Then let the witch offer her loyalty

"Therefore, I think the suicide by poisoning was just a hoax. This was a premeditated murder, and the perpetrator was C, whom I mentioned earlier."

"Moreover, C is very likely one of the 12 people who passed the external assessment this time."

Chen Moxin asked, "Oh? Why is that?"

“Motive,” Luo Lingyou replied. “I investigated Cao Jiande’s interpersonal relationships, and he didn’t have any enemies. His murder at this time is obviously related to this year’s performance evaluation for promotion from non-permanent staff to permanent staff.”

"The murderer C had previously influenced the results of the promotion assessment through certain means—this can be seen from the deal between Cao Jiande and the Wu family, as well as the unexpected fact that Wu Xuan was not included in the promotion list."

"As for Cao Jiande, who was in charge of the assessment, he knew perfectly well who should and should not be on the list, and he could spot the problems at a glance afterward."

"Therefore, C must kill Cao Jiande to silence him. Once Cao Jiande is dead, the truth will be revealed, and no one will know what the real list of confirmed employees looks like. This is the final list that no one can overturn."

"Based on the above, C is definitely the beneficiary of this assessment, and is very likely one of the 12 people on the list."

The snow clouds in the sky gradually obscured the moonlight, and the park became unusually dark. Occasionally, strange rustling sounds came from the shadowy woods, as if something was hidden in the darkness.

Chen Moxin: "The motive reasoning is valid, but what about the method? There were no signs of forced entry at the scene, and the surveillance cameras outside didn't capture any suspicious persons. How did C poison the person?"

“The shapeshifting witch, Liu Lan.” Luo Lingyou announced a name. “I have reviewed all the witches who have been captured, as well as those fugitive witches on the wanted list. Liu Lan’s ability is the easiest to carry out this poisoning.”

"C first secretly made a spiritual pact with Liu Lan without anyone knowing, and obtained her spiritual power."

"In addition, C also discovered through surveillance that Cao Jiande had a chronic high blood pressure and would take his medication at 21:30 p.m. every night, so he devised a meticulous plan."

“At 21:30 p.m. on the night of the incident, Cao Jiande took his high blood pressure medication as usual, but he did not know that his medication had been tampered with by C, leaving marks used for object transfer.”

"Between 21:30 and 21:36, C used psychic powers to remotely steal Cao Jiande's secretary's phone and sent the warning text message to Cao Jiande."

"This explains why the secretary vehemently denies that she tipped off the reporter. She was truly wronged. She didn't send that text message at all. C used his psychic powers to steal her phone, send the message, and then put it back in her pocket."

"At 21:36, Cao Jiande received a text message from C. Three minutes later, C activated the psionic mark, causing the blood pressure medication and poison in Cao Jiande's stomach to transfer between each other, thus completing the poisoning remotely."

"This is why Cao Jiande induced vomiting before he died, because he didn't want to die at all. The pain of the poison made him desperately try to save himself, but he failed in the end."

"In this way, C carried out a silent, remote poisoning. When we judges arrived, what we saw was a closed scene with no trace of a third party, and all the evidence pointed to a suicide out of guilt."

The snow fell heavier and heavier, and the thick fog and snow clouds formed a black curtain that made people almost lose their sense of direction. In the darkness, the sound of branches breaking came, which was eerie, as if something might leap out at any moment.

Luo Lingyou stared intently at Chen Moxin, his gaze becoming deep and sharp, as if he wanted to tear open his flesh and pierce through his heart.

"Male, his name is on the list of those being promoted, and he has been getting very close to the shapeshifter recently... By investigating these three points, we can pinpoint who C really is."

"Clap, clap, clap." Crisp applause rang out.

Chen Moxin's face was full of joy as she exclaimed, "Wonderful, truly wonderful!"

Luo Lingyou revealed a victor's smile, raised his chin, and made a gun gesture with his hand, aiming it at Chen Moxin's forehead.

