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墨書 Inktalez
In that moment, I felt a warmth on my face and a metallic taste in my mouth. This sensation and taste were all too familiar; we often encountered it. As I looked around, everything was shrouded in a thick, red mist.
This substance we all recognized was blood, and what lay before me was the Blood Mist. It enveloped the entire workshop, casting everything in a fiery red hue. In this Blood Mist, we couldn't even see the faces of the workers in the distance. The screams echoed throughout the workshop, accompanied by the sounds of people running in panic.
A strong smell of blood invaded my nostrils, piercing straight into my mind.
At that moment, I finally reacted and shouted, "Stay calm! Focus!"
But chaos reigned around me; no one seemed to hear me.
Director Liao's voice cut through the noise: "I'm going to shut down the machines and pull the power switch. Is anyone still inside? Cut off the power!"
We could hear the machines buzzing; those rapidly spinning thick blades could slice through metal, let alone flesh and bone. The persistence of this Blood Mist indicated just how sharp those machines were. At this moment, those inside might already be reduced to nothing but bones—there was no chance of survival.
In the red Blood Mist, I couldn't see anyone's face clearly. Relying on my memory, I ran forward to see who had gone down, but just then, a hand grabbed my arm. I turned back to see who it was, and to my surprise, it was Zhao Mingkun.
Zhao Mingkun put a finger to her lips, signaling me to be quiet, and in the next moment, she pulled me outside.
Once outside, we emerged into the sunlight without any Blood Mist surrounding us. As Zhao Mingkun dragged me along, she said, "The murderer ran back inside."
I frowned and replied, "Are you crazy to show your face here?"
Zhao Mingkun didn't look at me as we continued running out of the factory. She explained while running, "When I investigated this place, I found that someone had installed a timed intrusion program in the surveillance system. The footage from about ten minutes is completely blank. So don’t worry; the cameras can’t see me."
"How did you end up here?" We were running fast, and my voice trembled slightly.
But Zhao Mingkun showed no signs of discomfort; she seemed as relaxed as if she were taking a stroll. "I came to help you with your case. I've read those three stories; it's not hard to deduce that the last person would definitely die in the workshop. So I set up an ambush here early on. I just didn’t expect that the murderer would have such a trick up their sleeve—the Golden Cicada Shedding Its Shell."
"You saw everything?" I asked with furrowed brows. "You witnessed the murderer strike?"
As I spoke, I noticed that Zhao Mingkun was wearing a worker's uniform, which clarified quite a bit for me.
Zhao Mingkun nodded and said, "I saw it clearly. At that time, I was on the Assembly Line, and there was an extra worker on the Assembly Line. No one noticed, or perhaps these people simply didn't pay attention. When I discovered the intrusion device in the surveillance system, I thought the Murderer would act within ten minutes. I just didn't know who the Murderer intended to kill."
I frowned and said, "You could have prevented all of this! If you had cut off the power early on, that person wouldn't have died."
Zhao Mingkun let out a cold laugh and replied, "Wu Meng, don't push your luck. You may be a police officer, but I'm not. I'm helping you purely for my own sake. If I had stopped everything from happening, how would I know who the Murderer is? Don't waste your pity on me; if you want to blame someone, blame the Murderer."
Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Zhao Mingkun's indifference. It suddenly struck me that this person beside me was Shi Huacheng's adopted daughter, a Criminal responsible for numerous cases, not some kind-hearted neighborly sister. Her ruthlessness was a choice she had to make, yet I always felt there was something different in her feelings towards me.
In that moment, it became clear to me that if Zhao Mingkun could hide among the workers in this way, then the Murderer could very well use a similar tactic to evade detection while committing murder. The Murderer had likely assessed the killing efficiency of that machine and knew what kind of scene would unfold once someone entered it. This Blood Mist had probably been envisioned by the Murderer many times in their mind.
With the Blood Mist and the chaos in the workshop, the Murderer escaped amidst the confusion. If Zhao Mingkun hadn't brought me out, by the time we realized what had happened, the Murderer would have long vanished without a trace. We would have been completely unaware.
The surveillance records were inconclusive; we didn't even know how the Murderer had killed anyone. We would never have suspected that the Murderer was hiding among those workers. We might even attribute everything to Suicide.
But one question remained: who exactly had died?
"Then who died?" I asked.
Zhao Mingkun glanced around before leading me down an alley and said, "It was Old Wang. While you were talking, Old Wang came in through another door and naturally walked towards you. But halfway through, he was suddenly knocked into the Divider by someone. In an instant, Blood Mist filled the air; the entire workshop was drenched in blood."
