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墨書 Inktalez
Locard's Exchange Principle tells us that the process of committing a crime is essentially one of material exchange. The perpetrator, as a material entity, always comes into contact and interacts with various other material entities during the commission of a crime. Therefore, material exchange in criminal cases is widespread and occurs regardless of human intention.
This process can be divided into micro and macro aspects. At this moment, we are searching for macro material evidence of this process. However, while the theory sounds simple, the actual operation is incredibly challenging. We centered our search around the location of the body and drew a circle within which our search would take place.
As time passed, hour by hour, the sky gradually darkened. The light snow began to turn into heavy snowfall, yet our search yielded no progress. Captain Gao patted my shoulder and said, "It seems we won't find anything here. Perhaps we should change our approach and adjust our direction."
It appeared that way; as night fell, searching became akin to finding a needle in a haystack. With the heavy snowfall overnight, continuing the search the next day would yield minimal chances of finding evidence. The killer likely had a high level of counter-surveillance awareness and may have deliberately chosen to dispose of the body on a snowy day to increase the workload for the police.
I sighed and said, "Let's call it a day; we probably won't find anything here."
Upon hearing my words, everyone sighed in unison. An afternoon's work seemed wasted; after the heavy snow, there wasn't even a single leaf left at the scene.
Just then, Juan Juan spoke up: "Not far from where the body was disposed of, I found a piece of blue suit fabric with bloodstains on it. I didn’t bring my kit; I need to go back and test whether this blood belongs to one of the Six Victims."
Back at the lab, Juan Juan conducted a thorough examination of the blue fabric. The blood was confirmed to belong to Victim Number Three, indicating that this piece of fabric found at the disposal site was closely related to the case. Juan Juan remarked, "The body that was stitched together wasn't wearing any clothes, which means this fabric was left by the killer."
"Isn't it possible," Yan Junde interjected at that moment, "that this fabric was left there previously and just happened to be stained with blood from this stitched-together body during disposal? It might not actually be related to this case at all."
I pondered for a moment before responding, "It's not impossible, but the likelihood is very low. It snowed when the body was disposed of, and now it has snowed again. If this fabric had been there for some time, it shouldn't be buried under the same layer of snow. Juan Juan, can you determine if there’s a difference in snow layers between the body and the fabric?"
Juan Juan replied, "That's hard to confirm. However, within a ten-meter radius, we couldn't find any other traces—only this blood-stained piece of fabric. If it truly has nothing to do with the case, then our luck is exceptionally poor."
Juan Juan was right; only this trace remained at the scene. We should follow this lead further. I asked, "What is the texture and material of this fabric?"
"This is pure wool fine-spun fabric; it's relatively thin but elastic," Juan Juan explained as he twisted the piece into an irregular shape. We were puzzled until Juan Juan continued, "When you grip it tightly and then release it, you'll see that the wrinkles disappear quickly. I've also looked at its pattern under a microscope and can confirm that it was torn from a high-end suit."
"A high-end suit? That must cost several hundred dollars!" I remarked. "Don't you think so, Dezi?"
"Brother Shao, you clearly haven't been shopping lately; it would cost at least a thousand!" Yan Junde shook his head in correction.
"This kind of fabric, with its delicate patterns, should be priced between seven thousand and ten thousand Yuan," Juan Juan said with a helpless expression as he looked at the two of us. "By the way, I've never seen you both in suits. Once this case is over, I'll buy each of you a set..."
At that moment, Mary, who had been silent, spoke up. "This type of fabric seems to be imported from Germany."
"Anyone who can afford a suit priced between seven thousand and ten thousand Yuan is certainly not poor. We might be able to narrow down our suspects further—perhaps people from chemical factories, directors of private hospitals, or professors from university chemistry or medical departments. They would have a good understanding of cyanide and human anatomy. There can't be too many people like that..."
As night deepened, the snow fell heavier. Lying in the room organized by the Police Department, we could even hear the howling wind outside. Pulling back the curtains revealed snowflakes battering against the glass, gradually forming a layer of frost. In a daze, we suddenly heard loud knocking at the door. It was winter, and I really didn't want to get out of bed. I glanced at my phone and was surprised to see it was already seven in the morning.
