His girlfriend had died long ago.
Gu Ye happened to be at the police station to pick up some documents when he saw Meng Lan sitting quietly in the meeting room.
He knocked on the door and gestured towards Meng Lan. "My friend."
The investigating officer nodded. "Captain Gu, we're just taking statements. Miss Meng Lan here reported that someone was tracking her, and we've apprehended a suspect. We've just finished the paperwork I needed her to sign, so go ahead, Miss Meng, sign here. I'll go file this, and you two can talk."
Meng Lan signed the document.
When Gu Ye heard the word "tracking," a deep gloom crept over his face. After the officer left, he asked in a low voice, "What's going on? Did anyone get hurt?"
"No, Zhao Che was tracking me. His mental state doesn't seem quite normal," Meng Lan replied. "He should have started following me since the day I returned to school. We also called the security manager of our apartment earlier and found out that Zhao Che was loitering at the entrance. Since he obviously wasn't a resident, he was driven away."
"We'll detain him for 24 hours," Gu Ye said.
"How's the case with Liu Ming?" Meng Lan asked.
"No progress," Gu Ye sighed. "I suspect they're either mentally disturbed or under hypnosis, but that's too far-fetched. By the way, did we scare He Wanwan? She seems pretty timid."
At this moment, He Wanwan knocked on the door and entered. Her mental resilience wasn't that great originally, but after experiencing the events of the past few days, her ability to withstand pressure had gradually increased. Besides, it wasn't like there were ghosts stalking them, and with the police protection, there wasn't much to be afraid of. She saw Gu Ye and smiled brightly. "You're here too."
"Just call me cousin," Gu Ye said.
Without looking up, Meng Lan muttered, "Taking advantage of the situation, disgusting."
He Wanwan covered her mouth and laughed.
Just as the three were preparing to leave the police station, they suddenly saw three junior officers rushing towards the detention room. There was a loud crash and cries of pain coming from inside. Due to professional ethics, Gu Ye went to check if there was any way he could help. Through the glass, he saw Zhao Che, who was sitting restlessly, shaking like a drug addict in withdrawal.
"Someone wants to kill me! Is it you guys? It must be you guys! It's you, it's definitely you!" Zhao Che roared, his eyes bloodshot and bulging. "It's you, you're his people!"
He spoke incoherently, biting his tongue, and blood mixed with saliva flowed from the corner of his mouth. He was angry and terrified, shouting to keep everyone away, scanning his surroundings vigilantly, afraid that ghosts might suddenly appear in the corners and grab his neck.
"Have you checked his urine?" Gu Ye asked.
"No drugs," the officer replied.
"Test his hair, and get a search warrant to go to his house. It's also an important lead for our case," Gu Ye said. Zhao Che didn't look like a normal person in his current state.
If they could find illegal drugs, the police station would have made a significant contribution. The junior officer quickly nodded and went to the commanding officer. In situations like this, it's better to err on the side of caution than to let any opportunity slip by.
Meng Lan pulled He Wanwan to a stop. "It looks like this place is as dangerous as the missions."
"We're all victims. Why do we have to kill each other?" He Wanwan's mood was low. "We're all at the mercy of fate. Isn't it better to face finding a way to leave the mission together? Why torture each other like this?"
"The greater the danger, the greater the temptation. There will always be people who are drawn to it," Meng Lan said as she led He Wanwan out of the police station without looking back. "After the Industrial Revolution, when oil wasn't discovered yet, whale oil was the best energy source. People spared no effort and braved the dangers to sail thousands of kilometers to the South Pacific to hunt whales. They would roam the seas for a year or more. Before encountering whales, they only thought about when they would strike it rich. But once the ship was filled with whale oil, some began to think about how to kill their companions and keep the oil for themselves. So, where's the camaraderie in adversity?"
He Wanwan's eyes drooped. Just as she was about to sigh, she felt Meng Lan holding her wrist. She never used to initiate physical contact with people!
"Why are you smiling?" Meng Lan noticed He Wanwan's silly grin.
"N-nothing." He Wanwan blushed, looking a little silly.
That night, they returned home.
Life went on as usual.
Meng Lan was practicing yoga in the living room, while He Wanwan was cooking.
The phone beeped.
It was a voice call from Gu Ye.
Meng Lan answered the call while doing a handstand. "What's up?"
Gu Ye's voice sounded uneasy, with heavy breathing. "We arrested Zhao Che. The judicial process will proceed to prosecute and convict him."
"Now you're so protective of women? Tracking leads to conviction, huh," Meng Lan said sarcastically.
"Don't joke around. It's not just tracking, it's murder," Gu Ye reprimanded.
Meng Lan pulled her legs down from the wall, supported herself on the yoga mat with one hand, picked up the phone, and spun her body around, then stood up, asking seriously, "What happened?"
"Zhao Che's girlfriend has been dead for over a month, frozen in the freezer at his home. We originally thought he was on drugs, so we applied for a search warrant. We didn't find drugs, but we found a mutilated body. His girlfriend had a bad relationship with her family and was involved in telecom fraud, so nobody noticed her disappearance or reported it," Gu Ye explained.