There was no one in the alley as we came to a stop.
As we searched through the alley, Zhao Mingkun said, "The Murderer understands the Divider and knows that under high rotation conditions, blood won't fall like rain but will form a hazy mist instead. The Murderer relied on this to cover their escape."
Zhao Mingkun opened a cardboard box revealing a set of worker's clothes with red stains of blood stuck to them—there was no doubt these had just been taken off.
"If it weren't for finding you," Zhao Mingkun frowned after sniffing at the clothes and said, "I would have already caught him. However, this Murderer is quite extraordinary. He is knowledgeable about various fields; whether it's computers or machinery, he understands it all. Such a Criminal is rare."
I nodded and looked at the clothes. "The Murderer must have changed clothes by now and blended into the streets. However, he prefers wearing all black; he shouldn't be able to run far now."
With that thought in mind, I took off running outside to pursue him.
At that moment, Zhao Mingkun stopped me and said, "Not necessarily."
I watched as Zhao Mingkun threw her clothes on the ground and asked, "What do you think?"
Zhao Mingkun smiled lightly and replied, "You all live under the sun, so you like to look up at everything. You never pay attention to what’s beneath your feet, which is why you’ve never been able to catch me. Humans love to conquer the stars and the sea, yet they don’t even know what has grown beneath them."
Looking at her, I saw a profound loneliness and desolation on Zhao Mingkun's face. In that instant, I felt her disconnection from this world and sensed a flicker of helplessness and fear within her.
But in the blink of an eye, Zhao Mingkun regained her Queenly demeanor. She extended a pale finger and pointed to the ground, saying, "If I’m not mistaken, the Murderer must have escaped from here."
It was a manhole cover, perfectly sealing the opening.
"The Murderer seems to have obsessive cleanliness," I remarked.
"Obsessive cleanliness?" Zhao Mingkun looked at me. "How did you come to that conclusion?"
I paused for a moment before replying, "Criminal Profiling."
Without hesitation, Zhao Mingkun said, "Your profiling is unreliable. When I was in the psychiatric hospital, I saw your file. You have Self-Blame Delusion; every time you conduct Criminal Profiling, it triggers your Self-Blame Delusion. If you immerse yourself too deeply, you might end up with a split personality."
"Why did you look at my file?" I stared at Zhao Mingkun.
Zhao Mingkun had already lifted the manhole cover and said, "I wanted to; what’s it to you? I advise you not to use Criminal Profiling anymore. If you don’t go deep enough, there will be flaws in your profiling; if you go too deep, you might not be able to use that ability more than a few times. I don’t want to see you in a psychiatric hospital later on when you’re no longer yourself."
With that, Zhao Mingkun climbed down.
Seeing her determination, I didn’t say much and followed her into the manhole.
It was pitch black below. As soon as I descended, I suddenly understood what Zhao Mingkun meant earlier. This was indeed a place suitable for the Murderer’s actions. It was an incredibly dark environment; only two small beams of light shone through the hole of the Sewer Cover like coins. Looking further ahead, nothing could be seen in the darkness.
I had encountered the Murderer in the corridor of an Adult Store before; in that dark environment, the Murderer was completely unrestrained. Darkness was indeed the best cover for the Murderer.
Zhao Mingkun glanced around and said, "Where do you think the Murderer went?"
"To the left!" I replied decisively. "We're already in the suburbs; going right would lead to a remote area, even reaching the river's mouth. The Murderer definitely wouldn't go there. So the Murderer must have gone left, no need to ask."
Zhao Mingkun smiled and said, "You're quite clever. Let's go."
With that, Zhao Mingkun walked ahead. She moved silently, and if she were following you, you might not even notice her presence. This reminded me of the Murderer; if it weren't for Zhao Mingkun's height of one hundred seventy-five centimeters, I might have doubted whether the Murderer was actually Zhao Mingkun.
In the darkness, we walked without speaking. Zhao Mingkun seemed to glide effortlessly, while I struggled with the fear of something blocking my path in the dark, causing me to collide with it.
Just as this thought crossed my mind, I felt myself bump into something soft. My body lost balance and I fell forward, landing directly on Zhao Mingkun's back.
"You!"
Before I could say another word, Zhao Mingkun pulled me forward and covered my mouth with her hand.
Her soft lips brushed against my ear as she whispered gently, "Listen closely; there's movement ahead."
At that moment, I quickly pushed aside all other thoughts and focused intently. I heard a girl's high-pitched laughter coming from around the corner ahead, just like what I had heard in the Adult Store corridor. The Murderer was right around that corner.
The sound gradually became clearer.
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