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墨書 Inktalez
The owner's information was quickly uncovered; the person who owned the factory was named Zhao Qin, a PhD in Mechanical Engineering. Three years ago, due to a mechanical mishap, he left a major company in the capital and returned to Cangtai City. Since coming back, Zhao Qin had not sought employment, as the money he earned previously was enough for him to live comfortably for the rest of his life.
"A PhD in Mechanical Engineering," I nodded and said to Alley, "This Law Enforcer is definitely our suspect. Investigate everything about him—his cars, his houses, and so on. Now that his identity has been exposed, he might act recklessly and speed up his killing spree!"
"Understood," Alley replied.
Given the current situation, at least three victims were still under Zhao Qin's control. The longer this dragged on, the more dangerous it became for Yan Junde and her mother. However, based on the Killer's methods of murder associated with the Seven Deadly Sins, neither Yan Junde nor her mother seemed to fit any profile. Why would the Killer target them? What was the purpose behind this?
Through the internet, Mary quickly gathered information; almost as soon as I began to ponder, she had already compiled nearly all available data on Zhao Qin. In Cangtai City, Zhao Qin owned three properties and three cars; we had located their addresses and license plate numbers.
I instructed Alley, "Notify everyone to search for these three vehicles across the city. We will split into three teams and head straight to Zhao Qin's properties to apprehend him!"
Everything was arranged at lightning speed. The Police Department was short-staffed, so several police officers were dispatched from various precincts to assist us.
Two hours passed.
All three vehicles were located; two were parked in an underground garage while one was found abandoned by the roadside in a rural area surrounded by wilderness. It appeared that Zhao Qin had driven this car when leaving the factory and had come out to the outskirts before abandoning it.
A team of detectives followed this lead and continued their investigation. Almost all police forces were deployed near this suburban area; in such a location, if he abandoned his car, he couldn't have gone far.
Of the three properties, two yielded no useful clues; they seemed to have been unoccupied for quite some time. At that moment, we were inside Zhao Qin's third house. The room was over 120 square meters, with a duplex structure divided into two levels. There was a basement below and an attic above—Zhao Qin's wealth was evident.
In a study on the second floor, various mechanical blueprints covered the walls. We could immediately recognize these drawings as designs for killing machines. On another wall, there were numerous documents about previous victims plastered everywhere—various everyday photos dated back to three months ago when the Killer had begun plotting everything.
Three months ago was also shortly after Yan Junde had left the police force. The Killer's actions seemed specifically designed for Yan Junde; the other victims appeared to be mere accessories—Yan Junde was clearly the main target! But why choose Yan Junde?
On a desk lay a notebook filled with meticulous records of steps from start to finish; oddly enough, it only documented up to the fourth victim—the one who was killed by a giant mixer—while details regarding the other three victims' deaths were not thoroughly recorded. This raised significant doubts; however, I currently lacked enough information to deduce what Zhao Qin intended to do.
"There's a VCR found in the attic!" Alley rushed over breathlessly and said to me, "The VCR is on and playing something!"
We were all quite surprised by Alley's words. According to surveillance footage, the Killer had not returned; so who turned on the VCR? Following Alley upstairs into the attic—a small space containing only a VCR, an old television set, and a carpet lying on the floor—we had to bend down to move around inside. Sure enough, we saw that the VCR was indeed on, but it displayed nothing but darkness at that moment.
Next to the television was a device, with a thin fishing line stretching from the attic to the outside. Alley looked up and down, then realized that the fishing line was connected to the Main Entrance.
"In other words," Alley said, looking at me with an incredulous expression, "the moment we break in, the fishing line will be pulled, activating this switch to turn on the television and the VCR. But if that's the case..."
Alley didn't finish his sentence, so I spoke for him: "If that's true, it means everything has been calculated by the Killer. The Killer knew we would come here, so he set this trap in advance waiting for us!" The thought sent a chill down my spine; if that were the case, then his hurried actions in the factory were just for show!
Then I began to think deeper. Perhaps Zhao Qin had long known about the message Yan Junde wanted to convey to us. The reason he hadn't cleared it away was that he wanted us to come to the factory. He pretended that things had been exposed and fled, watching us from the shadows as we reveled in our own assumptions.
