Chapter 147: The Poison Mistress (1/2)

Bingxin stood by the table and began to concoct a mixture of chemicals. Since the jars were empty, we had no idea what she was mixing. She spent about fifteen minutes doing this, during which I swept my eyes across the whole room. There was a shelf full of empty drug containers. They were obviously stolen from the hospital. I quickly took pictures of them with my phone.

“Dude, I think you should wake Bingxin up now!” Dali suddenly exclaimed.

I turned back to Bingxin and saw her undressing!

“No,” I said. “Not yet.”

Bingxin didn’t take all of her clothes off. She left her underwear on. I still felt guilty about this, but it was absolutely crucial to the case that she continued. Otherwise, we’d be stuck at a dead end and possibly never find Qu Tingting.

Bingxin put on Cheng Yahui’s white coat and lay down on the bed. She then started to grope between her thighs and grinded her hips together. Then I heard a low moaning sound coming from under the mask. At first I had no idea what she was doing, but then I realized that she was masturbating!

We all turned our eyes away from Bingxin as it felt wrong to keep watching her. She continued to masturbate about five to six minutes, then collapsed onto the bed and started to weep bitterly. The sorrow and desolation in her voice were not lost on us. It turned the atmosphere into something very tense and depressing.

Suddenly, I saw her pull a dagger from underneath the pillow and aim it at her arm.

“Wake her up now!” I shouted.

Xiaotao ran to Bingxin and shook her awake. When Bingxin finally came to, she shrieked when she saw the knife in her hand and dropped it on the ground. Then Bingxin collapsed into Xiaotao’s arms and cried and cried.

Xiaotao stroked her shoulders gently to comfort her. Bingxin wasn’t actually crying because she was scared, she in fact felt deep sympathy for Qu Tingting because people who participated in Murder Reenactment could feel exactly what the person felt.

“This girl has been through so much pain, Xiaotao-jiejie!” Bingxin muttered between sobs.

“I know…” Xiaotao comforted her.

We actually failed to get any clues about Qu Tingting’s hideout, but it would be remiss to mention it at this moment. Besides, there was no way I could just continue with the process while Bingxin was hurting herself.

Once Bingxin stopped crying, she suddenly stood up, opened a drawer, and took out a piece of paper.

“When I became Qu Tingting just now,” she told me, “a thought flashed in my mind.”

She then handed over the piece of paper to me. It was a pamphlet that tried to recruit volunteers to an orphanage in Nanjiang City.

“This could be where she is hiding!” I exclaimed.

“Judging from the series of actions we just saw,” Xiaotao commented, “she didn’t seem to have any plans to escape. It’s getting really late now, so let’s go back and rest and we’ll go find her at the orphanage tomorrow morning.”

We all agreed. As we were leaving the hospital, Bingxin did not say a word the whole time. She’d just gone through a psychologically harrowing experience after all, so she would need some time to recover.

“I’m sorry, Bingxin-meimei,” I told her. “I’ll never involve you in such a dangerous procedure again.”

“No!” Bingxin shook her head. “It was an incredible and unforgettable experience for me. I didn’t mind it at all. It’s just that I feel really sorry for this girl…”

“The murders she committed were still inexcusable though,” Xiaotao remarked.

Early the next morning, we all gathered at the police station and immediately headed off to the orphanage. We arrived there at about 9 am when the orphans were playing in the yard. Qu Tingting was wearing the caretaker uniform and she was helping a girl fold a paper boat. The smile on her face was bright and genuine.

When she noticed us, she quietly and calmly approached us and said, “I knew you’d find me.”

“Why did you choose to hide here?” asked Xiaotao.