However, before she could fire the gun, Chen Moxin suddenly grabbed her finger.

"But there's one thing you didn't mention."

Throughout the entire ordeal, the smile on Chen Moxin's lips never faded, like a clown preparing a prank, watching the other person step into his trap step by step.

"Whether it's a witch or an agent, as long as spiritual energy is used, a berserk erosion will inevitably occur within the witch's body."

At that moment, Luo Lingyou's pupils dilated violently, and he froze there like a statue.

"Since you believe this C exists and have reconstructed his method of committing the crime, you must have also checked the 'psychic value' within Liu Lan's body. Tell me, what is the 'psychic value'?"

The snow clouds in the night sky drifted with the wind, and the moon peeked out again through the gaps in the clouds, its clear light making the falling snow look like countless silver fireflies.

With a rustling sound, the being that had been lurking in the darkness finally revealed itself.

It was the orange cat that Luo Lingyou chased away.

Chen Moxin raised her hand in a gun gesture and aimed it at Luo Lingyou's forehead.

"Bang~"

Chapter 44 Two Kinds of Life

“I retrieved the monitoring data from the Bureau’s containment area. Ever since the shapeshifter was officially contained, her psychic value has remained at 0.”

"In addition, there were no fluctuations in the entire Twin Cities' psychic monitoring base stations on the night of the incident, which basically rules out the possibility of illegal psychic perpetrators."

You looked at your superior, Yan Yong, and reported the facts to him truthfully.

"So, the conclusion we can draw at this point is that he committed suicide by poisoning?"

"That's the case at the moment."

"Okay, thank you for your hard work. I'll take over this from now on. It's getting late, you should go home and get some rest, you have to go to work tomorrow."

After saying goodbye to Yan Yong, you left the courtroom and wandered aimlessly through the streets late at night.

You lied again.

But this lie was different from any other one.

Before, you were the one who wanted to lie, but this time, you simply can't tell the truth.

Do you know who killed Cao Jiande?

Yes, it's that person, you're absolutely sure.

You figured out his motives, figured out his methods, and could even reconstruct the details of every step.

Because if you were him, you would do the exact same thing.

But you're stuck at the most crucial step.

Madness and delusion erode.

You can't understand why the witch's internal value is 0.

It is common knowledge that when a witch uses psychic energy, a mad erosion will inevitably occur within her body.

Since the emergence of psionic energy in the first year of the Long Night, this theorem has never failed.

If no increase in the hypothetical value can be detected, it means that all your inferences are invalid, no matter how reasonable they may seem on the surface.

It's like building with blocks. You finally manage to build a magnificent building, only to find at the end that one of the bottom blocks is missing.

With just a gust of wind, that building crumbled into pieces.

Therefore, you can only "lie".

Haha, he committed suicide out of fear of punishment.

You can only report this conclusion that you think is utter nonsense.

As you walk, you unknowingly arrive at the Flower Language Wetland near the courthouse.

Seeing the dreamlike forest under the moonlight, you suddenly think of the equally beautiful garden from your childhood, which you burned to ashes.

The current situation reminds you of something both familiar and strange.

You don't know how to define it, or rather, because you've been away from it for so long, you've forgotten what it actually is.

To try and remember, you tear off your tie, wrap it around your hand, and then forcefully strangle yourself.

A feeling of suffocation quickly overwhelms you. You try to breathe, but your throat is tightly constricted by the tie, and you can't inhale any air. Your heart begins to beat faster and faster, as if it's pounding wildly in your chest, desperately seeking an outlet.

The scenery before your eyes becomes increasingly blurry, and your thoughts begin to dissipate. Your body struggles involuntarily, while your hands tighten the tie wrapped around your neck even more.

As you suffocate, you hallucinate that it's not you choking, but that person.

You see him push you down onto the bench, grab your neck with his bony hand, then put a finger to his lips and make a "shh" gesture with a smile.

