After questioning Zhou Xiaoru, Xu Lang felt deeply disappointed.
Zhou Xiaoru is just a very pitiful woman. She doesn't know anything that Shen Kaiwen does. Although a large part of the reason why Shen Kaiwen does this is because of her and her father, but now, people have She was dead, and when Shen Kaiwen committed the crime, she was abroad and had a perfect alibi, which basically ruled out her suspicion. Therefore, after questioning, she was allowed to leave.
When Zhou Xiaoru left CSY, she proposed to take away Shen Kaiwen's body as soon as possible, cremate it, and handle the funeral arrangements.
Naturally, Xu Lang did not refuse Zhou Xiaoru's request and allowed her to come to CSY to handle funeral arrangements at any time after settling everything.
Zhou Xiaoru left, leaving with deep guilt and doubts. However, Xu Lang and the others, who were originally very excited and full of hope for Zhou Xiaoru's return, felt endless disappointment. The doubts about Shen Kaiwen still cannot be explained. clear.
How should we investigate next? Where should we start? Xu Lang is very confused now. If this is an ordinary case, Xu Lang and the others can take their time to investigate, but in this case , there is not much time left for Xu Lang and the others. They must solve the case as soon as possible, do better and better, and give an explanation to the deceased and the general public.
Standing at the door of CSY, looking at the staggering, lonely and lonely Zhou Xiaoru's back, Xu Lang subconsciously took out cigarettes from his pocket, took out one and lit it.
In fact, Xu Lang had almost succeeded in quitting smoking after he promised Xiao Yueyue to quit smoking. However, after a series of recent events, especially after Shen Kaiwen committed suicide, Xu Lang's addiction to smoking suddenly became stronger. In the past, Xu Lang When he was at his peak, he would smoke up to one pack of cigarettes a day. In the past two days, Xu Lang could smoke almost three packs of cigarettes a day. The direct consequence of such crazy and frequent smoking is that Xu Lang's voice is now very hoarse. , my throat is burning and hurting.
When the cigarette was lit, Xu Lang felt his throat burning, his stomach churning, and he felt nauseous. Xu Lang resisted the desire to squat down and vomit. He looked at the gray sky with a daze in his eyes.
"Jingle Bell......"
The mobile phone in his pocket rang, interrupting Xu Lang's movement of looking at the sky. He slowly lowered his head, took out the mobile phone, and directly connected the call without looking at it.
"explain."
"Tan Yanxue is awake." Fan Yang's voice came from the other end of the phone.
"What?"
Xu Lang held a cigarette in one hand and was stunned on the spot, unable to react for a long time.
"Just now, Tan Yanxue, who was in a deep coma, woke up and asked to see you." Fan Yang repeated on the other end of the phone.
Fan Yang's voice brought Xu Lang back to reality. He immediately dropped the cigarette in his hand on the ground and ran towards the parking lot. As he ran, he shouted to the other end of the phone: "I'll be at the hospital right away."
After saying this, without waiting for Fan Yang to say anything else, he hung up the phone, came to the side of the police car, opened the driver's door, jumped in, didn't bother to fasten the seat belt, started the car, and pulled the Sound the siren, step on the accelerator, and speed towards the Third People's Hospital.
————
On the way to the hospital, Xu Lang had an excited smile on his face.
Tan Yanxue woke up, which is undoubtedly the biggest good news at present.
Among the several victims, except for Sun Shihao who survived, only Tan Yanxue is still alive, and she is the only one who has had direct contact with Ji Xueling. Only she knows what happened that day. Now, Tan Yanxue is
The only clue is also the most critical clue.
It only took Xu Lang less than ten minutes to rush from CSY to the Third People's Hospital. As soon as the car stopped, Xu Lang opened the door, jumped out of the car, and came to the elevator. He saw that the elevator was still on the seventh floor.
Unable to wait any longer, he ran directly towards the stairwell, running from the parking lot to the sixth floor of the inpatient department and outside Tan Yanxue's ward.
