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墨書 Inktalez
We hurried back to the Police Department, and upon entering the office, we saw a weathered old man sitting at the desk, looking somewhat dispirited as he sipped from a chipped teacup. This man must be Ma Weishan, the former Head of the Ma Family. He appeared to be a stark contrast to the intimidating figure described in the files, who had concealed heinous crimes and coerced villagers.
It was easy to imagine how he had lived these years, especially after the death of Ma Hengdong, which must have hit him hard. Director Wang nodded at us, and Ma Weishan lifted his head. His age was evident; his eyes were sunken, and upon seeing us, a look of confusion crossed his face.
Director Wang spoke, "Ma Weishan, as we mentioned before bringing you here, this is just an investigation and not an arrest. We want to ask you about your son’s case; just answer truthfully."
Upon hearing this, Ma Weishan took a sip of tea before slowly responding, "Regarding that case from twenty years ago, we did everything we could at the time. Besides, my son is already dead; what more do you want? Yes, my son was involved in that case, and I was responsible for burying the body."
I pulled out a chair and sat across from Ma Weishan. After observing him for a moment, I began, "You know that fifty-five people died twenty years ago. Most of those who knew about it are either dead or have fled. There aren’t many we can find. I’m here to ask if you still remember the addresses of those villagers from twenty years ago."
"Well," Ma Weishan grunted lightly before closing his eyes to think. He continued, "Twenty years ago, I took Hengdong to a city in the north and cut off all ties with the villagers. I knew too many people were involved in this case; it would eventually come to light. The more villagers I contacted, the greater the risk of being caught. Unfortunately, I didn’t expect that so soon after the incident, villagers would start dying one by one. I realized things were moving faster than I had imagined. When I learned that two out of four people had been captured, I knew it was only a matter of time before we were caught. So I took Hengdong to turn ourselves in; he was sentenced to life imprisonment while I received a ten-year sentence."
"Since Hengdong behaved well in prison, he was released a year early—five years ago." Ma Weishan took another sip of tea before continuing, "After his release, Hengdong seemed like a different person—dark and gloomy, almost like a girl. It took me ten years to accept my current life; let alone Hengdong. Back then, having a television drama in our village was considered wealthy; but now? He has been out of touch with society for too long."
Ma Weishan's observations were accurate; statistics show that those sentenced to over ten years often either develop depression or return to crime upon release because they find their parents have passed away and their families are gone. They know nothing about modern technology or current trends and sadly realize they have nothing left but crime.
"There was also someone named Lin Minyou who was released alongside Hengdong. Over these years, my son and I have only been in contact with Lin Minyou among those who knew about the incident twenty years ago; however, that was just a few months ago. I do have his address; you can go check it out." Ma Weishan gazed out the window as he spoke.
His gaze remained fixed on one direction during our conversation, indicating he wasn’t lying; typically liars would dart their eyes around when pretending to think. I said, "Unfortunately, Lin Minyou has already committed suicide. Before you arrived here, we found him first."
Ma Weishan looked shocked and exclaimed, "He... he also committed suicide?"
I pulled out the Village Chronicle that the Witch had given me and laid it open before Ma Weishan. "Do you still remember who was present at that time? Mark anyone who knew about this incident; there should still be some people alive who are aware of it—don’t you think?"
Ma Weishan nodded as he murmured to himself, "Of course I remember. After that day, everyone who knew about it took a deadly oath: if they ever spoke of this matter, their entire family would suffer a terrible fate. I can recognize their faces even twenty years later; I saw their names back then."
Hearing Ma Weishan say this, I felt a surge of hope. Until now, we had been unclear about how many people were actually aware of the incident. Firstly, many had either fled or died over the past twenty years. Secondly, to avoid further conflict, those villagers who had witnessed the event but did nothing to help had not been apprehended. It was impossible to capture nearly a hundred people at once. Therefore, we had never managed to find a definitive list of names, but it seemed that might change now.
