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墨書 Inktalez
We all looked in the direction pointed out by Wang Fa-Yi, and there it was—the boy's mouth.
Earlier, when we were outside, we hadn’t paid close attention to the boy’s mouth. It was because he had been facing away from the sunlight, making his face appear somewhat dark. But now, as Wang Fa-Yi urged us to take a closer look, we indeed noticed something on his lips.
At that moment, Gu Chen's phone rang. It was a call from the School Leader. I answered the phone and switched to speaker mode, asking, "What’s going on? Have you found that child? Didn’t you say you had taken all safety measures? Why is it that one of your students from Taishan Academy has died?"
Hearing my words, the School Leader sounded quite defeated. I could tell he was feeling low as he replied, "We didn’t expect this either. We thought we were looking for a child around eight or nine years old; a Fourth Grader is already eleven or twelve."
I felt utterly helpless.
The School Leader continued, "The people in the town don’t have a strong sense of safety. A child who is already in their teens can manage going to and from school by themselves. Besides, their parents are busy with work and don’t have time; that’s normal. But who would have thought something like this would happen…"
I sighed and said, "Enough with the useless talk. The incident has already occurred. Let me remind you one last time: ensure the safety of your students. If parents aren’t there to pick them up, don’t let the children go outside. Now tell me, do you know who this boy is?"
"Yes," the School Leader hurriedly replied. "The child’s name is Liang Zhengyu. He is in Fourth Grade, Class One."
"Weren't his parents worried enough to report him missing?" I glanced at Chen Bo beside me and continued, "Haven't his parents contacted the school?"
The School Leader said, "Not yet. I just spoke with his homeroom teacher to understand the situation. His teacher, Teacher Luo, told me that Liang Zhengyu’s parents work in City and usually come home around eleven or midnight. They leave early in the morning around five or six. Sometimes they don’t come home at all; it’s just Liang Zhengyu alone at home."
Chen Bo looked at me and said, "This situation isn’t uncommon in town—many children are left behind while their parents go to Dongxing City for work. This could be considered a form of left-behind children."
Upon hearing this, the School Leader on the other end quickly added, "Exactly! We can’t assign a bodyguard to every student! You need to catch the murderer quickly; if this continues, even with thousands of students in our school, it won’t be enough to stop this murderer!"
"So Liang Zhengyu's parents likely won’t return home tonight," I concluded. "They probably think their child is already back home and have no idea he has died."
"It is like this," the School Leader said.
"And there is one more thing," the School Leader added. "Liang Zhengyu has a younger brother named Liang Zhengkun."
Upon hearing this, we all recalled the note left for us by the Murderer, which tasked us with finding another person. Could this Liang Zhengkun be the one the Murderer referred to?
"Then where is this Liang Zhengkun now?" I asked.
The School Leader replied, "I don't know... Liang Zhengyu's friend is dead, what about Liang Zhengkun?"
Hearing the School Leader's words, I quickly asked, "How old is Liang Zhengkun? What grade is he in?"
The School Leader responded, "Liang Zhengkun is nine years old and in second grade."
I hurriedly said, "You need to contact Liang Zhengkun's homeroom teacher immediately and go to Liang Zhengkun's home to see what he is doing right now. Once you get there, give us an address, whether Liang Zhengkun is there or not. Do you understand?"
"Got it," the School Leader said. "I'll do it right away."
I nodded and quickly added, "Also, remember to inform Liang Zhengyu's parents about this on your way. They need to hurry over from Dongxing City."
"Okay," the School Leader replied. "I'll take care of it."
After hanging up the phone, we exchanged glances. Gu Chen spoke up, "The note left for us by the Murderer instructed us to find another person. I think it's highly likely that this Liang Zhengkun is the one."
I agreed with this assessment and said, "I think it's very likely as well. However, for now, let's first find out what information we can gather from Liang Zhengyu's body."
We turned our attention to Wang Fa-Yi.
Wang Fa-Yi nodded and said, "While you were discussing, I was finishing the autopsy. You all saw the mouth of the corpse clearly, right?"
The three of us nodded.
Wang Fa-Yi continued, "There are tiny needle holes on the lips. These holes are not very dense and are quite small; if you don't observe carefully, you won't notice them. However, I found fine fibers using tweezers at these needle holes. We can conclude that this is evidence of a thread being passed through, the kind of ordinary thread."
