Chapter 60

Chapter 60

"Sister Shen must be thirsty. Here, have some water—"

Yet, Shen Anning’s sheer terror seemed to go completely unnoticed by him. As if seeing nothing, he continued to approach with a faint smile, leisurely placing the candlestick aside before patiently picking up a water pouch nearby. With gentle care, he brought it to Shen Anning’s lips.

While doing all this, he added, "Sister offered me water that day, and today I return the favor. How could this not be considered a heartwarming tale?"

He spoke with great delight.

His unfamiliar voice uttered each word with extreme tenderness, yet it was far more chilling—a hundred times more—than any gloomy or foul language.

Shen Anning trembled with fear, trying to shrink away.

He showed no sign of anger. Instead, he smiled gently and said, "What’s wrong? Does Sister Shen no longer recognize me?"

As he spoke these words, he deliberately lowered his voice, shifting in an instant from an ambiguous, male-leaning tone to a familiar female voice—the voice of the woman in the yellow dress from the foot of Little Qiong Mountain that day.

Shen Anning’s eyes widened in horror, and a chill of goosebumps instantly covered her entire body.

Watching the rapidly shifting expressions on her face, he seemed somewhat pleased, leisurely savoring every subtle change in her demeanor, unwilling to miss a single detail.

Shen Anning shivered all over, her emotions oscillating between terror and dread. After a long while, she mustered the courage to fix her gaze on the face before her.

The person appeared to be around seventeen or eighteen years old, gaunt, with a thick coat of makeup on their face. They had delicately drawn willow-leaf brows, red lips, white teeth, a slight build, and delicate bones, with the overall posture of a woman. Yet, upon closer inspection, the features were undeniably male.

This person—this person was actually a man, only impersonating a woman.

So, that day at the foot of Little Qiong Mountain, what she had encountered was not the victim but the killer himself, deliberately dressed in the victim’s clothing to make her mistakenly believe they were the victim.

This realization made Shen Anning’s blood run cold. Soon after, she shifted her gaze bit by bit to what lay behind this person. A few steps away, scattered human remains littered the ground—some fresh and pale, with smooth skin resembling that of a living person, while others had already begun to rot, attracting swarms of flies and mosquitoes. The air was thick with a foul, putrid stench.

It didn’t seem like the remains of a single person but rather a grotesque patchwork of multiple bodies.

The scene before her far exceeded anything Shen Anning could comprehend. Even though she had already died once, the sight filled her with primordial terror.

It was at this moment that she suddenly realized: perhaps human fate is heaven-decreed and should not be forcibly interfered with. Just like that night when she tried to reveal the killer’s identity to Lu Suian, only to find it was all futile—those destined to die would still die, and she could save no one.

The consequence of meddling was saving Princess Fuyang, which meant her own life had to be forfeited. When heaven claims lives, it doesn’t care who, only how many.

At this moment, Shen Anning admitted she regretted it. It was all her own fault for sticking her nose where it didn’t belong and bringing this upon herself.

The thought that she, too, would soon become one of those dismembered remains terrified her, filling her with genuine fear.

Yet, Shen Anning did not want to die. Even if she had to die, she wanted to die with clarity. After a long silence, she finally clenched her fingers tightly, suppressing her fear, and spoke to the brutal serial killer before her, through clenched teeth, asking, "Did you kill all those people?"

As the words left her mouth, she realized her voice was hoarse and trembling, laced with unmistakable fear.

He seemed delighted to engage with her. Upon hearing her question, he smiled and replied, "Yes, I killed them all."

He spoke with such ease and lightness, as if casually mentioning swatting a fly.

Shen Anning shut her eyes tightly for a moment. When she opened them again, she stared directly at him and said, word by word, "Why didn’t you kill me that day? You originally intended to kill me, didn’t you?"

