Chapter 189 [VIP] The End of the Night (19)

Chapter 189 [VIP] The End of the Night (19)

On the way to the prison, Lu He told her that nails from the three victims of the Red Paint Serial Murders had been found on Liang Ran, and Liang Ran had admitted to the crimes. Today, Luo Xiaoguo will take Liang Ran to identify the crime scenes.

The perpetrator who was shot dead on the roof of the Great World Billiards Hall last night was actually Liang Ran's old friend, Qiao Shijie. Lu He said that Qiao Shijie was the son of his mother's cousin, making him his cousin. Qiao Shijie had once received favors from the Liang family and had always protected Liang Ran.

The two of them didn't speak much more. Meng Siqi felt that when Lu He learned the truth about his mother, it must have been the saddest moment for him. When he graduated, he came alone to the city bureau, to a place that was almost entirely unfamiliar, all to uncover the truth about his mother.

Of course, in the process of searching for the truth about his mother, he became an excellent criminal investigator. His responsibilities grew heavier, and gradually, the truth about his mother was no longer his only concern. He also wanted to uncover the truth behind every case, as he once said, "The truth is endless; we criminal investigators are here to explore the deepest, most real truths buried in the abyss." He would be relentless in pursuing every truth.

After parking the car outside the prison, Lu He slowly turned to her and said, "Siqi, thank you for identifying the perpetrator in time this time, rescuing Zhao Yuting, and uncovering the real White Mask."

Meng Siqi quickly responded, "Lu He, don't say that. We are police officers and colleagues. This is what I should do."

Lu He pursed his lips, offering a faint smile, and softly said, "Siqi, the Red Paint Serial Murders have been solved. It seems I must keep my promise now."

With that, he turned and opened the car door to get out. Meng Siqi gradually felt something was off. What promise? The promise to formally pursue her? She frowned slightly, feeling her face grow warm, and also pushed the door open to get out.

Xu Wangtu, dressed in prison clothes and shackled, had already been brought to the prison interrogation room in advance. When Meng Siqi pushed the door open, she noticed that Xu Wangtu had aged significantly. His once thick black hair, now half white with only sparse black strands remaining. Although he still appeared to care about cleanliness, it was clear that his face and hair were not as pristine as before.

His eyes also lacked their former brightness, just staring blankly at the newcomers before looking forward, gazing into the air.

Seeing Xu Wangtu again made Meng Siqi feel very uneasy. Xu Wangtu was not only the perpetrator of four child kidnapping cases five years ago but also the root cause of the Red Paint Serial Murders and the Red Paint Serial Murders. If it weren't for his perverse desires, perhaps none of this would have happened.

But to complete the chain of evidence, they had to interrogate Xu Wangtu again.

Meng Siqi went straight to the point: "Xu Wangtu, in 1970, your wife Xie Wenjuan was killed in the Red Paint Serial Murders. Today, the perpetrator has been found."

Xu Wangtu raised his eyes, his hollow gaze revealing a hint of curiosity and surprise.

Meng Siqi said sternly, "Xu Wangtu, we have interrogated you several times. You once assaulted a student in Xie Wenjuan's class. Why have you never mentioned this? One of those students was named Liang Lexin, and you never told the police that your wife Xie Wenjuan was murdered by Liang Lexin's father, Liang Chenghao."

Xu Wangtu's mouth twitched suddenly, and Meng Siqi could see that he was smiling, as if the answer didn't surprise him.

"We came to you today hoping you would tell us how many children you actually assaulted back then. You have a family and children. What drove you to commit such despicable acts? Xu Wangtu, you are about to be executed. I hope you will reveal the truth before you die."

Xu Wangtu returned to his vacant, lifeless state, but he answered without hesitation: "Five children. Lexin was the one I spent the most time with and the one I liked the most. Thank you for finding the perpetrator for Wenjuan. About what happened over twenty years ago, I didn't want to do it, but I had no choice. I can confess all my crimes..."

Xu Wangtu said that in 1968, after his intellectual father died in the cowshed, his life's ideals came to a halt.

Xu Wangtu was well-read and cultured. He was an idealist and a romantic. He had an obsession with purity, which gave him a severe form of spiritual cleanliness.

Xu Wangtu's first wife, Gao Yuyan, was from a working-class family. They had a son together, Xu Jianfei. By all accounts, their life should have been a happy one.

