Chapter 180: Realistic Nightmare

"You won't understand what it's like to be tormented by guilt every moment.

I often wake up from nightmares. In the dream, my mother suddenly opens her eyes in that pitch-black cave, staring at me, asking why I didn't save her, why I didn't expose my father's crime.

I can't find a way to vent.

I've been to Da Baoen Si to repent, I've been to the church to repent.

Those gods just looked down with numbness, waiting for me to give an answer myself."

"Why choose these women to attack?" Qi Fei asked coldly.

"If the company hadn't sent me to Dongji Zhen to handle the environmental assessment of the new aquatic building, nothing would have started.

Returning to Dongji Zhen was Heaven's will, because my mother couldn't rest in peace. She needed me, needed me to redeem my sins to Heaven. This is my sin. If it weren't for my doodling on the paper, my mother wouldn't have died. Because of this job, I met that woman from the aquatic company."

"Chen Afeng," Qi Fei said her name.

However, this name didn't cause any reaction from Cui Nian—he didn't remember the victim's name at all. At this moment, he was just immersed in his own narration: "This woman was the same age as my mother. She cursed her husband with her colleagues. I thought, if only my mother were still alive. She complained to people about the argument last night, and the two made up quickly. But my mother didn't have such a chance.

From that time on, my mother's voice would appear in my ears, or rather, it was the Sea Mother conveying the oracle to me in my mother's voice. She said that my sins could only be repaid through sacrifice."

"So you abducted Chen Afeng?"

"Hmph, I just told her that I could hear the Sea Mother's voice and could fulfill her wishes.

She didn't think much and believed it.

I said I could help her get rid of her pain, and I didn't lie."

"She thought you would help her pay off her husband's gambling debts, not let you torture and kill her!" Qi Fei said indignantly.

However, Cui Nian, who had always looked ordinary, grinned at this moment, revealing yellow teeth: "She knew I was helping her."

"Why gouge out the eyes of these victims?"

"I don't want to see the look in their eyes before they die. It reminds me of my mother, lying on the ground like that, helplessly opening her eyes wide and looking at me.

They are sacrifices, sacrifices for my redemption.

These eyes see only illusions. I am helping them detach from these worldly delusions," Cui Nian said the most insane things in a calm tone.

"The others too, you used fulfilling their wishes as bait, let them fall into your trap, and in the end, they all became the sacrifices you call redemption," Qi Fei said, his cheeks twitching, trying his best to restrain his emotions. "Then what about Ye Ming?"

The name "Ye Ming" finally didn't seem as insignificant as the other victims.

Cui Nian's face suddenly retracted its arrogance: "I didn't want to kill him. Xu Chunxia should have been my last sacrifice."

"Why was Xu Chunxia the last one?"

"Because after Xu Chunxia was sacrificed, the Sea Mother's voice disappeared. I believe it's because she was from the Bai Family Village, and my mother was finally satisfied. She forgave my sins."

"No, it has nothing to do with your mother. Your auditory hallucinations disappeared because you met Chang Rong at that time," Qi Fei broke the point. "You fell in love, and the childhood trauma was healed by love."

Cui Nian didn't respond, but Qi Fei knew he had hit the mark. For a moment, the Cui Nian opposite him seemed to have his normal self briefly return to his body, and then dissipate like smoke: "But this police officer named Ye Ming just kept chasing. He got too close, and even found my father.

When my father told me the content of the conversation with the police, I knew that he had found out."

"This 'he' refers to?"

"My father, Cui Zhan." Cui Nian's answer surprised everyone.

"Did Cui Zhan hint for you to kill Ye Ming?"

"Ye Ming, I remember that winter, from my father, I learned what Ye Ming had discovered. Before long, the secret hidden deep under Dongji Zhen would be discovered."

"So you planned to use his own strategy against him and lure Ye Ming into a trap."

"No, I think this was a trap for both of us. He knew I was targeting him. He used himself as bait. Unfortunately, I won this duel.

Do you know where he lost?

He trusted my father too much. His analysis of me was completely correct. The only thing he didn't guess was that he told my father his findings without reservation.

Heh, until he died, he didn't know who the person who betrayed him was."

In Qi Fei's earpiece came a roar. It was Li Jianjun, who was listening to the interrogation next door. Cui Nian's contemptuous attitude toward Ye Ming angered him.

And Qi Fei knew he had to be calm. He had to bring this devil before him to justice using the most impartial means.

"In the autumn of 1984, you started committing crimes again. Why?" He asked according to the established interrogation rhythm.

Cui Nian shook his head slightly after hearing this: "I don't know either. Ever since I knew my wife was pregnant, my mother's voice started ringing in my ears day and night, asking me to redeem my sins. I couldn't control myself and could only do as told."

"Because you know clearly in your heart that you don't deserve such a happy life. What you hear is not your mother's voice, but your own guilt," Qi Fei's voice was resonant. "I'm sorry, the one who killed Ye Ming was a coward who didn't dare to face his own heart."

"Sigh..." Cui Nian sighed long: "After my daughter was born, I really regretted it. I was afraid you would find me. I knew that once I was caught, it would be the death penalty.

The nightmare about my mother, I haven't had it since I got married."

"Hmph, you actually managed to sleep peacefully?!" Wu Shanqiu on the side said indignantly.

"No, I mean the nightmare about my mother disappeared. It was replaced by another nightmare. I dreamed that you found me and told me you were going to execute me. Every time, I was so scared in the dream that my hands and feet went cold, knowing that I couldn't turn back from what I had done, and suddenly woke up.

After waking up, I was glad it was just a nightmare and that I could still linger on. This is my life for the past forty-plus years..."

"This bit of pain cannot repay the victims who died tragically at your hands," Qi Fei said coldly.

"Am I really not having a nightmare now?" Cui Nian actually asked with hope.

"No, this is reality," Qi Fei answered decisively. ===== CHAPTER 181 =====