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Speaking softly, she tried to soothe Yan Lei's emotions. "Actually, you could have been a good person too, couldn't you?"

"Good person?" Yan Lei was momentarily dazed before his emotions flared up again. "What good is being a good person? It only gets you bullied!"

"I know you haven't been happy," Chu Yuening approached him gently. "You were separated from your birth parents and grew up with your adoptive family. Your adoptive father was violent; he often hit both you and your adoptive mother. I know all about it."

Yan Lei looked at Chu Yuening warily, the gun still in his hand. "How do you know?"

He was always careful about protecting his personal information. There was no way it could have been leaked.

Chu Yuening continued to draw closer. "I'm a master of fortune-telling. I can read people's destinies through their birthdates and facial features."

"A fortune-teller?" Yan Lei was even more skeptical now.

"Yes," Chu Yuening replied, looking at his face. "If you don't believe me, listen carefully and see if what I say is true."

"Your adoptive father was a gambling addict who loved alcohol and abused you. You've been beaten with slipper paddles, made to kneel, even hung up. By the time you were twelve, you couldn't take it anymore and left home to fend for yourself, sleeping on bridges and eating scraps. All this happened because of your adoptive father, not because of anything you did, right?"

Hate flickered in Yan Lei's eyes. "That's right. I became who I am now because of my adoptive father. If it weren't for him, I wouldn't be like this."

He tilted his neck repeatedly, his chin brushing against the fabric of his shoulder, as he recalled unpleasant memories, his breathing gradually intensifying.

"I know about the check too, and it really is yours," Chu Yuening looked at the teller. "They don't believe you, but I do."

A strangely curved smile lifted on his face.

Yan Lei paused in his self-soothing gesture, slowly pulling up the corners of his mouth in a rare display of a smile. "That's right, you really do know. Yes, the check was written to me by my lover. If they hadn't doubted its validity, they would have simply cashed it, and you wouldn't have had to worry."

Suddenly, his expression turned pained again. "But... my lover is dead, she can no longer issue a check."

"I know, you killed her," Chu Yuening stopped in her tracks, a hint of impatience appearing between her delicate brows.

"I didn't," Yan Lei twisted his neck, his chin continuing to rub against his shoulder. "It's... because she was cheap, more than ten years older than me, with faded beauty and still not settling down. Having me wasn't enough, she had to go looking for someone younger."

Chu Yuening remained silent.

Yan Lei's personality was desperately in need of love; once he found someone willing to love him, he would never let go.

In the car.

Inspector Liang, having observed Chu Yuening's calculation, looked astonished at Zhou Fengxu. "Did you two stage this together?"

Zhou Fengxu watched the closed-circuit television, and when he saw the girl's audacity to approach the bandit, he smiled, then adjusted the channel of the walkie-talkie back, resting the antenna against his forehead.

"I uphold professional ethics and would never disclose case details to anyone."

Superintendent Leung was, of course, well aware of Zhou Fengxu's character.

He was perplexed.

Given that Zhou Fengxu hadn't divulged this information, how could the young lady from Temple Street possibly know?

Could it be… she really is a fortune-teller?

No… That can't be.

Inspector Leung instinctively dismissed the idea in disbelief.

Mystic arts couldn't possibly be that miraculous.

Inside the bank, Chu Yuening continued to move steadily closer to Yan Lei.

"I know that you always have your reasons."

It was the first time Yan Lei had encountered someone willing to listen to his heart, and his mood improved gradually.

"In truth, I truly love her, even though she has a husband."

Chu Yuening: ...

"Why would she leave me when I love her so much?"

Something else crossed Yan Lei's mind, and his voice turned increasingly sinister, "I suspect she's fallen for Koep. That bastard, he was my apprentice, yet he dared to seduce my master's wife!"

Yan Lei burst into laughter, the gun shaking in his hand before it gradually steadied, pointing directly at Chu Yuening. His tone became indifferent.

"So... I decided to keep her."

With chains binding her, Kuang Lixia was unable to go anywhere, forever belonging to him.

Unfortunately, Kuang Lixia was really too loud, constantly crying for help day and night.

It was so annoying, truly unbearable.

Chu Yuening said, "This incident triggered your childhood fantasy personality, causing you to react as if in a dream. For example, when your foster father beat you, you imagined becoming stronger to hit him back. You learned his abusive tactics and applied them, even surpassing him, on Kuang Lixia."

She paused, "In the end, you killed her."

"I didn't mean it!" Yan Lei grew agitated, his voice escalating, "I didn't do it on purpose!"

"Kuang Lixia's death was an accident, but what about Nie Qi?" Chu Yuening moved closer, her pace deliberate and her tone slowing, "The student just happened to pass by. What mistake did she make?"

"Ah, that student," Yan Lei stopped, finally recalling who she was after much thought. A wide grin reappeared on his lips, "Who asked her to see me burying the body?"

He remembered it was a rainy night. The mud was slippery, and he wore rain boots with a flashlight, oh, and a shovel as well.

After digging the hole and burying the corpse, he suddenly heard a sound in the woods and chased after it. That's when he saw the terrified Nie Qi.

Then, he took Nie Qi back to his residence and confined her using the same method.

Chu Yuening raised her hand. "Calm down. I'll give the medicine to the lady."

As she spoke, she slowly approached Yan Lei, her hand reaching into the lady's pocket. In no time, she retrieved a medicine bottle and poured out a few black pills to feed the lady.

As the lady gradually recovered from the danger, Chu Yuening returned the medicine bottle to her pocket and exhaled a sigh of relief.

Suddenly,

the clock hanging on the wall chimed.

It was the hour.

Yan Lei's eyes reddened, his temper escalating. With one hand, he ripped open his zipper, revealing the bomb strapped underneath his coat. His glare was fierce as he shouted, "Fifteen minutes are up! You police aren't keeping your word! I'll die with them all!"