Chapter 183 [VIP] The End of the Night (13)

Chapter 183 [VIP] The End of the Night (13)

October 23, 2024.

Zhao Leiting witnessed Meng Siqi sinking into the Sujiang River. Heartbroken, he immediately arranged for a rescue team to search and dredge the area around Sujiang Lighthouse, but they found nothing.

Zhao Leiting stayed up all night. Early the next morning, he returned to his office and picked up the letter again. He began to believe Meng Siqi's account of her fifth return to thirty years ago, the younger Meng Siqi in a parallel world, and that Yu Ting and Lu He were still alive.

In the letter, Meng Siqi revealed the truth behind the Red Paint Serial Murders. He finally understood why Meng Siqi had taken a leave of absence recently—she had been conducting the investigation alone.

Meng Siqi stated that Xu Yizhou was the last victim of the Red Paint Serial Murders and the granddaughter of Xu Wangtu. The third victim of the Red Paint Serial Murders was Xie Wenjuan. Both were connected to Xu Wangtu, which made her suspect that the perpetrator's identity might be closely tied to Xu Wangtu.

Fifty-four years ago, in 1970, the first victim of the Red Paint Serial Murders was Xin Yameng, a female worker at a paint factory. Due to her profession and the peculiarity of being the first victim in the serial case, all investigations at the time focused on her.

After Xin Yameng's death, Bao Xue, a doctor at the health center, Xie Wenjuan, an elementary school Chinese teacher, and Qiao Jingyun, Lu He's mother, were successively killed.

However, Meng Siqi believed that Xin Yameng might have been a decoy for the perpetrator, who had no connection to her at all. This misled the police for fifty-four years, as the perpetrator may have been creating a smokescreen to throw them off.

He might have been a psychological expert, randomly selecting the first victim and choosing victims related to the element of red paint, making the serial murders even more perplexing. Even if the subsequent three cases were related to the perpetrator, it reduced the police's suspicion.

In 1993 and 1994, a new series of murders, similar to the Red Paint Serial Murders, occurred, with Du Lianxi, Yin Mo, Tan Xiaoshuang, and Zhao Yuting falling victim. In 2004, the fifth case occurred, with Xu Yizhou as the victim.

The 1970 Red Paint Serial Murders and the 2004 Red Paint Serial Murders began to overlap, specifically with Xie Wenjuan and Xu Yizhou.

Xie Wenjuan was Xu Wangtu's wife, and Xu Yizhou was his granddaughter, so Xu Wangtu must have had an inseparable connection to the perpetrator.

She once speculated that the perpetrator of the Red Paint Serial Murders might have been a child during the Red Paint case era, as this child had witnessed the modus operandi and replicated it twenty-four years later in the Red Paint Serial Murders.

Assuming that in 1970, the perpetrator, who was a child during the Red Paint case, knew Xu Wangtu and Xie Wenjuan, and he was likely Xie Wenjuan's student.

Moreover, he might have been Jiang Sheng's classmate, as they were both first-grade students at Hope Elementary School under Xie Wenjuan.

Jiang Sheng once mentioned that Xu Wangtu had a tendency to molest children in his youth. He might not have seen it firsthand, but he must have heard about it.

Thus, the perpetrator, who was a child during the Red Paint case, might have also suffered molestation and sexual abuse from Xu Wangtu. Jiang Sheng might have known something about this as well.

This was Meng Siqi's bold hypothesis based on all the clues, as she always remembered her mentor's words: "Be bold in your assumptions, but verify them carefully."

At that time, the perpetrator, who was a child during the Red Paint case, might have been only six years old. He couldn't have resisted, let alone killed Xie Wenjuan. Therefore, the only possibility was that the perpetrator's close relative took extralegal action, seeking justice for their son or daughter by killing Xie Wenjuan.

This was the third murder in the Red Paint Serial Murders. As for the first case, Xin Yameng's death, it might have been a random killing to create a "sensation." The subsequent deaths of Bao Xue, the health center doctor, and Qiao Jingyun, Lu He's mother, might have been related, as they might have known the secret of the perpetrator's molestation and sexual abuse, making them victims of the Red Paint Serial Murders.

As for why the true culprit, Xu Wangtu, wasn't killed at the time, the perpetrator might have believed that punishing Xu Wangtu was more satisfying than killing him outright. This also explains why Xu Wangtu's granddaughter, Xu Yizhou, was punished in the same manner, and why Xu Wangtu later committed suicide by poison, leaving behind a confession.