At this point, Wang Fa-Yi looked at us and after a moment spoke again, "In other words, the murderer sewed the boy's mouth shut."
"Afraid he would make a sound?" Chen Bo asked.
I shook my head and said, "No. You can try it yourself; tightly closing your mouth, can you still shout?"
As I spoke, Chen Bo tried it and his voice was quite loud.
I glanced at Chen Bo and said, "So it's not about fearing him shouting. In that place, there was hardly anyone around, so he wouldn't be afraid of Liang Zhengyu's voice. I think this is also a form of abuse, isn't it?"
Wang Fa-Yi nodded and said, "While you were talking, I examined his tongue. The tip of his tongue also had needle holes, meaning the murderer sewed his lips and tongue together."
"Another form of abuse," I remarked.
"Exactly," Wang Fa-Yi nodded. "This method doesn't seem to have any direct purpose. I share your view; it should just be a form of abuse. It resonates with the fishhooks found behind him; both involve sewing."
At this point, an image formed in my mind. The murderer sat against a tree with a boy lying unconscious at his feet. He had pulled out the boy's tongue and meticulously sewed his upper and lower lips together along with his tongue.
In intense pain, the boy woke up, struggling against his restraints. Each attempt only resulted in excruciating pain in his tongue and lips, and he found himself too weak to exert any real force. All he could do was watch in horror as his lips were sewn shut.
Then, the Murderer showed the boy a nearby sack.
The boy heard the sound of metal clashing as the Murderer kicked the sack. Soon after, he saw the Murderer pull out several fishhooks and a long bundle of fishing line from inside it. One by one, the Murderer pierced the hooks into his flesh, as if Liang Zhengyu were a large fish.
As flesh tore and blood splattered, this large fish realized in terror that it had left the ground, becoming a flying fish leaping through the air.
I furrowed my brow and asked, "So there’s still time to determine the cause of death?"
Wang Fa-Yi replied, "The time of death was around six-thirty in the afternoon."
School in this town ended at five-thirty, meaning Liang Zhengyu died shortly after school let out. This indicated that the Murderer must have taken Liang Zhengyu away in a very short time frame. The town's surveillance cameras were limited; if the Murderer had evaded them once before, it wouldn’t be difficult for him to do so again.
Given such a brief window, it was clear that the Murderer had prepared well in advance for how to torture this child and ultimately kill him. After capturing Liang Zhengyu, he must have taken him directly to that location. The fishing line and fishhooks were likely prearranged.
"Chen Bo," I said, "check with the local fishing supply stores. With so many fishhooks involved, this is a big customer. See if anyone has recently purchased a large quantity of them."
Chen Bo nodded and stepped aside to make a call to the police station.
"What about the cause of death?" I asked.
Wang Fa-Yi responded, "The cause of death was cardiac arrest."
Shaking his head, Wang Fa-Yi continued, "This means that the child likely couldn’t withstand such immense pain, tension, and fear; he essentially scared himself to death. The Murderer may have intended to torment him further, but such terror is difficult for a child to bear. At least this way, there won’t be any subsequent abuse."
Sighing, Wang Fa-Yi said, "This case is the most twisted one I've encountered in my entire career as a Forensic expert. The murderer is so cruel, even to children; I fear he could do anything. I believe this person must be a severely psychologically twisted individual, likely possessing an anti-human personality."
I couldn't confirm that yet, but one thing was certain: the murderer would not stop here. I didn't know how many tasks he would give us, but I knew that each task would come with the death of a child. Two children had already died, and Hu Ningning was still in his hands as a hostage.
I wondered what he would ultimately do with this hostage.
Wang Fa-Yi continued, "Like last time, there were traces of anesthetics found in the body. The murderer must have knocked the child out and then taken them away. The dosages were inconsistent, and if he wasn't careful, it’s possible the anesthetic was too much, causing the child to never wake up. You guessed correctly; the murderer is likely not a doctor or anyone related to that field."
"Is there anything else found? Like fingerprints or something?" I asked.
"None," Wang Fa-Yi replied. "The murderer is very cautious; there weren't even any on the fishhook."
I nodded, falling silent.
After more than half an hour, Gu Chen's phone rang; it was a call from the School Leader.
"What’s going on?" I asked.
"Liang Zhengkun..."
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