Chapter 5: The Real Killer Is Close at Hand (Part 2)
I said coldly, "I didn't see him, but I've figured it all out. He brought this woman to sell gold, and the moment he saw me, he ran."
Nora Zhao let out a bitter laugh. "You even figured out he was selling gold? You really do know a lot."
"Talk!"
Under my threats, Nora Zhao finally started talking.
It turned out that even after Tai Sun started working with Victor Li, he never kicked his gambling habit.
At first, riding Victor Li's coattails and bonuses, he'd live high on the hog. But whenever he lost, he'd chase his losses, and the debts just kept mounting.
Victor Li trusted him implicitly. He'd even registered multiple companies under Tai Sun's name, and eventually, to help him dodge creditors, he purchased the unit next door to his luxury apartment and put it in Tai Sun's name.
That unit was even more lavishly decorated. Victor Li's own penthouse was a front—whenever angry homeowners or creditors came knocking, they always ended up at the wrong unit. But late at night, Victor Li would slip through the secret passage to enjoy the real luxury next door.
When I heard this, it all clicked. No wonder Victor Li's apartment had smelled so harsh and cheap when I visited. In a mansion like this, you'd never use such low-grade renovation materials—because the real luxury home was next door.
Nora Zhao explained that gambling debts had driven Tai Sun to his breaking point. He swore he'd turn over a new leaf—pay off his debts and quit for good this time. So when a six-million-dollar luxury apartment was registered in his name, he hatched his plan.
The property was already legally his! He didn't need to do a thing—it had been handed to him on a silver platter.
Although Victor Li had been good to him, Tai Sun knew that if his gambling ever came to light, he'd be cast out of Victor Li's inner circle immediately. Meanwhile, Nora Zhao had been leading the homeowners' resistance, and Tai Sun had grown closer to her. Their interests aligned perfectly. They conspired together in secret.
Because Victor Li trusted Tai Sun so completely—especially when it came to hiding from creditors—he'd left all the renovation details in Tai Sun's hands. During the renovation, Tai Sun and Nora Zhao had a secret passage built between the two units, and not even Victor Li himself knew about it.
They hadn't found the right moment to strike. But recently, Tai Sun had come to Nora Zhao with news that Victor Li had purchased an entire set of pure gold zodiac figurines. This was the perfect opportunity. Nora Zhao, tempted by the gold, went to Victor Li's door under the pretense of confrontation and started the fire. She and Tai Sun had agreed that she would take the fall for the arson, and in exchange, he would compensate her handsomely and help her escape.
When I heard this, I had a question. "How could you guarantee you'd burn Victor Li to death? What if he escaped?"
"We never meant to kill Victor Li..." Nora Zhao said. "We just wanted to loot the place—get the gold out, have Tai Sun flee with it, and then set the fire. We'd both escape to safety, and later Tai Sun would quietly sell the apartment—after all, it's in his name. But we never imagined the front door would jam shut!"
My heart dropped.
"You didn't plan to kill him?"
"Of course not! You have to leave yourself a way out. Otherwise, why would I have been so open about having a motive for arson? We figured even if I got caught, at least I wouldn't face the death penalty. Who could have predicted the door would suddenly fail to open? Tai Sun had already made it out of the complex, but when he got word that Victor Li was dead, he came back and told me. I've been terrified—haven't slept in days. We fought about it."
"Fought?"
"Yeah. He said we were screwed—originally we just meant to steal, and now we had a murder charge. I said I was furious too. I deliberately left Victor Li an escape route when I set the fire. How were we supposed to know a perfectly good door would suddenly jam? If I'd known, I wouldn't have gone through with it. Now we might actually get executed."
I stared at Nora Zhao in stunned silence. So in the end... I was still responsible for Victor Li's death?
Victor Li, who'd schemed against everyone, had ultimately been killed by other people's schemes.
He schemed against Tai Sun, making the man take the fall for his dirty work. He schemed against us homeowners, refusing to fund the completion of our building.
