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墨書 Inktalez
I asked, "What on earth is going on here?"
The man seemed to gather his momentum and replied, "I knew that Hu Pei was no good from the start. Let me tell you this: back then, wasn't Hu Pei dating someone? Why is it that after the person died, he suddenly denies it? We all live in the same neighborhood; if you can do such things, why fear others finding out?"
Sitting on the ground, Hu Pei's mother heard the words of the middle-aged man and said, "You, Zhang! Aren't you just envious of my son? How many times did you take the entrance exam and still couldn't get into Dongxing University? It's pure jealousy. Twenty years have passed, and you're still slandering my son. I won't let this go!"
As she spoke, the elderly woman didn't even straighten up but lunged sideways at the middle-aged man. He dodged, and she missed, crashing into someone else. The scene quickly descended into chaos; people were pushing and shoving, shouting at one another, creating a lively uproar. Occasionally, someone would be knocked over, turning the narrow hallway into a battlefield.
At that moment, Zhao Mingkun and I were inside the room, immediately reaching out to intervene, but it was futile.
Suddenly, we heard a "thud" from behind us. Turning around, I saw two round objects rolling across the floor. They bounced with elasticity before finally coming to a stop by the door.
"Ah! Those are eyeballs!" a member of the crowd suddenly shouted.
The previously noisy crowd fell silent in an instant. Some people still had their hands gripping others' collars; some were poised to kick. But at that moment, time seemed to freeze; everyone held their positions while their eyes fixated on the round objects on the floor.
Eyes staring at eyes—only these two were rolling away from their sockets while everyone else's remained in place.
We realized then that during the earlier scuffle, the vibrations had reached the girl's body. Leaning against the wall, her corpse had been precariously balanced. But with those vibrations, it could no longer hold itself up and fell forward onto the ground.
As she collapsed, her two eyeballs rolled out.
"Those eyes—they fell from the girl's hands," a young girl said. "I saw it; I saw it! The eyeball dropped when she fell…"
Her voice trembled as she spoke in broken sentences, tightening our hearts along with hers.
The eyeball lay still, its lens smeared with blood, the pupil dilated to an alarming size, the brown iris clouded and beginning to turn white. Behind the lens, a cluster of nerves gathered together. Upon closer inspection of the eyeball, one could see signs of damage at the pupil, as if it had been corroded or gnawed by something. It did not present the normal oval shape of a healthy eyeball; it was missing parts.
Zhao Mingkun seemed to have noticed something and walked over to the girl, gently lifting her hand. After observing for a moment, Zhao Mingkun turned to me and said, “I think I’ve discovered something terrible.”
As Zhao Mingkun looked at me, I noticed a change in her expression; it was one of suppressed fear. This woman, who had seen so many dead bodies and had killed so many people, was now afraid.
“What’s wrong?” I asked the question that everyone present wanted to know.
Zhao Mingkun took a few deep breaths before speaking again. “When the girl was still standing, I carefully examined her eye sockets. Around them, I found many small wounds—deep but not shallow, each less than a centimeter long. Just now, I also closely inspected the girl’s fingernails and found many bits of flesh under them.”
“How big can a girl’s fingers be?” Zhao Mingkun added before falling silent.
Although Zhao Mingkun didn’t finish her thought, most people present were not foolish; I was sure nearly everyone understood what she meant. Zhao Mingkun believed that the girl had gouged out her own eyeballs. But how could a seven or eight-year-old girl possibly do something that even an adult would struggle with?
Seeing my serious expression, Zhao Mingkun knew I understood what she was implying.
“Though I don’t want to admit it, that’s the reality,” Zhao Mingkun said as she walked to the door and gently picked up two eyeballs, placing them beside the girl.
The room fell silent; even the elderly person who had been crying out earlier was now quiet. The truth was too terrifying and shocking to comprehend. If the child had indeed gouged out her own eyes, then what about the scratches on her mouth? Were those self-inflicted as well?
