The Same Fate Awaits All Sins Chapter 18

Worship – 03

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After staring at Gu Yanta, who had been knocked out cold by just one bottle of sake, for five minutes, Lu Zheng finally accepted the objective truth that sheer willpower couldn't wake someone up. Rubbing his temples in frustration, he hesitated briefly before pulling out his phone to call a designated driver service.

"118 Yujing Road, Mahua Japanese Restaurant, please send a strong, young driver as soon as possible."

"Certainly, sir, please wait for a moment."

Twenty minutes later, Lu Zheng's fantasy was thoroughly shattered.

The driver was a young woman. She stared at Lu Zheng with wide eyes for two minutes, mirroring his incredulous glare. Finally, under the pressure of his dark expression, she stammered out, "I'm really sorry, sir, we're short on drivers tonight, I'm the only one left at the moment..."

———

"Rock, paper, scissors..."

"Rock, paper, scissors..."

"Rock, paper, scissors!!!"

Darkness engulfed his vision, and the air was thick with the stench of decay. A clear, childlike voice echoed faintly, trembling slightly in the vast, empty space. He looked up, seeing a sliver of pale moonlight filtering through the skylight above. It seemed cold and desolate...

Suddenly, a sinister voice hissed from behind him, "Still haven't decided yet?"

Dong! 

Dong!!

Dong!!!

Lu Zheng jolted awake, his heart pounding wildly. He clutched his chest, gasping for breath. It took him several seconds to calm down, realising it had just been a nightmare. As he glanced around, he remembered he was at Gu Yanta's home.

He looked out of the window, there was no sign of dawn. He lifted his wrist to check his watch, three-twenty a.m.

I actually had a nightmare? How could I have such a dream? He recalled the story Gu Yanta had mentioned during dinner and thought, so it's true, what you think about during the day, you dream about at night.

Lu Zheng sat up on the sofa, rubbing his aching shoulders, then lay back down, adjusting his sleeping position.

He drifted in and out of consciousness for a while.

"Ahhh!!!"

A loud scream brought an end to Lu Zheng's fragmented sleep.

The noise inside the room went from faint rustling to a cacophony of bangs and crashes. Then, with a dull thud, a muffled curse followed: "Ah, fuck me!"

Gu Yanta hopped out of the room on one leg, shirtless, clutching his other leg, which had banged against the door.

"You..." Lu Zheng squinted his groggy eyes, noticing that daylight had finally broken. "Can you keep it down..."

"Lu Xiaozheng?! What are you doing in my house? And... why am I not wearing a shirt? Ahhh!!!" Gu Yanta looked down at himself, jumping back as if electrocuted.

"Don't be so dramatic," Lu Zheng grumbled, sitting up and running a hand through his tousled hair. "Who was the one who got blackout drunk after a single bottle of sake? If you're allergic to alcohol, just say so, why try to act tough?"

"Ah..." Gu Yanta scratched the back of his neck awkwardly.

"When I brought you upstairs, I noticed a rash on your neck. I had no choice but to take off your shirt to check. Fortunately, there were no signs of a full-body allergic reaction. And lucky for you, your drinking habits are decent, you just passed out, otherwise, I can't guarantee you wouldn't have ended up injured."

Lu Zheng stood up and headed toward the bathroom. "Do you have any toiletries?"

"Yes... yes!" Gu Yanta hurried towards the bathroom to fetch them but froze upon realising he was only wearing his underwear. With a yelp, he bolted back into his bedroom.

"Lu Xiaozheng, I'll remember this!" Gu Yanta's voice came from the bedroom, accompanied by the sound of him pulling on his trousers. "This is the second time you've taken my pants off!"

"Yes it is," Lu Zheng's voice carried over the sound of running water. "You're a man in your thirties, not some young girl. Even if you like men..."

Lu Zheng suddenly stopped mid-sentence. The air froze in an awkward silence. If this were a comic, crows would be flying over the two men's heads right now...

"So... you've known all along?" Gu Yanta asked cautiously. "Since when?"

"Eh... from the beginning, I suppose."

"And yet you kept hanging around, chatting with me again and again!" Gu Yanta was furious, practically seething.

"I didn't do it on purpose..." Lu Zheng spread his hands helplessly.

"Is that all you ever say?" Gu Yanta had no place to vent his anger, so he could only point at Lu Zheng from a distance.

"If you know, you know, it's not a big deal," Lu Zheng suddenly said with confidence. "You're not the only one who's bent."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing... just it's no big deal."

"Then... what about you?" Gu Yanta asked tentatively.

"Take a guess."

A mischievous glint flashed in Lu Zheng's eyes.

Gu Yanta was about to press further when his phone rang at just the wrong moment.

From across the room, Lu Zheng could hear Chen Chen's urgent voice.

"Boss! Emergency! There's a female corpse at Haitian Garden on Binhai North Road! It's a mess! The local precinct wouldn't touch it, so Director Wu ordered us to handle it!"

"Got it, I'll be right there!"

"What's going on?" Lu Zheng asked, looking up from the sink.

