Fiona Bennett widened her eyes in shock, staring at her husband across from her, while Frank Bishop's expression instantly turned tense. Without a sound, Matthew Mitchell had already grabbed the brass knob from the windowsill. The moment the phone rang, he swung the brass knob hard at Frank Bishop's head. Frank Bishop staggered, his body slumping forward, knocking over both the chair and the low table, coffee splashing onto him.

Matthew Mitchell held up the brass knob, bent slightly over Frank Bishop to check his condition, but in the end did not strike a second time. He straightened up, pushed his glasses, and smiled at Fiona Bennett.

"Such a nice Blue Mountain coffee, what a pity. But even if it hadn't spilled, I wouldn't have dared to drink this cup. It seems your husband's bottom line is just to send you to a mental hospital to be kept there; he can't bring himself to go any further. People really are creatures of emotion—when they get impulsive, they don't care about the consequences. So, I had to let him take a break."

Fiona Bennett tried her best to move in the opposite direction from Matthew Mitchell, but could only manage to shrink a few feet away on the sofa. She looked at Frank Bishop curled up on the floor, blood gushing from his head, and said in terror, "Did you kill him?"

"Instead of worrying about others right now, shouldn't you be more concerned about your own life?" Matthew Mitchell tossed the brass knob in his hand, as if he might smash it at Fiona Bennett at any moment.

"You devil, devil!" Fiona Bennett shouted at him, trembling.

"No, no, no." Matthew Mitchell shook his head at Fiona Bennett with a smile, though his smile was already twisted and distorted.

"I killed Susan Wright only because she forced me to. I killed Gabriel Adams because you two forced me. And now, this is you forcing me. None of this would have happened otherwise. If you want to talk about devils, Susan Wright was the real devil. Fortunately, that devil is already dead."

"You and Susan Wright are the same, there's no difference between you!"

Matthew Mitchell slowly approached Fiona Bennett and said, "Is this your final struggle? Trying to equate me with Susan Wright in words—is that your spiritual victory? Ridiculous."

He looked down at Fiona Bennett curled up on the sofa, as if watching a dying little animal. At that moment, the sun emerged from behind the clouds; it was already late afternoon, and the dazzling light poured in from behind Matthew Mitchell, making his figure appear as a dark mass, his features indistinguishable. He was like a black hole, swallowing all the light around him.

Fiona Bennett propped herself up with her hands and struggled to stand. She wobbled, as if a great weight was about to crush her to the ground, but finally managed to steady herself.

She looked Matthew Mitchell in the eye and said, "Then, can you tell me, what exactly do you hate about Susan Wright? From the very beginning, you were the one controlling everything, not Winnie Hayes. Winnie Hayes had plenty of reasons, but what about you? Just because you disliked Susan Wright's character, that's not enough to drive you this far."

Fiona Bennett was still afraid, her voice still trembling, but she managed to finish what she wanted to say.

Matthew Mitchell was taken aback and stopped in his tracks.

"I'm just a woman, standing here now, and I have the courage to face death. What about you? With so much blood on your hands, you can't even see what kind of person you are. Or is it that you simply don't have the courage to face yourself?" Fiona Bennett gave him a scornful smile.

Suddenly, Matthew Mitchell smiled too. "There's nothing I can't say. I do hate Susan Wright, because she looked down on me from the bottom of her heart. She was such a smooth operator, but I saw through her hypocrisy at a glance. In the second year, except for William Williams, everyone in the sponsored class tried their best to distance themselves from her. One day, she came to me, wanting to study together and form a study pair. She was just looking for another breakthrough through me. I refused. I still remember her expression—she was especially, especially, especially surprised."

Matthew Mitchell emphasized the word "especially" three times, clearly showing how deeply Susan Wright's reaction had impressed him.

"Yes, I was the only one in the class who came from the countryside; all the other students were either from Shanghai or other cities. In the sponsored class, besides Susan Wright, I was the most out of place, like I was from a different world. Since we were both in the same boat, why didn't I accept her olive branch? And my grades were at the bottom—honestly, I was the most likely to be weeded out. Heh, of course, in the end, I didn't escape that fate."

"But I worked so hard to get into Shanghai Medical College, to join the sponsored class. I stood on this land in Shanghai not to be looked down upon. I would never accept this calculated charity from Susan Wright."

