During these three days, Lin Xi had been constantly messaging Ye Bingbing. The other members of the group also noticed Ye Bingbing's unusual silence, frequently tagging her in the chat, but there was no response.
Since private messaging between group members wasn't possible, Xu Huanhuan, Ah Huahua, and Lin Duxi could only reach out to Lin Xi privately about the situation. Lin Xi was an exception—she could contact any member of the group, including Ye Bingbing, but after days of trying, she still hadn’t received a reply.
She had already informed Lin Duxi about Fang Qianqian and Zhang Qiang’s court hearing today. Lin Duxi hadn’t done anything else all day, staying at the base he had set up with He Xin and Su Mingtao—his comrade who had fought back-to-back with him against the wolf pack—after they left their original team.
He sat polishing his gun with a cloth, focused and silent. He Xin and Su Mingtao had just finished patrolling the warehouse before sitting down behind him. They still couldn’t wrap their heads around it—where had Lin Duxi managed to get so much rice, flour, and bottled water? Their curiosity gnawed at them, but no matter how thoroughly they searched the warehouse, they couldn’t find any clues on the packaging.
Lin Duxi knew what they were thinking but didn’t explain. Partly because he trusted their integrity, and partly because he had to marvel at the power of the chat group. When Lin Xi sent over those supplies, all the text on the packaging had vanished without a trace.
As noon approached, He Xin got up to cook, and Su Mingtao followed. Lin Duxi paused his movements, his gaze fixed blankly ahead.
Meanwhile, Lin Xi arrived at the courthouse entrance, where Li Yucheng stood waiting. He wasn’t in uniform today, dressed instead in a black down jacket with his hands tucked in the pockets. He was turned slightly away, talking on the phone.
Lin Xi’s eyes unconsciously drifted to his hands—they were slender and elegant. She had a thing for nice hands and couldn’t help stealing glances whenever she saw them.
Li Yucheng noticed her and waved with his free hand before quickly ending the call and walking over. "Let’s go. The trial’s about to start."
"Alright." Lin Xi followed him inside, the two exchanging little conversation along the way.
Li Yucheng, twenty-seven, had graduated from Huaxia Police University and immediately joined the criminal investigation team in Beijing. According to Li Ying, he had since become the leader of his investigative unit—a promising career ahead.
Li Ying had once tried to set them up, but their few brief meetings never sparked much conversation. They’d only exchanged contact info after Lin Xi reported Lin Duxi’s case to the police.
The trial was held in Courtroom 16. Li Yucheng led Lin Xi in through the back door. The room was already packed—victims’ families on one side, the defendants’ relatives on the other, their hostile gazes clashing in silent battles.
In the front left row, Lin Xi spotted Yu Xiaomeng, dressed in black with a white cloth tied around her right wrist. Beside her sat the orphanage director, similarly attired, both faces calm but eyes heavy with sorrow. Lin Xi quietly took a photo of them with her phone.
She hadn’t told Lin Duxi about Yu Xiaomeng’s unrequited feelings. Whether he knew or not, their lives would never intersect again—bringing it up would only burden him unnecessarily.
Journalists filled the remaining seats.
At 10:30 AM, the judge and legal officials entered. The two defendants, clad in heavy clothing, were brought in handcuffed and shackled. The court clerk recited the trial procedures, and the prosecutor stood to present the case details, formally charging Zhang Qiang and Fang Qianqian.
The courtroom was eerily quiet, save for the muffled sobs from Zhang Qiang and Fang Qianqian’s parents on the right side.
The trial proceeded methodically until the defendants’ final statements.
Fang Qianqian spoke first: "Honorable judges, I am Fang Qianqian. In this final statement, I first extend my sincerest apologies to Lin Duxi’s family and friends."
"Due to my vanity and materialistic tendencies, I crossed moral boundaries with Zhang Qiang during my relationship with Lin Duxi. This led to the tragedy that befell him."
"Throughout this ordeal, I’ve been tormented by fear and regret, even wanting to report to the police countless times. But Zhang Qiang threatened to kill my family if I did. I was terrified. For the past year, every ‘I’m safe’ message I sent to friends was monitored by him—I had no chance to act."
Her words spilled out between tears, painting herself as an innocent victim coerced by Zhang Qiang—a delicate white lotus, pure and powerless.
After weeks in detention, her appearance had drastically changed from when Lin Xi first saw her. Without makeup, her once-delicate features now seemed plain.
The gallery buzzed with whispers. Fang Qianqian’s parents glared at Zhang Qiang’s family, who remained stone-faced.
Beside her, Zhang Qiang smirked cynically.
Fang Qianqian’s statement dragged on, her sobs growing hysterical until she nearly collapsed. Zhang Qiang’s sneer deepened. When it was his turn, Fang Qianqian shot him a pleading look. He wavered for a second before turning away.