My vision was filled with static like snowflakes, as if the whole world was collapsing. My body was on the verge of collapse under this extreme pressure. I wanted to scream for help, but he was holding my throat tightly, and all my voices were drowned out by his sinister laughter.

Finally, just as you were about to strangle yourself to death, your subconscious survival instinct made you let go.

You slumped on the bench, coughing and wheezing, drool dripping from your chin, your mind replaying the feeling of things spiraling out of control and everything descending into chaos.

Variety.

Yes, you remembered that feeling.

That's change.

For the first time in so many years, your life has changed.

Things you had already decided did not develop in the direction you expected.

What was once a predictable future has now exploded like fireworks, transforming into countless threads that dazzle your eyes.

You feel incredibly awesome!

This time, it's no longer a fake stage play; that person gave you a beautiful, eerie, yet real performance.

In return, you decide to leave the audience, step onto his stage, and become the curtain that announces the end of the performance.

So you took out your phone and dialed the number.

"Young Master Chen, where are you hanging out... I'm at the Flower Language Wetland, come and take a walk with me."

...

...

...

"What a forgetful person."

Luo Lingyou looked at the orange cat cuddling at Chen Moxin's feet and snorted softly.

This big orange cat is so greedy. It just got beaten up by humans, and now that it smells food on Chen Moxin, it has mustered up the courage to come over and beg for food.

It circled around Chen Moxin's ankle repeatedly, occasionally nuzzling him with its head. It even lay down on its back and gently touched his shoes with its paws, as if to say, "Look at me, I'm in this state, give me something to eat."

Chen Moxin still had some bread he had bought from the convenience store. He fed it to Daju, then stood up and waved to Luo Lingyou: "Let's go, it's late, we have to go to work tomorrow morning."

The two left the Flower Language Wetland together, walking one after the other on the quiet path.

The light snow that had been falling for a long time had accumulated into a thin layer. The streetlights illuminated the road through the thin mist, forming dim yellow halos. As the young men and women walked by, they left behind footprints of all sizes.

"Chen Moxin".

"what?"

"How on earth did you do that?"

Chen Moxin glanced back at Luo Lingyou, beckoned to her to come closer, and then leaned down to whisper in her ear...

"Someone once said that magic is something that, once you know how it works, you immediately realize—it's nothing special."

After saying that, he pinched Luo Lingyou's little earlobe, turned around and left.

Luo Lingyou stood silently in place, her eyes never leaving his back.

After a while, she quickened her pace and walked alongside Chen Moxin, occasionally glancing at his profile with a smile.

"What are you laughing at?"

"It's nothing, it's just that life seems to have become more interesting since I met you."

The two arrived at the parking lot. Chen Moxin unlocked her car and raised an eyebrow at Luo Lingyou: "This is nothing. I told you, I have many tricks that you can't see through. I'll show them to you slowly in the future."

Luo Lingyou's pupils seemed to be ignited, their crimson color burning like fire, full of passion.

Just as she was enjoying this long-lost excitement, she suddenly noticed that Chen Moxin got into the car and locked the door before she could get in.

Luo Lingyou paused for a moment, then walked up and grabbed the doorknob, saying, "Hey, I haven't gotten on the bus yet."

Chen Moxin opened the window a little bit and looked at her through the window: "Why did you get in my car?"

Luo Lingyou's eyes widened in surprise: "It's so late, aren't you going to take me home first?"

Chen Moxin teased, "Don't you like change? Didn't you say you hate things developing along their predetermined paths and hate everything in this world that doesn't change?"

"You think I'd be a gentleman and take you home this late at night? Well, I'll do the opposite. Take a taxi yourself. Bye."

After saying that, Chen Moxin closed the window and drove off.

Luo Lingyou was left standing there, staring blankly at the departing car, unable to come to his senses for a long time.

"Hahahaha! Ahahahaha!" After what seemed like an eternity, she laughed so hard she almost fell backward, her back aching.

...

Chen Moxin returned to the manor late at night.

Upon arriving at the main building, he noticed that the living room window was still reflecting light.