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A few moments after Guan Zengbin was kidnapped, the Murderer posted the fourth story online.
"Wu Meng, although I don't know what happened while you were in Xingdong Village, in the story, the Murderer made a demand. He wants us to return those bowls, or he will kill the hostage. And the hostage is a woman named Guan Zengbin... Guan Zengbin?"
Upon hearing Mary's words, I could no longer suppress my emotions. My nose tinged with warmth, and I burst into laughter.
Mary, hearing my laughter, asked in confusion, "Wu Meng, Guan Zengbin has been taken away. Aren't you sad for her? Why are you laughing?"
I replied, "Since the Murderer has made a demand, he won't kill Guan Zengbin before getting the bowls. This means we don't need to worry about her being killed before the exchange. If that's the case, we have a bit more time on our hands."
Mary sighed in resignation. "Alright then, I'll send you the story shortly. You can arrange the next steps. By the way, Liu has reassigned most of the people. Have you contacted him?"
"I have contacted him. Liu is currently investigating what I've arranged. So for now, that's it. Oh, Mary, please check online about those bowls. I believe that information was left by the Murderer. Also, have police stations across various regions look into whether any bowls went missing from the homes of previous murder victims."
"Got it." Mary hung up.
Not long after, Mary sent the fourth story to my phone. Gu Chen and I gathered to read it together, and this story was written in the first person:
As night fell and everyone fell into a deep sleep, one person woke up in that darkness. He emerged as if resurrected from the dead. With an aura of death surrounding him, those chosen would face the threat of death.
This time, facing this threat was a young Forensic expert. When I was young, I also wanted to be a Forensic expert. However, I didn't care about avenging those wronged dead; what I wanted was to dissect these bodies piece by piece. What I wanted was to open up their organs one by one.
What a beautiful work of art this was, just like this Forensic expert.
I knew this Forensic expert had performed autopsies on many corpses and understood human anatomy very well. So I wondered if anyone could perform an autopsy on themselves. Just imagine how wonderful it would be when someone holds a sharp scalpel to autopsy themselves.
I truly admired myself for coming up with such a brilliant idea. So I tied her to a bed and had her sit up with a scalpel in hand. In the time that followed, you would receive my instructions; if you couldn't complete them on time, this Forensic expert would perform an autopsy on herself. Whether you could save your Forensic expert depended on yourselves. As for whether she would be intact when you saw her, that depended on your efforts.
Honestly, I didn't want to do this either. It's just that my sister kept insisting on having those bowls. I knew those bowls were broken in the sewer; it was all your fault! If it weren't for you all, he wouldn't have accidentally dropped them and lost those bowls.
So the first thing I want you to do is put those bowls back together completely and without any flaws for my sister to see. You have two hours left.
The current time is 1 AM; at 3 AM, I will check your results.
"Well then, let me show you the adorable Forensic. Look, isn't it cute? So, I wish you all a wonderful evening. That's all for now. Love you all.
The story ends here. Gu Chen and I looked at this narrative, both furrowing our brows. At the conclusion of the tale, a photograph came into view. In the photo was a woman, completely naked, bound to a hospital bed—one of those adjustable ones.
This naked woman was none other than Guan Zengbin, who had been abducted by the Murderer.
The photo was taken from Guan Zengbin's side, revealing two surgical knives tied to her hands. Her legs were elevated to the level of her hands, making them parallel. This meant that if Guan Zengbin swung the knives down, she could potentially cut into her own legs and feet.
The Murderer had set it up so that if we failed to assemble the Zodiac Bowls correctly, Guan Zengbin would be forced to perform an autopsy on herself. The adjustable bed could control her hands' positions relative to her body; thus, if we didn't meet the Murderer's conditions, Guan Zengbin could end up performing an autopsy on herself entirely.
I found myself gently tapping my chin with my hand to ease my growing anxiety. Although Guan Zengbin was completely exposed at that moment, and Gu Chen and I could see areas we shouldn't have been looking at, my mind was devoid of any such thoughts—only filled with urgency.
