Confess and be lenient, resist and be strict

Interrogation room.

Li Yuanliang sat in the interrogation chair.

At this moment, he was extremely nervous, his heart racing.

The feeling of being brought to an interrogation room with no one questioning him was unsettling.

It felt almost exactly like the chilly sensation of having an alcohol swab wiped on your bottom before getting a shot as a child...

Finally, after waiting for about six or seven minutes, the door to the interrogation room opened.

Han Fei and Xu Mo walked in.

Notably, they were both carrying something.

Han Fei held a glass vase with a single rose, while Xu Mo carried a birthday cake.

They sat down at the table across from him.

Xu Mo, imitating scenes from TV dramas, reached out and turned on the interrogation lamp on the table, adjusting its direction so that the light shone directly on Li Yuanliang.

The latter, startled by the sudden bright light, couldn't keep his eyes open. He immediately raised his arm, placing his palm in front of his eyes to block the glaring light, while saying:

"Officer, this light is a bit too bright. Can you turn it off?"

"It's fine," Xu Mo smiled. "So what if it's glaring? It's not hurting my eyes."

Han Fei: "..."

Xu Mo's explanation was something else.

The interrogation lamp was mainly used to intimidate suspects, and the light could make suspects feel as if their actions had been exposed, just like they were now exposed under the lamp - it was a psychological suggestion.

At the same time, with the interrogators sitting behind the light, they could clearly see the suspect's expressions, but the suspect couldn't see the interrogators clearly due to the backlighting, creating a situation where the enemy was visible but we were hidden.

However, this thing was really too bright. Using such a glaring light to shine on suspects had a bit of a 'coerced confession' feel to it.

So nowadays, the police rarely use interrogation lamps during questioning.

But from Xu Mo's words, it seemed he had no other intention in turning on the lamp other than to shine the strong light in Li Yuanliang's eyes!

Of course, since the lamp was already on, Han Fei didn't bother to turn it off.

As Xu Mo said, if it's glaring, so be it. After all, it wasn't hurting their eyes...

Pointing to the rose and cake they had brought in, Han Fei spoke up.

"Do these two items look familiar to you?"

"N-no... not familiar," Under the direct glare of the interrogation lamp, Li Yuanliang was obviously more flustered, to the point where he even started to stutter.

"Not familiar? These were delivered to Guan Yiliu's doorstep by you at midnight yesterday. After forensic testing, both the cake and the rose stem contained ricin toxin, which is what caused Guan Yiliu's death," As he spoke, Han Fei played a surveillance video clip for Li Yuanliang.

This clip was the one Xu Mo had copied and brought back.

"We wouldn't have arrested you without solid evidence. Everything you did was captured on camera. There's no use denying it; we have proof."

Seeing this surveillance footage, Li Yuanliang felt his world crumbling. He stared at the monitor, his face ashen.

Earlier, he could still try to deny knowing about the cake and rose, but after seeing this footage, he simply fell silent.

The police had even obtained the surveillance footage he had deleted. There was no point in trying to deny it anymore.

Next, Han Fei produced two reports.

"This one is Guan Yiliu's autopsy report, which shows she died from ricin poisoning. This one is the chemical analysis of the cake and rose stem surfaces, both of which show traces of ricin."

Li Yuanliang remained silent.

But now, his face was pale, his lips trembling and colorless, presumably out of fear.

Seeing that Li Yuanliang's weak psychological defenses seemed to have been shattered, Han Fei leaned forward, placing both hands on the table.

"Tell us, why did you kill her? You should know, leniency for those who confess, severity for those who resist."

"Officers, if I confess now, can my sentence be reduced?" Li Yuanliang asked tentatively.

He knew he couldn't escape punishment, but he wondered if voluntarily confessing could reduce his sentence. If so, he was quite willing to confess!

"Whether your sentence can be reduced depends on your cooperation," Han Fei gave an ambiguous answer. "I can't guarantee a reduced sentence for confessing, but if you continue to deny everything, it will definitely increase your punishment."

Hearing this, Li Yuanliang pondered for a moment.

Finally, gritting his teeth, he said: "I'll talk!"

Han Fei glanced at the camera nearby, making sure it was working properly, then nodded: "Go ahead."

Then, Li Yuanliang detailed his motives for murder and the process of his crime.

"I killed her mainly because I hated her. If it wasn't for her, my family wouldn't have fallen apart, my father wouldn't have abandoned me and my mother, and my mother wouldn't have died from excessive grief... I could have had a very happy family, but it was all ruined by that woman. If I didn't kill her, I wouldn't have the face to meet my mother in the afterlife."

Li Yuanliang's motive for murder was close to Xu Mo's guess - it was indeed because he hated Guan Yiliu for breaking up his family.

Taking a deep breath, Li Yuanliang continued.

"My mother passed away six months ago. After she died, I found my hatred for that woman growing stronger and stronger. I wanted to kill her, very much so. So I started planning six months ago. I learned about ricin toxin from a movie, and then went to great lengths to obtain a small amount of it."

"After that, I applied for a job as a security guard in the community. After working there for a while, I used my position to find out her exact address. Initially, I planned to go directly to her home and force the poison down her throat, but I was afraid she might immediately go to get her stomach pumped, so I planned for a bit longer."

"I discovered that woman liked to mess around with young guys, so I registered a WeChat account using a fake photo and chatted with her. I thought it would take some effort, but I didn't expect her to be so stupid and fall for it right away. Through our chats, I learned that today was her birthday. It was a good opportunity, so I timed the delivery of the poisoned gift for midnight, and that's how I poisoned her."

"This morning, I went to the community again and, when no one was around, I deleted that section of surveillance footage. I didn't expect... you would still find it in the end," Li Yuanliang said with a bitter smile.

Then, he slumped in the interrogation chair: "That's all I have to say. I've confessed everything."