"Not sure, Chen Chen said the situation is special, I've got to go right now." Gu Yanta pushed into the bathroom. "Hurry up, Lu Xiaozheng. I need to wash up!"

"Need me to come?" Lu Zheng asked as he finished tidying up and stood at the door.

"You can come if you want." Grabbing his phone, Gu Yanta dashed out.

Gu Yanta and Lu Zheng arrived at the crime scene at Haitian Garden. Before they even stepped inside, a strong smell of blood hit them.

According to the neighbour who reported it, they had been walking their dog in the morning when they noticed the door to the opposite apartment was wide open. After knocking a few times with no response, they pushed the door open to remind the occupants, only to be greeted by a horrifying sight. Blood was splattered across the walls and floor, and the female homeowner lay sprawled on the living room floor with a gaping wound on her neck. Terrified, the neighbour fled, running far before they thought to call the police.

The material evidence team was already on-site, photographing and collecting evidence.

The victim's lifeless eyes stared up at the ceiling, as though silently lamenting her fate. The gash on her neck was over a foot long, so deep that the bone was visible, with bright red muscle tissue exposed. It was a gruesome sight.

Donning gloves, Gu Yanta inspected the victim's ankle. On the inside of her ankle was a distinct knife-carved mark shaped like the character 米.

"It's the 'mark,'" Lu Zheng said quietly.

"Just like twenty years ago," Gu Yanta's face darkened.

The forensic team's interns began lifting the body onto a stretcher. Gu Yanta turned to Lu Zheng, his voice trembling slightly with anger. "What do you think? Was it him? Has he come back?"

Lu Zheng gently shook his head.

At the municipal bureau, the atmosphere was solemn in the criminal investigation team's meeting room.

Gu Yanta presided over the case analysis meeting, and Lu Zheng, as the team's temporary psychological consultant, also attended as an observer.

"The deceased, Li Wenli, aged twenty-six, worked as a receptionist at a securities company. She lived alone, and the crime scene was her home," Chen Chen explained while clicking his mouse, bringing up a photo of a clean and attractive young woman on the screen. "According to her colleagues and neighbours, the victim was introverted and not keen on socialising. She had a boyfriend, but they broke up recently. Director Wu has already dispatched Ma Qin to apprehend her ex-boyfriend."

"What's the situation with this ex-boyfriend?" Gu Yanta asked.

Chen Chen immediately tapped a few keys, and a photo appeared on the screen. The boy in the picture had dark skin and a sharp, spirited appearance.

"That's him, Xu Leixin. This year... seventeen?" Chen Chen looked at the screen in disbelief. "Yes, seventeen!"

"Still a minor... Does he have a criminal record?"

"No, his background looks pretty ordinary. He didn't get into high school after middle school and now works at an internet café, probably because he can eat and drink for free and surf the Internet at the same time.

"How did Li Wenli end up in a relationship with Xu Leixin with such a big age and lifestyle gap?" Gu Yanta asked.

"Apparently, they met through a video game. According to her colleagues, Li Wenli was addicted to an online role-playing game. She met Xu Leixin in the game and once bragged about finding herself a young and handsome boyfriend. For a while, she would secretly play games and chat with him during work hours, even having her bonus docked when her boss found out. Later, the boy kept asking her for money, which caused their fallout. He came to her workplace several times, but she had her colleagues send him away," Chen Chen said, adjusting his glasses.

"It's unlikely her ex-boyfriend committed the crime," Lu Zheng said softly. "A boy that age, dating an older woman, is probably just after food, fun, and money. After a breakup, he'd likely want to reconcile, not kill her."

"Not necessarily, Consultant Lu," Chen Chen countered. "What if she refused to reconcile, and he acted out of rage?"

Gu Yanta shook his head and walked to the computer, clicking the mouse. A photo of the appeared on the screen.

The photo was taken at the crime scene, and there was a clear 米-shaped wound carved with a knife on the deceased's left ankle.

"This is what I want to highlight," Gu Yanta pointed at the screen. "Most of you are young and might not recognise this, but anyone who grew up in Yuchuan will remember the 'serial killer' from twenty years ago!"

"That's a childhood shadow, Boss!" Chen Chen exclaimed.

Even Chen Chen, the youngest in the room, knew about it, showing the depth of the fear it caused in the hearts of the common people.

"But what's the connection between that case and today's murder?" Chen Chen asked.

"It's the mark!" Lu Zheng said, crossing his arms. "It's identical."

"Exactly!" Gu Yanta clenched his fists. "This detail is crucial. It was never disclosed to the public back then to avoid widespread panic or copycat crimes. But within the police system, it was well-known, this 米-shaped mark was the trademark of the 'Rice Killer.' The victims from twenty years ago weren't just tortured before death and stripped of pieces after, it was standard for each corpse to bear this mark on its ankle!"

A murmur of astonishment rippled through the room.

"This was also one of the main reasons the tenth case from back then was officially linked to the series."

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

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Translator Notes

Please feel free to comment any mistakes I made so I can improve and do better as I go through the book.

Translated: November 29, 2024 by Angel

Edited: January 11, 2025 by Angel