He held the girl in his arms tighter, trying to draw from her some warmth that could briefly bring him back to life.
After a long silence, he said to her: “When I went to see him this morning, I asked him why he killed. Do you know what he said? He said it was for no reason—he just wanted to see me defeated.”
Chu Luyu had never expected such a motive. She opened her mouth but had no idea how to respond.
Fortunately, Jiang Hezhou didn’t seem to expect a reply. After speaking, he continued on his own.
“Before I saw him today, I still held onto a sliver of hope—thinking maybe the leads were wrong, maybe there was a flaw in the chain of evidence—”
The man had actually been arrested two days earlier. After the preliminary procedures were completed, Jiang Hezhou was finally allowed to meet with Li Yuebai this morning.
The interrogation room had a cramped, oppressive atmosphere. When Jiang Hezhou pushed the door open, Li Yuebai sat in the middle with handcuffs on, his head slightly lowered but his back still straight.
Seeing Jiang Hezhou sit down across from him, he looked up and smiled at him.
“You’re here.”
Jiang Hezhou couldn’t describe the feeling—it was absurd, surreal.
He sat there for a very long time. Li Yuebai wasn’t in a hurry either, just sat with him. After who knew how long, Jiang Hezhou finally asked: “Why?”
Li Yuebai looked at him for a long while, then gave an inexplicable smile.
“Hezhou, do you know? I’ve always been jealous of you since we were kids. Your family background, your personal abilities—they’re all top-notch. You even seem to have talent for everything you do. There was a time I honestly thought the world revolved around you. If you wanted something, you could get it effortlessly.
“Do you remember when we were kids, I dragged you to watch that forensic documentary? From that moment on, I’d been fixated on pursuing that career. But in the end, you’re the one doing it, while I’m forced to shoulder the responsibilities my family piled onto me. You have complete freedom and autonomy over your life, but I have to live forever in your shadow—always the unchanging backdrop beside you. And here’s the ironic part: whenever people mention me, they don’t even call me by name. They just say ‘that friend of Jiang Er, the one whose parents both work for the Jiang family’…”
Hearing this, Jiang Hezhou could barely listen anymore. He struggled to control himself, forcing a calm tone: “So? After all that, what was the real reason you killed?”
“Can’t you tell?” Li Yuebai smiled—a twisted smile Jiang Hezhou had never seen on his face before. It carried madness, the explosion of extreme repression. “I just wanted to see you defeated! That feeling was so addictive! You probably know by now—the first person I killed was your father. At his funeral, I saw you like that—grieving quietly, tears falling silently, your body even trembling uncontrollably as you cried… Do you have any idea how excited I was?! Do you know how excited I felt?!”
Li Yuebai seemed utterly unhinged, his voice rising involuntarily: “Because you effortlessly walked the path I wanted to walk, I hated you so much. I hated your excellence and perfection. I hated how complete your life seemed. I hated your good luck. I hated how the world always favored you! That was when I first had the thought of making you suffer. Your father loved you so much, and you clearly loved him too. If he died, you’d definitely be in pain, right? What a shame you didn’t die in that car along with him!”
By the time Jiang Hezhou finished recounting this to Chu Luyu, his voice had sunk to a deep, heavy low. She could hear the anguish in his voice, and her heart ached with every word.
“Enough, stop. Don’t say anymore… Jiang Hezhou, don’t say anymore.”
His throat bobbed as he swallowed. He was in so much pain—his whole body felt unbearably heavy.
After another long pause, he finally spoke again: “I never knew he felt that way. If I had, maybe I could have changed things sooner. Becoming a forensic pathologist wasn’t my original choice. In high school, I wanted to go to police academy—to be a criminal investigator. Even a week before the college entrance exam, I was still set on that path. But somehow, when it came time to fill out my application, I chose forensic medicine instead. It was like I was possessed—I still can’t understand that choice today. And there are other junctures in my life too… Sometimes I catch myself wondering if there’s been some invisible hand guiding me all along, telling me which path to take, what to do. And if I dig deeper, maybe none of it was truly my choice.”
His words stunned Chu Luyu. Her body grew stiff, and a voice echoed in her mind: Was the male lead briefly gaining self-awareness when he strayed from the plot? Only to be controlled again once the plot reasserted itself…
But Chu Luyu had no chance to investigate further.
Jiang Hezhou was exhausted—physically and mentally, he was teetering on the edge of collapse. Her arrival was like a traveler wandering through a desert for days suddenly finding an oasis. She was his lifeline, and the taut string inside him finally snapped.
Before long, still holding her, he fell asleep on the dormitory bed.
Chu Luyu’s heart ached. She knew how hard it must have been for him to fall asleep now, so she lay still in his arms, not daring to move, and only spoke to the system in her mind.
Chu Luyu: [Cuihua, did you hear what the male lead said just now? Could he be developing self-awareness?]
System Cuihua: [No. If the protagonist of this world fully awakened, he’d have the power to overturn it. Right now, everything is still progressing toward the main plot. His disgust value toward you is still sky-high. So this isn’t awakening—just some confusion, that’s all.]
Chu Luyu thought about what Jiang Hezhou had said and fell silent for a moment, then said: [Cuihua, I feel like the male lead living under this setting is not happy at all.]
System Cuihua: [Whether he’s happy or not doesn’t matter right now. The most important phase of this world begins after he meets the female lead. Once they meet, their world will turn sweet.]
Chu Luyu sighed. She knew the system was right, but she still couldn’t help feeling miserable.
She lifted her head slightly and looked at the handsome face so close to hers. The man seemed truly exhausted—he was sleeping deeply, but his arms were still locked tightly around her.
