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墨書 Inktalez
Yuan Jun drove at top speed toward Liangmu Community. It was just past eleven in the morning, the time when children were getting out of school and office workers were finishing their shifts. The streets were bustling with pedestrians, and vehicles filled the roads. No matter how skilled Yuan Jun was as a driver, he couldn't go any faster in such heavy traffic.
At that moment, Zhao Jie was sweating profusely from anxiety. Under Zhao Jie's constant urging, Yuan Jun finally arrived at Liangmu Community. As they entered through the main gate, they looked around and saw that Liangmu Community was no different from other residential areas. Many people were returning home, preparing to cook.
Jiang He was the first to get out of the car. He turned to the others and asked, "Which unit in Liangmu Community?"
Old Shao quickly replied, "Unit Three, Room 2012."
Upon hearing Old Shao's words, three men rushed out, with Zhao Jie leading the way, his mind focused on his wife. Following closely behind him were Jiang He and Yuan Jun.
As Jiang He ran toward Unit Three, he observed his surroundings. The thirty-story building was newly constructed. However, unlike the building where Zhao Jie lived, this one lacked external fire escapes. Each building stood independently without any connections.
This meant that the murderer could only carry out his plan within a single building. They had spent half an hour on the road to reach Liangmu Community, and everything around them seemed normal. This indicated that the murder plan had not yet begun.
Jiang He turned to Xu Yiman and Old Shao behind him and said, "The murderer hasn't had a chance to kill yet; he must still be on-site. Immediately gather security and search the area. That so-called Criminal Consultant is always dressed in black; he should stand out here."
"Understood," Old Shao replied. "Be careful."
Yuan Jun added, "I didn't expect to encounter such a situation today, so I didn't bring my sidearm."
"That's fine," Jiang He said firmly. "This time I will catch him."
As they spoke, the three of them reached Unit Three and rushed through the entrance. Jiang He instructed, "There are two elevators and a staircase. Unless the murderer can fly, he will escape through one of these three routes after committing murder. Old Shao will definitely have people guarding this building's exits. Let's head up first."
"Yuan Jun, you have the best stamina; take the stairs. Zhao Jie and I will use the elevators separately. If you encounter the Criminal Consultant, act first. He is a cold-blooded killer with a very peculiar personality; you can't rely on common sense to predict his actions."
The elevator arrived at the first floor. After Jiang He's repeated reminders, everyone split up to take action. Jiang He stepped into the elevator as its doors slowly closed. His mind raced with various clues as he thought about what he would do if he encountered the Criminal Consultant again. Wang Chao's image flashed in his mind once more, tightening his chest with anxiety.
More importantly, what did this Criminal Consultant want? The previous generation of Criminal Consultants aimed to force humanity to evolve by creating a world without laws or morality, believing that only through suffering could evolution occur. What did this generation of Criminal Consultant desire? And who was he really?
"Ding dong," Jiang He looked up and realized they had arrived at the twentieth floor.
Taking a deep breath, Jiang He waited for the elevator doors to slowly open. As the doors gradually parted, he finally stepped out. However, there was nothing outside the elevator—no one in sight. Jiang He glanced around, and another elevator arrived, from which Zhao Jie emerged.
"Where is my wife?" Zhao Jie asked immediately.
Jiang He walked down the corridor, noting that all the doors were tightly shut, unsure if anyone was inside. They stopped in front of Room 2012, which was also closed off.
Zhao Jie was about to step forward when Jiang He stopped him.
"You need to be careful," Jiang He said to Zhao Jie. "The Criminal Consultant never plays by the rules. Everything might have been planned by them since we stepped into the elevator. We must be cautious; we can't afford to be careless."
Zhao Jie refused to heed Jiang He's warning. "If my wife is in that room and you hesitate because of a simple door, she could be doomed!"
With that, Zhao Jie forcefully pushed past Jiang He. Driven by desperation to save his wife, he exerted all his strength, and Jiang He, already frail, lost his balance and fell to the ground.
At that moment, Zhao Jie slammed into the door. Once, twice—he crashed against it with a loud thud, seemingly oblivious to any pain. After several attempts, he broke through the door, and a sharp sound followed.
Sitting on the floor, Jiang He clearly heard that sound.
