Chapter 117: The Simplest Motive for Crime. Special thanks to Zhizunbao791009 for the jade pendant gift.

Charlie had long since made plans to take Zhang Mu for plastic surgery, and everything had been prepared. But Z was still alive, and Charlie could wait no longer. He decided to kill her.

Murder was no small matter. Once Charlie acted, there would be no turning back. If anything went wrong, he would plunge into an abyss of eternal ruin.

Charlie brought Zhang Mu along and made her take part in the murder. He wanted to leave her with no way out, so that she would help him keep the secret. Charlie still remembered that it had been a rainy night. Under the pretext of worshipping the gods, he took Z to a deserted mountain. Torrential rain began to fall, and they had no choice but to shelter in a dilapidated temple.

The rain had still not stopped by midnight. Zhang Mu had already been deceived into coming to the ruined temple. When Z saw her, both women froze. Z was especially stunned; she had never imagined that someone could look so much like her.

Z was alert. She had already sensed that something was wrong. Just as she tried to run outside, Charlie picked up a stone from the ground and smashed it hard into the back of her head.

Z collapsed in front of Zhang Mu. Charlie forced Zhang Mu to strike her, threatening to kill Zhang Mu as well if she refused. In a panic, Zhang Mu took the stone from Charlie and brought it down again and again on the back of Z’s head. Once a person panicked, it was difficult to control their actions.

Terrified, Zhang Mu kept smashing Z’s head until it was completely ruined, yet she still did not stop. In the end, Charlie had to restrain her. His objective had been achieved. Together, they buried Z on the rear slope of the mountain. It was a desolate place, and no one knew of their monstrous crime.

Zhang Mu was now left with no way back either. Charlie deliberately dressed her in heavy clothing, put a hat on her, and covered her face with a mask before taking her to the airport. He intentionally allowed people to discover that they were supposedly traveling to a Southeast Asian country to seek a Kuman Thong.

A female star raising a Kuman Thong would be explosive news at any time. If handled well, it could be used for publicity and become the crucial factor in Z’s supposed comeback—when in truth, Zhang Mu had taken her place. If handled badly, however, it could destroy any possibility of Z ever appearing on screen again. Their situation was at its worst, so Charlie resolutely decided to take the risk.

As it turned out, Charlie really was a capable manager. Over the course of two years, he repeatedly generated publicity through the news and had Zhang Mu, posing as Z, sincerely apologize to the media. In this way, he successfully recreated a film star who became famous throughout Hong Kong.

What he had not expected was that, two years later, I would use the Hong Kong media to dig up the reports from that time and uncover the faint traces they had left behind.

Even less had he expected me to discover their true destination after they had left the country two years earlier.

Charlie’s method of committing the crime had been complicated, but his motive was the simplest of all motives in criminal cases: fame and fortune.

Charlie had already explained the entire scheme of replacing one person with another in meticulous detail. Chen Fan sighed and looked at him.

“The net of Heaven may be vast, but it lets nothing escape. You may evade justice for a time, but not forever.”

Chen Fan spoke the words police officers often used. Then he asked, “What about Zhou Sheng? You still haven’t explained why you killed him.”

Zhang Mu finally understood. She suddenly began to laugh. At a moment like this, we truly did not know whether to call her Z or Zhang Mu.

Using the wall for support, Zhang Mu stood up. She staggered several steps before finally steadying herself.

“I’ll tell you,” she said. “Charlie killed Zhou Sheng because of me.”

Everything began when Charlie took Zhang Mu to see Wu Qingshan.

After killing Z, Charlie took Zhang Mu to undergo plastic surgery. Zhang Mu had already looked very much like Z, and after a few localized procedures, the resemblance became even stronger. Charlie made sure the media remembered Z’s disfigured appearance, then took advantage of the way a little girl’s features changed as she grew into adulthood, together with the sensational Kuman Thong rumors, to deceive the public. Charlie was confident that he could conceal the truth completely.

But no criminal scheme ever proceeds without complications. Two problems soon emerged concerning Zhang Mu, one of them stemming from Zhang Mu herself.

After killing Z, Zhang Mu lived in constant fear. Her mental state began to deteriorate. Every day, she was consumed by self-reproach and guilt. Such psychological pressure was more than an ordinary person could endure.

