Unable to breathe

Chapter 50

Yang Ming was somewhat unwilling to give up, but he eventually came up with many ways to interview Qu Baoyuan.

Wearing shackles and handcuffs, Qu Baoyuan walked with his arms swinging from side to side. Escorted by two prison guards, he slowly walked out of his cell and into the reception room. Now he looked even shorter and thinner.

The police helped him slowly sit down in a chair with a backrest.

Yang Ming saw neither sorrow nor despair on Qu Baoyuan's face; he looked like a passerby on the street. This surprised him greatly, and for a moment he forgot his question. Didn't Qu Baoyuan know he was about to be executed? Didn't he know he was about to leave this beautiful world forever? Instead, Yang Ming felt sorrow and despair for Qu Baoyuan.

The prison guard probably noticed his distraction and coughed twice to remind him.

"Is there anything you want me to pass on to your family?"

Upon hearing Yang Ming's question, Qu Baoyuan was taken aback, as if he hadn't understood. Then, in a hoarse voice, he said:

"No, no. Thank you."

Do you miss your family and children?

Qu Baoyuan frowned and glanced at Yang Ming.

Yang Ming knew he had touched a raw nerve, and immediately said:

"I'm sorry. I heard that you care a lot about their future."

Qu Baoyuan's eyes lit up:

"I'm leaving, but they still have to live, they still have to live."

"Mr. Qu, you are knowledgeable in calligraphy. There are many of your calligraphy and paintings hanging in your home. They are written with great skill. I have a question that I don't understand and would like to ask you."

Qu Baoyuan was taken aback at first, but then he realized that the "Mr. Qu" the other person was referring to was him, and couldn't help but smile.

"No, no, I wouldn't dare."

"Can you tell me what character you wrote?"

Qu Baoyuan was lost in thought again, and then he thought for a moment:

"It's not writing, it's just scribbling."

"Could you please tell me how you made the cut?"

Qu Baoyuan's face brightened:

"She tried to stab me with a knife. I was very angry. I don't know what I was thinking, but I pulled her knife away and first drew a '人' character, then a '女' character, then a '口' character with an 'X' inside. It was all in a moment of emotion."

"Isn't this a character?"

He sighed:

"If you say it's not a word, no one will believe you. If you say it is, then it is; if you say it isn't, then it isn't."

What do you want to mean by it?

Qu Baoyuan stared blankly at Yang Ming, then said:

"If you say it's interesting, then it's interesting; if you say it's not interesting, then it's not interesting."

Do you know the two victims?

"I don't know him."

"Then why did you kill them?"

"I don't know why, I don't know."

"Why do you specifically target young women? Why do you commit such brutal acts? What is your purpose in doing this?"

A faint hint of smugness suddenly appeared on Qu Baoyuan's face:

"It's just for watching, just for appreciating, you don't understand. Really, you don't understand."

"I heard that you love your family very much and think about their future. Then why did you kill other people and cause them harm as well?"

Yang Ming saw Qu Baoyuan's body tremble, his eyes suddenly becoming unfocused, as if gazing into a distant time and space, his soul wandering beyond the physical world, and his voice becoming wavering:

"Well, I don't know what I was thinking, where the energy came from, I don't know..."

Qu Baoyuan, who was silent, seemed to have forgotten where he was, and was already immersed in his own daydream. Yang Ming couldn't help but raise his voice:

"You think you're normal, so why do the things you do make people hate you to the core? Do you know how the general public views you?"

Qu Baoyuan was taken aback, then turned back to Yang Ming:

"I've heard about it right here in my neighborhood. I don't think so, no problem, I don't."

Do you consider yourself normal?

Qu Baoyuan smiled:

"That's normal. People outside say I'm a perverted monster, but I'm not a pervert."

"If it's normal, why do you still kill innocent women?"

Qu Baoyuan fell into a daze again, seemingly pondering:

"I don't know what they were thinking, I have no idea."

"Now, do you regret it?"