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In just a few seconds, Ma Weishan had no idea how many times he had struck himself with the teacup. Yan Junde moved swiftly, bursting through the conference room door before anyone could react. However, it seemed that Yan Junde was still a step too late; Ma Weishan stood up, leaned back, and then slammed his head heavily against the conference table.
Immediately after, Ma Weishan collapsed onto the table, motionless, blood splattering across the entire surface. Drops of blood dripped down the edge of the table. Everyone froze, staring in shock at the scene before them, unable to comprehend why Ma Weishan had acted so suddenly.
A few of us rushed into the conference room. Yan Junde gently laid Ma Weishan down while Juan Juan hurried over to check on him. I saw that Ma Weishan's forehead was deeply indented; that blow seemed to have drained all his strength. Juan Juan glanced at us and slowly shook his head, saying, "There's no saving him."
Director Wang slumped into a chair. The impact of such an incident occurring at the police station was immense. The shock lingered in the air; that moment had been too overwhelming. One could only imagine how painful it must have been, yet Ma Weishan hadn't even furrowed his brow.
"Another suicide!" Director Wang took several deep breaths before managing to utter those words.
Another suicide, right under our noses. Just moments before, when speaking, Ma Weishan had appeared completely normal in demeanor and speech. Why did he suddenly take his own life as we were leaving? If this was all orchestrated by someone, how had the Killer managed to pull it off? Was it possible that, as indicated in File No. 1, there were things in this world we had yet to discover or understand?
"Clean this up; we'll need to conduct an autopsy later..." I sighed heavily as I surveyed the chaotic scene. The mixture of tea and blood created an indescribable odor and an unsettling color.
Several officers carried the body away while Juan Juan followed to the morgue for the autopsy. We stood outside the conference room, watching as officers cleaned the floor inside. Mary approached us, still unclear about what had happened but sensing something was off. She looked around and said to me, "Brother Shao, I've found out what you asked me to investigate. The fifty-five people who died back then all went looking for that girl on the same day. In other words, they were all witnesses to that case. The four who died in this case, including Lin Minyou, were also witnesses."
Mary paused for a moment before continuing, "Including Ma Hengdong who died a few years ago, only two people remain alive from those names circled by Ma Weishan: one is Ma Weishan himself and the other is Liang Jie. My computer is still searching for this person's address; it shouldn't take long."
"You're right, Brother Shao," Mary said. "Whether twenty years ago or now, those who died were all villagers who experienced that incident firsthand. As for the other uninformed villagers, they seem completely unaffected by this curse or poison; the Killer is targeting those individuals!"
I nodded; it seemed my suspicions were correct. The Killer had waited twenty years for those four individuals to be released from prison before striking again. This meant that the person named Liang Jie still alive could be in danger.
Realizing this, I told Mary, "We need to find Liang Jie's address as soon as possible. With Ma Weishan's suicide in the conference room just now, he's the last person who knows about what happened back then!"
"Ma Weishan committed suicide?" Mary's eyes widened in disbelief; it seemed unimaginable that someone could take their life right under everyone's noses at the police station.
Two hours later, Juan Juan returned from the morgue. Everyone knew what the autopsy results would reveal since it had happened right before our eyes. Another hour passed before Mary finally found Liang Jie's address; it was in a northern city. The Special Investigation Team immediately decided to take a flight to that northern city to find Liang Jie, hoping to protect her before the Killer could strike again—of course, with our additional team member Xiaocao.
Even by plane, it would take three hours to arrive.
By now it was evening; looking out the window revealed vast stretches of fiery clouds merging into a horizon I couldn't see beyond. But at that moment, I had no mind for appreciating such beauty; I simply stared blankly out of the window. The most perplexing aspect of this case was my inability to understand how the Killer operated—what methods did they rely on for their murders?
Suddenly, darkness enveloped me, and a woman's face seemed to materialize within the Fiery Clouds. The face pressed against the airplane glass, her eyes staring directly at me with a strange smile. Her lips moved, and I watched as she repeated word for word, "You will die, you will die."
