My Brother Has Been Following Me Since His Death

CHAPTER 2:

6.

The man froze at my words, then started screaming even louder.

 

He seemed terrified, his cries frantic and hysterical.

 

I looked at him in confusion, walked down the steps onto the riverbank, went to his side, and squatted down in front of him, looking at him.

 

“Sir, what's wrong with you?”

 

Did he get knocked silly from the fall?

 

He stared at me with bloodshot eyes, covering his ears as if he didn't want to hear me speak.

“I... I don't remember killing you!!!”

 

“Go away! Go away! Don't bother me!”

 

Me: “Uh…”

 

It felt like I was being treated as some kind of filth...

 

I stared at the man for a while, deciding he probably wasn't going to kill me, and turned towards the reeds where the red suitcase was.

 

The suitcase was brand new; the tags weren't even removed.

 

Xia Shang crossed his arms, frowning at me with impatience: “What exactly are you trying to do?”

 

I ignored him.

 

Squatting in front of the suitcase, I slowly opened the zipper.

 

Inside the suitcase was a pile of chunks of meat, still frozen and not yet thawed, emitting a slight chill.

The chunks of meat seemed to have been precisely cut by a machine; each piece was square and uniformly sized, a stark contrast to the man's unkempt appearance and neurotic state.

 

Because they were so cleanly processed, I couldn't immediately tell if the meat in the suitcase was human or some other animal.

 

Fortunately, I found a small, slender, white finger among the pieces of meat.

 

Li Meixin had played the piano since she was little; her fingers were beautiful.

 

This finger was beautiful, too.

 

Holding the finger, I turned to the fat man.

 

“Where's her head? Where did you hide it?”

 

The man suddenly roared, lunging at me, grabbing my neck, and pinning me to the ground in the reeds.

 

He was tall and heavy; his arms were like iron clamps, choking the air from my lungs.

He squeezed me, while sobbing uncontrollably.

“Die! Die! Stop bothering me, stop bothering me…”

 

He was the one trying to kill me, yet he was the one crying.

I turned my head towards Xia Shang and saw that he was now standing there, arms crossed, looking down at me from above, despite having just yelled at me to go back.

“Don't you want to live anymore? What are you looking at me for?”

 

“Are you regretting it?”

 

“Disobedient little sisters have to suffer.”

 

“Unless you cry and beg me…”

 

I ignored him because I had already passed out from being choked.

7.

When I woke up, the area was brightly lit, with police cars lining the riverbank.

 

The floodlights illuminated the reeds clearly in the night.

 

I was sitting in the cold, damp mud, my blue puff-sleeved dress soaked through.

 

A few caution tapes cordoned off the scene.

 

Several officers in white were busy clearing the contents of the red suitcase.

 

The fat man was lying not far away, a large hole in his head, blood flowing out.

 

A young police officer in a black coat knelt before me.

He showed me his badge.

 

“Little girl, did you call the police?”

 

I glanced at it briefly. His name was Liu Hao.

 

I shook my head, confused.

 

He asked again, “Did you hit that man's head?”

 

I shook my head again.

He became a bit impatient. “Then how did you end up here so late at night?”

 

“What's your relationship with the corpses in the suitcase and that fat man?”

 

I remembered then, tapped my head, and told him, “I went to my classmate's birthday party, and on my way home I saw this man carrying a very heavy suitcase.”

 

“My brother said that the news recently reported that there's a serial killer, a pervert, who kills people, dismembers them, and then puts them in suitcases to dispose of the bodies... so I followed him.”

 

Officer Liu Hao took a deep breath. “Heh! Little girls nowadays are so bold.”

 

“What happened next?”

 

I glanced at the man, a bit hesitant. “The man seemed very scared. I saw him throw the suitcase in the reeds, so I opened it…”

 

“I saw a human finger, and the man suddenly lunged at me and choked me.”

 

“Then I don't remember anything else…”

 

Officer Liu Hao called over a female officer and asked her to take me to the hospital for a medical examination.

