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墨書 Inktalez
Although the village was small, it was backed by a mountain. The mountain, though not high, was more than sufficient to hide a creature—especially one that was agile and quick in its movements. Until sunset, no trace of the monster had been found.
Searching at night posed too great a risk, so the Armed Police Force had withdrawn, leaving us to spend the night in the town and resume the search the next day. A large truck took the Armed Police Force away, and the Captain of the Criminal Investigation Team approached us, saying, "The Special Investigation Team has worked hard as well. You should go back and rest; we will keep watch here."
A thought crossed my mind, prompting me to shake my head. I turned to the Captain of the Criminal Investigation Team and asked, "Does anyone come to this Abandoned Village regularly? Especially at night?"
The Captain seemed puzzled by my sudden inquiry. He shook his head decisively and replied, "This village has been uninhabited for a long time. Just look at the houses on both sides; some have already collapsed. There are no visitors during the day, let alone at night. Recently, due to this case, quite a few people wanted to come in, but they were all stopped by our men. Don't worry; we won't let anyone else in..."
Hearing the Captain's words solidified my resolve. I turned to Yan Junde and asked, "Dezi, if you were face-to-face with that monster, how confident would you be in capturing it alive?"
"One hundred percent!" Yan Junde replied.
He had always been straightforward, never considering an escape route for himself. However, since Yan Junde dared to say that, he must have been quite sure of himself. I closed my eyes and mentally reviewed my thoughts; I realized I felt similarly confident. So I told the Captain of the Criminal Investigation Team, "Now let everyone retreat to the road outside the Abandoned Village and turn off their car lights. Wait for our signal!"
The Captain scratched his head and asked, "What? What are you planning to do?"
I raised a finger and shook it lightly before saying, "Tonight we are going to catch that monster."
"Catch a monster? Just you four?" The Captain said incredulously. "Shouldn't we leave more people behind? And where do you plan to catch this monster? We didn't find any trace of it during the day..."
"The mountain man has his own clever plans!"
The Captain led his team out completely. With no car lights illuminating the area, darkness enveloped us, with only faint starlight twinkling in the sky. I pointed to a house where we could clearly see a tree hole and said to Yan Junde, "Can you open it?"
Yan Junde stepped forward, examined the iron lock on the door, then extended his right hand and struck forcefully at the lock's mechanism. With a crisp "clack," the lock fell to the ground; his movements were fluid and precise without any excess. He pushed open the door and stepped inside, immediately met by a musty smell that made Mary cover her nose.
Spider webs covered every corner of the doorframe; I waved my hand casually to clear some away.
Mary asked, "Brother Shao, what are we doing here? Aren't we supposed to catch a monster?"
"Wait!" I raised a finger and said. "If I'm right, that monster will return!"
I closed the door behind us while Mary and Juan Juan stayed inside. I crouched by the window, peering through a broken hole in the glass. Although I couldn't see clearly, if anything approached the tree hole outside, I'd be able to spot it immediately. I instructed Yan Junde to hide behind the door; as soon as I gave him a signal, he would rush out and capture that monster.
The room was silent except for our breathing sounds. In such an unpleasant place, every second felt like an eternity for us four. Yet none of us dared make a sound; we maintained our crouched positions by the window. Soon enough, my muscles began to ache painfully. Turning my head slightly, I saw that Mary and Juan Juan had already sat down on the floor while Yan Junde remained poised as if ready to spring into action at any moment; he had held this position for over an hour—truly a "monster" in his own right.
Time passed slowly, and around midnight, a shadow appeared on the roof of the Bungalow across from me. I was startled and immediately raised my left hand high, fingers spread apart—this was the signal for the target's appearance. Yan Junde, seeing this, slowly crouched down, ready to spring into action at any moment.
The creature on the Bungalow roof kept pacing back and forth, hesitating to come down as it seemed to be looking around cautiously. It appeared to be haunted by previous events, lingering for about ten minutes before finally reaching the edge of the roof and leaping down silently, moving with incredible agility.
I held my breath, afraid to make a sound, feeling my heart racing as it slowly approached the tree hole. With the starlight illuminating the scene, I finally got a clear look at the creature. The two officers were right; it truly resembled a half-human, half-dog being. Its body was similar in size to a medium dog, but its limbs were human-like, making it appear slightly taller than an ordinary dog.
I prepared to clench my left hand into a fist at any moment to signal for action.
Just then, my phone in my pocket suddenly rang, breaking the silence of the night with a loud sound. All four of us were startled by this unexpected noise, and the creature outside was equally taken aback, its body tensing up as if ready to flee.
