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墨書 Inktalez
We had just returned from Xingdong Village, and now we were heading back there again. I wasn't very familiar with the police officers accompanying me; they were all chosen by Liu after we left, likely his trusted subordinates. Liu deliberately sent these people to follow me so they could inform him at the first opportunity. I understood Liu's intentions perfectly.
Throughout the journey, we remained silent, each lost in our own thoughts. The Murderer stared out the window, saying nothing, and I couldn't tell what was on his mind.
I was preoccupied with concerns about Guan Zengbin's safety at that moment. Who had sent the text messages to everyone? Where exactly was Guan Zengbin? I felt there was a powerful force manipulating events behind the scenes, and it seemed like everything was aimed directly at me.
In my years of solving cases, I had apprehended many individuals, and indeed, I had numerous enemies. However, no one should know about the Special Operations Group or Guan Zengbin's situation.
The only person I could think of who might have such capabilities was Wu Zui. It seemed that from the very beginning, Wu Zui had been targeting me—whether it was causing me to develop Self-Blame Delusion during a case or using manipulative tactics in the Liu Yinyan case. I couldn't discern if what Wu Zui said to me was a hallucination or reality.
Moreover, the seemingly harmless Murderer sitting next to me must have been withholding something. This person often hesitated when discussing various matters, and I couldn't tell which Personality was concealing these truths.
According to this Uncle Personality, although he integrated all the Personalities, there were still times when he knew nothing at all. During those periods, no one knew what this Personality was doing. Could there be a connection between this Personality and Wu Zui?
I closed my eyes and pondered over this matter carefully.
Suddenly, an idea struck me, and I hurriedly asked the Murderer, "How many people have you actually killed?"
The Murderer continued gazing out the window but turned his head upon hearing my question and replied, "What do you mean? I've already told you."
I looked intently at the Murderer. Seeing that I wasn't joking, he said, "Eight people."
"Eight people?" My eyes widened as I repeated his words slowly. "Eight people? Are you sure?"
The Murderer suddenly let out a cold laugh and clarified, "I need to state that these eight people weren't killed by me; they were killed by the King of Hell. And yes, it is indeed eight people. Starting from the beginning of the case, first there were two white-collar workers."
As he spoke, the Murderer held up two fingers. I frowned as I looked at him.
The Murderer continued, "That's two people; then there was a family of three girls."
I raised five fingers; that made five people already.
The Murderer looked at my outstretched hand and said, "That makes five people already, and there are three more to go. One is a noisy boy, one is a charming widow, and the last is Old Wang."
The Murderer made a gesture resembling the number eight and continued slowly, "In total, there are eight people, with three stories each. When Wu Xiufang died, everything in the house was taken by Wu Xiufen, including the Zodiac Bowls. Although the Twelve Bowls have no real collectible value, the paintings on them are quite nice, so I don't know who they were given to."
Hearing the Murderer's words made me break into a cold sweat.
I took a few deep breaths before speaking up, "But there have been Nine People who died."
"Nine People?" the Murderer replied. "I only remember eight."
The Murderer genuinely seemed unaware of this matter. Since he had already admitted to killing eight people, there was no substantial difference between killing eight and nine. The Murderer surely wouldn't lie about this issue. So who killed the Boss Lady of the Adult Store?
Previously, during my conversation with this Uncle-Type Personality, he had also insisted that he had only killed eight people. The only reason we were questioning this was that the Boss Lady's time of death was significantly longer than that of the others. By the time we realized this, her body had already begun to decompose.
Moreover, according to eyewitness accounts—specifically from the Boss of the Adult Store, who had an ambiguous relationship with the Boss Lady—he later saw a very innocent-looking girl walk out of the Adult Store. Based on the timeline, that must have been the Murderer.
Among all of the Murderer's personalities, only Ze exhibited traits of a normal woman.
So who was this female personality?
Suddenly it struck me: Ze would never kill anyone. The Boss Lady of Guan Zengbin's Adult Store had been killed by someone using sharp teeth; such a brutal method could not possibly be something Ze would do.