After confirming I was alright, he said he needed to take me to the police station to record a statement.

 

I was a bit scared and asked him, “Can I not go?”

 

Xia Shang had disappeared somewhere, and I was scared to be alone.

 

The female officer reminded him that I was a minor and a guardian needed to be present when recording a statement.

 

Her words made me even less eager to go.

 

My mom was at the hospital taking care of Xia Xi, and she probably thought I was still locked in the basement.

 

My dad was with his other woman and son, and wouldn't care about me.

Only Xia Shang would care about me.

 

But he died the moment he was born.

 

At that moment, a police officer took a call, walked over and glanced at me, then whispered to Officer Liu Hao: “The suspect died during emergency treatment. Her fingerprints were found on the bloody rock by the river and on the suitcase…”

8.

The police contacted my parents.

 

But unexpectedly, it wasn't my mother who came to the police station, but my psychologist, Dr. Xiao.

 

“Doctor, why are you here?”

 

Dr. Xiao, whose real name is Xiao Qingzhi, is very beautiful. Although she's a woman, she's tall with sharp features, and fair skin.

 

She wears rimless gold-framed glasses, and her long black hair, reaching her waist, is tied in a low ponytail. Her simple white lab coat looks as stylish as a trench coat.

 

Dr. Xiao winked at me. “Your mother asked me to come.”

 

Then, with a calm gaze, she looked at Officer Liu Hao and extended her long, elegant hand.

“Officer Liu, I presume? Hello!”

 

Officer Liu Hao looked at Xiao Qingzhi in surprise, his sharp eyebrows furrowed. “Who are you?”

 

Xiao Qingzhi's voice was gentle and melodious, soothing to the ear.

 

“I'm Xia Yuan's psychologist. Her mother asked me to bail her out.”

 

“My patient suffers from severe schizophrenia. She's unable to answer any of your questions.”

 

Officer Liu Hao's expression immediately darkened.

 

“What did you say?”

 

He then turned his head and glared fiercely at me.

 

“She was at the body disposal scene at the same time as the suspect. Her fingerprints are on the rock used to attack the suspect and on the suitcase used to dispose of the body. You think you can just take her away with a simple claim of mental illness?”

 

Xiao Qingzhi realized Officer Liu Hao might have misunderstood.

My father runs a real estate company and is a prominent figure in this city.

 

It's not surprising that Officer Liu Hao assumed I was trying to use a mental illness diagnosis to escape punishment.

 

“I can provide Xia Yuan's medical records and therapy videos from the past few years.”

 

“Did she tell you... that she has a brother?”

 

Officer Liu Hao looked at me in surprise, his expression changing.

Xiao Qingzhi smiled and patted my head. "Her brother died at birth. It's a figment of her imagination."

 

“And she also suffers from intermittent amnesia. When she's exposed to external stimuli or experiences strong emotional fluctuations, she'll have an episode.”

 

Officer Liu Hao couldn't accept Xiao Qingzhi's words at all. “How do we know you're not making this up?”

 

Xiao Qingzhi smiled. “Officer Liu, my patient has absolutely nothing to do with this string of murders.”

 

“As for what you said about her hitting the suspect with a rock, I believe it was self-defense.”

 

“The suspect is a forty-year-old man, six feet tall and weighing over 180 pounds. He's suspected of committing multiple murders. When my patient was being choked by him and her life was in danger, she used a rock to defend herself. It was reasonable and justifiable.”

 

Officer Liu Hao was furious and yelled at the police officer who had contacted my family.

“Who told her these details!!!”

9.

I was in a daze, just standing there dumbly.

 

Later, I don't know what Xiao Qingzhi said to Officer Liu Hao, but she signed some papers and managed to take me out of the police station.

 

Officer Liu Hao was originally unwilling to let me go.

 

He said that even if she was my psychologist, my guardian had to come in person to bail me out.

 

Xiao Qingzhi smiled and pulled out a lawyer's license.

