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墨書 Inktalez
I felt a twinge of regret for pushing Captain Zhou to make this call. After all, relationships are a matter between two people, and we third parties have no reason to meddle. Captain Zhou is forty and still unmarried, which surely reflects his own reasons; why should we insert ourselves into this?
When the lights went out, darkness enveloped us. The only source of warmth was the glowing Coal Stove in the center of the room.
In the dark, Captain Zhou's voice slowly reached our ears: "Sometimes I think about it; I'm over forty now, and it's too late to get married. I still remember our era, when late marriage and fewer children were encouraged for better offspring. But now, the country promotes having a second child."
Captain Zhou's tone was tinged with sadness: "As a People's Police officer, I've unknowingly fallen behind even the country's pace. I've considered marriage, but every family has its own difficulties. I came from a rural background, and it's almost laughable; my village was poorer than this Tou Gou Zi Village."
Perhaps mentioning Captain Zhou's sorrowful past softened his tone: "When I left the countryside, I knew nothing. I went from being a civil servant to becoming a real police officer—who knows what I've been through? But after all these years, I've grown to love this profession deeply."
"I wonder if you all feel this way?" Captain Zhou asked us.
In the darkness, I couldn't see his expression, but his words resonated with me. Some people truly love their profession, dedicating their lives to it. Unfortunately, due to my own circumstances, I may never become a People's Police officer; I'll only ever be an outsider, always at risk of being kicked out.
Before I could respond, Captain Zhou continued: "I might have strayed off topic, but I genuinely want to be a police officer for life. My uncle passed away early and left behind two younger siblings who are still in high school. Now, I have to cover their school expenses."
We remained silent.
Captain Zhou sighed and turned over: "Years ago, my uncle gave me the money he had saved for building a new house so that I could go to school—that was his life savings. Thirty thousand yuan twenty years ago felt like an astronomical sum to me. So my younger siblings are like my own."
When he spoke of his siblings, Captain Zhou's tone brightened: "Fortunately, they are doing well in school; both are likely to get into good universities. Nowadays, if you want to get married, the woman expects a house and a car along with a bride price. Look at me—I'm over forty and still don't own either a house or a car; it's normal not to get married."
His words were deliberate and filled with weariness and resignation. As a twenty-year-old youth, I found it hard to comprehend the reality faced by this middle-aged man. Captain Zhou is indeed a man of feelings and responsibilities; if he were a husband, he would likely be a good one.
But this is a harsh reality; even if a woman were willing to marry Captain Zhou, he wouldn't want her to suffer alongside him. If his siblings need money for university, that would require significant funds.
"This is how my life will be," he concluded.
It felt like he was summarizing his existence with that statement. After saying it, he fell silent. Later on, I often recalled those words of Captain Zhou.
Gu Chen and I remained quiet throughout; it seemed that by not speaking, we could pretend we hadn't heard anything at all. By acting as if we were oblivious, Captain Zhou remained in our minds as the optimistic and somewhat humorous figure we knew rather than as the helpless middle-aged man he appeared to be in that silent night.
Everyone fell silent.
The sound of the raging wind howling around us suggested that tonight would be another night cold enough to freeze a person solid.
Early in the morning, I, Er Yi, pulled back the curtains and looked outside. Everything was covered in a blanket of white; the heavy snow had once again concealed all traces. I felt a twinge of worry—if the Murderer had chosen to dispose of the body last night, then all Footprints would be buried under the snow. I also felt a moment of sympathy for the officer coming to collect evidence; with this much snow, it would take him three or four times as long to walk here.
Suddenly, I remembered Captain Zhou's car; it was probably buried under the snow as well.
Getting out of the warm bed to get dressed was truly a major ordeal in winter.
At this point, Captain Zhou was already out of bed; I had no idea when he had gotten up. However, seeing the bright red coals in the stove indicated that Captain Zhou had even filled it with coal for us. Still, the warmth from this stove clearly couldn't compare to central heating.
Stepping outside, I saw Captain Zhou shoveling snow at the entrance. It turned out that last night's snowfall had nearly blocked the wooden door.
I shouted towards Guan Zengbin's room, "Hey! Guan Zengbin, the sun is already shining on your backside! Aren't you getting up? How are you going to get married if you keep sleeping? If you don't get up soon, I'm going to stuff snowballs into your blanket!"
