A human head had appeared on the street, it was understandable that it would garner some attention. Half an hour later, a group of people ran out and shouted, “That shot was perfect!” Then the crowd realized it was just a movie stunt. A man who identified himself as the director came out to apologize to the crowd. They were making a horror movie and were surprised that someone’s pet dog had run out with their prop human head. Sensing the chance to capture people’s actual reaction, the director decided to run with it. They were all going to appear on television!
In reality though, these were actors hired by Captain Zhao to contain the chaos. The real human head was now at the morgue.
…
I studied the young woman who stood before me, she looked barely 18. She had a short bob that framed her pretty face, and unlike female characters in most webnovels, a lack of ‘giant peaks’. I heard from Captain Zhao that this girl was a forensic doctor still in medical school. Perhaps she was here for her internship. But then again, she still had a brighter future than I did. Like Gu Chen, this girl would eventually join the force but what would fate bode for me? This was truly a sad question.
“Can you please stop staring? Your eyes are almost falling into her breasts already.” Gu Chen whispered to me. “If I was her, I would’ve slapped you already.”
“Gu Chen, you’re quite an interesting man. Is it not a man’s nature to appreciate a beautiful woman? Why are you paying your attention to me instead? Do you swing for the other team?” I countered, “Plus, do see any breast for me to fall into?” Guan Zhenglin’s scalpel shook but she did not say anything and continued with her dissection. With her silent consent, I continued, “In fact, Gu Chen, you might have a bigger chest than she does!”
Before Gu Chen could make his move, Guan Zhenglin’s scalpel aimed right at me. “If you continue to run your mouth, I’ll make you a woman on the spot.” She coupled that with a glance at my crotch.
Gu Chen shrugged and made a chopping gesture. I instinctually shielded my family jewels away from harm.
Eventually the dissection of the human head was complete.
“So can you tell us how this woman died?” I asked. Guan Zhenglin looked at me like I was dumb. She slowly rolled off her gloves and then added, “Are you really a cop? Who told you this head belongs to a woman? Everyone with long hair has to be a woman? This is clearly a man’s head.”
“A man?” I could not believe my ears. The long hair did make me believe the victim was a woman but the thing that convinced me was before I wrapped up the head, I took a good look at the person’s face, that was a woman’s face. Guan Zhenglin scoffed, “Men and their prejudices.” Then she rolled her eyes and explained, “Males have larger cranial bone, cranial cavity, a lower eye orbit and their corniculi maxillaris will be smaller than 120 degrees compared to females. But most importantly, male skulls will have a more protruding exoccipital bone.” To help her explanation, Guan Zhenglin lifted the head. “Feel it for yourself!”
I placed my hands on Guan Zhenglin’s face. “I am asking you to touch the exoccipital bone, which is at the back of the head, why are you touching my face?” Guan Zhenglin shouted.
Gu Chen and myself obliged. “Now compare it to your own!” She ordered. I touched the back of my head and did feel the protruding exoccipital bone. With this evidence, I had to accept that this was a man’s head. However, the man’s facial feature was absolutely feminine. Had he gone for plastic surgery or he was born with these feminine features?
“Nowadays, men look like women and women are as pushy as men.” I shook my head. Guan Zhenglin glared at me. “Similarly, men are getting so sensitive like women nowadays. And if you must know… the reason he looks like this is because he had gone under the knife. The surgery was probably done not too long ago but that does not change the fact that he was biologically male.” The coroner’s report soon arrived. There was not much to tell from just a head alone, like how did he die, and the exact time of death. However, at least it was proven that the dents on the head were caused post mortem. Then my hypothesis was correct. Ol’ Zhang accidentally kicked the pail that was close to the head and sent it bumping down the stairs from the 15th floor. Then today it was picked up by a dog. So far, those were the only clues we had. The most imminent task we had was to find that young person who escaped from the scene. The three of us came to Captain Zhao’s office and we walked into Captain Zhao, Mary and Xiao Liu enjoying a chilled watermelon.
“You three sure have a good appetite.” I began slowly.
“What’s wrong?” Mary asked, “I heard you guys were out to answer a civilian report this morning.” I nodded and tossed out a few pictures for Mary to see. “Yes, it’s about these…” Mary spat out the chunks of watermelon at me.
Captain Zhao announced, “Since you’ve answered this call, then you’ll be responsible for this case. The three of you will head this task force.”
“Wait a minute, I need to work with her?”
“Wait a minute, I need to work with him?” Guan Zhenglin and I exclaimed at the same time.