“Officer Liu Hao is right, so I'm not only Xia Yuan's psychologist, but also her mother's appointed lawyer.”

 

“Now, can I take my client away?”

 

I remember how ugly Officer Liu Hao's face was, like he wanted to punch us both.

 

It wasn't until I was led out of the police station by Xiao Qingzhi, hand in hand, that I buried my head in her arms.

“Doctor... Brother... Brother is gone.”

 

She bent down and used a handkerchief to wipe the dirt off my face.

 

“Don't be afraid, Yuan Yuan. He's gone, isn't that good?”

 

I shook my head, trying to hold back tears.

“No.” 

“Brother must have disappeared to save me.”

 

“That man was trying to choke me, but later Officer Liu Hao said he was killed by a rock…”

 

“I didn't hit him, it must have been Brother.”

 

A flash of coldness crossed Xiao Qingzhi's eyes, gone as quickly as it came. She lowered her head and touched the top of my head.

“That guy used to scare you and bully you, and Yuan Yuan still cares about him.”

 

“Yuan Yuan is such a kind child…”

 

My arms holding her suddenly stiffened, and I instinctively took a step back.

 

“You... didn't you say my brother was fake?”

 

“You said it was my schizophrenia, that I made him up…”

 

If that's the case, why did she just show that kind of malice towards Xia Shang?

 

As if reading my mind, the smile on Xiao Qingzhi's face disappeared.

“Well…”

 

A flicker of fear ran through me. I tripped over a pebble as I stepped back and started to fall.

 

Xiao Qingzhi gasped, “Careful!”

 

She reached out to grab me.

 

But a force behind me held me up.

 

I turned around and saw Xia Shang, who was supposed to be gone, standing behind me, supporting my back.

 

At the same time, I saw that the doctor, who had always been smiling and gentle, suddenly had a cold aura about her, her eyes fixed on the direction Xia Shang was standing.

She... can see him?

10.

Xia Shang glared fiercely at Xiao Qingzhi. “Old hag, stay away from my sister!”

 

Then he looked down at me with a sneer. “Yuan Yuan, you're being naughty. Didn't you say you only wanted a friend like your brother?”

 

I looked at Xia Shang in confusion and pursed my lips.

 

Even though Dr. Xiao is in her thirties, she's very pretty. She can't be called an ‘old hag,’ right?

 

Also, why doesn't Xia Shang want me to have friends?

 

I don't remember saying anything like that!

 

I questioned Xia Shang, “How did that fat man die?”

 

“Did you hit him with that rock? Why is my fingerprint on the rock?”

 

Xia Shang shrugged nonchalantly. “Ha... well, I just hit him once. How would I know why he died?”

 

“Someone like him, a serial killer who committed many evil deeds, deserved to die!”

 

Then, he pulled on the back of my collar.

“You said you'd give me control of your body if I let you go to your classmate's birthday party. What's this? Are you backing out?”

 

Xia Shang was very strong. He pulled me back so hard I almost fell. I could only look at Xiao Qingzhi for help.

 

“Doctor, save me…”

 

When Xia Shang heard me, he seemed even angrier.

 

He gritted his teeth and whispered in my ear, “Xia Yuan, do you need me to remind you how you survived just now?”

 

I knew that Xia Shang had taken control of my body and smashed the fat man's head, that's why I didn't die.

 

But was that really saving me?

 

I've become a murderer...

 

Noticing my distress, Xiao Qingzhi's expression darkened, a hint of coldness appearing on her delicate face.

 

“Let her go!”

 

Behind me, Xia Shang was suddenly pulled backward by a powerful force.

 

Turning my head, I saw that countless glowing red threads had somehow wrapped around him, his limbs being manipulated into strange positions.

 

Vaguely, I seemed to see a giant, ancient-looking immortal figure standing behind him.

 

The old man's face was rigid, his limbs all ball-jointed!

 

My brother...was being controlled by a puppet???

 

Who is this Xiao Qingzhi, the doctor I've always trusted and liked the most?

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