Chapter 367: A World Of Misery (1/2)

”I’d like to get one thing straight. Did you instruct him or suggest he commit those murders?”

After a brief pause, Tao Jing affirmed, ”Yes, I ordered him!”

But I noticed her microexpressions. ”Your body language tells me you’re lying. So the crimes were entirely the Imitator’s idea. At most, your involvement changed the way the last victim was killed, but that doesn’t count as instigation.”

”You’re wrong,” she frowned. “I hired him to kill them!”

”Then how did you pay for his services?” I asked.

”I transferred the money to him last night.”

Xiaotao immediately sent an officer to check the Imitator's bank accounts and found nothing, though he did receive four yuan red envelopes from Tao Jing last night on WeChat.

In doing so, Tao Jing wanted to incriminate herself. ”Why are you doing this?” I questioned. “There’s no way he’ll escape legal sanctions, but it’s not the same for you. You can walk out of this door a free man.”

”When you ‘reason’ with me, you sound just like those school leaders who tried to persuade me,” Tao Jing said, her eyes filled with hatred and disgust. “In the eyes of people like you, the lives of others are always irrelevant and your own interests are the most important!”

I was a little annoyed to hear her confuse me with those people. What she said was completely unreasonable; it had nothing to do with my interests. However, the realization dawned upon me–she was deliberately provoking me.

Whether Tao Jing was guilty or not depended entirely on how we reported the interrogation. She seemed unafraid of the consequences and was determined to follow the Imitator to prison.

”I'm not trying to reason with you. I'm merely stating the truth,” I explained. “Don't be foolish. Do you think four yuan counts as payment for his services? If I give you ten yuan, will you help me kill ten people?”

”Whether it's four yuan or four million, it's still paying him to murder them!” she insisted.

I shook my head and laughed, ”There’s no proof of a transaction between you two. Neither has he received the money on WeChat, nor is there an oral or written agreement between the both of you. Then what if I accidentally gave a stranger a few yuan in red envelopes and that person kills someone? If this counts as murder for hire, then wouldn’t I be charged with a crime as well?”

In fact, this interrogation was unprecedented. Here we were, desperately trying to prove her innocence while she was frantically scrambling to prove her guilt.

Tao Jing lowered her head gloomily, ”No one has been so kind to me since my ex-boyfriend died. I don't want to give up on him. He’s everything to me. If he’s arrested, it’s the end of my entire world... ”

”Must you sentence him to death?” shouted Tao Jing. “Those people he killed deserved it. If you were me, you would do the same!”

”The law is reason-free from passion. There are many ways of executing revenge. Why must you kill?” I argued.

I exchanged a few words with Xiaotao under my breath. We had come to the end of the interrogation.

”Don't be silly, I won't let you go to prison for nothing,” I persuaded. “Let's go, I'll take you to meet him!”