The Mystery of the Inner Demon

Chapter 359 Gold-rimmed Glasses
“Having You He impersonate me and kill Lü Dandan is completely pointless,” Zhong Kui said, standing at the window and looking at the pitch-black night before dawn. “Xi He is a cunning man; these actions only increase the risk of exposure. You He deserves punishment for his crimes, but I see no reason why Lü Dandan should die.”

“That’s true,” Qi Fei immediately agreed.

“Xi He is someone even Zhong Xiaoyu couldn’t change. He won’t suddenly become a reckless brute who commits crimes indiscriminately. So, there’s only one explanation—there’s a reason behind these two deaths that we haven’t discovered yet,” Zhong Kui said firmly. “Especially Lü Dandan, he didn’t even complete the ritual he insisted on; there were no marks related to the monster left here.”

"There's something else strange. You can jump out of this window and get to the third floor of the hotel. But Xi He hasn't appeared on the third-floor security cameras." Qi Fei muttered to himself, then suddenly rushed to the third floor. Ignoring the guests, he dragged a staff member to search each room. He didn't believe Xi He could have left so easily in such a short time.

However, to his disappointment, after searching all the rooms, he couldn't find Xi He anywhere.

He vanished from the hotel as if by magic.

Unwilling to give up, he climbed out of the window and searched along the narrow eaves, but strangely, he couldn't find a single footprint.

When he arrived at the platform in the lobby below Lü Dandan's room, he finally found the jacket and pants that Xi He was wearing in the surveillance footage, as well as a pair of men's disposable slippers.

Looking up, Zhong Kui was still standing at the window of Lü Dandan's room, looking down at him.

Where exactly is the Xi River?

Ever since You He's body was discovered, Qi Fei has been plagued by a sense of unease that lingers in his mind day and night. He feels that he has overlooked the most important thing, but he just doesn't know what it is.

"How could he possibly jump out of the window wearing slippers? Wasn't he afraid of falling to his death?" Wu Shanqiu asked, puzzled, as she looked at Qi Fei who had returned to the fourth floor.

“That’s not right.” Qi Fei looked at the evidence. “The clothes, pants, and these slippers were scattered in different places on the platform. If he took off these clothes on the platform to escape tracking, there would be no need for him to deliberately scatter them in different places.”

“It looks more like it was thrown from here,” Zhong Kui continued Qi Fei’s words, then took off her coat and threw it out the window.

Sure enough, the clothes fluttered in the air and gently landed near where Qi Fei had just discovered Xi He's coat.

“If I’m not mistaken, this footprint matches the sole of a disposable slipper. He wants us to think he jumped out the window to escape. Why?” Qi Fei frowned.

Zhong Kui looked at Lü Dandan's body again: "She asked you to meet at dawn. What did she want to say? Was there something she couldn't say over the phone?" As she said this, her brows furrowed. "We're missing two people here."

"Yes, where did Dr. Jiang and Shanqiu go?" Qi Fei looked around and saw that only the Baicheng police, who had arrived after receiving the report, were investigating the scene, while Jiang Tianyi and Wu Shanqiu were not there.

"Jiang Tianyi suggested going to the lobby to ask about suspicious people, and he took Shanqiu with him. Qi Fei! Find Shanqiu quickly." Zhong Kui's words carried a sense of urgency she had never felt before.

Qi Fei didn't understand why she suddenly became nervous, but he knew the matter was serious. Without delay, he quickly dialed Wu Shanqiu's number, only to find it was switched off. He then hurriedly called Jiang Tianyi, but her phone was also switched off. "Wh-what happened?" Qi Fei panicked.

Zhong Kui didn't say anything, but pulled Qi Fei and rushed to the elevator. When they arrived at the lobby, they asked the receptionist, who said that only one man had left. Judging from his appearance, it was Jiang Tianyi.

"Oh, right. That gentleman said if anyone looks for him later, he asked me to give this to that person. It seems you are the friend that gentleman was talking about." The waiter said, taking out a pair of glasses and a folded note from the drawer.

These are the gold-rimmed glasses that Jiang Tianyi wears daily.

Qi Fei took the glasses, not understanding their meaning, and quickly opened the note. There was only one line written on it: "She is in the hotel. I've given you two hours to find her."

Only Zhong Kui seemed to understand everything, and coldly said, "That idiot Zhong Xiaoyu has been fooled again."

"Oh, by the way, that gentleman specifically looked at this camera when he took off his glasses," the waiter said, pointing to the camera at the front desk that was facing the passengers.

In the scene, Jiang Tianyi slowly took off his gold-rimmed glasses. Although his hairstyle and face shape were different, his eyes without the lenses were full of ambition and madness as he stared at the camera. Qi Fei recognized them so well—these eyes belonged to Xi He.

“Jiang Tianyi is Xi He. We’ve been completely fooled,” Zhong Kui said behind Qi Fei. “He never left Lü Dandan’s room.”

Qi Fei's brain seemed to be overloaded, and he muttered absentmindedly, "This is impossible, this is impossible. I've known Dr. Jiang for so many years. I've poured out all my pain to him. For me..." He couldn't continue. He couldn't bring himself to say it. For him, Jiang Tianyi was almost like an older brother.

How ironic, could he really be his brother Xi He?
“Think back carefully about Jiang Tianyi and Xi He. Apart from that time in Yuanxi, have they ever appeared together at the same time?” Zhong Kui said confidently.

“Impossible, Zhong Xiaoyu knows him, she said Jiang Tianyi is her senior brother…” Qi Fei was unwilling to admit it.

"Hmph, even now you haven't realized it yet? Zhong Xiaoyu is Xi He's ultimate puppet. It's not difficult for him to make Zhong Xiaoyu believe that she has such a senior brother." Zhong Kui said disdainfully, "Moreover, many things can be explained. Why Xi He always seems to know everything about our side, as if he has opened his third eye."

“I am his all-seeing eye…” Qi Fei said regretfully, “Jiang Tianyi is the person who knows the most about the details of the case besides the people in the police station.”

“If it weren’t for the accidental discovery of You He’s body, and the fact that the mask exposed Xi He in the culvert as an imposter, he would have continued to lie low. You He was the first to disrupt his plans, and Lü Dandan was the second. Lü Dandan is Zhong Xiaoyu’s senior, and I think she must have discovered that this Jiang Tianyi, the so-called senior of Zhong Xiaoyu, doesn’t exist in their circle of classmates, and wanted to find us to clarify this matter. Unfortunately, Xi He saw through her suspicions…” Zhong Kui said.

　I'm angry, I'll update tomorrow.

　　(End of this chapter)