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墨書 Inktalez
To be precise, what he drew did not resemble an expression but rather a mask. This mask had two thick, long eyebrows and two thick, long curved mustaches, with the corners of its mouth turned up in a wide grin. There was also a vertical mustache on the chin of the mask.
Although the security guard's drawing was quite messy, the basic outline was recognizable. This mask seemed familiar to me, yet I couldn't recall where I had seen it before. Captain Gao also wore a puzzled expression. "V Mask!" At that moment, a voice spoke up; it was Mary, who had been standing beside us.
Seeing our confused expressions, Mary explained, "The origin of the V Mask is from a movie called V for Vendetta. The film tells the story of a future England ruled by a fascist totalitarian regime led by a dictator named Sutler, where people live under brutal oppression. At this time, V appears and forms an organization called V for Vendetta to resist."
I was surprised that such a simple mask had such a backstory. I asked with some confusion, "But what does this have to do with our case? What is the Killer trying to convey by leaving this mark?"
"Perhaps we can start from this mask," Mary said as she rubbed her little nose. "In the movie, V walks the path of justice but acts by any means necessary. He never cares about how many people he kills or what methods he uses as long as he achieves his goals."
I tapped my temple lightly with one finger and said, "Captain Gao, make a note of this. If this V-shaped mask can be considered a psychological projection of the Killer, then this Killer is likely a fervent avenger. To confirm this, we need to clarify the identities of these six victims."
"Thank you for your cooperation; you can go rest now," I nodded at the security guard and turned to Captain Gao. "Bring in the first witness who saw the body."
The first person to see the body was a sophomore student who seemed very interested in our police work and showed no signs of nervousness or fear. Captain Gao and I couldn't help but marvel at his youthful energy. He said, "I have a habit of coming out to exercise half an hour before class to wake myself up so I won't doze off during lessons. Actually, when I arrived at the playground today, there were already quite a few people there—some were studying while others were exercising."
"I saw what looked like a Snowman on the playground and thought it was made by one of my classmates. The Snowman's head had a short stick inserted as its nose. So I wanted to test my kicking skills and used a move called 'Whirlwind Kick.' You probably haven't seen it before; with one kick, I sent that stick flying..." He stepped back and demonstrated a whirlwind kick.
Captain Gao and I exchanged glances in exasperation as he continued, "The wood along with the snow was kicked away; without support, the snow on top couldn't bear the pressure and collapsed. Just as I was about to tell someone to rebuild it quickly, I discovered there was a bloody head inside. A lot of people on the playground saw it too. About half an hour later, the principal sent us all away, and then you guys called me here... By the way, can I join in on the investigation? Don't underestimate me; I'm already a red belt in Taekwondo."
Just as we were about to refuse him, we heard a gust of wind rush by, and a foot landed in front of him, blowing his hair back. Yan Junde's voice came through: "Red represents heat and passion but also danger and threat. Its true meaning is to warn you not to develop a combative or complacent mindset; don't forget your original intentions when you wore your white belt."
The student stood there dumbfounded as Yan Junde withdrew his foot and turned to us. "Sister Juan has already examined the body."
Captain Gao and I nodded and walked toward the coroner's area. The body had been removed from the snow pile and showed signs of stitching; however, this time the head belonged to a male while the torso belonged to a female—other parts did not reveal any gender. Juan Juan greeted us upon our arrival and said, "I just used my toolkit to compare DNA from these six parts and confirmed they belong to six different victims' bodies. It seems all six victims are dead; there are no survivors left. The time of death matches that of the first body we found. We deduce that all six victims were killed on that day."
I frowned and asked, "Are you saying these people died within one day?"
"That's right," Juan Juan nodded and continued, "From the condition of the bodies, particularly the heads and torsos, the time between their deaths does not exceed one hour."
Captain Gao responded, "No wonder no one has come to claim the bodies. Six people, with a death interval of less than an hour, suggests that it is very likely that an entire family of six was murdered." However, Juan Juan shook his head and said, "They are not a family. If they were, their DNA would be similar, but these six individuals have different DNA. At the very least, this indicates that on the day of their deaths, these six people must have been together; otherwise, given that potassium cyanide can kill within three minutes, the time between their deaths should be longer."
