I See Murders Before They Happen

Chapter 263: Chapter 261: I Am Her

"Does Mia know you?" Zhuang Yanzheng asked.

"She doesn’t," Su Miaoyi said. "My face was covered when I met her."

"The one in Country D... was that the man who came to kill you?" Zhuang Yanzheng asked.

Su Miaoyi fell silent for a moment, searching her memories.

Last year on Xiangyao Street, a man and a woman came to kill her.

Zhuang Yanzheng was talking about the man.

’He said... he hoped I would be stronger the next time we met,’ Su Miaoyi thought. ’Did he change his mind? Does he want to kill me now?’

"It’s just a guess. It might not be him," Zhuang Yanzheng said.

An image of the man’s face flashed through Su Miaoyi’s mind, and a sudden pain shot through her head.

She closed her eyes for a second. "An assassin hired by Lu Xian?"

"Mhm," Zhuang Yanzheng said. "She said she’s worked with Lu Xian many times. Lu Xian goes to her whenever he needs something done. She just takes the money; she’ll kill whoever Lu Xian tells her to kill. Xing Chang, Chang Yong, Feng Ruihao. As for why she had to kill them, she doesn’t know, and she wouldn’t ask."

"So she took on two contracts. One from Lu Xian, and another from someone else... to kill me."

"Yes."

"What about the Blood-sealing Throat? Is it hers?"

"Yes," Zhuang Yanzheng said. "They have Blood-sealing Throat in Country D."

"The others..."

"The others we caught are all Mia’s people. None of them know as much as she does. They just do whatever Mia tells them to."

Su Miaoyi remained silent.

"Lu Xian’s whereabouts? Does she know?" Lu Zhishen asked.

"She says she doesn’t know. She’s also been very uncooperative, with an even worse attitude than this one here," Zhuang Yanzheng said, leaning against the desk and glancing at Su Miaoyi, who was sitting beside him.

Su Miaoyi didn’t say a word.

"Mia’s injuries need to be treated, too. We’ll have to question her again later," Zhuang Yanzheng said.

Lu Zhishen nodded.

Zhuang Yanzheng looked at Su Miaoyi. "You should head back for now."

Su Miaoyi looked at him.

Zhuang Yanzheng stared at her for a moment before he couldn’t stop himself from asking, "What in the world is wrong with you? Did she knock you senseless? Or did she hit you so hard you forgot how to talk?"

His voice was loud.

Su Miaoyi shot him a look of disgust.

"What kind of look is that?" Zhuang Yanzheng’s eyes widened.

"You’re too loud," Su Miaoyi said, her voice cold.

Lu Zhishen let out a small laugh from the side.

She was the first person to ever say that to Zhuang Yanzheng so bluntly.

It rendered Zhuang Yanzheng completely speechless.

Su Miaoyi looked at him again. "Didn’t you call her ’little schizo’?"

Zhuang Yanzheng’s brow furrowed in confusion, then surprise. He shot to his feet. "Her? Then who are you?! How do you know everything?"

Lu Zhishen tensed up as well.

"I’m her, too," Su Miaoyi said. "We’re the same person."

Zhuang Yanzheng fell silent, thinking over her words. "A split personality?"

Lu Zhishen froze on the spot, staring at the Su Miaoyi before him.

Su Miaoyi tacitly confirmed it.

Zhuang Yanzheng suddenly leaned in to get a closer look at her.

As he leaned in abruptly, Su Miaoyi’s hand shot up, almost clamping around his neck in a sharp, conditioned reflex.

It startled Zhuang Yanzheng, and he quickly straightened up again.

He could faintly sense a murderous intent from her.

It wasn’t directed at him; it was just an aura she carried.

"Then what about her?" Lu Zhishen asked, looking for his snack buddy.

"Knocked senseless, I suppose," Su Miaoyi said.

"Can she come back?" Lu Zhishen asked.

Su Miaoyi looked at him. "That depends on my mood."

Lu Zhishen’s lips moved, but he said nothing more.

Su Miaoyi stood up. "I’m running a fever, so I’ll be leaving now."

"You have a fever?" Zhuang Yanzheng and Lu Zhishen said in unison.

Neither of them had noticed at all.

Besides being a little pale, her expression gave nothing away.

After all, with so many injuries, it was normal for her to be pale.

Su Miaoyi watched them overreact, said nothing, and walked straight out.

"I’ll take you," Lu Zhishen said, following her. "The doctor prescribed some medicine—painkillers and fever reducers. The instructions are written on the boxes. They’re in my car..."

Zhuang Yanzheng stared at her back. ’Is this what a split personality is like? It’s like they’re two completely different people. This... I... I’ve never seen her so quiet, so cold, so expressionless.’

Zhuang Yanzheng rubbed the back of his neck.

He thought about the events of the past year.

First, someone with a superpower who looked a bit like Qin Leyan had appeared before him. Just as he was planning to recruit her, he started noticing too many clues and realized that this person was, in fact, Qin Leyan.

And just when he’d accepted she looked identical to Qin Leyan, a new, unfamiliar personality had emerged.

It felt like a stranger was wearing a familiar face.

It was all a bit much to take in at once.

A little while later, he called Shen Yanzhou and told him to keep an eye on Su Miaoyi, to make sure the fever didn’t make her delirious.

Lu Zhishen had wanted to take Su Miaoyi to the hospital for another check-up, but she insisted on going home, so he dropped her off at Weiyang Palace.

The two of them barely spoke the entire way.

When she got out of the car, Su Miaoyi said a "thank you," and Lu Zhishen gave her the medicine he had brought from the hospital.

Lu Zhishen only left after making sure she was home and had turned on the lights.

Back at her place, Su Miaoyi went to the kitchen, poured a glass of water, then leaned her head back on the sofa and closed her eyes.

She’d tossed the medicine in the entryway. She didn’t want to take it, figuring she could just tough it out.

The overhead light was too bright. She picked up the remote from the coffee table and, from a good distance away, threw it directly at the wall switch, turning off the light.

The room plunged into darkness. She felt the blackness envelop her, feeling more comfortable in the dark.

"You’re an assassin. Leaving survivors means leaving behind a threat to yourself," a man’s voice echoed in her ear.

"I just don’t think it’s necessary to wipe everyone out. The ones who deserved to die are dead. Why kill the innocent?" she said.

"If you don’t kill them today, they’ll come to kill you tomorrow."

"They didn’t see my face. They don’t know who I am," she said.

"But in the end, the blame will fall on me. You left survivors. When they come to their senses, I’ll be the first person they think of. I sent you to solve problems, not create them for me," the man said. "Be a good girl. Don’t make me angry."

"Then have someone else do it," she said. "I won’t."

The man looked at her, then let out a short laugh. "Fine. Then your nanny, the maids, the driver... none of them have to live."

She stared at him.

"From now on, anyone you develop the slightest feeling for will have to die," the man said. "The people under your command... for every survivor you leave, I’ll kill one of them."

She didn’t speak, just turned and walked away.

"Stop."

Hearing his voice, she stopped in her tracks instinctively.

The man walked up to her, grabbed her hand, and pulled her into a room in the backyard.

The room was pitch-black inside. The moment she stepped in, her entire body went rigid.

Once her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she saw the experimental bed inside, and the machines beside it.

The hum of electricity seemed to ring in her ears, coursing through her entire body.

"It’s been a while. Have you forgotten what it feels like to lie on it?"