Chapter 12: Turning Point

Yan Fei realized he was dreaming and let out a sigh, filled with unparalleled regret. Indeed, only the women in dreams were flawless; they were a man's true love and the reason for so-called love at first sight. Otherwise, the ancients wouldn't have coined the term "dream lover."

What made Yan Fei feel a bit eerie, however, was that he had killed someone last night, and instead of having a nightmare, he had a beautiful, romantic dream. What's more, the heroine of the dream was someone he had never met, making him doubt whether there was something abnormal about his psyche.

It was already eight o'clock the next morning. Yan Fei laid in bed in a daze, then to his surprise, he found that the wounds on his body had almost completely healed. The scabbed blood crusts at the wounds could even be peeled off, leaving only a red dot. His body felt incredibly light, as if he had not been injured at all. Only the abdomen, where Xiao Kong had ambushed him, throbbed faintly with pain, which also reminded him that last night's fight to the death was not a dream but a real occurrence. Given the rate of recovery of his body, he would be fully healed by tomorrow at the latest.

The strong self-healing ability gave Yan Fei a deeper understanding of the mysterious power behind the drone modification. And after last night's fight, he had a great revelation: No matter how strong a person is, without facing a life-and-death test, they can never grow up like flowers in a greenhouse.

After finally killing Xiao Kong, Yan Fei had no regrets. There isn't so much right and wrong in the world; if someone wants to kill you, you must fight back. That is the true way of survival. Those who live in comfort cannot understand this feeling.

After a hearty breakfast, Yan Fei started searching the internet but found no reports about what had happened last night. It was as if the event never occurred, which put his mind at ease. He had thought that Zhang Baocheng would become more restrained after the events of the previous night, but he had completely underestimated Zhang's greed.

By eleven in the morning, Zhang Xiaohong brought that little boy to create a scene again. With her came several fierce-looking tattooed men. Seeing a large crowd gathering around, Wang Xiaohua stopped shouting downstairs and instead went directly to the fifth floor to bang on Yan Fei's door. The onlooking crowd, looking for excitement, followed her up to the fifth floor, with the tattooed men blending in with the crowd and keeping an eye on the turn of events.

Just as Yan Fei opened his door, Wang Xiaohua squeezed into the room and closed the door, a strange expression on her face. Yan Fei knew what was about to happen, so he stood far away from Wang Xiaohong. Whenever Wang Xiaohong tried to approach, Yan Fei swiftly dodged. Unable to get close to Yan Fei, Wang Xiaohong turned her gaze and began to tear her own clothes, while shouting "Don't" so loudly that not only could the people outside the door hear it, but even the people downstairs in the courtyard could hear it.

When the clothes were sufficiently torn, Wang Xiaohong messed up her hair, flung open the door, ran out of the room, and sat in the hallway, weeping and wailing, "This is such a sin; there's not one good person in the Yan Family. That scoundrel Yan is a pervert. He won't even let an old woman like me go. Everybody, look! He even tore my clothes, he wanted to rape me."

Yan Fei stood at the door, watching coldly, without saying a word. The few vicious tattooed men outside immediately surrounded him, shouting loudly, "This is outrageous. Let's all go up together and kill this pervert. He's a beast for not sparing an old woman. We must root out evil to maintain peace..."

The onlookers were shocked, never expecting Yan Fei to be such a person. With the loud encouragement of the tattooed men, some people rushed up to the stairs, ready to beat Yan Fei into a pulp.

A few internet live-streamers were broadcasting live on the spot and, seeing this situation, became as excited as if injected with adrenaline, shouting into their phones, "Brothers, let's get hyped! If someone tips me a Lamborghini, I'll go up there myself to root out evil and maintain peace."

Just as the scene was descending into chaos and about to spiral out of control, the door of Lü Yangyang and Su Yan on the fourth floor opened, and out came five police officers, led by Huang Pu and Miao Hong. They went up to the fifth floor and shouted "Stop!"

Wang Xiaohong and her group became somewhat nervous at the sight of the police, but she quickly played the victim first, saying to the officers, "Officers, you've come just in time. This Yan Fei misbehaved, he tried to rape me. Look, my clothes are all torn because of him. Please, arrest him!"

The tattooed men were initially panicked upon seeing the police, but after Wang Xiaohong's preemptive strike, they felt emboldened and echoed her claim, "Yes, yes, this guy tried to rape this old lady. We can all testify. Isn't that right?"

When the tattooed men turned to ask, the onlookers around them immediately nodded and said, "Indeed, this young man is inhumane, he's a pervert looking to rape an old woman, and we can all testify."

Seeing the situation leaning in her favor, Wang Xiaohong became smug and said to Yan Fei, "You're done for, kid. Let's see what you have to say for yourself now."

Yan Fei turned to Officer Huang and asked, "Officer Huang, you got everything on video, didn't you?"

Miao Hong raised the PAD in her hand and said, "Recorded it very clearly, from her entering and trying to approach you unsuccessfully, to her starting to tear her own clothes, to everything she's said just now. All recorded very clearly."

Looking at the PAD in Miao Hong's hand, Wang Xiaohong was suddenly at a loss.

Yan Fei said coldly, "Lately, the neighborhood hasn't been very safe, so I installed a surveillance camera in my room for theft prevention. I never expected to catch you trying to set me up."

Of course, the situation wasn't as Yan Fei described it; he had already anticipated Zhang Baocheng and Wang Xiaohong's scheming the night before and made preparations. He had called the police to his place early in the day and had a surveillance camera installed in his room precisely for dealing with Wang Xiaohong's sudden attack. And after a night's rest, the visible injuries on his body had healed, so he dared to have the police come to his house.

