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墨書 Inktalez
Murderer continued, and from the sound of his voice, I recognized it was that refined middle-aged man. "I know there are Trackers in the bowls. While you were unconscious, I carefully checked those four bowls. I couldn't take out the Trackers inside because that would inevitably shatter the bowls."
I frowned.
"But we are underground now, and the signal can't get out. The police will need time to find us. And that time is enough for us to escape." Gentle Uncle smiled at me. "However, we also don't have much time left, do you understand?"
I looked at Murderer, and he looked back at me. In this unknown underground space, the air around us seemed to freeze. He stared intently at me, and I couldn't tell who was really looking at me in that moment. Yet from his eyes, I saw sadness and hope.
The surroundings were eerily quiet; I felt as if I could hear a faint "beep beep beep" sound echoing.
"Why is it like this?" I asked.
Murderer replied slowly, "I can be aware of the other Personalities within my body and can converse with them. These Personalities are just like ordinary people; they too experience aging and death. My sister has been trapped at that age for too long; she is about to disappear. If it weren't for your companion, we would have completed our task by now."
I knew Murderer was referring to Zhao Mingkun.
"I need to know that the person you took hasn't come to harm." I hadn't seen Guan Zengbin, so I needed to confirm his fate.
Murderer looked at me with an expression that suggested he couldn't tell me, then said, "I won't tell you where that woman is until our demands are met; that's our only trump card. When we leave safely, I'll let you know where she is."
"I'm just curious—since the moment I arrived at Xingdong Village, had you already planned this? Wu Xiufen is your biological mother, so whatever demands you make, she will comply."
I studied Murderer's expression, trying to glean something from it. "Five years ago, your father—of course, I'm referring to Wu Xiufang's husband—died. You learned the truth from the notebook, and it was then that your Main Personality began showing signs of wanting to disappear; all of you were created by her, and you are all protecting her."
Gentle Uncle added, "There are a total of four Personalities within us, all trapped in the five-year-old Main Personality. She cannot accept her mother's death, so she chose to sleep and escape. It was at this moment that the second Personality, Yama, emerged. He would do anything to survive. He is both resilient and humble; he is brave yet fearful. All the murders were committed by him."
The first Personality had always been slow and methodical, yet very logical, making it comfortable for others to listen to him. He continued, "But the second Personality could not satisfy the long-lost sense of security that the Main Personality needed, which is why the sister, Ze, appeared. Ze took on the role of the Main Personality's sister, providing her comfort and companionship, giving her a sense of safety."
"Five years ago," the uncle said, "I appeared as the last Personality to emerge. There were many things from before that I was unaware of. Ze, being the third Personality to appear, also had many secrets she didn't know. The King of Hell knows everything, but he has never liked to communicate with us."
"That's far back," he continued. "Five years ago, I emerged, knowing only that I had to find those Twelve Bowls and have my sister replicate them. I looked at the handwriting; he had taken nothing from his notes. Naturally, those Twelve Bowls were taken away. I thought I should first find Wu Xiufen, my biological mother."
I nodded.
The uncle laughed and said, "It's a bit strange, but after all, this body was given to me by Wu Xiufen; let's just say she is my sister's mother. In fact, the King of Hell wanted to kill her, but he gave up because of something."
I spoke up, "What about the photo on the bedside table and the thirty years of self-redemption?"
The uncle snapped his fingers and said, "Exactly. Although I don't understand why the King of Hell was so angry when he saw Wu Xiufen—after all, she is his biological mother—I believe you wouldn't want to see him explain it again. So I used Wu Xiufang to connect with the outside world because at that time, the King of Hell could no longer control himself."
"Was he already starting to kill back then?" I asked.
The uncle nodded and replied, "Yes, five years ago, the King of Hell began to abuse others and showed tendencies toward murder. You know, those who owned the bowls were all innocent people. But you must understand that after enduring ten years of torment, one can become like him."
I continued from Murderer's words: "So in order to avoid killing, you all lived underground and never interacted with anyone. This way, the King of Hell couldn't kill anyone?"
