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墨書 Inktalez
Upon seeing the situation inside the hole, everyone was stunned. Under the beam of the flashlight, we could see that the hole was filled with the bodies of animals, densely packed together. Most of the corpses were already decaying, and in the sweltering summer heat, we could see writhing white maggots crawling over the rotting remains.
There were various animals inside—dogs, cats, mice, birds, and so on—stuffed into a space that was not very large. Most of these animals had mutilated bodies; some had cleanly severed limbs, while others had jagged cuts, and some were hanging limply with skin and flesh still attached.
This situation revealed just how dark the heart of Liang Zhengyu, an eleven-year-old child, truly was. From these animal corpses, it was evident that some had been killed with a knife, others appeared to have been thrown to their deaths, and some looked as if they had been stomped to death by someone.
The white maggots swarmed like a sea of white, and a foul stench mixed with the smell of garbage wafted up, creating a nauseating odor that assaulted our senses.
"Let's go," the School Leader said, pinching his nose and addressing a few people. "We should get away from here."
However, Liang Zhengkun shook his head and rearranged the bricks. As he worked, he said, "No, I have to fix this; otherwise my brother will hit me when he comes back."
Liang Zhengkun did not yet know that his brother was already dead.
After finishing everything, we retreated back to Liang Zhengkun's home.
The School Leader was shocked that a child could do such things and shook his head repeatedly as he looked at Liang Zhengkun.
I asked, "Did your brother usually kill these animals?"
Liang Zhengkun nodded and replied, "My brother saw videos online where men had to be bloody. At first, he would lure stray cats and dogs with food and then kill them before hiding their bodies in that hole."
"When did this start?" I continued to inquire.
"It's been going on for a while," Liang Zhengkun said. "Sometimes he would take me to see the bodies in that hole and tell me that if I followed him, I could have good food and drink. But if I didn’t listen to him, he would deal with me like this. We were all scared of him."
Gu Chen snorted coldly and said, "An eleven-year-old kid can form cliques and commit such bloody acts; he probably won't be well-behaved when he grows up."
Gu Chen's words made me recall the particularly gruesome scene in that hole. I spoke up: "According to numerous cases, many murderers start by torturing cats and dogs. Once they become accustomed to bloodshed and killing, it becomes easier for them to take lives. And what we saw with those animal corpses wasn't just simple killing; it was torture."
The School Leader remarked, "The parents of these two children are not home; there’s no one to educate them when they come back..."
I shook my head and said, "It depends on the person. In the same environment, Liang Zhengkun doesn’t behave like this. However, from Liang Zhengyu's actions, it seems there might be some issues in how he treats others."
I glanced at Liang Zhengkun and told him, "Your parents will be back soon; you should go to your room for now."
Liang Zhengkun looked at me and nodded before walking into his room.
I looked at the others and said, “The Murderer has given us a second task, which is to find another one. From the current situation, it seems that the Murderer wants us to locate Liang Zhengkun. However, there is a point worth considering: the Murderer only killed one person, Liang Zhengyu, and he knew very well that Liang Zhengyu had a brother, yet he did not act against him. Why?”
The School Leader spoke up, “Perhaps the brother went home right after school, so the Murderer couldn't catch Liang Zhengkun?”
I waved my hand in disagreement. “No, based on this series of actions by the Murderer, he had already prepared fishing lines and hooks in advance. This clearly shows that the Murderer is well aware of the movements of these children after school. He must know that Liang Zhengyu and Liang Zhengkun's parents come home late, so it’s not that he couldn’t make a move.”
“What does that mean?” The School Leader asked with a furrowed brow.
I replied, “Is the Murderer really an unprincipled child abuser? From what we see now, he doesn’t appear to be an extreme child abuser. The Murderer killed Li Jun and Liang Zhengyu, but left Liang Zhengkun alive and clearly indicated to us that, in his view, this does not count as randomly killing innocents.”
I frowned; the Murderer was selective in his killings, contrary to our previous assumptions that he was an extreme child abuser. Moreover, this person seemed to have a deep understanding of Taishan Academy, knowing where the children liked to play and which areas lacked surveillance cameras. It seemed that the Murderer truly harbored a grudge against Taishan Academy.