What was that noise? It resembled a sword being swiftly drawn from its sheath or a knife slicing through a metal pot. Suddenly, an idea struck Jiang He.
"Close the door! Close it immediately!" Jiang He scrambled to his feet and shouted at Zhao Jie, who stood at the doorway.
Following Zhao Jie's gaze, Jiang He saw a metallic wire glinting in the sunlight as it swiftly slid along the corner of the room like a snake, moving rapidly throughout the house. Jiang He squeezed past Zhao Jie and ran toward a nearby room following the path of the wire.
He pushed open a slightly ajar door and saw a black robe. The metallic wire swept past it, causing the robe to flutter up. Finally, Jiang He could see clearly: outside the bedroom window was a person—a living person. He noticed that the security grille on the window was precariously close to falling off, and one end of the wire was wrapped around it. Attached to the metal railing was a rope tied to a woman who was suspended upside down in the middle of the room.
Aside from that, the entire glass along with the frame had long been completely removed.
Jiang He quickly analyzed the problem. When someone pushed open the door, the metal wire fixed to the door would fall off. This wire was used to hold up the protective railing, and once the door opened and the wire fell, there was no longer any force holding the railing in place, causing it to plummet from the twentieth floor.
The railing was also attached to a woman. Jiang He didn’t even have time to take a step forward before he saw that the woman had already been yanked out by the heavy railing, disappearing through the completely dismantled window frame. Almost immediately, Jiang He heard a deafening "thud" from below.
From the twentieth floor, at a height of sixty meters, a person falling from such a height took just over three seconds. In that brief moment, Jiang He could only react and take two steps into the room; unfortunately, he couldn’t hold onto the woman. Even if he could have grabbed her, with such a heavy railing pulling her down, what awaited Jiang He would likely be a similar fate.
"What happened?" Zhao Jie arrived late and stared blankly at the gaping hole.
Jiang He slowly walked toward the stairwell, lowering his head to look down. Everything below was a blur, with red blood splattering dozens of meters away.
Jiang He leaned against the ledge and softly said, "I saw a woman. Although I didn’t see her face, I have an eighty percent chance of believing that woman is your wife, Guo Xiyue."
"What are you saying? That’s impossible! The murderer isn’t in this house; how could he push someone down?" Zhao Jie couldn’t believe his wife was dead.
Jiang He simply replied, "The murderer is indeed not here. He knows this place is too high to escape from, so when he released that video, he had already left the house. No matter who it is, they must open the door to enter. But as soon as the door opens, your wife will fall; it’s almost an inescapable trap."
"Open the door? You mean open the door?" Zhao Jie looked at his own hands.
"Yes," Jiang He said. "As soon as the door opens, your wife is doomed."
"Impossible!" Zhao Jie exclaimed. "You must be lying to me! How did you know not to let me open the door? You are the murderer! How else would you know so much?"
With that, Zhao Jie charged forward and swung his fist at Jiang He's face.
Jiang He dodged repeatedly but was pinned against the window ledge by Zhao Jie. If Zhao Jie pushed just a little harder, Jiang He’s fate would be just like that of the woman’s.
"Calm down, we're here to help you," Jiang He said.
"No, I can't accept this," Zhao Jie replied. "My wife is a good person; she hasn't done anything wrong. Why, why does she have to suffer like this? It's not our fault, it's not!"
"Damn it," Yuan Jun's voice came through. "What are you doing?"
In the next moment, Zhao Jie was thrown aside by Yuan Jun. Jiang He looked around; it was winter now, the cold biting, yet Yuan Jun was sweating profusely.
"Are you okay?" Yuan Jun asked. "Everything here has been smashed open; what about the windows?"
"This place was designed by the Criminal Consultant long ago," Jiang He explained. "Tell Old Shao that they don't need to block anything; the murderer isn't here at all."
Yuan Jun pulled Jiang He up and leaned over to look down, quickly pulling back his head. "Is that... is that Guo Xiyue?"
"It should be," Jiang He said as he also glanced downstairs.
A metal railing fell from sixty meters above, creating a deafening noise that attracted the attention of many residents. Soon, gasps of surprise echoed through the air.
Jiang He instructed, "Take Zhao Jie down; I'll check here for any clues."
Yuan Jun turned to look, and Zhao Jie was already lying there like a puddle of mud.
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