The Mystery of the Inner Demon

Chapter 351 It's That Boy

The skull, its silicone mask removed, now faced them, its grinning mouth resembling Xi He's mockery.

Qi Fei knew how much he enjoyed the pleasure of fooling others.

“You’ve come at the right time. We applied for facial reconstruction of the skull, and the technical team just sent over the reconstruction images. Let’s take a look together,” Chen Wenchang said with a heavy Yuanxi accent.

Soon, a man's face appeared on the computer screen. He had delicate features and was just as handsome as Xi He, but apart from the face shape, the two had nothing in common.

This face was not unfamiliar to Qi Fei; he had seen it before, and he would not forget it.

"You He?" Qi Fei and Zhong Kui said the name in unison.

Yes, that handsome face belongs to the boy from Baicheng, the young man whom even the men of the Aegean Bookstore admire.

Qi Fei still remembers Luo Yong, the online writer who went astray because of him.

“Oh, it seems Xi He hasn’t let him off the hook after all,” Zhong Kui said coldly.

Qi Fei understood what she meant. There were subtle rules hidden in Xi He's unrestrained killing. He seemed to have his own system of punishment, one of which was that every crime should be punished.

“I see the deceased’s teeth are still intact.” Qi Fei leaned closer to examine the head. “We need to hurry and find You He’s family to do a DNA comparison.”

He still remembered You He's case; even he suspected that You He had taken advantage of Luo Yong's affection for him to secure a position at the bank, and had played a role in pushing Luo Yong and Lou Jing's marriage to the brink of collapse.

However, all of this is just speculation from others and is not evidence of a crime.

"How did he do that? He turned You He into a complete puppet. And You He's imitation is so perfect, it's like he's Xi He himself!" Wu Shanqiu said, utterly bewildered. "This is truly unscientific!"

"Hmph, what's so unscientific about it? It's just some techniques," Zhong Kui said disdainfully. "You He's constitution, which relies on a mixture of avoidant and histrionic personality traits, makes him easy for Xi He to take advantage of."

"But can this kind of control reach the point of complete domination? Everyone in the culvert saw it. It wasn't a performance. He genuinely believed he was Xi He. Even Zhong Xiaoyu, who knows Xi He so well, didn't see through it."

“Speaking of Xiaoyu,” Jiang Tianyi said, as if remembering something, “Do you remember that book? It was written by Xiaoyu. She said that people can create new personalities through control. What if Xihe read that book?”

His words made Qi Fei thoughtful: "You mean, if You He didn't know he was pretending, but Xi He made him believe that he was Xi He himself? Is that reasonable?" From Qi Fei's common sense perspective, this still sounded like a fantasy.

Jiang Tianyi looked at Zhong Kui and said, "Isn't there a living example right in front of us? If Zhong Xiaoyu can create Zhong Kui, then Xi He can also create his own mirror image. According to Xiaoyu's theory, this is possible. However, Xiaoyu's perspective is to experiment on herself. I don't know how Xi He can apply this theory to other people."

All eyes fell on the silent head; the answers they sought could no longer be found in this person.
-
The comparison results came back quickly, and just as they had guessed, the deceased was You He. In fact, You He had disappeared from Baicheng after Luo Yong's death. No one would have imagined that he would eventually appear at Yuanxi Seawall, thousands of miles away.

Yuanxi was not used to such a frigid climate. None of the buildings were designed for sub-zero winters; the walls were thin, there was no air conditioning, and the heating wasn't very effective. Everyone had to rely on thick clothes to tough it out. Qi Fei held a large cup of hot water, staring at the comparison report for a long time.

"Did you think of something?" Zhong Kui's voice came from behind. It had been a long time since I'd had a moment like this.

Although Zhong Xiaoyu had always been with him, Qi Fei clearly knew which one he loved, even though they shared the same face.

Although he knew that what he loved was the illusion created by Zhong Xiaoyu—he hoped that this illusion would eventually become reality and stay with him forever.

"I don't understand one thing: why did Xi He have You He impersonate him? Was it really just to fool us? I've been thinking back on the situation, and the risk of being exposed was actually quite high. This doesn't fit his obsessive personality of trying to control everything," Qi Fei said.

"Qi Fei, would you like to go for a walk on the beach with me?" Zhong Kui suddenly suggested.

"This weather?" Qi Fei turned to look at the overcast sky outside the window.

Zhong Kui's unrealistically beautiful face came into his view, and she blinked innocently.

Qi Fei couldn't refuse Zhong Kui like that.

The once poetic beach now resembles a cruel trial, with the rise and fall of the waves carrying the heavy weight of accumulated ice.

Qi Fei naturally pulled Zhong Kui into his arms, warming her already cold constitution with his body heat.

He felt that Zhong Kui was different from before when she returned. She, who was always carefree, seemed preoccupied this time, which was abnormal and worrying.

The two walked silently on the beach for a long time without saying a word to each other.

Finally, Zhong Kui spoke first: "Qi Fei, yesterday I went to see Jiang Tianyi and asked him to tell me the latest developments in the Zhong Xiaoyu case from ten years ago."

Qi Fei stopped in his tracks; this news was completely unexpected. That day, Zhong Kui woke up in the hospital room, and considering her unstable condition, Qi Fei was still hesitant about when to tell her the details of the case.

Unexpectedly, she still keenly noticed this signal.

"I'm sorry, Zhong Kui. I was too hasty that day and shouldn't have asked you about Zhong Xiaoyu's case. These past few days, I've thought about it calmly. Back then, Zhong Xiaoyu was still Zhong Xiaoyu; she hadn't created you yet. What you know isn't much more than what we know," Qi Fei said guiltily.

"It's different. I can sense Zhong Xiaoyu's feelings. I'm the person closest to the truth besides Zhong Xiaoyu herself. It's just that since Xi He appeared, Zhong Xiaoyu's self-awareness has become stronger and stronger. Before, I thought they were adversaries. But recently, I suddenly felt that the two of them are really like what that monster described, symbiotic, nourishing each other, becoming stronger when faced with a stronger opponent."

I feel that in Zhong Xiaoyu's heart, there is a darkest place where she has completely shut me out. My intuition tells me that as long as I find this darkest place, I can find out what really happened ten years ago." When Zhong Kui said the last two sentences, her voice trembled slightly, whether from the cold or fear.