Imagine killing someone and then having to live every day in the dead woman’s identity. Imagine returning home and facing in the mirror a face almost identical to that of the person you had killed. Anyone would eventually suffer an emotional breakdown. And Zhang Mu had not committed the crime willingly; she had been driven and tempted into it step by step.

Zhang Mu’s surgery was successful, and once the traces of the operation had disappeared, Charlie worried that they might be exposed. He therefore did not take her back to Hong Kong immediately. Another reason was that public opinion in Hong Kong was unfavorable toward Z at the time. Charlie took Zhang Mu to the capital first, hoping to find an opportunity to reenter Hong Kong’s entertainment industry later.

As he watched Zhang Mu’s mental condition worsen, Charlie resorted to an old strategy: he took her to worship gods and pray for peace of mind.

Zhang Mu had originally been nothing more than a migrant worker. Charlie correctly gauged her superstitious nature, and after several visits to temples and shrines, he did indeed manage to calm her somewhat.

But Charlie felt that this was not enough.

During that period, Charlie also heard rumors about a Taoist priest named Wu Qingshan. Charlie and Zhang Mu had never actually gone to the Southeast Asian country in question. He had heard that Wu Qingshan had met a revered monk from Southeast Asia in his youth and learned how to offer worship to Kuman Thong. So Charlie secretly went to see Wu Qingshan first.

Charlie himself did not believe in any of it. He merely wanted to keep Zhang Mu under control. But something happened that he had never anticipated.

Wu Qingshan said something that astonished him—a sentence I, too, had spoken not long before.

“Flowers are not flowers; mist is not mist. Wu Qingshan said that to me.” Charlie slowly forced the words out.

Wu Qingshan had not explained himself, but his meaning seemed to suggest that he knew what Charlie had done.

“What else did he say to you?” I asked, my emotions beginning to rise.

Charlie told me that he had asked Wu Qingshan whether he knew something. Wu Qingshan merely smiled without answering. Instead, he asked Charlie whether he had come seeking peace of mind or success in his career.

Charlie replied that he wanted both.

Wu Qingshan then told him to bring the person he ought to bring up the mountain.

The next day, Charlie took Zhang Mu to the mountain. Wu Qingshan, however, agreed to meet only Zhang Mu.

Charlie had been somewhat worried, but after Zhang Mu came out, her condition truly improved a great deal. I asked Zhang Mu whether Wu Qingshan had said anything to her.

She nodded. She told me that Wu Qingshan’s words had also concealed a deeper meaning. He had given her the impression that he could see through everything. This convinced Zhang Mu completely of Wu Qingshan’s knowledge and abilities.

Wu Qingshan gave Zhang Mu a Kuman Thong doll and told her that as long as she worshipped it every day, no further misfortune would befall her.

And for a full year, that really seemed to be true.

After Charlie and Zhang Mu returned, he saw that her condition was steadily improving. He began devoting himself entirely to planning Zhang Mu’s replacement of Z and her return to fame.

Charlie himself found it miraculous. He even began, little by little, to believe that Wu Qingshan’s words were true. Yet Wu Qingshan’s behavior also aroused his suspicions.

While they were in the capital, Wu Qingshan invited Charlie to meet several times. The meetings took place at a haunted old house on the outskirts of the city.

Wu Qingshan demanded a large sum of money as hush money. Charlie began to suspect that Wu Qingshan had discovered what he had done through some method of his own and was merely putting on an act in order to extort money.

Charlie paid him every time. He also noticed that rumors of haunting had begun to spread about the old house where they met. Charlie believed Wu Qingshan might have deliberately started those rumors to keep others away and conceal the secret of their meetings there.

A year later, Charlie and Zhang Mu had returned to Hong Kong and were thriving in the entertainment industry.

Zhang Mu became intoxicated by her tremendous success. She discussed it with Charlie and said that she did not want to send the Kuman Thong back.

Charlie did not think the matter was serious at the time. His only purpose had been to keep Zhang Mu stable, so he agreed.

But what Charlie had not expected was that, after more than a year had passed, Z’s mental condition began to deteriorate once again.