13 The Grand Conspiracy

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Gao Bing suddenly begged me for mercy, pleading for me to spare him. He said he could work for me, serve as my undercover agent.

I was stunned at first. I thought to myself, what kind of madness is Gao Bing having? When have I ever harmed him? I just arrived here.

But my mind quickly caught on. Suddenly, a bright idea struck me—I realized it must have been my twisted alter ego who came out and tormented Gao Bing, frightening him terribly.

So, I immediately decided to play along, putting on a fierce demeanor and said to him, "Well, well, Gao Bing, I thought you were tough, but looks like you’re ready to admit defeat. Where did you hide the stuff from the safe?"

Right after I asked, Gao Bing looked at me with a bewildered expression, as if he were staring at a fool.

At first, I thought Gao Bing was going to pull some trick, but soon I realized—seeing him like that, it was very likely that I had already taken the contents from the safe!

But I hadn’t taken anything myself. Could it have been my twisted alter ego? I didn’t even have time to act.

So, still pretending to be fierce, I asked, “Did you even see that thing? I accidentally lost it. If you can describe it to me, I might consider sparing you.”

As soon as I finished, Gao Bing’s face twisted grotesquely; he looked terrifying. I thought he had gone mad, but he hysterically shouted, “Quick, Chen Mu, please, get me out of here!”

I eyed Gao Bing suspiciously, noticing he looked incredibly distressed. Judging by his complexion, he seemed on the verge of death. Instinctively, I grabbed both his arms, trying to pull him out of the water tank.

But the moment I lifted his body, I was dumbfounded; a chill ran down my spine.

Damn—it turned out I actually lifted Gao Bing’s body out!

But it wasn’t a whole body, only his upper half! I had only pulled out Gao Bing’s torso!

He wasn’t cut in half. His lower body was still there, but it could no longer be called a body. The flesh on his lower half had completely rotted away, resembling mush, constantly falling apart until all that remained was a skeleton. Worse still, his leg bones decayed quickly, leaving only the upper half clinging tightly to my arm.

Seeing this, I instantly understood: the liquid in the tank must be highly corrosive, something like aqua regia. Gao Bing’s lower body had been melted away. It was akin to the boiling frog effect—at first, falling into such a liquid didn’t cause immediate pain, but the longer the exposure, the more excruciating the torment.

I guessed Gao Bing’s legs had been bound and immersed in this corrosive liquid.

How twisted. I shuddered involuntarily. Gao Bing wasn’t dead yet—his upper body was still functioning, though his complexion was deathly pale, drained of all color, cold sweat pouring down in beads.

Just as I was about to ask who had put him in the tank, I suddenly heard a voice behind me: “Chen Mu, be careful.”

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The moment that voice rang out, my instincts told me danger was looming behind me—almost a murderous intent.

I immediately loosened my grip on Gao Bing and rolled sideways onto the ground.

As I recovered my balance, I saw a flash of cold steel—then a “bang” sound—and a short knife flew straight at Gao Bing, stabbing into one of his eyes. Despite Gao Bing’s fierce will to survive, he was clawing at the tank, but after the knife pierced his eye, he lost all strength and fell into the water with a painful scream.

I knew Gao Bing, who had no hope of survival to begin with, was surely dead now.

But what was going on with that knife? Who had warned me to be careful just now?

I instinctively tried to turn my head to look, but before I could, I felt a shadow beside me. I reached out to block, but was too slow—someone covered my mouth and nose, just like the scar-faced man who had knocked me out and kidnapped me before.

Groggy, my body was jolting about. When I came to, my head was still dizzy. Acting on instinct, I tried to stand, only to find I was tied to a pillar.

Then I heard a voice: “You’re in great shape, waking up in less than an hour.”

The voice sounded familiar. I lifted my head and saw someone I knew.

It was Jiang Haodong—the detective who had blocked the camera at Fang Lin’s bedside and helped the assassin kill her last time.

Jiang Haodong held a short knife in his hand, which made me nervous. Was he going to kill me?

I quickly said, “Jiang Haodong, so it’s you. The police have been looking for you. You better not make any more mistakes. You’re a detective; you should know what kind of crimes lead to what punishments. Killing and being an accomplice are not the same.”

But Jiang Haodong gripped the knife and said, “Chen Mu, you don’t need to remind me. I didn’t come here today to hear a lecture. I just want to confirm something.”

I asked him what.

He said, “Gao Bing was killed by your own hands. Did you know that?”

Instinctively, I wanted to deny it, but the words stuck in my throat. Maybe it was really my twisted alter ego who did it.

While I was silent, Jiang Haodong suddenly smiled coldly and said, “What a huge joke, a perfect conspiracy.”

I looked at him suspiciously, unsure what he meant.

He continued, “Chen Mu, do you know why Gao Bing became a traitor?”

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I said nothing. Jiang Haodong went on, “He wasn’t a traitor. He was framed. You approached him, told him it was Captain Fang’s orders, asked him to take something out to meet Captain Fang. You used him, and suddenly he was branded a traitor with no way to explain himself.”

I was stunned by Jiang Haodong’s words and asked, “How do you know?”

He said, “Because I was used the same way, suddenly branded a traitor in the police department!”

As soon as he finished, I immediately recalled how he had blocked the camera at Fang Lin’s bedside and retorted, “Nonsense. Your actions were recorded. You’re an accomplice to the killer.”

Jiang Haodong laughed and said, “But the killer is you. So you mean I’m your accomplice?”

My heart skipped a beat. The headless person really was me? My twisted alter ego killed Fang Lin?

While I was thinking, a trace of hatred and sorrow flashed through Jiang Haodong’s eyes. He clenched his fist tightly and said, “I was used by you too. That day, you told me Captain Fang had a new plan—to have you go undercover, and that I should help you block the camera while you killed Fang Lin and then acted as the undercover agent. Since Fang Lin was already a death-row inmate, I believed you. That’s how I suddenly became a traitor in the police department.”

I was completely dumbfounded. Could it be that Gao Bing and Jiang Haodong really weren’t moles? They were victims of me? No, more accurately, victims of my twisted alter ego? It seemed my twisted self was cunning and ruthless. I don’t remember him, but he seemed to know everything about me. He even exploited my secret connection with Fang Qinghe to control the officers!

Still, I couldn’t help but ask Jiang Haodong, “Are you idiots? You believe whatever I say? Remember, I was a suspect before. How can I trust anything you say?”

Jiang Haodong said plainly, “Because Fang Qinghe emphasized something to us. He said if we couldn’t reach him and you suddenly issued any orders or plans, then it was effectively his plan, and we should follow your instructions. That’s why we were inexplicably used and labeled as traitors, unable to defend ourselves. I’m lucky—I used to be a scout and could hide outside. Gao Bing wasn’t so lucky. He was killed!”

Anger blazed in Jiang Haodong’s eyes.

I felt he was telling the truth, but one question puzzled me: why would Fang Qinghe give them such orders? Did he trust me that much? Or was Fang Qinghe actually trying to harm them?

Was Fang Qinghe using my twisted alter ego to destroy his own officers?

Just as I was shuddering at the thought, Jiang Haodong suddenly smiled and said, “Chen Mu, you’re as miserable as we are. In the end, your fate will be the same as ours, maybe even worse.”

I asked what he meant, and he said, “Because only today did I realize it was all a huge conspiracy! Your so-called dissociative identity disorder is just a cover. You probably do have dissociative identity disorder, but those who communicated with us and harmed us weren’t your twisted alter ego. There’s another you in this world. I saw him today! Since I was framed as a traitor, I’ve been investigating, tracking you by all means. Today, at the same time, I saw two of you!”