"Arthur, you left your family at the guesthouse just to sneak out and have fun with me, aren't you worried your wife will get jealous?"

"That old hag? All she does is stay home washing and cleaning. Her body's gone completely out of shape–just looking at her makes me sick."

"And after having a kid? She's loose as hell. Nothing like you."

After a series of damp, intimate sounds, the woman's voice rang out again.

"But, that old man's corpse in the trunk smells awful. We're not actually going to do it in front of him, are we? That's kind of terrifying."

"You're such a pain. I'll get rid of it."

The recording cut off abruptly.

The car pulled over to the roadside. Someone got out, opened the trunk, took something out, and tossed it into a forest crowded with passersby.

That figure was unmistakably me.

My chest tightened.

I did not even leave the house yet. The car keys were with me the whole time and yet the dashcam clearly showed my face.

It was impossible.

Hannah stood outside the car, unable to see the footage, her voice tense with worry.

"Officer, what's going on? Did you find anything?"

The police looked at her with sympathy–then suddenly forced me to the ground.

"With a wife like that, and you still commit something so vile? You disgust me."

My five-year-old daughter saw me pinned down and burst into terrified sobs.

"Let go of my daddy!

"Mom went all the way to town today just to buy altitude medicine for him–he's already sick, why are you still bullying him?!"

My mind went blank.

I looked up at Hannah.

For this trip, we activated the facial recognition system on our SUV. Only she and I could start the car.

Before we left, we had a huge argument over the destination.

With both elders and a child traveling with us, I wanted somewhere bigger–somewhere with proper facilities. But she insisted on this remote location.

She said she sacrificed too much for this family, and this time, she wanted to fulfill her long-held dream of seeing the snowy mountains.

I could not win the argument.

After calming down, I did feel guilty for how much she gave up at home, so I agreed.

The entire journey, I tried to make it up to her–doing everything I could to smooth things over after that fight.

However, now,

If I never left the house, and she went into town, and in my previous life, she remained completely uninvolved–

Then the truth was becoming painfully obvious.

I lifted my head and said, "Officer, I think I know who the real killer is."

"I'm asking–no, insisting–that you investigate my wife properly!"

My parents, who heard the commotion upstairs, rushed down just in time to catch what I said. My mother stamped her foot anxiously.

"Son, what are you saying? Hannah's kind and devoted–how could she possibly do something like this?"

Hannah froze, stunned. After a long moment, tears welled up in her eyes as she spoke, each word slow and deliberate.

"Arthur, do you even hear yourself?

"I gave up my job for this family. I became a housewife, taking care of your parents and our child.

"And now that you're under suspicion and can't get out of it, the first thing you do is drag me down with you?"

Looking at the genuine hurt on her face, doubt crept into my mind.

"But, other than the two of us, no one else could've driven that car."

Hannah choked back a sob, her eyes filled with sorrow.

"I was afraid of getting into an accident–I'm not familiar with the roads, and my driving isn't good. So I asked the guesthouse owner to hire a local driver to take me."

"And here I was, racking my brain trying to buy medicine for you. What a joke!"

She pulled out several boxes of medicine from her pocket and threw them in front of me.

Instantly, the crowd erupted in a wave of curses.

Even the witnesses who were waiting inside the police car to give a statement jumped out, furious.

"I was planning to confront you at the station, you sick murderer–but I can't hold back anymore! And you still have the nerve to frame your own wife?"

"Who was it that dumped that bloody suitcase and then rushed back into the car to fool around with another woman?"

He raised his hand as if swearing an oath.

"I swear on my dignity–that woman was definitely not this kind and gentle-looking mother standing here!"

"Exactly!" someone else chimed in. "While they were going at it in the car, they even rolled down the window and flipped us off!"

"He shouted that if we had the guts, we should call the police–said he's a famous rocket engineer, and if anyone dared touch him, the country's aerospace program would suffer!"

"Look–my phone caught everything! I recorded it so we could catch this scumbag as soon as possible!"

On their screens was a half-dressed man.

He looked exactly like me.

The woman beside him, with her flirtatious eyes, I never saw her before in my life.

