Ding Peng

Mist Space, ninth time node, 6:30 a.m., Yingcheng.

Ding Lei rushed back to the hotel.

"Where are the detectives?" Sweat covered his forehead. He asked the question with a restless, wandering gaze.

"B-Boss, something terrible happened! Someone's dead!" The waitress's voice trembled, and fear showed in her eyes.

Ding Lei's expression changed dramatically at the news. He turned and headed straight for the elevator, hurrying up to the sixth floor.

He yanked open the office door. The room was in disarray, with files scattered everywhere.

Ding Lei's face darkened. He quickly moved the bookcase aside, revealing a hidden compartment in the wall.

He entered the code and opened the safe. When he saw that everything inside was still there, he finally let out a long sigh of relief.

"Is that your motive for murder?"

Just then, a man's voice spoke from behind him, calm and even.

Ding Lei whipped around. A handsome young man stood expressionless in the doorway.

"Who are you?"

"Bai Yanliang."

Bai Yanliang slowly approached him, his gaze moving over the man in his thirties.

He wasn't bad-looking, and he had a fairly tall, straight build, but his heart was rotten through and through.

"Who killed her?"

Bai Yanliang stepped into Ding Lei's office, asking the question as he closed the door behind him.

"What do you mean?" Sweat beaded on Ding Lei's forehead. The expressionless young man was slowly walking toward him, each step seeming to land on his chest and weigh on him.

"I said, who killed your wife?" Bai Yanliang stopped in front of the desk, leaving only the desktop between himself and Ding Lei.

He kept his hands in his pockets and quietly watched the man before him, making no unnecessary movements.

"Yuhua is dead?" Ding Lei's expression changed, and his eyes widened slightly, as though he had only just heard the shocking news.

Bai Yanliang watched his performance without the slightest change in expression. Only when Ding Lei realized Bai Yanliang wasn't interested did he stop on his own.

"Are you done?" Bai Yanliang continued to watch him.

"Who the hell are you? What are you talking about?" Ding Lei's gaze grew dangerous. He looked Bai Yanliang up and down, his voice hardening.

"I'm asking about your wife, Zhang Qiao." Bai Yanliang stared at him, his tone indifferent. "Still don't get it, Ding Peng?"

The man's expression changed dramatically. Suddenly, he pulled a dagger from behind his waist and stabbed viciously at Bai Yanliang!

Bai Yanliang's pupils contracted. He had expected this kind of move from someone like Ding Peng. His detached nature kept him terrifyingly calm. He sidestepped the attack, then abruptly kicked the desk.

Bang—

The desk slammed into Ding Peng, making him stumble. But just as he tried to regain his balance, a figure was already closing in on him!

Bai Yanliang shot out his left hand and clamped it around Ding Peng's right wrist like an iron vise, wrenching it backward.

At the same time, Bai Yanliang slammed his right fist into Ding Peng's right shoulder joint.

The pain numbed Ding Peng's arm, and his right hand released the dagger before he could stop himself. It fell!

Even as he winced in pain, he wasn't idle. His left hand clawed at Bai Yanliang's face. Bai Yanliang tilted his head and dodged the blow, but Ding Peng's nails raked a long, bloody gash across his neck.

Bai Yanliang didn't pause for an instant, as though he had practiced the move a thousand times. His right hand swept down and caught the dagger as it fell onto the desk.

Then he pressed down hard with his left hand, pinning Ding Peng's right hand to the desk. As terror filled Ding Peng's eyes, Bai Yanliang drove the dagger down!

"Argh!!!"

Ding Peng let out a howl of pain. His right hand was splayed against the desk, the dagger piercing his palm and pinning it hard to the wooden surface.

Bai Yanliang seemed not to hear his screams. He tightened his grip and pressed down on the dagger again, making sure Ding Peng wouldn't dare pull it out. Only then did he nod with satisfaction. He looked at the man before him, whose face was pale and drenched in sweat, his eyes full of pain, and said:

"Now, can you answer me?"

Ding Peng could no longer hide his terror. His right hand was pinned to the desk, and the pain was excruciating.

"Y-You... who the hell are you?"

"Bai Yanliang." Bai Yanliang gave him his name one last time, then stared expressionlessly at the sweating Ding Peng. "The doctor says I have antisocial tendencies. Want to find out?"

Ding Peng shook his head repeatedly. He might not understand much else, but one thing was certain: this young man in front of him was absolutely ruthless.

"You still haven't answered me. Who killed Zhang Qiao?"

Ding Peng's pupils shrank, as if he had suddenly remembered something terrifying. "I don't know... I really don't! I don't know... what that thing was..."

Bai Yanliang furrowed his brow. What a fool—he wouldn't give up until he hit a dead end.

"You killed Zhang Yuhua, and Jiang Chaojie killed Ding Lei. What about Zhang Qiao? Did you kill her too?"

At Bai Yanliang's question, Ding Peng looked as if he had heard something unbelievable. How... how did this man know everything?

"What are you talking about? I don't know!"

Bai Yanliang quietly watched Ding Peng, whose face had turned wild with madness, and laid out his theory:

"You had another complete plan: to kill your brother and take his place."

Ding Peng sucked in breaths through his teeth from the pain, but as he listened to Bai Yanliang, he gradually calmed down.

"You made Zhang Wen an empty promise, agreeing to help her kill Zhang Yuhua, then hid the body in the water tank. Two waitresses saw you do it, so you wanted to silence them. But... you knew one of them loved Zhang Wen deeply enough to do anything for her. So you struck a deal with him and had him kill Ding Lei, your own brother."

"Jiang Chaojie always knew about the relationship between Zhang Wen and Ding Lei. He also knew that only if Ding Lei died would he have even the slightest chance." Bai Yanliang watched him, his expression unruffled, and continued, "Maybe you told him to do it, maybe he did it out of resentment, or maybe it was both. He knocked Ding Lei unconscious from behind, then... beat him to death by smashing in his face."

"With Ding Lei and Li Yuhua dead, you, his identical twin, could impersonate Ding Lei without any trouble and inherit the couple's wealth. But there was still one person left. She may not have known Ding Lei well, but she knew you. She knew everything about you—your behavior, your habits, your little quirks. So... she had to die too, right?"

Bai Yanliang's voice grew increasingly cold.

"That's not true!"

Ding Peng had been lowering his head, but suddenly he looked up, his eyes bloodshot. He roared, "I didn't kill Ah Qiao! Why would I kill Ah Qiao? How could I..."

"She was the only one who didn't look down on me. She was the only one who comforted me, and the only one... who still believed in me! Tell me, why would I kill Ah Qiao?"

"Everything I did was for her!"

"Shut up!" Bai Yanliang grabbed Ding Peng by the hair and dragged him closer, staring into his eyes as he said coldly, "You did it for yourself."

"If you're jealous, then go compete for what you want. If you can't stand something, then stand up and change it. If you're powerless, admit you're a useless piece of trash and shut up and accept reality. You keep saying it's for someone else, but you're just making yourself a convenient excuse so you can live with yourself. You're trash, a parasite."