Upon hearing Zhao Shiya's words, I was utterly stunned. All I could utter were four words: Fate plays tricks on man!

The white-bearded old man Zhao Shiya mentioned must have been that teacher. How incredible that he managed to evade such powerful pursuers and live out the rest of his life quietly in the remote countryside. Even more unimaginable was that he passed on the characters he created to the little granddaughter next door. That granddaughter grew up, met a woman named Zhang Hemei, and inadvertently disclosed the matter. Zhang Hemei then secretly jotted down the characters he wrote and gave them to Chen Yujia. With Chen Yujia's perverted intellect, mastering these characters was naturally easy for him. He then used these characters as a means to toy with me, publishing them in an email that eventually reached my hands.

I stood motionless for a full several minutes before snapping back to reality. The first thing I did upon returning to my senses was snatch the wine from the glass table, downing it in one gulp, followed by a long, drawn-out breath.

I finally understood everything. That heavy stone pressing on my heart had finally been lifted. Moreover, this would serve as powerful evidence to bring Chen Yujia to justice.

Earlier, I had printed and backed up the symbols from the email, so they could certainly be presented as court exhibits. While not direct evidence of the crime, it was extremely compelling circumstantial evidence that could prove Chen Yujia's involvement in the entire series of cases!

Just then, the door was suddenly pushed open, and a voice called out: "Xiaoya."

Silence instantly fell upon the room; even the music drifting in through the crack of the door was automatically filtered out by my ears, because I saw Zhang Hemei, and she saw me, her eyes locked fiercely onto that single sheet of paper.

She truly had changed; she looked much more haggard. The smooth, reflective quality of her face had dulled somewhat.

However, I felt no need to pity her, for she was Chen Yujia's accomplice. A part of Xiaoxuan's death lay at her feet too!

Zhao Shiya, unaware of what had transpired, immediately stepped forward: "Hemei, let's not drink too much today. Wang Lei is here too; why don't we all sit together, drink, and chat..."

As she spoke, Zhao Shiya sensed the atmosphere was off, as Zhang Hemei remained utterly expressionless, like a lifeless statue, no matter what she said.

"Hemei, what's wrong?" Zhao Shiya’s face showed a flicker of panic. Perhaps because she knew Zhang Hemei so well, she recognized that her current state was perilously close to a breakdown.

My face was as cold as ice, equally devoid of expression. This single sheet of paper in my hand was enough to prove her past relationship with Chen Yujia. Chen Yujia had calculated everything, but he never accounted for Zhao Shiya secretly loving me and bringing me into her private chambers.

Even the wisest of men are prone to error, and this lapse was mostly in emotional intelligence, for many highly intelligent people are akin to low-EQ computers. In their eyes, all things in the world operate according to orderly rules, and indeed, that is often true; they stand at the apex of the world by mastering rules others don't know. But they forget one thing: human emotion has no rules and cannot be predicted!

Zhang Hemei now knew the outcome. She was a clever woman; otherwise, Chen Yujia wouldn't have made her his closest assistant.

I could sense a deathly pallor about her face—the look most often seen on the condemned. She had committed an unforgivable, heinous crime!

I spoke to Zhao Shiya with forced calm: "Go out first. I need to speak with her alone."

Zhao Shiya looked between us, her eyes filled with confusion, but she complied, leaving Zhang Hemei and me alone in the room.

In the silent house, two people standing on opposite sides, both enveloped in the shadow of this cat-and-mouse game, formed a bizarre tableau.

"Tell me everything. Perhaps then you might have a chance to live."

My voice was level, yet intensely heavy—so heavy it felt as though it could be balanced against life itself on a scale.

But the choice was not mine; it was hers.

I only needed to wait quietly, though I wondered if my vigil would yield any result.

Zhang Hemei remained standing by the door, her expression unchanging.

Suddenly, a strange, inexplicable smile touched the corner of her lips. I knew it was over; she was the second Li Youshan!

Zhang Hemei walked to the table, sat down, poured herself a full glass of wine, and drank it down in one go. A hint of color rose to her face, which had been as white as a ghost.

"Why?" I also sat down and took a sip of my own wine.

