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墨書 Inktalez
The Old Village Chief called for his old partner to bring him the scale, a very primitive one. He dumped the human flesh onto the scale and adjusted the weights on the beam. Before long, he observed that it had reached a state of balance. The Old Village Chief focused intently and then said, "My goodness, this is almost ten pounds."
His words undoubtedly stirred up a commotion among us. We stared at the cooked chunks of meat, utterly unsure of what to think. Was the Murderer’s promised surprise really this? Were we meant to eat dumplings made from the corpse?
I spat twice, as if I could still taste the Human Dumplings.
Gu Chen gritted his teeth and said, "The Murderer is becoming increasingly brazen. First, he left Blood Characters on the wall. Then he placed Human Dumplings on the Village Chief's windowsill. If this continues, who knows when the Murderer will stand before us, provocatively declaring himself as the Murderer."
Though Gu Chen was merely venting his frustration, we all understood that the Murderer had indeed reached this point. I didn’t even dare to think further; if we stayed here any longer, what other crazed acts might the Murderer commit?
Captain Zhou expressed his concern, saying, "The Murderer is getting a bit too reckless. I think we should set up an ambush on the rooftop tonight. Just think about it—every snowy night, the Murderer boldly comes out to dispose of bodies; that’s how he conceals his Footprints."
"How about we wait for a heavy snowfall night and catch him in a trap?" Captain Zhou looked at us.
I frowned; Captain Zhou's suggestion made a lot of sense.
Gu Chen praised Captain Zhou's idea, saying, "Exactly! Let’s not sleep tonight; let’s just wear him down. Right now, there are only ten pounds of meat here, far from a complete body. The village isn’t too far away; if we call a couple more people, we can keep an eye on the entire village. At that point, how could we possibly fail to catch the Murderer?"
"That works," I nodded in agreement. "This method is feasible, but we must find trustworthy people for this task. If word gets out, the Murderer might catch wind of it and not come out to dispose of bodies. That would put us in an even worse position."
The Old Village Chief was visibly excited. "That sounds good! Now that the Murderer is in hiding and we are in plain sight, he might see our every move. But if we turn this around and wait for him to come out into the open, we’ll definitely catch him."
At this point, the Old Village Chief added, "By the way, Wu Meng, you suspected that there might be more than one Murderer. We should find a few more helpers."
Captain Zhou looked at the Old Village Chief and said, "But make sure you find some trustworthy ones."
The Old Village Chief furrowed his brow and lightly tapped his wheelchair with his hand as if considering potential candidates. After a long pause, he said, "Look, Old Xia has always been my assistant, and Er Yi rarely interacts with villagers. What do you think about bringing these two?"
Old Xia and Er had both been my suspects, but now we needed to ask them for help. However, given the current situation, it was clear they didn't have time to make and deliver dumplings. Although Old Xia had severe facial burns, his limbs were fine, and he was strong. Er was a normal person and could indeed lend a hand.
We exchanged glances, and it seemed that this plan was actually quite feasible.
Seeing that we all agreed, the Old Village Chief said, "Alright, I'll call Old Xia and Er right now."
I added, "Find a house where the villagers won't see us; it's better to be cautious about this matter."
The Old Village Chief nodded and began dialing their numbers.
I looked up at the sky; it was still overcast, but it seemed like it wouldn't snow today. However, the weather forecast on my phone indicated that there would likely be snow in the next couple of days. As long as there was snow in the air, the Murderer might come out to dispose of bodies.
Around three or four in the afternoon, we waited at Li Danan's house. His home was located at the far east of the village, a place where villagers typically wouldn't venture. All of us had arrived except for Er, who was still on his way due to having to travel for over an hour.
I began to survey Li Danan's home.
It was evident that Li Danan lived alone; his room was quite messy. The bedding was tossed haphazardly on the bed with no intention of being made. A few pieces of clothing were carelessly thrown aside, and there was a pile of underwear and socks nearby that looked like they hadn't been washed in ages.
Li Danan had lost both hands; even if his feet were nimble, he couldn't possibly be the Murderer. So discussing this matter in his home was a reasonable choice. It seemed that so many people had never visited him before; he appeared somewhat shy as he continuously added coal to the Coal Stove.
He turned on the television for us to watch.