I looked at the Murderer, who was also gazing back at me. In his expression, I saw confusion and uncertainty. Yes, he truly did lose track of time; there must have been another personality active during that period.
Things were becoming increasingly convoluted—the Murderer still harbored other personalities.
I spoke quickly and seriously, "Do you have any other personalities inside you?"
Upon hearing my question, the Murderer fell silent. After a few minutes, he finally spoke up: "No, I can assure you that there are no other personalities within me now. It's just me controlling this body."
I tugged at my hair in thought. During the time when the Murderer had disappeared, who had been controlling this body? Who killed the Boss Lady of the Adult Store? And what was the reason behind the Murderer killing her?
I was lost in thought when suddenly my phone rang.
I glanced at the screen. If someone had tampered with my phone, it would have been entirely possible. But at that moment, I had no way to hang up.
“Gu Chen?” I asked. “What’s going on?”
Gu Chen replied, “I’ve arrived at Xingdong Village. What should I do next?”
I looked at the Murderer and said, “Right now, I’m giving you a chance to reduce your sentence. Although I know you recorded the incident involving Multiple Personality, and perhaps you have some useful clues, there were only the two of us present at the time. Do you understand what I mean?”
I stared into the Murderer’s eyes and spoke each word clearly: “So I ask you, do you know where that underground space is located?”
The Murderer looked at me, then glanced at the others before saying, “You’re openly threatening me. Is this how procedures are supposed to work?”
Everyone in the car heard the Murderer’s words, and Gu Chen on the other end of the line did too. I knew this was not how things were supposed to go, but I was never one to follow procedures.
I slowly replied, “Yes, everyone heard it. There were only the two of us underground; if you are the Murderer, then you are indeed the Murderer. If you’re not the Murderer, then you aren’t. I could easily say that while you were underground, you attempted to kill me to silence me but were caught by the police on the spot.”
After I finished speaking, a brief silence fell over the car.
I continued, “It’s possible that this was all Ze’s doing, but you surely know better than we do where this place is. So it’s best if you tell me; otherwise, everything will fall on your shoulders.”
Upon hearing my words, the Murderer shot up straight and shouted, “I don’t know! That incident was truly Ze’s doing alone. She doesn’t need to kill anyone; we can’t look at a girl’s naked body! And when we went to the underground space, she never let me see! After Personality integration, we all knew about these things! We agreed that no one could hide anything from the other Personalities.”
“I’ll count to ten,” I said to the Murderer. “I don’t care; you definitely know more than I do!”
“Ten, nine, eight…”
The Murderer’s face turned red. “You’re framing me! Everyone heard it; he’s openly threatening me!”
“Seven, six, five…”
The car was silent, no one spoke.
The Murderer fell silent and said, "It's been five years, and I've finally made it this far. You can't do this to me! Please, you know I didn't do any of these things."
When faced with life and death, no one could remain calm and composed. The Murderer felt this way, and so did I. However, while the Murderer cared about his own life, I was concerned about Guan Zengbin's life.
"Four, three, two..."
At that moment, the Murderer suddenly said, "I only know that every time I wake up not knowing what I've done, I'm standing in front of a tombstone. If I had to guess, it should be beneath the tombstone, beneath the tombstone."
I nodded and said, "Then this must be the place. Gu Chen, did you hear that?"
Gu Chen replied, "A tombstone, right? That's very possible. This morning I almost turned Xingdong Village upside down, but found nothing. Perhaps that entrance really is on the mountain. Let's head up the mountain now; if we find the place, I'll call you."
I said, "Move quickly. It's been a full twelve hours since last night at nine. I think Guan Zengbin is terrified of the dark and must be close to breaking down. We need to find her quickly and make sure she's okay."
After a moment of silence, Gu Chen spoke up, "Wu Meng, you need to understand that before Guan Zengbin was a woman, she was a Forensic expert and a police officer. As a police officer, she is always prepared to sacrifice for her profession; do you understand?"
I had no response.
Gu Chen continued, "Stay calm. I can sense your anxiety. Anxiety and rationality have always been opposites. Now hang up; I'll act quickly. Guan Zengbin is not someone who can be easily killed; keep a level head."
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