9:35 p.m., Miller’s study.
Amor walked up to the desk and stopped, “Father.”
Miller, sitting behind the desk, was reading the news and didn’t look up, “Rest early.”
“I came to bid you farewell.” As the words were spoken, Miller finally lifted his head.
“I’ve taken leave for you from the university. You don’t need to rush back. Stay at home for a while longer this time.”
“No, I have other things to do.” Amor’s tone was flat as he refused.
“Other things?” Miller turned off the news projection and furrowed his brow slightly, “What other things?”
“You don’t need to worry about it.”
“Are you going to collect the corpse of your lover?” Miller leaned back in his chair, looking up at Amor with contempt and disdain evident in his demeanor, “Amor, how did you become the way you are now? You used to be obedient.”
“I’m fine the way I am now.”
“You’re still too young. When you truly grow up, you’ll realize how foolish it is to let love cloud your judgment.” Miller tapped the table with his index finger, “To give up your social status for a lowly commoner, I feel embarrassed for you.”
“Whose embarrassment?” Amor’s calm tone finally showed a ripple as he looked at Miller, piercing through without mercy, “Yours?”
“The entire family will be embarrassed because of you!” Miller’s voice rose in anger, “You were born with a silver spoon in your mouth, something many people envy. And yet, instead of being grateful, you think there’s something wrong with the existing social system. Do you know that you’re being ungrateful?”
“I haven’t published my theories in a book. I’ve already exercised restraint.”
“You still want to publish a book? What a joke.” Miller’s lips curled with sarcasm, “Let me warn you, Amor. Do what is appropriate for your position, and don’t make me teach you such simple lessons.”
“I came here today to bid you farewell because I no longer want that position. I don’t need you to teach me anything, I’m well aware.”
“You want to end ties with the family?” The muscles on Miller’s cheek twitched slightly with anger, and his gaze darkened, “For so-called freedom and love? It’s ridiculous! If you dare to have any relationship with a civilian—”
But as he said that, Miller suddenly calmed down, pondering before saying, “Wait, you’ve actually reminded me. The Marg people are currently facing a public relations crisis, and an alliance with civilians might be a good solution.”
Amor furrowed his brow slightly.
“Alright, since you want to marry a commoner, I’ll grant your wish.” Miller regained his composure, “Captain Shen is a suitable candidate, much more respectable than that monster hunter.”
“…Respectable?” Amor’s hands, hanging down, gradually clenched into fists.
“That’s settled then. As a member of this family, you also have to shoulder responsibilities.”
“I said earlier,” his voice, squeezed out from the corner of his mouth, trembled slightly, “I’m leaving.”
“Leaving to do what? Do you think you’re capable of collecting your wild man’s corpse in the ruins?” Miller’s tone became impatient, “If you dare go, I’ll immediately send someone to chop up his body and feed it to the dogs.”
His fingertips sank into his flesh as if trying to draw blood. His fist tightened and then loosened, and Amor said calmly, “Take care, Father.”
“You still want to leave? Stop right there, do you hear me?!”
“…”
Amor.
Amor folded his silver-framed glasses and put them in the inner pocket of his suit jacket. He then inserted his hands into the pockets of his trousers and calmly said to Shen Siwei, “Was it your idea to have Rita call me back?”
“Yes,” Shen Siwei replied.
“How did you know it was me?”
At first, Shen Siwei didn’t want to believe it either. Even when setting up this trap, he silently hoped that Amor wouldn’t appear. But at that moment, he had to accept that fact.
“While checking the records of entry and exit from the passageways, Klet discovered a suspicious person,” Shen Siwei referred to the stranger with a blank background, “His entry and exit times were very strange, entering the top floor twice, once before Miller’s death and once at Miller’s funeral.”
“What does that have to do with me?” Amor asked.
“It indeed doesn’t seem to have much to do with you when looked at like that, so let me put it differently,” Shen Siwei said, “He entered the top floor both times after you left. The first time was after you bid farewell to Miller, and the second time was after you attended the funeral.”
Amor raised an eyebrow slightly.
“In other words, every time you left the top floor, this person appeared. Isn’t that a remarkable coincidence?”
