Chapter 100: Speculating About the Culprit

“This place wasn’t built by me, and I’m not responsible for it. Besides, they brought it upon themselves by running there—who can they blame? Didn’t their mothers teach them not to wander off as children? But they refused to listen. Fine, if we share the responsibility, at least I won’t be sentenced to death.”

“You, Xu Shao, will still be a hero a hundred years from now. Are you afraid of the death penalty?”

Xu Yaohuan realized for the first time how the man’s words scratched at his throat, so sardonic and strange.

When he’d just raised his hand to toss the cigarette, he’d accidentally tugged at the many wounds wrapped in bandages, and suddenly, he felt a desperate longing for death.

———

In the underground chamber.

They were hungry and cold, the chilling air seeping relentlessly into their bodies. Even the dust was laced with nauseating odors, all of it wafting from the opened coffins. The two of them squatted together in a corner, fearful that if the place collapsed, this spot might still offer a chance for survival.

“We shouldn’t be in real danger. At least Fu Yanran wouldn’t act recklessly; he’d make sure the blast wouldn’t bring the ceiling down before resorting to such measures.”

Zhong Huayan’s beige dress grew heavier in the dim room. Her hair was covered with dust, the very image of someone escaping disaster. Yet, even so, her beauty was unmistakable, her bearing revealing her grace. Both of them looked like noble children who’d stumbled into the depths of some catastrophic horror, quietly huddling in the corner. Hungry and thirsty as they were, they caused no trouble, simply waiting silently for rescue.

Hiding was better than wandering.

Encountering someone on the road could mean losing their lives.

With that in mind, they moved to hide behind the coffin.

“Have you ever watched horror movies? In situations like this, what if all the girls suddenly stood up at once…”

“Xu Chuyin, are you insane? Don’t say things like that. We need to trust science. Besides, they were pitiful souls—how unjust their deaths! If they were to awaken, the first thing they’d do would be to seek out the murderer.”

He watched the woman’s anxious expression and spoke softly.

“Do you think, at a time like this, there’s any difference between good and bad people?”

Zhong Huayan felt she was no different from those lifeless girls. So, was she a vengeful spirit, awakened? When she turned to the young man, her gaze carried a weight of resentment.

“Xu Chuyin, you are a bad person.”

“I am not!”

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“You are! Not only are you a bad person, you’re a hypocrite!”

“Isn’t Fu Yanran a bad person too? Why do you only blame me?”

Zhong Huayan’s tone was mocking as she grabbed a handful of mourning paper scraps from the ground and threw them at the boy’s handsome face.

“What are you trying to say? What right does a school bully have to judge others?”

“Let me analyze this for you. There are so many coffins here—it’s likely this is the site of a shocking case from years ago, and the police never found the culprit. They haven’t even found the forty-nine missing girls. Fu Honglie died more than twenty years ago, so who else could know about this place? Only Fu Yanran. And he dared to trigger the underground mechanism—such a man who loves you, would he act so recklessly if he wasn’t intimately familiar with this place?”

Xu Chuyin shifted all suspicion onto Fu Yanran.

She couldn’t defend Fu Yanran, for everything sounded so reasonable. Combined with what she’d seen in the Treasure Manor earlier, the similarities were uncanny.

“Go on.”

“And do you truly know Fu Yanran?”

“No, I don’t.”

“My brother once told me, Fu Yanran isn’t a good person. He seems honorable on the surface, but he’s ruthless behind closed doors. Half of the Xu family’s fortune was lost thanks to his scheming. My grandfather, my sister—they were all imprisoned by him. After the eldest Miss Zhong died, the Zhong family perished before winter was over, after suffering abuse. If it were just ordinary debt collectors, it wouldn’t have cost so many lives. Besides, the Zhong family hadn’t accumulated much debt at that time. Everything points to Fu Yanran. Li Yanyan, I’m telling you, don’t let yourself be deceived. You merely resemble Zhong Huayan, and Fu Yanran dared to propose to her despite society’s reproach…”

She listened, incredulous yet finding it all too plausible.

She couldn’t even find a reason to defend Fu Yanran.

Because he was right.

Xu Chuyin had initially thought she was hurt because she’d realized she was a substitute.

In truth, she resented Fu Yanran’s deception and concealment—the fact that, time and again, he made mistakes and still hid them.

Fu Yanran refused to view things rationally; in that fire, she wasn’t the only one wounded. He, too, was forced to grow up cruelly overnight, as if exacting revenge on the world’s injustice through extreme severity.

But he forgot… In that fire, it wasn’t just Zhong family relatives who died, but also the cook, the servants, the company staff…

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“Sigh… Are you sure? Was your grandfather’s car explosion his doing as well?”

“Absolutely certain—what else could it be? The driver died despite all efforts, and my sister Xu Yuan was probably beaten to death by Fu Yanran’s men. I’d rather trust a devil than a hypocrite.”

His words, neither heavy nor light, made Zhong Huayan tremble all over. Sitting on the ground, she reflected on everything that had happened recently. From school bullying to the present, the world had long since turned upside down. Who could truly see the truth behind the veil? A tear slipped unconsciously from the corner of her eye. Everyone was deceiving her, yet deep down she reproached herself—for what grounds did she have to judge anyone?

But if Fu Yanran’s actions were truly as he said, then he was a monstrous villain, treating ordinary lives as expendable.

Yet, he had never harmed her. Privately, she couldn’t be ungrateful or cold-hearted.

“Why are you crying… Don’t cry. I was only guessing. Besides, you’re not a substitute…”

Xu Chuyin couldn’t bear to see a woman cry, especially one he cared about.

He never imagined she would cry; he’d always thought Li Yanyan was the strongest, coolest little mermaid he’d ever met.

Though he often enjoyed teasing her to tears, now that she was truly crying, it made him uncomfortable, his chest aching.

He reached out to the corner of her eye.

Watching her lean coldly against the wall, silent tears streaming down her face, he could only comfort her and gently wipe them away.

“In fact, there’s another bizarre, inexplicable matter I recently learned from my forensic teacher, but I haven’t told you. I was afraid it would worry you.”

Zhong Huayan looked up and asked,

“It’s alright, just say it.”

But before the boy could speak, the wall before them exploded with a deafening crash, collapsing in a cloud of dust. The earth shook as if struck by an earthquake. Boards shattered, scattered across the floor in splinters.

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