That day, he had cleverly lured her behind the mountain rocks, causing her and Shen Mu to miss each other. That day, she thought the woman was unwell. That day, she had also detected a faint smell of blood around her. Now, upon reflection, the real woman in the yellow dress had already been killed, and the person before her had actually planned to kill her and Bai Tao to silence them.

Unexpectedly, he did not admit to it. Instead, he continued smiling and said, "Sister Shen and I have no grudges between us. Why would I want to kill you?"

Pausing for a moment, he let out a thoughtful "Hmm" before adding, "I was merely testing you to see if you had witnessed anything you shouldn’t have. That day, you didn’t see anything out of the ordinary and even gave me water. Naturally, I wouldn’t harm you."

He appeared friendly and gentle, yet the underlying message was clear: if she had indeed seen something she shouldn’t have, that day would have been her last.

This realization sent cold sweat pouring down Shen Anning’s back. Only now did she understand how close she had been to death that day.

Yet, what was even more terrifying was that she had assumed such a brutal killer would be a thoroughly repulsive figure—someone who had killed six people, leaving their bodies incomplete. She had imagined a monstrous, towering brute, but never expected it to be this slender, androgynous person.

That day, disguised as a woman, he had not aroused her suspicion in the slightest.

It was only now that she remembered belatedly: this person was an opera actor. On stage, male actors playing female roles were quite common. Thinking of it this way, it wasn’t so strange after all.

But the more ordinary it seemed, the harder it was to accept—

"Then what about those people? Why did you kill them? They were all innocent women. They had no grudges against you either. Why did you harm them?"

Perhaps it was his false warmth that lowered Shen Anning’s guard, or perhaps it was his callous disregard toward human life that infuriated her. After all, she, too, had once had her life ended just as casually.

Thus, with a determined expression, Shen Anning furiously demanded answers.

Unexpectedly, the once gentle and friendly person underwent a drastic change in demeanor upon hearing Shen Anning’s accusations. His eyes narrowed, his face twisted, and his expression turned dark and gloomy. Soon after, he turned and pointed at the scattered limbs behind them, letting out a chilling, sinister laugh. "Hah, no grudges? How would you know they had no grudges against me, Sister Shen?"

As he spoke, he strode over in three steps, fiercely grabbing a human leg from the ground and snarling at Shen Anning through gritted teeth, "This one was the daughter of a rouge shop owner. Hah, do you know what she did? She praised and flattered me to my face, but the moment my back was turned, she mocked me as a sissy. Hah, shouldn’t such a two-faced person deserve to die?"

Then, he grabbed another rotting arm, laughing and seething with hatred. "And this one—even more despicable. Her husband merely came to the opera house to listen to a performance. Unable to control her own husband, she took her anger out on an innocent person. She caused a scene on stage, tore my hair, scratched my face, and screamed that I was a filthy hick, a seductive whore. Hah, these city folk, every one of them acts high and mighty, looking down on everyone. Have any of them ever been decent? As for this one—"

He grew increasingly unhinged, laughing and shouting. In his excitement, his eyes bulged as if about to pop out of their sockets. Kicking a nearby limb, he continued, "As for this one, Sister Shen, this is the beloved granddaughter of that old fool from Zhuxi Village. Oh, that day, you almost ran into her. She was lying right under that mountain rock, just a few steps away from you. I had just dismembered her. Oh, and this one wasn’t a city dweller—she was a thorough country bumpkin. But just because city folk aren’t any good, does that mean country folk are all saints? Hah, do you know, Sister Shen, after the performance that day, this bitch made a bet with others about whether I stand or squat to pee in the outhouse? When I came out, they laughed at me all night. Sister Shen, aren’t people like this despicable and deserving of death? You say none of them had any grudges against me? Aren’t they all deserving of death?"

Li Yu spat out each word through clenched teeth. As he spoke, he brandished an axe from somewhere and began chopping viciously at the body parts, as if dismembering them wasn’t enough—he wanted to grind them all into mincemeat.

