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墨書 Inktalez
We followed Chen Bo into the bedroom, and the first thing that caught my eye was a large freezer. It was strange; in my twenty-plus years of life, I had never seen anyone put a freezer in a bedroom.
"What is this for?" Gu Chen exclaimed upon seeing the freezer. "Even if it's this hot, there's no need to bring a freezer in here."
Mary said, "This world is quite interesting. You see, the one lying down like a box is called a freezer, while the one standing up like a cabinet is called a refrigerator."
The freezer was currently closed, but the indicator light showed that it was still in use. There were no other anomalies in the room, and Chen Bo was clearly not here to showcase how peculiar the homeowner was for placing a large freezer in the bedroom.
It was about what was inside Chen Bo's current freezer.
I asked, "What exactly is in your freezer?"
Chen Bo stepped forward and opened the freezer. We all leaned in to observe, and at that moment, we witnessed an unforgettable sight. Inside the horizontal freezer lay a body curled up within. A pungent odor wafted from the freezer, and as police officers, we immediately recognized what it was.
Formaldehyde—a strong smell of formaldehyde.
At this moment, the formaldehyde had solidified, clinging to the body frozen into a lump. The liquid formaldehyde gradually forms paraformaldehyde during use, causing it to become cloudy. Thus, it appeared as a murky yellowish substance now, but we could still make out the features of the corpse.
From examining the skeletal structure, it seemed that this body had not been dead for long. Although frozen in the freezer, it was already severely decomposed. Half of its face was unrecognizable due to decay, and there were multiple areas where bones were exposed, creating an uneven surface.
Wang Fa-Yi approached and said seriously, "Overall, this body appears to be around eight to ten years old. Given the level of decomposition, even if it has been preserved in the freezer, it looks like it has been there for at least six months."
I pressed my fingers against my temple and told everyone, "Let's go back to the City Bureau for DNA testing. We should be able to find traces of Zhang Zuocheng when he was alive; comparing them will tell us if this body belongs to Zhang Zuocheng. But even without testing, it's highly likely that it is."
As I continued to observe the corpse, I added, "After Zhang Zuocheng's suicide, his body was collected by Zhang Zijun and Ha Li Min. After that, it disappeared without a trace. Now we know that Zhang Zuocheng's body was taken by Zhang Zijun and Ha Li Min; it wasn't buried but kept in this freezer all along."
Mary glanced outside; Ha Li Min should have been able to hear our conversation from outside, yet he remained silent.
"To always see her child, to imagine that he had not died, the couple could not accept this reality. They spent day after day in despair, looking at Zhang Zuocheng's corpse."
I sighed and said to Mary, "I fear it goes beyond that."
I pointed to the numerous air fresheners on the windowsill. "Do you see all these air fresheners? To prevent the smell of the corpse from escaping, Ha Li Min used a large quantity of air freshener to cover it up. And look at the water stains by the bed; if examined, they would reveal that this is not ordinary water but likely formaldehyde."
Then I gestured toward the bed. "There are traces of someone having lain here. If you look closely, you'll see these impressions are patterned, not random depressions. This indicates that the person lying here was unable to turn over, which caused these linear indentations."
"And this means," I looked at the corpse, "that on every lonely and desperate night, Ha Li Min slept holding this body. With the heat now, if the corpse were to be exposed, the ice would melt and release a terrible stench."
"Thus, there are water stains on the floor and an abundance of air fresheners on the windowsill."
I continued.
We could imagine that scene: after everyone else had gone to sleep, a mother sat up from her bed. She opened the freezer and slowly took out the corpse. As it thawed gradually, she used a towel to wipe her beloved son's body.
Her movements were gentle; in her entire life, she had never been so tender while caring for him. Now, she finally had all the time in the world to tend to her son’s body. She came to know every part of him intimately; she knew where he had been beaten.
Like a collector polishing a cherished antique, Ha Li Min was doing just that.
The stench of her child's corpse was overwhelming, yet she felt no aversion. But to avoid detection by those around her, she had to use copious amounts of air freshener. And then, enveloped in an almost nauseatingly high concentration of air freshener, the mother fell asleep holding her son.
"Goodnight, my son."
She vaguely remembered that the last time he had answered her was three years ago.
The body of Zhang Zuocheng has been found.
