Chapter 30: The Na City Case (Part 23)

"You fancy yourself a person of loyalty and integrity, but it seems you are nothing more than this." Li Rui deliberately provoked him.

"You!" Jia Wenming glared at Li Rui, then suddenly, his rage gave way to a laugh, "Hahaha, I know, this is your strategy. I am not angry..."

"Jia Wenming, when Yu Meili confessed to her crimes, she still held some lingering affection for you. She said that although you are detestable, you were truly good to her. Her choice to confess was not meant to harm you, but to give you a chance to be a decent human being," Li Rui said, softening his tone.

Jia Wenming twisted his mouth, his attitude remaining arrogant as he chuckled, "That's right, everything she said is true, but I was merely ridding the country of vermin!"

That display of disregard for human life made everyone present feel a chill down their spines.

He leaned back in his chair and said, "Since Yu Meili has told you everything, I won't hide anything either. You are right; I have indeed killed many women. At first, I would engage them in normal conversation to lower their guard. Either I would give them water or treat them to a meal; in short, I would knock them out with sedatives."

"Oh, and you don't need me to tell you what kind of sedative it was, right? Yu Meili must have told you," Jia Wenming answered his own question. "It was the board-washing solution from the metal factory. I bought it from Old Cui."

"When the time was right, I would use a rope I had prepared beforehand to strangle them tightly and kill them. After the killing, I would go through their clothes and bags, scavenging all their valuables. As for the bodies, I threw them all into the cellar."

"Where did you kill your first victim?" Li Rui asked.

"At Old Jiang's house in Laoyao Village, Jiangbei Street. You can find out just by asking around the village. I lived there for a month, and the first one I killed was right there."

Hearing this, Lei Chen in the adjacent room immediately picked up the phone, instructing the Harbin police to head to Laoyao Village to investigate and collect evidence.

"And the body?"

"Burned, then buried."

"Where was it buried?"

"In the field at the edge of the village; I don't remember exactly where," Jia Wenming said dismissively. "Anyway, after that, I basically killed people in Yu Meili's room and threw them into that cellar afterward."

"So, how many people did you kill in total?"

Jia Wenming laughed mockingly. "How would I remember that? Maybe forty-something."

Wen Rou and Li Rui exchanged a look, both heaving a sigh of relief. Jia Wenming had finally confessed to his crimes.

"Between 2008 and 2013, how many people did you kill?" Wen Rou asked.

Jia Wenming said impatiently, "So much time has passed, how would I remember?"

"Then think carefully!" Wen Rou snapped sternly.

Jia Wenming feigned thought for a moment and said, "About ten, I suppose!"

"It seems you remember quite clearly," Wen Rou said coldly. "Between 2013 and 2015, how many more did you kill?"

"About twenty-something."

"Did you kill them all by yourself?"

"Not entirely. Later on, I found a few accomplices: Li Fuping, Sun Dali, and Hao Jianping. Just those three," Jia Wenming said straightforwardly.

"How did you all get connected?" Wen Rou asked.

"Fellow sufferers in the same boat, you could say," Jia Wenming said triumphantly, seemingly admiring his own choice of words. "We were all wretches tortured by life."

"Heh, don't you think it's ridiculous to hear those words coming from your mouth?" Wen Rou sneered.

"I don't think it's ridiculous," Jia Wenming shrugged. "I told them my plan, and we hit it off immediately. Oh, right, and that Liu Meixin—even she volunteered to join the group!"

Wen Rou wanted to say more, but Li Rui shook his head, signaling her not to interrupt.

Jia Wenming continued on his own: "Liu Meixin, I remember she seemed to be the daughter of some big boss from the South. She ran away from home after arguing with her family and came to Na City. At the time, she was wandering the streets alone. I happened to be looking for new prey nearby and noticed her at once."

Mentioning Liu Meixin, Jia Wenming seemed to be savoring a masterpiece, boasting, "As usual, I used my silver tongue to approach her quickly. I asked if she was in trouble or needed help. And she, she was so naive, she was actually moved so easily by me and even took the initiative to pour out her story."

