At 8 p.m. on June 8th, the interrogation room of the C City Police Station was brightly lit.
"We've examined the DNA of the victim in the murder case in Liujia Village. The dead man is not Sun Shan," said Officer Zheng.
"I don't even know where the village you're talking about is. It really has nothing to do with me," "Hu Zong" licked his lips.
"In the hand of the charred corpse, there was still a business card of Zhou Zheng tightly grasped. Zhou Zheng, your college classmate, do you still remember?" Officer Zheng had started interrogating "Hu Zong" as Pei Yan had requested.
"Officer, if you have no evidence, you have to let me go tonight," "Hu Zong" remained unmoved.
"Do you know what was written on Zhou Zheng's business card? Business manager of a game company in B City, Zhou Zheng," Officer Zheng continued, "Tell me, why was the business card of Zhou Zheng in his hand?"
"Officer, stop joking with me. There are people handing out business cards everywhere these days. How would I know why?"
"We also questioned He Li, your ex - girlfriend, the department's beauty. She said that the statements about the fight incident back then were wrong, and they shouldn't have framed you," Officer Zheng ignored "Hu Zong"'s various replies and continued step by step.
"Officer, it's almost 9 p.m. I'll be able to leave soon," "Hu Zong" started picking at his fingernails.
"Where are the missing Feng Ti and Yang Yu?" Officer Zheng kept talking on his own, but his eyes were fixed on the other's every move.
"Officer, stop trying to get information from me. I don't even know who they are," "Hu Zong" still picked at his fingernails.
"We've already found Yu Hui. He's told us everything. Stop denying it," Officer Zheng saw "Hu Zong"'s fingernail - picking gesture pause for a moment. It seemed this was the breakthrough.
"Yu Hui said he knows everything about you, and he's also told your boss," Officer Zheng continued to hint about Yu Hui.
"That ungrateful wimp," Hu Zong suddenly changed his tone and cursed.
"It was your boss, Wu Tian, who reported you. Do you have anything else to say?" Officer Zheng knew the last step was coming.
"Wu Tian reported me? Don't be kidding. He values me so much. I was trained by him," Hu Zong was a bit confused, "Officer, what have you been talking about all day? I don't understand at all."
"You also wrote a book. Your pen - name is 'There's a Temple on the Mountain'," Officer Zheng found this Hu Zong a bit difficult to deal with.
"Officer, do I look like a book - writer? Stop joking."
"The person you really like is Ding Rui. You were with He Li just out of anger, to make Zhou Zheng look up to you," Officer Zheng saw Hu Zong's facial muscles relax, and he started picking at his fingernails again.
"Sun Shan, we've found the doctor who did your plastic surgery," Officer Zheng said the last sentence designed by Pei Yan for this interrogation.
"… Hahaha, you guys are amazing. I lose. Yes, I'm Sun Shan," Hu Zong suddenly let out a shrill laugh and slumped in the chair, looking like a soulless puppet.
Pei Yan, Su Yao, and Bai Linglong, who were watching the interrogation next door, felt heavy - hearted even though they had successfully solved a major case, because Pei Yan had already told them the truth.
Next, Hu Zong slowly recounted how he became Hu Zong and his miserable situation before that.
Sun Shan was originally a teenager from a poor family. He was naturally simple, kind, open - minded, and magnanimous. After his own efforts, he successfully got into a famous university in C City.
He thought his fate would change, but unexpectedly, what awaited him was a nightmare.
After entering the university, there were not many male students in the literature department. Apart from Sun Shan, there were only four other boys.
These four boys looked down on Sun Shan's background and often bullied him openly or secretly. So Sun Shan gradually became introverted and inferior, with few smiles on his face.
But the nightmare had just begun. One day, the four of them were discussing how to play a prank on Sun Shan. Zhou Zheng, the leader of this small group, proposed to slip a note to Sun Shan during the final exam and then report him for cheating to the teacher.
However, Sun Shan accidentally heard their conversation. What he couldn't accept the most was that the reason they did this was just to see him make a fool of himself.
Sun Shan didn't want to be bullied anymore, so he managed to avoid their frame - up during the exam. Unexpectedly, these four were like venomous snakes. They found an opportunity to frame Sun Shan for fighting during a dinner.
Even more hateful was that the police, who were supposed to uphold justice, didn't ask carefully and just believed their one - sided story and detained him.
Since no one bailed him out, he stayed in the detention center for a whole month. It was not until Wu Tian bailed him out.
At that time, he felt the world had changed color, and he was no longer the cheerful teenager he used to be.
Wu Tian bailed him out and gave him a sum of money to teach him how to do business. Soon his business thrived, he became rich, and regained his confidence.
So he returned to the campus just to take revenge on those who had wanted to see him make a fool of himself.
He used money to win over the department's beauty that Zhou Zheng was pursuing. He showed off his wealth everywhere and even wrote a novel to record his achievements. It was the novel "The Teenager" starring Su Yao, and he also got a considerable adaptation fee under the pen - name "There's a Temple on the Mountain".
However, every time he woke up in the middle of the night, he couldn't forget the humiliation from the four boys. So a revenge plan gradually took shape in his heart. By then, Zhu Kun of the four - boy group had died in an accident, leaving only three.
When graduating, he lied to the three of them that there was a money - making opportunity and lured them to B City.
Seeing that he was rich and different from before, the three of them all wanted to make money with him. Ignoring the past, they really started a business with him.
But just half a year later, Sun Shan showed his true colors. So the three of them discussed running away. After Sun Shan found out, he decided to go all the way. He killed Zhou Zheng, the leader, and imprisoned Feng Ti and Yang Yu, planning to kill them all after going out.
Regarding the source of formalin and insulin, he said he got them through a pharmacist friend he had known before.
The reason for icing the body and soaking it in formalin was to create a time difference, so that there was enough time between Zhou Zheng's and Sun Shan's deaths, thus misleading the police into thinking that Zhou Zheng was killed by "Hu Zong".
And Hu Zong had committed self - immolation after killing Zhou Zheng.
Before he killed Zhou Zheng, he saw Zhou Zheng contacting the real Hu Zong, seemingly about his own matter.
This could also explain why there was such a business card in Hu Zong's hand.
But what surprised him was that Yu Hui discovered his plastic surgery to become Hu Zong. So he wanted to kill Yu Hui to silence him.
Finally, he confessed that he broke up with the department's beauty because Wu Tian finally accepted her pursuit and got together with her.
It turned out that in that fight incident, it was Wu Tian who had flirted with the department's beauty. That time, the department's beauty fell in love with Wu Tian at first sight.
All the facts corresponded to the evidence. It seemed that Sun Shan had really told everything without concealment.
After saying everything, Sun Shan seemed to have put down a heavy burden. He let out a long breath and asked Officer Zheng for a cigarette.
The police found Feng Ti and Yang Yu according to the address provided by Sun Shan. But Feng Ti's two arms had been cut off by Sun Shan. Although Yang Yu was okay physically, she was severely frightened and a bit out of her mind.
This case was thus solved.
But what was left for Su Yao, Pei Yan, and Bai Linglong was actually the heartlessness and cruelty of reality. It was not others but the world that had turned Sun Shan into what he was now.
At 4 a.m., Su Yao returned home, turned on his computer, and wrote a paragraph on Weibo:
We were all innocent teenagers once. Later, we grew up, still innocent, but we learned to face it.
This sentence instantly set Weibo on fire. Coupled with the previous scandal about being kept, this sentence was interpreted and speculated in various ways. Su Yao didn't look closely at those interpretations and speculations. He turned over and fell into a deep sleep.
Tomorrow would be a new day, a day of harvest.