I sighed and said, "Now all the mysteries have been unraveled. Ha Li Min is the murderer. Her son, Zhang Zuocheng, was abused, leading to his suicide. After discovering the secret of their son's body, Zhang Zijun and Ha Li Min began searching for those responsible. They only knew that their son had been cruelly mistreated, but a corpse cannot speak."
As I spoke, I walked out of the door and looked at Ha Li Min, who was still sitting on the sofa. I slowly continued, "They didn't know who had abused their son. Their investigation yielded no results, but they thought of a good idea. Who was close to their son recently? His classmates. Therefore, one of his classmates must know the truth."
I sat down across from Ha Li Min and said, "So you turned your attention to Hu Ningning. As a somewhat negligent mother, you knew about Hu Ningning because she was a good student in class and had a decent relationship with your son. She was the only friend he had shared with you."
"Parents often overlook that children understand everything and are much more sensitive than adults. Their observations are sharper than those of adults. When you caught Hu Ningning, there was another person by her side. This person is Li Jun, also a classmate of Hu Ningning and your son, Zhang Zuocheng."
Ha Li Min looked at me without saying a word. Her gaze resembled that of Zhang Zijun; they truly were a couple, even their expressions were similar.
I continued, "Your goal was simply to capture Hu Ningning, but you didn't expect to encounter an additional accessory. This person was Li Jun. From Hu Ningning's mouth, you learned about Li Jun's character. I believe you must have separated and imprisoned Hu Ningning and Li Jun. But why did you trust Hu Ningning's words so much?"
I frowned as I looked at Ha Li Min and continued, "Hu Ningning provided you with four names—those four people were the most likely to have abused your child. You believed her words and began capturing these four individuals. They had abused your child, so you returned the favor by abusing these children."
I extended a finger: "During the first instance of abuse, you were neither too gentle nor too harsh; you didn't know where the limits were. Thus, during the process of abuse, you inadvertently caused Li Jun's death. In fact, you intended to prolong his suffering, but during subsequent abuses, you abandoned this uncontrollable method in favor of something more professional and easier to manage."
"Fists and feet have no eyes," I said. "It may be difficult for you to control your own strength; too hard leads to death while too soft leaves dissatisfaction. But tools are different. What puzzles me is that we found your records; both you and your husband studied fields far removed from professional abuse techniques in college. Yet somehow you knew how to avoid vital areas that could lead to quick death."
I glanced at Wang Fa-Yi and then back at Ha Li Min, speaking earnestly: "Except for the first time, during the second instance you used a fishhook; during the third time, a whip—both avoided critical areas and were completely different from your initial method."
I leaned closer to Ha Li Min and spoke each word deliberately: "So someone was behind you, someone told you what to do. I've always wondered why you could trust the words of a ten-year-old so completely. Did Hu Ningning tell you who abused Zhang Zuocheng, and did you just take her word for it?"
I leaned in closer to Ha Li Min's ear and whispered: "So capturing Hu Ningning was merely for show; no matter what she did or said, you would not follow her lead. While planning your actions, someone helped you from behind the scenes, didn't they?"
"This is a man wearing a mask, his name is Wu Zui, right?"
I stared intently into Ha Li Min's eyes.
"Those detailed records could not have been obtained without a special investigation. But if you had the information on those individuals, you wouldn't have arrested Hu Ningning. So the only reason you captured Hu Ningning is to cover up the person behind your actions."
That was Wu Zui's catchphrase, the typical style of Wu Zui.
Months later, after abducting Guan Zengbin, Wu Zui finally reappeared. I had once again caught a glimpse of Wu Zui, but I still didn't understand what he was after. Why was he so intent on opposing me? This time, would I be able to capture Wu Zui?
Ha Li Min heard my words and smiled lightly.
"I acknowledge everything you've said before, but I don't know what Wu Zui is." Ha Li Min continued softly, "They abuse others, so naturally they should be abused in return for fairness. However, these scum won't commit suicide just because of a few instances of mistreatment, so I have no choice but to help them die. You should thank me for killing three pieces of trash; otherwise, perhaps more people would die because of them."
I shook my head and said, "What they do is their business; you're not God and have no right to judge others."
"Hahaha."
Ha Li Min burst into wild laughter. "They are all minors. If the law cannot punish them and if my son's life is so cheap while theirs is so precious, then I'm not God; I'm just a mother—just a mother who did what needed to be done."
"And besides," Ha Li Min asked again, "don't you want to know where Hu Ningning has gone?"
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