Chapter Twelve: The Peculiar Delivery

When he threw out this question, not only did Lin Zhen’s parents look dumbfounded, even Lin Zhen herself was momentarily stunned. After a brief pause, her expression quickly shifted to one of awkwardness, as though she’d just been exposed.

“What do you mean, dare or not dare? Don’t talk nonsense—what’s the point of making such a big deal out of it?” Lin Zhen, finally losing the special regard she’d shown toward Kang Ge because of his question, snapped out of her daze and began defending herself with visible displeasure. “How long I stay at a hotel is none of your business!”

“That’s not right, sweetie. Why on earth would you go stay at a hotel here? You don’t even have any friends in this city. If you found backpacking uncomfortable and didn’t like it, why not just come home? Or even if you wanted to stay at a hotel, why not go back to W City? Before, when you got bored of staying at home, didn’t you always go out and stay in hotels with your friends?” Lin Zhen’s father finally realized that his daughter’s attitude and actions were off.

“Lin Zhen, did you and Bai Yueni swap identities because you were afraid, because you wanted to hide from someone?” Yan Xue asked directly. “You don’t need to feel any psychological burden over Bai Yueni’s death. What you need to consider most right now is your own safety.”

“I… What’s unsafe about me?” Lin Zhen retorted stubbornly, but still stuttered a little.

“If you don’t cooperate with our investigation, then I’m afraid no one will be able to get to the truth,” Yan Xue said, spreading her hands.

“Exactly, sweetheart, what’s going on here? Are you hiding something from us?” Lin Zhen’s mother grew anxious at these words, hurriedly scooting closer and grabbing her daughter’s arm. “I know you always complain your father and I are naggy and don’t want to bother with us! But it’s one thing not to tell us, another not to tell the police!

The girl who was killed looks so much like you, and it happened right in our house. How can I believe it has nothing to do with you? What if that bad person finds out the person who died wasn’t you…”

“Oh, come on! Don’t say such unlucky things!” Lin Zhen protested unhappily. Though she complained loudly, her expression betrayed her lack of confidence. “I’m not even sure anyone wants to do anything to me! How am I supposed to suddenly remember something like that and go tell the police?”

After saying this, she hesitated, clutching the edge of the sofa cushion and kneading it unconsciously.

Yan Xue was about to continue trying to talk sense into her, but Kang Ge signaled to be patient, so she followed his lead and waited for Lin Zhen to work through her own turmoil.

After struggling for a while, Lin Zhen finally spoke up on her own. “Um… was Bai Yueni’s death really horrible? Was it… gruesome?”

Her question frightened her parents. Lin Zhen’s mother gasped, barely stifling her cry, and her father sat up straight, clearly more worried by his daughter’s question.

“Why do you ask that? Do you think the way she was killed was… unusual?” Yan Xue pressed, realizing there must be more to this. “Before you and Bai Yueni played this identity-swapping game, did anything odd happen to you? For example, was anyone harassing you?”

Although she was asking Lin Zhen, Yan Xue was almost certain of the answer. She had to pretend not to know; otherwise, if she said too much, Lin Zhen might grow indignant and refuse to share any information, making things even more difficult.

Lin Zhen’s reactions made it obvious—not only had she been harassed, but it was likely this fear that led her to propose swapping identities with Bai Yueni, whose appearance was strikingly similar, hoping Bai Yueni would take her place and face whatever danger lurked, while she herself slipped away under Bai Yueni’s name.

Otherwise, Lin Zhen wouldn’t have vacated her family’s luxurious house, left behind her own identification, phone, and even a bank card loaded with over a hundred thousand yuan for Bai Yueni to use as she pleased.

After all, when someone suddenly offers to swap lives with you and live as you, especially if they’re someone who lives in a three-hundred-square-meter mansion, owns luxury cars, is surrounded by designer goods, and leaves you their ID and bank card—either it’s a fairy tale, or it’s a huge pie from the sky that’s actually a deep pit.

Yan Xue thought this was as obvious as the lice on a bald man’s head, but clearly, Bai Yueni hadn’t realized.

Lin Zhen hesitated, and after a moment’s struggle, mumbled, “There were a few strange things, yes. At first, I didn’t think much of it. Later, I felt a little troubled, but when it stopped, I just forgot about it.

There was a period when I got weird phone calls and some strange packages.”

“You mean harassing calls? Do you have any idea who was calling?” Kang Ge asked.

“No, I didn’t recognize the numbers—they were all gibberish. I asked around and people said it was software-generated and impossible to trace or block. When I answered, there was never anyone speaking—just heavy breathing, like someone running while calling me, but saying nothing at all!”

“And when did these calls usually come?” Yan Xue asked, sensing a particularly eerie pattern. “Was it always just breathing and nothing else?”

