The Mystery of the Inner Demon

Chapter 134 Homecoming Day

Granny Meng's fingers, like dry bark, twisted the silk quilt embroidered with talismans. When she tucked the corners of the quilt tightly, she brought up a few wisps of sandalwood ash, which floated into a tiny galaxy in the soft light.

Zhong Kui was indeed exhausted after the incident in the Yunshen Secret Realm. Purple veins were faintly visible on his pale forehead. He lay down sleepily and fell asleep very quickly. His breathing was as light as a hibernating snake.

After settling Zhong Kui down, Granny Meng glanced at Qi Fei unhappily and waved her dry firewood-like hands, with the joints making faint cracking sounds like bamboo joints, signaling him to leave.

Qi Fei was reluctant to leave, his shoe tips scraping a half-circle against the threshold, but he couldn't resist Granny Meng's disgusted expulsion, so he had to leave in frustration. The old-fashioned security door slammed shut, shaking off the lintel's aged dust, which fluttered down the back of his neck like snowflakes.

The corridor of Guiyue Apartment was pitch black, the stench of mold and stale oil lingering in his nostrils. He walked slowly down the stairs, his hands in his pockets, the click of his heels on the concrete steps resonating clearly in the dead of night. Suddenly, the old woman's voice rang out from behind him: "Qi Fei~" Like a rusty blade scraping against glass, Qi Fei nearly fell, his elbow clacking against the iron railing, a dull thud that startled the voice-activated lights.

When I turned around, it was indeed Grandma Meng. Her hunched figure was elongated in the dim light, like a giant gecko crawling across the wall.

Qi Fei patted his chest and said, "Grandma, you scared me to death. Is it Zhong Kui looking for me?" His ending tone was filled with a hope that even he hated.

Granny Meng listened to his questions with her dry lips tightly sealed. A hoarse sound like an old bellows emanated from her throat as she uttered, "That man looks a lot like you." The word "like" was ground into a bloody mess in Qi Fei's mind. His head buzzed, and he was at a loss. He clenched his back teeth so hard that his cheekbones were almost twitching. To be honest, Zhong Kui and Granny Meng had just unanimously denied his perception of the man in the surveillance video. Instead of feeling offended, he felt relieved. For a long time, the way Qi Dongjun accused him of killing his mother had always been like a cage, with rusty iron bars long since grown into his flesh.

"That's not what you said just now." Qi Fei denied unwillingly, his right hand unconsciously turning the red rope on his wrist - that was his mother's relic.

"I don't want the Immortal to run into any trouble because of this." Granny Meng's eyes flickered faintly in the dark corridor, her pupils like snakes. "You shouldn't have reminded her."

"Do you know that Zhong Xiaoyu identified me as the murderer?" Qi Fei asked vigilantly.

"I can hear their conversation." The copper coin earring hanging on the old woman's earlobe suddenly shook.

"They? You mean Zhong Kui and Zhong Xiaoyu?"

"Zhong Xiaoyu knows who you are." Grandma Meng's old voice echoed in the corridor, and the spider in the corner stopped crawling, as if eavesdropping on their conversation.

Qi Fei discerned a deeper meaning in Granny Meng's words. He knew that Zhong Xiaoyu knew more than just that he was Qi Fei. Suddenly, a sharp pain shot through the back of his neck, as if someone had pressed an ice pick against his spine.

But who is he? If he is not just this person, who else could he be?
Nothing is more confusing than the person involved.

Qi Fei tried to sort out his thoughts: "Grandma, first of all, you think the person in the surveillance video looks very similar to me, just like me. Secondly, you also suspect, just like me, that this person is the real murderer who killed Zhong Xiaoyu's family?" Every word was like a nail pulled out of his chest.

Granny Meng nodded and said, "The Immortal shouldn't get involved in too many things related to Zhong Xiaoyu."

Qi Fei also understood this sentence: "You are afraid that she will collapse."

"Even die." Granny Meng said coldly, "If you love her, stay away from her."

Qi Fei offered no further explanation. Matters of the heart are difficult to explain to outsiders. On the car ride back to Nancheng from Sanwu Town that day, he and Zhong Kui had already reached a tacit understanding. His memory of Zhong Kui curled up in the passenger seat suddenly flashed back. In a blink of an eye, he seemed to see her covered in blood, blood-stained hair dripping onto his gearshift lever... This illusory scene startled Qi Fei, and he almost stumbled.

Qi Fei would accompany Zhong Kui to the end, but he would only keep these words in his heart. His Adam's apple rolled as he swallowed all the tender words, turning them into a piece of hot coal in his stomach. After pondering for a moment, Qi Fei said, "Grandma, I will definitely find out the truth about Zhong Xiaoyu. Only when the truth comes out will Zhong Kui be safe."

He walked downstairs alone. The pale streetlights below illuminated swarms of fluttering midges, like drifting dirty snow. The damp air clung to the back of his neck like a dead person's hand. The late spring chill, coupled with the restlessness of the impending spring rain, made him unable to calm down.

He asked himself countless times why Zhong Kui, such an extremely intelligent and beautiful person, had a special liking for him.

Today, the bond of blood and flesh that cannot be avoided seems to allow the word to be changed to "love is poisonous".

He - Qi Fei - has an inseparable relationship with the murderer who killed the Zhong family. In his memory, the shadow of the sycamore tree twisted into claw marks on the wall.

The other him hiding behind the mask in the surveillance video is using glass marbles to tell him clearly that the answer has to start from his childhood.

And now, only one witness remained of his childhood—Qi Dongjun. The night wind blew away the last two words, just like blowing away his mother's ashes from more than a decade ago.
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The car sped towards Luomeng River, and Qi Fei could not take his feet off the gas pedal.

The white building seemed to emit a soft light in the dark night, which was a gentle thought from the depths of Qi Fei's memory.

Everything came to an unsolvable bloody end at the age of sixteen.

And at this moment, he knew that his father, who had never been honest with him, was hiding more things from him.

The cold rain of late spring fell softly.

Outside the floor-to-ceiling window, the buds of the climbing rose that were just about to bloom were trembling in the wind and rain.

Inside the window, Lu Man looked through the glass at the newly green lawn outside, and then his eyes fell on Qi Dongjun who was sitting behind the desk.

"Old Qi, you turned down the meeting with the mayor and waited for Qi Fei. Does he know?" Lu Man spoke up for Qi Dongjun.

Qi Dongjun flipped through the documents in his hand without raising his head, as if he didn't hear Lu Man's words.

Lu Man didn't say anything more. She knew that Qi Dongjun could keep many things to himself, whether it was business or life.

The electric gate of the yard opened, and the car engine roared as it drove in, carrying the rebellious son.

Qi Fei's sneakers splashed mud on the grass and he strode in, just like when he was a teenager returning home from school without an umbrella.

The door was ajar, waiting for him to open it himself.

Qi Dongjun took off his reading glasses as usual and looked at him: "You're back."

(End of this chapter)