I hadn't eaten much today, and my stomach growled from hunger. It wasn't that I didn't want to eat; it was just that in my current state, whatever I consumed would likely come back up. The shock from the Human Dumplings had been too great; only someone as tough as Gu Chen could manage to eat a table full of meat dishes after experiencing something like that.
So throughout the afternoon, I relied on drinking water to stave off hunger. At that moment, I also felt the urge to use the restroom and pushed open the door to head to the toilet.
The layout of the courtyards in this village is quite similar. Upon entering the courtyard, there is the main house straight ahead, with the kitchen on the east side and the toilet on the west. I opened the door to the toilet and stepped inside, only to find that the walls were covered with layers of newspapers. The papers flapped wildly in the wind, and I realized they were there to block it.
The newspapers appeared to be layered one on top of another. As I relieved myself, I glanced at the information printed on them.
These newspapers were old, yellowed from exposure to wind and sun. Out of boredom, I started reading the papers in the toilet. Most of them were from the Yumu City Evening News, with a few others mixed in. Some articles caught my attention; for instance, yesterday's headline read, "Fifty-Year-Old Woman Raped While Walking by the River," while today's headline was "Hundreds of Fifty-Year-Old Women Spotted Walking by the River."
As I scanned through them, one particular newspaper piqued my interest—it was the local Legal Evening News.
This evening paper had a captivating title: "A Look at Twenty Notorious Perverted Killers Worldwide."
I found myself engrossed in reading this evening paper, but unfortunately, the latter part of the article was obscured by another newspaper beneath it. After fastening my pants, I tried to pull away the top newspaper with my hand. However, as soon as my fingers touched it, I realized that it was merely resting on top.
Beneath that newspaper, the second half of the Legal Evening News had been completely torn away. I gently ran my fingers along the torn edge and felt some roughness—clearly, this paper had been ripped off not long ago.
While using the toilet, it made sense to glance at what was above. It was understandable to want to see how a story unfolded after being drawn in. But who would tear off a piece of newspaper after reading it?
Suddenly, a possibility struck me: imitation killings. Not out of respect for what they considered great murderers but rather learned by chance. This could explain how someone could commit a crime yet employ different dismemberment techniques. However, none of those earlier perverted killers had been imitated by this murderer.
The murderer must have mimicked some methods from those twelve serial killings mentioned later in the article. With this thought in mind, I quickly tore down that newspaper. I took a photo of it and sent it to Mary, urging her to find complete information about this paper online.
If that were true, then the murderer must have visited Li Danan’s home; he must have used Li Danan’s toilet. Given Li Danan's shy personality, he didn't have many friends. If this were indeed the case, then although Li Danan wasn’t the murderer himself, he must know him.
Li Danan was also the first eyewitness—could this all just be coincidence?
As I pondered this, I suddenly felt someone pulling at the door from outside. Hastily, I stuffed the newspaper into my pocket and turned around quickly, pretending to adjust my belt. The door swung open to reveal Li Danan stepping inside. I feigned surprise at seeing him and asked, "In such a hurry?"
Li Danan smiled shyly, glancing at me and then behind me before saying, "It's just that you've been in the restroom for quite a while. I wanted to see if you were okay. In our village, we have outdoor toilets, and with the recent snowfall, the ground around them can be slippery."
I chuckled lightly and replied, "Are you worried I'll fall into the pit?"
Li Danan seemed a bit embarrassed by my comment and didn't say much more. When we stepped outside, Er had also arrived.
I walked into the house and said to everyone, "Alright, now that we're all here, let's go."
With that, I headed straight outside, leaving the others looking puzzled.
Although they didn't know what I was up to, they followed me out without much hesitation. Gu Chen hurried to catch up with me and asked, "What's going on? You don't think Li Danan is the murderer, do you? He looks like he couldn't even throw away a body."
I pulled out half of a newspaper from my pocket and discreetly showed it to Gu Chen. "I found this in Li Danan's bathroom. I suspect that the dismemberment techniques were learned from this newspaper. The problem is that the second half has been torn off, so we can't determine what it contained."
Our actions were quite discreet; those who followed us could hardly see what we were doing.
I continued speaking to Gu Chen, "This case has involved too many people so far. I feel like it's far more complicated than we imagined. For now, let's keep this between us."
"Not even Guan Zengbin?" Gu Chen asked.
I nodded in response.
"What's going on?" Old Village Chief called out as he noticed that Gu Chen and I were walking faster and were about to leave the village. He hurriedly asked from behind.
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