Love Me if You Dare: Pristine Darkness

When they returned to the interrogation room, sitting opposite them was not Ke Ai, but Ke Qian.

He had washed the makeup from his face, and resumed his men’s clothing. It was just that his hair was still long, tied in a small ponytail. However, anyone looking at his lean figure, and his face that was more angular than Ke Ai’s, would not doubt that he was definitely a man.

“What’s up with the hair?” Fang Qing stared at him and asked.

He replied very calmly, “I grew it out.”

Therefore, every time you killed someone, you had to wear a cap to cover it up.

Both fell silent for some time. Fang Qing sighed and said, “Ke Qian, how did you become like this?” His words were full of hidden meaning, but Ke Qian was not taken in. His eyes dimmed momentarily, and even An Yan could see the flash of hatred in them.

However, his answer was uttered in a light and breezy manner. “My older sister . . . she’s disappeared. I wanted to take her place and live her life. I know this isn’t right, but this is . . . my desire. Maybe, it was hers, too.”

Fang Qing glared at him. “You refuse to admit to killing Lu Ji, Rong Xiaofeng, and Jiang Xueran, as well as to unsuccessfully attempting to kill Xu Sheng? There are witnesses for three of these instances! Are you still quibbling?”

Ke Qian’s face flushed slightly, but he replied, “I am not quibbling. These acts . . . were not committed by me.” He paused, then said slowly, “Perhaps, it was Ke Ai who did it. She did it for me.”

Fang Qing sneered, “But, this afternoon, Xu Sheng saw you clearly – a man! She even touched your body. Don’t you remember?”

Ke Qian moved his lips, and suddenly smiled again. He said, “She remembers wrongly. It’s not possible, I was in the laboratory conducting an experiment the whole afternoon; my classmate can testify to that. Police officers, is the proof that I was not at the scene more reliable, or the possibly erroneous testimony of a flustered woman? I have not committed any crime, I have not killed anyone. From the start, until now . . . I have not done anything wrong.”

Fang Qing and An Yan were both struck dumb.

——

Zhu Momo was terribly nervous being in a police station for the first time in her life. She passed her cup of tea from her left hand to her right, swallowed her saliva, and looked at the handsome police officer who had just walked in.

“Uncle Officer,” she asked timidly, “why have you brought me and Ke Ai here?”

Fang Qing laughed and sat down. “Am I that old? I’m only 30 this year. Please don’t be nervous, we need your help in providing some clues to a very important case.”

Zhu Momo nodded solemnly.

Fang Qing said, “This afternoon, Ke Ai was conducting an experiment together with you?”

“Yes.”

“Were you together all the time?”

“Yes.”

Fang Qing frowned slightly, and he dotted in his book with the pencil in his hand. Zhu Momo observed him, and spoke again. “However . . .”

“What is it?”

“I was outside, and she was in the inner room.” Zhu Momo added.

Fang Qing’s eyes brightened. He wasn’t sure how the people who had been keeping watch on Ke Ai had ascertained that she was in the room all the time. He quickly asked, “Really? Is there a door she could have used to leave the inner room? But you didn’t notice?”

“There’s a door in the inner room, but . . .” Zhu Momo shook her head. “She didn’t go out. I saw her in the room all the time.”

Fang Qing was briefly stunned. “Did you see her clearly?”

“Yup,” Zhu Momo replied, “she was standing there throughout the duration, conducting the experiment.”

Fang Qing refused to give up, and pressed her once again. “From 2 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., she didn’t go out at all? Is it possible that you were busy doing the experiment and did not notice?”

Consequently, Zhu Momo said with greater certainty, “Nope. While conducting the experiment, there are several times at which we have to note the time and record the data. This was at 2:40 p.m., 3 p.m. and 4:20 p.m.. I saw her in the inner room. Although we didn’t talk, she’s so tall, how could I be mistaken?”

   ——

It was already late at night, and Ke Qian was still detained at the police station. However, without any evidence, they could only hold him for 24 hours. Fang Qing grabbed An Yan and went to the legendary laboratory.

The forensic team combing through the venue were still hard at work, and the police cordon had been put in place. The two of them entered the laboratory and walked around it slowly. It was indeed as Zhu Momo had said. There was a connecting door between the outer room and the inner room. There was also a side door in the inner room, which led straight downstairs.

Fang Qing re-evaluated the inner room in which Ke Qian had been during the experiment.

The room was about 30 square metres in area, which was quite spacious. On the right was a large laboratory table, on the left was a row of cupboards and shelves. The shelves were full of bottles and jars. Fang Qing noticed that the arrangement of bottles and jars was a little messy, and felt that something was off, but could not say exactly what. Some spots were left empty, while, at other spots, several bottles were clustered together. However, he could not figure out a reason why.

Apart from the bottles, the shelves also held several books and an hourglass about the size of a water tumbler. Fang Qing took up the hourglass for a closer look, then replaced it in its original position.

“What have you found?” Fang Qing asked the forensic investigator.

The forensic investigator replied, “We’ve found some sticky residue on the shelves, and we suspect it is glue. We will have to run some tests before we can identify the specific components.”

“Oh?” Fang Qing felt his heart skip a beat. “Where did you find it?”