"Go!" Since we had already been exposed, I shouted urgently. If we missed this opportunity, who knew when we would encounter this creature again? Even before I could finish my shout, Yan Junde had already dashed out the door almost simultaneously with the ringing of the phone.
"Wait!" I called out as I ran after him.
As I stepped outside, I saw that Yan Junde and the creature were already a hundred meters away. I sprinted after them, but both Yan Junde and the creature moved incredibly fast. Despite using all my strength, I could only watch helplessly as they disappeared around a corner in the village.
Gritting my teeth, I continued to chase after them. When I reached the spot where they had vanished from sight, an astonishing scene unfolded before me that would make me cheer in retrospect. Yan Junde and the creature were now several hundred meters away from me. Although I couldn't see their features clearly, I could make out their overall shapes.
The creature was being chased by Yan Junde for over a kilometer but still couldn't shake him off. Suddenly, it turned around and lunged at Yan Junde with all its might. We had seen the bite marks it left behind before; if those teeth sank into flesh, they would surely tear skin and muscle apart—and perhaps even break bones.
Yan Junde seemed taken aback by the creature's sudden aggression; he hadn't anticipated that it would turn back in anger after failing to escape. He was already committed to his forward motion and couldn't stop in time; if things continued this way, he would fall right into the creature's jaws. But at that moment, Yan Junde sidestepped to the right and leaped into the air, running along the left wall for several steps before narrowly avoiding what would have been a devastating blow from the creature.
Then Yan Junde pushed off hard from the wall and collided directly with the creature. Both he and the beast fell to the ground and rolled several times. Using momentum from his roll, Yan Junde managed to stabilize himself before the creature could recover. He knelt down and delivered a powerful punch directly to its neck. In an instant, I saw the creature collapse onto the ground without moving.
At that moment, I hurriedly ran a few steps closer and asked while running, "Did you kill it?"
Yan Junde brushed off some dust from his clothes and kicked at the unconscious creature before replying, "No, I just knocked it out. And Sister Juan was right; this thing isn't really a monster at all. Although it's strange-looking, it's definitely human. Anyone who's fought with me has seen enough of these kinds of bones beneath its skin..."
I let out a sigh of relief and said, "Looks like you've gained some experience fighting humans... Now that we've caught this 'monster,' let's head back to the Police Department!"
Yan Junde loaded the creature into our police car as Captain of the Criminal Investigation Team drove us back to the Police Department. On the way there, Mary asked me, "Brother Shao, how did you know this monster would come back?" Since my guess had been confirmed, I replied directly: "Remember during our crime simulation? When we were near that tree hole? I noticed there was a lot of garbage inside it—very unusual since garbage doesn't have legs. Someone must have brought it there. Who would do something so pointless? The one responsible for this is likely what we're trying to catch!"
At City Anatomy Laboratory, we finally discovered what this 'monster' really was—it wasn't a monster at all but an actual human being. He had long hair and was tightly wrapped in dog skin; his ears were covered with dog-like ears as well. His fingernails and toenails were sharpened to points, and his teeth were flat and sharp with particularly pronounced canines.
Yang Xiaojuan analyzed, "The origin of this monster should be like this. A few years ago, he was fitted with this dog skin. At that time, the dog skin should have been a good fit, but as he grew older and his body developed, the skin became tighter and tighter. Now, this dog skin is clinging tightly to his skin. No wonder you mistook him for something else; it’s impossible to remove this dog skin now, as his skin and the dog skin have fused together!"
"Are you saying he will have to wear this dog skin for the rest of his life?" the Captain of the Criminal Investigation Team asked.
"Unfortunately, yes!" Yang Xiaojuan nodded and continued, "He must have looked like this for many years. His limbs and teeth have already changed; he is more suited to walking on all fours, and his teeth are better for tearing through tough muscle. Even his eyes have developed a reflective membrane typical of animals, making him more suited for nocturnal activities."
Looking at him, firmly restrained on the operating table in the laboratory and still asleep, I couldn't believe that this was a person—a human being just like us.
"And!" Yang Xiaojuan raised her voice and said emphatically, "Through DNA and fingerprint comparison, the semen found inside Xiao Xiao belongs to this person. The fingerprints match as well..."
Upon hearing Yang Xiaojuan's words, the Captain of the Criminal Investigation Team shouted, "Are you saying that the monster who killed Sister Qi and Xiao Xiao and violated their bodies is this creature? No, it’s this person?"
"Impossible!" I immediately countered. "There are too many doubts. Although the DNA matches, I believe the Killer must be someone else! We were wrong from the start! The Killer only kills; there was no violation! This is bad; the Killer may very well strike again!"
Just as I finished speaking, the door to the laboratory was forcefully pushed open.
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