Chapter 7 — The Parrot Knows Too Much

I just remember waking up the next morning, my head hurt like it was about to explode. Just like the next time there was a conflict with Truong Vi.

"He didn't go to work all day yesterday, his family couldn't contact him either, he's already reported the crime."

My colleague was still talking next to me, but I couldn't hear another word. My eyes unconsciously turned towards the tea room in the corner of the office. A blurry memory gradually appeared. That day, after arguing with Ly Phong, I seemed to go into the tea room to pour water. The drain is clogged. The sink is full of dirty water. A strong odor arose, making my stomach churn. I rushed to the bathroom, collapsed into the toilet and vomited until the world was spinning. But I couldn't vomit anything, just sour fluid. I raised my head and looked in the mirror. His face was as pale as paper. His eyes were scattered, full of fear. The person in the mirror… is it me? Or... in this body, is there another "me" that I don't even recognize? At that moment, the phone rang. It's police officer Wang. My hands shook, I almost dropped the phone into the sink. I took a deep breath, tried to calm down, then clicked to listen. His voice this time was more serious than before, even carrying a trace of coldness.

“We need you to make a trip to the bureau.”

“Why… why?” My voice trembled.

The other side was silent for a few seconds.

“That parrot… said it again.”

My heart fell straight to the bottom of the abyss.

“It… what did it say?”

“Not much to say.”

His voice was like a cold needle piercing straight into my ear.

“It says… the tea room in the office is a very suitable place.”

“The smell from the sewer… can cover up any other smell.”

"He shouldn't be so loud... it gives people a headache."

“Also… that invoice… was originally fake.”

I can't hold the phone anymore. The phone slipped from my hand, fell to the ground, and broke. Just like my heart right now. That fake invoice. That's the reason why Ly Phong and I quarreled. I accidentally discovered that he had falsified the books, so he got mad and wanted to put the responsibility back on me. That... only two people know. Now there is a “third person”. Not Ly Bach. It's... the person hiding in my body. The real killer. I killed him myself. I don't know how I left the company. The bright sunlight shined down, making my head spin. People passing by on the street, traffic, noise... everything becomes distant. It was as if I was trapped in an invisible layer of glass, completely separated from the world. I am a murderer. That realization was like a bullet going straight through my soul. I killed Zhang Wei. I also killed Ly Phong. The cold voice in the recording… was my voice. The calm voice recounting how to dispose of the body... was me. Why do I feel familiar? Because… that was the voice coming from this very body. Why do I have blank memory space? Because when I lost consciousness… “she” took over this body. It was “she” who handled all the “trouble”. Trinh Hao's search history... is not setting me up. Nor was it to hide himself. He's looking up. Look up… about me. He had been suspicious for a long time. He gave me the parrot… not to harm me. It's to confirm my guess. He… wants to help me. But all… it was too late. What should I do? Confession…? I told them that in my body there was another person, the killer It's "her" and not me. Does anyone believe it, or just consider me a crazy person trying to make up stories to get away with it? My phone rang again. I bent down to pick up the phone with a cracked screen. It was an unfamiliar number. I almost emotionlessly dialed the number.

“Don't go back to the company, don't go to the bureau, go to the abandoned port east of the city, warehouse number 3, come now, I'm waiting for you there.” Trinh Hao's voice rang out, hoarse and tired. After speaking, he hung up, not giving me a chance to ask again.

That statement was like a final verdict, as if it would all end there. I took a taxi, the driver asked where to go, I said warehouse number 3 at the port, he looked at me in the rearview mirror, his eyes looked a bit strange, said that place was deserted, but I just replied "I know, just go", his voice was so calm that even I felt strange. The car swayed further and further from the center, the surrounding landscape gradually became desolate, finally stopping in front of a giant rusty warehouse, I paid, stepped out, the sea breeze brought a salty and metallic smell to my face. The warehouse door was slightly open, I pushed it in. Inside was empty, covered in dust, light filtered down from holes in the roof, forming cold columns of light. Trinh Hao stood in the middle, his back turned to me, his figure looked so lonely that it made people uncomfortable. Hearing footsteps, he slowly turned around, his face haggard, his eyes bloodshot, completely different from his previous image.