The scratches on her mouth were uneven, suggesting they had been made quickly. However, we hadn’t found any murder weapon in the living room yet, so we couldn’t confirm anything.
At that moment, a sudden cry echoed from outside—the frantic wails of a woman. I realized this must be Hu Xiaoxue’s mother. Her cries were heart-wrenching and hoarse, like someone who hadn’t had water for days.
She had been brought back by someone; stepping back slightly, I saw a woman being supported by several people. Her hair was disheveled, her clothes torn in several places; one shoe remained on her foot while the other was nowhere to be found. It seemed she had lost all composure and was swaying unsteadily despite being held up by others.
Yes, she had lost her daughter. For her, it was as if she had lost her very foundation.
It was hard for me to imagine that this woman was the same one in the photograph I had seen at Hu Peixin's house. The woman in the picture was a beautiful and graceful young mother, not this person who looked like she had aged twenty years and seemed utterly deranged. Supported by someone, she had made her way to the third floor.
Once on the third floor, the woman's strength suddenly surged. She broke free from her supporter and rushed inside. As she entered, she pushed me aside with such force that I nearly stumbled. In that instant, she reached the body of the girl and embraced it tightly.
Zhao Mingkun leaned back at this sight.
But just then, the woman unexpectedly pulled a fruit knife from her chest. She flipped her daughter's body over, exposing the girl's face to everyone again. Before we could react, she began to slash at the girl's mouth with the knife.
As she cut, she spoke in a frantic tone, "Child, didn't you love to smile? Why aren't you smiling now? Smile for me, Mommy is here. Child, why won't you smile? Smile! Mommy loves your smile the most. Hehe, smile!"
Seeing that the corpse she held showed no response, her voice turned low and furious, and her movements quickened. I looked closer; the girl's face was almost mutilated by the knife. Yet, there was no sign of her stopping, and at that moment, I understood who had been drawing lines across the girl's mouth.
"Smile! Smile!" Her voice rose high and hoarse, sending chills down my spine.
At that moment, those around us finally reacted.
An elderly man shouted, "My daughter-in-law! My son! My grandson! Which deity have we offended to deserve this calamity?"
Hearing the old man's words seemed to frighten the woman. She immediately drew the knife close to her chest, gripping it tightly as her whole body trembled: "Ghost! There’s a ghost! It has come back! Stay away! You’re all ghosts! Stay away!"
Zhao Mingkun glanced at me and said, "Let's go."
I knew we had already lingered here far too long.
Just as Zhao Mingkun shifted his position, a woman charged at him with a knife, aiming to stab him. However, Zhao Mingkun seemed unfazed; he sidestepped her attack, grabbed her wrist with his left hand, and twisted it forcefully. The knife fell to the ground as the woman lost her grip.
"She's completely lost it," Zhao Mingkun said slowly, glancing at the others. "Take her away from here. More police will arrive soon to investigate."
The crowd hurriedly subdued the woman.
Meanwhile, Zhao Mingkun and I made our way downstairs.
"Do you think she's just pretending?" I asked. "She seems so out of it—could she really have encountered a ghost?"
Zhao Mingkun paused for a moment before responding. "When she lunged at me with that knife, her expression and movements didn’t seem staged. Besides, there’s no reason for her to pretend. A mother who would use a dagger on her own daughter must truly be insane."
I replied, "If that's the case, we might not be able to get any information from her. And we may have stumbled upon an ongoing murder case. The girl hasn't been dead for long; judging by the scene, Hu Xiaoxue's mother and grandmother likely went out shopping, leaving Hu Xiaoxue alone at home. From what they bought, it looks like they were preparing vegetables for a second meal, so they couldn't have been gone long."
Zhao Mingkun pointed toward the stairwell. "This is an old area with no cameras. Hu Pei probably never considered that sending his wife and daughter here would give the murderer an opportunity to act without being seen."
"Let's take it one step at a time," I said.
Just as we reached the second floor, we encountered a group of police officers coming up the stairs.
We met them at the corner of the staircase.
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