Volume One, Chapter 12: He Recognized My Corpse

“Shall I give it to you now? What do you want?”

Bo Congnan lowered his head and kissed Meng Xiangyi’s lips. “Sister, I…”

“What I want most is you.”

Meng Xiangyi’s red lips curled slightly, her legs wrapping tightly around Bo Congnan’s waist. “I’ve been yours for a long time.”

“Sister, I love you so much, I want to die on you.”

Inside the office with the door firmly shut, clothes were scattered across the floor as their bodies entwined.

Outside, the employees were busy.

I stood by the floor-to-ceiling window, gazing at the snowy landscape beyond, my eyes distant.

A phone call interrupted the heated moment.

Bo Congnan reached for the phone on the coffee table.

“Finally, a living person! I’ve called so many times, and someone finally answered, hahaha…”

Bo Congnan ignored the excitement on the other end. “If you have something to say, just say it.”

Lu Chao, afraid Bo Congnan would hang up, quickly said, “It’s been almost a week since the wedding, and you haven’t even invited your good brothers out for a meal. That’s hard to accept, isn’t it?”

Lu Chao had grown up with Bo Congnan and always spoke to him jokingly.

Bo Congnan was used to it. “If you want to eat, find Jiang Ze. I’m busy.”

Mentioning Jiang Ze immediately annoyed Lu Chao. He had called several times but couldn’t get through.

“What’s going on between you and Jiang Ze? One won’t answer calls, and the other says he’s busy. Did Jiang Ze get jealous and fall out with you because you married Shen Zhiyi?”

Since that parting at the Nanjiang Police Substation, Jiang Ze hadn’t contacted Bo Congnan.

After all, as good brothers, they shouldn’t just cut ties over a woman.

Black City Restaurant, A City

“Sister-in-law!”

As the Cayenne pulled to a stop, Lu Chao immediately ran to the passenger side to tease me.

Meng Xiangyi had just opened the door to get out and was startled by him.

Seeing who it was, Lu Chao quickly smiled and backed off.

“Xiangyi, it’s you? I thought it was Zhiyi,” Lu Chao said awkwardly.

Meng Xiangyi happened to be hungry, so she joined Bo Congnan to dine at the restaurant.

Lu Chao looked around and asked, “Hey, isn’t Zhiyi coming with you?”

Bo Congnan got out of the car and said coldly, “Don’t mention her to me.”

“Had a quarrel?” Lu Chao shrugged it off. “Between husband and wife, a fight at the head of the bed and makeup at the foot is normal. As long as…”

A little quarrel?

This was no little quarrel. I am dead.

Yet he’s alive and well, rolling in bed with my sister every day.

Bo Congnan said nothing and walked straight in.

By the time the meal was nearly finished, Jiang Ze still hadn’t appeared.

Lu Chao called once during the meal. Jiang Ze said he was visiting the family of a missing person and couldn’t come.

So it had to be let go.

The private room was lively; Bo Congnan had many friends.

Men and women chatted in bursts.

Suddenly, someone asked, “Why didn’t Zhiyi come?”

“I heard from Jiang Ze that she ran away from home. Could she still not have returned?”

Everyone suddenly fell silent.

Indeed, Bo Congnan was my husband, and as the wife, I hadn’t shown up at his friends’ gathering; instead, my sister Meng Xiangyi sat firmly in the spotlight.

Anyone would have questions.

Bo Congnan poured wine, his voice low. “If you’re going to talk during dinner, I can’t stop you.”

There was a hint of irritation in his tone.

Everyone present was devoted to this heir apparent and dared not contradict him.

Meng Xiangyi, however, smiled graciously. “Zhiyi’s just a young girl; it’s normal for her to throw a tantrum now and then. In a few days it will be Congnan’s birthday. She always spends it with him. She’ll be back soon.”

With those words, the room’s warmth returned.

No one cared about me anymore because they believed Meng Xiangyi.

Everyone knew that Shen Zhiyi indulged Bo Congnan completely. Whenever it involved Bo Congnan, she never turned a blind eye.

But what they didn’t know was that the Shen Zhiyi who would never abandon Bo Congnan, who loved him forever, was already dead.

I sat among the lively crowd, engulfed in endless loneliness.

Until the slightly open door of the private room revealed a tall figure passing by.

I didn’t recognize him at first, but there was a sense of familiarity.

By the time I realized, I was already seated in the passenger seat beside him.

Bo Bingqian drove while on the phone. “I’ve already removed the contents from inside the headless female corpse’s abdomen. As for other details, we’ll need instruments to analyze.”

Jiang Ze’s voice came from the other end. “Professor Bo, I have a question.”

“The thing inside the female corpse’s abdomen is…?”

A child?

My eyes widened. Impossible.

Before the wedding, Bo Congnan and I had never been intimate, and I died on our wedding night.

How could there be a child inside me?

Bo Bingqian said calmly, “To be precise, it’s not a child inside the female corpse’s abdomen but a placenta.”

“Based on my judgment, the placenta inside the corpse does not belong to her, because the placenta formed before the time of her death.”

Jiang Ze immediately understood. “The killer must have put the placenta inside. That means the killer first cut off the corpse’s head, then sliced open the abdomen, inserted the placenta, and sewed it up stitch by stitch.”

Bo Bingqian remained composed. “That’s one way to understand it.”

Listening to this, I couldn’t help but cover my mouth, trembling.

Such a cruel method of murder.

Just hearing it sent chills down my spine. Even as a spirit, I was too scared to move.

It felt as if the psychopathic killer was hiding somewhere, ready to kill me again at any moment.

The car finally stopped in front of the Nanjiang Police Substation.

I followed Bo Bingqian inside the forensic examination center where my body was kept.

He donned a white coat and mask and began his work.

His long fingers gently brushed over my collarbone as he held surgical forceps to stitch my abdomen.

In the quiet room, the sound of the needle falling was audible.

I stood silently, watching Bo Bingqian’s movements.

If he knew the corpse he was dissecting was me, he’d probably be utterly disgusted.

Back in school, Bo Bingqian had disliked me.

We always competed fiercely, unable to rest until one of us won.

Even the teachers said first and second place seemed reserved for just the two of us.

Either me or him.

Bo Bingqian restored the corpse, then began cleaning the instruments.

His movements were meticulous, his black eyes reflecting the silent snowstorm outside.

Cold enough to make one dare not meet his gaze.

Suddenly, his eyes fell on the corpse’s collarbone, where something seemed to be.

Bo Bingqian took out a magnifying glass and examined carefully.

It looked like a red mole.

I paid no mind. I have a red mole on my right shoulder near the collarbone, a secret known only to me.

Even a friend or two might know, but no one could recognize the headless corpse as me.

Especially not my archrival Bo Bingqian.

Sure enough, he only glanced once and continued tidying the instruments.

After following Bo Bingqian for a long time, I slowly realized I was completely unharmed!

Whenever I left Bo Congnan’s body, I would gradually vanish, but this time, nothing happened.

It seemed I could stay with Bo Bingqian as well as Bo Congnan.

I had an obsession with Bo Congnan, but what about Bo Bingqian?

Besides our fierce school rivalry, we had almost no contact after dropping out.

For a moment, I was at a loss.

I returned to Bo Congnan’s side.

Leaning against the car door, Bo Congnan said, “Is that outsider back?”

“Back at the old mansion. Your grandfather wants you to bring Zhiyi to the welcome banquet.”