The Same Fate Awaits All Sins Chapter 39

Suspicion – 09

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"Alright, let's not talk about this anymore," Lu Zheng leant back into his seat and closed his eyes for a quick rest.

"Fine, haha," Gu Yanta was in a state of bliss, his tone betraying his barely concealed glee. "But rest assured, he and I have long since broken up, my heart belongs only to you now!"

"......"

"If you don't say anything, I'll take that as your agreement!" Gu Yanta pressed on shamelessly. "Come on, call me 'hubby'!"

"Fuck off!" Lu Zheng's eyes snapped open, glaring furiously at Gu Yanta. "I've told you clearly before! If there's any marrying to be done, I'd be the one marrying you!"

"Alright, alright... let's not argue about this now, this is something we need to think about in the long run..." Gu Yanta smiled triumphantly.

"Let's head back to the hospital first and see how Bai Xiaoting is doing," Lu Zheng thought for a moment. "Oh, right, didn't your ex-boyfriend say he works at Ren'ai Hospital too?"

"Lu Xiaozheng, why... didn't we agree to drop this?" Gu Yanta immediately lost his bravado.

"I mean, we could ask him for a little favour if necessary," Lu Zheng replied irritably. "Am I that petty?"

"Yes! You absolutely are!" Gu Yanta retorted indignantly. Hmph! Who was it just now making me nervous just now? You know full well!

"That's just your imagination, I haven't been bothered at all..."

Gu Yanta: "......"

The two drove to the hospital. Bai Xiaoting's ward was quiet, it seemed the conflict between Bai Xiaoting and her mother had settled down. Gu Yanta and Lu Zheng pushed the door open and stepped inside. They found Bai Xiaoting sitting on the hospital bed, knees hugged to her chest, staring blankly out of the window. Her mother was no longer there. When she noticed the two of them entering, she didn't scream or shout hysterically like last time. Instead, she seemed unusually calm.

"Hello, officers," Bai Xiaoting greeted them, lowering her head immediately after.

"Hello, Bai Xiaoting. Have you had anything to eat?" Lu Zheng asked kindly, deliberately avoiding any mention of her mother. That was Bai Xiaoting's personal matter and was unrelated to the case, so Lu Zheng did not want to cause trouble. 

"I've eaten, thank you for your concern, officer," Bai Xiaoting replied softly, lifting her head.

"Are you ready to tell me about what happened last night now?" Lu Zheng asked gently.

Bai Xiaoting bit her lip, nodded slightly, and asked hesitantly, "Wang Shan... how is she?"

"She's dead, she fell from a cliff over thirty metres high and died on the spot," Lu Zheng said bluntly.

A flash of panic crossed Bai Xiaoting's eyes. She quickly buried her head in her arms and began sobbing, her trembling shoulders mirroring her behaviour the first time Lu Zheng met her.

After a long while, Bai Xiaoting's sobs subsided. In a hoarse voice, she began, "Yesterday, Wang Shan and I agreed to go to the back hill to burn some paper offerings for Xiao Xue. We bought incense, candles, and joss paper, and headed there. To avoid causing a fire, we chose a spot near the cliff where there were no trees..."

"We'd just started burning the offerings when Wang Shan said she felt like someone was following us. I was terrified and was about to pack up and leave when I was attacked from behind. Someone hit me on the head with something, and I passed out..."

"When I woke up, I wasn't at the spot where we were burning the paper anymore, I was in a bushy area. I took out my phone and called Teacher Wang for help. I managed to tell her roughly where I was when I felt something wet on my head. When I touched it, my hand came away covered in blood, and then I blacked out again. I've always had a problem with fainting at the sight of blood..."

"When I woke up again, I was already in the hospital... wuwuu..." Bai Xiaoting trailed off, speaking intermittently, before breaking down into sobs once more.

"If you didn't see anything, why did you say that Liu Le attacked you in the morning?" Lu Zheng asked.

