The Villainess's Heartthrob Script: I Can Talk to Animals

Shadow rushed to say, "I saw that after the male left, the female was writhing and twisting, and then she stopped moving."

As Renee Jennings relayed what she’d heard, Henry Stark’s dark brows knitted together. "That ’Brother Shawn’ fed the victim poison."

"Yes." Renee Jennings’s brow furrowed slightly as well. "Shadow, Shadow, did you two see what that male looked like?"

"No." Shadow shook its head.

Shadow added, "The male was all bundled up. We could only see his eyes."

Renee Jennings nodded. "Thank you. What do you two like to eat? I’ll have Inky bring some for you."

Shadow and Shadow happily rattled off their "menu."

Renee Jennings jotted it all down. After saying their goodbyes, she, Henry Stark, and Zachary Conway returned to the car.

The man in the passenger seat said grimly, "We’re paying Sherry Zane’s family a visit."

Last time, Brother Shawn had tried to manipulate Sherry Zane into jumping off a building, but Renee Jennings had stopped it.

This time, he’d directly poisoned Rui Tucker. His attitude was brazen and vicious—a clear provocation against the police and a flagrant disregard for the law.

Renee Jennings sat in the back, her head turned to watch the deep green shadows of the trees stream past the window. Her fingers tapped an uneven rhythm on her knee.

The sun was up now, its golden light spilling like foil across the seats.

"Why Sherry Zane and Rui Tucker?" Renee Jennings suddenly asked. "Do the two of them have anything in common?"

Zachary Conway, who was driving, answered at once. "Rui Tucker felt the world was unfair to her. She resented the people around her and wished she could be reincarnated into a wealthy family in her next life."

Henry Stark, beside him, continued, "Sherry Zane felt invisible at school, was unpopular, and believed her parents didn’t love her. They both had psychological vulnerabilities."

"Exactly," Renee Jennings said softly. "It’s very likely Brother Shawn exploited that."

Zachary Conway added, "He specifically preys on sensitive, insecure girls."

Henry Stark raised a hand to his temples, his voice grave. "We have to catch him. Otherwise, there will be more victims."

The car pulled into Sherry Zane’s residential complex.

Zachary Conway went to park the car while Renee Jennings and Henry Stark headed upstairs ahead of him.

However, they got no response, neither from ringing the doorbell nor from knocking on the Zanes’ front door.

When Zachary Conway got out of the elevator, he saw the two of them still standing at the door. "No one home?"

Henry Stark nodded. "Try calling them."

Zachary Conway pulled out his phone, found the number for Sherry Zane’s father, and dialed. The call went straight to a message saying the phone was off.

He tried Sherry Zane’s mother next, with the same result: her phone was also off.

"What’s going on? Both their phones are off?" Zachary Conway muttered with a frown. He stepped forward and pounded on the door. "Anyone home?"

The door to the Zane residence remained shut, but the neighbor across the hall opened their door. "You can stop knocking. They’re not home."

"Hello, police." Zachary Conway walked over, showing his badge. "Do you know where the family went?"

The neighbor said, "I think they mentioned something about taking their daughter on a trip for summer vacation. I haven’t seen them open their door in days. Did they do something wrong, Officer?"

"No, nothing like that. Thank you," Zachary Conway replied.

The three of them had no choice but to take the elevator back down.

Zachary Conway sounded exasperated. "What is with these people? We specifically told them to keep their phones on. We needed to ask Sherry Zane some follow-up questions once she recovered..."

Henry Stark’s voice was cool. "Perhaps they don’t want to be contacted."

Renee Jennings, holding her phone, said softly, "I’ll try asking her roommate for more details."

"Good," Henry Stark nodded.

As soon as Renee Jennings got in the car, she sent Freya Sterling a WeChat message: [Stella, I wanted to ask you something. What was your roommate Rui Tucker’s financial situation like?]

Just as she sent the message, Freya Sterling sent a screenshot back.

Freya Sterling: [Renee, I just realized someone named ’Brother Shawn’ on Little Blue Book sent me a private message before.]

Renee Jennings opened the screenshot. It showed two messages from a user with the ID ’Brother Shawn’ and an anime boy for a profile picture.

The first was from last December: [Stella, if the world doesn’t love you, then let me love you.]

The second was from February of this year: [Stella, my heart aches for you. Can I come see you?]

"Henry Stark," Renee Jennings said, passing her phone to the man in the passenger seat. "Take a look at this."

Henry Stark’s dark eyes narrowed as he looked at the screenshot. He looked up at her. "This is..."

Renee Jennings explained, "Stella received these. If I remember correctly, she was fighting with her mother around that time."

Henry Stark said, "Ask her where she is now."

"Okay." Renee Jennings sent Freya Sterling a message and got a quick reply. "Stella’s at the university."

Henry Stark glanced over at Zachary Conway. "Head to the university. We’ll meet her there."

"You got it!" Zachary Conway immediately responded, wrenching the steering wheel to change direction.

**

The car parked on the street across from the entrance to Freya Sterling’s university.

Renee Jennings got out of the back seat and saw Freya Sterling standing by the university gate. She raised a hand and waved.

Upon seeing her, Freya Sterling hurried across the crosswalk to meet her.

"Let’s talk in the car." Renee Jennings opened the rear door.

"Okay." Freya Sterling ducked into the car.

With two police officers still in the car, Freya Sterling became as reserved as a kindergartener meeting their teacher.

Renee Jennings sat beside her and asked gently, "Stella, would you mind showing us the chat window from the screenshot you sent?"

"Of course." Freya Sterling immediately tapped her phone a few times and handed it over. "Here, Renee, take a look."

"Thanks." Renee Jennings took the phone and tapped on Brother Shawn’s profile.

The posts on his profile were all pictures of the sky and the ocean. The captions were minimal—sometimes just an emoji, other times a simple "Watching the sea," "Looking at the blue sky," or "Gazing at the moon"...

He was following several thousand users, but had zero followers himself.

Renee Jennings passed the phone to the front, then asked Freya Sterling, "Do you have Rui Tucker’s Little Blue Book account?"

"No." Freya Sterling shook her head, explaining sheepishly, "We only had each other’s WeChat and phone numbers. I don’t follow any friends on my account. I just use it like a private journal to vent."

Henry Stark handed the phone back, his voice grim. "It’s just as we suspected."

Just then, his own cell phone started ringing.

Henry Stark picked up his phone. The caller ID read: Sawyer.

He answered the call, and before he could even speak, the urgent voice on the other end cut in.

"Chief, some user named ’Brother Shawn’ just sent me a private message."

Henry Stark’s grip on the phone tightened. "On Little Blue Book?"

"No," Sawyer said. "It was on Weibo."

"We’re heading back now." Henry Stark ended the call. "Kian Cole, back to the station. Sawyer received a private message from ’Brother Shawn’ on Weibo."

Freya Sterling accompanied them back to the police station.

In the conference room, they compared the ’Brother Shawn’ profiles from Little Blue Book and Weibo. They were able to confirm it was almost certainly the same person.

Henry Stark’s expression was grim as he gave the order. "Kai, have the tech division run the IP addresses for these two accounts."

"Got it!" Kyle Morgan immediately got up and left.