After Hugh Thompson left, Rachel Lan and I stood quietly on the rooftop.
"Ethan, do you really think Hugh Thompson killed Dr. Liam Chen?"
Rachel asked me. I didn’t know how to answer her. I didn’t want to believe it, nor did I want to accept any of it. I told Rachel about the memories I’d seen and intended to show her as well, but she shook her head. She stood at the edge of the rooftop, smiling as she gazed into the distance.
In the wind, the tips of her hair were a bit messy. Then she turned back and smiled at me, her voice gentle but firm as she spoke.
"Ethan, you know, at first I really disliked Hugh. He kept stopping me again and again, always calling me a troublemaker. I hated him for that. More than once, I almost wanted to hit him. But one time, he really pushed me too far, and I did it—I hit him."
Rachel spoke as I stared at her in surprise. She beckoned me over. I walked to her, and then she took my hand, pulling me to the edge of the rooftop, outside the railing.
"Take a good look, Ethan. It’s comfortable up here. Whenever I was alone and feeling sad, I’d come to places like this. You feel so small, looking at everything below. See?"
I followed where Rachel pointed and looked down. The distant city, people on the streets, the endless flow of cars, and the cold wind blowing over everything.
"Can you take me flying for a while, Ethan?"
I nodded, gradually turning into a ghost. Rachel laughed playfully, came up to me, tilted her body, and suddenly fell. I hurriedly reached out and caught her, and then she wrapped her arms around my neck.
"Let’s go, Ethan. Fly a bit higher—otherwise, if someone sees us, it won’t be good."
I nodded. Wings slowly formed on my back, and I beat them hard. A rush of turbulent wind blew Rachel’s hair loose, sending her hair tie flying. Her hair danced wildly in the wind.
At that moment, looking at Rachel’s smiling, beautiful face, I couldn’t help but be stunned. After flying a distance, I stopped, and the wind kept blowing through her hair.
"I’m sorry, Rachel..."
Rachel shook her head as I flew on slowly.
"Ethan, do you know why I don’t want to look at those memories? I believe Hugh wouldn’t do something like that, and he wouldn’t betray us."
I shook my head, feeling heavy-hearted. Rachel rested her head against my chest.
"A woman’s intuition is rarely wrong, Ethan."
I still looked gloomy, not knowing how to sort out my feelings.
"Just teasing you, Ethan. Honestly, when I hit Hugh Thompson that time, it wasn’t really a fight—it was just him getting beaten up."
A gentle smile appeared at the corner of my mouth.
"Later, I realized I was wrong. I started apologizing to Hugh Thompson, but he didn't blame me. He just smiled and said, if I hadn't acted, I wouldn't be myself."
I only half understood, but then Rachel Lan looked at me with determined eyes and kissed me on the cheek. Instantly, I felt a warmth inside.
"Go and look for it. Even if it's just a trace, find evidence that Hugh Thompson appeared near his wife's house."
I nodded, then hugged Rachel Lan and flew directly east. I soared high above; the city below was distant. Now, I no longer feared sunlight at all.
My mind was filled with things I'd seen in the dream world—everything about Hugh Thompson, what he said, his previous meetings with the Immortality Society, the scene in the sewer, and when he was on the rooftop, I had witnessed something inside his body.
Thinking carefully now, all of this seems suspicious. And remembering Old Stone's warning about a traitor in the Ghost Burial Squad, the only ones truly trusted by everyone were Old Stone and Hugh Thompson. Everything is right before my eyes.
"Stop overthinking, Ethan. You can't reach a conclusion about something like this so easily."
Rachel Lan looked at my worried expression and continued speaking. She told me that Hugh Thompson and his wife, Shen Han, had lived apart for five years after their son’s accident. Hugh started acting crazy, claiming he saw ghosts, and separated from his wife.
His wife never responded to Hugh Thompson. After he joined the Ghost Burial Squad, he told her, but she didn’t accept it. Shen Han continued to resent him.
On the day their son had the accident, Hugh Thompson was supposed to pick him up, but work at the police station kept him. Because of his job, he missed it, and his son was hurt that day.
