
Because that spot—she had used the fabric to touch the body.
She was scared!!
Su Miaoyi didn’t answer.
Zhuang Yanzheng asked again: “What’s your relationship with the deceased?”
“I don’t know her. I’ve never seen her before,” Su Miaoyi answered truthfully. “I live downstairs, in 1901.”
Zhuang Yanzheng frowned: “How did you discover the body?”
Su Miaoyi’s lips moved slightly, but she didn’t know how to put it into words, so she fell silent for a moment.
Seeing that she wasn’t speaking, Zhuang Yanzheng said sternly, “This is a police investigation. Please cooperate.”
Su Miaoyi was silent for another moment. “I don’t know where to begin.”
“If you refuse to cooperate, I wouldn’t mind inviting you to spend a few days at the station,” Zhuang Yanzheng said.
Su Miaoyi rolled the candy in her mouth with her tongue, then took a deep breath. “This morning, I went to Jinghai City Sixth Hospital.”
Zhuang Yanzheng handed the tablet in his hand to the police officer beside him.
The officer began taking notes.
Jinghai City Sixth Hospital was a hospital specializing in the treatment of various mental illnesses.
Zhuang Yanzheng didn’t know why she was bringing up the hospital, but he didn’t interrupt her.
“Lately, I’ve been having some inexplicable… knowledge, I suppose, popping up in my head. I thought something was wrong with my mind, so I went to the hospital today to register for a consultation,” Su Miaoyi said. “Then, while I was waiting for my number to be called, I suddenly saw in my head…”
Su Miaoyi pointed at Room 2001.
“The process of her being killed. A hand with a tattoo on the inside of its wrist, holding a knife, stabbed it into her body,” Su Miaoyi said. “Later, when I came out of the hospital, I ran into a person with the same tattoo on their wrist, and through that person’s eyes, I saw the process of the murder and this room number. So after I got home, I came upstairs to check. Her door wasn’t locked, so I went in, and then I saw her body.”
As she spoke, she changed her tone and continued, “The man I ran into at the hospital entrance was about 180 centimeters tall, weighed around 75 kilograms, and looked about 35 years old. He walked with one shoulder higher than the other, and his left foot seemed to have a slight limp. Also, the victim and the killer must have had some financial dealings. The time I ran into him at the hospital… between 11:58 and 12:02 noon, at the east gate of the Sixth Hospital.”
She had been looking at her phone at the time and had noticed the time on it.
She just hadn’t expected to remember it so clearly.
In her memory, she usually had to look at a seat number several times before remembering it.
Su Miaoyi said everything she had seen and everything she had deduced. She also wanted to verify what was going on with the things she was seeing.
The police officer held the tablet, staring at her with a stiff expression.
Zhuang Yanzheng also looked at her for a while, then clicked his tongue and said, “Tsk. Take her back. Drug test.”
Su Miaoyi hooked her clothes with a delicate finger, leaning against the stair railing.
Her face was pale, and the look on it… was one of utter misery.
Sure enough, no one was going to believe her.
Author’s note:
Hey babes, hey girls, before you start reading, you might want to check the pinned comment (there might be a tiny spoiler).
Is my pinned comment gone? I really don’t know what else to do. It shows as pinned on my end. I’ve got no other options, so I’ll just say it here.
Su Miaoyi hasn’t been possessed, hasn’t been replaced, and has no body double. (This makes me want to write a story about being replaced or having a body double, and then make it a brutal BE! BE! BE! Hahahaha, flashing a villainous, charming smile.)
She is Qin Leyan. She has been Qin Leyan from the very beginning. (Ahhhh, I’m so awful, so awful. Spoiler, spoiler!) She was reborn, and for certain reasons (which will be explained later), she has someone else’s memories but has lost her own.
If you can accept this premise, feel free to read on. If you can’t, you’re welcome to drop it.
The female lead develops a split personality due to certain reasons. The voice in her head is her other personality. From start to finish, it’s just Qin Leyan alone.
When I started writing this book, I was planning to write a CP. The male lead was set to appear very, very far in the back. From the beginning, I didn’t intend to focus on the romance line. Then, as I kept writing, I just didn’t want to write a CP anymore, so the male lead was cut before he even got written in.
No CP, but group pampering, friendship, and warmth.
Also, as the word count grew, the author and the characters have gotten better at working together. I’ve made a few changes to the earlier chapters, which won’t affect the later parts.
I’ve also fixed some parts that weren’t quite reasonable.
Wishing everyone who opens this book wealth, beauty, and smooth sailing in all things.