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墨書 Inktalez
It was undoubtedly a bit awkward; the person involved in this tragedy stood right before us, silently crying. Each of us felt helpless, unsure of how to comfort him. Although this incident had happened over a decade ago, the sorrow in Old Xia's heart might never have faded even a little.
Some things can never be overcome in a lifetime. If he could move on, Old Xia wouldn't have fled from the south to this remote city in the north.
Old Xia shrugged his shoulders, making it clear to anyone that he was crying. It was a cry filled with immense sadness and deep grievance. It resembled a child's cry—one that desperately holds back tears despite feeling utterly heartbroken. The cold wind whipped around us, carrying snowflakes that stung our faces, making me feel even colder.
Captain Zhou hadn’t anticipated this either. He glanced at us and then at Old Xia’s back. Perhaps trying to comfort Old Xia, Captain Zhou continued as if nothing had happened: “However, the local police quickly arrested Old An. A year later, Old An was executed for arson and murder.”
I understood Captain Zhou's intention; he was subtly trying to tell Old Xia that Old An had faced legal consequences and had paid for his family's loss. But even so, what good would it do if Old An died ten times over? Perhaps if Old Xia had perished in that fire years ago, he would have been spared this pain.
To be alive is to suffer, yet being alive also brings hope.
I hadn’t expected Captain Zhou to have thoroughly investigated Old Xia's background last night. Equally surprising was the fact that Old Xia had indeed once worked as a butcher.
Could Old Xia be the murderer? Did he choose to kill as a way to release the grief within him? Looking at Old Xia, it seemed that unless it struck deep into his heart, he would never reveal his true feelings to anyone.
In silence, one either explodes or dies.
But now there was no evidence pointing fingers at anyone in this dismemberment case; the clues we had were far too few. The brown short hair and the red nail polish on the toenails of that severed leg had been sent by Captain Zhou for examination in the provincial capital, and results might take some time.
This pace of investigation was frustratingly slow, but there was nothing we could do about it. Interestingly, in such a slow-paced city, even murderers seemed to take their time.
Old Xia stood before us for several minutes without saying a word. Then, without any further incident, he continued walking ahead. His steps remained silent and calm, as if what we had just experienced was merely a dream—like nothing had ever happened.
After more than forty minutes had passed, we were nearing Tou Gou Zi Village. Along the way, we fell silent and quickened our pace to follow Old Xia.
After more than twenty minutes, we finally arrived at Tou Gou Zi Village. Due to the heavy snow, there was not a single passerby on the road. The surroundings were eerily quiet, with all the households tightly shutting their doors and windows. There were no wild dogs or chickens in the village, and we didn't even see a cow or a donkey.
As we walked along the road, we didn't hear the barking of guard dogs; it was remarkably silent.
Looking at the earthen brick walls, we felt as if we had stepped into an abandoned village.
Old Xia pointed at the gate of the Village Committee and shouted, "Come in!"
Before we could say anything, Old Xia turned and left.
Watching Old Xia's retreating figure, we felt a sense of loss.
Outside the Village Committee office, the village chief approached us in a wheelchair. His legs hung limply, indicating he was also disabled. He appeared to be around sixty years old, with a face full of wrinkles that deepened into creases when he smiled. He said with a grin, "Captain Zhou, these three are the officials from Dongxing City? My name is Wei Shengfeng. Since I am older, they chose me to be the village chief."
I quickly waved my hand and replied, "Wei Village Chief, we're not officials; we're just ordinary police officers. We're here to investigate a case."
Wei Shengfeng nodded and wheeled himself closer to us, extending his hand for a handshake.
I stepped forward to shake his hand, and he said, "It's too cold outside; let's go inside."
We nodded and filed into the room.
The office appeared small but was well-equipped. A black desk with intricate patterns stood directly opposite the door, looking simple yet elegant. On the desk were writing tools like ink and paper, alongside a tea set that was steaming warmly.
On the wall behind the desk hung a calligraphy piece with four large characters—"Rarely Confused."
Looking at the handwriting, it was not particularly elegant, but upon closer inspection of the seal, I realized that this piece was written by Wei Shengfeng himself.
Next to the table, against the wall, there was a bookshelf.
I frowned and walked up to the bookshelf. At eye level, I saw that this shelf contained some introductory books on economics and finance. One book even had a bookmark in it, indicating that these books were not merely for decoration or to feign sophistication; the Old Village Chief had genuinely read them.