After that, Hugh Thompson became increasingly unstable, and the couple’s relationship hit rock bottom.
I remembered a night when I met his wife with Hugh Thompson. She called him crazy and stormed off.
Around four in the afternoon, we arrived in the eastern district and landed on the rooftop of a moving platform above a pedestrian street. Rachel Lan pointed to the building opposite us and said that was Hugh Thompson’s home.
We wandered around the pedestrian street for a while. Then my phone rang—it was Li Guohao calling.
"Hugh has admitted everything, Ethan. Come back quickly."
I stared in shock. Rachel Lan heard it too and shook her head.
"Guohao, I’ll be back later."
I hung up. My mood, which had just started to calm, grew chaotic again.
"I still trust Hugh, Ethan."
Rachel Lan said this. I looked at her in disbelief—after everything, she still trusted Hugh Thompson.
"What about you, Ethan? Do you trust me?"
Rachel Lan stared at me. I nodded immediately.
"That’s enough, Ethan. If you trust me, that’s all I need. Hugh could never be the killer, or a traitor. It’s impossible."
Rachel Lan spoke with conviction. We wandered around for a while, and after dinner at six, we decided to visit Hugh Thompson’s home and question his wife, Shen Han, ourselves.
At Shen Han’s door, I rang the bell. After a moment, a beautiful woman in an apron answered.
"Who are you...?"
"Miss Shen, we’re here about Hugh Thompson. We’d like to ask you a few questions."
In an instant, Shen Han’s expression fell.
"I don’t know anything about that lunatic. Please leave. If you don’t go, I’ll call the police. I have nothing to do with him."
Shen Han said coldly. I’d seen her before in Hugh Thompson’s memories—she looked at him with pain, talking to a pillow every night.
"Wait, Miss Shen." As she tried to close the door, Rachel Lan stuck her foot in to block it.
"Hugh Thompson has killed someone."
Rachel Lan said. Shen Han stared at her in shock, then suddenly a look of anxiety spread across her face.
"That’s impossible."
Shen Han said simply, then opened the chain on the door. We walked inside.
The interior was exactly as I’d seen in Hugh Thompson’s memories—a simple living room, two bedrooms to the right. One belonged to their son.
Shen Han made us some tea. We sat on the sofa in the living room, and she looked at Rachel Lan with deep sadness in her eyes.
"He would never kill anyone. Never."
I looked at Shen Han in surprise as she began to speak. She and Hugh Thompson had been classmates since elementary school, and from the start, he showed he liked her.
Back then, Hugh Thompson was full of justice—even as a child, he’d always step in when he saw something wrong, and he often helped others.
"I remember he used to do volunteer work every day, helping many people. He never bowed to injustice, not even once."
I quietly watched Shen Han. The Hugh Thompson she described was very different now, but he was still Hugh Thompson.
"Who did he kill, exactly?"
Shen Han asked.
"Liam Chen—a doctor."
But Shen Han just shook her head.
"That’s even less possible. Liam Chen was his high school classmate—they were always close. Even when Hugh was at his worst, Liam visited several times a week."
Just then, a burnt smell drifted from the kitchen. Shen Han’s face changed and she rushed in. Rachel Lan looked at me; I nodded.
"Ethan, no matter how you look at it, all of this is just too strange. All the evidence points to someone else."
Soon, Shen Han returned. I asked her,
"Last night, are you sure you didn’t see Hugh Thompson?" I pressed. Shen Han shook her head and explained that she’d worked late and only got home after 2 a.m., but she hadn’t seen him.
Once again, I felt helpless. There was no evidence—not even a shred.
At that moment, Shen Han’s face changed. She walked toward her late son’s bedroom and opened the door. After a long while, she covered her mouth, silent and choking back sobs. I saw tears glimmer in her eyes.
"He was here."
Shen Han said. We hurried over and looked inside. There was a bouquet of fresh flowers placed on the bedside table in a small vase.
"Every time Hugh comes back, he brings a bouquet for his son. He’s kept this habit for over five years."
I couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief, but deep down, I was still troubled by why Hugh Thompson had confessed to everything.