Her disdain for him flared. Men—nothing but creatures ruled by their impulses.
After the same opening formalities, Zhang Qiang began his account:
"Lin Duxi and I were classmates, and our dorms were close. Before junior year, we got along well—you can verify this with our roommates."
"I had a thing for Fang Qianqian, but what guy doesn’t notice a pretty girl? In our second semester of junior year, after most students left for internships, Fang Qianqian added me on WeChat. She’d somehow learned I had a relative who owned a publishing house and asked me to recommend her for a job there. Since they were hiring, I did. That’s how we started talking more."
"Once, a guy from my class treated everyone to drinks, and Fang Qianqian was there too. We all drank quite a bit that night, and under the influence of alcohol, things got out of hand—I ended up sleeping with Fang Qianqian. Because of that incident, I pursued her relentlessly. After all, swan meat tastes too good to have just once. During the time I was chasing her, I spent a total of 120,000 yuan on her, mostly on travel and shopping."
"The night Lin Duxi found out about us, I didn’t actually plan to run him over. It was Fang Qianqian who kept whispering beside me, saying Lin Duxi would never let me off. She said he had nothing to lose and would come after us, making our lives miserable."
"Under her repeated coaxing, I ended up driving into Lin Duxi. At that point, he wasn’t dead yet, and I thought we should just flee. But Fang Qianqian insisted that if Lin Duxi survived, he’d be an endless threat. So I drove over him again. Afterward, whether it was dumping his body in Hebei Province or impersonating him to send ‘safe and sound’ messages to his friends—it was all Fang Qianqian’s idea. She orchestrated and carried it out."
As Zhang Qiang spoke, he turned to look at Fang Qianqian. Her face was pale with shock, her usual composure completely shattered. "Zhang Qiang, what nonsense are you spouting?" she stammered.
Zhang Qiang ignored her and instead addressed his defense lawyer. "I have evidence for all of this."
The moment his words landed, the courtroom erupted in murmurs. Fang Qianqian felt her mind go blank, as if struck by a sudden roar. At that moment, Zhang Qiang’s lawyer stood and submitted the prepared evidence to the judge.
Fang Qianqian swayed on her feet, barely supported by the bailiff beside her.
The spectacle of these two turning on each other was nothing short of riveting. Lin Xi watched Zhang Qiang and Fang Qianqian in the courtroom, wishing they’d tear into each other even harder.
In Lin Xi’s eyes, neither Zhang Qiang nor Fang Qianqian was any good!
With the new evidence submitted, the judge announced a recess. As everyone filed out of the courtroom, Lin Xi asked Li Yucheng, "Brother Cheng, when you were investigating Zhang Qiang and Fang Qianqian, didn’t he produce this dashcam footage?"
Li Yucheng shook his head. "No. After Fang Qianqian confessed, Zhang Qiang also admitted guilt without hesitation."
With solid evidence and the perpetrators’ confessions, the police closed the case and handed it over to the judicial authorities. Who would’ve guessed Zhang Qiang had been holding onto such damning evidence?
If the dashcam footage was verified as unaltered, the roles of the primary and secondary offenders in this case would be flipped.
Based on the initial police investigation, Zhang Qiang was undoubtedly the mastermind behind the crime, with Fang Qianqian as an accomplice. But with this new evidence, Zhang Qiang would be downgraded to an accomplice, and Fang Qianqian would take the fall as the instigator.
Even though both were guilty, the sentencing standards for primary and secondary offenders were vastly different.
The next hearing was scheduled for the afternoon, so Lin Xi and Li Yucheng decided to stay nearby. They grabbed lunch at a Hunan restaurant.
Over the meal, their conversation flowed more freely. While waiting for the trial to resume, Li Yucheng received a call from an acquaintance.
"My contact in the procuratorate said Zhang Qiang originally intended to take the fall for the crime. After all, he was the one who ran Lin Duxi over, crushed him, and fled—his actions alone warranted the death penalty."
"He loved Fang Qianqian and wanted to give her a chance to live. But his parents never gave up. While digging into Fang Qianqian’s past, they accidentally uncovered her infidelity."
The saying "once a cheater, always a cheater" fit Fang Qianqian perfectly.
Before college, her parents had kept her under strict surveillance. Until she graduated high school, she was chauffeured everywhere, never allowed to interact with boys, let alone date.
Once in university, Fang Qianqian’s long-suppressed desires erupted. She started dating freely. Before Lin Duxi, her boyfriend was a gangster from outside campus.
After indulging in the thrill of being a gangster’s girl, she coldly dumped him. Luckily, the guy had no shortage of women around him and didn’t make a fuss over the breakup.
