Book Synopsis
Book Tags
Donation Rankings
Comment
0 Comments
You May Also Like
墨書 Inktalez
Early the next morning, the Captain of the Police Department's Criminal Investigation Team handed me a document. I glanced through it and discovered it contained information about the deceased. The victim was named Megan, twenty-five years old, an employee at a foreign trade company. She was not a local resident; due to her job, she rented a place in the city alone.
I took a quick look and then handed the document to Mary, saying, "Here’s the basic information about the victim. We need to find that person quickly!" Mary nodded and replied, "The domain seems very hidden, but in front of internet experts, almost everyone has no secrets."
"We should be able to find this person in a few days!" Mary's words revealed her confidence, but time was of the essence, so I pressed her for more details.
Mary frowned and pinched her cheek as she said, "That's hard to say; the sample size is quite large." As she flipped through several pages of documents, she continued, "Sister Qi is a streamer with quite a following. It seems Megan was also a social butterfly. I'll do my best to narrow it down to a few suspects within three days!"
With that, Mary pulled out her notebook and got busy.
The Detective Captain said to Mary, "If you need anything from us, just ask. The technicians from the Police Department are at your disposal!" Mary nodded, and the Detective Captain turned to me and said, "The person who reported the case and those who played the Spirit Game with Megan that night have come to the Police Department. Our team is currently taking their statements; let’s go check it out."
At the Police Department, there were five people: two men and three women. Besides the four who played the game, one woman was the reporter.
There was no need to elaborate on the interrogation process. Through analyzing and organizing the testimonies of the four individuals, it became clear that none of them were lying or could be considered the killer. They had met online due to shared interests in paranormal adventures.
Based on their statements, the Detective Captain added a Spirit Communication Group where members were enthusiastically discussing their plans for an upcoming adventure and ghosts they hoped to encounter. They seemed completely unaware that one of their group members had already become a corpse. Interestingly, more than half of this group consisted of women, indicating a strong interest among females in Spirit Games.
Through Megan's connection, four people from the group participated in a Spirit Game. These five individuals barely knew each other; their acquaintance was limited to basic information. In fact, the reporter was not one of these four but rather the group leader. After hearing about that night’s events, she had repeatedly called Megan and sent several messages over QQ without receiving any response for two days before deciding to report it.
The four were in disbelief that Megan had been brutally murdered in an abandoned hospital. The events of that night unfolded as follows:
After work on Friday, the group became lively again. In their chat, Megan exclaimed, "Finally off work! I can finally rest for two days! I'm so tired I could die!"
This opened up conversation; some asked Megan for photos while others joked about going to her house to "take care" of her or inquired about her job. Megan replied, "I work at a foreign trade company; it's newly established so I have to do everything—it's exhausting! By the way, today a foreigner taught me a method for contacting spirits. Is anyone interested in teaming up tonight? I need three more people!"
Everyone in the group responded enthusiastically until they finalized who would participate in the game. Megan sent out the address of the abandoned hospital and agreed on a meeting time. That night they all met at the hospital's third floor inpatient department and found a room to start their Spirit Game.
The game progressed smoothly until they reached the part where they called upon demons. Suddenly, everyone heard Megan scream. In that atmosphere even we police officers felt an eerie tension; it was no surprise that two women screamed and bolted for the door while two confused men also felt fear and ran out without understanding what was happening.
The game was abruptly interrupted; amidst chaos everyone fled without noticing someone was missing until they received notification today that Megan had died in the hospital that night. Since it was Friday and they didn’t have work on Saturday, Megan's colleagues were still unaware of what had happened.
After completing their statements, I kept the group leader behind for further questioning. As mentioned earlier, she was around twenty-five years old with delicate features and charming dimples when she smiled; her name was Chuxue. I asked her some basic questions regarding the Spirit Game and information about other group members.
Chuxue told me that although Megan had only posted the information in the group, she likely had many social tools, and the information could have been seen by thousands. I nodded, and Chuxue quietly asked me, "Did that female streamer really die that night?"