The knocking grew more intense. I hurriedly got dressed and opened the door to find Yan Junde standing there, fully dressed. "Brother Shao," he said urgently, "something has happened! A bloody body has been found on the school playground, and nearly hundreds of students witnessed it. The school is now locked down. The Police Department has already sent people there; we need to hurry!"
"Snowman?" I asked in confusion. "What do you mean by Snowman?"
"It's not a Snowman; it's a bloody body!" Yan Junde saw my confusion and didn't elaborate further as he pulled me outside. Juan Juan and Mary were already waiting in the car. Yan Junde drove us straight to Beiyu City's Second Middle School, where we could see police tape stretched across the area from a distance. Many people were peering through the fence into the school grounds.
Once inside, we found the campus eerily quiet with not a single student in sight.
Several investigators led us toward the playground. After walking just a few steps, we saw about dozens of people gathered there—besides investigators and forensic experts from the Police Department, there were also leaders from various educational institutions and departments present. I noticed numerous footprints scattered across the snow-covered ground; just by looking at them, it seemed like hundreds of feet had trampled over the playground.
If the killer had left any footprints, it would be nearly impossible to trace them now. As we entered the playground through the main gate, Captain Gao hurried over to me and said, "You finally made it! Come take a look; this case is truly horrific—over a hundred students witnessed what happened!"
We quickly walked over to the corner of the playground where the body was discovered. At that moment, I finally understood what Yan Junde meant—this was indeed a Snowman but also a bloody body. The killer had piled snow over the corpse, completely enveloping it in snow while decorating its head with stones. Now that some of the snow had fallen away from the head of this Snowman, it revealed a bloodied human head beneath it. From behind, one would never suspect that this Snowman concealed something sinister within.
At that moment, Juan Juan joined the forensic team to begin clearing away the snow covering the body. I turned to Captain Gao and said, "Who was the first person to discover this Snowman? And who was the first to realize there was a body inside? Bring them here; I have some questions."
Captain Gao nodded and replied, "I've already taken care of that before you arrived. Let me call in the person who first discovered the Snowman." Shortly after, Captain Gao brought in a middle-aged man dressed in security uniform issued by Fourth Middle School; he was tall and thin.
"We're here to ask you some questions; there's no need to be nervous," I said as I noticed his trembling legs. "I heard you were the first person to discover this Snowman; please tell me exactly what happened."
The security guard took a deep breath and replied, "Last night, I was on night duty as usual after all students had left around eleven o'clock following their third evening study session for boarding students. There were two of us on duty; one was responsible for inside the teaching building while I patrolled outside—including the playground."
He briefly introduced the work he was responsible for before continuing, "Last night, around midnight, most of the students had already gone to sleep. We began our patrol, and after about half an hour, I arrived at the playground. There wasn't a single person there; the snow from last night was heavy, and there were no footprints at all. As usual, I walked around the playground and noticed a Snowman standing there."
As he spoke, he pointed at the Snowman and added, "At that time, the Snowman didn't look like this. It didn't have its head showing; from the outside, it just looked like an ordinary Snowman. I didn't pay much attention to it, thinking it was just a Snowman built by some student during the day. I even took a closer look; the snowballs were piled up nicely, but the face of this Snowman was drawn in a rather sinister way. I specifically made some changes to it..."
I frowned and immediately asked, "So you touched this Snowman?"
"I didn't know there was a body inside! If that were the case, I wouldn't have dared to touch it even if you paid me," the security guard appeared somewhat flustered. Now I understood why he had been so nervous during our earlier simple questioning. He continued, "I know you can check for fingerprints and such, but I didn't do anything to that body. I have an elderly mother who's eighty and a four-year-old daughter; there's no way I could kill someone..."
I quickly interrupted him, saying, "We know you didn't kill anyone. You mentioned that you changed the expression of the Snowman, right?"
The security guard nodded heavily.
"Do you remember what that face looked like before you changed it?" I pressed on.
"What it looked like?" The guard furrowed his brow and glanced to the left, clearly deep in thought. After a moment, he said, "I remember, but I'm not sure how to describe it. How about I draw it for you on the ground?" With that, he stepped back and began sketching something on the white ground covered in snow.
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