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墨書 Inktalez
Lu slept soundly last night and woke up early today. After a quick wash, she opened the window while having breakfast. Glancing at her glasses on the bedside table, she chose not to wear them.
As Lu pushed open the window, she was greeted by a scene of pure white. It had snowed overnight, and she could still hear the faint "creak" of branches breaking under the weight of the snow before she fell asleep. Standing barefoot on her home's floor, the warmth from the underfloor heating felt comforting.
"What is that?"
Looking down, Lu saw a woman lying on the ground. The woman's face was turned toward her, and around her neck was a red rope. She wore a red and white striped long skirt, with red petals scattered around her. The woman lay quietly in the snow, resembling a flower that bloomed both stunningly and delicately in the ground.
"Maybe she's taking photos; this scene is quite beautiful."
Lu had encountered many people like this before, always in groups wearing extravagant and unique outfits, taking pictures without caring about others' gazes. Not long ago, she even had a chance to interact with someone from that circle—a man dressed in a black cloak who looked both handsome and distinctive. When Lu met him, he was taking photos in the backyard.
"She seems to be asleep."
Lu looked again, sometimes envying these carefree individuals. As for herself, she was just a weary office worker, often working late into the night despite her nine-to-five schedule.
"But there’s only one set of footprints; where's the photographer?"
Curious, Lu scanned her surroundings. All the windows across from her were closed, but she vaguely saw a shadow—a dark figure. Lu knew that capturing a good photo required significant effort from the photographer.
She waved at the photographer, unsure if they noticed her.
The alarm rang; it was already seven-thirty.
Frowning, Lu realized it was time to go to work again. She took one last lingering look at the backyard; the woman still lay there, unaware of how much longer it would take to finish shooting. Grabbing her bag, Lu hurried out.
Today, Lu was scolded by her boss for making a mistake—one that happened because she forgot to wear her glasses again. In truth, Lu somewhat enjoyed the hazy feeling of seeing the world blurred; she didn’t like seeing everything clearly and preferred not to wear glasses.
By the time she returned home, it was already late at night. To make up for her mistake, Lu had no choice but to work overtime until deep into the night.
The area was shrouded in darkness, and everyone had fallen into a deep slumber.
Lu was afraid of the dark, but thankfully, Brother Security was there to accompany her.
"A girl working late at night, how could the Boss be so heartless?" Brother Security said as he walked alongside Lu. "A girl should be careful when walking alone at night. Someone was killed in our area today—a young woman just like you. The police took the body away this afternoon."
Lu's heart sank as she suddenly recalled the woman she had seen that morning.
"What happened?" Lu asked, both frightened and curious.
Brother Security was quite talkative: "That woman was followed while taking a shortcut home and was murdered in our neighborhood's back garden. There was blood everywhere. But strangely, there was only a single row of footprints."
Lu's anxiety intensified.
Noticing her fear, Brother Security continued, "According to the police, the murderer followed the woman's footprints to find her, and after killing her, he stepped back on the same footprints to leave."
"Was the murderer caught?" Lu asked nervously.
Brother Security shook his head. "They're still investigating. But I heard from the police that the murderer might be a perverted killer who specifically targets single women. He could have been scouting our area multiple times and may have even entered the victim's home."
Lu felt increasingly terrified.
"That woman wasn't wearing a red and white striped skirt, was she?" Lu asked with a hint of dread.
Brother Security waved his hand dismissively. "Who would wear a skirt in winter? She was wearing a white down jacket and jeans."
As they spoke, they arrived at the entrance of Lu's apartment building.
"Do you live in this building?" Brother Security suddenly asked.
Lu glanced at Brother Security and asked, "What's wrong?"
"You can go up by yourself; I won't be going," Brother Security replied as he turned to leave.
As she got closer to home, Lu gradually felt calmer. She had thought she had seen a corpse that morning, but it turned out she was just scaring herself. She opened the door, closed it, and turned on the lights in one smooth motion.
"So this is where it is," she said, noticing her glasses quietly lying on the shoe rack. She felt a bit annoyed; her memory was really poor. She had forgotten to wear her glasses several times this month, but it seemed she had gotten used to seeing people with blurry vision.
Lu climbed into bed, feeling warm.
