Chapter 276 - 165: Unraveling the Cocoon, The Truth (Part 2)

"What about Qin Zhong?"

"He..."

Liu Li trailed off before continuing in a low voice, "He never loved me. I knew it from the very start."

"It was true even when we got married. I could tolerate him..."

"I could tolerate him having a mistress. I could even tolerate him bringing her home to sleep with her in our marital bed..."

"I could even tolerate him, a grown man, going into a women’s clothing store to buy underwear for another woman."

"But what I couldn’t tolerate was him putting my only wedding dress on her!"

As she spoke, Liu Li’s expression suddenly became agitated again.

"That was mine! That was my wedding dress!"

"It was the only thing I had left! Couldn’t he just let me have one tiny thing that was mine and mine alone?!"

"After we got married, I thought we could grow to love each other over time..."

"But it’s been over ten years. Ten years! And he still looks at me like I’m a guest, a stranger!"

"That house never felt like my home. I was always on pins and needles there, like an outsider. I thought that after two or three years, he would accept me, that we’d have a child... but we never did."

As she spoke, a palm slapped hard against the glass in front of Xu Huo. Her hand was pressed so tightly against it that it lost all color.

Her face was contorted with fury as she stared at Xu Huo.

"It started a year ago. A year ago, when Qin Zhong went to that lingerie store to buy clothes."

"Everything I had was gone."

"I have nothing left!"

The bailiff stepped forward again, forcefully restraining her.

"Settle down!"

the bailiff snapped.

Liu Li’s emotions were spiraling out of control. She began to struggle, a stark contrast to her earlier demeanor.

Li Jianye frowned.

’She’s... completely lost it.’

’No, not lost it. Her mind is just extremely fragile, like bipolar disorder. When she’s calm, she’s perfectly still, but when she snaps, she’s completely wild.’

’Trying to get anything out of her in this state...’

’It’s going to be difficult.’

"Let’s go."

Xu Huo slowly rose to his feet. Without lingering any longer in the interrogation room, he headed for the exit.

At the door, just before leaving, he glanced back at Liu Li, then turned away.

SLAM!

The door shut.

Inside and out, two different worlds were now separated by a single steel door.

"What... What in the world is going on?"

Zhao Shui couldn’t hold it in any longer. He frowned and looked to Xu Huo for an answer.

"Taken on its own, what Liu Li said sounds like the ravings of a madwoman. It sounds like she was driven insane and is just spouting nonsense."

"But the evidence at the scene backs up her story. There was a third person involved with Liu Li and Qin Zhong."

"And yet, in the bedroom at the crime scene, the traces you’d expect to see are faint and incomplete..."

"Does the third party not exist?"

After a pause, Zhao Shui shook his head.

"No, that’s not right. In the previous police interrogations, Liu Li was adamant."

"She said she came home one day and heard him with her own ears, standing by the door, whispering to someone on the phone!"

"And it was this that put too much pressure on Liu Li, ultimately leading to this tragedy."

"But the problem is..."

As he spoke, Zhao Shui’s face twisted into an expression of existential doubt.

Beside him, even Li Jianye fell into a rare silence.

The police had used their limited remaining manpower to thoroughly investigate this lead, only to find...

"Qin Zhong’s phone is clean. There’s no record of him calling anyone like that."

"And Liu Li never found any other evidence of a third party in the house!"

"So who was he talking to?"

Questions, questions, and more questions...

Honestly, if the real-life Jesus hadn’t freed up Li Jianye, then...

Li Jianye would have been completely lost on this case.

There was nothing to be done about it.

The information they had was like a logic puzzle with the following rules.

One: The first statement is true, and the second is false.

Two: The second statement is true, and the first is false.

That’s right. The clues presented themselves in this format.

But according to the police investigation, both clues turned out to be true!

And yet, the two clues directly contradicted each other, each claiming the other was false...

"I think I have an idea."

Xu Huo replied, his voice distant as if lost in thought.

"It’s fine, don’t worr—huh?"

Li Jianye stopped mid-sentence, staring at Xu Huo in astonishment.

"You’ve got it!?"

"A correction: I don’t ’have it,’ I have a *lead*!"

Xu Huo replied, the fragmented thoughts in his mind starting to come together.

Zhao Shui was stunned. His head was still spinning.

"What’s the situation with the case?"

"Captain Li, first, I want you to consider whether there really is a third party in this case."

Xu Huo thought for a moment, unsure how to phrase it in a way they would understand.

So, he decided to guide them slowly.

Li Jianye fell into deep thought.

’Does one exist?’

"One does exist!"

"Even though we haven’t found any information on them, based on the clues from both sides, this person must exist. It’s just that they exist in a way we don’t understand yet."

Li Jianye nodded, his expression serious.

The scene of Qin Zhong’s death didn’t completely refute Liu Li’s words; rather, it blocked the investigation with information that seemed incomprehensible.

In other words, the path was just blocked, not a dead end!

"Exactly. First, let’s establish that this person does, in fact, exist."

"Second, let’s think for a moment."

"About Qin Zhong’s own standards for a spouse."

Xu Huo continued.

Liu Li wasn’t a bad catch by any means.

In fact, you could even say she was an excellent one!

She was beautiful, came from a wealthy family, was well-educated, and she grew up with Qin Zhong.

They were childhood sweethearts, practically inseparable, but he still never fell for her.

It was as if he had locked his heart away.

"Qin Zhong wasn’t lacking either. He was handsome, and he’d had plenty of girls confess their feelings for him since they were kids."