Chapter 52 Answer

The walls of the dilapidated residential building trembled with every violent blow from Liang Yizheng.

Xu Youxiang stood up, heart pounding with fear. He stared at the door panel for a moment before picking up a small wooden stool from the floor and shuffling toward the entrance.

With one foot braced behind the door and half his body defensively hidden, he barely managed to turn the lock before Liang Yizheng shoved his way in, reeking heavily of alcohol.

Before Xu Youxiang could clearly see the face opposite him, Liang Yizheng grabbed him by the collar and slammed him brutally against the wall. Wincing in pain, Xu Youxiang swung the defensive stool downward.

It was the first time Xu Youxiang had ever hit anyone; he dared not use his full strength, and his hands shook violently in his panic. The blow landed squarely on the back of Liang Yizheng's head, causing him only to tilt it slightly. Liang Yizheng's grip on his collar did not loosen in the slightest as he hoisted him up and slammed him against the wall a second time. Xu Youxiang's vision instantly went black with stars, and his entire body grew weak and limp.

The door drifted shut from momentum, cutting off the panicked expression of someone a step behind outside.

"Where is Xu Yuan?" Liang Yizheng's face was flushed a deep crimson, making it impossible to tell whether he was drunk or sober, as he roared furiously, "Where the hell is that bastard Xu Yuan?!"

Xu Youxiang tried to pry his fingers apart without success. Both his neck and back were painfully pinched by his tightly pulled clothes, but he stubbornly sneered in retaliation, "You're the bastard! Why don't you ask yourself what you've done? This is all your retribution, Liang Yizheng!"

Liang Yizheng's fury broke past the dam of his reason; verbal abuse was no longer enough to vent his emotions. For a fleeting moment, he genuinely felt the urge to kill the man standing before him.

Taking a few deep breaths, he finally gave in to the impulse and threw a punch.

Xu Youxiang hurried to block, his left hand pressing against Liang Yizheng's fist as it was viciously driven into the wall beside his face.

The violent impact made Xu Youxiang feel as though he heard bones cracking, though he could barely feel the pain, unsure whether the sound came from Liang Yizheng's knuckles or his own body.

Dragging him with one hand, Liang Yizheng pointed at his own eye and roared, "I'm the one who's blind! He beat me and blinded one of my eyes! What right do you have to say it's my fault? He blinded me and killed my uncle—he's a murderer! What kind of retribution should *he* face then?"

Clutching his injured left hand, Xu Youxiang stared fearlessly and unblinkingly into his eyes, recklessly fighting back, "You are the ultimate culprit! Because you always use your lies to beg for pity, playing the good guy in front of others, your uncle became your accomplice and died because of it. If anyone's the murderer, it should be you!"

Liang Yizheng's pupils contracted. Unable to suppress his violent nature any longer, he gave a harsh yank, tearing Xu Youxiang's cheap clothes directly, which inadvertently gave him a chance to break free.

Xu Youxiang kicked out and lunged forward, sending them both crashing to the floor.

Their wrestling lacked any technique, driven entirely by wildness born of anger.

Having just recovered from a severe illness, Xu Youxiang was completely at a disadvantage, enduring the pain as he clawed and bit like a madman.

Outside the door came muffled warnings and shouts.

The two rolled on the floor a few times, crashing into a table along the way. A vase atop it wobbled and crashed down, scattering glass shards across the floor. Xu Youxiang's back pressed down onto them, and the ground was quickly stained with spreading patches of blood.

Liang Yizheng straddled Xu Youxiang, choking his neck, his mind filled solely with the desire to abuse and retaliate, even though the true object of his hatred was not present here.

"Why didn't you just die on the road back then? The doctors shouldn't have saved you, you're nothing but garbage! And garbage has a price tag!"

The security door's lock was finally picked, and the crowd that burst in was dazed and horrified by the scene before them. The leading police officer lunged forward with a sharp shout and hauled the man off.

Held down by the shoulders and dragged backward by several people combined, Liang Yizheng kept searching for the most wounding words he could find, pointing at Xu Youxiang with a grim smile. "Do you know what your girlfriend's price is? I slept with her without spending a single penny, you useless piece of trash!"

Xu Youxiang's cheek was stained with his own blood, and the human voices ringing in his ears felt like exploding sparks, freezing his limbs while boiling his blood.

The intent to kill surpassed everything else.

Eyes wide, he snatched up a large shard of glass from the side and lunged toward Liang Yizheng.

The bleak light illuminated the terrified, distorted faces of everyone present.

"Xu Youxiang—!!"

Blood spattered into the air, landing on the yellowing wall.

***

The elevator glowed with a warm yellow light, its low, rising rumble echoing softly through the quiet building.

The metal doors reflected Yan Jiayuan's lowered face.

He was scrolling through his phone, looking at the urging messages sent from Xu Youxiang's account.

*Xu Youxiang: Ten minutes left. Don't be late.*

Above that were messages sent by the other person an hour ago.

*Xu Youxiang: Xiaoyuan, I killed Liang Yizheng.*
*Xu Youxiang: I didn't mean to. What should I do?*
*Xu Youxiang: I ran out.*
*Xu Youxiang: I'm going to turn myself in.*
*Xu Youxiang: Before I leave, I want to see you. Can I?*

Yan Jiayuan had sent him a restaurant address.

*Yan Jiayuan: Eight-thirty tonight.*

The elevator stopped on the 23rd floor. Yan Jiayuan put away his phone and stepped out.

The restaurant was exceptionally quiet, the sound of shoe soles treading on stone tiles growing clearly audible. Only a single person sat by the window.

A person who did not surprise him in the least.

The floor was polished to a brilliant shine, reflecting vague silhouettes of people.

