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Later, someone came to the restroom and discovered Li Jialu's presence. The classmate quickly called for a teacher, and under the teacher's urgent care, Li Jialu finally woke up. However, after returning home the next day, she never came back to school. When news about her reached us again, it was already too late; she had transferred to another school.
In light of the sudden incident, Li Jialu's parents chose not to report it to the police. They kept quiet and told no one, allowing their child to leave a school that harbored demons. Without Li Jialu's testimony, although the school was aware of the situation, they had no idea who was responsible.
Under Guo Li's threat, not a single classmate revealed what they had done. It was as if the incident had never occurred; people can truly hypnotize themselves into forgetting. Perhaps they really did forget about it. Life continued on this planet without her, and Li Jialu vanished from her classmates' sight as if she had never been a diligent student who excelled in reports.
Mary stacked three diaries in front of the couple and said, "Now we might be able to answer the Murderer's question."
Mary pointed at the cover of the diary and continued, "After understanding this case, I learned that among the two children killed by the Murderer, both had bullied their classmates or other children in their classes. So what the Murderer asked might be related to this."
I looked at Mary without saying anything, but deep down I felt that what the Murderer wanted to ask was not this at all. If that were the case, it would contradict the first note left for us by the Murderer, which urged us to find a reason.
The reason we found at that time was that Li Jun had kicked a pregnant woman off a bus, leading to her miscarriage. We also spoke with the Murderer over the phone, and indeed he acknowledged our reasoning. Therefore, this note should not repeat what we had already established.
I set that question aside for now and said, "Although I don't know where the Murderer took your daughter, I have an idea of his methods. It's strange that windows were not opened during summer, and I didn't see an air conditioner in your home; there was no fan in her room either."
"Maybe they just didn't open them?" Gu Chen suggested.
I shook my head and continued, "That's just one point. Guo Li's parents are usually very busy; their home is hardly ever cleaned. I noticed dust on Guo Li's desk lamp, yet there was none on the windowsill. Someone who wouldn't even wipe dust off their desk lamp certainly wouldn't clean the windowsill."
With that, I led everyone into her bedroom and began explaining: "Look at this windowsill; there's not a speck of dust here. This clearly indicates that the Murderer entered through here and cleaned up afterward. Based on my estimation, the Murderer must have slipped into Guo Li's home from this spot."
I sat on Guo Li's bed while pondering over this matter before slowly speaking again: "The Murderer is familiar with your home situation; he must have waited outside for quite some time. The area outside is a relatively wide alley where at least one car could fit through."
Everyone looked out the window; Guo Li's house was a bungalow with her bedroom facing south towards an alley that wasn't too wide or too narrow.
I continued: "From our previous deductions, for the Murderer to abduct a child, there must have been some means of transportation involved. From this perspective, if he was sitting in a car, he could see inside through this window. These old wooden windows are easy to break into."
I remained seated on the bed without looking at the windowsill and said: "You can check these windows; if I'm not mistaken, these wooden frames are nailed in."
Gu Chen walked over to take a look and confirmed, "That's right."
I nodded but still didn't look at the window: "That means it’s true; the Murderer came equipped with tools. He removed the glass to enter and used drugs to incapacitate Guo Li before taking her out through the window and leaving himself afterward. Once he secured Guo Li, he simply replaced the glass."
"Have you seen any unfamiliar vehicles coming or going recently?" I asked both of them.
"No," the two of them replied.
I didn't hold much hope for their answers either. I nodded and said, "If the murderer could do this, then he must have been observing here for some time. It's very likely that the murderer called us during the process of moving Guo Li, but we can't rule out the possibility that he called us only after arriving at the location."
With that thought, I opened my eyes and asked, "What time did you leave home this afternoon?"
Guo Li's mother replied, "I was the only one who came home today, and I left around twelve twenty."
The murderer called us around one thirty, while Guo Li's mother left her house at twelve twenty. That leaves a gap of about an hour. Now it's around two o'clock, and classes haven't even started yet. From this point of view, Guo Li could have left on his own, but that possibility is quite slim.
I turned to Gu Chen and said, "Ask Chen Bo about the current situation. If the murderer called us after arriving at his own place to abuse someone, we can estimate how long it would take him to drive from there. In this town, if we use forty miles per hour as a basic speed indicator, it means this place should be about forty kilometers away."
The others listened to my words and found some sense in them.
Mary said, "Wait a moment; let me mark this on the map."
As she spoke, I saw Mary pull out her laptop from her bag. The computer had been in standby mode, and she opened it up to bring up a map of the town.
I looked at the map and continued, "Now let's take Guo Li's house as the center and draw a circle with a radius of forty kilometers. Any area within this circle could be where the murderer is hiding. A one-hour drive isn't too difficult for us to manage."
At that moment, Gu Chen spoke up, "I've already contacted Chen Bo. He is currently leading a team to investigate the area, but they haven't found any suspicious vehicles."
I nodded and took Gu Chen's phone. I said, "Chen Bo? No need to check anymore; the murderer should have returned home by now. My earlier assumption was that the murderer abused Guo Li to death at his house, but given the current situation, that's not the case."
I continued, "Focus your investigation within a radius of forty kilometers centered on Guo Li's house. Remember how I described the murderer's appearance? He should be around thirty years old with a slightly slender build. Importantly, he lives alone—whether due to separation or other reasons—he lives alone. This person might appear very polite; someone who outsiders would never suspect of doing something like this. Understand?"
Chen Bo replied, "Got it; we'll investigate that. Earlier you asked us to look into those parents who transferred their children; we've already identified a few of them but still have some left to check. The ones we've investigated so far all live as families of three together. Two sent their kids to Dongxing City for school, while another sent theirs to other schools in town. These parents don't seem like they could do something like this."
I nodded and said, "Very good; keep investigating. I think this is a significant breakthrough."
Chen Bo responded, "Sure."
I stood up and addressed Guo Li's parents, "There's not much more we can do right now. Guo Li's current behavior is largely related to your lack of education. However, I'm not in the mood to discuss that now; just getting Guo Li back safely would be enough."
The two of them looked at me without saying anything further.
I was just about to step outside when, at that moment, my leg accidentally bumped against the closed cabinet door at the bottom of the bookshelf. With my impact, one of the doors swung open, and a toy tumbled out. It was a Transformers toy, clearly an authentic one.
I casually picked up the Optimus Prime figure and examined it for a moment before asking Guo Li's parents, "Did you buy this for Guo Li? It's quite rare for a girl to like Optimus Prime from Transformers."
Guo Li's parents shook their heads. Guo Li's mother spoke up, "This toy isn't something we bought for Guo Li. She brought it home herself. I saw it and asked her where it came from."
"What did she say?" I inquired.
Guo Li's mother replied, "She said it was a gift from one of her friends. I asked if it was a boy who gave it to her, but she said it was a girl. At that time, she didn't want to talk much with me, and I had some accounts to tally, so I didn't press her further."
Guo Chen glanced at the Transformers toy and remarked, "This is an authentic piece; it must have cost quite a bit. For someone to give it as a gift takes a lot of courage. I suspect she might have taken it from another friend—someone who wouldn't dare to complain."
I looked at the other toys in the cabinet; they were all typical girls' toys, making the Transformers figure seem out of place.
I placed the Transformers back into the cabinet and said, "I'll notify you as soon as I have any leads. If you find anything, just report it to the police immediately."
As soon as I finished speaking, Chen Bo's phone rang again shortly after.
"What's going on?" I asked.
"I found someone who's getting a divorce..."
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