Taishan Academy was considered one of the worst schools in town, lacking sufficient teaching resources, with only two classes per grade, totaling around sixty to seventy students per grade. The Murderer killed two children—one was only eight years old and the other eleven—who were not even in the same class. What could possibly connect these two?
From what we currently knew, these two children were not innocent by any means. Li Jun had kicked a pregnant woman out of a car, while Liang Zhengyu had cruelly tortured animals; perhaps this was their connection.
“Investigate!” I instructed the School Leader. “I want all student records from your school, including those who have transferred.”
“What do you need that for?” The School Leader asked in confusion.
“To find out,” I said. “The reason behind the Murderer's actions likely lies here. He didn’t target other schools but specifically attacked Taishan Academy. Moreover, after killing one person and knowing full well that the police were already involved, he still dared to act like this—it raises serious questions.”
The School Leader nodded and said, “Alright, I will make sure to compile all the records by tomorrow.”
“Now call Liang Zhengyu's homeroom teacher; we need to know what kind of person Liang Zhengyu was,” I instructed the School Leader.
After everything that happened, Liang Zhengyu's homeroom teacher certainly couldn’t sleep well either. When the School Leader made the call, she answered immediately. When I posed my question to her about Liang Zhengyu's character, she provided us with insight into who he really was.
Liang Zhengyu was definitely not a good student; his academic performance was poor and he often argued with teachers during class. He frequently got into fights as well. Initially, teachers would call his parents in for meetings, but they were always too busy to discipline him properly.
Eventually, the homeroom teacher lost interest in managing Liang Zhengyu because it became clear that any attempts at discipline were futile at that point. However, something shocking happened later on that left even her stunned; she never reported it to higher authorities because such incidents reflected poorly on her as a teacher.
But now that Liang Zhengyu was dead, she wasn’t sure if this incident had anything to do with his death; she had actually been waiting for our call all along. Subsequently, she shared a story with us that left us all feeling somewhat shocked.
Since teachers were reluctant to deal with Liang Zhengyu later on and there was no one at home to supervise him either, he quickly learned to smoke and drink. His teacher told us she had caught him smoking several times and had informed his parents about it; however, their response was simply to beat him severely and ask her to do it for them because they were too busy.
Liang Zhengyu's homeroom teacher felt helpless. She couldn't manage her own child, yet she was tasked with overseeing this troublemaker. From that moment on, she chose to turn a blind eye to such matters. In her eyes, Liang Zhengyu was a bad kid who would inevitably grow up to be a good-for-nothing; such a life seemed already predetermined.
The friends Liang Zhengyu hung out with were no angels either. Having been a homeroom teacher for over twenty years, she had seen too many students and knew that most of the kids in this school came from the village, children whose parents had no time to discipline them.
As she watched batch after batch of students head towards Middle School, she understood that many would graduate only to follow in their parents' footsteps and go out to work. The entire school lacked any atmosphere of learning—fighting, smoking, cursing—she had witnessed it all over her two decades of teaching. She had grown accustomed to it and became numb; unless something serious happened, she couldn't be bothered to intervene, merely offering a few verbal reprimands.
However, one day, she heard that some classmates were fighting with Liang Zhengyu. She had heard this too many times before and walked over slowly, thinking it was just another common occurrence. But when she arrived, the "fight" the children spoke of seemed far removed from what one would typically consider fighting.
What they were doing could hardly be called a fair fight; it resembled more of an act of abuse.
Upon witnessing this scene, Liang Zhengyu's homeroom teacher was utterly stunned. She chose to turn away because it appeared that the situation had spiraled far beyond her control. Among those involved were some of the top students in her class, their faces displaying an exaggerated fervor.
This was no longer just one person's issue. She opted for avoidance; after all, these students would be moving up to higher grades next year. Just one more year of tolerating them, and they would leave this school behind.
When a dam develops a leak and is ignored, it won't be long before the entire structure collapses.
With her alone unable to stem the floodwaters, she turned and left as if nothing had happened.
But ignoring the incident did not mean it hadn't occurred.
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