Chen Shi said, "It won't be Lu Qi. Why would he knock on the door coming back to his own house?"

The two looked out of the peephole and saw that it was a woman, so they opened the door. The woman looked surprised. "Who are you to Lu Qi?"

"We’re the police." Lin Dongxue showed the woman her badge.

"Did Lu Qi commit a crime?"

"Who are you? Why are you looking for him?"

"I'm his wife!"

"Wife? Don’t you live together?"

The woman's surname was Ding. After entering the house, she got a glass of water and drank it in one gulp. She seemed to be quite thirsty. Seeing that she was so worn from travel, she had probably walked a long way. She said, “I came here from a neighboring city first thing in the morning. I haven’t even had breakfast yet. I’m here to ask for alimony today.”

"You’re divorced?"

"No. We aren’t divorced, but we’re living separately..." Ms. Ding sighed. "Can you tell me what Lu Qi did? Was it murder?"

Chen Shi exchanged glances with Lin Dongxue and replied, "We’re still in the middle of investigating. There are several murder cases that may be related to him."

“Is he at large right now?”

“To be more accurate, his whereabouts are unknown.”

“Aiya, I knew there would be a day like this eventually." Ms. Ding shook her head and sighed. "Our marriage is very utilitarian. My father was the former president of the Ding Group. I used to be the precious daughter of a wealthy family, but now... I’m a phoenix with all my feathers torn away from me. I’m worse than a chicken. My dad committed suicide because he owed a huge debt. I dare not inherit his inheritance because inheriting his houses and cars means paying back tens of millions of debts. In the beginning, Lu Qi went to work at my father’s company and he had a bold[1] spirit in him. My father liked him very much. A few years later, he was already a top tier executive. When we met for the first time at my father’s birthday party, I was seduced by him instantly. His charm was like a dangerous vortex that always makes women desperate for him. He launched a passionate pursuit towards me. I understood that he just wanted to be my father's son-in-law so that he’d have the opportunity to take over the company in the future, so I didn’t give him the time of day. However, I couldn't block his persistent efforts. Women are all fools in love. Soon enough, I was captured by him. This was probably the starting point of my misfortune...”

“We had children soon after we got married. Lu Qi's attitude towards me suddenly changed. He and I were like strangers living together, but in front of outsiders, we had to act as a loving couple. I found out that he had an affair. Any woman would be furious the first time they find out about this sort of thing. However, he didn’t even bother to cover it up. He stared straight into my eyes and told me that I’m not his first woman, nor his last. If I dared to interfere with him, he would find someone to kill me! I lived in great fear and even thought about taking my children with me to commit suicide, but I know it wouldn’t threaten him. He doesn’t actually love me or the children at all. He would cry more than anyone at my funeral so that my father could see it... My father had been kept in the dark by him the entire time as everything was taken by him step by step before my father found out what kind of person he was. He’s a human-shaped beast. For his own desires, he can sacrifice anyone. He never loves anyone except for himself. Young and beautiful women are his playthings; a passing moment in his life. When he feels bored one day, he’ll immediately abandon them like old shoes without regrets.”

"My father's company was betrayed by him. He was bought by Dong Xiao using a limited-edition sports car!" Ms. Ding smiled bitterly and shook her head. "Then, my father committed suicide under huge debts and I knew that my disaster would subsequently follow. The day the newspaper published the news of my father’s death, he walked in calmly and said that I should move away. I wasn’t allowed to tell anyone that I was his wife. He didn’t want to divorce me because if that was the case, the property he acquired by exchanging his conscience would be half mine. I asked if he didn’t even want his own flesh and blood but he coldly responded that those were my children and it didn’t matter to him. I told him that he at least had to let us live since I didn’t know anything, so I was at a dead end. Then, his children would go to the orphanage and become monsters just like him or maybe even find him to exact revenge. Maybe it was this sentence that touched him. He made a compromise and promised to send me alimony every month. However, I couldn't show up in front of him ever again... The alimony should have been transferred over to me the last two days, but I couldn't get in touch with him, so I made a trip in person. I didn't expect to meet you two here."

"Is Lu Qi an orphan?" Chen Shi asked.

"His past sounds like a story. I don't know if it is true or false. He said that he was a vagrant when he was a child and was adopted by a group of scammers because he was born good-looking and well-behaved. The scammers pretended to be people from the orphanage looking for rich families to adopt him. Then, he would cooperate with them from the inside and the families would get ransacked. If they couldn’t find any cash, they’d conduct a kidnapping. He was in this line of business until he was a teenager, when he met a family who treated him very well. It made him especially sad because if someone had treated him so nicely when he was a child, he wouldn’t have become what he was today. He figured that after he left, the couple would adopt other children. Or, if they got lucky and had children of their own one day, they’d definitely treat them very well too. He felt jealous when he thought that there would be another child in the world who would have a good childhood. So, he poisoned and killed the couple, and then ran away by himself. The police eventually found out about the gang of scammers and took them down. However, they couldn't find his whereabouts. He changed his name and went to other cities."

Lin Dongxue was shocked to hear of this past. The word “twisted” could no longer be used to describe this person. He was a completely selfish person.

Lin Dongxue said, "The place and time when this case happened..."

Ms. Ding shook her head. "I don’t know. He was calm when he talked about his past, as if he was telling a story. Do you know why he told me this on a whim? He threatened me once and he wanted to tell me that he had killed someone previously. If I didn’t listen to him, he would kill me in the same way! If you ask me if I hate him, my answer is no, because I understand he isn’t a human being now. He’s a beast in human skin. A beast has the logic of a beast. He always lives for himself and everything in the world can be betrayed to him... If I'm right, the person he betrayed this time is his godfather, Dong Xiao. There were a lot of rumors in the city that Dong Xiao is missing. I guessed he did it. Am I right, officers?"

The other party said so much in one breath. Chen Shi felt that it was impossible to conceal the situation further, so he replied, "Yes, we thought the same way. He might have killed Dong Xiao, but there’s no leads about it, so we don’t even know where to start to find him. Ms. Ding, do you have any clues?"

"Lu Qi’s only tolerance and kindness is not towards women or children, but towards his brothers[2]. No matter where he is, there will be a group of brothers following him. Just like a wolf pack, men like alpha males even more so than women. You can find his brothers. Perhaps he’s hiding in a house of one of his buddies right now."

"Thank you!"

1. Can also mean heroic and open-minded.

2. Buddies.