She stared at him for a long time, then asked the system: [Cuihua, I remember you once said my task points could be exchanged for varying degrees of ‘wishes fulfilled.’ Could I later transfer that opportunity to the male lead?]
System Cuihua: [Oh my god, sweetie, what are you trying to do? You worked so hard for those task points—why would you give them to the male lead? He doesn’t lack anything!]
Chu Luyu: [He does.]
She paused, then repeated: [He does. He said just now that at countless turning points in his life, it felt like he wasn’t the one making the choices. That means many times, what he got and the path he took might not have been what he truly wanted. I… I want to exchange a ‘wish fulfilled’ for him—so that in his future life, at least once, he can make a choice entirely on his own.]
The system fell silent. After a long moment, it asked: [But what’s the point? The male lead’s world is like a road with countless forks. No matter which fork he suddenly wants to turn down, the final destination won’t change.]
Chu Luyu: [Maybe there’s no point. But I just want to do something for him.]
The system hemmed and hawed for a while: [We’ll talk about it later. I’m not going to exchange it for you right now. You worked so hard for those task points—I’m afraid you’re acting on impulse and will regret it later. After the plot plays out, or if something else happens, if you still want to give it to the male lead, I’ll help you then.]
Chu Luyu smiled, satisfied. The heavy gloom in her chest finally lifted a little. She replied: [Okay.]
Jiang Hezhou held Chu Luyu in his arms and slept for almost half a day and a full night. Eventually, she also drifted off in his embrace and didn’t wake until the next day.
Because Jiang Hezhou was connected to the case, he was called out again early in the morning. Before he left, he said that Zhang Jiting and Ji Chen would be coming over in the morning, and she might need to go pick them up first.
Near the municipal bureau was a restaurant well-known in Jingzhou. After some thought, Chu Luyu decided to take the two men there to wait, so they could all eat together once Jiang Hezhou was free.
When the two men saw Chu Luyu, their expressions were unusually anxious. Both were rich young masters used to weathering storms; normally, very little could rattle them.
But now, they walked toward her in a hurry, their voices even more urgent than the other’s.
“What’s the situation now? Is it confirmed that Li Yuebai is the suspect? Or are they still gathering evidence?”
Chu Luyu paused, thinking of Jiang Hezhou’s anguish yesterday and the words he’d said. Her tone was heavy as she replied: “It’s most likely confirmed.”
Both men fell silent. After a long moment, Zhang Jiting cursed angrily: “What the hell was he thinking?! What was he after?! I’m so f***ing done!”
Ji Chen, slightly more composed, asked Chu Luyu: “So… was he also connected to the death of Jiang Er’s father back then?”
A couple days ago, Ji Chen had received a message from Jiang Hezhou saying there might finally be a lead on his father’s case. It came out of nowhere, and when Ji Chen asked for more details, he got no reply.
Now recalling it, maybe…
Chu Luyu wasn’t sure if she could share more details with them. She hesitated, then replied: “You can ask Jiang Hezhou when he gets here. I don’t know the specific case details.”
They were about to head into the private room to wait, but Jiang Hezhou came out quickly. By the time they reached the restaurant entrance, he had already caught up with them.
When the brothers met again, one person was missing, and the atmosphere had turned heavy.
They didn’t say much at first, just exchanged glances and started walking into the restaurant.
Just then, a voice called from behind—
“Hezhou.”
Everyone stopped and turned around. It was Jiang Qiyou.
All three men greeted him in unison. Zhang Jiting and Ji Chen followed Jiang Hezhou’s lead and called him “Big Brother.”
Jiang Qiyou nodded and smiled: “I had a lunch meeting here. I spotted you all before I even got out of the car.”
He scanned the group. “Where’s Yuebai? Didn’t he come with you today?”
Everyone fell silent. Finally, Ji Chen spoke first: “He’s been arrested.”
“Arrested?” A rare look of shock crossed Jiang Qiyou’s usually composed face. “What do you mean? Did he commit a crime?”
“Yes. These recent serial homicides in Jingzhou—he’s the one behind them. If nothing unexpected happens, the announcement will go out online tomorrow.”
Jiang Qiyou still looked incredulous. “Yuebai was always so steady. He’d been working by Uncle Li’s side, and I’d even planned to have him take over as my executive assistant someday. How could it be… Could there be a misjudgment? Have all the leads been verified? Are you absolutely sure it’s him?”
“It’s confirmed. And he confessed without hesitation—no attempt to defend himself.” Jiang Hezhou paused for a moment. “Our father’s case back then—he did that too.”
Jiang Qiyou’s demeanor grew even more solemn than before. His expression turned grave. After a long silence, he said: “After you’re done with this, come back to the old house and tell me all the details.”
Jiang Hezhou nodded.
Jiang Qiyou didn’t keep them any longer. He nodded for them to go in, and at the end, glanced at Chu Luyu and gave her a brief nod as well.
Once inside the restaurant, Zhang Jiting was still fuming: “Brother Jiang must be shocked too. He used to think so highly of Li Yuebai—whenever we got together, he’d always praise him. Damn it, who did this guy even care about? I just can’t understand why he’d do this!”
Ji Chen responded: “Let’s not talk about it for now. Let’s hear what Jiang Er has to say.”
At that, Zhang Jiting immediately turned his gaze to Jiang Hezhou, his eyes full of urgency.
But Jiang Hezhou remained silent, his eyes lowered, his face pale and devoid of warmth.
Chu Luyu sat beside him, acutely aware of the low, heavy sadness radiating from him. She couldn’t help quietly taking his hand under the table. The next second, he held hers back.
After a long pause, Jiang Hezhou’s voice finally broke the silence, somewhat hoarse, carrying an inexplicable weight: “Maybe… it was my fault—”
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