Zhang Hemei suddenly started laughing in a dazed, foolish way: "A person like you would never understand, never. Because you aren't a woman; you haven't had the chance to truly love a man."

I knew that man had to be Chen Yujia, but unless she said it, the court wouldn't believe it.

Sensing her current state was erratic, I cleverly steered clear of loaded words and asked, "He must be doing quite well now, right?"

Zhang Hemei shook her head as if intoxicated, and a sudden glint of tears appeared in her eyes.

But her tears failed to move me; instead, they fueled my revulsion: If you can weep for one man, why couldn't you spare an ounce of pity for the dead?

I took a deep breath, suppressing my hatred for this woman, and stated firmly: "Are you wasting away for him?"

Zhang Hemei didn't seem to hear me. She murmured to herself as if in a trance: "He will never fall. He is the most outstanding man in the world; no one can surpass him."

I suddenly grasped a new angle and pressed further: "His current situation proves otherwise; he isn't the most outstanding."

"No, you're lying! He isn't like that," Zhang Hemei retorted loudly.

"He can't sleep, doesn't that prove his incompetence?" I advanced my guess by one step, continuing the probe.

"It's not incompetence; it's insomnia, that's why he can't sleep!" Zhang Hemei suddenly shrieked.

Her emotions were spiraling, but my probing was complete. Chen Yujia wasn't as formidable as I had imagined; he was beginning to crack. Knowing this was enough.

However, one question still lingered in my mind, so I shifted tactics: "Yes, he truly is excellent. Every arrangement was flawless, truly admirable."

A fervor suddenly ignited in Zhang Hemei’s vacant eyes, like that of a cultist seeing their leader. She murmured, "He is the best; no one can defeat him."

"I imagine your appearance in You Qiaolin's photograph was part of one of those clever arrangements as well?"

The first time I saw Zhang Hemei was in a wedding photo at You Qiaolin's office. In that picture, sitting on a bench behind You Qiaolin and his wife, was a woman clad entirely in black gauze, her head also wrapped, revealing only half her face, much like a Muslim woman in Kazakhstan. That woman was Zhang Hemei.

I never understood why she was in that photo. Don't tell me it was a coincidence. Because had the subsequent events not unfolded, I would never have harbored such a doubt.

Zhang Hemei's face showed an expression of worship. It suddenly struck me that a woman like Zhang Hemei, lost on her path in life, encountering a man as supremely intelligent as Chen Yujia, would be like seeing a bright lamp suddenly shine in a dark world—she would follow him with her very life.

I sighed, losing the desire to press further, as the woman before me was clearly in an abnormal state, and her words were unreliable.

Then, Zhang Hemei suddenly said: "That was just a chance encounter. I was taking a photo from another angle then, so I captured the couple too. I only got to know You Qiaolin later because of that photo."

As she spoke these words, Zhang Hemei was calm, like a normal person. It seemed she hadn't completely lost her sanity, only when the subject turned to Chen Yujia.

But I was determined to provoke her. I wanted to see how far this crazed woman would go for her private devotion. So, I sneered coldly: "All of that was his arrangement. You were merely a chess piece."

"What's wrong with being a chess piece? As long as you meet the player you adore, following him for a lifetime, forever—what a romantic thing that is." A look of bliss crossed Zhang Hemei’s face.

Suddenly, she shrieked furiously: "I forbid you to harm him! No one can!"

I shook my head. This woman was beyond saving; the severe punishment of the law awaited her, just as she had been merciless toward the deceased.

However, I had no immediate thought of arresting her, as I already knew she and Chen Yujia were the masterminds. I needed more solid evidence to make this pair of vicious, conniving lovers confess in court. Since Chen Yujia was already showing signs of exposure, why not let him continue? Once he lost his composure, he would expose more flaws.

As I left Languiren, I told Zhao Shiya: "If there is a next life, I will definitely fall in love with you." Then I left, abandoning the woman who knew the world's most obscure script.

I don't know why I said those words to her, but they came out. After speaking them, I felt a profound sense of relief wash over me. People say lies are tiring, and speaking the truth brings ease. Perhaps I had spoken a truth just then.