Chapter 10: Mad Revenge

The interrogation proceeded smoothly; Ding Chaoyue confessed openly to the murders he had committed.

“How did you kill Teacher Li Ming?” Xiao Wang began questioning him while recording his responses.

At this moment, Ding Chaoyue seemed calm, perhaps Li Ming’s final confession had resolved the knot in his heart that had lingered for years. Or maybe, he felt that his enemy had been punished and was now at peace. No one could truly know his feelings; he appeared lifeless, as if there was nothing left for him to desire.

“My daughter had just transferred to their class. She didn’t know the other students well, so Beibei often had no friends to play with.” He asked Xiao Wang for a cigarette, lit it, and continued, as if narrating someone else’s story.

“But that boy always bothered Beibei. She was frightened, and when she got home, she would cry to me.” He spoke without ever raising his eyes, lost in his own world.

“Later, I went to see their teacher—Li Ming.” He let out a bitter laugh. “He didn’t recognize me at all!...”

Indeed, with his current appearance, no one would associate him with the skinny, timid boy from those years.

“He didn’t take it seriously! He handled the children’s conflict lightly; he thought he’d done a good job, but it only made my daughter even more afraid to speak. After that, she wouldn’t tell me anything, fearing I’d go to the teacher again.”

As he spoke, he became somewhat agitated. “But I know my child; she wasn’t happy! She lived in fear. Every time I took her to school, she resisted, though she never said a word.” The pain on his face was unmistakable. Perhaps he already foresaw his fate, and his remorse toward his daughter was beyond repair.

“How did you follow him to the village and kill him?” Su Tianmu asked, still puzzled by the beautiful ‘sister’ the simpleton had mentioned.

“I’d already learned about his work schedule. I knew he liked to jog around the village at dawn. That day, I hid early along his usual route, but he happened to get up earlier than expected…”

“Why did no one see you, but someone saw a strange woman?” Su Tianmu pressed.

He sneered. “I’ve built myself up, but I’m not tall. Pretending to be a woman was actually quite simple!” So that was it. No wonder the simpleton described the ‘sister’ as beautiful; it was actually a man in heavy makeup.

“He used to slap the back of my head for no reason at school. So I struck him hard with an iron bar on the back of his head. He was done for instantly! I suppose, even at the end, he never knew why he died. Ha…”

Clearly, this man’s psyche had become severely twisted. To speak of murder so casually!

“And the other two victims? Why did you kill them?” Xiao Wang, anger rising, pressed on.

Ding Chaoyue’s face contorted into a chilling smile. “After killing Li Ming, I felt a strange pleasure. The oppression I'd carried for years suddenly lifted. So I decided—all who bullied me should pay!”

Su Tianmu looked at him; all three murders were planned and deliberate. What kind of warped mind could sustain this path? Terrifying!

“Shen Lang was the same. He didn’t recognize me either!” Before Xiao Wang could ask further, Ding Chaoyue continued.

“Maybe fate was helping me. I was worrying about how to get close to him when I discovered by chance he was coaching a colleague’s child. I saw he hadn’t recognized me, so I befriended him and got his contact information.”

He stubbed out his finished cigarette in the ashtray, pressing it down hard.

“People are greedy. I made up a story and he believed it. I said I wanted to give him money on behalf of my colleague to ask him to look after the child. I arranged to meet him on the rooftop—a place I’d chosen in advance.”

He paused.

“I was born with a disabled leg, so my gait is strange. They always mocked me, especially Shen Lang; he’d kick my left leg to make me look ridiculous. Worse, he’d corner me in the restroom and dunk my head in the sink for fun!”

“So you killed him in the same way?” Su Tianmu interjected.

Ding Chaoyue looked at him in surprise, as if grateful for the understanding.

Following this logic, there was no need to ask further—the cause of Dr. Li Liang’s death must have been similar to how he bullied Ding Chaoyue in their school days.

“Yes, Li Liang died for the same reason.”

He had surrendered completely; having confessed everything, he seemed relieved.

“I dealt with him using his own methods. It may sound ridiculous, but even now, my neck bears the marks left by a fountain pen’s tip from those days!” He turned to show them the back of his neck.

Indeed, as he said, it was covered with blue and black dots, like a patch of wounds—perhaps, for him, a mark of humiliation.

Watching Ding Chaoyue’s relaxed demeanor after his confession, Su Tianmu suddenly felt pity for him.

Originally, he was the true victim, yet in the end became a notorious, depraved murderer. In this cycle of bullying, there were no winners; every person was a victim.

Thinking of the two missing children just found, Su Tianmu broke out in cold sweat. Without timely intervention and patient guidance, who knows what tragedies might unfold in the future?

The Morning Glory serial murder case was finally solved.

It was a heartbreakingly tragic case, a complete tragedy. Although Ding Chaoyue seemed to have avenged himself, he hurt many innocent people—not only the families of the victims, but his beloved daughter would suffer the gravest harm.

May bullying vanish from the world.

Su Tianmu prayed silently in his heart and quietly lit a cigarette.