"Really now."
"We learned from Zhao Che's friends that he met his girlfriend on social media and spent at least sixty to seventy thousand on her in the four months they were together. But she still wanted to scam him and drain him dry. According to Zhao Che's friends, he hadn't seen his girlfriend for a month, and Zhao Che said they had broken up, so she was probably already dead at that time."
Meng Lan mumbled to herself, no wonder Zhao Che hated scammers so much. Whenever he thought someone was trying to scam him, he'd go crazy. It's probably because Qi Huan wanted to get ahead of him, that's why she made her move. Otherwise, this weak and kind-hearted guy, who was like a rabbit, wouldn't have been capable of such brutality.
"Now no one will track you anymore, but we still have no clues about the person he mentioned who was tracking us. You need to protect yourself," Gu Ye said worriedly. Although the apartment where Meng Lan lived was in the city's most prestigious wealthy area, with security measures comparable to government buildings, he still felt somewhat at a loss.
"Don't jinx it. Don't worry. Wanwan called me for dinner. Goodbye."
Zhao Che confessed to killing his girlfriend, but he kept repeating, "She cheated on me first. She said she wouldn't cheat on me, that she wanted to marry me and only love me!"
His girlfriend was very beautiful, and he had thought that she was a gift from heaven to his ordinary self. Who would have thought that she was part of a group, not only taking his money but also having six or seven other flirty relationships in her phone! She packaged herself as an educated and well-behaved girl from a comfortable family background, with the appearance of a peaceful life, but deep down, she was always thinking about how to squeeze more money out of him!
"She deserves to die! She cheated on me, took my money, and now she wants to take my life!"
That day, his girlfriend had logged into his computer's WeChat without logging out, and that's how Zhao Che discovered everything. He confronted her with the chat records, but she shamelessly replied, "Didn't expect you to find out, huh? Yeah, that's me. You don't even have a few cents and you want to sleep with women! Get me a Swarovski for my birthday, please. Come on, something that costs a couple of thousand, to satisfy beggars like you!"
"But I truly love you! I really want to marry you! You also love me, don't you? Can't we get married and live happily together?" Zhao Che roared, pulling at the woman's clothes. He had always been the role of an honest man who swallowed his anger at work and in life. But this time, after crossing the bottom line, he exploded like a pan of oil, bursting with sparks.
"I love you? Are you kidding me? Why would I love you? You're already in your forties, just an administrative supervisor, helping your superiors take the blame every day, earning barely enough to cover expenses. You're just honest, that's all. Honest people are easy to find, you know? Alright, to make it up to you, I'll return the 520 you transferred to me yesterday, and then we'll have no obligations to each other!" The woman turned away, ignoring the already broken Zhao Che.
Veins bulged on Zhao Che's swollen face, blood rushed to his brain, his whole body heated up, and he grabbed the woman's neck! He squeezed harder and harder, repeating, "You cheated on me, how could you cheat on me! I thought you were the only person who wouldn't deceive me!"
From childhood to adulthood, he had often been deceived.
The old lady at the intersection who couldn't afford to eat because she had no money took his 100 yuan.
The job he found initially charged him a training fee of 2400 yuan, and then disappeared without a trace.
He diligently helped his roommate sign in, only to be called a fool.
He had had enough. He wanted to strike back. He didn't want to be dismissed anymore. He didn't want to be deceived!
"Uh... let me go... I'm sorry, I love you..." These were the woman's last words.
"You're lying to me," Zhao Che laughed loudly. "You don't love me! You're lying to me, lying to me hahaha!"
He strangled his girlfriend, bought a freezer, and put her inside.
Dead people don't deceive, dead people are the most honest. He had fulfilled his wish to have her by his side.
In the bright detention room, Zhao Che leaned against the wall, recalling how he killed his girlfriend, a satisfied smile on his lips.
Just as he was immersed in the long-lost and blurry sense of victory, the door of the detention room slowly opened.
His deceased girlfriend stood before him, eyes bulging, cheeks bruised and purple, softly saying, "I've been watching you all along, I've been watching you."
"Why did you kill me?"
"You said you loved me, didn't you?"
"It was me who was tracking you! I was watching you!"
Zhao Che's eyes widened, his body convulsing heavily. "Police! Police! Help!"
The police officer on duty in the monitoring room noticed something was wrong and rushed into the detention room, finding only Zhao Che crouched in the corner. "What are you shouting for? This is a police station, not your home!"
Zhao Che's teeth chattered, his lips trembling. "My girlfriend was watching me, watching me..."
The police officer, an atheist, attributed these nonsensical ramblings to the psychological problems that often arise in murder suspects.
He snorted and pointed angrily at Zhao Che. "Stay put and stop yelling!"
Suddenly, Zhao Che fell silent. He stared past the police officer, took two steps back, and asked, "How... how are you here?"