After a while, I heard Guan Zengbin shout back angrily, "Get lost, Old Man! It's only seven o'clock! Whether I get up or not is none of your business; I'm not marrying you! If you dare stuff snowballs in here, I'll chop you into meat filling and make dumplings out of you! Get lost!"
Hearing that Guan Zengbin was still the same old Guan Zengbin put my mind at ease.
Just as I stepped outside, I was stunned by what lay before me.
On the wall directly facing us, someone had written several large characters in dark red—"I will give you a surprise."
Captain Zhou chuckled and said, "Wu Meng, you're awake so early! I was planning to let you all sleep a bit longer. You just wait; you'll get beaten up by Guan sooner or later."
Looking at Captain Zhou's expression, he seemed completely unconcerned about the dark red writing on the wall. But when we entered the courtyard yesterday, those words were definitely not there.
Thinking of this, I said to Captain Zhou, "Captain Zhou, look behind you."
Captain Zhou turned his head, following my gaze. He stood still, silent.
At that moment, Gu Chen also came out dressed, glancing at me and Captain Zhou before looking at the wall across from us. He spoke slowly, "I will give you a surprise."
Captain Zhou then asked, "What do you think? Who could have done this?"
A sense of unease crept into my heart, and I quickly called into the room, "Guan Zengbin, Guan Zengbin, come out quickly! There's something you need to see."
Guan Zengbin shouted back, "What’s the rush?"
She lifted the heavy curtain and stepped out, calling as she walked, "What is it? Show me!"
I noticed her hair was disheveled. Women are different; unlike me and Gu Chen, who could get up without any fuss or need for grooming.
"Look at the wall," I said to Guan Zengbin.
"I will give you a surprise?" Guan Zengbin clearly saw the writing on the wall.
There were no footprints on the ground, indicating that these words must have been written on the wall last night. The howling wind had nearly drowned out all other sounds. If someone had pushed open the door to enter, we wouldn’t have heard a thing; it was quite possible.
Moreover, with the snowstorm raging last night, it was unlikely anyone would be wandering outside. If that were the case, it was certain that the murderer was one of the villagers.
We hurried over to examine the writing on the wall. Judging by the width of the strokes, someone had used a brush to paint these words. The writing was crooked, as if someone had deliberately used their left hand. Some snowflakes had settled on top of it, dampening the dark red substance beneath and giving it a slightly wet appearance.
"Wait for me!" Guan Zengbin said.
She quickly returned inside and put on gloves.
Guan Zengbin gently rubbed her fingers over the liquid on the wall, then examined it closely before bringing her fingers to her nose to smell. Her expression turned serious as she said, "If you smell closely, there’s a faint scent of blood. Considering our case, this is likely human blood. If I'm correct, it might belong to the same person."
After hearing this, I couldn't help but murmur to myself. Has this murderer really gone so insane? Knowing we are here to investigate the case, is he trying to provoke us? But if it’s a provocation, then it doesn’t align with the previous criminal profiling. What exactly does this case, or these murderers, intend to do?
Gu Chen cursed, "This murderer completely disregards us! Knowing we are staying here, he still dares to write these words in human blood."
Captain Zhou frowned, observing the writing while saying, "But what is the purpose of this murderer leaving these words? What kind of surprise could it possibly be?"
I shook my head and replied, "This case is becoming increasingly perplexing. I can’t understand what the murderer is trying to achieve. If the murderer kills and dismembers not to satisfy some inner desire, could there be other possibilities?"
"Other possibilities?" several people asked.
I tugged at my hair and said, "Yes, I believe there’s another possibility regarding this case, but I can’t confirm it yet. I’ll wait until I have absolute certainty before speaking up."
Looking at the dark red blood smeared on the gray wall was truly oppressive. The clouds above were pitch black, with only a sliver of sunlight piercing through the thick layers, casting a gloomy atmosphere that weighed heavily on my heart.
I couldn’t help but say, "In this season, it’s either white or gray or black. Living in such a starkly black-and-white world is quite suffocating."
"Is that so?" Captain Zhou glanced around instinctively.
"And now? What should we do?" Gu Chen asked.
I shrugged and slowly said, "Let’s go find the Old Village Chief and gather everyone in the village to see if there are any leads."
As soon as I finished speaking, we heard Li Danan shouting from outside the door, "Officers! The village chief sent me to wake you up. The villagers have already started gathering; you should come out and take a look. Officers, the village chief sent me to wake you..."
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