The Murderer was truly a perverse individual to devise such a method for self-autopsy.
From the photograph, we could see the expression on Guan Zengbin's profile. While we couldn't see her entire face, I sensed the sadness and fear etched on it. Her expression resembled that of someone witnessing the most horrifying event imaginable. It was a fear emanating from deep within her heart—a look I had never seen on Guan Zengbin before.
I knew that Guan Zengbin must be teetering on the brink of collapse at that moment. If too much time passed, I feared she wouldn't be able to withstand the pressure.
If the Murderer only wanted to trade bowls without this elaborate killing scheme, we could have taken our time with him and gained the upper hand.
But now, the Murderer had imposed a time limit on us—one that was just tight enough for us to complete but not overly so—which left us unable to stall for time with him. The initiative was firmly in the Murderer's hands. Such arrangements indicated that he possessed a high level of intelligence. As I've said before, the Murderer must be well-versed in psychology.
Mary hadn't mentioned this matter during our phone call; Sister Mary would handle repairing and organizing those bowls without needing my concern. The Murderer had only given us two hours; we needed to use this time wisely for other tasks.
That said, as each minute ticked away in Xingdong Village, I found myself unable to do anything but wait for Liu and Mary's investigation results.
Gu Chen glanced at me and then asked, "So what should we do here?"
I looked back at Gu Chen and then gazed toward the distant flashlight beam on the mountain before responding, "Don't you think there's something off about this story?"
"Off?" Gu Chen scratched his head and replied, "I did notice something strange, but I'm not sure if I'm right."
"You," I said as I looked at Gu Chen."
Gu Chen nodded and then spoke, "The Murderer wrote this story under their own name, which means the Murderer has exposed themselves. From the story, we can gather some information about the Murderer. For instance, the tone throughout the piece is that of an older man, as if the Murderer is quite aged. However, according to our Testimony, the Murderer's age should be around twenty."
I nodded in agreement.
Gu Chen continued, "If that's the case, we can deduce that the person who wrote the story is one of the older personalities of the Murderer, and this individual seems to have a good understanding of human anatomy. So, can we guide the other personalities of the Murderer to emerge, thereby allowing the Murderer to release Guan Zengbin?"
I nodded again; Gu Chen's words sparked a new idea in my mind, and it was indeed a possibility. Just like that girl’s personality crying in the sewer—if we could bring that personality forward, she would certainly not harm Guan Zengbin. Therefore, there was a chance for Guan Zengbin to be saved.
I patted Gu Chen on the shoulder and said, "That's useful."
Gu Chen shook his head and added, "However, all of this is based on the premise that the Murderer is one person with Multiple Personalities. I'm still uncertain about how many individuals make up the Murderer. Initially, I thought there were many people involved, but after hearing your analysis, I do believe there’s a strong possibility that the Murderer is just one person."
"But now," Gu Chen said seriously as he looked at me, "when you were on the phone with Liu earlier, I overheard part of it. I also know that Wu Xiufen and Wu Xiufang's husbands and children are still alive. If any of them are the Murderer, then their ages and genders could match up quite well. The only thing I don't understand is why these individuals would come together, so I can't confirm what I'm thinking yet."
I shook my head and replied to Gu Chen, "The Murderer is one person. If they were multiple people, they wouldn't resort to this method to threaten us. If there were multiple individuals involved, many things would be easier to manipulate, and the Murderer wouldn't need to go through such elaborate schemes."
"Moreover," I continued, "based on this letter, it seems that the Murderer wrote it in a very short time. That's why the story is so brief and rushed. In fact, it appears that the Murderer didn't even take time to seriously develop the plot; it just came out like this. The fact that they confronted us suggests that they haven't gone too far; otherwise, they wouldn't have had enough time."
Gu Chen nodded in agreement. "Exactly. The story from the Murderer was written just over two hours after Guan Zengbin was captured; they couldn't have made it to Dongxing City."
I furrowed my brow and said, "Perhaps the Murderer is still in Xingdong Village."
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