There were two policemen outside Tan Yanxue's ward. They sat on chairs with tired faces, looking warily at the passers-by. Their eyes swept over each person. Their chins were already covered with jagged beards.
But Fan Yang was standing at the door of the ward, looking towards the elevator entrance.
After seeing Xu Lang running up the stairs panting, she quickly walked up to Xu Lang, looked at Xu Lang and asked, "Why don't you take the elevator up?"
Xu Lang did not look at Fan Yang or answer her question. He stared at the door of the ward and asked, "What's going on now?"
Just when Fan Yang was about to report the situation, the door of the ward was opened, and a male doctor came out. After seeing Xu Lang and Fan Yang, he walked over and said to Xu Lang: "Although the patient is awake now,
My life is out of danger, but I still need to rest. You can ask, but the time shouldn’t be too long.”
After saying this, the doctor left.
Xu Lang stood at the door of the ward, took a deep breath, and opened the door of the ward.
This is an independent ward. There is only one hospital bed in the room. Lying on the hospital bed is a woman covered with gauze. Looking from a distance, she looks like an oversized silkworm chrysalis. Sitting next to the hospital bed,
There were two people, a man and a woman. The woman covered her mouth with one hand and gently wiped away the tears that could not be wiped away from the corner of her eyes with the other hand. The man stood silently behind the woman, with a face that was both relieved and extremely sad.
Looking at the woman on the bed, except this time
, there were two policemen in the room.
After the ward door was pushed open, everyone in the room turned their attention, and the woman on the hospital bed also turned her head slightly, looking at Xu Lang with her only eye.
Since Tan Yanxue was sent to the hospital for first aid, Xu Lang came to the hospital several times to check on Tan Yanxue's condition. Every time he saw Tan Yanxue's body tightly wrapped in gauze, Xu Lang felt an inexplicable heartache and endless sadness.
Angry, now, when Xu Lang saw Tan Yanxue again, he still felt heart palpitations for no reason.
Xu Lang walked slowly to the hospital bed and looked at Tan Yanxue who was lying on the hospital bed looking at him with one eye, but for a moment he didn't know how to speak.
"We meet again, Officer Xu."
Tan Yanxue spoke in a low and hoarse voice.
Xu Lang looked at Tan Yanxue with complicated eyes, nodded subconsciously, and said, "Yes, we meet again."
Fan Yang knew that Xu Lang was going to question Tan Yanxue next, so he said to Tan Yanxue's parents, who were still sobbing silently, "Please step aside for a moment. We have several questions that we need to ask Tan Yanxue."
Tan Yanxue's father looked at Xu Lang and then at his daughter on the hospital bed. He nodded. Tan Yanxue's mother suddenly turned her head, looked at Xu Lang and Fan Yang angrily, and shouted loudly: "Xiaoxue
You've just woken up and you're here, can't you wait for a while to come?"
Facing Tan Yanxue's mother's anger, Xu Lang didn't say anything and didn't know what to say.
Xu Lang has always felt very guilty about Tan Yanxue becoming like this. After all, the murderer told Xu Lang that the next person they wanted to kill was Tan Yanxue, but Xu Lang only met Tan Yanxue once in the district prison.
Failure to take countermeasures in advance led to Tan Yanxue's current situation. Xu Lang has been blaming himself very much, especially when he saw Tan Yanxue naked, bloody, and dumped in the CSY office building like garbage.
When they were at the door, Xu Lang blamed himself even more.
"Dad, Mom, please go out first. I have something to say to Officer Xu."
Just when Xu Lang was thinking about how to explain to Tan Yanxue's parents, Tan Yanxue took the initiative to speak.
After Tan Yanxue's mother glared at Xu Lang fiercely, she turned her head and looked at Tan Yanxue with a look of pity. Her tone was gentle and she said in a low voice: "Mom is outside. If you feel uncomfortable, just call me, mom."
Right next to you."
Tan Yanxue nodded slightly, agreeing.
Tan Yanxue's parents turned around and left the ward without saying anything else.