Two bodies had already appeared, and if this trend continued, four more similar bodies would likely emerge. The identities of the six deceased had yet to be confirmed, the source of the cyanide was still under investigation, and the origin of the high-quality suit fabric was also being determined. Now there was an additional V Mask; what exactly was going on behind all this remained a mystery.
I took a moment to gather my thoughts before saying, "The urgent priority is to clarify a few fundamental points. First, who exactly are these deceased individuals? Why has no one come forward to claim them, and why has there been no report of missing persons? Second, what is the motive behind the killer dismembering and sewing together the six deceased? Does the V Mask hold any significance? Third, where did the killer obtain the potassium cyanide? Fourth, where did the suit fabric found at the previous dumping site come from?"
As I spoke, Captain Gao took out his notebook and began jotting down notes. He tapped his pen on the paper and said, "Yes, we have already dispatched people to investigate these matters. However, these points require extensive investigation; it will be difficult to obtain results quickly."
Before I could respond, a city coroner shouted, "We have found some traces here."
We immediately rushed to where the traces were discovered; it was not far from where Snowman was located. I glanced over and saw that around the playground's fence, about one and a half meters above ground level, there was half a footprint left behind. Due to the specifications of this fence, this section where the footprint was left had an inward indentation. There was a barrier above it, so even with such heavy snowfall, this indented area had not been cleared away by the snow.
"Search other areas and determine whether these footprints were left by the killer or by students!" I instructed.
An hour later, Captain Gao told me, "It can basically be confirmed that these footprints were left by the killer; they are unlikely to have been made by mischievous students." I nodded; the fence was about two meters high. Outside it lay the street. Unlike middle schools and universities that allow non-campus personnel inside, this meant that the killer must have climbed in from outside.
At midnight, security began their patrols. At nine-thirty in the evening, day students left school; at ten o'clock, boarding students began their third evening study session. If the killer disposed of the bodies during this time frame, it must have been between ten and twelve o'clock. Moreover, when security arrived on-site, they reported that there were no footprints on the playground. Even with heavy snowfalls, it would be impossible for traces to vanish in such a short time; thus, the disposal time should have been between ten and eleven o'clock.
"Did any surveillance cameras capture anything?" I asked.
Captain Gao sighed helplessly and replied, "Recently there have been several heavy snowfalls; nearby surveillance cameras are under maintenance. The killer must have known about this; otherwise they wouldn't have come to dispose of bodies at school."
"Is it possible to deduce any information from the footprints?" Since there were no surveillance recordings available, we could only start from analyzing the footprints left by the killer.
“Footprint The length minus the remaining amount, minus the internal and external differences, plus the trace difference, gives us a number that, when multiplied by a coefficient, reveals this person's height.” Juan Juan rested her chin on her hand, deep in thought as she spoke to us. “However, just adding a flat surface with a single footprint results in a significant margin of error. In Beiyu City, using the coefficient of 6.875 for adult males from Northeast China, we can only estimate that this person's height is between one hundred seventy-five to one hundred eighty-five centimeters.”
“There are just too many people within that range,” I said, shaking my head in disappointment. “Perhaps we can focus on the Footprint itself and identify the type of shoe it belongs to.”
“I can restore this half Footprint to its complete form, but finding out what kind of shoe it is…” Before Juan Juan could finish her sentence, Mary chimed in, “Sister Juan, if you can fully restore the Footprint, I can take care of the rest! I can determine the shoe's design from the Footprint!” With that, Mary patted her backpack confidently.
“Alright,” I replied.
“What should we do next?” Captain Gao asked me.
“All arrangements have been made. The evidence we currently have is limited; all we can do now is wait,” I said.
“Wait?” Captain Gao seemed dissatisfied with my answer.
I nodded. “Exactly. Right now, our job is to wait. I suspect that the Killer will continue disposing of bodies. This is only the second one; there should be four more. The more bodies the Killer throws out, the more evidence will be left behind, and the more information we will have.”
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