Chapter 3

The scene in the bedroom made Ye Feng's hair stand on end, and his body trembled even more. He saw a person lying on the bed, their face indistinct, covered in blood, lying motionless. The blood had stained the entire bed red, and it dripped from the edge of the bed onto the floor, filling the air with a strong smell of blood. Ye Feng almost concluded that the person lying on the bed was already dead.

Liu Yong kicked Ye Feng hard from behind, causing him to stumble and fall onto the bed, right in front of the dead person. The terrifying sight of the dead person's unseeing eyes made Ye Feng's mind go blank.

As Ye Feng gradually realized he might have fallen into a conspiracy orchestrated by Liu Yong and Liu Meimei, he tried to get up but felt a sudden, intense pain in the back of his head and immediately passed out.

After an unknown amount of time, Ye Feng regained consciousness. When he opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was still the terrifying face of the dead person. The overwhelming fear left him with only one thought: he wanted to leave the dead person, leave the villa, and return to his shack, cover himself with his blanket, and continue sleeping as if nothing had happened.

However, as Ye Feng got up from the bed and turned around, the cold, black pistol reappeared before his eyes. Liu Yong fiddled with the gun, making a "clicking" sound.

"Ye Feng, right? If you want to die now, I can grant your wish. After all, at this crime scene, you are the only suspect. As a police officer, it's perfectly justified for me to shoot a murderer who is resisting arrest and trying to escape. What do you think? Do you want to try?"

Ye Feng looked at Liu Yong's snake-like face and then at Liu Meimei, who had returned to her normal state but dared not look at him directly. He shouted, "I didn't kill anyone! It's you, it's you who are trying to frame me, right?"

Liu Yong chuckled and said, "You're right, we are trying to frame you. Who made you so unlucky? Who made you the most suitable person to be framed? If you blame anyone, blame yourself for always thinking about eating swan meat. Many people in the villa complex know that you secretly love Xiao Mei and have improper thoughts about her. You always find excuses to come to Xiao Mei's house. This is your fate. If you didn't have fantasies about Xiao Mei and didn't always try to find opportunities to chat with her, we wouldn't have thought of using you as a scapegoat. The old man unexpectedly returned tonight without any warning and even hit Xiao Mei in front of me. So, Xiao Mei and I each stabbed him to death. Since he had already hidden his treasures in the house, and Xiao Mei had already found them, we have to thank you. If you hadn't come to fix the bathroom pipes twice, Xiao Mei might not have thought to look under the bathroom tiles. We should thank you for that."

Ye Feng didn't understand what Liu Yong meant by the treasures or the relationship between the dead person and them. However, he was now certain that Liu Yong and Liu Meimei were indeed trying to frame him. They had conspired to kill someone and tricked him into leaving fingerprints and footprints, making him their scapegoat.

Fear, regret, anger, panic, and confusion filled his heart. Driven by instinct, Ye Feng did something. He rushed at Liu Yong, intending to beat him up and then escape. He didn't have time to think about what to do after escaping.

Unfortunately, when Ye Feng's fist aimed at Liu Yong's face, Liu Yong easily dodged it. Ye Feng felt his waist tighten, and he felt as if he were floating in the air, spinning in a large circle before crashing to the floor.

The intense pain immediately dispelled the anger and courage that had just arisen in Ye Feng. Fear and panic overwhelmed him again. He looked at Liu Yong, unsure of what to do next.

Liu Yong looked at Ye Feng, put away his gun, and said, "Kid, don't you know I'm a black belt in judo? You're no match for me. Let me tell you, Xiao Mei has already called the police. They'll be here soon. If you cooperate, I can say you turned yourself in. If you don't, you can try to run. But I'll warn you, don't run out the front door. You should jump out the bathroom window. You idiot, you even need to be taught this."

Ye Feng quickly got up from the floor. The immense fear and panic made him rush into the bathroom, open the window, and jump out. At that moment, a gunshot rang out, echoing loudly in the silent night.

