Confessing?

Inside the basement.

Zhang Ping sat on a stool, cigarette smoke curling upward beneath the dim yellow light as he looked at Su Han with a mocking expression.

Su Han finally raised his head as well.

After taking a long breath, he asked in a hoarse voice,

"What exactly did Xu Li and my sister say?"

Zhang Ping raised an eyebrow, the contempt on his face deepening.

He took a deep drag and slowly exhaled, the smoke swirling beneath the light.

"Well, you're finally ready to accept reality?" Zhang Ping crossed his legs and swung one gently.

"Your girlfriend Xu Li said,

"You've always had a bad relationship with your parents and often smashed things at home.

"You even threatened to kill them sooner or later. Your neighbors confirmed that too."

Zhang Ping paused here, watching Su Han's expression closely.

But he found that the bloodstained face still showed little reaction.

"As for your sister, Su Yuyun..." Zhang Ping deliberately drew out his words.

"She's pretty hard to kill.

"She had seventeen broken bones and ruptured internal organs, but somehow hung on until she got to the hospital.

"She's lying in the ICU now. She's not dead yet."

Zhang Ping flicked the ash off his cigarette and continued.

"But she might as well be.

"The doctor said that even if they save her, she'll be paralyzed from head to toe. She'll need someone else to feed her, give her water, and take care of her bathroom needs.

"Her life's as good as over."

At this, Su Han's eyes flickered, his gaze sharpening slightly.

"Did she say I was the killer?"

"What else?" Zhang Ping sneered.

Then he pulled several sheets of paper from the folder he carried, got up, walked over to Su Han, and unfolded them.

"See for yourself.

"This is the statement your sister gave herself while she was conscious."

Su Han's gaze swept quickly over the document.

It contained nothing but things like "Su Han had a knife and was slashing wildly like a madman," "Mom and Dad were begging him, but he couldn't hear them at all," and "There was blood everywhere."

There were quite a few extremely gory descriptions.

But the central point was clear.

The witness, Su Yuyun, identified the killer as her younger brother, Su Han.

Su Han fell silent.

Seeing this, Zhang Ping's expression grew even more mocking.

He put away the statement, felt in his pocket for his phone, and pulled up several recordings.

"Still don't believe it?

"Don't worry. I knew you'd be like this.

"Luckily, we make sure the chain of evidence is complete, so we have recordings too."

He pressed play.

A woman's scratchy voice, tinged with tears, began to play.

"I really didn't know he'd do something like this. I'd only heard before that he hated his parents and said he wished they were gone, but I thought he was just talking..."

It was clearly the voice of Su Han's ex-girlfriend, Xu Li.

When did I ever say anything like that?

Why is Xu Li falsely accusing me?

Anger brewed in Su Han's heart, but under the circumstances, he suppressed it.

Meanwhile, the frightened voice continued in the recording, sounding utterly convincing.

"Patrol officers, you have to catch him.

"Someone like Su Han is too frightening. I'm still scared just thinking about it. What if one day he does the same to me..."

The voice cut off abruptly.

Zhang Ping immediately played another recording.

The voice in this one was much weaker, barely more than a thread of breath.

But every word carried a bone-deep hatred.

"I saw it with my own eyes. It was Su Han. He killed Mom and Dad, and he beat me until I was like this..."

"I don't understand why he did this..."

"We were so good to him..."

It was his sister's voice.

Su Han closed his eyes.

This was the sister he had grown up with, his own sister.

She knew what Su Han was like. How could he possibly have done such a thing?

There was definitely some misunderstanding or some other problem.

The recording gradually came to an end in the quiet basement.

The atmosphere sank into deathly silence.

"Believe it now?" Zhang Ping put away his phone, the mockery on his face fading somewhat.

In its place was an exceedingly grave coldness.

"The chain of evidence is complete enough. We have both witness testimony and physical evidence.

"Su Han, what else do you have to say for yourself?"

Su Han still said nothing.

His head was lowered as he thought things over carefully. Only the slight rise and fall of his chest showed that he was still alive.

Zhang Ping waited a while, his expression gradually darkening.

"Fuck, we're giving you a chance to save face, but you won't take it..."

Just then.

A creak suddenly came from behind him.

The iron door was pushed open again.

A burly man, also wearing a patrol uniform, walked in at an unhurried pace, holding two boxed meals.

"Brother Yu." Zhang Ping turned and greeted him.

The man's name was Yu Qiang. He was also a member of the patrol team and one of the people working on the matter.

Yu Qiang nodded, his gaze falling on Su Han.

"This punk still hasn't signed?"

"He's stubborn as hell." Zhang Ping spat. "Every kind of ironclad evidence is right in front of him, but he refuses to admit it no matter what."

"Looks like we didn't hit him hard enough before." Yu Qiang's expression turned cold.

He set down what he was holding

And picked up a solid wooden stick from the corner of the room.

The stick was about half an arm thick, covered in blood and congealed bloodstains, with some wear on its surface.

It gave off a vicious air.

Yu Qiang carried the stick over to Su Han.

His face was cold and hard, with a vicious look.

"Little bastard." Yu Qiang gently prodded the wound beneath Su Han's ribs with the stick.

"If you still won't sign, we don't have that much patience.

"The higher-ups want a perfect case.

"If you just sign obediently, you'll save everyone the trouble.

"After all, we can't let one person waste everybody's time, can we?

"If you really won't sign..."

Yu Qiang slowly raised the stick. Under the light, the blood on it gleamed all the more.

"We'll have to work overtime at any time."

He raised the stick into the air, about to bring it down.

But just then, Su Han finally raised his head too.

In his blood-red eyes,

Every emotion, whether pain, hatred, or madness, receded.

Only calm remained, as calm as the surface of the sea.

"I believe it."

The words were quiet, but unusually clear.

Yu Qiang's hand froze with the stick raised. He exchanged a glance with Zhang Ping, surprise flashing in both their eyes.

"What did you say?" Zhang Ping wondered if he had misheard.

"I said I believe it," Su Han repeated.

"I'm the killer. I confess. I'll sign."

The basement fell silent for a few seconds.

Then Zhang Ping began to laugh, somewhat restrained at first, then louder and louder, until it turned into unbridled mockery.

"Hahahahaha!"

"I thought you could really hold out, but didn't you confess in the end anyway?"

"Wouldn't it have been better to cooperate earlier? You suffered all these days for nothing."

Yu Qiang grinned too and casually tossed the stick into the corner.

"At least you know what's good for you, kid."

"Get him down. Once he signs the confession, our work is done."