After the door to the ward was closed, Xu Lang walked to the chair where Tan Yanxue's mother had been sitting and sat down. He looked at Tan Yanxue and said with great guilt: "I'm sorry, it's all because I didn't do my job well that made you look like this.
Yes, I..."
"Officer Xu, there is no need for you to apologize. It is no one else's fault that I am what I am today."
Tan Yanxue interrupted Xu Lang and said.
Hearing what Tan Yanxue said, Xu Lang felt even more uncomfortable. He looked at Tan Yanxue, was silent for a few seconds, collected his emotions, and asked tentatively: "Shall we start then?"
Tan Yanxue nodded slightly.
"When you were released from prison, was it Ji Xueling who took you away?" Xu Lang asked.
"Yes."
"How many of them are there?"
"three people."
"Tell me specifically, who are they?"
"Two men and one woman..."
Tan Yanxue continued intermittently and described the appearance of Ji Xueling and the others in a low voice. According to her description, it was exactly the same as what Xu Lang and the others had investigated before. These three people were Ji Xueling, Wang Wenruo and Luo Quan.
"Tell me what they did after kidnapping you."
After identifying the person who kidnapped Tan Yanxue, Xu Lang asked.
Tan Yanxue closed her only remaining eye. Obviously, that was a memory and experience that was like a nightmare to her.
After a long time, Tan Yanxue slowly opened her eyes and began to tell.
————
Time goes back to a week ago, the day Xu Lang went to see Tan Yanxue.
After Tan Yanxue met Xu Lang, she then met Ji Xueling and her bodyguard Luo Quan. Regarding Ji Xueling's arrival, Tan Yanxue learned from Xu Lang that someone was going to harm her who was about to be released from prison, and she felt panicked.
When she saw Ji Xueling, she relaxed completely.
When Tan Yanxue was serving her sentence in prison, she was only twenty-two years old and had just graduated from college. At that time, she had countless escorts and many same-sex friends around her. However, after her accident, the only one who came to visit her was
There was only Ji Xueling. In the past twelve years, Ji Xueling came to visit her every now and then. She regarded Ji Xueling as her best friend, no one else.
Ji Xueling came to visit her for nothing else. She just told Tan Yanxue that because her parents were very busy at work, they temporarily went abroad to discuss business and were very anxious. Tomorrow, when Tan Yanxue was released from prison, her parents could not come to pick her up. Ji Xueling came
Pick her up.
Tan Yanxue did not have the slightest doubt about Ji Xueling's words. She was more willing to believe Ji Xueling than Xu Lang, a stranger. Therefore, the next day, after Tan Yanxue was released from prison, Xu Lang and the others were still on the way.
At that time, Ji Xueling came, but Tan Yanxue was not there
When Xu Lang was in trouble, he followed Ji Xueling and left.
After leaving the prison, Ji Xueling first took her around Chengbei District, and then drove to Chengdong District. Tan Yanxue felt strange and asked Ji Xueling why she did this, and Ji Xueling told her that someone was trying to do her harm.
, he was protecting her, which made Tan Yanxue, who was already feeling uneasy, even more uneasy. However, when she thought of Ji Xueling being by her side, she no longer felt so scary.
Tan Yanxue also told Xu Lang that when they went to Chengdong District, they discovered that Xu Lang and the others were chasing them, and Ji Xueling told Tan Yanxue about the Punisher, and Ji Xueling told Tan Yanxue that Xu Lang was the Punisher and that Xu Lang wanted
Killing her made Tan Yanxue feel unbelievable and deeply frightened. However, with Ji Xueling's comfort, she slowly relaxed.
In Chengdong District, they used cars to change cars to escape Xu Lang's pursuit, and then returned to Chengbei District again.
At that time, Tan Yanxue felt deeply exhausted because she had not rested all night and was nervous about fleeing. She fell asleep in the car. When she woke up again, she found that she was fixed in a ten-cent position.
