Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

What? Good grief!

The girl in the picture was actually Meng Chi himself?

Xiang Wan felt a chill up her spine. Her body felt numb, and she found it difficult to look at the “girl” in the picture.

So, he had pretended to be a girl to make his mom happy?

Perhaps his mom thought that her daughter was still alive?

No wonder… that he would come to like men.

And that he would actually come to like those manly guys.

Xiang Wan felt that everything started to make sense again.

She looked at her phone and stared into the distance when Bai Muchuan sent another message.

“Today, I chatted with Meng Chi’s mom. I feel that her mental state was quite good. It seems like the treatment she got over these years are showing results. She told me that her son is very filial to her. Back then, she clearly knew about the efforts he did to make her happy. It was just that she didn’t expose him… Consequently, they adopted Xie Wanwan. Firstly, Meng Chi did not object as he wanted his mom to be happy. Secondly, it was to help Xie Wanwan. Well, they did not go through any adoption papers. When they brought Xie Wanwan to the Meng Family, she was quite big already, so she seldom interacted with them… Very few people who knew about this.”

“Why did they want to help Xie Wanwan?”

“Meng Chi’s mom and Xie Wanwan’s mom knew each other back then.” Bai Muchuan’s messages seemed to delay for a few seconds compared to his normal rate. That brought a heavy anxiety on Xiang Wan’s heart. “They knew each other from the disaster back then.”

“Oh.” Xiang Wan looked at her phone in a daze; she was unsure how to handle this shock.

Suddenly, her eyes went wide-opened which made the employee of the salon jump when he came to shampoo her hair.

“Miss, you can shampoo your hair now.”

“I’ll wait awhile. Let them go first.”

“…” The employee seemed a little stupefied to see her using her mobile phone when it was her turn.

However, since they were busy this time, and that she was willing to wait, they did not mind calling the next customer.

Xiang Wan totally forgot where she was when she immediately sent another message to Bai Muchuan.

“I think I got it now!”

“… What?” Bai Muchuan asked.

“Meng Chi could be suffering from Dissociative Identity Disorder!”

“… Dissociative Identity Disorder?”

“He thinks he isn’t guilty since the one who did all these is his other personality, I think?” Xiang Wan paused for a moment. “I remember the first time I met him at the conveyor belt hotpot restaurant; he was a gentlemanly person back then. When I met him the second time… especially when I saw him again at the villa at Vulture’s Mouth, he was hostile and aggressive. I thought he was only like that since he was really worried about Xie Wanwan’s safety. I thought something was going on between them and overlooked the changes in his personality…

“Maybe back then, he was really worried about Xie Wanwan…

“What happened then worried him, so he wanted to save her. Now, he knocked her out and even wanted to kill her. Such a contradictory person might be suffering from Dissociative Identity Disorder!”

“…”

What she said stunned Bai Muchuan for a moment before he replied.

“I’ve handled so many cases all these years, but I’ve never come across a case where a criminal suffers from a mental disorder like this.”

“You might not have encountered it before, but it doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist! Some people have a personality disorder, but it was so mild that we often ignored it. These people won’t necessarily describe their symptoms actively. Even legislation does not protect perpetrators who suffered from a split personality disorder. No matter which personality committed the crime, he or she would have to face the punishment regardless, right?”

Nobody wanted to be treated like a weirdo.

Even if they knew that they were a little abnormal, they would try their best to act normal in their daily lives.

“People are most afraid of not fitting in; they are most afraid of having other people realize that they are different…” Xiang Wan continued to send messages. “Meng Chi’s special experience might have been a blow to his psyche? Dressing up as a girl to please his mother for a long time… Maybe that could have sparked off the development of a vengeful personality in him; hence, he committed those crimes?”

“Aye! Little Xiang Wan, this is not a novel where you make up stories.”

“That’s why I need you to verify these! I’m not the police; I’m an author, and an author’s job is to create stories. The police’s job is to find the truth!”

“…”

Bai Muchuan couldn’t find the right words to argue with her.

Thus, he sent a cute emoji instead followed by another emoticon of a police officer giving a salute.

“I got it, my queen!”

…

“Excuse me, do you want a haircut?”

“No need.”

“Is there any hairstyle you want to style?”

“Just shampoo and blow dry my hair will do!”

Xiang Wan was in a dazed state during the shampooing, rinsing, and blow-drying of her hair.

It was easy for her to immerse herself in her own story.

In just a few minutes, she looked as if she had written over 30,000 words regarding Meng Chi’s background and family affairs.

She had a lot of reflections that came to mind when she thought of that.

Back when she was young, her family was especially poor. She would envy those kids from wealthy families for being born with a silver spoon, that they did not need to struggle to find work or work themselves to death just so they could live for another day. They could do whatever they want with their money with no psychological burden; they could enjoy good living conditions and happiness most ordinary people wouldn’t be able to enjoy even if they slogged their whole life…

However, when she had now encountered one of these wealthy people, she suddenly felt a little depressed.

It turned out that everyone did not really lead a happy life.

She was poor, but she lived a simple life.

Once it got too easy to amass huge wealth and obtain the power and status that ordinary people could not achieve, how would they maintain the balance when they finally reached their breaking point?

Human desires are endless!

One could never satisfy their worldly desires!

