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墨書 Inktalez
Two bodies were laid side by side, a father and son. The father's name was Wu Jianye, and the son's name was Wu Shuhau. One of the corpses had its head smashed to bits like a crushed watermelon, while the other was charred beyond recognition. Judging by the methods and techniques used by the Killer, it seemed that the Killer had planned each person's death and the timing of their demise well in advance.
If that were the case, it was highly likely that the Killer had arranged everything ahead of time, spending the remaining time watching from a corner like an observer as events unfolded. Our main task now was to determine how many people the Killer intended to kill, the motives behind these murders, and whether there were any common characteristics among the victims.
So far, three victims had appeared, each accompanied by a Death Note. However, instinct and experience told me that this might just be the beginning. Among the three victims, one pair was a father and son, and their relationship required no further contemplation; the key question was whether Xu Rong could be connected to these two individuals.
At that moment, Juan Juan had already conducted an autopsy on Wu Shuhau's body. She said, "The deceased was already dead when engulfed by the flames; I wonder if that can be considered fortunate. His body showed multiple fractures and severe internal bleeding; he likely died within a minute."
"Mary, investigate carefully what connection Xu Rong has with the Wu father and son," I sighed as I spoke to Mary. "This is crucial right now..."
The night passed without incident.
The next morning, Old Wang brought in the report from yesterday's car accident. The Porsche's wheel hub had been tampered with, as had its airbags. Therefore, although Wu Shuhau was wearing his seatbelt at the time of the crash, he still couldn't escape the violent impact. The reason was that Wu Shuhau had been driving the Porsche at high speed; with the tampered wheel hub unable to withstand such centrifugal force, it had simply flown off.
Then came the question: why was Wu Shuhau driving so fast? What exactly was he trying to do? Furrowing my brow, I asked, "Have you contacted her family? Do they know what Wu Shuhau wanted to say to Wu Jianye?"
Old Wang nodded with a complex expression on his face and then looked at me with a troubled look as he said, "Yesterday when you all returned from the autopsy, I was responsible for contacting the deceased's family at the scene. Wu Jianye's wife, Wu Shuhau's mother, fainted upon hearing this terrible news and is still lying in the hospital."
"But their housekeeper knows why Wu Shuhau left," Old Wang continued to explain. "They employ two housekeepers; one of them was cleaning Wu Shuhau's room at that time. What we previously understood was that Wu Jianye received a call from his son during a gathering and wanted to go outside to pick him up, which led to this tragedy."
I nodded and said, "That's right."
Old Wang also nodded and then said, "However, that housekeeper didn't say it like that. According to the housekeeper who was cleaning Wu Shuhau's room, he was actually playing computer games in his room at that time. Then he received a phone call; after hanging up, Wu Shuhau's expression changed immediately!"
"The housekeeper said that usually, Wu Shuhau loved playing online games," Old Wang continued. "To put it simply, nothing could make him leave his chair or take his fingers off the keyboard for even a moment; but this time, he stood up directly."
"The housekeeper said she found it strange; at that moment she heard Wu Shuhau say something had happened to his father and that he needed to leave quickly without telling his mother first." Old Wang frowned as he added: "Then Wu Shuhau called Wu Jianye, resulting in Wu Jianye going out to answer the call... and then..."
Hearing Old Wang's words sent a shock through me; it seemed that the Killer had already designed everything to kill both individuals almost simultaneously. The Killer's methods were indeed cruel; it wasn't hard to guess what happened next. At that moment, when Wu Shuhau called Wu Jianye, his father hadn't even had time to answer before he met his end.
At this point, it seemed clear to Wu Shuhau that something indeed happened to his father. Knowing his father was attending a gathering, he drove over to see what was wrong but ended up encountering this tragedy on the way.
"Since that housekeeper mentioned someone called him," I rubbed my temples with my fingers and asked, "Have we figured out who made that call?"
Old Wang shook his head and said, "In that car accident, his phone was destroyed, so we can't directly see which number it was. Moreover, the mobile company staff haven't started work yet this early in the morning. Once they open, we can ask them and find out. However, Killer is likely using a disposable phone card... Analyzing from this point, it seems unlikely that this clue can be traced further."