In an instant, her mouth began to split open wider and wider until it covered her entire face. Then, with a sudden lunge, it seemed to burst through the glass and rush towards me, intent on swallowing me into the endless darkness. I looked around in panic; amidst the blackness, scenes of people committing suicide flashed before my eyes. I couldn't help but cry out.
"What’s wrong? Are you okay?" In the haze, I heard a familiar voice.
The surrounding darkness dissipated, revealing the same Fiery Clouds outside. Sitting next to me was Juan Juan, gripping my hand tightly and looking at me with concern. I had no idea what had just happened, but the haunting images lingered in my mind, leaving me shaken. I grasped Juan Juan's hand in return, warmth spreading from our touch to my heart. I slowly replied, "I'm fine."
"Another nightmare?" Juan Juan sighed. "You've been too stressed lately. You stay up every night just sitting there lost in thought. Don’t worry; no Killer can escape your grasp. After all, you are the leader of the Special Investigation Team."
I took several deep breaths and shifted down slightly to lean comfortably against Juan Juan. The pressure weighing on me had become overwhelming lately—mainly due to the mysteries clouding my mind and those bizarre scenes of suicide that I couldn't comprehend.
After disembarking from the plane, we hurried to Liang Jie's residence. However, as we arrived at the entrance of her apartment complex, we were startled to see police tape surrounding the building. We exchanged worried glances. Mary said, "I hope it's not what we think it is."
I stepped forward and pulled out my identification. The young officer visibly jumped in surprise, clearly confused as to why someone from the Special Investigation Team would be in this small town. He saluted me repeatedly. I asked, "Why is there police tape? What happened?"
The officer nodded and replied, "It’s strange; a bizarre suicide just occurred..."
Before he could finish his sentence, I blurted out, "Was the deceased named Liang Jie?"
"You Special Investigation Team folks are impressive!" the officer exclaimed. "How did you know?"
When it happened, we had just gotten off the plane. Residents returning home discovered blood seeping out from under the elevator doors. When they opened the doors, they screamed upon finding a woman's body lying on the floor. They recognized it as a corpse because she was holding her own Heart.
The security guard reviewed the surveillance footage from that time. We saw that around eight o'clock in the evening, a woman entered the elevator on the eighth floor holding a pair of scissors. The camera inside clearly captured her face—it was undoubtedly Liang Jie.
She slowly pressed the button for the first floor and then began to fix her appearance using the reflection in the elevator's mirror. This behavior was quite odd; it might have made sense if she were a twenty-year-old girl. It seemed she caught sight of her own face and stepped back repeatedly while muttering something.
At that moment, as the elevator descended to the fifth floor, she raised the scissors, looked around cautiously, then plunged them forcefully into her left chest. Gripping them tightly with both hands, she pressed down hard until her chest's skin and muscle were brutally cut open.
The scissors fell to the ground, and the woman began to convulse, as if she were about to die at any moment. In a shocking scene, her right hand reached deep into that long, dark crevice and suddenly exerted force, crushing her own Heart in her grasp. In an instant, it was as if she had been electrocuted; she collapsed to the floor and died on the spot.
The elevator descended to the first floor, where it was discovered by people.
The security guard witnessed this scene and didn't know how many times he had vomited. How could someone crush their own Heart? If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I would never have believed it. Juan Juan stared intently at the screen, seemingly trying to uncover something, but ultimately found nothing. She said, "I've worked as a forensic doctor for so many years, and this is the first time I've seen such a situation."
Then there was a terrifying silence. Everyone seemed to hear the sound of their own heartbeat. After a long while, I spoke up, "So now, all the people who knew are dead?" I looked at Mary as I said this.
Mary nodded cautiously and replied, "That's right. Among the seventy-three people Ma Weishan had gathered, fifty-five died twenty years ago. Now seven more have died. The rest have all passed away over the last twenty years due to age or illness. Now, there isn't a single person left who knows anything."
The clues had come to an end; where should we go next? What direction should we take? I couldn't help but feel lost and pounded my fist against the wall.
At that moment, Yan Junde spoke up: "Could we be among those who know?"
Yan Junde's words plunged us into deep thought, and the atmosphere grew cold. We had also seen the files and understood what happened twenty years ago and what was happening now. So, did that mean we counted as those who knew? Would the curse fall upon us as well?
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