However, Xu Wangtu knew in his heart that Gao Yuyan had been abducted by hooligans when she was young. Although she wasn't sexually assaulted, Xu Wangtu couldn't let it go. He always believed Gao Yuyan wasn't perfect. Additionally, Gao Yuyan was illiterate, and they had no intellectual connection. So, after his father's death, he divorced Gao Yuyan.

Divorce wasn't a good thing in those days. The main reason Xu Wangtu decisively divorced was that he met Xie Wenjuan, who was teaching at Hope Elementary School. Xie Wenjuan was young, beautiful, and literate, a stark contrast to Gao Yuyan.

At the time, Xu Wangtu was an accountant at the supply and marketing cooperative. He had a refined demeanor, a touch of bourgeois charm, and was articulate. He quickly got to know Xie Wenjuan and pursued her with romantic letters and poetic gifts.

Xu Wangtu said their first official date was in a relatively secluded park. That day, his bus broke down halfway, and he was late. When he arrived at the park and went to the agreed-upon spot to find Xie Wenjuan, he saw an assailant robbing Xie Wenjuan's handbag.

Xie Wenjuan had wrapped the bag's strap around her arm and refused to let go. In the struggle, Xie Wenjuan fell onto the grass and was dragged along. The assailant was tall and strong, waving a dagger and shouting at her to let go.

Xu Wangtu didn't hesitate at all. He rushed forward and fought with the assailant. The assailant slashed a few times, but when he saw new pedestrians entering the park, he ran away.

Xu Wangtu was injured, with cuts on his hand and arm, but fortunately, they weren't serious. Xie Wenjuan was deeply moved and even shed tears.

When they went to the health center to treat their wounds, Xu Wangtu asked her why she had held onto the bag so tightly. Xie Wenjuan said she had gone to the photo studio to pick up photos, and the bag was full of pictures—photos of her and the children. She couldn't lose them.

After this incident, their relationship progressed rapidly. Due to his status as a divorced man, Xu Wangtu thought Xie Wenjuan's parents would oppose their marriage. Unexpectedly, when he first went to propose, Xie Wenjuan's family agreed. Xu Wangtu was deeply moved, thinking that his heroic act of saving Xie Wenjuan had won over her parents.

Soon after, Xu Wangtu and Xie Wenjuan got married. Their life should have been happy, but Xu Wangtu discovered that Xie Wenjuan did not seem to be a virgin, which puzzled him greatly. He began to suspect that the Xie family's quick agreement to his proposal might have hidden some secret.

Xu Wangtu then inquired around and finally pieced together Xie Wenjuan's past. It turned out that Xie Wenjuan had once been in a relationship with an educated youth from the city. They had been deeply in love, and much of Xie Wenjuan's cultural knowledge was taught by this youth.

Unfortunately, the youth suddenly returned to the city and disappeared, leaving Xie Wenjuan pregnant. Fearing a scandal, Xie Wenjuan's parents had no choice but to arrange for her to have an abortion.

After the heartbreak and abortion, Xie Wenjuan was disheartened with life. Teaching at an elementary school became her only source of solace. When Xu Wangtu pursued her, she thought he valued her for who she was. Having once contemplated suicide due to her heartbreak and abortion, she now saw Xu Wangtu as her savior.

However, after marriage, Xu Wangtu began to despise her in various ways, even bluntly calling her a worthless woman during arguments.

During that period, Xu Wangtu's obsession with purity reached a frenzied state, driving Xie Wenjuan to a mental breakdown. She proposed a divorce, but Xu Wangtu refused to let her go. He had indeed fallen in love with her at first sight, but now he kept her close yet scorned her, his thoughts torn and contradictory.

Eventually, a balance was struck. Xie Wenjuan would bring students back to their dormitory for tutoring, and Xu Wangtu found that the presence of children calmed his mind, especially the clean and beautiful ones, like a soothing balm for his troubled mind.

Thus, Xu Wangtu would return to the dormitory every noon for lunch and prepare meals for Xie Wenjuan. That period was probably the best time of Xie Wenjuan's life.

Every day, Xie Wenjuan would bring a child back for tutoring and then arrange for them to nap in her bedroom.

Initially, Xu Wangtu volunteered to watch the children sleep, and while they slept, he would caress their small hands. The unprecedented tranquility and excitement made him realize he had found inner balance.

At first, Xie Wenjuan thought he simply liked children and did not stop his behavior. Gradually, she noticed that Xu Wangtu's actions were becoming more intrusive, and she stopped bringing children home.

Xu Wangtu was deeply unhappy with Xie Wenjuan's actions. After repeated refusals, he finally exploded and, for the first time, physically abused Xie Wenjuan. He told her that even if she divorced him, he would expose her affair with the city boy and her abortion to the entire school, ensuring she would never hold her head high again.