…

Bai Muchuan worked fast.

He said he would send someone to investigate, and he really did.

That night, when he arrived at the hospital to fetch Xiang Wan, it was already night time.

When they returned to the hotel, they both stayed up late to discuss the case, and then they communicated with each other’s bodies. Once they both exhausted themselves and was perspiring all over, they finally managed to throw off that melancholic feeling and vexation they had.

They slept till morning.

They were too sleepy and too tired.

Both of them slept like logs.

When they woke up the next day and were ready to eat breakfast, they received a piece of good news.

Meng Chi had consulted a psychiatrist before.

He went abroad to consult a well-known psychiatrist overseas.

“He told the psychiatrist that a devil lived within him, and he couldn’t control it anymore…”

What!?

Shock.

Surprise.

Did it leave an impact?

When Xiang Wan heard that from Bai Muchuan, she recalled something that startled her.

That sentence and the words the mysterious ID left in her reviews and comments page before was too similar!

She quivered and felt goosebumps all over her body…

“When did he consult the psychiatrist?”

“He only consulted that psychiatrist once, about more than a year ago.” Bai Muchuan seemed reluctant to continue talking about it as he snorted. “It’s difficult to get an appointment with that famous psychiatrist. The information of his patients is extremely confidential. Cheng Zheng’s the one who asked his contacts to help get this information…”

Cheng Zheng?

Oh, he had gone abroad to study before.

However, why did Bai Muchuan had that kind of expression?

“Oh.” Xiang Wan noticed that and tried to continue talking about the case.

“What else? Is there any record of him seeing a psychiatrist elsewhere?”

“We only got that one time he did.” Bai Muchuan looked at her calmly. “That time when he consulted the psychiatrist, it was when… he just gained control of the Meng Entertainment Group.”

From the rumors on the Internet, it was not all smooth sailing for Meng Chi to gain control of the Meng Entertainment Group. They said that the process was tough and torturous… At that time, was the devil in his heart fully awakened?

Xiang Wan felt a chill on her spine.

The evidence of Meng Chi killing Tu Liang was certain and sufficient.

Even his motive and thoughts for the murder were now reasonably explained.

What else was there to say about this?

She walked to Bai Muchuan and put her arms around his waist.

“So,” she finally found some strength to talk, “can we close the case now?”

“Yeah!” Bai Muchuan spoke in her ear. “Even if he did not confess, we can still charge him! It’s just that…”

What was the problem?

For a detective, if there were doubts about the case, it was inevitable to have some regrets.

…

Meng Chi refused to say anything.

He refused to confess and gave an account for the course of the crime.

Neither did he deny what he did nor did he argue to prove his innocence.

With each interrogation, the words he said got lesser and lesser.

He looked depressed and seemed to be getting worse day by day.

On the third day, he did not even want to meet with his lawyers anymore.

Hence, he did not make any statement at all.

In their country, there were procedures for law enforcers to follow in order to convict a criminal who refused to confess. The first was that they had to verify all conclusive evidence. Every piece of evidence they verified must have an objective connection with the facts of the crime. Second, there must be no contradiction between the evidence and the facts of the case, and that the authenticated evidence was unique to the conclusion of the case.

Therefore, the suspect did not necessarily need to confess.

It was just that such situations were a rare sight.

As far as this case was concerned, somehow, they felt that something was missing if Meng Chi refused to talk.

For the past few days, Xiang Wan had been thinking about how to make Meng Chi talk. She even suggested Bai Muchuan to invite a criminal psychologist over to help.

Hence, Zhan Se received an invitation from Serious Crime Division One and arrived in Xi City.

After several rounds of interrogation with Meng Chi, he still refused to talk.

“Just how strong is this person’s mentality? Even Senior Zhan couldn’t make him talk?”

When Xiang Wan received the news about the result of the interrogation, she felt astonished.

Her curiosity about Meng Chi was now greater.

“It seemed as if his psychological defenses were made of reinforced concrete?”

“Maybe it’s not that he’s strong mentally…” Bai Muchuan’s eyebrows furrowed slightly. “Things might go in the opposite direction when it reached the extreme.”

“What do you mean?”

“He might be too weak to talk for all we know!”

“…”

That sounded reasonable!

There was nothing else more complicated than the nature of humanity.

Vulnerable and stubborn. The more stubborn he was, the more vulnerable he would be…

When Xiang Wan thought of that, her eyes suddenly lit up. “Is Meng Chi’s mom still in Xi City?”

“Yup.” Bai Muchuan saw that she was blinking and she looked like she had thought of something. “What’s up?”

Meng Chi’s mom was staying in the same hotel as Xiang Wan and Bai Muchuan.

She was not too healthy. She had brought along her assistants and private nurses. Usually, it was hard to meet her. However, she had been visiting Xie Wanwan privately several times, asking her to find ways to get Bai Muchuan to agree to her meeting Meng Chi…

It was natural for her to behave that way.

Nonetheless, since Meng Chi was being held in custody and was undergoing investigations, the protocols stated that he could not meet his family or friends. He could only meet his lawyers…

How would Bai Muchuan make such an exception?

“Hey, Sir Little Bai, do you think if Meng Chi were to see his mom… do you think that could be the triggering point for us to break his mental defenses?