Chapter 14: The Truth Revealed (Part 2)
When the coffin was dragged out, I said coldly, "Someone open it. Opening the coffin will prove everything."
People looked at one another, but no one stepped forward.
Howard Li, frantic, charged at me. "Marcus Zhang, you bastard! You people killed my father, and now you won't even let him rest in peace! Desecrating a grave—you'll pay for this!"
"Fine. I'll pay. Open the coffin."
I noticed the hat man and the tattooed man cowering behind the crowd. I said, "Why don't you two come help? I can keep certain things quiet."
They hesitated, glanced at Howard Li, then walked over to the coffin.
The crowd pressed closer. As the nails were pried out one by one, the lid loosened and was finally pushed aside.
Some parents covered their children's eyes. Others turned away in horror. Still others stepped closer.
I reached for the charred corpse, steeled myself, and lifted up the trouser leg that had been bulging oddly.
The object that had nagged at me finally revealed itself: a surgical steel plate, already partly exposed through the burned flesh.
I looked at the old couple. Even though I'd braced myself, I didn't know how to begin.
I murmured, "Elderly folks... come see for yourselves."
They walked stiffly to the coffin. The old man stared at the steel plate, then clutched his chest and staggered backward.
When Tai Sun was young and foolish, his father had broken his leg with a hoe.
He'd been sent to the hospital and lost contact with his family from then on. But that once-broken leg still bore the evidence.
The old man burst into tears—sobbing so hard he couldn't catch his breath. The old woman reached out with a trembling hand and placed it on the charred body.
Seeing the old man in distress, I shouted to the bystanders, "Get him to a hospital, now!"
The crowd scrambled. The old man collapsed, legs jerking. The old woman wailed beside him, screaming, "My son!"
I said coldly, "When Tai Sun was young, he was a gambler and a wastrel. His father broke his leg and threw him out. He wandered alone, too ashamed to go home, and told everyone he had no family. After he started working for Victor Li, he found a path to redemption. He took every dark job, every dirty assignment—the purpose of his life was to atone, hoping his parents would forgive him."
Nora Zhao cried, "Stop talking..."
I ignored her. "In truth, Tai Sun had long realized Victor Li was using him as a pawn. So he sent every penny he earned back to his parents, compensating them for the wreckage of his youth. From homeless gambler to foreman, he still smoked his cigarettes down to the last puff. He worked day and night for Victor Li, sending every spare dime home. But he never imagined—Victor Li had targeted his very life!"
In Victor Li's eyes, Tai Sun was a man with no wife, no children, no parents, no connections—someone who could vanish from the earth without anyone coming to look for him.
The charred corpse was never Victor Li. It was Tai Sun. Only the severed finger had truly belonged to Victor Li, planted for DNA matching. The broken balcony railing—that was all theater for the neighbors. Right from the start, he planned to use a single finger to escape debts in the hundreds of millions.
And the person Wendy Xu met was never Tai Sun himself—it was Victor Li, operating under Tai Sun's identity.
She'd mentioned that "Tai Sun" smoked differently than she'd expected. And when I asked her to look at Tai Sun's chat history with Nora Zhao, she'd instinctively clicked on Victor Li's profile instead.
By then, Wendy Xu had already figured out that the "Tai Sun" I was searching for was Victor Li himself. She was the first to know Victor Li wasn't dead!
Victor Li played "debts die with the debtor" on the surface, while secretly transferring assets and planning to flee the country—leaving Tai Sun to shoulder all his crimes and carry his death.
I said gravely, "Ma'am, have a forensic examiner run a DNA test. This body should be your son... Tai Sun."
The old woman clutched her unconscious husband as tears streamed down her face.
The elderly couple had traveled thousands of miles, handpicking their own homegrown produce to come see their son's benefactor—never knowing that benefactor was the man who'd gotten their son killed.
They'd burned paper offerings with sincere hearts, chanted sutras for his soul. And all the while, they were mourning their own child.
Nora Zhao sat on the ground, her face ashen, staring at the scene.
I crouched beside her. "You and Victor Li lured Tai Sun into Room 2 and murdered him. You disguised his body as the burned Victor Li. If you'd turned yourself in right away, the case would've been resolved. But you kept stalling. Wendy Xu ended up dead because of your delay. You knew the police would investigate to the bitter end, so Victor Li pushed you to surrender quickly and close the case, didn't he?"
"Wendy Xu... brought it on herself."
"What do you mean?"
Nora Zhao gave up resisting. She murmured, "After she discovered Victor Li's conspiracy, she immediately realized she'd been used. She contacted him directly and tried to blackmail him for a huge payout. She thought she had leverage, so she waited in that room for him. She was stupid enough to think she could turn the tables—and it cost her life."
"You betrayed Victor Li, which disrupted his plan. Then I got close to Monkey Drake, which blew his entire scheme wide open. I really should thank Monkey Drake—if it weren't for him, I'd never have found the truth."
Nora Zhao looked up and met my eyes. She said, "If you hadn't shown up, I would've turned myself in. You made me see the light—I thought I could escape. But in the end, you dragged me back into the darkness. Victor Li gave me his passwords. He was going to release the video of me entering his apartment and pin everything on me. When I saw you'd broken in too, I couldn't resist the temptation..."
"So you're the one who edited and leaked the surveillance footage."
Nora Zhao covered her face, sobbing. "You would've been convicted either way—at most you'd serve a few months. I was going to turn myself in eventually. You could've gotten compensation..."
"What are you talking about? You expect me to believe that?"
"That much... that much is true..."
She was crying so hard she could barely speak. I frowned, ignoring her, and walked step by step toward Howard Li.
Howard Li was already being held by the creditors, every one of them livid.
"Where's your father! Holding a funeral when he's not even dead—aren't you afraid of the bad luck!"
"Your whole family is shameless. Pay up!"
Howard Li was pale and trembling. He stammered, "I don't know... I don't know anything..."
I said icily, "You know plenty. Victor Li could vanish and move around freely because of you."
"Marcus Zhang, don't make things up!"
"He had Nora Zhao to help him dodge every camera, but the homeowners would eventually spot him. So how did he leave the complex? Through you. You supposedly came to pay respects, but you were his getaway driver. Every time, you parked where the cameras couldn't reach. You were his chauffeur!"
Howard Li was shaking all over. "I'm not arguing with you. I'm going to the police—don't try to stop me!"
He tried to head for his car again, but I grabbed him. "Where is Victor Li hiding?"
He yanked free, furious. "I don't know, and I don't know you. Don't touch me! If you keep harassing me, I'll sue you!"
"We certainly don't know each other well, but you and I have unfinished business."
"What business?"
I locked eyes with Howard Li, advancing step by step. "You knew all of this. Your father isn't even dead..."
He swallowed hard, backing away in fear.
My mind filled with the scene in the hallway.
Elena, on her knees before him, bowing in desperate humility.
She'd given up her own inheritance, offered compensation—only to be humiliated.
He threw funeral money in the face of the woman I loved most, cursing her out.
She once told me... never kneel. Never be humble. Never surrender.
I grabbed Howard Li by the head. He tried to flee, but I seized a fistful of his hair and yanked him back, then shoved his face straight into the manure bucket!
Howard Li's head was submerged in the bucket, bubbles gurgling to the surface. His arms flailed wildly. He finally yanked his head up, retching violently—and I shoved him right back in.
I roared, "Victor Li isn't even dead, and you dared humiliate my woman! You bastard! The way you sprayed shit at her that day—today you're going to eat it!"