"You tell me, how can there be such a stupid woman in this world?" Jia Wenming laughed wantonly.

"Liu Meixin could be considered your right-hand woman, and she followed you for so long. Did you never think of her as your own woman?" Li Rui asked.

Jia Wenming gave a cold laugh. "Her? Not a chance! She was just trash I didn't want. If it weren't for my 'kindness,' she would have died long ago. At best, we were partners."

Perhaps fearing that Li Rui and Wen Rou didn't fully understand, he added, "In this life, I've had only two women. First is Li Junyan—although I don't like her, she is my wife after all. The second is Yu Meili. That shrew may be a bit stupid, but who told me to put the most effort into her? Having fallen into her hands, I accept it. As for Liu Meixin, I kept her, slept with her, and gave her money, treating her as nothing more than a plaything. I knew Li Fuping liked her too, and I was even thinking of giving her to him one day."

Wen Rou looked at him with disgust and asked, "How did you kidnap Liu Meixin?"

Jia Wenming said lazily, "The old routine: first comfort her, then invite her home to rest. That silly woman didn't have a single doubt and just followed me. I couldn't refuse a fat sheep delivered to my door, could I?"

Jia Wenming added with pride, "She was truly too stupid, so stupid that I didn't even intend to use the board-washing solution. But it was that little 'mistake' of mine that let her keep her life."

"Later, I dragged her to the cellar, went back to the room, rummaged through her bag, and fell straight to sleep. But just as I was sleeping soundly, I suddenly woke up," Jia Wenming said with grave seriousness. "Because I always sleep with the lights off, but when I woke up, I found the light was on. Then I looked at the side of the bed, and all my hair stood on end; I sat up instantly."

Like someone telling a ghost story, Jia Wenming recounted with vivid gestures, "I saw someone sitting on the stool by the bed—someone completely naked, looking at me with a smile. Guess who it was? It was Liu Meixin, whom I had just strangled to death!"

Li Rui looked at the manic, seemingly insane Jia Wenming and said, "Jia Wenming, don't attempt to cover up your crimes. Was that really what happened that night?"

"Yes, everything I said is true!" Jia Wenming insisted stubbornly. "Liu Meixin didn't die at all; she was just knocked unconscious by me. But it was cold in the cellar, so she woke up before long. The only reason she wasn't injured from the fall was that she landed on that pile of corpses. So, strictly speaking, I gave her a second life."

Wen Rou's pen poked an ink dot onto her notepad.

Clearly, Jia Wenming's confession differed significantly from Liu Meixin's testimony.

"That girl is something else. A high-society miss, she should have been scared to death in such a situation, but instead, she stepped on the corpses, forced the cellar cover open, climbed out, and even washed the filth off herself in the kitchen sink," Jia Wenming continued.

In the next room, Qi Wei and Lei Chen felt their nerves fray.

If things were as Jia Wenming said and Liu Meixin didn't run away at the time, could it be that she joined the group voluntarily?

"Captain Lei, this..." Qi Wei looked at Lei Chen. "This Jia Wenming is just spouting nonsense; he dares to say anything!"

"This Jia Wenming is indeed cunning enough. Everything he says is half-truth and half-lie; no one knows which part is real and which is fake," Lei Chen said angrily.

"But why would he do this? We're at this point now—is there any need for him to keep hiding things?"

"He is provoking us. He simply refuses to tell us the complete truth, leaving us with no way to handle him!"

"Damn him!"

Back in the interrogation room, Jia Wenming continued, "She didn't choose to run. Instead, she came into the bedroom, turned on the light, sat on the stool, and watched me until I woke up."

"Then why didn't Liu Meixin run?" Li Rui asked.

"She said she liked me. From the first moment she saw me, she liked me. Sounds ridiculous, doesn't it? How could love be born from that? I was the one who wanted to kill her. So, I don't understand it either. But that is what Liu Meixin said herself," Jia Wenming feigned innocence.