The perpetrator, who was a child during the Red Paint case, must have witnessed Xie Wenjuan's death. The distinctive red paint pattern on Xie Wenjuan's body must have left a lasting impression on him, which is why, twenty-four years later, he killed five girls using the same method.

As for why these five girls were chosen, apart from Xu Yizhou, the other four might have been random killings by the perpetrator.

After unraveling all these mysteries, Meng Siqi naturally knew where to direct her investigation.

Xie Wenjuan had taken a group photo with her students around 1970. Meng Siqi found the photo in the archives—one was a standard teacher-student group photo, and the other was a classroom photo. On the back of the photo were the students' names.

Jiang Sheng was one of them. His name at the time was He Tiansheng, which wasn't hard to explain, as he hadn't returned to the Jiang family yet and was using his mother's surname.

The other person must have been the perpetrator of the Red Paint Serial Murders. But who was it? Meng Siqi couldn't find the name she thought might be familiar.

This left her puzzled for a long time. It was on the day of Lu He's memorial service at the cemetery that many of his old friends came to pay their respects, including one person—Liang Ran.

Liang Ran was Lu He's sister, though not by blood. That day, Liang Ran attended Lu He's funeral wearing a black cheongsam and sunglasses.

Liang Ran's life was tragic; her husband, Shen Xiangming, died in the line of duty, and her daughter, Shen Lele, committed suicide by jumping off a building at school. She herself had suffered from mental illness and was hospitalized for treatment.

Meng Siqi sympathized with her plight, but that day, as Liang Ran prepared to leave the cemetery, she walked gracefully up the stone path, casually pulled out a lipstick, and gently applied it to her lips. The lipstick had a small shell ornament hanging from its end, with sparkling diamonds embedded in the shells...

As Liang Ran approached her and Zhao Leiting, Meng Siqi comforted her sorrowfully, "Sister Liang Ran, don't be sad." She wanted to offer encouragement, as Liang Ran had almost no family left by her side.

Liang Ran also smiled faintly, "Thank you, Siqi. It's been many years since we last met, but you haven't changed much."

In reality, how could she not have changed? She had aged, but Liang Ran was also comforting her. The Liang Ran before her, wearing sunglasses, did not reveal her age, and the sunglasses also indicated her sorrow, not wanting others to see her grief. Yet, whether in appearance or face, she was beautiful, even in her old age, she remained exquisitely beautiful.

Liang Ran didn't say much, just that she was leaving. At that moment, Meng Siqi clearly saw the small shell ornament on the end of her lipstick; it wasn't a shell at all, but human nails, meticulously modified and polished by Liang Ran.

Perhaps many would see it as a shell or a common nail imitation ornament, because it was so smoothly modified, so beautifully adorned, and because it was coated with pearly white glue and embellished with pearls and diamonds, it appeared extremely precious.

But in Meng Siqi's mind, nails left too deep an impression on her; she was almost constantly attentive to lipsticks and nails in life, as if it were her obsession.

She was almost certain they were nails. And there were exactly five of them, each nail with a very neat and beautiful pattern.

Her mind was overwhelmed, as if a single point had exploded all the clues she had been searching for over the years, and then reconnected them.

She seemed to have found the real suspect of the Red Paint case, because the Red Paint case had a major characteristic: the left index fingernail of each female victim was removed, and no nail fragments were left at the scene, meaning they were taken away by the perpetrator.

The five shell ornaments exactly corresponded to the five index fingernails of the five victims.

But perhaps Liang Ran's nails were fake? Was it some kind of coincidence? Meng Siqi was full of doubts and shock, she had to investigate Liang Ran as soon as possible.

Logically, she should report her findings to Zhao Leiting, but Liang Ran's identity was too sensitive, even Meng Siqi herself couldn't accept it. That day, leaving the cemetery, her emotions were greatly stimulated, because if Liang Ran was the perpetrator, then Lu He must have suffered greatly before his death. She dared not hand over an unconfirmed inference to the police station, so she planned to conduct a private investigation.