Hannah's hands trembled as she replayed the video again and again. Finally, she could not hold back–she rushed forward and slapped me hard across the face.

"All this time, you kept saying you wanted to buy me my favorite snacks. So, that was just your excuse to sneak off and meet that woman?"

"She even followed you all the way here just for a moment of pleasure. You two have no shame–but what about me? What about your parents? Your child?"

"The video is this clear–how are you going to smear me now?"

Cold sweat broke out across my back.

"Where is that woman? I can confront her!"

The police officer let out a cold laugh.

"The surveillance system shows that after the incident, you fled with her–drove into the mountains, to a place with no cameras. That's likely where she got out."

"When the car appeared again, you were alone."

"Such a key witness–either you sent her away, or you got rid of her. We'd like to know where she is, too."

I was completely speechless.

The officer twisted my arm behind my back with disdain and snapped cold handcuffs onto my wrists.

"At this point, for the sake of your family, you'd better confess and cooperate. You might get a lighter sentence."

However, the crowd was not satisfied.

Enraged, they hurled stones and dirty water at me.

"Officer, execute him as soon as possible! We won't feel safe otherwise!"

"Damn it–this kind of monster kills, dumps the body, cheats on his wife, and still tries to frame her? He deserves to die!"

"He must be a psychopath–who else would murder someone and dump the body in broad daylight?"

Suddenly, a thought struck me.

I struggled again and shouted, "Officer–after all this, who exactly are you saying I killed?"

In my previous life, I was overwhelmed by fear and despair. By the time I was dragged through the police station and into the detention center, my mind already went numb. All I could remember was that the person who died seemed to be a local.

The officer frowned.

"Still pretending at a time like this? He wasn't just anyone–he was a respected village doctor."

I froze. Confusion hit me like a wave.

I never even met this man–how could he have died at my hands?

A witness, trembling with rage, spoke up.

"When you threw the suitcase, didn't you say you were feeling unwell from altitude sickness and came to see this famous doctor? But he told you your problem was that you weren't man enough–that's why you couldn't handle it."

"You got furious, killed him, chopped him into eighteen pieces, and even called your lover to prove your manhood. That's what you were doing in the car!"

"You're insane–this is beyond inhuman!"

So that was it.

The real killer staged an entire performance just to fabricate a motive for me. And he did it in such an exaggerated, public way that no one would question it.

A thought struck me like lightning.

In my previous life, I went out that day, but I did not mention anything about altitude sickness.

This time, I changed my plans on the fly, and the killer still anticipated it and used it against me.

That meant only one thing–he knew my movements.

As the officers moved to push me into the police car, I heard my parents and my child crying out behind me.

A memory flashed through my mind–after I was taken away in my last life, they were beaten to death by the victim's family.

My entire body went cold.

I struggled free and rushed toward them.

"Mom, Dad, I'm innocent!"

"It's not safe for you to stay here. Once I'm gone, you must get the police to send you home immediately!"

Tears streamed down their faces as they held my child, looking at me helplessly.

"We believe you! We know you didn't do it! We'll wait at the guesthouse for you to come back!"

Hannah composed herself and slipped back into her usual gentle demeanor.

"Just go cooperate with the investigation. If you're innocent, the police will clear your name. Don't worry–I'll take care of your parents here."

They were determined to stay.

Panic surged through me.

If I left with the police now, my family would die.

If I wanted to break this deadlock, I had to find the real killer–immediately.

I clenched my fists, pounding my head lightly as I forced myself to breathe, to calm down.

Slowly, I switched into the mindset I trusted most–my engineer's way of thinking.

If I could solve something as complex as building rockets, then with this setup, I could crack it.

I realized that everything about this case–the background, the motive–was just fed to me through the police and the witness.

A perfect loop.

The killer knew that once I got to the station, I would try to dismantle the story. So he built it airtight.

I took every piece of information I just heard and broke it down like components in a system, reconstructing it over and over in my mind.

There had to be a single point–a central node where all the details intersected.

That was where the truth was hidden.

I lifted my head and scanned the crowd.

Then my eyes lit up.

I raised my hand and pointed straight at someone.

"It's him."