The Mystery of the Inner Demon

Chapter 284 Escaping the Basement

"Grandma didn't dare to resist that man, so she could only secretly bring me some food. I knew that even if I told my family, they wouldn't help me. In that dark basement, I thought about dying."

I tore the old bed sheet into strips, intending to use them to hang myself.

However, when I tried to put the bed sheet around my neck, the necklace that Sisi had given me poked into my skin. Sisi had given it to me when my family forced me to drop out of school, saying that I should tell her if anyone bullied me in the future.

The necklace ignited my will to survive, but my phone had already been taken away by that person. I could only secretly give the necklace to my grandmother. I knew that my grandmother was old and it was almost impossible for her to contact Sisi, but the necklace was like a lost bottle thrown into a deserted island, making me fantasize that one day I would be saved.

Grandma never came back after that, and the water in the basement was all gone.

I could often hear footsteps coming and going in that place, but during that time, there were often long periods of time when no one was around.

Later I found out that Grandma had an accident, and the family was often away from home.

At that time, I didn't know that; all I knew was that my chance to escape had come.

That rope made of bedsheets became my last hope.

The day I escaped, the upstairs was quiet for a long time. I assumed they had gone out, just like before. So I decided to take the risk and try.

I used the last of my strength to climb to the entrance of the basement.

That person probably never thought I would have a way to escape; there wasn't even a lock on the top cover.

To prevent him from immediately realizing I had escaped, I restored the entrance after climbing out, so that he would think I was still underground.

The back door was locked, so I had no choice but to risk walking through the shop.

As soon as I entered, I saw my father-in-law lying on the ground. I was terrified, thinking he was taking a nap in the shop.

Upon closer inspection, I saw two more people lying on the ground, and all three looked unwell. I guessed something had happened.

"Did you move the air conditioner and the roller shutter?" Qi Fei asked.

Huang Ruifen nodded: "This family is very stingy. They never turn on the air conditioner, no matter how hot it is. I suspect that there was something wrong with the air conditioner that made them faint, so I turned it off before I left."

"You want to save them." Qi Fei felt a mix of emotions. Sheng Tianbao had treated her like this, yet she still wanted to save this family.

Huang Ruifen didn't seem to think there was anything special about it, and nodded, saying, "I don't want to be like them. They are bad, pitifully bad."

"If you hadn't opened the roller shutter door in time to ventilate, more than just Sheng Tianbao would have died," Qi Fei said. Huang Ruifen murmured, "If I had known Grandma was dead then, I probably wouldn't have saved them."

"No," Qi Fei said gently. "You're different from them. And then what happened?"

“I kept running and running, thinking only of going to Sisi. I found a kind man fishing by the river and borrowed his phone to call Sisi. All these years, that man wouldn’t let me contact my friends, and I didn’t even know that Sisi was actually not far away.” Huang Ruifen said, gripping Ge Sisi’s hand even tighter.

Ge Sisi placed her other hand on Huang Ruifen's hand, then turned to Qi Fei and said, "You all know what happened next. I picked her up and brought her back to live with us. We learned about the series of changes that happened to that family from her mother-in-law's short video. Xiaofen said that Sheng Tianbao is dead, and if she goes back, that family will ask her father to take back the betrothal gifts. I'm single anyway, so I wanted her to stay with me for a while. Once the storm has passed, I'll take her out to find a job and keep her away from those people!"

Qi Fei looked at Huang Ruifen and said, "We are reinvestigating Luo Yongmei's death case. Judging from the vehicle tracks, we cannot rule out the possibility that Sheng Tianbao intentionally killed her. We will transfer the evidence to the prosecution and prosecute Sheng Dazhi and Zhang Yingdi for harboring a criminal. In addition, their defamation of Dr. Li constitutes the crime of false accusation and framing, and they will be prosecuted for that as well. What I want to say is that you don't need to hide because of the Sheng family."
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Qi Fei entered Nancheng Hospital. Today was Zhang Yingdi's discharge day, but the investigation into her was not yet over.

From a distance, he saw Zhong Kui standing outside Zhang Yingdi's ward, fiddling with something in her hand.

Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a yellow paper iris that had been folded in half.

"Never mind, she's already lost her son and grandson." Qi Fei took the origami from Zhong Kui's hand and said. Although he had no evidence, he always suspected that Zhong Kui's yellow iris was a sign of death. In previous cases, her iris was closely linked to the murderer's death.

Zhong Kui remained noncommittal, as if she hadn't heard what he said, and leaned against the wall as she said, "Zhang Yingdi's video account has been banned. I feel a little sorry for her relatives and friends."

Qi Fei didn't understand Zhong Kui's meaning at first, but after looking inside, he understood. Zhang Yingdi was sitting on the hospital bed, not in a hurry to pack up and leave. She was still holding her phone and video chatting with someone, and the content was nothing more than crying and complaining about her pitiful situation.

"It's just a histrionic personality disorder, but it can help you get the truth out of him." Zhong Kui said indifferently, walked into the ward before Qi Fei, and snatched the phone from Zhang Yingdi when she was off guard.

"Hey, hey, hey! What are you doing?" Zhang Yingdi excitedly tried to snatch the phone back, but Zhong Kui had already taken two or three steps behind Qi Fei.

Upon seeing Qi Fei appear, Zhang Yingdi immediately complained, "You police officers can't just snatch people's phones! I want them back..."

"So you're going to post it online?" Zhong Kui interrupted. "But your account has been banned, what a pity. If you answer all our questions and prove that you haven't lied, I'll give your phone back."

"What else do you want to ask? I have nothing left, nothing left..." Zhang Yingdi said, her emotions rising again with tears streaming down her face.

"We've found Huang Ruifen." Qi Fei's words immediately stopped Zhang Yingdi from crying.

"Where did Afen run off to? And what about my grandson?" Zhang Yingdi clearly didn't care about Huang Ruifen's life or death; what she cared about was Sheng Tianbao's son.

“You said it yourself, you have nothing left,” Zhong Kui said coldly. “Your grandson was killed by your son. You should know that Sheng Tianbao is capable of such a thing.” As she spoke, she returned to Zhang Yingdi’s side, her face very close. Her fierce expression frightened Zhang Yingdi, who shrank back repeatedly.

"Besides, didn't you really hear any of those mournful cries coming from underground? You already knew all along, you knew what your son had done. Stupidity is not the same as innocence, and stupidity and evil are often inseparable. For example, you, Zhang Yingdi, right? Do you prefer to be called Tianbao's mother?"