Chapter 25 Gunshot in the Night
Hearing this, my breathing faltered. "So you deliberately imitated me in the surveillance footage and made Chef Zhang describe a suspect who was similar yet vague, all to make me take the blame?!"
Liu Liu let out a cold laugh. "Yes. The plan was going smoothly. The police had all turned their focus on you. But then, but then that Miss Chen woman suddenly went to the police station."
I was stunned and suddenly understood. "Miss Chen knew Li Sheng'an was cheating but didn't know who the mistress was. She heard from the bar staff that the police had taken me in and assumed I was involved in the case. But when she arrived at the station, she realized that wasn't it at all!"
"Right. Too bad for her. I was the one who collected her fingerprints, and she smelled a familiar perfume on me."
It was the perfume Li Sheng'an always wore.
As the boss's ex-girlfriend and former bar owner, Miss Chen naturally knew Liu Liu had worked part-time at the bar. She wasn't a fool and easily deduced who the real mistress was.
"So to avoid exposure, you killed her? By poisoning her milk tea?" I asked, my voice trembling.
Liu Liu sighed and put on a show. "Actually, before the first kill, I was always timid. But do you know? Once you take that first step, you realize it's actually quite simple."
"Stabbing a knife into flesh feels just like slaughtering a pig. Injecting something into milk tea is no different from poisoning rats."
"Killing is much easier than living."
Liu Liu stared at me from across the space. I shivered uncontrollably.
"And now it's your turn, Lu Xiaoning."
Liu Liu smiled and lifted her loose coat.
The explosives weren't in the meter box after all. They were under her dress.
"I have no reason to kill those police officers, do I? They protect the country and do good deeds. I respect them."
"But I hate you, Lu Xiaoning."
"The kinder you are to me, the more you smile at me, the more I hate you. I hate you so much that I want to take you with me right this second!"
Almost the moment her words ended, a fierce shout rang out behind me. "Duck down!!"
I instinctively obeyed.
The bullet sliced silently through the dark night and exploded with a deafening crack as it pierced her skull.
The ferocious look on Liu Liu's face hadn't frozen in place when blood streamed down her cheek, covering her bewildered eyes.
In the instant she fell, I lunged forward and caught her collapsing body.
"Lu Xiaoning!!"
He Tingzhou rushed up from behind. "Let go! You—"
"She's strapped with explosives!"
I spoke hoarsely. "I don't know if this explosive will detonate on impact. I had to catch her!"
He Tingzhou fell silent at once.
He raised a hand to steady my shoulder. Police officers quickly followed and gently supported Liu Liu's body.
"It's all right now. You can let go." He Tingzhou held me tightly, kissing my forehead. "You did great."
I listened in a daze.
A few seconds later, awareness slowly returned. I sank into He Tingzhou's warm embrace and broke into sobs.