No one had expected such a sudden turn at the wedding. All eyes turned to Jiang Chen—some sympathetic, some mocking, but mostly just stunned.
"What the hell just happened?"
Jiang Chen struggled to get up, but his legs wouldn't cooperate. Flat on his back, he stared up at me—calmly smoking, face expressionless. His eyes were blazing with fury. He opened his mouth, seemingly trying to speak—but suddenly coughed up a foul-smelling mouthful of blood… and collapsed unconscious.
"Should I call the cops? That's basically extortion." I nudged his unmoving body with my foot. "Forget it. You should probably just call an ambulance. He might still be saveable."
Chaos erupted.
The Jiangjin Group's executive secretary and several security guards burst into the hall, a private doctor in tow. Together, they hauled Jiang Chen away.
"A wedding without a groom—can you still call it a wedding?" Up in the second-floor VIP section, a group of men in light gray suits stood up. "Looks like your family has a lot on its plate today, Boss Jiang. We'll be taking our leave."
They walked straight out—no hesitation, no regard for saving face.
"Who the hell are they? That arrogance almost rivals that kid from earlier."
"Keep your voice down. That's the executive director of Qianding Pharmaceuticals—one of the city's biggest players."
"Apologies for my son's poor hospitality, Chairman Huang. Safe travels." A deep voice echoed from the center of the second floor. I glanced that way but didn't see who had spoken.
"How did you do that?" Tie Ningxiang gripped my arm, eyes wide in wonder. She looked at me like she was meeting me for the first time.
"I didn't do anything. He collapsed on his own."
"Sure, like anyone's gonna believe that. Come on, spill it."
"What? You planning to abuse your authority as head of Criminal Investigations and beat a confession out of me? I'm terrified."
There was no way I could explain the truth. I dropped the topic and gave Ye Bing one last glance. "Take care of yourself. Goodbye."
No matter how this wedding turned out, it didn't matter to me. I came here for one reason only—to close the door on the past.
While Ye Bing hesitated to speak, and our former classmates watched in dazed silence, I walked out of the wedding hall with Tie Ningxiang.
—
Around two or three in the afternoon, after repeated calls from Tie Ningxiang, I went to the city precinct.
The moment I stepped into the interrogation room, I realized this was serious.
Four officers stood posted in each corner, including Tie Ningxiang—now back in uniform. All armed. All on high alert.
"Isn't this a bit excessive?" The object of their wariness was just a ragged-looking woman, bound hand and foot to the interrogation chair. Her long hair draped down, face hidden, slumped over the desk.
"You're here." Tie Ningxiang stopped me before I could step forward. "The suspect's unstable. Don't get too close yet."
The woman in the chair was Xiaofeng. I'd already become familiar with her figure that night at the Anxin Motel.
"What happened to her clothes? Don't tell me you people roughed up an innocent woman."
"Rough her up? This little devil almost wrecked my entire interrogation room!" one officer said. "Xiao Wang, come show him your arm."
Officer Xiao Wang walked over, sleeve rolled up.
"Look at this—she bit me. Wouldn't let go no matter what. We had to knock her out with anesthetic just to pry her jaw open. Otherwise, she'd have torn the whole chunk off."
The bite marks were horrifying—two deep rows of punctures, at least a centimeter into the flesh. The wound still oozed blood despite first aid.
"She didn't seem that unhinged before…"
"How should I know she'd go rabid all of a sudden? Her mouth was full of blood. She looked like a ghost straight out of hell."
A ghost? I frowned.
Xiaofeng had always struck me as gentle to the point of fragility. For her to flip like this—maybe the ghost from the Anxin Motel had possessed her.
But the problem was… this wasn't the motel.
This was the police station.
In ancient times, such places were seen as sacred halls of justice. Even spirits avoided them.
"Unless… the ghost wasn't at the motel—it's been hiding inside Xiaofeng all along." It was only a guess. The supernatural never provided easy proof.