“Quite a few locations, 31 in total. However, the amount is miniscule, and there are marks of someone having wiped the surroundings. If it weren’t for us, no one would have discovered it.”

“Tag the locations.”

The forensic investigators busied themselves around the shelves while Fang Qing watched them from the side. An Yan walked over and asked, “What’s all this about?”

Fang Qing replied, “I don’t know.”

With a serious expression on his face, Fang Qing said, “Sherlock Holmes once said, when you’ve excluded all the impossibilities, what remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth. That night, Ke Ai must have died in Ke Qian’s place, and the only one remaining is Ke Qian. This afternoon, it is not possible that he was in two places at the same time. He must have used some kind of diversionary tactic to fool Zhu Momo. Right now, we must find the trick he used.”

An Yan asked, “What trick?”

Fang Qing replied, “I don’t know. However, I believe that Ke Qian is a very intelligent person. He was able to take his elder sister’s place at Qingdu University, and wasn’t even discovered. If it were me, all those chemistry experiments, equations and so on would have made my head ache. So, it won’t be easy to figure out what means he used. Still, when a person commits a crime, he is always most likely to use the methods that he is familiar with. For example, he used his elder sister’s laboratory connections to procure the poison. He has been involved in cosplay for so many years, so the diversionary tactic he employed might have been related to what they use for performances.”

*T/N 露出马脚 (lu chu ma jiao) – literally, show horse’s (cloven) hooves.

After Fang Qing had finished speaking, he continued to stare at the shelves, hoping to discern more clues. An Yan stood quietly beside him for a while before saying, “On-site investigation is not my forte. Why don’t I look for an expert at cosplay whom we can ask?”

Fang Qing was also not too concerned, and simply nodded, saying “Ok.”

After a while, he turned around to discover that An Yan, that little rascal, had already run off.

Very quickly, the forensic investigators marked out the locations of the adhesive residue. True, it was possible that the residue had been left behind by previous students as they conducted their experiments. At this moment, Fang Qing looked at the entire rack of shelves and softly exclaimed to himself.

Ke Qian, this joker, what kind of game are you playing?

——

Who else could be the best expert?

The year that Ke Qian was the runner-up in the grand cosplay competition, she was the champion.

An Yan drove to the female student dormitory of Min Sheng University.

He took out his cellphone and called Gu Fangfang, but her cell phone was off. He looked at his watch and discovered that it was 3 a.m. in the morning.

Originally, he was going to ask for her help, but to disturb the dormitory and her dorm mates in the middle of the night was not appropriate. In any case, the investigation was advancing on Fang Qing’s end. An Yan pondered briefly, then decided to wait until dawn.

Might as well doze in the car.

***

After an indeterminate length of time.

The car window was not completely closed and the cool morning air breezed in, brushing An Yan’s face with a ticklish sensation.

He dimly sensed that someone was tapping lightly on the car window. Toc toc, toc toc.

An Yan opened his eyes to see Gu Fangfang’s natural, beautifully sculpted face. She was bent over the car window with a towel draped over her shoulders, wearing shorts, a short T-shirt and running shoes. Obviously, she had come out for a morning run.

An Yan immediately sat up and opened the car door to get out. Gu Fangfang was blushing slightly, and she looked down at her feet as she asked, “Gege Officer, are you looking for me?”

An Yan couldn’t understand it – he had given her his name card, why was she still calling him ‘Gege Officer’? However, it did sound pretty good. He made a sound of assent, placed his arm on the top of the car door, and looked at her as he asked, “I wanted to ask you, what kind of mechanisms and diversionary tactics does cosplay make use of?”

Gu Fangfang looked blankly at him.

As An Yan looked at her, he suddenly felt the urge to laugh. Then, he did so.

Gu Fangfang said, “Hey, what are you laughing at?”

An Yan pursed his lips. “Ahem. . . I’m not laughing anymore.”

There seemed to be no way he could describe what he was looking for. In truth, he didn’t exactly know what he was looking for, either. However, he was not a scientific genius and inborn master of logic for nothing. He thought for a while, then changed tack to ask her, “Are you the best and most formidable cosplayer in the country?”

Gu Fangfang looked at him and answered simply, “Yes.”

An Yan found himself liking her a little more.

He then asked, “The equipment, devices, materials, and so on that you use, do you have more of them than Ke Qian’s group? What they have, you also will have?”

“I think so.”

“Can you take me to have a look?”

“Right now?”

“Yes, time is very tight.” replied An Yan.

Without hesitation, Gu Fangfang said, “Ok. Wait for a bit. I’ll go upstairs and change, and ask my classmates to help me take leave from today’s classes. Give me 5 minutes.”

An Yan said, “Thanks very much . . .” She had already turned and run off into the distance.

The sun peeked out from behind the clouds, and its golden rays shone on An Yan’s body. He looked at the lady from afar; her figure was exquisite and her exposed skin was as white as snow. Especially her long legs . . . ah, youth is indeed unparallelled.

An Yan stuck both hands into his trouser pockets and watched her for a while. Then, he looked up and sighed.

What kind of psychological state is this?

Surprisingly, I really want to be dominated by her.