"I... I just suspected..." Bai Xiaoting's voice grew smaller and smaller until it was barely audible.

"Why would you suspect Liu Le? Didn't you say yesterday that your dormitory relationships were very harmonious?" Lu Zheng asked, his tone seemingly casual, though he was quietly observing Bai Xiaoting's reaction.

Bai Xiaoting was clearly starting to get nervous, with tiny beads of sweat forming on the tip of her nose. "Actually... it's not like what Wang Shan said... she said that out of fear of causing trouble. The truth is, we've always been very resistant to Liu Le."

"Oh? Why? Just because she's a lesbian?"

"Of course not, who she likes is her own business, but her character is extremely poor... This is well-known in our school. She secretly films us changing clothes in the dormitory, and sometimes she goes to the public showers at school to film girls showering, then sells the videos on some adult websites..." Bai Xiaoting's voice trembled slightly.

"What? Why didn't you report such a big issue to the school? This is already considered a crime!" Gu Yanta said in surprise.

No wonder Liu Le, a college student, spends every day either at bars or chasing girls, she doesn't seem like a good person at all! It seems that the infatuated persona she described, claiming he had been secretly in love with Ouyang Xue for three years, was indeed fabricated!

"We have reported it, but the school's response has always been that there is no evidence. I have seen those videos, although the background is indeed the girls' dormitory, the faces are all blurred, so the school cannot identify us as victims. We have suggested changing dormitories, but in the end, nothing came of it... So, we are all very wary of her..."

"Do you still have the video?" Lu Zheng asked softly.

Bai Xiaoting nodded, took out her phone from the bedside table, and opened a video. Indeed, as she said, it was filmed inside the girls' dormitory. The faces of the people being filmed were blurred, so it really could not be used as evidence.

"We suspect that Xiao Xue's death is also related to her, because Liu Le was not in the dormitory the night Xiao Xue was murdered. Around eleven o'clock, Wang Shan and I searched everywhere outside but couldn't find her. Just as we returned to the entrance of the dormitory, we saw Liu Le sneaking back over the wall from the backyard. When we went inside, she was already in the dormitory. She even suspiciously asked us where we had been, which was unusual because we normally didn't speak to one another. Then a huge argument broke out. Who would have thought that Xiao Xue wouldn't return that night, and the next morning, news of her death came..." Bai Xiaoting had stopped sobbing by this point and managed to recount the events coherently.

"But Liu Le said that she and Ouyang Xue were in love with each other and that she secretly went on a date with Ouyang Xue that night," Lu Zheng said.

Bai Xiaoting widened her eyes in disbelief. "She even dared to lie in front of the police? Xiao Xue clearly was..."

Thinking back, Liu Le had indeed said nothing in front of the police, these details were only mentioned to Yu Tiantian, who was posing as a reporter.

"So, do you know why Ouyang Xue went out that night?" Lu Zheng's gaze was sharp.

"I... I... I don't know!" Bai Xiaoting clenched her teeth and shook her head vigorously.

"Do you know that Liu Le has committed suicide?" Lu Zheng suddenly dropped this bombshell.

Bai Xiaoting trembled. "What? Are you serious?"

"She jumped off the river bridge this morning," Lu Zheng nodded slightly, his tone unchanged. "Do you know what could have driven her to the point of suicide?"

Gu Yanta couldn't figure out why Lu Zheng would tell Bai Xiaoting about Liu Le's suicide attempt. In his view, it would be better not to stimulate her emotions at this time. Four girls from the same dormitory had died one after another. Anyone in their position would be scared, wondering if they would be next, whether they would escape this curse and become the only survivor.

As expected, Bai Xiaoting's body shook like a leaf, her eyes filled with fear. "She... is thick-skinned, there's no way she would commit suicide... It must have been some sort of curse... It must be related to that incident..."

‿︵‿︵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: January 17, 2025 by Angel

Edited: February 18, 2025 by Angel