Killer was meticulous in every step taken. Old Wang's words were indeed correct, but we couldn't overlook any clues. I said, "We should still send someone to investigate; if Killer anticipated our thoughts, we would miss out on crucial information. We must proceed step by step."
At that moment, Mary suddenly found us. She said, "The three deceased individuals are indeed connected. The victims Wu Jianye and Wu Shuhau are obvious. I discovered online that Xu Rong and Wu Shuhau attended the same elementary school when they were younger. I wonder if this has any relation to the case."
I nodded seriously and replied, "Regardless of whether it's related to the case or not, we must go check it out!"
Mary located the elementary school attended by both individuals, named Yucai Primary School. Now nearly twenty years had passed since then, and the school had long been demolished. However, thanks to the internet's advancement, Mary managed to find one of the former teachers.
This was what they called a human flesh search; technology is indeed a double-edged sword.
The elderly teacher was already seventy years old this year. Twenty years ago, she was the vice principal of Yucai Primary School and also the homeroom teacher for Xu Rong and Wu Shuhau. When we arrived at her address, she was sitting in a recliner, staring blankly at the traffic and people passing by.
The old lady's hair had turned gray, age spots dotted her face, and her figure was frail and thin. Yet she exuded an indescribable spirit that gave off an impression of being capable and tidy. One could imagine how much of an intellectual beauty she must have been in her youth; while her appearance may have aged, her aura remained unchanged.
Seeing us approach her directly, the old lady squinted at us for a moment before asking, "Who are you? You don't seem like my students."
I smiled and said, "Grandma, I know you've been teaching for several decades now; five years counts as one generation. You must have taught seven or eight generations by now! How could you possibly remember all your students? That's quite impressive."
The old lady chuckled, revealing a row of neat dentures. She replied, "I remember them well! Don't be fooled by my age; I still recall them all. And I can tell you all are engaged in dangerous professions."
"You can tell that?" I asked.
The old lady stood up shakily, and I hurried to support her as she walked inside while saying, "I've seen all kinds of people over the decades; just one glance at them allows me to guess their profession. I might not be right all the time, but I'm correct about eight out of ten. I know you're police officers here to ask me something, right? Among my students, there are good people and bad people; I'm aware of that."
As we followed the old lady inside, it became evident that she lived alone. The walls of her home were adorned with various honors bearing different names—likely those of her former students.
The old lady invited us to sit on the sofa and then asked, "So what do you want to ask me about?"
Since she was so straightforward, we didn't need to engage in any false pleasantries. I asked directly, "The matter is this: among your students are Xu Rong and Wu Shuhau, right? Do you remember these two? Xu Rong and Wu Shuhau were murdered, and we suspect there may be more victims. The only connection we've found so far is that both were your students—do you have any impressions regarding this?"
The old lady's brows furrowed slightly, and after a moment, she nodded heavily and said to us, "I know, I know, Xu Rong and Wu Shuhau. Wait a moment, I have their photos." With that, she walked into the back room, and before long, she emerged with an album.
The album was thick, and from the outside, we could see it was labeled Yucai Primary School. As the old lady flipped through the album, she said, "This album contains photos of that class; it has pictures of all the children." She turned to the corresponding page and showed it to us.
Indeed, in the photos were childhood pictures of Wu Shuhau and Xu Rong, and a few pages later, there was a class photo. There weren't many people in the picture; it looked like only about twenty. I asked, "Was there really only about twenty people in that class?"
The old lady nodded and then said, "More than ten years ago, our school was demolished. They were the last class. At that time, our school was already facing demolition; most of the students had already gone to new public schools. The environment there was much better than ours."
"Do you think it's possible that the murder was committed by former students?" I asked her.
The old lady shook her head and replied, "No. Although some had minor habits of stealing, they were all good kids who wouldn't kill anyone."
I nodded and then asked, "Can you tell me what Xu Rong and Wu Shuhau were like when they were in elementary school, along with the other children?"
Hearing my question, the old lady became animated and eagerly agreed to share.
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