"Just for that, you hated her so much? Compared to Vanessa Hayes, that's a pretty trivial reason."

"A person's dignity is sometimes worth nothing, sometimes worth everything."

"No, Matthew Mitchell. That's not your real reason." Fiona Bennett shook her head. "Do you remember the farewell party the class held after you were weeded out? I still remember what you said: 'Being weeded out isn't the end. I have confidence in myself. The future is long; we'll meet again.' Back then, I admired how you didn't lose heart after such a setback. Compared to exam scores, that's what really lets someone go further. But now I realize it wasn't like that."

Matthew Mitchell's smile gradually faded, his expression turning serious. But there was a hint of madness in his eyes.

"Go on, if that's not it, then what is it?"

"Just as you said, your family was poor. In fact, you were the poorest in the class, not William Williams. William Williams jumped off the building not just because of Susan Wright, but more because he couldn't face his parents. You, on the other hand, carried your parents' expectations, the hopes of everyone in your village. After you were weeded out, the pressure you bore was even greater than William Williams's. Looking back, it's strange that such enormous pressure never showed on you at the time. That's not normal."

"Even Han Xin endured the humiliation of crawling between someone's legs. Compared to that, being weeded out is nothing. Zhuge Liang didn't write the 'Longzhong Plan' until he was twenty-seven. I left medical school at twenty-one; I still had plenty of time."

Fiona Bennett could feel the numbness and weakness in her body gradually fading. No matter how she resisted, she needed strength, even if it was no match for Matthew Mitchell. She desperately tried to buy herself time, choosing topics that might move Matthew Mitchell, guessing at his thoughts, searching for fleeting doubts and inspiration, doing her best to keep the conversation going. But at this moment, when Matthew Mitchell said those words, it was as if a light shone through him, revealing him inside and out.

"Matthew Mitchell, you're not Han Xin or Zhuge Liang, but you have one thing in common with them: you crave success! You want to prove yourself. You used to be the best in your hometown, but in Shanghai, in the sponsored class at medical school, everything you were proud of vanished. You were trampled into the mud, struggling desperately just to breathe. You hated Susan Wright for looking down on you, but you also knew you were very likely to be weeded out. So what would you do to avoid that?"

"Get Susan Wright weeded out first, buy myself another year." Matthew Mitchell said in a tone that was neither affirmative nor denying.

"Not just that. You discovered an opportunity to rise above everyone in the sponsored class. You put a noose around everyone's neck, with the other end in your own hand. After Susan Wright, you became class monitor. How did you go from being ignored, always following behind others, to being the leader of the sponsored class? It was when Winnie Hayes entered the toxicology lab that you saw this opportunity. This chance not only let you climb out of the mud, but also let you become someone above all others! So you became the initiator of the sponsored class's ultimate secret. The organizer and the natural controller. Yes, you were weeded out in the fourth year, but so what? You must have planned your way out long ago. Maybe you even deliberately failed to be weeded out. Rather than letting someone who knows the secret drift away from the group, better to step back yourself. Now, everyone from the sponsored class is a promising young doctor with a bright future, while you're in pharmaceutical sales—I hear you even have your own company now. You sell medicine to hospitals, and maybe in the future, you'll sell even more large medical equipment. Whatever you ask, they can't refuse, never! You gave them original sin! Susan Wright staked her life to win the poisoner's life, but you want to win the lives of everyone in the sponsored class. Matthew Mitchell, you and Susan Wright are the same, you're both devils! Susan Wright wrote a letter begging for mercy, handing you the most fatal leverage, but did you ever show that letter to anyone else? Did you ever give anyone another choice? You definitely didn't. Only with Susan Wright's death could you control everyone forever!"

Fiona Bennett clutched her chest, screaming the last few sentences at the top of her lungs. Tears and snot streamed down her face, but she didn't lower her head, staring fiercely at Matthew Mitchell's always fake-smiling face, at those wild, unrestrained eyes behind his glasses.

"Truly surprising, old classmate. You've made me see you in a new light." Matthew Mitchell praised Fiona Bennett in a flat, emotionless tone.

"But in this world, not every smart person survives. I know—the drug's effects are wearing off."