After returning to the police station, she went back to the archives and found the photo from Hope Elementary School. She had previously focused on the boys, but this time she locked onto several girls. By chance, she found a tear mole on the face of one very pretty girl. The photo was old, but fortunately well-preserved. Being a black and white photo, the tear mole was like a faint dot, easily mistaken for a pixel issue if not looked at carefully.

She deeply remembered once seeing Liang Ran without sunglasses, and she also had the same tear mole.

This couldn't be a coincidence. She flipped the photo over and found her name was Liang Lexin.

Le, Lele, Shen Lele, all had the character 'Le'. She seemed to have found the shadow of the perpetrator. At that moment, Meng Siqi's eyes filled with tears, she had to investigate Liang Ran more deeply.

Lu He, in order to investigate Jiang Sheng, had traced all the students of that grade. Beside the photo was a report by Lu He, detailing the whereabouts of each student as they grew up.

For example, Jiang Sheng's information: as a child, he was called He Tiansheng, from a single-parent family, his mother was He Man. After Jiang Sheng was adopted, his information was lost. Due to the special circumstances of that era, many students' information was lost, making it difficult to investigate.

Among them, Liang Lexin was also investigated by Lu He. She transferred schools at the age of six and a half, and later her information was also lost. But in the column for her parents' names, the name was not Liang Chenghao. It was likely that Liang Chenghao later modified Liang Lexin's information from her time at Hope Elementary School through some connections.

The next day she went to the Provincial Office and found the magazine where Liang Ran had once worked. Fortunately, she obtained old magazines from 1993 to 1994. She opened them one by one, searching, and found all the articles written by Liang Ran.

A huge surprise emerged: the dates of Liang Ran's four reports closely coincided with the dates of the four Red Paint cases in Jinyang City. In other words, Liang Ran had traveled to Jinyang City four times on business trips, under the guise of gathering material, and killed four girls. Then she returned to the magazine and wrote four reports, all related to Jinyang City, with all four reports mentioning rainy days.

This provided Liang Ran with alibis for the four cases.

Moreover, Meng Siqi remembered when she met Liang Ran's daughter, Shen Lele, Lele said to Lu He, "Uncle He, actually I don't like it here, it always rains..."

In fact, those days were overcast, indicating that Shen Lele often stayed in rainy Jinyang, being taken care of, which also became a cover for Liang Ran's crimes.

All the evidence seemed to point to Liang Ran.

She then investigated the cause of death of Liang Ran's daughter, Shen Lele. Shen Lele's former college roommate revealed that Shen Lele had a tendency to self-harm before her father's death, as if she was mentally unhealthy. But Meng Siqi had seen Shen Lele at the age of six, she was very cute. Could it be that Liang Ran "designed" Shen Lele, perhaps wanting her daughter to follow in her footsteps.

In 1970, Liang Ran was also six years old. What exactly had she experienced? Perhaps only she could provide the answer. And the perpetrator of the four Red Paint cases in 1970, Meng Siqi reasonably suspected was Liang Ran's father, Liang Chenghao. Liang Chenghao was a criminal psychologist, and he had actually assisted in the investigation of the Red Paint case. Little did anyone know, he was the real perpetrator.

As a psychologist, he must have known how to design a serial murder case. Therefore, for the first case, he chose a victim who had no connection to him or his daughter, and at the time, he assisted the police in solving the case. He used his so-called psychological profiling, that "flame theory" psychological profiling, to mislead the police.

And the flame is "Ran," as in Liang Ran's "Ran"!

Tragically, Lu He's mother, Qiao Jingyun, was persecuted by Liang Chenghao, and in the end, Liang Chenghao even raised Lu He, which is bitterly ironic. She wonders if Lu He knew all this before his death and feels deeply saddened for him.

Unfortunately, Liang Chenghao is already dead, so Liang Ran is the only "witness" to the Red Paint case and the Red Makeup case.

Meng Siqi believes that Liang Ran is not only related to these two cases but is also likely the mastermind behind the Seattle Club. She is the true White Mask, and Jiang Sheng might just be her pawn.

Liang Ran's father was a famous figure in the political and legal circles, and her husband was a cadre in the Public Security Department. Liang Ran's background and resources ensured her smooth sailing in Haijiang Province. She and Jiang Sheng were classmates as children and may have stayed in touch as adults.

Lu He once told her that Shen Lele was not Liang Ran's biological child but was adopted by Liang Ran at the age of one. After that, Liang Ran and Shen Xiangming did not have any more children. Meng Siqi is always skeptical and prone to bold speculation: could there be some connection between Shen Lele and Jiang Sheng?