Mary quickly handed over a pen, and Ma Weishan began flipping through the pages, drawing circles with the pen. Before long, he had circled entries throughout the entire Village Chronicle. For each name he circled, I counted; there were seventy-three individuals who knew about the incident and fourteen who had buried the bodies.
I took the Village Chronicle from him and leaned closer to Mary, whispering, "Compare the names of the fifty-five deceased from back then with those that have been circled. Also check against the three recent corpses to see if there are any matches. If all the deceased are among those who knew about it, then we can merge this case with our investigation from twenty years ago. The so-called curse might just be a ruse; the real goal of the Killer could be to eliminate everyone present at that time! We just don’t know yet what methods the Killer is using."
After hearing my words, Mary nodded and took the Village Chronicle to follow my instructions.
I turned to Ma Weishan and said, "You seemed quite surprised when you heard about Lin Minyou's suicide. If I'm not mistaken, perhaps Ma Hengdong also took his own life? Since you are directly involved, I won’t hide anything from you. You know how those fifty-five people died. What we want to do now is find this Killer—whether you think it’s poison or a Vengeful Spirit."
"If it’s a Vengeful Spirit committing murder, we will expose that Vengeful Spirit. If it’s poison at work, then we will find out who cast it!" I said emphatically as I tapped on the table.
My expression was serious and my words sincere. Indeed, after a moment of contemplation, Ma Weishan spoke up: "Yes, my son did commit suicide. As I mentioned before, when Hengdong came out of prison, he was deeply depressed. As his father, I couldn’t let him continue like this."
Tears welled up in Ma Weishan's murky eyes as he continued, "About two years ago, I took Hengdong to the beach hoping to cheer him up. But he just sat on the sand without saying a word, expressionless and motionless. I thought maybe swimming would help him feel alive again."
As he spoke, tears streamed down his face. "It shouldn’t have happened like this! After getting into the water, he suddenly acted like a man dying of thirst in the desert—he swam deeper and deeper without stopping. No one could pull him back; even the lifeguard didn’t have time to react before he was already in too deep."
"The police searched everywhere but couldn’t find his body," Ma Weishan said as he wiped his tears away. "The ocean is vast; how could they possibly find him?"
Director Wang leaned in closer and whispered, "We’ve contacted local law enforcement and found the lifeguards from that day; they confirmed Ma Weishan's account is accurate—the situation was exactly as he described. Among the four perpetrators at that time, one was shot dead while violently resisting arrest. One died of illness in prison; two years ago it was Ma Hengdong, and now Lin Minyou... I really don’t know if there are any other witnesses still alive besides Ma Weishan."
I nodded and quietly said to Director Wang, "Let's first make a hypothesis about why this so-called curse case has reemerged after such a long time, exactly twenty years later. I believe the Killer is likely waiting for the four individuals from back then to be released from prison. Two years ago, the Killer used an unknown method to make Ma Hengdong commit suicide. And now, they have killed Lin Minyou. What do you think?"
Director Wang initially nodded, then shook his head. He glanced at Ma Weishan and said, "But that doesn't quite make sense. Why not?"
I understood what Director Wang meant; he was asking me why, if the Killer could control Ma Hengdong, they didn't also control Ma Weishan, who was present at that time. Why leave one person out? Wasn't that redundant? This was indeed a difficult question. To understand this, we needed to know if those who died were indeed the people who were there back then; otherwise, our speculation would be mere fantasy and everything would fall apart. It seemed we could only wait for Mary to report back with the comparison results.
I told Director Wang, "Although we haven't made the comparison yet, I believe there's a high chance this is the case. If so, then Ma Weishan is also in danger. We need to ensure his safety because based on the evidence we currently have, he might be the only one involved."
Director Wang replied, "Alright, I'll arrange for him to stay somewhere safe."
Having asked what needed to be asked, we followed Director Wang outside, leaving Ma Weishan alone in the conference room. However, just as we stepped out, we saw a Civilian Police Officer pointing at the glass and screaming. Following her gaze, we saw Ma Weishan starting to violently strike his head with a chipped teacup, blood immediately splattering everywhere.
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