Ding Peng

Mist Space, 9th Time Node, 6:30, Yingcheng.

Ding Lei hurried back to the hotel.

"Where are the police?" He was drenched in sweat, his gaze wandering as he asked, appearing somewhat frantic.

"B-Boss, something terrible has happened! Someone is dead!" The waitress's voice trembled, her eyes filled with terror.

Upon hearing this news, Ding Lei's expression shifted violently. He turned and bolted for the elevator, rushing up to the sixth floor.

He yanked open the office door to find the room in disarray, files tossed everywhere.

Ding Lei's face was ghastly. He quickly shoved the bookshelf aside, revealing a wall safe embedded behind it.

He entered the code, opened the safe, and finally let out a long sigh of relief upon seeing that the contents were still there.

"Is this your motive for murder?"

Just then, a calm, measured male voice sounded from behind him.

Ding Lei whipped around to see a young man with delicate features standing at the doorway, his expression blank.

"Who are you?"

"Bai Yanliang."

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

He was not ugly, and his build was quite sturdy, but his heart was rotten to the core.

"Who killed her?"

Bai Yanliang stepped into Ding Lei's office, closing the door behind him as he asked.

"What do you mean?" Sweat beaded on Ding Lei's forehead. This expressionless kid was walking toward him slowly, each step feeling like a heavy weight pressing against his heart, filling him with immense pressure.

"I said, who killed your wife?" Bai Yanliang stopped in front of the desk, only the furniture separating him from Ding Lei.

He kept his hands in his pockets, watching the man before him quietly, without a single wasted movement.

"Yuhua is dead?" Ding Lei's expression shifted, his eyes widening slightly as if he had just heard this shocking news.

Bai Yanliang watched his performance without a flicker of emotion, only stopping when the man before him realized that Bai Yanliang was uninterested.

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

"Who the hell are you? What are you talking about!" Ding Lei's eyes grew dangerous. He scanned Bai Yanliang up and down, his tone becoming increasingly aggressive.

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

The man's face changed instantly. He suddenly pulled a dagger from his waistband and lunged at Bai Yanliang!

Bai Yanliang's pupils constricted. He had long anticipated such a move from a man like this. His emotional detachment allowed him to maintain a terrifying level of calm. Facing Ding Peng's attack, Bai Yanliang dodged to the side and then suddenly kicked the desk with his right foot.

"Bang—"

The desk slammed into Ding Peng, causing him to stagger. However, before he could regain his footing, a figure was already upon him!

Bai Yanliang reached out with his left hand, gripping Ding Peng's right wrist like an iron vice and yanking it backward with force.

Simultaneously, Bai Yanliang's right fist smashed into his right shoulder joint.

The paralysis brought on by the pain caused Ding Peng to instinctively loosen his grip, and the dagger fell!

In his agony, his left hand didn't stay idle; he clawed at Bai Yanliang's face. Bai Yanliang tilted his head, dodging the strike, though a long, bloody scratch was left on his neck.

Yet, there was no hesitation in Bai Yanliang's movements, as if he had practiced them a thousand times. He scooped down with his right hand, snatching the dagger off the desk.

Then, pressing down hard with his left hand to pin Ding Peng's right hand to the desk, he drove the dagger down before Ding Peng's terrified eyes!

"Ah!!!"

Ding Peng let out a howl of pain. His right hand was splayed against the desk, the dagger piercing through his palm and pinning his hand firmly to the wood.

Bai Yanliang acted as if he hadn't heard the scream. He gripped the dagger and pressed down harder, ensuring Ding Peng lacked the courage to pull it out. Only then did he nod in satisfaction, looking at the pale, sweating man before him, whose eyes were filled with agony, and said:

"Now, you can answer me."

Ding Peng's terror could no longer be hidden; his right hand was nailed to the desk, the pain piercing his heart.

"Who... who the hell are you!"

"Bai Yanliang." Bai Yanliang told him his name for the last time, staring expressionlessly at the sweating man. "The doctor says I have antisocial tendencies. Do you want to test that?"

Ding Peng shook his head repeatedly. He didn't understand much, but one thing was certain: the young man before him was absolutely ruthless.

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

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

Bai Yanliang frowned slightly. A fool who wouldn't shed tears until he saw the coffin.

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

Hearing Bai Yanliang's question, Ding Peng looked as if he had heard something impossible. Why... why did this person know everything?

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

Bai Yanliang watched Ding Peng, who was already showing signs of madness, and stated his deduction:

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

Ding Peng hissed in pain, but upon hearing Bai Yanliang's words, he gradually quieted down.

"The empty promise you made to Zhang Wen—to help her kill Li Yuhua and then hide the body in the water tank—was witnessed by two waiters. You wanted to silence them, but... you knew one of them loved Zhang Wen deeply, enough to do anything for her. So, you reached an agreement with him, letting him kill Ding Lei, your own brother."

"Jiang Chaojie had always known about the relationship between Zhang Wen and Ding Lei, and he knew even better that only if Ding Lei died would he have a sliver of a chance." Bai Yanliang looked at him, his eyes devoid of ripples, and continued: "Perhaps it was your instruction, perhaps it was his own resentment, or perhaps it was both; he knocked Ding Lei unconscious from behind, and then... smashed his face in until he was dead."

"With Ding Lei dead and Li Yuhua dead, you, as his twin brother, could play the role of the socially isolated Ding Lei without any pressure and inherit the wealth of the couple. But there was still one person. Although she wasn't very familiar with Ding Lei, she was familiar with 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.

"Wrong!"

Ding Peng, who had been lowering his head, suddenly looked up. His eyes were bloodshot as he roared, "I didn't kill Ah Qiao! How could I kill Ah Qiao? How could I..."

"She was the only one who wouldn't despise me, the only one who would comfort me, and the only one... who still believed in me! You tell me, why would I kill Ah Qiao!"

"Everything I did was for her!"

"Shut up!" Bai Yanliang grabbed Ding Peng by the hair, dragged him in front of himself, stared into his eyes, and said coldly, "You only did it for yourself."

"If you're jealous, go fight for it yourself. If you can't stand it, get up and change it. If you lack the ability, admit you're a loser and shut up to accept reality. You keep claiming it's for others, but you're just finding an excuse to put your own conscience at ease. You are nothing but trash, a parasite."