Pristine Darkness

Chapter 79

We find out more about Chen Jin and his obsession with butterflies in this chapter, as well as his motive for murder. Meanwhile, as Bo Jinyan muses on Chen Jin's psychological profile, he touches on a topic with a bittersweet note. Read on to find out more . . .

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Translator: shl

Editor/ Proofreader: Summer

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The final straw that broke the camel's back was the rumour about Nie Shijun from her old hometown that reached Chen Jin's ears. When she was in high school, a girl killed herself because of her. The person sharing the rumour had made it sound highly plausible, that Nie Shijun had encouraged the girl, incited her to kill herself, and then had withdrawn from her.

Chen Jin had finally found the reason, the reason compelling him to take action. Nie Shijun had already made it clear that she intended to enmesh herself in Feng Yuexi's life for her entire lifetime! What would happen if her love turned to hatred and she made threats against Feng Yuexi's life? This was highly likely. A lifetime was so long, it would be better to deal with this problem at some stage!

Otherwise, this would become the blemish in his life. He could have had a perfect family. A beautiful and fashionable wife who respected and adored him. Then, they would have had two outstanding children, just as outstanding as he was . . .

"Why a butterfly?" Fang Qing asked.

Behind the dark glass separating them from the interrogation room, Bo Jinyan and Jian Yao also waited for his response.

Chen Jin fell silent for a heartbeat before replying, "Because . . . I like it."

When did it start? From his youth, when he had seen a butterfly fluttering freely in the mountains? Chen Jin could no longer remember clearly. He only knew that he was fascinated by the butterfly's pitch-black, merciless compound eyes. He always felt that the depths of those pitch-black eyes hid a secret which no one could know about, a secret belonging to another world.

So, that day, he also saw a butterfly, in his monstrous and multicoloured dream. He saw a youth, standing, wielding a knife, a butterfly landing on his shoulder. That scene was so familiar, and he always felt that he had seen it before. Was it in a past life, or a sign from heaven?

When he awoke, he was struck by a sudden realisation. He was almost crazily excited about his intelligence and creativity.

A butterfly killer; he should disguise himself as a butterfly killer. The relationship between Nie Shijun and Feng Yuexi was hidden so deeply, no one would know about it. He only needed to pretend to be a serial killer, like those commonly seen on television. In that way, he could evade police attention.

This plan was indeed perfect, he thought.

This world, this life, were all too perfect.

——

Compared to Chen Jin, the other male lead in this story, Shi Peng, was much quieter. He had gained permission to smoke a cigarette in the interrogation room. After a long silence, he said, "I never thought that they would come to this. I totally didn't expect Chen Jin to kill someone!"

Fang QIng asked, "Did you know about the relationship between Feng Yuexi and Nie Shijun beforehand?"

Shi Peng shook his head. "In the past few years, I've been very busy at work. Initially, I actually thought something was a little off about Nie Shijun, and I did talk to Chen Jin to try to figure it out, but I didn't really think deeply about it."

Fang Qing asked, "What's your relationship with Feng Yuexi been like in the past few years?"

Shi Peng pressed his hand against his forehead and replied, "Nothing good to speak of. It's true that I've liked her for many years; this is something all of our friends are aware of. However, I felt that she was changing bit by bit. She was -how do I put it - money-mad. Actually, Chen Jin doesn't know it, but I kissed Feng Yuexi in high school, and she liked me a lot as well. If I had wanted to, I might have succeeded in pursuing her. But, I went to work in the factory, and she gradually drifted apart from me. I was also very busy then. Slowly, I achieved some success, and she also graduated and came back, so we met each other more often.