The uncle said, "Yes, we lived underground for five years. I had to find all the bowls before I could go out and buy things; otherwise, given the King of Hell's nature, he would definitely kill someone. He has an obsessive compulsion; no one can touch those Twelve Bowls or they will meet a deadly end."
"Why?" I asked.
The old man shook his head and said, "That's his secret; I don't know."
"But how did you manage to get back to Dongxing City so quickly?" I asked. "Driving, it would take at least three and a half hours."
"Five years ago, Wu Xiufen helped us create an underground space. After I stripped and tied up your Female Team Member, the programmed system would automatically take photos. By that time, we were already on our way to Dongxing City. So when you received the photos, I had already left for two hours."
"You move fast," the old man chuckled. "When I drove over, there were already checkpoints set up along the road. That surprised me because you should have thought that the Murderer was definitely in Xingdong Village, so there would be no need for such trouble with checkpoints. But why didn't the police stop me?"
I glanced at the Murderer and replied, "Your clothes."
The old man nodded. "You're clever, but clever people often get caught up in their own intelligence. From the very beginning of the case, we wore black clothes. If I were to change into a different color, you would definitely think that the Murderer wasn't me. This is human cognitive bias. Originally, this trick was meant to be used only in desperate situations, and it could only be used once."
I nodded seriously. "Did you come up with all this? I knew long ago that the Murderer was well-versed in psychology."
The old man smiled but didn't answer that question.
I continued, "As the only high-IQ Personality born into existence, without you, many things would have been impossible for them alone. Only you are skilled in computer technology and have studied psychology. I think perhaps you are the first one among the existing other Personalities."
The old man looked at his Luminous Watch and then began to arrange bowls on a nearby table in order according to the Twelve Zodiac Signs. As I watched him set up these twelve bowls, some still bore traces of blood that hadn't been cleaned off properly. Each bowl represented a bloody story behind it.
He took out a cloth and a bucket of detergent, gently applying the detergent to the bowls before slowly cleaning them. His movements were deliberate, as if he were handling a piece of art. As he wiped away the bloodstains from the bowls, he said to me, "Wu Meng, is there something you really want?"
Watching the Murderer's actions, I pondered before answering, "Yes."
He laughed and said, "This Main Personality has wanted to obtain the Twelve Bowls since he was five years old. But it took fifteen years for him to finally fulfill that wish. Fortunately, he has been trapped at the age of five all this time. For him, perhaps fifteen years is just like one year."
"What about the King of Hell?" Murderer continued, "For the past fifteen years, he has been resisting, longing to live freely in this world without compromising or hiding everywhere. Yet now, because of him, we have to live underground even more. It's quite ironic, isn't it? Very ironic."
Murderer slowly wiped each bowl, as if speaking to me or perhaps just talking to himself: "As for Ze, her appearance was meant to give hope for Main Personality to escape his predicament and confront this issue. But there’s no way; she has been unable to break free for fifteen years, and now she is slowly fading away."
Finally, Murderer set down the last bowl. I looked over; these bowls were polished clean, as if they had just been delivered from the factory.
"And what about you?" I asked Murderer: "What do you want?"
The uncle did not answer my question but said, "Soon Main Personality will come out. He doesn’t know about your teammates, so don’t try to get any information through him. Your girlfriend is securely tied to the bed; that scalpel won’t be able to cut through the chains. The bed is equipped with a special device that will completely fold up at seven o'clock, and the knife tied to her hand will stab into her body."
Murderer glanced at his watch and then said, "It’s five-thirty now; there’s still an hour and a half left. My sister has a deep foundation in painting, even though she has only studied for a year. Of course, her one year is your fifteen years. I have to go now; I hope you treat her well. Otherwise, the King of Hell will come out again."
As he spoke, Murderer closed his eyes. When he opened them again, he wore a shy expression. He grabbed a corner of his clothing with both hands and glanced at me shyly.
A sense of helplessness welled up in my heart; in such a short time, I found it difficult to adapt to conversing with four people who looked the same yet were entirely different. But upon reflection, it seemed somewhat interesting—this way, I could keep myself company and wouldn’t feel so lonely.
"Look," I pointed casually at the Twelve Bowls on the table.
"Wow," the girl exclaimed happily, "They’re all back!"
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