Then let the witch offer her loyalty

...

...

The moonlight in the dead of night was clear and cold, and it shone on the road like a layer of white frost.

Chen Moxin threw the previously used spider robot, listening device, and other items into an abandoned gasoline drum and burned them to ashes.

"Ring ring." Just then, the phone rang.

It was Luo Lingyou calling.

"Hey, Mio, why aren't you asleep yet?"

"Young Master Chen, where are you hanging out?"

"I can't sleep at night, so I wander around outside."

"What a coincidence, I just finished a case and can't sleep either. I'm at Huayu Wetland, why don't you come and walk with me?"

"That area is all wooded. It wouldn't be appropriate for a lone man and woman to go there so late at night, would it?"

Luo Lingyou ignored his nonsense, simply saying "I'll wait for you" before hanging up the phone.

Chen Moxin got into the car and drove to Huayu Wetland.

This is a large ecological park in the Twin Cities. The moonlight at night shines through the forest, creating a dreamy silvery-white glow. The lake reflects the clear light of the full moon, and a gentle breeze occasionally stirs up ripples, as if the moon has transformed into a fish swimming happily underwater.

Chen Moxin found Luo Lingyou on a path. She was squatting by a tree, holding a sausage and feeding a wild orange.

The stray cats in Huayu Wetland are often fed by tourists and are not afraid of strangers. This orange cat is no exception. It is happily munching on the sausage in Luo Lingyou's hand, and you can hear the purring sound coming from its throat if you get close.

Soon, the sausage was finished, but the orange cat was still not full. It kept circling around Luo Lingyou's feet, rubbing its head against her ankles, wanting more food.

Luo Lingyou threw the plastic shell in her hand into the trash can and silently looked at the orange cat at her feet.

Then suddenly he raised his hand and slapped it hard!

With a "smack," the orange cat was completely stunned, standing there without reacting. Several seconds later, it let out a rapid hiss and fled into the bushes in a disheveled state.

"You called me here so late at night just to watch you abuse cats?" Chen Moxin walked up behind Luo Lingyou and whistled to greet him.

Luo Lingyou didn't turn around, but said calmly with her back to him, "Do you know? Cats are wild creatures, and they should live in the wild."

"But now many stray cats are fed by people every few days, and they have not only lost their wildness, but also their wariness of humans."

"Many perverts use food as bait to lure stray cats, then capture and torture them."

After saying that, she took out another sausage from her bosom, twisted it off, and threw it forward.

The orange cat peeked out from the bushes again, its eyes coldly fixed on Luo Lingyou, its fur slightly bristling, clearly in hunting stance.

It kept trying to get closer, but then cautiously retreated. After testing the waters several times to make sure there was no danger, it finally rushed over, grabbed the sausage, and quickly disappeared into the bushes.

A cold wind ruffled Luo Lingyou's long white hair. She turned to look at Chen Moxin. Her rosy red eyes were clearly smiling, but the moonlight gave them an inexplicable sense of coldness.

"So, the right way to feed a cat is to give it a bite to eat, and then slap it hard."

"This way it will realize that not all of these seemingly friendly humans are good people."

Chapter 42 Changes

Night fell, the moonlight was like frost, and the air was filled with the chill of winter, as if time itself had been frozen and stopped flowing.

Chen Moxin stared at Luo Lingyou for a while, then reached into his pocket and took out a strawberry-flavored lollipop, which he had just bought at a convenience store.

He unwrapped the candy and held it to Luo Lingyou's lips.

Luo Lingyou raised an eyebrow at him, then opened her red lips and put the candy in her mouth.

Chen Moxin suddenly raised her hand!

Then I gently pinched her cheek.

"Speak up, why did you call me here so late at night?"

Luo Lingyou glanced at him with a smile, walked to the bench next to him and sat down, supporting herself with her hands behind her back, stretching her body like a cat stretching.

"Once the public announcement period ends, you'll be officially hired. What are your plans for the future?"

"you mean?"

"After you become a full-time employee, you'll definitely need to decide on a direction. For example, some people become clerks and sit in an office, while others go into fieldwork and travel around. What are your plans?"

"Oh, you mean that?" Chen Moxin didn't hide anything. "I want to be a witch hunter."

Luo Lingyou seemed used to this answer, and his expression remained unchanged.

"Hmm, many people join the Bureau with the initial intention of becoming witch hunters and becoming legal psionicists."

"Yes, after all, our country regulates psionic energy, but honestly, who wouldn't want to have more power?"

"So, you became a witch hunter for power?"

"Do not."

Chen Moxin gave an unexpected answer.

"It's for happiness."

Luo Lingyou looked at him with considerable curiosity: "You think that gaining power will make you happy?"

"No, there's nothing to be happy about in gaining power itself." Chen Moxin raised her hand, her five fingers pointing towards the full moon in the night sky, then slowly closing them.

The moon reflected in his amber eyes grew smaller and smaller, as if crushed by his fingers, until it disappeared completely, leaving only the depth in his eyes.

"But only when you have enough power can you do more joyful things."

Upon hearing this, Luo Lingyou smiled with amusement. She put her elbow on Chen Moxin's shoulder, rested her face in the crook of her arm, and lazily looked at him with her face turned to the side.

"It's obvious that you live a very happy life."

Are you not happy?

Luo Lingyou didn't answer directly, but instead made the question more profound: "Do you think the essence of living is happiness?"

Chen Moxin answered without hesitation, "Yes."

“No, that’s not right.” Luo Lingyou’s rebuttal was equally unwavering. “The essence of living is not happiness, but suffering.”

"Imagine if one day you were imprisoned in an absolutely dark place, where you could not see, hear, or do anything, and the only thing keeping you alive was the nutrient tubes connected to your body."