"You know about this news?" I asked, somewhat puzzled.
"I'm the leader of a paranormal group, and I've been following Sister Qi for a long time. Besides, with how rampant the rumors are online, who doesn't know? Actually, my wish is to become a streamer like her; it's just that I'm not very good-looking..." Chuxue said.
Compared to Sister Qi's sexy and glamorous style, the pure Chuxue certainly couldn't compete. After Chuxue left, only Detective Captain and I remained.
"Megan must have seen something that night!" Detective Captain turned to me and said, "It's very likely she saw the killer!"
I nodded and then said, "There's one point of doubt: when we arrived, the car was just parked at the entrance of the hospital, but none of them mentioned seeing it. This means the car must have appeared after they left. So when did the killer commit the crime? If the killer parked the car somewhere else beforehand and then moved it here after committing murder, then their audacity and mental fortitude are truly extraordinary."
"What does that indicate?" Captain of the Criminal Investigation Team said. "The killer has committed several murders in succession; how timid could they be?"
I shook my head noncommittally. Captain was right, but I felt that such behavior from the killer was quite illogical. Even if they wanted to abandon the car, they could have parked it anywhere; why go through the trouble of leaving it at the entrance? Moreover, wouldn't doing so attract more attention from the police and reduce pressure on themselves?
Seeing my silence, Detective Captain continued, "The killer is ruthless; what can't they do? And I suspect that the killer won't stop here. Damn it, these indiscriminate murder cases are really troubling. The only commonality among the victims is that they are all women."
"A city so large with so many women; we can't possibly protect them all!" Captain said with some frustration.
I bit my lip and replied, "You're right; less than a week after the last murder, another one occurred. I think another murder will happen soon. The killer has a strong counter-surveillance awareness; it's nearly impossible for us to find any clues from a frontal approach. Last night, I thought of an idea, but this task is somewhat dangerous!"
This was the quickest idea I had come up with—an ultimate move inspired by playing Spirit Game.
"Dangerous?" Captain stood up from his chair immediately and said, "I'll take on any dangerous mission first! I've been a captain for so many years without encountering a task I couldn't handle."
I smiled and shook my head. "You might not be able to handle this mission."
Following my instructions, Captain gathered all the female team members from the department. Even with all the female members of the Criminal Investigation Team in the city mobilized, there were only five in total. To my surprise, Juan Juan and Mary also joined this group. Looking at the seven girls sitting in front of us along with Captain, he blushed slightly and leaned closer to whisper in my ear, "What are we going to do?"
Captain was about my age and still didn't have a girlfriend. I found it somewhat endearing that someone in law enforcement could be so charmingly awkward; they never showed fear when facing criminals or death but seemed helpless when dealing with girls—truly a tough guy with a soft heart.
I spoke seriously: "I brought you here for a mission. You all know about this case in our department; the killer has an extremely high level of counter-surveillance awareness. I believe they are either not one of us or just someone obsessed with criminal investigation. According to what Captain and I estimate, it's very likely that the killer will strike again—and it will happen even sooner."
Hearing my words, the female detectives in front of me nodded. I continued, "The killer's target is very clear: women, and they desecrate the bodies. The killer usually chooses remote areas, abandoned factories, hospitals, and so on—places without surveillance, where there are typically no people during the day or night, making it easier for the killer to act. Because of this, we still do not have specific information about the killer."
"So! Your mission is to play the roles of adventurous or psychic female students and draw out this hidden killer!" I said.
As soon as I finished speaking, a woman in her forties shouted, "That's right! I'll be the first to participate in this mission!"
Detective Captain and I exchanged glances. Detective Captain hesitantly said, "Ma'am, you know that this mission is aimed at young women. Isn't it a bit inappropriate for you to join…?"
Mary was the first to raise her hand, followed by Juan Juan. I said, "What are you two doing? Don't you still need to find someone? Mary!"
"I've already designed an automated program; it doesn't matter whether I'm next to the computer or not!" Mary replied.
"And you?" I asked Juan Juan.
"I'm willing!"
Comment 0 Comment Count