Wang Xiaohong was still stubborn, saying, "I don't know what you're talking about. I came to your room to talk sense into you, and you started tearing my clothes. This is a fact that nobody can change."

The nearby tattooed men started to stir up trouble, trying to bluff their way through. The onlookers, unaware of the truth, also spoke up, one after another, each with righteous indignation, acting like virtuous gentlemen.

Huang Pu stepped forward, and said seriously to Wang Xiaohong, "We saw everything you just did in Yan Fei's room, clear as day."

Miao Hong cooperated by lifting up the PAD in her hand and started playing the video; indeed, everyone then saw that as soon as Wang Xiaohong entered the room, she tried to approach Yan Fei but was avoided by him. Then she began to rip her own clothes and started crying and shouting loudly. Throughout the entire process, Yan Fei always kept his distance from Wang Xiaohong, not touching her even once.

Some of the onlookers suddenly felt they had been deceived, and their looks towards Wang Xiaohong changed.

Wang Xiaohong, seeing the incontrovertible evidence, didn't make any more excuses. Instead, she said, "I'm getting older, and my memory is not what it was; I can't remember clearly what just happened."

Huang Pu said, "If your memory is so poor that you can't even remember what just happened, how can you remember something that happened thirty years ago? And accuse Yan Fei's family of oppressing yours?"

Now with her spirit revived, Wang Xiaohong spoke up loudly, "The oppression my family suffered at the hands of their family caused me permanent psychological trauma. I will never forget it in this lifetime; of course, I remember."

Miao Hong sneered and said, "Wang Xiaohua..."

Wang Xiaohong was taken aback for a moment and looked around before saying, "Are you calling me?"

Miao Hong said, "If I'm not calling you, who am I calling?"

Wang Xiaohong shook her head and said, "You've got it wrong; my name is Wang Xiaohong, not Wang Xiaohua."

Miao Hong said sternly, "Wang Xiaohua, there's no need to hide any longer. Your real name is Wang Xiaohua; you're Wang Xiaohong's sister. Twenty years ago, after your sister's family died from an illness, you assumed her identity, swindled their inheritance, and have lived as her until now..."

Wang Xiaohua's face turned ashen, and she asked subconsciously, "How did you find out?" Then she immediately realized and shook her head, saying, "I don't know what you're talking about."

Huang Pu took a step forward and said, "Wang Xiaohua, we suspect you of attempting to frame Yan Fei, falsely accusing him of sexually assaulting you; of identity theft, seizing someone else's inheritance; and also of inciting trouble, trying to defraud someone of their property. We are now formally arresting you; please come with us."

Wang Xiaohua's face instantly turned pale, and she collapsed on the ground, never anticipating that things would turn out as they did. In her greed for Zhang Baocheng's reward, she ended up dragging up incidents from decades past and now had incriminating evidence held against her by the police. She immediately regretted causing trouble for Yan Fei.

Yan Fei looked at the crowd of onlookers and smirked, "Just now, someone here said they would testify on her behalf, claiming that I sexually assaulted her. So I think they might all be Wang Xiaohua's accomplices, and the police comrades might want to take them in for questioning as well."

The nearby onlookers, upon hearing this, paled and hastily claimed they were not Wang Xiaohua's accomplices. They were just deceived by her and claimed to be innocent.

Yan Fei was not satisfied with these people's inability to discern right from wrong, their unclear views on truth and lies, and their lack of critical thinking skills, easily swayed by others. So, he was simply taking this opportunity to scare them. He was well aware that these people were just idle and bored, wanting to display their sense of justice, not realizing the harm they could cause to others.

Huang Pu, of course, also knew that these people were just idle onlookers who had not been difficult to handle. After giving them a verbal reprimand, he sent them on their way. Only Miao Hong took out handcuffs, cuffed them onto Wang Xiaohua's wrists, and forcefully took her away. The tattooed men nearby, seeing that things were not going well, also tried to slip away but were restrained by several police officers and then all taken to the police station for investigation.

As for Yan Fei, being the person involved, he too was taken to the police station for a statement. The police ambush and the installation of surveillance cameras in his home were all arranged by him. He directed the earlier part of the story but was utterly surprised by the remarkable twist at the end when it turned out Wang Xiaohong was an impostor.

After being bothered by Wang Xiaohua several times, Huang Pu and his team began investigating her information, only to accidentally discover a problem with Wang Xiaohua's identity data. Upon further investigation, they realized she had been impersonating her own sister, and even dragged up Wang Xiaohua's old issue of swindling inheritance.

For some other reasons, Huang Pu and his team did not inform Yan Fei of this matter in advance, hence his surprise upon discovering Wang Xiaohua's real identity. As a result, Wang Xiaohua was in big trouble, especially since her identity was exposed, and she was completely unrelated to Yan Fei's neighbor, meaning she would never be able to trouble Yan Fei again.

With this, the farcical scene of Wang Xiaohua demanding the house and compensation came to a definitive end. The onlookers uploaded this dramatic turnaround to the Internet, and everyone instantly exclaimed that they had been duped, feeling that their kind nature had been exploited by Wang Xiaohua. They all turned against her, condemning her actions, with none considering apologizing to Yan Fei.

As for the Internet verified accounts, they didn't even mention the incident, continuing righteously with other hot Internet topics instead. Those so-called activists and lawyers who offered free legal aid vanished without a trace. And the internet live-streamers who sought to ride on the popularity of the event carried on as if nothing had happened, continuing their live streams elsewhere...