“Nothing else! The calls came at all hours—sometimes at eleven or twelve at night, sometimes two or three in the morning, even four or five a.m. It was always just as I was falling asleep or deeply asleep, so I’d answer all groggy and confused.”

“My goodness! How could something like this happen? Why didn’t you tell us sooner?” Lin Zhen’s mother scolded, frightened. “If you’d told your father and me, maybe none of this would have happened!”

“Oh please! I was afraid you’d make a mountain out of a molehill and use it as an excuse to control me! If I told you anything, you’d stop me from doing this or that. How is that any different from locking me in a cage?” Lin Zhen snapped back, clearly unhappy with her mother’s words.

Her mother wanted to continue, but, seeing her daughter’s mood, bit back her words.

“These harassing calls and the strange packages—did they happen around the same time?” Kang Ge continued.

Lin Zhen nodded. “More or less. The calls started first, the packages a bit later, but the packages lasted longer.”

“The calls were just heavy breathing, but what about the packages? No sender info? And you got more than one or two?”

“Of course it was more than once! If it had been just once, I’d have thought it was a prank from my friends. The first time, it was just a broken box with a rag inside—I thought it was weird and threw it away.

A week or two later, I got another package—again, a scruffy cardboard box. This time it was a pair of shoes, those old-fashioned cloth ones, pitch black, with the tops cut up so badly there was barely anything left—just a mess of slits.

Then I got a box with a rotten fish in it—the smell was so bad I nearly puked when I opened the plastic bag inside!

I think there were other things too, but I can’t remember. After that, I learned my lesson—if the package had no sender, I didn’t even open it, just threw it away!”

“You didn’t take any pictures?”

“Of course not! It was disgusting! Why would I take pictures of something so gross? I couldn’t get rid of it fast enough—I hope I never see anything like it again!”

“When was the last time you got one of those packages or a harassing call?” Yan Xue asked.

Lin Zhen thought for a moment. “It’s been two or three months.”

Her answer stunned not just Yan Xue and Kang Ge, but her parents too.

“Sweetie, it’s been two or three months! Why are you only telling us now? Didn’t you think to call the police at the time?” her father asked disapprovingly.

“What’s the point of calling the police? If I called them for every little thing, they’d block my number! I heard the story of the boy who cried wolf plenty of times growing up—I’m not joking!” Lin Zhen shot back.

“Child! How is this the boy who cried wolf? You weren’t lying—you really got those things! It’s one thing to keep quiet for a few months, but if something really happened, your mother and I would be beside ourselves! What if there was real danger? You’re being far too reckless!” her father said, still shaken.

“But nothing happened, right? Besides, after that, the property management kept bothering me, so I stopped renting out my place on Airbnb. Isn’t that cautious enough? Can’t you stop bringing up the past and nagging me?” Lin Zhen pouted resentfully. “I wasn’t even the victim, so why are you lecturing me like this?”

“Don’t say such things! We’re not victims!” her mother quickly corrected, her voice trembling. “Sweetie, never use that word for yourself, you’re scaring me!”

“Fine, if you’ll stop nagging, I won’t bring it up again!” Lin Zhen replied, sounding justified.

Her mother agreed at once, signaling her husband to say no more, afraid their daughter would get upset and start saying things that made their hearts pound with fear.

Clearly, Lin Zhen had honed these tactics over years of battling wits with her parents, having found the most effective way to deal with them. Unfortunately for her, Yan Xue and Kang Ge weren’t buying it.

Her parents might let things go out of fear, but Kang Ge and Yan Xue wouldn’t ignore the obvious problems in her story.

“If all that happened two or three months ago, why did you only recently decide to swap identities with Bai Yueni?” Yan Xue asked.

“Well… I had a boyfriend for a while. When I had a boyfriend, he was always with me, so I wasn’t scared and didn’t think about it. After we broke up, I felt down and wanted a change of scenery. Isn’t that normal? Why are you all making such a fuss?

My parents are clueless, sure, but you guys are police officers! Shouldn’t you be used to things like this? What’s there to be suspicious about?”

“You dated someone before? Where was he from? Was he a local? What did he do? Was he a student or already working? Did he know about the packages and calls?” Kang Ge asked.

“He was a student at a university in W City, I think a sophomore. We met online, chatted a lot, met up, and I thought he was cute—my type—so we decided to date,” Lin Zhen replied offhandedly. “He didn’t really know about the packages or calls, and even if he did, he couldn’t help.”

“Why did you break up?”

“Incompatible personalities! I thought a ‘puppy boyfriend’ would be cute and sweet, and dating someone like that would be romantic and fun. But it wasn’t like that at all!

You have no idea—it’s exhausting dating a younger, clingy guy. ‘Puppy boyfriend?’ More like adopting a giant child! He was always acting spoiled, wanting this one day, that the next—just too much! I can’t even cheer myself up, let alone him. Am I crazy? So I gave up! He should find himself a mother instead. I’m done with sweet ‘puppy love’ for good!”