SFTD -Chapter 62 The Tragedy of an Entire Family (Final)

Back when Liu Handong got married, he already knew his wife was carrying another man’s child.

He was merely the candidate the Zhang family had chosen after weighing all the pros and cons—the man whose personality and family background suited them best. When Liu Handong learned the truth, he had wanted to call off the marriage.

But when he looked at the apartment his father-in-law had prepared for them, he lost the courage to refuse. The Zhang family was considered a respectable scholarly household with substantial wealth. Zhang Junming also worked at a university, which made the family appear especially distinguished.

Yet the immense pressure, along with the Zhang parents’ constant contempt and neglect, made Liu Handong miserable. Eventually, he developed depression, though no one in the Zhang family ever realized it.

Later, he became Fang Qing’s patient.

Under Fang Qing’s treatment, he gradually recovered.

Liu Handong had few friends and no parents or siblings. Because of his long years working at sea, there were times when he wouldn’t speak a single sentence for one or two weeks. The Zhang family assumed he was simply taciturn, but in reality, he just didn’t know what to say.

Now that he finally had a doctor willing to talk with him, he told Fang Qing everything about himself—along with every detail about how abnormal the entire Zhang family was.

Especially the younger sister-in-law, who dated several men at once.

Her constantly shifting temperament and expressions frightened people. Whenever Liu Handong stayed overnight at his in-laws’ home, he would often hear her arguing endlessly with different men over the phone late at night. Even the tone and manner of speaking she used with each man were completely different.

Those words caught Fang Qing’s attention.

Ever since childhood, Fang Qing had felt as though there was a girl living inside his heart. Although he constantly tried to suppress that presence, the girl would occasionally emerge and interfere with his life.

Sometimes Fang Qing would lose control of his emotions, and even his speech patterns and tone would unconsciously shift under that girl’s influence. It terrified him. Now, upon discovering someone who seemed similar to himself, he felt both nervous and excited.

Unexpectedly, half a month later, near the end of 2013, Zhang Junya came to Fang Qing on her own initiative.

During her hypnosis sessions, Fang Qing spoke separately with her two alternate personalities. The more he interacted with them, the more he understood that the girl living inside him existed in the same way as Zhang Junya’s alternate personalities.

From then on, Fang Qing began luring Zhang Junya to his home for treatment. The two immediately clicked.

During the sadistic sexual games between Fang Qing and Zhang Junya, the girl hidden deep within Fang Qing was completely released.

Twice, while in an intense state of sexual excitement, Fang Qing nearly strangled Zhang Junya to death.

After that, Zhang Junya stopped seeing Fang Qing. But having already opened the second door of his life, Fang Qing could no longer endure returning to normal. He constantly harassed Zhang Junya.

Then he learned she was getting married.

Fang Qing was furious—more furious than he had ever been before. He hated Zhang Junya, and he hated the man who was going to marry her.

At that moment, Liu Handong came looking for Fang Qing, utterly dejected.

He said his father-in-law had held a family meeting and decided to give the family’s Changhe properties and ancestral antiques to Zhang Junya, while leaving the old Duping house and the apartment Liu Handong currently lived in to him and his wife.

The difference in value was heaven and earth.

Liu Handong was so upset he wanted to kill someone.

The moment those words left his mouth, Fang Qing grabbed his hand.

Fang Qing said he wanted to kill Zhang Junya and Tong Xinwei, while the rest of the family could be dealt with however Liu Handong pleased. He also claimed he wanted none of the Zhang family’s wealth.

The moment Liu Handong heard this, he became interested.

Others might not know, but he did—the Zhang family appeared modest on the surface, but their hidden real estate and antiques amounted to an astonishing fortune.

The two men began carefully planning the murders.

At 12:20 a.m. on the 25th, they climbed over the wall and entered the Zhang residence.

Liu Handong knocked on the door.

Zhang Junya was in the living room doing accounts. When she opened the door and saw her brother-in-law, she was surprised but said nothing.

Just as she turned to step aside and let him in, Fang Qing rushed forward, clamped a hand over her mouth, and slit her throat with a knife.

Through his mask, he bit Zhang Junya’s ear, then propped her body against the shoe cabinet. Afterward, he took out a cotton ball stained with Zhu Xupeng’s saliva and rubbed it over the place he had bitten.

Liu Handong froze for a moment.

But the sight of the spurting blood stimulated him. Carrying a knife, he rushed into the living room.

The old woman was already asleep on the sofa, while the old man reclined there half-awake.

Liu Handong copied Fang Qing’s method and killed the old man first before turning around and slitting the old woman’s throat.

At that moment, noise came from the kitchen.

Zhang Junming walked out and looked toward the entranceway. The moment she saw the fallen Zhang Junya and Fang Qing, she tried to scream, then immediately turned to run upstairs.

Liu Handong knew she was trying to protect the children.

An indescribable rage instantly exploded inside him.

He rushed forward, tackled Zhang Junming to the ground, and stabbed her in the back. Afraid she might survive, he even twisted the knife inside her chest cavity before pulling it out, just like slaughtering pigs back in his childhood village.

At that moment, Tong Xinwei came downstairs.

One hand was in his pocket while the other held the railing. Because he had drunk too much, his footing was unsteady.

Fang Qing yanked Tong Xinwei down the stairs and began hacking at him wildly with the knife.