She heard the creaking sound again, which seemed louder than yesterday's. However, it hadn't snowed when she returned home. As she pondered this, fatigue soon took her into a deep sleep.
"That was a good sleep."
Lu pushed open the window, and outside was still a blanket of white.
"Another day full of energy! I need to keep pushing myself today!" she motivated herself.
The person sitting in front of me was an elderly man with white hair, and Captain Shao was sitting beside him. From the imposing aura of the old man, I could tell he was not an ordinary person. Captain Shao's seemingly casual posture indicated that their relationship was quite special; they must have known each other well.
"If I'm not mistaken, you must be Deputy Director Bai," I said.
The old man glanced at Captain Shao, nodded slightly, and after a moment replied, "You are quite clever."
I shook my head. "But I still can't figure out why you're telling this story."
The old man said, "You can ask your Captain Shao about that."
With that, the old man left the room, leaving only Captain Shao and me inside.
Captain Shao spoke up, "Not long ago, I went back to Dongxing City and found Deputy Director Bai. He gave us a case, and if we can investigate it thoroughly, we might be able to get reassigned."
"Is it related to the story we just heard?" My eyes lit up.
"Exactly," Captain Shao replied.
After some time, we returned to Dongxing City.
Captain Shao continued, "Recently, someone posted this story online. Shortly after, a girl named Lu discovered a body in her backyard. A few days later, someone found Lu's body. The reason Deputy Director called us back is that after all this time, Team Leader Li's team still hasn't uncovered any leads."
Team Leader Li was the one who had previously pushed Captain Shao out of Dongxing City, and Liu was also following Team Leader Li. This time back, we might run into each other.
Captain Shao said, "So Deputy Director Bai wants both teams to act independently and find this murderer as quickly as possible. This also determines whether we can stay here."
"The murderer who writes stories?" I murmured.
Captain Shao heard me and said, "That's right. The article was only discovered after the two women died, and what's terrifying is that it was written before their deaths. This means that if someone had connected the article to reality beforehand, those two wouldn't have died."
"A death story?" Gu Chen asked.
"Let's analyze this," Captain Shao looked at us and said. "Since the murderer wrote it beforehand, everything must have been arranged. We should be able to derive some useful clues from this story."
Guan Zengbin spoke up, "Has Mary found the person who wrote the story?"
Captain Shao smiled wryly and said, "Team Leader Li wouldn't overlook that detail. If they could trace it back to that point, Deputy Director wouldn't have needed to come all this way. The IP address is overseas, but the murderer can't be abroad; this means the murderer has advanced computer and internet skills."
I spoke up, "The Murderer has already told us what he is like."
"Uh?" Everyone turned to look at me.
I tugged at my hair and said, "This story seems to have no beginning or end, but it contains a lot of information. The Murderer wrote in the first person, describing a single young woman who saw a corpse. However, this Lu is nearsighted, so she thought someone was taking a picture."
I continued, "There were bloodstains on the White Down Jacket, which had been taken off, so Lu thought she was wearing the Red and White Striped Skirt. The red string around her neck was actually a wound. The person in Black Clothes that Lu encountered earlier, who was taking pictures, is the Murderer who was scouting the place."
"And then?" Gu Chen asked.
I gently pressed my fingers against my Temple. "The Creaking sound wasn't from snow crushing dry branches; it was the sound of someone walking on a wooden floor. The glasses were on the nightstand in the morning and on the shoe rack at night, indicating that someone had entered Lu's home."
The expressions of everyone grew serious.
I slowly said, "As I mentioned before, this Murderer has already told us who he is. He has also indicated through this article that Lu will eventually be killed. The reason the security guard didn't dare to go in is that the last woman who died lived in the same building. The Creaking sound Lu heard last night came from upstairs."
Captain Shao nodded seriously and said, "So now you understand why the Deputy Director called us here; because this Murderer's hobbies are quite unusual."
"But did this story really happen later?" Guan Zengbin asked incredulously. "Is there really someone in this world who writes a story and then kills according to its plot? If Lu hadn't opened the window, wouldn't everything have been for nothing?"
Looking out the window, I slowly said, "The Murderer is likely someone with a mental illness. In other words, the Murderer may suffer from schizophrenia."
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