Frightening Joke: Above the Mist
Chapter 33 Ding Peng

Chapter 33: Chapter 33 Ding Peng

September 3, 2006, 6:30 AM, Ying City.

Ding Lei hurried back to the hotel.

"Where are the police?" He was sweating profusely, his eyes wandering as he asked, showing signs of agitation.

"B... Boss, something major happened! Someone’s dead!" The female clerk’s voice trembled, fear apparent in her eyes.

Upon hearing this news, Ding Lei’s face changed dramatically. He turned around and rushed to the elevator, quickly getting to the sixth floor.

He flung open the office door, revealing the mess inside, papers scattered everywhere.

Ding Lei’s face was extremely grim. Then, he quickly moved the bookshelf aside, revealing a hidden compartment in the wall.

He entered the password, opened the safe, and upon seeing everything inside was intact, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Is this your motive for murder?"

Just then, a man’s voice not light or heavy sounded behind him.

Ding Lei turned around sharply, seeing a young man with delicate features standing emotionlessly at the door.

"Who are you?"

"Bai Yanliang."

Bai Yanliang slowly approached him, his eyes moving back and forth over this man in his thirties.

He wasn’t ugly, and his figure was decent, but his heart was filthy.

"Who killed her?"

Bai Yanliang stepped into Ding Lei’s office, asking while closing the door.

"What do you mean?" Ding Lei’s forehead was sweating, the expressionless young man was slowly walking towards him, each step seemed to stomp on his heart, pressuring him greatly.

"I said, who killed your wife?" Bai Yanliang stopped in front of the desk, separated from Ding Lei by only the table.

He stood with his hands in his pockets, silently looking at the man in front of him, without any extra movements.

"Yuhua is dead?" Ding Lei’s face changed, his eyes widened slightly, as if he had just heard this shocking news.

Bai Yanliang watched his performance with no emotional fluctuation until the man in front of him realized Bai Yanliang’s disinterest and stopped himself.

"Enough?" Bai Yanliang continued to look at him.

"Who the hell are you? What do you mean!" Ding Lei’s eyes gradually turned dangerous, scanning up and down Bai Yanliang, his tone becoming increasingly heavy.

"I’m asking about your wife, Zhang Qiao." Bai Yanliang stared at him, his tone indifferent, "Still don’t understand? Ding Peng."

The man’s face changed drastically, he suddenly pulled a knife from his back waist and stabbed it fiercely towards Bai Yanliang!

Bai Yanliang’s pupils slightly contracted, having long anticipated such actions from this kind of person, his indifference enabling him to maintain extremely frightening calmness. Facing Ding Peng’s attack, Bai Yanliang first dodged to the side, then suddenly exerted force with his right foot to kick the desk.

"Bang—"

The desk hit Ding Peng off balance. However, just as he was trying to stand firm, a figure had already approached him!

Bai Yanliang reached out his left hand, gripping Ding Peng’s right wrist like a vise, and pulled it back forcefully.

At the same time, Bai Yanliang’s right hand punched hard at his right shoulder joint.

The paralysis of pain made Ding Peng instinctively loosen his right hand, dropping the knife!

In pain, his left hand was not idle either, reaching for Bai Yanliang’s face, but Bai Yanliang tilted his head, dodging the face attack, though leaving a long scratch on his neck.

But Bai Yanliang’s movements showed no signs of stopping, as if rehearsed a thousand times. Bai Yanliang grabbed the dropped knife off the desk with his right hand.

Then, using his left hand to press hard, he pinned Ding Peng’s right hand on the desk, and under Ding Peng’s frightened gaze, stabbed the knife down!

"Ah!!!"

Ding Peng screamed in pain, his right hand pinned open on the desk, a knife piercing through his palm, nailing his hand to the wooden desk.

Bai Yanliang seemed to not hear his screams, pushed the knife down again with force, and only after confirming Ding Peng wouldn’t dare pull it out, did he nod satisfyingly, looked at the pained, sweat-drenched, pale-faced man in front, and said:

"Now, can you answer me?"

Ding Peng’s fear finally couldn’t be hidden as his right hand was nailed to the table, causing excruciating pain.

"Who... who the hell are you!"

"Bai Yanliang." Bai Yanliang told him his name one last time, staring expressionlessly at the sweat-covered Ding Peng, "The doctor says I have antisocial tendencies, want to test it?"

Ding Peng shook his head repeatedly, unclear about other things, but certain about one: the young man before him was absolutely ruthless.

"You still haven’t answered me, who killed Zhang Qiao."

Ding Peng’s pupils shrank, as if suddenly recalling something extremely terrifying: "I don’t know... I really don’t know! I don’t know... what that thing is..."

Bai Yanliang furrowed his brows, thinking what a stubborn fool.

"You killed Zhang Yuhua, Jiang Chaojie killed Ding Lei, what about Zhang Qiao? Did you kill her too?"

Hearing Bai Yanliang’s question, Ding Peng seemed to hear something unbelievable, why... does this person know everything?

"What are you talking about? I don’t know!"

Bai Yanliang quietly looked at the already crazed-looking Ding Peng, voicing his speculations:

"You have another complete plan, to kill your brother, and then replace him."

Ding Peng, despite breathing painfully, became gradually silent after hearing Bai Yanliang’s words.

"You promised Zhang Wen empty promises to help her kill Zhang Yuhua, then hid the body in the water tank. This process was witnessed by two clerks, and you planned to silence them but... you knew one of them deeply loved Zhang Wen, so much that they would do anything for her. Thus, you came to an agreement with him to have him kill Ding Lei, your biological brother."

"Jiang Chaojie always knew of Zhang Wen’s relationship with Ding Lei, and further knew that only with Ding Lei dead could he have a sliver of chance." Bai Yanliang looked at him with indifferent eyes and continued: "Maybe it was your intimation, maybe a personal grudge, or perhaps both, he knocked Ding Lei out from behind, then... smashed his face to death."

"With Ding Lei dead, Li Yuhua dead, as his biological brother you could effortlessly play the role of Ding Lei, who had simple social relationships, and inherit their wealth. But there was one more person, though she didn’t know Ding Lei well, she knew you and knew everything about your behavior, habits, and subtleties, so... she had to die too, right?"

Bai Yanliang’s voice grew colder.

"That’s not true!"

Initially lowering his head, Ding Peng suddenly raised it, his eyes bloodshot, yelling: "I didn’t kill A Qiao! How could I kill A Qiao? How could I..."

"Only she wouldn’t despise me, only she would comfort me, and only she... would still believe in me! Tell me, why would I kill A Qiao!"

"Everything I did was for her!"

"Shut up!" Bai Yanliang grabbed Ding Peng’s hair, dragging him to his face, stared into his eyes, and said coldly: "You did it just for yourself."

"If you’re jealous go fight for it, if you can’t stand it then change. If you lack the ability, admit you’re useless, and accept reality silently. Claiming it was for others is just finding an excuse to rest easy, you’re nothing but trash, a parasite."