In the end, all three of us had schemed for his wealth—and somehow managed to accidentally kill him in the process.
Nora Zhao told me that after the arson, she'dhidden in the adjacent unit, planning to lay low until it was safe enough to slip away. As for Tai Sun, he'd been busy fencing the stolen gold.
I asked about her relationship with Tai Sun and mentioned the pregnancy test in the bathroom. She paused, then shook her head—she and Tai Sun were business partners only. The baby was her boyfriend's.
A heavy silence fell over the room. Because in the final analysis, I was still guilty. At the very least, I'd be looking at involuntary manslaughter.
Nora Zhao saw me brooding and spoke up: "Ziming, none of us wanted things to turn out this way. I never expected you'd get dragged into this and end up taking the blame for me. What if... what if we just run? Tai Sun's arranging to smuggle us out of the country. You could come with us. If I don't end up on the police's radar, I'll pay you a handsome sum. Think about it—you're already a fugitive. If you can get out safely, why not make some money while you're at it? We could work together!"
I said nothing.
Nora Zhao's offer was tempting. If I could successfully flee the country, I could live abroad in peace. But I refused to spend my life hiding!
Wendy Xu saw my silence and panicked. "Don't believe her! Tai Sun is a two-faced snake—I trusted him too, and look where it got me!"
She yanked off her sunglasses to show me the bruises on her face.
I said, "If I run, my parents and Elena will be disgraced for the rest of their lives. They're the people I love most—how could I sentence them to that?"
Wendy Xu exhaled in relief. "At least you're thinking clearly."
I stood up. "I'll use these two to bargain for a reduced sentence. A real man faces his punishment head-on!"
"We can call the police right now. She's already confessed everything." Wendy Xu was practically vibrating with excitement.
I shook my head. "Right now, everything we have is just this woman's word. We have no physical evidence. If she changes her story on the stand, I'm finished. Finding the secret passage and the empty box only proves they looted the place during the fire—it doesn't prove they conspired to commit arson. If the court decides I was the one who set the fire, I'm done for."
Wendy Xu covered her mouth. "How can that be? Could she change her story?"
I looked at Nora Zhao and said coldly, "Am I right? At trial, what matters isn't what you've told me today—it's what evidence I can produce. If you want me to cooperate with you, the least you could do is offer some proof that you committed arson."
Nora Zhao gave a strained smile. "What evidence could there possibly be? We just lit a fire and left. We didn't even leave behind a lighter."
"The air conditioning surveillance camera."
Nora Zhao went silent.
I continued, "If you both entered the adjacent unit and handled the gold, the camera would have recorded you too. But the version that's been circulating only shows me in the footage. I doubt the family found that footage—I think you and Tai Sun edited it."
"Right!" Wendy Xu said eagerly. "I saw that video on social media—only you were in it! Hand over the original surveillance footage!"
"I don't have it. Tai Sun has it. He's the one who edited the video. I don't know if he still has the original. That surveillance footage was always meant to frame me, to clear his own name. He never expected you to show up on camera too..."
The key to the whole case lay with Tai Sun.
Even if I found him, he'd never hand over the evidence willingly.
I confiscated Nora Zhao's phone and demanded her passcode. Unlocking it, I began going through her chat logs with Wendy Xu looking over my shoulder. I said, "Let's see if she's said anything to Tai Sun."
Wendy Xu scrolled straight to Nora Zhao's chat history with Victor Li instead. It was nothing but demand after demand for him to deliver the completed apartments, and Victor Li's endless excuses.
I sighed. "What's the point of that? Look at her chats with Tai Sun."
Wendy Xu mumbled, "I was just curious about the arson victim... his name's been all over my feed."
I ignored her and checked Nora Zhao's messages with Tai Sun. Their log was scrubbed clean—their last exchange was three days ago, still about the stalled project.
I sneered. "You deleted quite a lot."
The homeowners' group chat was still buzzing. I opened it to check what people were talking about—and saw a video of my apartment.