Chapter 75: A blank fate.

A person whose fate was blank! Liwu had never heard of such an existence. Some parts of a person’s fate could be blank, but not everything. She scribbled Nu Ying’s name into her notebook. Nu Ying= Killer or future system host?

“What was it about Nu Ying that made you afraid?” She asked casually.

Madam Meng did not look too happy to be answering the question. In a raised voice, she asked, “Didn’t you hear me say that her fate was blank? I was punished by my system for making a false prediction to her. It left me that very night.” Tears fell from her eyes suddenly. “Test me if you like and you will find that I am not a system host anymore. I am back to being an ordinary human.”

Liwu was astounded. That kind of punishment from the system was a little too extreme. Why not go down a level? Why detach completely? And Madam Meng, why was she still running her business if she could not predict fate anymore? Had she turned into a con artist?

There was something more urgent than that. Liwu extended a pen and paper to Madam Meng, “Write down the exact dates when each child was supposed to die.”

With shaky hands, Madam Meng scribbled the dates on the paper. “I want to go home now.” She said, climbing to her feet. She pushed the paper towards Liwu.

As they had no legitimate reason to hold her as the murder suspect, Liwu decided that it was okay to let her go for now. She sent the woman to another department where it would be confirmed if she was a system host or not.

Liwu re-joined her teammates and her husband who was back at the station. They started updating the murder board and creating a time line of all the victims, tracing their movements back to the week before they died.

An hour later, it was time to share thoughts and Liwu spoke up before the others. She raised the resonator and said firmly. “According to this, she was lying and my instincts say the same thing. She predicted the deaths, she could have made them happen.”

“Why?” Xuanji asked.

Liwu stood, pointing to Madam Meng’s face on the murder board. “She was angry when she talked about people changing their fate. She also lost her system because of a prediction she made for one of these kids. Maybe she blames them for that and she wanted revenge.”

“She did seem pissed off at people changing their fate.” Linlin added. “Our systems level up only when our predictions come to pass. When those kids and their parents decided to change their fate, her system would have leveled down. Back to zero. Liwu is right, she had reasons to hate those kids. When their deaths did not happen as she predicted, she went out and decided to make them happen.”

“That is some twisted logic.” Detective Su Jin, said.

Weijun rubbed his chin. “Maybe Nu Ying is the killer. Consider this for a moment. A young girl discovers that all of her friends are going to die but she will live a fulfilled successful life and die in her bed with a smile at the age of one hundred something. Maybe she went back to Madam Meng as well, and the fate predictor happened to mention the consequences of people changing their fate. Maybe, she even told her that it would affect her so she decided to kill her friends to secure her future.”

Liwu frowned. As much as she hated to admit it, the story was not far fetched. Only that there was no proof of this being a possibility. Still, in theory, it worked. Perhaps Madam Meng and Nu Ying had collaborated.

Xuanji pushed his chair back to his desk and picked up a piece of paper. “According to these texts between the friends, Nu Ying visited Madam Meng six more times after that, always with Chen Rong. After Chen Rong’s death, Ying cut off contact with everyone.”

“We need to talk to her.” Linlin said.

Liwu nodded. “We can visit the school tomorrow and find out what happened. What is clear here is that Chen Rong, the first victim, did not die as predicted. For one, the sea had yet to return to One city. She did not change her fate, someone did it for her by murdering her.”

“Eh.” Su-Jin cut in, “I contacted Chen Rong’s parents by phone after Madam Meng mentioned death by drowning in the sea. I asked the mom if her daughter had any plans that involved the sea before she died. She said Chen Rong was supposed to attend her cousin’s birthday in the spring, around the new year. Her cousin’s parents had booked a yacht and they were going to Hainan. After hearing the prediction, Chen Rong did not go. She changed her fate but died in her bed a month after that.”

Su Jin’s words filled in some gaps. They had all jumped to the conclusion that the sea in question was the one Old Tai had just returned. The East sea!

“Ah,” Xuanji nodded. “The first detectives on the case did not include this in their report. The parents did not even mention Madam Meng in the initial interview.”

They started cross checking records, matching the time lines of death to the dates Madam Meng had predicted. As it turned out, whenever someone survived, they would die a week later. Only Chen Rong had survived longest.

Weijun shook his head, his eyes grim. “I don’t get it. These kids and their parents did everything they could to survive and someone else came along and decided to give them death anyway.”

“What is more puzzling are the parents.” Liwu said, gritting her teeth to hold back the anger she was feeling. “If they had told the police about these trips to Madam Meng, the cops might have solved this a long time ago. Who knows how many deaths would have been prevented?”

All the detectives agreed. At the very least, Madam Meng would have been questioned.

“Maybe someone scared them into silence.” Weijun suggested.

Liwu sighed. “This case is headache. These kids too, after one or two of your friends are murdered, why not go to the police and tell them what you know?”

“Because each of them was busy trying to avoid dying in the way Madam Meng had predicted.” Linlin said softly. She sighed as well. “We need to talk to Nu Ying. She is the only one that can tell us what was going on in their heads. Hopefully, she will help us put this nightmare to bed. Otherwise, she could be the next teenager with a lily in her mouth.”

“Or, she is the killer and she is preparing to leave the country as we speak now that the last stumbling block to her fated life is out of the way.” Weijun countered. “Don’t sit around here, go and get the girl. I am making this an order, not a request.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep