Chapter 294: Leniency for Confession, Severity for Resistance

Interrogation Room.

Li Yuanliang sat in the interrogation chair.

At this moment he was extremely uneasy, his heart fluttering.

Being brought to the Interrogation Room but having no one come to question him felt terribly uncomfortable.

It was almost the same as the chilly feeling of having alcohol‑soaked cotton swab your butt before a childhood injection…

Finally, after waiting about six or seven minutes, the door of the Interrogation Room was pushed open.

Han Fei and Xu Mo walked in.

It is worth mentioning.

Both of them were still holding something in their hands.

Han Fei cradled a glass vase with a single rose in it, while Xu Mo carried a box of birthday cake.

The two sat at the table opposite him.

Xu Mo, imitating a scene from a TV drama, reached out to turn on the Interrogation Lamp on the table and rotated it so that the light shone directly on Li Yuanliang.

He was blinded by the sudden glare, instantly raised his arm and placed his palm directly in front of his eyes to block the harsh light, and said:

"Officer, this light is too glaring; can you turn it off?"

"It's fine," Xu Mo smiled, "It's just glare, and it doesn't hurt my eyes anyway."

Han Fei: "……"

Xu Mo's explanation was the best they could manage.

The Interrogation Lamp is primarily meant to intimidate the suspect, and its light can make the suspect feel that his deeds have already been exposed, just as he is now illuminated—this is a psychological suggestion.

At the same time, the interrogators sit behind the light; they can see the suspect's expression clearly, while the suspect cannot see them against the backlight, creating a situation where the enemy is visible and they are hidden.

However, this device is truly blinding; using such harsh light to chase the suspect carries a hint of 'torture by intimidation.'

Therefore, the Police now rarely use the Interrogation Lamp during interrogations.

But according to Xu Mo, he turned on the lamp for no other reason than to blast Li Yuanliang's eyes with the bright light!

Of course, once the lamp was on, Han Fei saw no need to go out of his way to turn it off.

Just as Xu Mo said, glare is glare, and it doesn't affect their eyes…

Pointing at the rose and the cake they had brought, Han Fei spoke.

"Do these two items look familiar to you?"

"No… not familiar," Li Yuanliang said, and under the harsh glare of the Interrogation Lamp he visibly grew more nervous, even stammering as he spoke.

"Not familiar? This is the cake you delivered to Guan Yiliu's doorstep at midnight yesterday. Forensic analysis shows that both the cake and the rose stem contain Castor toxin, the very poison that caused Guan Yiliu's death," Han Fei said, then played a piece of surveillance footage for Li Yuanliang.

That footage was the very recording Xu Mo had copied back.

"We would not have brought you here without solid evidence; everything you did was captured on surveillance. Denying it won't help—you can't escape the evidence we have."

Seeing the footage, Li Yuanliang's whole demeanor collapsed; his face turned ashen as he stared at the monitor.

Just moments ago he could still stubbornly claim he didn't recognize the cake or the rose, but after watching the footage he fell silent.

The Police even retrieved the portion he had deleted, so his stubbornness was useless.

Immediately after, Han Fei produced two reports.

"This one is Guan Yiliu's autopsy report, which shows she died from Castor toxin; this one is the analysis of the surface composition of the cake and the rose stem, both of which contain Castor toxin."

Li Yuanliang remained silent.

But at this moment his complexion was pale, his lips trembled, and he was completely bloodless, likely from fear.

Seeing Li Yuanliang's fragile mental defense appear shattered, Han Fei placed both hands on the table and leaned forward.

"Speak up—why you killed. You should know, Leniency for Confession, Severity for Resistance."

"Police officer, if I confess now, can I get a Sentence Reduction?" Li Yuanliang asked tentatively.

He knew he was unlikely to escape punishment, but wasn't sure whether a voluntary confession would earn a reduction; if it could, he was very willing to confess.

"Whether you get a reduction depends on your behavior," Han Fei replied ambiguously. "I can't guarantee a reduction for a voluntary confession, but if you keep denying, your sentence will certainly be increased."

Hearing this, Li Yuanliang thought it over.

Finally, clenching his teeth, he said, "I'll speak!"

Han Fei glanced at the camera beside him, confirmed it was functioning, then nodded, "Begin."

Immediately thereafter, Li Yuanliang recounted his motive for murder and the entire course of the crime in detail.

"I killed her mainly out of hatred. If it weren't for her, my family wouldn't have fallen apart, my father wouldn't have abandoned my mother and me, and she wouldn't have died from constant sorrow… I could have had a happy family, but that woman ruined everything. If I don't kill her, I have no face to face my mother."

Li Yuanliang's motive matched Xu Mo's speculation: he killed out of hatred for Guan Yiliu, who had torn his family apart.

After taking a deep breath, Li Yuanliang continued.

"My mother died six months ago. After she was gone, my hatred toward that woman grew stronger. I wanted to kill her, obsessively, so I began planning half a year ago. I learned about Castor toxin from a movie, and later went to great lengths to obtain a small amount of it."

"After that, I applied for a job as a residential security guard. After working for a while, I used my position to learn her exact address. I originally intended to go straight to her door and force the poison down her throat, but I feared she would immediately seek gastric lavage, so I plotted for a while longer."

"I discovered that she liked to flirt with young men, so I created a secondary WeChat account with a fake photo and chatted with her. I thought it would take effort, but she was so foolish that she fell for it immediately. Through the chat I learned today was her birthday—a perfect opportunity. I timed it for midnight and sent her a gift pre‑laced with poison, and that's how I killed her."

"Early this morning I went back to the complex and, while no one was around, deleted that footage. I didn't expect… that you would still find it," Li Yuanliang said with a bitter smile.

Immediately after, he slumped in the interrogation chair and said, "I've said everything I need to. That's all; I've fully confessed."