This at least explains why Jiang Sheng never implicated Liang Ran to the police after his arrest.

Shen Xiangming died while investigating the Seattle Club case. It is likely that he finally discovered Liang Ran was the mastermind, but before he could uncover the truth, he was silenced by Liang Ran.

To confirm this speculation, Meng Siqi visited the police station that handled Shen Lele's suicide by jumping off a building. Fortunately, she obtained Shen Lele's blood DNA sample.

Jiang Sheng was arrested in 2005 for the Seattle Club case and executed in 2006. His DNA sample was also preserved.

She quickly went to the relevant institution for a DNA analysis.

After comparison, the DNA match between Jiang Sheng and Shen Lele was 99.9%, basically confirming a father-daughter relationship. This means that the child Liang Ran adopted was actually Jiang Sheng's daughter.

This proves that Liang Ran and Jiang Sheng had an extraordinary relationship. Liang Ran is the mastermind behind the Seattle Club and the true White Mask.

In addition, Meng Siqi made a speculation about the other member of the criminal duo. She believes it is Lu He's cousin, Qiao Shijie. She once met Qiao Shijie, and he had a burn scar on the back of his right hand. Zhao Yuting's testimony mentioned that the suspect had a scar on the right wrist, which is definitely not a coincidence.

In her final letter, Meng Siqi wrote: Zhao Leiting, you must seize Liang Ran's lipstick. She suspects that Liang Ran's lipstick conceals a pair of scissors, the same ones used to cut the victims' clothes.

Moreover, the small shells hanging at the end of the lipstick must be the nails of Du Lianxi, Yin Mo, Tan Xiaoshuang, Zhao Yuting, and Xu Yizhou. She hopes to conduct a DNA analysis as soon as possible to bring the perpetrator to justice.

This is the full content of Meng Siqi's letter. Zhao Leiting read it all. Thirty years, or strictly speaking, fifty-four years, this perplexing unsolved case has finally been resolved. He believes in Meng Siqi; this is the final answer. Whether it's the motive, the clues, or the evidence, everything is very clear.

After reading the letter, he was moved to tears. He deeply understands why this case took decades to solve. Because the following conditions were almost indispensable.

First, the completeness of the clues. Thirty years ago, those clues were not complete. Meng Siqi must remember every clue from the past fifty-four years, but none were definitive until Xu Yizhou was killed in 2004. Only then did the clues start to make progress, and Meng Siqi focused on Xu Wangtu.

Second, the limitations of scientific technology. Thirty years ago, even if they speculated that Liang Ran was the perpetrator, there was no way to bring her to justice. The reason was that there was no DNA technology to confirm that Shen Lele was Jiang Sheng's illegitimate daughter, nor was there DNA technology to confirm that those nails belonged to the victims. This is the power brought by technological advancement.

Third, the tenacity and dedication of the Chinese People's Police. Thirty years ago, the perpetrator would never have dared to bring the trophies, the victims' nails, to public places. But thirty years have passed, and the perpetrator has long since relaxed her guard. However, she would never have imagined that for thirty years, there was someone in this world who lost everything and devoted her life to pursuing the truth.

This is also what Zhao Leiting admires most about Meng Siqi. From the day he met her, he has been proud of her. For these thirty years, Siqi has been his guiding light.

Zhao Leiting immediately rushed to the police car with the letter. He was going to the Provincial Office personally to explain everything to Liang Yunfeng and together arrest Liang Ran, who lived in the provincial capital.

That afternoon, more than a dozen police cars were dispatched from the Provincial Office, their sirens echoing across the skies of Haijiang Province, all heading towards Liang Ran's residence.

The police cars quickly surrounded the villa. Liang Ran, dressed in an elegant cheongsam, was watering the flowers in the garden in front of the house. The flowers in the garden were meticulously cared for by her, each plant seemingly designed with great care, with uniform size and color, as she had pinched off any that did not grow well.

However, when the sirens blared outside the garden, Liang Ran slowly raised her head. Her brows furrowed, and the crow's feet around her eyes became sharp.

The spoon in her hand fell to the ground. She had exhausted her life's efforts and schemes, but she would never have imagined that even in her twilight years, she could not escape the law's judgment!