69: Chapter 69: Unusual Relatives 69: Chapter 69: Unusual Relatives The murderer might strike again, so Li Xue’s former colleague, following standard procedure, began reporting to their superiors.
Under the pretense of protecting the scene, they stood guard at the entrance of the cave, constantly making phone calls.
Finding Meng Changxi’s trail was a significant achievement.
The two police officers were very courteous to Han Fei, but subconsciously kept him outside the cave; they still didn’t fully trust him.
“You can leave the rest to us.”
Police backup arrived soon after, and Han Fei stared at his own photograph; he had no plans to stay any longer.
“As long as I could be of help, I shouldn’t add to the chaos here.” Han Fei, a professional actor with the added experience from the game, made it difficult for others to read his true feelings through his facial expressions.
On the surface, everyone seemed harmonious, but in reality, Han Fei had other plans already.
“Li Xue, can you give me a ride back?”
The first two to discover the cave were the earliest to leave, with Li Xue riding the motorcycle and taking Han Fei back to the Old City District.
They said nothing on the way until Han Fei got off the bike, and then Li Xue couldn’t help but speak.
“Do you still think the murderer is Meng Chang’an?”
“My suspicions about Meng Chang’an haven’t decreased, but you’re right, Meng Changxi burying the bodies is a fact; he definitely committed a crime,” Han Fei said as he returned the helmet to Li Xue without saying much more.
Once Li Xue had left, Han Fei looked at the apartment building in front of him, reached into his pocket, and felt the electric shock self-defense tool.
If it was someone else who knew they might be targeted, they probably wouldn’t be able to enter their apartment building as usual, but Han Fei was different; he had been in corridors hundreds of times more terrifying.
After mentally preparing himself, Han Fei was about to walk in when his phone suddenly vibrated.
Seeing the message, Han Fei’s expression turned odd.
“Why would Wei Youfu’s father send me a message now?” After a moment of thought, Han Fei quickly understood the key to it.
Being a person of interest to the police, with tight security around his residence, it would be difficult for Meng Changxi to meet him here, so the most effective method would be to go somewhere else, using a third party to facilitate the meeting.
“If the person who followed me earlier was Meng Changxi, then he definitely knows I have a good relationship with Wei Youfu’s father and even promised to take care of him personally.”
He clicked on the message; it was simple, just that Wei Youfu’s father wanted to see him.
With no extraneous words, there were no extra slips.
Han Fei immediately responded and then headed straight to North Street of the Old City District.
Passing by the filming site of “Flower of Evil,” the yard outside the apartment building was eerily silent; the crew had not resumed work.
“Director Jiang has stopped shooting?
Has he decided to wait for the case to be resolved?”
This was good news for Han Fei, but now was not the time to focus on these matters; he and Li Xue had visited the old man once before and knew that the old man and Meng Shi lived in the same building.
Wei Youfu’s father lived on the fourth floor, and Meng Changshou, who occupied Meng Shi’s house, lived on the third floor.
Without alerting anyone, Han Fei quietly made his way to the fourth floor, where he knocked on the door and discovered it was unlocked.
“Old man, are you home?” Acting the part, Han Fei entered the room as if he knew nothing, though, in reality, every nerve in his body was taut.
It seemed like the kitchen faucet was left running, as he could hear the sound of running water.
As Han Fei walked towards the kitchen, the bedroom door next to him suddenly opened.
He immediately dodged to the side and took out an electric shock self-defense device.
Perhaps due to encountering too many horrific incidents in the game, Han Fei was so calm that he even surprised himself.
Even though there might be a fugitive hiding in the room, he felt no fear at all.
His heart was calm, and his eyes were as deep as ancient wells.
“Normal people would be scared half to death by my face, but you have no reaction.
I really didn’t misjudge you; acting must be just a profession you use to fool others,” he said.
The raspy voice, as if filled with metal shards, was so painful to hear.
“You’ve guessed wrong, I am indeed a comedian,” Han Fei retorted.
Looking towards the bedroom, Han Fei saw a man with severe facial burns standing at the door.
His entire face was destroyed by the burns, making his features indistinct, except for his eyes, which were bright and sharp like a blade.
As Han Fei scrutinized the man, the man was also observing him.
“It seems like you’ve known I’d be here waiting for you,” the man with the disfigured face said, revealing a terrifying smile.
“You have a scent I’m very familiar with—have you been to the sewers of Donghua Ice Factory before?
I should not have revealed any flaws; how did you find that place?”
“You’ve got a lot of questions, Meng Changxi,” Han Fei said, and after he uttered the name Meng Changxi, the smile on the man in the bedroom ceased.
Looking at the horrifically disfigured man before him, Han Fei showed no signs of fear; his calm reaction left the man hesitant to make a move.
The two men stood facing each other, and after a long while, the man with the mangled face slowly raised his hands.
“It’s been a long time since someone called me by that name.
Don’t worry, I have no ill intentions towards you.”
“I know,” Han Fei gradually retreated to the living room.
“Where is Wei Youfu’s father?”
“The old man is sleeping.
I won’t harm him,” the man said.
With his face wholly ruined, Meng Changxi opened the door to another bedroom where Wei Youfu’s father lay on the bed, breathing evenly.
Seeing the old man safe, Han Fei breathed a sigh of relief; this subtle movement caught Meng Changxi’s attention.
“I’ve followed you before; you’re very good to the families of the victims of the Human-body Puzzle.
Are you also a family member of a victim?”
Remembering his roommate from the Haunted House, Han Fei nodded slightly.
“I have a compelling reason to catch the true murderer.
Through my investigation, Meng Chang’an is a major suspect.
Yet, what puzzles me is why you suddenly disappeared years ago?”
“If I hadn’t disappeared, the next one to die would have been me and my wife,” Meng Changxi touched the scars on his face.
“My elder brother and that beast had both gone mad.”
Meng Changshou?” Han Fei’s eyes narrowed, as the long-buried truth was finally coming to light!
“I know you’re surprised, but I chose to vanish from the mortal world for a very important reason, because of my elder brother,” Meng Changxi’s face twisted around the scars.
“When our mother was murdered, there’s one thing I couldn’t understand—why did she take Chenchen to Donghua Ice Factory?
Later, I considered a possibility—it wasn’t my mom who took Chenchen there; someone used Chenchen to lure her there.”
“I always suspected Meng Chang’an and continually reassured my elder brother, but later I realized that might not be the case,” Meng Changxi spoke without a trace of emotion; he seemed to have lost all human emotion.
“My brother is honest, not very sharp, and has a good temper.
Everyone thought he was easy to bully.
After the incident with Chenchen and our mom, my brother turned utterly mad, not speaking a word all day.
Worried about his health, I took him to the hospital for a rest, and also did some tests.”
“At first, I was concerned that grief might affect his health, but the results of the brain scan truly frightened me.” These events had occurred ten years ago, but Meng Changxi remembered them clearly.
“From the positron scan images, there were functional failures in the orbital cortex, the medial frontal cortex of the anterior frontal lobe, the temporal cortex, and the limbic cortex.
Aligning these defective areas formed the exact shape of a Butterfly.”