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墨書 Inktalez
Caught by Gu Chen, Rob seemed unwilling to run away. However, before facing justice, he requested to see his mother one last time. Gu Chen had already contacted the local police, and after the train arrived, Rob would be handed over to them for processing before being transferred to Dongxing City for the conclusion of his case.
With the assistance of the local Public Security Bureau, the two purchased tickets back to Rob's hometown. On the train, Gu Chen inquired about Rob's motive for murder, and Rob slowly recounted a story that began seven years ago. Throughout this process, Gu Chen edited text messages to relay these events to me.
Finally, we understood why Rob had killed Lu Zhiqiu. My previous speculation was correct; Rob's act of murder was not premeditated but rather a crime of passion. Upon seeing Lu Zhiqiu, he made the impulsive decision to kill her in a matter of moments.
The reason behind Rob's desire to kill Lu Zhiqiu traced back to a dog from seven years ago. After hearing this story, I felt an overwhelming sense of helplessness; this tragedy stemmed from an incident involving a dog.
Seven years ago, Rob worked as a bricklayer on a construction site. At that time, he was twenty-six and had a girlfriend who was around twenty-four or twenty-five years old from a rural background. Back then, the average monthly salary for bricklayers was significantly lower than it is now; it was not easy for someone in his position to find a girl willing to consider marriage.
Unlike today, girls from rural areas typically married young; at twenty-four, they were often considered leftover women.
Rob's girlfriend worked as a waitress at a restaurant, and their schedules rarely aligned. During lunchtime, when Rob took his break, his girlfriend was busy working. So he would visit the restaurant just to see her, only asking for a steamed bun—not because he was hungry but simply to steal some time with her. In the afternoons when Rob was busy at work, the restaurant would be closed, so his girlfriend would come to the construction site to see him. Although she couldn't help much with his work, she just wanted to be near him.
The two were inseparable and loved each other as if they had been together in a past life.
However, one day an incident occurred.
The construction site was filled with all sorts of things—leftover food and trash—which attracted stray dogs. Usually, these dogs would scavenge for scraps thrown away by workers.
That afternoon, Rob's girlfriend visited him again at the site. While Rob was busy working, she sat nearby and playfully interacted with the dogs out of boredom. She had brought some cheap sausages to feed one of the dogs when suddenly a large dog appeared and tried to snatch the sausage from its mouth. Feeling sympathetic towards the weak dog, she decided to help it by reclaiming the sausage from the larger dog's jaws.
The terror of a protective dog was something that could be anticipated. When his girlfriend made a move, the dog retaliated fiercely. It sank its sharp teeth into her arm, piercing through flesh and causing blood to flow immediately, prompting her to cry out in pain.
Someone witnessed Rob's girlfriend being bitten by the dog and quickly informed him. Rob hurriedly gathered a few people to take his girlfriend to the hospital for treatment, where her wound was cleaned and bandaged, and she received a rabies vaccine. After returning her to their rented apartment, Rob rushed back to the construction site; he had to continue working.
Upon arriving at the site, Rob coincidentally spotted the dog, its mouth stained with blood as it ran around as if nothing had happened. Anger surged within him, and he called over several coworkers, intent on capturing the dog.
After a chase, they finally managed to catch the dog. However, wild dogs do not obey commands easily; it snapped its jaws wildly. With no other option, the workers hoisted the dog up. They turned to Rob for guidance on what to do next, but he was at a loss. After all, a dog had bitten a person; it wasn't right for them to retaliate in kind.
Some suggested killing the dog for meat, while others argued against eating it. Just then, a group of university students interning at the site stumbled upon this scene. They were quick to voice their disapproval of the workers wanting to eat the dog.
The two groups already held disdain for each other—the students viewed the workers as dirty and uneducated, while the workers saw the students as bookworms lacking compassion. Amidst the commotion, Rob had initially not intended to kill the dog for food, but with all the shouting around him and his own simmering anger, he became even more resolute in his decision.
Rob declared that they would indeed kill the dog for food and insisted that the students mind their own business. However, he did not anticipate that one of the students, named Lu Zhiqiu, was an avid dog lover who refused to back down. Thus began a standoff between Rob's group of workers and Lu Zhiqiu's group of students.
In the chaos, Rob couldn't remember who first suggested that the students pool together ten thousand yuan to buy the dog. Everyone thought it was just an angry remark—who would spend that much on a wild dog? But Lu Zhiqiu took it seriously. He immediately pulled out one thousand yuan and told Rob he would gather the rest later.
