The weapon by the pillow

Chapter 105 Someone Leaves

"Someone... has left." Upon hearing the command leaked from Cheng Jing's phone, Cheng Tan's lips curled into a rare smile.

"Yang Hong...it really is her, she wants us all dead." Fang Jie spat out a hateful grit between her teeth. "Haven't she taken enough benefits from me? Crucial moments in the investigation, favors in bribing her way into a better career...I never imagined that she would be the one to pull the knife in the end!"

"You've finally seen through it all." Cheng Tan's smile grew even colder. "Sometimes, one person's selfish desires can override all orders. In today's game, Yang Hong probably just realized that she was nothing more than a pawn put on the sacrificial altar first! In fact, from the moment I gave that signal last night, when she repeatedly delayed responding to the police and disregarded life and death, she was destined to be nothing more than a killing knife, not the hand that wielded it."

"But she truly understood just now... when we uttered the word 'key'! She knew she should withdraw." Cheng Jing also revealed a mocking smile. "Actually... I've always secretly respected her a bit. Family background, upbringing, starting point—she surpasses me in every way."

"You're now part of the 'negotiation team'." Cheng Tan said seriously, his gaze sweeping over Cheng Jing and Chen Ming. "You two go and talk to him. What to talk about? How to talk about it? Tell us. After that... our 'ghost card game' will have to continue."

"Still playing cards?!" Chen Ming suddenly raised his voice, his anger erupting. "Cheng Tan! Do you know how many brothers the bureau mobilized for this game of mahjong? How many people were lying in life-threatening positions, on the verge of death! Even Director Li rushed over in a panic..."

"Ah Ming," Cheng Tan lazily interrupted him, "I just pulled you out of that hidden compartment, and instead of thanking me, you're lecturing me? Tell me, shouldn't we treat our feisty policewoman to another 'bamboo shoot stir-fry'?" His tone shifted, chillingly, "This situation has just been set up, and countless ears are straining to hear it. Now you want to back down? I'm afraid many... won't agree."

"Hmph! Pretending to be profound!" Chen Ming turned his face away, still muttering to himself.

"A bookish slacker once said something similar. I ignored him." Cheng Tan said, already stirring the scattered dominoes on the table. "Profound things don't need to be 'pretended'; simple things, even if 'pretended,' will go unnoticed. Let's begin."

The automatic mahjong table had long been powered off, leaving only the manual one. The crisp sound of the dominoes clashing was particularly clear in the deathly silent private room, one clatter after another, like tiny joints tapping in the dark.

Draw cards. Arrange cards.

Cheng Tan's starting hand was unremarkable, but his mind was calculating. He was calculating the thickness of the wall of cards, the possible flows of the cards, and the potential power Chen Hao might hold in his hands.

Chen Hao played with a heavy, focused hand. His fingertips traced each card, as gently as if caressing a lover's brow. His eyes were tender yet sorrowful, as if through the cold bamboo frame, one could glimpse that dusty time from thirteen years ago.

In the third round, Chen Hao played a red dragon.

It was that same card again, stained with dark red dirt.

Cheng Tan stared at the red dragon card, then suddenly spoke, his words as straight as a ruler: "The blood on this card is Li Wan's."

Chen Hao's hand froze in mid-air.

"...What?"

"Technical evidence can speak for itself," Cheng Tan said. "Even after thirteen years, current methods can still reveal some clues. The blood on this card, along with the others on the table, all belong to the same woman—Li Wan."

Fangjie suddenly raised her head, staring in utter horror at the dominoes on the table.

"This...this is impossible..." Her voice trembled. "These tiles were new ones I bought three years ago..."

"But the blood on the cards is from thirteen years ago," Cheng Tan said, each word like a nail. "Someone mixed the bloodstained old cards into your new deck. This person knows your habits very well and knows that you would use this deck to entertain 'distinguished guests'."

He turned his gaze to Chen Hao: "Is it you?"

Chen Hao shook his head: "It wasn't me. I didn't know there was blood on the card."

"Who is that?" Cheng Jing pressed.

Cheng Tan did not answer. He played a four of bamboo and continued, "How could Li Wan's blood be stained with mahjong tiles? There were no mahjong tiles at the scene of the family annihilation. The police file clearly states that there was a chess set on the coffee table in the living room, not a mahjong set."

He paused slightly, then looked at Sister Fang: "But there is one place where there is indeed a mahjong set. Thirteen years ago, there was always a set in the rest room of the Anpingli demolition command. The demolition team members often played mahjong there. A week before Li Wan died, she went there. According to the duty records at the time, Li Wan stayed there for twenty minutes and left crying. Someone saw her fall and scrape her hand, which was bleeding."

Fangjie's face was deathly pale, as if it had been coated with a layer of lime.

"That mahjong set..." Her throat bobbed, her voice trembling uncontrollably, "...then it disappeared. When the demolition was being finalized and items were being inventoried, a dozen or so tiles were missing from that set. We just assumed the workers had taken them..."

"It wasn't a worker," Cheng Tan interrupted her. "Someone deliberately took the bloodstained card. They hid it for thirteen years. Then, they mixed it into your card."

"Why...why?" Chen Hao asked in a hoarse voice, "Why do you have to do this?"

"As a 'reminder'." Cheng Tan's gaze swept over every face at the card table. "A reminder to everyone involved in that incident: blood debts must be repaid in blood."

The game continued in a heavy, almost stagnant atmosphere. Everyone was preoccupied with their own thoughts, and everyone played slowly, as if each card required immense effort.

On the sixth turn, Cheng Tan drew an 8 of Wan. His hand was now ready to win, but he chose to discard it again. He played an East Wind – the safest option.

He was waiting. Waiting for a signal, waiting for a crack to appear.

Chen Hao seemed to have seen through his thoughts.

"You're waiting for me to slip up," Chen Hao said. "But this time, I won't make a mistake. Because this game... is tied to A-Wan."

"You love her," Cheng Tan said.

"Love?" Chen Hao forced a bitter smile. "'Love' is too light. She was my life. If she's gone, my life is over. All that's left... is this stubborn obsession that refuses to let go."

"So you orchestrated all of this."

"I just want to clear her name." Chen Hao's voice choked with emotion. "She was such a good person, she shouldn't have died like that. She shouldn't have died with such a smeared reputation. She sacrificed herself for her family. In her diary, she wrote that she would come back to find me after her father recovered and her younger brother graduated. She told me... to wait for her."

Tears rolled down his cheeks without warning, landing on the cold playing card and spreading a small dark patch.

"I waited. I waited for three years, until she got married. Then another three years, until she gave birth. And then another three years... until she... was gone."

He raised his eyes, his gaze bloodshot and menacing: "That beast, when did he ever love her? He only loved her to show off, to satisfy his ridiculous desire for conquest. He had women outside, more than one. He beat her… These words, in A-Wan's diary, are written in tears. But what could she do?"

Cheng Jing's hands clenched tightly under the table. She recalled the old photos of medical examinations in Li Wan's case file; back then, it was just considered a domestic dispute, but looking at them now...

"So you decided to kill me," Cheng Tan said.

"I wanted to kill him," Chen Hao admitted frankly. "I thought of a hundred ways to kill him. But I didn't do it. Because A-Wan wouldn't let me. A week before she died, she called me and said, 'Haozi, don't do anything foolish. Live well for my sake.'"

He took a deep breath, his voice trembling violently. "I agreed to her request. So that night, I didn't go there. I was in a neighboring city, sitting in the last row of a training classroom, my mind filled with thoughts of her. Until eleven o'clock at night... I received a phone call."