She didn't know what kind of place it was in the dirty and dark place, but the only thing she knew was that she was naked at the time and couldn't move her body, but her best friend, Ji Xueling, couldn't move.
He looked at himself with hatred.
Ji Xueling talked a lot to Tan Yanxue at that time. She looked crazy and spoke viciously. It was completely different from the past. When she visited her in prison, she showed so much concern for Tan Yanxue, but she was full of hatred for Tan Yanxue. It was a kind of hatred that emanated from her bones.
The hatred comes out.
In that dirty and dark place, Ji Xueling dug out Tan Yanxue's left eye, peeled off her right cheek with a sharp scalpel, and carved a word "punishment" on her chest.
.
Tan Yanxue was so painful that she fainted several times, then woke up from the pain, and then fell into coma again, over and over again. Whenever she woke up, she had no other feeling. The only feeling was pain, bone-piercing pain.
.
Tan Yanxue didn't know how long she stayed in that place. When she woke up again, she was in the hospital, with her elderly parents beside her, as if she had had a nightmare. However, she was in pain all over her body.
Gan told her that she was not dreaming and that everything she experienced was real. Xu Lang told her that the person who wanted to harm her, the so-called punisher, was not Xu Lang or someone she didn't know, but
I once regarded her as my best friend, Ji Xueling.
After Tan Yanxue finished talking about her experience, she closed her eyes in pain. She did not want to recall that experience that was like hell to her.
After Xu Lang and the others listened to Tan Yanxue's story, they all gasped involuntarily.
From Tan Yanxue's story, Xu Lang knew that Tan Yanxue's eyeballs were pulled out while she was fully conscious, and when they peeled off her face, the other party did not give her any anesthesia or anything like that.
Speaking of experiencing it, thinking about it makes people shudder and horrify. However, Tan Yanxue did not die on the spot, but survived. After experiencing such a terrifying scene, she still survived. Xu Lang had to admire this woman's vitality.
Degree of tenacity.
However, after Xu Lang was silent for a while, he still asked: "Why does Ji Xueling torture you like this?"
Tan Yanxue closed her eyes and her body trembled slightly. She didn't know whether it was because of the pain in her body, the long conversation, or the thought of her horrific experience that day. She was silent for a long, long time, trembling for a long, long time without speaking.
After about five minutes, Tan Yanxue's trembling body slowly calmed down. She opened her gray eyes, looked at Xu Lang, showed a sad and bitter smile, and said, "She is not Ji Xueling."
"Isn't she Ji Xueling?"
Xu Lang was stunned at first, and then he looked at Tan Yanxue with a puzzled face and asked, "Then who is she?"
Tan Yanxue closed her eyes again, then opened them, then closed them again. She repeated this several times before her voice became hoarse and trembling as she said, "She is Li Zhaojing."
"What did you say? Ji Xueling is Li Zhaojing?"
Hearing what Tan Yanxue said, Xu Lang stood up from his chair excitedly, looked at Tan Yanxue in disbelief, and shouted loudly.
After Fan Yang heard what Tan Yanxue said, he looked at Tan Yanxue in shock.
"Bang"
The door to the ward was suddenly pushed open from the outside. Tan Yanxue's parents stood at the door, looking at Xu Lang and Tan Yanxue on the bed with worries and vigilance.
Tan Yanxue's mother quickly walked to the hospital bed, looked at Tan Yanxue, then at Xu Lang, and asked, "What's wrong? What happened?"
Xu Lang did not answer this question, he was still in shock.
Tan Yanxue looked at her mother, smiled, shook her head, and said, "It's okay, Mom, you go out first."
Tan Yanxue's mother looked at Tan Yanxue and found that her eyes were full of determination. She couldn't help but sigh. She turned her head and said to Xu Lang: "Hurry up, my daughter needs to rest."
After saying this, Tan Yanxue's parents walked out again.
When the door to the ward was closed again, Xu Lang was still in shock and had not recovered. It was obvious that the clue brought by Tan Yanxue was something Xu Lang had never expected.