Having satisfied her craving for forbidden romance, Fang Qianqian set her sights on Lin Duxi. He perfectly fit her fantasy of the "poor but handsome campus heartthrob." She conducted a thorough background check on him, then used a backdoor connection (a guy who had a crush on her) to join the student council.
From there, she launched an aggressive pursuit, eventually dragging Lin Duxi down from his pedestal. But after a few years together, she grew disillusioned with his poverty and craved money. That’s when Zhang Qiang—whose family was comfortably well-off and about to inherit two properties—became her next target.
Her plan was to use Zhang Qiang as a stepping stone to someone even wealthier. But she never expected Zhang Qiang to actually obey her and make Lin Duxi "disappear." Even less did she anticipate his car’s dashcam recording every word she said to evade responsibility—words that now served as evidence against her.
Fang Qianqian had specifically asked Zhang Qiang about the footage before, and he’d denied its existence! Now, she was both furious and terrified. She remembered every incriminating word she’d uttered in that car. Her earlier lies and manipulations had relied entirely on Zhang Qiang’s love for her.
He’d confessed to everything—why betray her at the last moment? After racking her brain, Fang Qianqian realized it must be about the wealthy "big fish" she’d recently hooked, the one who could elevate her into high society. Zhang Qiang’s jealousy had always been extreme—even back when she was with Lin Duxi, he’d demanded details about their intimate life.
During her year with Zhang Qiang, her phone had been an open book to him. But Fang Qianqian wasn’t defenseless—she maintained a secret WeChat account with no female contacts, only men aged 18 to 68.
Fang Qianqian seethed with regret. Why had she been so greedy for Zhang Qiang’s money? If not for him, she could’ve dumped Lin Duxi long ago and climbed to greater heights.
By the afternoon hearing, the tenderness and pleading in Fang Qianqian’s eyes when she looked at Zhang Qiang had vanished, replaced by pure hatred.
Zhang Qiang, however, seemed at peace. Hatred lasted longer than love. Since they were both doomed, he wanted Fang Qianqian to think of no one but him until the end. That way, his murderous sacrifice for her wouldn’t be in vain.
Lin Xi thoroughly enjoyed this spectacle of villains turning on each other. It reinforced her belief that human beings were truly complex and diverse creatures—with all sorts of oddities existing under the sun. Despite having read countless novels, this was the first time she saw a fictional character archetype play out so vividly in real life. In a way, Fang Qianqian was quite the talent.
The trial concluded with both Zhang Qiang and Fang Qianqian sentenced to immediate execution. It was a satisfying outcome. The moment the judge announced the verdict, Lin Xi relayed the news to Lin Duxi.
In another dimension, Lin Duxi received the message along with the full backstory of the incident. Finally, he felt a sense of closure. It turned out that in that relationship, it wasn’t that he wasn’t good enough—it was that Fang Qianqian had never intended to stay with him in the first place. He was merely a stepping stone in her pursuit of thrill and excitement.
Good deeds brought rewards, and evil deeds brought retribution—justice might be delayed, but it was never denied. His lingering resentment dissipated, his emotional burden lifted. Yet, he resolved to keep living, and living well. After all, with the chat group in his possession, he might just be the last hope for those struggling to survive in this post-apocalyptic wasteland.
Perhaps his chuunibyou phase had arrived two or three decades late, but now, at last, it had awakened. Lin Duxi thought to himself—maybe he’d play the role of a savior this time.
…
After leaving the courtroom, Lin Xi turned to Li Yucheng and asked, "Brother Cheng, who was the person Fang Qianqian cheated with while she was with Zhang Qiang?"
Li Yucheng replied, "A privileged second-generation official from a government compound. Now he runs a gaming company—wealthy and well-connected."
Lin Xi scoffed. First, a gangster; then, a poor but handsome school heartthrob; and now, a high-ranking official’s son. Fang Qianqian really did see herself as the heroine of some trashy novel, didn’t she?
As for Zhang Qiang, in Fang Qianqian’s eyes, he was probably just a pathetic lapdog, a disposable backup, a stepping stone. If not for the incident where he ran over Lin Duxi, he likely would’ve been discarded by Fang Qianqian long ago.
She then sent a message to Ye Bingbing. Lately, Xu Huanhuan and Ah Huahua had been @-ing her in the group chat more frequently. Combined with what Ye Bingbing had hinted at before, everyone was starting to feel uneasy, sensing something ominous.
Worried about Ye Bingbing, Lin Xi drifted into sleep. At three in the morning, a sharp ding from her phone jolted her awake like a tolling bell.
She bolted upright, her body moving faster than her mind. Before she knew it, her phone was already in her hand.
The message read:
[Villainess Ye Bingbing, the Tyrannical CEO: Lin Xi, I’ve been locked up for days. I haven’t eaten or drunk anything. Please send me food, water, and a box of emergency contraceptive pills—quickly. Time is running out.]