At that moment, the black screen of the VCR faded away, and a voice came through: "SURPRISE! I am Law Enforcer. If you are seeing this video, it means you already know my identity. Can't catch me like this? This is already the fifth game; you have two chances left."
Then, the scene shifted to reveal a large Frying Pan. Law Enforcer was wearing an apron and a chef's hat, using a long pair of chopsticks to fry some fries. He tasted one and pulled back his tongue from the heat. He turned the camera towards another direction, revealing a victim.
We looked closely; his body was covered in iron hooks—dozens of them. The hooks were embedded in his skin, and he wasn't bleeding; it seemed he had been hanging there for quite some time. The hooks were distributed across his limbs and back, suspending him in mid-air. Law Enforcer splashed water on him to wake him up and said, "Let's play a game."
The man's eyes were cold; he didn't scream and seemed numb.
Law Enforcer shrugged and continued, "You're quite boring, but I still need to explain the rules. You will only have five minutes to escape. It was originally ten minutes, but I’m pressed for time. Soon, you will be sent along a conveyor belt towards the Frying Pan above. If you can remove all the hooks from your body before you fall onto the ground, you won't die. Simple enough? Then let the game begin!"
With that, Law Enforcer pressed a switch. The conveyor belt started moving, but the man remained motionless until he saw the hot oil in the Frying Pan getting closer; then his instinct for survival kicked in. He twisted his body desperately as we watched those iron hooks start to detach from him. In no time at all, he became a bloody mess.
The detached hooks took pieces of skin with them as they came off; his screams seemed to pierce through the heavens. But five minutes was far too short; he couldn't free himself completely from all those hooks. Then, above him, an Iron Chain snapped, and he fell directly into the Frying Pan with a splash of hot oil as we heard sizzling sounds echoing around us.
He struggled in the Frying Pan trying to escape but it was futile.
The video stopped here; there seemed to be a long stretch of blankness afterward—darkness that continued playing. From what we could see in the video and analyze from its words, this recording must have been made before that person was stirred to death; it had likely been sitting here for quite some time.
I already knew that the Killer's sequence of murders did not follow the order of Seven Deadly Sins from smallest to largest. But if that's how it is, then a question arose: why did the Killer do this? This act undoubtedly exposed his identity to us—what was his purpose?
Moreover, there were only two hostages left. Could those last two be Yan Junde and his mother? I dared not think further down that path, but experience and current circumstances told me that things were likely developing in line with my suspicions. If Zhao Qin intentionally exposed his identity for us to know, then where had he escaped to?
Where would be the final murder scene?
The investigation team sent us another unfortunate update: the driver had been caught, but it wasn't the Killer; it was a car thief. According to the Car Thief's confession, the luxury car had been left unlocked with the keys still in the ignition. Initially, he hadn't intended to steal it; he just wanted to sit inside and take a selfie.
However, when he got into the car, he found a note on the driver's seat. The note read that it was fate for anyone who sat in this car. It warned him that someone like him wouldn't dare to steal such an expensive vehicle, as the consequences would be severe if caught. Of course, if he could drive the car to Western Suburb Contribution Road, the writer would be very grateful and reward him with Ten Thousand Yuan.
Who wouldn't want to post on social media and make some money? So, he drove to the designated location and indeed found a Tattered Bag by the roadside containing Ten Thousand Yuan along with a note: "Thank you. Just leave the car here. Goodbye."
This revelation left everyone dumbfounded. From the very beginning, we had been led by Zhao Qin, manipulated at his whim. I said, "Almost all of our Police Force is searching over there; if that's the case..."
The Alley then remarked, "Draw the Tiger Away from Its Mountain!"
Indeed, if Zhao Qin wanted to lead us further away, he should currently be near the eastern suburbs! By the time a large number of police officers arrived there, Yan Junde would likely have already met his demise. Moreover, this house was almost at the northernmost part of the city; it would take us several hours to get there! Could it be that Zhao Qin had calculated even this?
At that moment, footage suddenly appeared on the television, startling us all. Mary looked at the VCR and yanked it out forcefully, gritting her teeth as she said, "There’s no recording in this VCR; it's an illusion! What we just saw was actually a live broadcast!"
"Live broadcast!"
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