"You spent a night with her, didn't you?" Tie Ningxiang clapped a hand on my shoulder. "You two must've bonded. Once the sedative wears off, you're going to be the one to question her."
"Shouldn't you be handling this?" I eyed Xiao Wang's still-bleeding arm. "This is your case. I'm just a—"
"Just a what? Don't disappoint me, bro." Tie Ningxiang smirked. "Besides, she specifically asked for you."
I couldn't deny my curiosity.
What exactly did Xiaofeng want to say?
The Anxin Motel stream might be over, but not the questions it left behind.
"Mmm..." A faint moan. Xiaofeng slowly came to, blinking at the room. "Why are you all standing so far away? Why does my mouth feel... wet?"
Her hands and feet were locked, so she couldn't wipe the blood at her lips.
"She's all yours." Tie Ningxiang gave me an encouraging look before leading everyone out. "Relax—we'll be monitoring everything from the control room."
Boom. The heavy metal door slammed shut.
Just me and Xiaofeng.
Alone in the room, she suddenly bowed her head, avoiding my gaze. "D-Do you still mean what you promised me back then?"
She sounded timid, shy—almost sweet.
If not for the dried blood crusting at her mouth, I might've been charmed.
Calm down, Gao Jian. This girl nearly bit off a man's arm half an hour ago.
I took a breath, pulled out a tissue, and knelt beside her. "Hold still. Let me clean you up."
Seeing the blood on the tissue, she went quiet.
"Here, rinse your mouth." I grabbed a random teacup from the table and helped her swish the blood away. Then I pulled a chair over and sat beside her.
"All right. What do you want to talk about?"
"You said at the Anxin Motel that if I ever needed anything, I could ask you. You'd help me, right?"
"I did say that." At the time, I'd just been probing her. I hadn't expected her to take it seriously.
"Good." Her eyes lit up with rare clarity. "Then I only have one request."
"Go ahead. I'll do what I can."
"I want to marry you."
The room went silent.
Only the ticking of the clock filled the air.
Her gaze was piercing—like it could see straight through me.
My mind blanked. All theories, all deductions—gone. This was not where I thought this conversation was headed.
"You want to marry me?" I fumbled for a cigarette, hands trembling, and lit it. "This case has little to do with you. At worst, you might be guilty of withholding information. With your situation, you could easily walk out of this and start fresh."
According to the files Tie Ningxiang had shared, Xiaofeng wasn't an accomplice. In fact, she was a victim. She had no reason to sacrifice herself just to escape early detention.
"There's no one more suitable than you," she said. "Only with you can I stay alive."
That phrase… it sounded familiar. I remembered now—the paper doll interviewer from The Netherworld Live Show had said something eerily similar.
"Why?"
"Over the years, so many people have stayed at the Anxin Motel. But only you helped my sister's soul find justice. Only you punished that devil family. You did it."
"It was luck. And the ones responsible have already been arrested. Luxing's still on the run, but he's wanted now. You're safe. You can live like a normal person. No one will hurt you."
"No," Xiaofeng shook her head furiously. "Not until Luxing kills seven people will he be caught. My sister was the first. I'll be the last. The Two-Faced Buddha said so. And the first five—every single one has already died."
The Two-Faced Buddha? I pulled out my phone and opened a photo I'd taken in the underground tunnels at the Anxin Motel—a statue embedded in the wall. Two faces: one serene, one grotesque.
"He was the feng shui master who helped build the motel," Xiaofeng said. "Not a monk, not a priest. He called himself the Two-Faced Buddha."
Pain flickered in her eyes. "I once overheard him talking with Luxing. They said seven must die. My sister was the first. I'm the last."
"Then why didn't you run?"
"I did run. But they always found me. And…" She motioned toward her back.
I lifted her torn blouse slightly.
There—tiny black dots. Several of them. Embedded into the flesh.
"Every time they caught me," she whispered, "they drove another needle into my back."