“It’s possible that it’s just a coincidence.”
“The time you both entered and exited is very close. I think anyone would find it strange.”
“Do you suspect me just because of that?” Amor smiled, “Isn’t that a bit hasty?”
“No, there is a reason to suspect you,” Shen Siwei exhaled heavily and continued, “When you went to the lower level, you concealed your identity. If I’m not mistaken, you bought a fake identity in Zone Z of City X.”
Amor couldn’t possibly wander around with his real identity following Li. Regardless of how the task force eventually traced their whereabouts, one thing was certain—Amor would never be foolish enough to let the military track his location.
Therefore, it was highly likely that Amor had a dual identity—one was himself, and the other was the fake identity he purchased.
Amor didn’t respond, silently acknowledging Shen Siwei’s statement.
“Looking at the timeline between you and that suspicious person, when you left, he appeared, and when he left, you appeared. If this suspicious person is indeed you, then you were present on the top floor the whole time.”
Amor initially left the top floor after bidding farewell to Miller.
Based on the entry and exit records, he was already absent from the top floor when Miller was murdered, so he naturally couldn’t be the culprit.
But if he returned to the top floor using a fake identity, then all his alibis of not being present would be invalidated.
Since he had to return with his real identity the next day to attend the funeral, Amor had to leave using the fake identity first and then switch back to his real identity.
After attending the funeral, he left again, switched back to the fake identity, and returned to the top floor. It was after that that Adolf was murdered.
The reason Shen Siwei had Rita feign illness and call Amor back was that Amor was staying on the top floor at that time. He had to exchange identities again through “entry and exit,” and Shen Siwei caught him at that moment.
“I initially suspected Adolf because of his reaction when dealing with emergencies. It seemed like he already knew Miller would die,” Shen Siwei said. “If I’m not mistaken, you informed Adolf in advance that you were going to kill Miller.”
Amor listened quietly to Shen Siwei’s speculation without any intention of refuting.
“Then let me guess again. You informed Adolf because you needed his help.”
Adolf had previously entered Shen Siwei’s room without any hindrance, claiming that the top floor was his territory, and there was no place he couldn’t go. Shen Siwei estimated that Amor, who usually didn’t stay on the top floor, wouldn’t be able to obtain access to the top floor using his fake identity alone, so he had to ask for Adolf’s help.
Including obtaining firearms, it was likely done through Adolf as well.
“That’s right,” Amor chuckled lightly and spoke voluntarily, “He supported me a lot and even suggested that I fake it as a suicide.”
Seeing Amor readily admit it, Shen Siwei couldn’t help but feel a sinking feeling. “The suicide note, was it your idea?What about Adolf?” Shen Siwei asked, “Did you kill him for Li’s sake too?”
In fact, there was one thing that Shen Siwei still couldn’t figure out.
Amor killed Miller, but it was only to avenge Li. Although Moran was the one directly responsible for Li’s death, in the end, Miller was the mastermind.
But Adolf was at most a peripheral character. If even Adolf had to be eliminated, then Rita should have been killed as well.
“Or,” Shen Siwei speculated, “Did Adolf plan to expose you?”
Amor laughed lightly, “Do you think that’s possible?”
Indeed, it was highly unlikely. They were both on the same boat. If Adolf exposed Amor, it would mean exposing himself as well.
“So, is it still for Li’s sake?” Shen Siwei asked.
“You’re wrong, Captain Shen,” Amor said, “Your other guesses are mostly correct, but everything I did from beginning to the end wasn’t for Li.”
Could it be to help Nightingale?
An absurd thought flashed through Shen Siwei’s mind.
“Nor is it for anyone else,” Amor’s next words instantly dispelled Shen Siwei’s thoughts, “I’m only doing it for myself.”
Shen Siwei furrowed his brows slightly, waiting for Amor to continue.
“Do you still remember what you said to me in Moran’s basement? ‘Why don’t you unleash your hatred?’ I want to thank you, Captain Shen. It was you who woke me up.”
An ominous feeling suddenly arose in Shen Siwei’s heart.
“You probably don’t know that my father initially wanted me to marry you. His actions have made me lose any remaining affection for him. I have nothing left to care about. I want to vent my anger. I want everyone to feel my pain.”
