Chapter 109 The Coward

Chen Mo agreed to his request.

He just needed to notify him when the time came; it wasn't a troublesome request, so he could accept it.

"I admit it. I killed Li Xiaolan, my elder sister."

Li Sheng sat in the interrogation chair, his gaze fixed on Chen Mo as he began his confession.

"Tell me the reason you killed her. I'm quite curious."

"She wasn't just your biological sister; she even helped you pay off your gambling debts."

"By any logic or sentiment, she should have been the last person you killed."

The interrogation room fell silent.

Li Sheng gently closed his eyes.

Then, he opened them again.

"She owed me!"

"When my parents died in that car accident years ago, it was because my sister was acting up in the car. That's what ultimately led to their deaths."

"So, she owed me. I should have had a happy family, but she ruined everything!"

The more he spoke, the more the fury in his voice intensified.

It seemed he had long harbored resentment toward his sister, Li Xiaolan, deep in his heart.

Seeing this, Chen Mo understood the logic behind his words.

From Li Sheng's perspective...

His life should have been beautiful, but it was ruined by his sister.

Therefore, it was perfectly fine for him to get addicted to gambling and have his sister pay off his debts.

To him, it was even entirely reasonable.

And if his sister, Li Xiaolan, criticized him for gambling, he would most likely bring up their parents.

For instance, he'd say things like, 'If our parents were still alive, I wouldn't have ended up like this.'

Overwhelmed with guilt, Li Xiaolan would stop speaking.

"Originally, I just hated her; I didn't want to kill her."

"After all, as long as she was alive, she had ways to get me money so I could keep playing at the casino."

"But during our last meeting in the park, I had lost several thousand yuan. When I asked her for money, she refused me, saying she didn't have any left."

At this point, Li Sheng suddenly stopped.

He looked at Chen Mo and smiled, "Officer, do you think she had it?"

Looking at the balance in Li Xiaolan's passbook, she really was out of money.

"My sister and my brother-in-law worked all year round. I thought at the time that it was impossible for her not to have money."

"She just didn't want to keep giving me money to use."

"So, you killed her?"

Xiao Song, who had been responsible for the interrogation records, suddenly interjected with a question.

"No, because her not wanting to give me money had happened once before, and I had a way to deal with her."

"I would say, if Mom and Dad were still alive and I asked them, they would definitely give it to me."

"That line used to work very well. I just wanted to make Li Xiaolan feel guilty—guilty about our parents' death—so that I could smoothly get money from her."

Hearing this, Xiao Song's brow furrowed.

"To calculate against your own sister like that... you're quite a beast."

He had essentially forced her into becoming a 'brother-helping demon'.

"Heh, Officer, those words aren't quite appropriate."

"Every time she gave me money, the guilt in her heart would diminish a bit. How can that not be considered a form of redemption I offered her?"

The corners of Li Sheng's mouth curled into a smile, suggesting he was actually helping his sister step out of the shadows.

He was a good person!

Setting aside the murder, he believed that asking for money was a good thing for his sister!

"Continue."

Chen Mo tapped his finger on the table, signaling him not to digress.

"The method that used to work so well failed last month."

"No matter how I brought up my parents, she kept saying she had no money."

"The people at the casino said if I didn't pay up, they'd chop off my fingers. I'm afraid of pain!"

As he spoke, his brow furrowed, as if recalling the pain of having a digit severed back then.

Chen Mo's gaze fell on his hands; both were fine.

"One of my toes was chopped off, and the debt was halved. I sold everything in the house that could be sold, found a way to get a loan, and finally paid it off."

...

"I'm afraid of pain, so I thought that I had to get the money no matter what, otherwise those people would really chop off my fingers!"

"But I tried every method, and Li Xiaolan still wouldn't give me money. She even told me not to gamble anymore!"

"I'm in this fucking state because of her. If my parents were still alive, why would I have dropped out of elementary school and gone to work in middle school?"

Li Sheng's face was full of resentment, expressing strong dissatisfaction with what Li Xiaolan had said at the time.

It was as if the way his life had turned out was entirely caused by his sister, Li Xiaolan.

To both Chen Mo and Xiao Song, this line of thinking was somewhat preposterous.

It was as if saying, 'Since I didn't have parents to discipline me, everything that goes wrong in my life is someone else's fault.'

If it were as he said, wouldn't all the orphans in the world turn out to be bad elements when they grew up?

The way he was now was just him finding excuses for his failed life.

Shifting responsibility.

But...

Since he was a man about to die, Chen Mo didn't bother to correct his thinking.

"I was very anxious at the time. I was afraid that if I didn't get the money, the people from the casino would hurt me!"

"Then my sister told me not to gamble. Those words were like needles. In that moment, I instantly lost control of myself."

"I grabbed her by the throat and told her to stop talking nonsense and give me the money!"

"After that, maybe she felt I was beyond saving. No matter how hard I choked her, she didn't say a word. She was just like a dead person—except for gasping for air, she wouldn't say anything!"

"Seeing her like that, I completely lost it. Since she wanted to act like a dead person, then she might as well really die."

As Li Sheng spoke, a look of satisfaction appeared on his face.

His emotions were so intense that he clenched his fists tightly, his nails digging into his palms until bright red blood flowed out.

"So you strangled her to death in the park, and no one else saw?"

"After she died, why did you dismember the body?"

Chen Mo's brow furrowed. He actually already had an answer in his heart.

But he still wanted to hear Li Sheng say it himself.

"Why dismember her? Officer, I told you just now, I hated her!"

"I hated her for not giving me money, and I hated her for playing dumb!"

"So, I wanted to use a knife to dismember her, to cut her into pieces. It made me feel very relieved!"

Li Sheng gently closed his eyes, his expression full of relish as he recalled the pleasure of that moment.

At this point, the circumstances of the case were entirely clear.

"Xiao Song, did you record everything clearly?"

"Everything's done, Brother Mo."

Chen Mo nodded and turned to leave the interrogation room.

But he was called back by Li Sheng.

"Officer, I hope you don't forget what you promised me."

Regarding the placement of his ashes, Li Sheng appeared extremely serious and anxious.

"I will do what I promised you."

"But do you really hate your sister?"

"Everything you did, including dismembering your sister, was nothing more than finding an excuse for your failed life."

"Only by blaming everything on her can you soothe your own fragile soul."

After Chen Mo finished speaking, he left immediately.

Li Sheng had killed someone, and now he could actually wait for death in peace.

The fact that he was so comfortable made Chen Mo very uncomfortable.

He had to say something to make the man feel pain.

"No!"

"You're wrong! You're talking nonsense!"

"My life was fine! I wasn't looking for excuses! Come back!"

"Aaaaaahhh!!!!"

—Bang, bang, bang.

The sound of fists furiously slamming against the interrogation chair rang out!