Although the window was on the second floor, the ground below was a small garden with soft soil, so Ye Feng didn't get hurt when he landed. His mind was blank from the shock of the gunshot, and he instinctively wanted to return to the shack outside the villa. However, before he could run far, the sound of police sirens grew louder, and Ye Feng was in a panic, losing his sense of direction. He ran aimlessly and was eventually cornered by a large group of police officers.

Ye Feng didn't know if the police immediately recognized him as the "framed" suspect or if his panicked running had raised their suspicions. In any case, he was caught. Several police officers pinned him to the ground, not allowing him to explain, and repeatedly asked him his name, where he was from, and where he worked.

Then, Ye Feng saw Liu Yong approach and whisper to one of the police officers. Soon, handcuffs were put on him, and his pockets were searched.

At this moment, Ye Feng realized that Liu Yong had deliberately let him escape. Liu Yong's "helpful" advice was actually a trap to make him jump out the bathroom window. This way, once he was caught by the police, the suspicion of being a murderer would be even more solid.

What happened next made Ye Feng even more terrified. The police tore open his shirt and found several diamonds in his inner pocket. Despite his fear and panic, Ye Feng could still recognize the small, shiny objects as diamonds. He had once impulsively wanted to buy a diamond ring for his mother after receiving his wages, so he was familiar with diamonds.

The police then found more diamonds in Ye Feng's pants pockets.

At this point, Ye Feng was truly overwhelmed. He realized that while he was unconscious, Liu Yong and Liu Meimei must have planted the diamonds on him. But why did they do this? If these diamonds were the treasures from the iron box under the bathroom tiles, Liu Yong and Liu Meimei should have kept them for themselves. Why did they put them on him? Even if they wanted to frame him, they didn't need to go to such great lengths.

It wasn't until later that Ye Feng understood the reason. The diamonds on him were only a small part of the total. Most of the diamonds had already been hidden by Liu Yong and Liu Meimei. They did this because the secret of the iron box was not only known to them but also to someone else. By making the secret public and framing Ye Feng, they ensured that if the other person tried to find out the truth, they would pursue Ye Feng, not them.

In Liu Yong and Liu Meimei's minds, Ye Feng was guilty of intentional murder and theft, and he would be sentenced to death. They were certain that the secret of the iron box would die with Ye Feng. By the time the other person tried to find Ye Feng for the truth, Ye Feng might already be dead.

It must be said that Liu Yong and Liu Meimei's plan was indeed vicious and cunning. Unfortunately, they miscalculated one thing: Ye Feng not only didn't die but also made them suffer even more.

After Ye Feng was taken to the police station, he was beaten without any questions, until he passed out. They woke him with water and continued beating him, making him pass out again and again, before starting the so-called overnight interrogation.

This was not just coercive interrogation; it was a blatant attempt to force a confession from Ye Feng.

Moreover, the police used some method to beat Ye Feng for a long time without leaving any visible wounds on his body.

Ye Feng couldn't understand why such things could happen in a society with relatively健全的法制. Perhaps the world and society were indeed like this, and all the so-called beauty, kindness, justice, and fairness were just lies. Many people had never experienced what he had, so they believed these lies to be true.

Physical pain was nothing compared to the mental anguish. Ye Feng thought of the once beautiful Liu Meimei, of his secret love and infatuation with her, and felt foolish, naive, and a failure. Perhaps, as Liu Yong said, everything was because he, a toad, couldn't recognize his own status and always thought he could eat swan meat.

Now, he hadn't eaten swan meat but had to swallow a bitter and unpleasant pill.

Ye Feng was so beaten by the police that he had no strength to argue. He bit his tongue several times to force himself to stay awake, but the more intense beatings quickly weakened his will. He could only nod and hum, allowing them to drag his hand to press fingerprints and sign his name.

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