Chapter Two: The Vanished Corpse

"I'll say it again!"

"I did not lie!"

"How many times must I repeat myself before you believe me?!"

The atmosphere was suffocating.

A thunderous bang echoed from the table in the silent, enclosed room.

Lu Yuan felt as though he was going mad.

He had really killed someone—why, after turning himself in at the police station, did not a single officer believe him?

Inside the interrogation room.

Two officers exchanged glances and quietly shook their heads.

"Mr. Lu, please calm down. It's not that we don't believe you; it's just that what you describe is far too bizarre," one officer tried to soothe him.

Across from them.

Lu Yuan, usually mild-mannered, now appeared violently agitated. His eyes brimmed with terror and anxiety after committing murder. He had mustered all his courage to confess, yet the police thought he was mentally unstable.

Lu Yuan took a deep breath. "Comrade officers, I am not lying, and my mind is perfectly sound."

Seeing this, the two officers breathed a sigh of relief.

Truth be told, Lu Yuan's demeanor was unsettling.

Another officer picked up the record he had compiled, his gaze lingering on it for several seconds, still unable to believe his own eyes. "Mr. Lu, let me repeat what you've said."

"You claim that at five o'clock this afternoon, a middle-aged man came to your psychological clinic. He was wearing a thick down jacket, sunglasses, and a mask, hadn't bathed in a long time, and sought advice on psychological issues."

"Then, as you were talking, he suddenly lost control, pulled out a knife, and charged at you."

"You were forced to defend yourself, and in the struggle, you seized his knife and accidentally killed him."

"After that, you came to the police station to surrender."

"Is this account accurate?"

The officer looked at Lu Yuan as if assessing a lunatic.

Lu Yuan felt vexed, as if his head might explode. The facts were so obvious, so easily verified. "Yes, that's completely correct."

The two officers exchanged another glance.

Lu Yuan braced his elbows on the table, leaning forward. "Just go to my clinic and you'll see for yourselves."

At his words, both officers fell silent.

After a moment, one shook his head. "Mr. Lu, it's precisely because we checked your clinic that we think you're lying."

"As soon as you surrendered, we dispatched colleagues to investigate the scene. When we arrived, there was no body, no blood, nothing at all—it was spotless."

In an instant, Lu Yuan was stunned.

His eyes contracted and expanded, his lips muttering ceaselessly.

---

"How is that possible?"

"It can't be!"

"I clearly killed him..."

It was obvious.

Lu Yuan's mind was on the verge of collapse.

Today should have been an ordinary day, but everything that transpired had thrown his life into chaos.

Next.

Lu Yuan began to claw at his own hair.

He was strong.

A large patch of hair, together with scalp and blood, was torn away, yet Lu Yuan seemed oblivious to the pain, as if desperate to recall something.

On the other side of the wall.

Observation room.

A female officer frowned and picked up her walkie-talkie. "Xiao Wang, he has self-harming tendencies—calm him down."

Through the one-way glass, the woman watched Lu Yuan with an uncertain gaze. She had observed him for a long while, and one thing struck her as strange: although it hadn't rained outside, when Lu Yuan arrived to turn himself in, he was drenched from head to toe.

At that moment.

The observation room door swung open.

An officer hurried in and handed her a file. "Captain Wen, here is Lu Yuan's personal information."

She flipped through it briefly.

It was normal!

Lu Yuan's record was spotless!

No criminal history, no record of drug use.

"What about mental illness?" she asked.

The officer who entered shook his head. "No relevant history found. He holds a legitimate psychologist's license and business permit. If he'd ever had a mental illness, he wouldn't qualify as a psychologist."

The woman said nothing.

After a long pause.

She closed the file, placed it on the desk, and picked up her walkie-talkie. "Xiao Wang, ask him for the details of the murder."

Interrogation room.

Receiving instructions, the officer nodded in understanding. After finally calming Lu Yuan, he spoke gently, "Mr. Lu, since you insist you've killed someone, please describe the incident in detail. We'll take a comprehensive statement."

Lu Yuan gripped the paper cup on the table with trembling hands and drank the hot water in one gulp.

The two officers were shocked.

The water had just been boiled; even touching it would scald the mouth, let alone swallowing it whole.

As for Lu Yuan.

He seemed unaffected.

Before they could warn him, he had already finished drinking.

Lu Yuan licked his cracked lips and exhaled deeply. "First, I stunned him with a self-defense taser, then I snatched the knife. He tried to grab the knife back, lunged at me, and clutched my wrists with all his strength. I tried to retreat, but he kept pulling me forward."

---

"I stumbled, lost my balance, and the knife plunged straight into his neck."

"Again and again!"

"Blood splattered everywhere."

"His entire head was severed from his body."

Lu Yuan forced himself to recount the ordeal, but his voice and body trembled incessantly.

The two officers looked on helplessly.

Frankly.

They remained unconvinced.

The officer holding the record reminded, "Mr. Lu, I have to reiterate: we found no taser or blood-stained knife at your clinic, and all items in the clinic bear only your fingerprints. Have you... been overworked lately?"

Lu Yuan's expression became vacant.

He gave up struggling.

Forget it.

If the police said there was nothing, then so be it.

"As a psychologist, you inevitably encounter some odd patients. Perhaps they've affected you. Why don't you go home and get some rest?" The two officers stood up, unwilling to waste more time on Lu Yuan. In truth, they had never believed his story from the beginning.

After all, Lu Yuan was far too clean.

Not a trace of blood on him!

If he had really killed someone, his clothes should at least be stained.

Unless he had bathed and changed before turning himself in...

Leaving the interrogation room.

The female officer exited the observation room at the same moment.

"Captain Wen."

The two officers saluted her.

She patted their shoulders. "Go about your business. I'll take care of this one."

Lu Yuan staggered toward the door, his mind clouded, a helplessness as if he had suffered a terrible shock. Only when a woman's voice sounded beside him did he regain a sliver of composure. "I'll take you home."

Lu Yuan raised his head and looked at her.

Short brown hair.

A leather jacket.

Slim jeans hugging her legs.

Black denim boots.

"Thank you," Lu Yuan replied in a low voice.

He couldn't recall how he returned to his clinic, but the moment he opened the door, his suspended heart finally died.

The police had told the truth.

His clinic was disturbingly clean.