No one knew how many times he struck.

Only after Tong Xinwei stopped moving did Liu Handong shout at Fang Qing to stop.

Fang Qing raised the knife and peeled the entire face off Tong Xinwei.

Looking at the mangled mass of flesh and blood, Fang Qing laughed chillingly.

The two men then went upstairs.

Following the sound of movement, Fang Qing headed straight for the room opposite the staircase.

The child, upon seeing Fang Qing, jumped onto the windowsill in terror.

With a swing of his hand, Fang Qing slit the child’s throat.

But the child’s body slowly toppled backward and fell from the upper floor.

After listening carefully, they heard only a dull thud.

Everything around them remained silent.

Meanwhile, Liu Handong emerged from the master bedroom carrying a bag filled with antique boxes. Clearly, he had already succeeded in looting the valuables.

After going downstairs, Liu Handong also swept all the cash off the coffee table into his bag.

The two exited the apartment.

Liu Handong wanted to close the door behind them, but Fang Qing shook his head, signaling him not to. They needed the scene to look like a robbery; closing the door would seem too deliberate.

Standing on the landing between the third and fourth floors, they changed out of all their equipment—knives, gloves, shoe covers, masks, hats, and disposable protective suits. Fang Qing stuffed everything into a large backpack.

Then they escaped He Tou Yuan Residential Complex under cover of darkness.

Fang Qing handed Liu Handong a packet of medicine and instructed him to take it the next morning before going to the hospital and pretending to be ill. The medicine would induce a high fever and symptoms resembling pneumonia.

Liu Handong was deeply grateful.

After all, all of the Zhang family’s wealth would eventually belong to him. Fang Qing wouldn’t be able to take any of it away, so Liu Handong trusted him completely.

The two separated.

Fang Qing drove back to First Affiliated Hospital and located Zhu Xupeng’s car. Using a duplicate key he had prepared beforehand, he opened the trunk and stuffed one of the knives into the gap beside the spare tire and partition board.

Both knives had been prepared by him. The only difference between them was the width of the blades. Even if someone picked them up for close inspection, they likely wouldn’t know which knife had actually been used.

Afterward, Fang Qing drove to Zhanshan Temple.

Halfway up the mountain, he found a secluded place and burned everything in the backpack.

But he deliberately did not burn the remaining knife.

If the knife had also been burned, it wouldn’t fit the killer profile he had designed.

So he drove home, carefully cleaned the knife, boiled it in hot water, and took a bath.

Only then did he notice a faint bloodstain on his diamond cufflink. He hurriedly scrubbed it clean, dried it, and stored it away in the walk-in closet.

Fang Qing changed clothes and drove toward Yunlian Port.

On the road, he called Liu Handong to ask where he was.

He also instructed Liu Handong to call the ship captain and explain his whereabouts.

Once Fang Qing learned which hospital Liu Handong was in, he immediately drove there.

Upon entering the emergency observation ward, he saw Liu Handong lying alone in bed. His face was flushed red and sweat covered his body. Clearly, he had already taken the medication.

Fang Qing walked over and nudged him.

Liu Handong opened his eyes groggily, no longer even recognizing people.

Fang Qing then doubled the dosage of the drugs before calmly leaving.

He was creating insurance for himself.

Zhu Xupeng was the first layer.

And if the police traced the case back to Liu Handong, then by the time they found him, Liu Handong would already be a complete idiot.

That would be Fang Qing’s greatest protection.

After leaving the criminal investigation unit, Fang Qing didn’t even dare return home. Instead, he rushed straight to his office, where the presence of other people eased his nerves somewhat.

But what he never expected was that after his suspicion had been cleared during the day, he would hear police sirens downstairs in the middle of the night.

Fang Qing instantly jolted awake.

He never imagined the police would actually find Liu Handong and bring him back.

He hurried into the corridor and listened as the officers headed up to the fourth floor—his father’s department.

What pleased him even more was discovering that Liu Handong had been placed in the temporary ward east of the storage room.

Around five in the morning, fully disguised, Fang Qing waited until one of the officers went to the restroom. Then he entered through the western main entrance, took the key from the nurses’ station, unlocked the storage room, and walked inside.

The officer merely glanced at him before continuing to doze.

Fang Qing opened the partition door, carefully moved the cabinet aside, helped Liu Handong out of the room, and tied a bedsheet rope to the window. After restoring everything to its original position, he injected Liu Handong with a massive dose of sedatives and covered him with the bedsheet.

He planned to deal with Liu Handong later that night once the situation quieted down.

But the next morning, Fang Qing himself was taken away by the police.

That completely caught him off guard.

His final question to the officer interrogating him was whether Zhou Hai had discovered the truth.

The officer did not answer.

Instead, he asked Fang Qing whether, had they not arrested him, he would have killed Liu Handong as well.

Fang Qing smiled faintly and said nothing.

Only after a long silence did he slowly nod.

After watching all the interrogation videos, Zhou Hai remained silent for a very long time.

People could call him cold-blooded or heartless if they wished.

Let them say whatever they wanted.

Just like Xu Biao’s nickname for him—“Fa Hai.”

At that moment, Zhou Hai suddenly began to like that nickname.

He wanted to live up to it.

To walk the path of slaying monsters and eliminating evil, while never abandoning the conviction buried deep within his heart.