After some stern staring from Captain Zhao, we both settled for his arrangement. I was the first to ask, “What is the victim’s time of death? I know you said you can’t be exact with the time, but at least you can give us a range, right?”
Guan Zhenglin nodded. “It’s probably from yesterday’s 11 pm to today’s 1 am.”
“Are you sure?” When I heard that, I questioned subconsciously.
“Of course, I am.” Guan Zhenglin said confidently. Gu Chen was looking at Guan Zhenglin in disbelief. Was the killer the Flash?!
Based on Ol’ Zhang’s testimony, he discovered the thief roughly around 10.30 pm. We assumed earlier that the love poem was already on the wall by then but now Guan Zhenglin said the victim was killed after 11 pm. Then logically speaking, the culprit would have killed the victim after Ol’ Zhang discovered the thief. But how was that possible? After the assumed thief escaped, Ol’ Zhang took a step back to look at the building before he decided to go investigate the strange sound coming from the building. That left the killer with only a small window of time to kill a person, decapitate him and then write down a love poem. Even if we assumed Ol’ Zhang moved as slow as a snail, it would take him no longer than half an hour to move from the first floor to the 15th floor. How could the killer manage all of that in less than 30 minutes?
And how did the killer dispose of the victim’s body? Of course, the killer could have just dragged the beheaded victim up to the 16th floor to hide and wait for Ol’ Zhang to leave before they made off into the night with the headless body.
Furthermore, if the murder was committed after the thief was discovered, where were the killer and the victim when Ol’ Zhang was going up the stairs? Ol’ Zhang would have noticed if the killer arrived at the scene later than the thief. Therefore, there could only be one explanation, the culprit was already at the building site when the thief arrived. They kept the victim incapacitated and committed the murder only after 11 pm. But what was the purpose in that?
Regardless of the situation, the killer would have to hide inside the building site after they committed the murder and only depart after Ol’ Zhang left or else they risked running into Ol’ Zhang carrying a beheaded body. However, Ol’ Zhang did not find any suspicious trace as he scanned through the dog traps that he placed between 15th floor and the first floor as he went down the stairs. Thus, the killer had to be hiding on the floors above the 15th floor. If we returned to the crime scene, we might still find some clues. Of course, all these were based on the accuracy of Guan Zhenglin’s report.
“Okay, let’s go!” I told the two.
“Where are we going?” Guan Zhenglin asked.
“Of course to find the clues about the killer.”
Before starting the crime scene simulation, I looked carefully around the building site. Abandoning the possibility that the killer was a superhero who could walk on walls or jump down from 15 floors uninjured, the hypotheses that I came up with sounded the most viable.
“Gu Chen, I need you to check all 30 floors and see if you can spot any suspicious trace. Guan Zhenglin, I need you to compare the blood of the victim with the blood on the 15th floor to see if they come from the same source.” I delineated the job.
“Then what about you?” The two of them asked.
I smiled. “I need to think.” Closing my eyes, I pulled on my hairs and submerged myself into character.
…
If I am the killer, what the hell am I up to? I love you so I have to kill you. The promises of eternal love are nothing but lies before the threat of time. Because I love you, I make myself into you. The most romantic gesture I can think of is to slowly model my life into yours. I want to put on your favorite dress, to adorn your favorite accessory. I will make my face look like yours, I can even assume your gender identity. I am so afraid of losing you, so when I become you, I will have to kill you. That way you will be mine forever. There is only one place that will allow me to do all that.
…
2 hours later, Gu Chen ran down from the stairs. He had just raced through 30 floors up and down but his face was not red from any lack of breath. The man was truly a beast. “There’s nothing. Other than the macabre scene on the 15th floor, there’s nothing on the other floors.”
How did the murderer manage to accomplish this? This was basically a locked room mystery. Even though there were no walls and windows, the crime was committed on the 15th floor. Where did the killer hide so that Ol’ Zhang wouldn’t discover them and the body? And how did they manage that the body left no trace of blood?
Guan Zhenglin came back to report. “I’ve done a quick analysis. The luminol tests come up negative, there are no obvious blood traces on the other floors. The blood from the victim matches the blood on the wall of the 15th floor, so the writing on the wall was indeed done with the victim’s blood.” After a pause, she continued, “From the handwriting, it would appear like the killer had held the head by its neck and used the hair as a brush. The floor is practically red but I did find a lot of spatter patterns that suggest that this is the first crime scene.”
Strange, this case just kept on getting stranger and stranger.
“What should we do next?” Gu Chen looked at me with a deep frown.
“I’ll bring you guys to a place.”
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