Shen Anning was terrified by the sight of him waving the dismembered limbs, her face turned pale. His frenzied actions made her shrink back in fear, afraid the axe in his hand might accidentally strike her.

Watching him spiral into madness, Shen Anning shut her eyes tightly and gritted her teeth, interrupting, "What about Princess Fuyang? Princess Fuyang never mocked you, did she? Why did you target her?"

Upon hearing this, Li Yu’s axe-wielding hand suddenly stilled. The exertion seemed to have drained much of his energy. Leaning on the axe, he panted heavily for a moment before sneering coldly. "You mean that arrogant Princess Fuyang? Hah, she whipped commoners beneath her horse as if they were livestock. She sat high on her horse, treating all of us commoners as beneath her. She saw the entire city’s people as beneath her. Doesn’t she deserve to die? What gives her the right to be so noble? I, Li Yu, will make sure she goes to hell—"

Li Yu’s face twisted with hatred as he spat out each word.

"So, just to gratify your rage, you killed all of them?"

Listening to his hysterical, twisted words, images of bullying and oppression flooded Shen Anning’s mind.

For a moment, she didn’t know what to feel.

With a complex expression, she asked, "Perhaps, for a moment, I sympathized with this person—if everything he said was true."

After all, in her previous life, Shen Anning had also been bullied and humiliated. Fang Shi’s harsh treatment, Lu Suian’s indifference, the servants’ exploitation—all of it had been inflicted upon her, one after another. In this moment, she felt a sense of empathy.

But it was only a fleeting moment. Shen Anning quickly shook off her sympathy. Being bullied could be fought back against, retaliated against—but it was never an excuse for indiscriminate slaughter, let alone brutal murder.

Even if he had a thousand reasons, it was no justification for slaughtering the innocent.

Unexpectedly, upon hearing this, Li Yu instantly reassumed his gentle facade. Smiling faintly, he said, "Of course not."

As he spoke, he tossed the axe aside and slowly, step by step, approached Shen Anning. Crouching down before her, he leaned in and mysteriously whispered, "Sister Shen, have you ever heard of soul-transference art?"

Seeing her bewildered expression, Li Yu touched his own face with the back of his hand and giggled obsessively, "It's an ancient ritual. I've heard that on the moon's shifting day—the day of the year when the moon is brightest—specifically on the seventh hour on the seventh day as it slowly shifts its orbit, if one gathers the seven most beautiful bones to assemble a human body, then scoops a bowl of heart-blood to pour into it, the corpse will immediately regain its soul and come back to life—"

As he spoke, Li Yu continued obsessively, "These seven body parts are all taken from the most exquisite portions of those women. If the soul can be successfully recalled and brought back to life, I will no longer have to live with this neither-male-nor-female face or use this incomplete body. Then, I will become a real woman—the most perfect woman in the world. If that day really comes, Sister, will you be happy for me?"

While saying this, Li Yu’s infatuated gaze slowly shifted to Shen Anning’s face, and the hand that had been caressing his own cheek gradually moved away, landing on Shen Anning’s face instead.

His bony fingers traced slowly across Shen Anning’s face, gazing at her with obsessive fascination. As he touched her, his fingertips felt damp, like a poisonous snake slithering over her skin. Shen Anning trembled uncontrollably, shivering all over.

Then, his fingers suddenly tightened around her chin, his eyes fixed intently on her face as he uttered word by word, "By the way, right now, out of the seven parts, the most crucial one is still missing—"

As he spoke, Li Yu leaned close to Shen Anning’s ear and whispered softly, "We’re still missing a head."

The moment the words left his mouth, Shen Anning’s eyes widened in shock.

Her panicked gaze swept past Li Yu, and only then did she notice that among the scattered, dismembered limbs in the distance, a head was the only thing missing.

So, it turned out that Princess Fuyang’s head in her previous life had been used for this purpose.

And now—

It would be hers.