Rob was taken aback that Lu Zhiqiu would actually spend ten thousand yuan on a dog; he was stunned into silence.
He released the dog from its restraints while Lu Zhiqiu proposed that they exchange money for the dog in the morning.
That night, Rob pondered deeply over what had transpired. He could see that Lu Zhiqiu was genuinely willing to follow through with his promise, but Rob was uncertain about accepting this money. His coworkers pointed out that since Lu Zhiqiu could casually produce one thousand yuan, he must come from a wealthy family. Moreover, with his girlfriend injured and unable to work—and needing rabies shots—Rob realized they needed money for medical expenses.
After much contemplation and faced with the temptation of ten thousand yuan, Rob ultimately made up his mind.
Rob indeed received the remaining nine thousand dollars, and Lu Zhiqiu took the dog away. Everyone thought this matter was settled, but what happened next caught Rob completely off guard.
Almost two weeks later, a group of people suddenly appeared in front of the workers' dormitory at the construction site. They shouted for the beast Rob to come out and demanded an explanation from him. Rob didn’t understand what was happening, but before he could grasp the situation, he was dragged outside by those people.
It seemed that these individuals were of some status, arriving in nice cars. Rob's mind went blank; these people were frenzied abusers with a cruel nature, who enjoyed torturing dogs for no reason. Rob repeatedly tried to explain himself, but no one listened to his words. It was unclear who struck first, but soon they began to beat Rob mercilessly.
However, this was not the end. These people seemed unsatisfied with just beating him. They tied a rope around Rob's neck and led him forward like a dog. At that moment, Rob was on his way to pick up his girlfriend for her injection; there were no other workers in the dormitory—he was all alone, with no one to help him.
During that long stretch of time, Rob began to doubt the world for the first time. What kind of world was this? He wasn’t sure, and he couldn’t understand why so many people suddenly appeared to label him a beast when he had never abused any dog.
They first beat Rob, then dragged him like a dog, and finally stripped him of his clothes and threw them on the ground. This scene was witnessed by his girlfriend, who had come to find him for the injection. She saw Rob’s humiliation and despair. Kneeling on the ground, she pleaded with these people to let him go, but instead of relenting, they took advantage of their numbers and even stripped her of her clothes.
In that moment, Rob suddenly understood: sometimes being human is far more painful than being a dog.
A girl being stripped naked is a tremendous humiliation. After venting their anger, those people drove away, leaving behind two naked individuals.
From that point on, Rob's life changed completely.
Not long after, his girlfriend broke up with him. After experiencing such an event, she could no longer stay with him, and Rob didn’t even have the courage to try to win her back. His coworkers noticed his low spirits and asked what was wrong, but how could Rob share such things with them?
He had not only humiliated himself but also dragged his girlfriend into it.
Rob didn’t know what had happened; by chance one day, while a coworker was at an internet café playing games, he stumbled upon a post about Rob abusing dogs. The post painted Rob as irredeemably wicked, with graphic images of the tortured dogs that were shocking to behold.
Rob was warned by his coworker to be cautious lately, as someone was out to get him and intended to harm him.
However, the coworker was unaware that everything had already transpired.
Rob recalled the humiliating scene and immediately thought of Lu Zhiqiu. He believed that Lu Zhiqiu was behind it all, slandering him online. Fueled by anger, he sought out Lu Zhiqiu for a confrontation. Kori Chiu and Jiang Xiaochun completely ignored Rob at that moment, which only intensified his fury.
Although no one knew about the incident, Rob felt that the way his coworkers looked at him had changed. It was as if he were walking around exposed, feeling the heat of shame burning against his skin. After enduring this torment until payday, Rob decided to leave his job.
That night, with his freshly earned wages, Rob splurged on a hundred yuan worth of barbecue and a bottle of liquor, retreating to a dark corner by the roadside. As he devoured skewers of lamb and gulped down the liquor, tears streamed down his face.
In that moment, Rob felt as though his life was ruined.
He could never have imagined that a single dog could lead to the destruction of his entire existence.
Losing a job could be remedied with another, but the departure of his lover and the humiliation he suffered were scars he would carry for life. Over seven years, Rob even forgot his girlfriend's name and her appearance, yet the shame haunted him every night, piercing through his heart—a memory he could never erase.
He gave all his wages and savings to his girlfriend in hopes of healing her emotional wounds. From that point on, he never saw her again.
Now with an empty stomach and no money left, Rob contemplated stealing some iron from the construction site to sell for food.
That night became an unforgettable memory for many.
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