In addition to physical abuse, Xu Wangtu also used psychological manipulation, convincing Xie Wenjuan that she had wronged him by having an affair with another man, aborting their child, and not being a virgin.

This made Xie Wenjuan increasingly insecure, and she eventually agreed to help Xu Wangtu with his plan, bringing a child back to the dormitory every day and even helping him administer drugs.

Xu Wangtu then began a six-month-long period of sexual abuse. The five cleanest and most beautiful children in Xie Wenjuan's class were personally chosen by Xu Wangtu, with Liang Lexin being his favorite and the one he spent the most time with.

One day, he returned home at dusk to find Xie Wenjuan murdered, her body painted with red paint. Since the Red Paint case was not the first, he initially did not think it was revenge against him.

Many years later, he suddenly remembered the flame marks around Xie Wenjuan's areola, and Liang Lexin's notebook had similar flame marks. He began to realize that Xie Wenjuan's death might be related to Liang Lexin, and that the perpetrator had imitated the red crayon drawings he had made on Liang Lexin's body.

In fact, those red drawings were his ideal poetry.

But Xu Wangtu had no way to identify the perpetrator, nor could he possibly accuse them. It wasn't until nearly twenty years later, when he committed another crime, that he no longer had the urge to draw on children with crayons.

Xu Wangtu had once considered confessing the events of twenty-four years ago, but strangely, on the day Xie Wenjuan was killed and her body painted with red paint, he suddenly felt that Xie Wenjuan had become very pure.

In fact, his love for Xie Wenjuan at first sight had never changed. He did not want to expose Xie Wenjuan's shameful past and wanted to "protect" her one last time. Therefore, Xu Wangtu remained tight-lipped about the events of twenty-four years ago.

Of course, there was another crucial reason: after his wife's murder, he once thought he would also be targeted for revenge. But many years passed without incident, and he gradually believed that the perpetrator had nothing to do with Liang Lexin, and that it was just an ordinary serial murder case, with Xie Wenjuan being a random victim.

Xu Wangtu finished his story, finally repenting, "I am sorry for them, but I couldn't control myself. Now I am just waiting to be executed!"

This story left Officer Meng deeply unsettled and filled with sorrow. Xu Wangtu was the root cause of many cases, and his perverse desires had led to the deaths of many children and the destruction of many families. The death penalty was not enough to alleviate the grief and anger.

But the death penalty was also the highest punishment under the law.

At this moment, Xu Wangtu looked up, his eyes filled with an unusual unease, "Officer Meng, there is one more thing. A few days ago, a woman in her thirties came to the prison to interview me. As she left, she suddenly said, 'Do you remember the little girl you molested twenty-four years ago?'"

"She left after saying that. I didn't ask her name, thinking she was just an ordinary journalist. Now, looking back, she might have been Liang Lexin."

As Xu Wangtu spoke these words, his eyes were filled with fear, as he was about to be executed, and he worried that his granddaughter, Xu Yizhou, might be in danger.

Officer Meng was also surprised. It turned out that Liang Ran had visited Xu Wangtu once before his execution. Liang Ran was a journalist at a magazine and had some reputation in legal circles, so it wouldn't have been difficult for her to interview Xu Wangtu.

When she said the last sentence, it must have been filled with both hatred and triumph.

Back in the car, Lu He comforted: "Siqi, don't dwell on it. They should all be held accountable by the law. No matter what the reason, crime should not be committed! We, as criminal investigators, must defend the integrity of the law."

Yes, this is the duty of a criminal investigator. The "they" Lu He mentioned not only includes Xu Wangtu but also Liang Chenghao and Liang Ran. Liang Chenghao and Liang Ran were once victims, but they should not choose to harm others because they were victims. The law is impartial; it should be a weapon to uphold justice.

Especially Liang Chenghao, who studied law. If he had reported the crime in time, used the law to seek justice against the perpetrator who harmed his daughter, and provided appropriate psychological therapy for little Liang Ran, perhaps these tragedies could have been avoided.

Perhaps those families might still be whole and happy!

Unfortunately, the law did not punish him, but even in death, everything he had in life was branded with shame.

Liang Ran's current state was also his own doing. He was not Liang Ran's "good father" but a Demon who dragged Liang Ran into hell.

This tragedy serves as a stark warning to the world and reminds everyone that safeguarding the rule of law is not only the duty of law enforcement but also the responsibility of every individual.