Beyond that were a few chairs, with a tea table in the middle and a water dispenser heating water.
There were no chairs behind the desk, suggesting that he had no way to sit comfortably. The Old Village Chief lifted a set of tea utensils with one hand while maneuvering his wheelchair to the Tea Table with the other. He gently placed the tea set down and then pulled out several teacups from a drawer in the Tea Table.
"I don't have much to offer you, but some hot tea will warm you up," the Old Village Chief said as he rinsed the cups with tea and slowly addressed us. "I instructed Old Xia to bring you here and to find Li Danan, the first person who saw the body."
We nodded in response.
The Old Village Chief poured us each a cup of warm tea, which made both our bodies and hearts feel warmer.
Then, a familiar voice called out, "Come in!"
The door opened, and with a gust of cold wind came a dark-skinned man who appeared to be Li Danan. He looked to be around forty years old and seemed somewhat uneasy as he regarded us. I noticed his arms and realized that both of his hands were missing; where his palms should have been were just two stumps.
"Village Chief," he called out.
Old Xia closed the door behind him as he left again, disappearing into who knows where.
"Li Danan, take a seat. Just answer whatever they ask you; there's no need to be nervous," the Old Village Chief gestured for Li Danan to sit in front of us.
Li Danan sat down, revealing a somewhat shy smile.
I nodded slightly at him and then asked, "Li Danan, what time did you see that foot yesterday?"
Li Danan quickly replied, "Yesterday, I think it was in the afternoon, around five or six o'clock. I don't have a watch, so I didn't look closely. But it was getting dark, so it was probably around six."
"Was the body you saw on the roadside?" I continued to ask.
"Yes, yes!" Li Danan said. "I saw it on the roadside. I was coming back from outside the village and when I was walking into the village, I saw a foot by the side of the road. At that moment, only one foot was showing, and I thought maybe someone had drunk too much and fallen asleep there."
Li Danan paused for a moment and continued, "When I came back, the heavy snow had just stopped. But that person was already covered in snow. I didn't know if she was still alive, so I went over to take a look. It should be a woman; she had her nails painted. When I touched her foot, it was frozen stiff. That person must be dead..."
At this point, Li Danan glanced at us with a timid expression, seemingly afraid that we would consider him a murderer. However, that seemed impossible; he had no hands to wield a knife.
"Continue," I said to Li Danan.
He nodded and continued, "There wasn't a single person on the road at that time. I felt a bit scared and called the police before leaving. When I got back to the village, I told the village chief about it. Then last night, the chief told me to wait for the police and not to run around."
I took a sip of tea and asked, "Let me ask you, did you see any other footprints around?"
Li Danan thought for a moment before saying, "No, no. When I found the foot, I looked around and there was no one else there; there were no footprints either. It was just me on the road; I've never encountered anything like this in my life..."
The snow had already stopped falling by then; it seemed that the murderer had left some time ago.
I continued to ask, "Were there any scattered socks or shoes around?"
"No!" Li Danan shook his head. "There really isn't anything."
It seemed that by the time Li Danan arrived at the scene, the Murderer had already vanished. From this, it could be inferred that the Murderer had left some time ago.
I nodded at Li Danan and said, "Alright, we've asked everything we needed to. If you think of any new clues, just let the village chief know."
Captain Zhou said, "Li Danan, you can head back now."
Li Danan nodded and turned to walk outside.
Captain Zhou turned to me and said, "Well, the situation is quite clear now. The Murderer must have disposed of the body around four or five o'clock; otherwise, he wouldn't have had enough time to leave."
I shook my head and replied to Captain Zhou, "No, it might have been even earlier. The amount of snowfall at that time should not have been enough to cover a person's footprints."
"That raises a problem," Captain Zhou scratched his head. "The Murderer can't fly; there would definitely be footprints left behind wherever he walked. Although the previous footprints were covered by snow, what about the footprints he left afterward? Where did they go? Did he choose to walk into the village to avoid exposing his footprints? After all, if footprints appear in the village's snow, no one would pay much attention. But if a pair of footprints suddenly appeared in the mountains, it would definitely raise suspicions."
"Otherwise, if he went in the opposite direction, Li Danan would have noticed a set of footprints heading towards him," Captain Zhou continued.
I furrowed my brow; Captain Zhou was right. However, once he entered the village or crossed through the fields, in such a large area, we would have no way of finding any footprints left behind by the Murderer.
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