"At this moment, you are still alive, and living in the purest way, but all you can feel is pain."

"Therefore, the essence of living is suffering."

"It is precisely to combat this pain that we pursue love, friendship, career, or something else to make ourselves happy."

"Once people leave behind this behavior that brings them pleasure, they will face the most primal essence of life—pain."

Chen Moxin raised an eyebrow and said with interest, "A very interesting point of view. But more than the point of view itself, I'm curious about why you came to this conclusion?"

“Because…” Luo Lingyou drew out his words, “I have been living in this kind of pain since I was very young.”

Chen Moxin found it even more intriguing: "Really? Why do I feel like there's no one happier in the world than you?"

"You're so beautiful, intelligent, highly educated, and from a powerful family. Any girl with your qualities would be laughing in her sleep."

Luo Lingyou shrugged: "Maybe for others, but these are not what I want."

Chen Moxin asked, "Oh? What do you want?"

A cold wind blew her long, white hair, as white as winter snow. Beneath the fluttering strands, her crimson eyes intertwined with the chilly moonlight, gleaming with an eerie light: "I want change."

"I like it when a beautiful work of art is ruthlessly shattered, and I also like it when the broken rubble blossoms with colors that don't belong to it."

"I hate things going along their predetermined path, I hate everything in this world that doesn't change."

As she said this, her gaze towards Chen Moxin seemed to become intense: "Do you know what I like the most? I like clowns the most."

"Because the Joker's behavior is unpredictable. You think he will do one thing, but he will do another. Whether he is making his entrance, performing, or taking his final bow, he will always show you something unexpected."

"No rule can bind the Joker, because the Joker himself is the rule. His ever-changing performance on stage brings me, as an audience member, endless joy."

"So, I absolutely love the Joker!"

Before anyone knew it, snow began to fall. The snowflakes, like countless tiny feathers, swirled slowly in the air and drifted down. Occasionally, a few snowflakes landed on the bench where the two were sitting, melting into water droplets and leaving a damp mark.

"Mio."

Chen Moxin brushed the snow off her hair and suddenly said:

Could I have a look at what's in your right pocket?

Luo Lingyou blinked, then subconsciously reached into his pocket and pulled out a red-nosed ball.

"Thank you." Before Luo Lingyou could react, Chen Moxin took the red nose ball, squeezed it, and stuck it to her nose.

"Pfft!" Luo Lingyou was amused by this sudden comical situation. "When did you put it in my pocket?"

Chen Moxin removed the red nose ball and said lazily, "It's just a little magic trick. I took advantage of the moment when I was brushing away the snow to distract you, and then, the instant you blinked, I stretched out my hand like this..."

He raised his right hand again to brush Luo Lingyou's hair, while his left hand secretly and nimbly moved the red nose ball back into Luo Lingyou's pocket.

"Oh..."

Luo Lingyou suddenly lost interest.

"That's no fun."

"Huh? What do you say?"

"Once you know how magic works, you'll immediately realize—it's nothing special."

She took out the red nose ball from her bosom and tossed it up and down, playing with it: "So, if you're going to do a magic trick, you absolutely, absolutely can't let anyone see through it."

Chen Moxin said cheerfully, "Don't worry, I still have many tricks that I can't figure out. I'll show them to you slowly in the future."

“Okay.” Luo Lingyou, like a little girl who hadn’t lost her childishness, winked playfully and said with a smile, “Speaking of which, there’s something I want to tell you.”

Chen Moxin nodded: "Go ahead."

Without warning, Luo Lingyou leaned in front of Chen Moxin, his crimson eyes gleaming with a blood-red glint, like a cold-blooded animal stalking its prey through the snow.

“I’ve seen through your trick to kill Cao Jiande.”

Chapter 43: Killing

The hunter revealed his true colors without warning.

Luo Lingyou slightly raised his chin, his cold gaze filled with mockery as he looked at Chen Moxin provocatively.

"Cao Jiande?" Chen Moxin was initially confused, as if she was recalling something.

His expression immediately turned to astonishment: "You mean Director Cao Jiande from the personnel department? He's dead?"

Luo Lingyou grinned, his smile filled with undisguised mockery.

"You killed them, and now you're playing dumb with me?"

"How come I'm the one who killed them? Don't frame me for nothing."

“If you confess to me now, I can consider it a voluntary surrender. But if you insist on confessing after being arrested, that’s a different story.”

"I understand the logic, but why are you so insistent that I killed him?"

Luo Lingyou moved his face closer to Chen Moxin, his eyes looking at a prey that had fallen into a trap but was still struggling to survive: "I've seen your file. You studied psychology in college, so your logical thinking ability should be pretty good."

"Let's assume there is a criminal C who killed Cao Jiande."

"Based on my analysis of the crime scene, I've deduced C's modus operandi. Can you help me analyze whether I'm right or wrong?"

“Okay,” Chen Moxin agreed.

Luo Lingyou first explained the situation before and after the case to Chen Moxin.

Then she concluded directly: "This is a murder committed by a psychic."

Chen Moxin countered, "Why can't it be suicide? The scene was sealed off, there were no traces of a third party, the surveillance footage showed no abnormalities, and given the fact that the bribery incident was exposed, it perfectly fits the scenario of suicide out of fear of punishment."

Luo Lingyou said calmly, "On the surface, that's how it is. Cao Jiande was poisoned at 21:39 p.m., which is only a few minutes before he received the text message from his secretary."

"This is indeed logical—the secretary tipped him off, Cao Jiande felt guilty and committed suicide by taking poison."

"But there are two suspicious points. First, even when faced with irrefutable evidence, the secretary still denied that he had tipped off Cao Jiande. Second, Cao Jiande attempted to induce vomiting to save himself before his death, which is inconsistent with the psychological state of someone who commits suicide out of fear of punishment."