Fang Qingzhou quietly waited for him to approach, clicked on the computer screen on the table, and spoke first: "I might disappoint you. Xu Youxiang didn't kill anyone. He got into a fight with Liang Yizheng and almost lost control, but in the end, he just slapped the guy hard a few times. Everyone tried their best, but they couldn't stop him."

Yan Jiayuan said calmly, "Right from the start, I never believed Xu Youxiang would kill anyone."

Fang Qingzhou asked, "Why?"

Yan Jiayuan walked closer without taking a seat, instead leaning lightly against the long counter and looking at his own reflection in the glass window as he recounted in a slow, deep voice.

"When we first met, I told Xu Youxiang that among the female web-celebrities Liang Yizheng had under contract, seven had been in sexual relationships with him, and three of them had also engaged in improper relations with several of Liang Yizheng's friends. They worked over ten hours a day, and apart from a very few lucky ones, the annual income of the majority was under one hundred thousand yuan. Some even entered into such sexual transactions merely to terminate their contracts without penalty. One of them was Xu Youxiang's ex-girlfriend. And this is merely data I have explicitly verified. There are still several involved parties who are unwilling to speak out.

"None of them agreed to press charges, because in their judgment, it was impossible to determine whether this constituted voluntary consent or assault. Even if the law were to define it as rape, public opinion would not be forgiving."

Fang Qingzhou listened attentively, her fingers tapping a few lines on the computer.

Yan Jiayuan clasped his hands together and let them hang in front of him, his gaze somewhat vacant, falling unfocused onto the floor.

"I told Xu Youxiang that this was Liang Yizheng's greatest weakness. As for the rest—the irrational company regulations, the illegal traps in the employment contracts—they simply wouldn't draw much public attention, nor would they cause any substantial damage to Liang Yizheng's interests. As long as he needed it, I could give him the specific roster.

"Yet Xu Youxiang didn't take my advice; over and over again, he only brought up useless information. Even after being plotted against and mutilated by Liang Yizheng, having a large portion of his stomach removed, he never once thought of using other people's blood and tears to plead his own case."

Yan Jiayuan chuckled softly at that.

"He is a good person. A person so good... it borders on being abnormal. So you see, he simply cannot gain a foothold in this society; he is so distressed he can barely survive. In the eyes of most people, this kind of kindness is synonymous with stupidity. Isn't that also a form of non-conforming abnormality?"

Fang Qingzhou did not respond, instead asking, "Why did you drag him into this? A good person like him shouldn't be within the scope of your revenge. Or are you truly so desperate to prove that 'justice' is wrong?"

Yan Jiayuan said, "My original intention was never to drag him into it; he was the one who refused to back out. I merely offered him a little friendly help based on friendly goodwill."

Turning slightly sideways to speak to him was getting a bit tiring, so Fang Qingzhou pointed to the opposite seat and invited him politely, "Xuyuan, take a seat first."

"I never admitted to being Xuyuan." Yan Jiayuan smiled as he looked at her. His light-toned pupils and hair color gave him a gentle and harmonious temperament, making it impossible to imagine the darkness and corruption within him.

"You haven't given me a reason to sit down yet. If you only came to tell me these things, I will be very disappointed."

Fang Qingzhou turned the computer screen toward Yan Jiayuan, thought for a moment, and said, "You told me before to await your judgment, but I don't believe I have the qualification to judge anyone else's life. Your previous judgment of me seemed to contain many errors, so I cannot give you the answer you expect."

On the screen was an unlaunched livestream room, with four striking characters centered against a black background:
——*Anomaly Determination*

In the corner were a few lines of scrolling background information regarding the Anomaly Determination project and its associated primary cases.

"If the standard of abnormality is being different from the ordinary, then the vast majority of ordinary people are probably the ones who can barely be judged as such. Although I don't think this is a standard solution, it's currently the best outcome I can think of," Fang Qingzhou said. "I asked Sanxiao to give me a homepage recommendation. The targets for determination: you, me, Liang Yizheng, Shen Zhiyang, or any other target you want to know about. Let's see who the truly abnormal person is."

Yan Jiayuan stared at the computer screen, no fluctuating expression discernible on his face.

*——"I do not fear the judgment of the judiciary, nor do I evade the condemnation of morality. I admit to the baseness of my human nature, but I do not believe I am guilty. If my past traces are made public to the world, I believe justice will also recognize my plea."*

Fang Qingzhou weighed the words syllable by syllable, and after the final sound faded, she humbly asked, "How does this slogan sound?"

Yan Jiayuan straightened up slightly, shifting his gaze from the screen back to Fang Qingzhou as she spoke, and smiled a moment later: "Sounds a bit stiff."

Fang Qingzhou shrugged: "Then I can only say I'm sorry."

The time ticked to eight-thirty, and the livestream room automatically went live. The computer camera captured Yan Jiayuan's handsome face. Under the dazzling ceiling lights of the restaurant, his skin looked startlingly pale.

Yan Jiayuan finally walked over to the opposite side of Fang Qingzhou and sat down.

"I hope our conversation won't cause any trouble." Fang Qingzhou let out a breath and turned the computer back around. "Where should we start..."

She paused, letting out a profound sigh toward Yan Jiayuan: "Such a pity."

Those two seemingly light words, seemingly containing sympathy, were nothing short of a contemptuous sneer to Yan Jiayuan's life. He asked, "Me?"

"Yes." Fang Qingzhou locked eyes with him. "After your success, you had countless opportunities to come back and dispose of Tao Danyang's body. If you had truly wanted to cover up your past mistakes, you would have discovered that Tao Danyang was actually carrying a voice recorder."

A distinct look of shock crossed Yan Jiayuan's face.

Fang Qingzhou's finger hovered over the spacebar as she asked, "Would you like to listen to it?"