As Amor spoke, his tone was calm, but Shen Siwei couldn’t help but feel a chill.
“I came up with a perfect plan for revenge, but to achieve this plan, I had to stay on the top floor as an invisible person. So, I could only seek help from my dear brother.
“I told him I wanted to kill our father and asked him to help me obtain access to the top floor with my fake identity. He readily agreed. You see, that old man had been finding ways to extend his life, and Adolf had long hoped for his death due to business matters.”
But what Adolf didn’t know was that my real intention was not to kill my father but to gain access to the top level with my identity. Only then could I stay there unnoticed and carry out my plan. So killing my father was just a diversionary tactic.
Later, Adolf realized that the game was up and asked me to come back and discuss countermeasures with him. It was also at that time that he unexpectedly discovered that I had returned to the top level using a fake identity after leaving the funeral. This was different from our initial agreement. I wasn’t supposed to come back after killing Miller. So he questioned me, asking why I wanted to stay at the top level with a fake identity when my goal had already been achieved.
Of course, I wouldn’t let him interfere with my plans, so I eliminated him directly.” Amor paused here. “That’s the whole story, Captain Shen.”
Shen Siwei felt increasingly uneasy as he listened. He suppressed his inner uneasiness and asked, “What is your plan, after all?”
He had always thought that Amor killed Miller to avenge Li. But in the end, obtaining identity access was Amor’s true purpose. He didn’t hesitate to kill his own father to achieve this.
“You’ll find out soon enough,” Amor said, taking out a small bottle of bronchial spray from his trouser pocket. “And there’s one thing you haven’t guessed, Captain Shen.”
He casually shook the spray bottle, blocking the lettering on the bottle with his slender fingers, making it difficult to read.
“I’m revealing myself now not to assume my true identity and go back to see Rita,” he stopped shaking the spray and quickly operated a miniature computer, pressing a certain command button. “It’s because the plan has already been completed, and I should go down to be with my Li.”
As soon as Amor finished speaking, darkness suddenly enveloped the surroundings. Apart from the searchlights of the aircraft, all the streetlights, landscape lights, and lights in the villas went out simultaneously. From a distance, the entire top level was shrouded in a deathly silence.
The guards looked at each other in confusion. Some said there was a power outage, while others said the network was down. Everyone was facing this situation for the first time—the core power station was not functioning normally.
Shen Siwei thought of the previous unstable voltage during the meeting with Leizhe, but he didn’t have time to dwell on it now because after Amor said, “Take care, everyone,” he suddenly inhaled the spray and collapsed.
Shen Siwei hurriedly caught Amor’s body and noticed that the aerosol spray that had slipped aside was actually euthanasia drug that causes respiratory and cardiac arrest.
“Call a doctor quickly!” he shouted at the guards.
Communication was cut off, so the guards had to take the aircraft back to the villa to call for help.
Klet approached Shen Siwei and began performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation on Amor. “He had planned to commit suicide.”
It was an obvious fact. Shen Siwei looked at the unresponsive Amor and frowned, “But what was his plan in the end?”
“I don’t know,” Klet said casually. “Bury everyone with him?”
as the aircraft carrying the family doctor returned to this side, another aircraft suddenly flew in from a distance.
The driver seemed to have poor skills, as the descent was delayed and the landing gear was lowered late, causing the aircraft to rush straight towards the entrance and nearly collide with other parked aircraft.
The cockpit door opened, and a short and stout figure emerged.
“Something’s wrong! Something’s wrong!”
The person was wearing a white coat and glasses. It was Dr. Chen, who had been missing for two days.
“Something’s wrong, Captain Shen!” Dr. Chen rushed to Shen Siwei and Klet, gasping for breath, and said to everyone present, “The Life Tree is about to collapse. Hurry, get on the aircraft!”
Shen Siwei asked in disbelief, “What?”
“Amor has gone crazy. He wants to destroy the Life Tree. Hurry and save yourselves!”
Shen Siwei looked incredulously at Amor lying on the ground. He never expected that Klet’s earlier words would turn out to be a prophecy.
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