The chuckle was extremely shrill like metal grinding against metal. It was not a cat who made that sound, but a human. And the person’s vocal cords must have been harmed, or else the pitch wouldn’t be that high. In the dark, paired with the meowing of cats, the voice was terrifying.
Humans had an innate fear of darkness. No matter how hard I tried to convince myself that it was just darkness, I couldn’t stop my heart from racing. My arms were shaking as I tried to find my way in the pitch blackness.
Suddenly I touched a person’s hand. The skin was smooth, like the person used lotion every day. I instantly pulled my hand back. At that moment, I was sure this person was the killer. This was because the hand had human warmth. Earlier, when I still had the light, I saw the girl sitting not far away from me and I saw her head fall from her shoulders. So this couldn’t be the girl.
Fear and responsibility bound themselves around my heart. I had no idea how the killer managed to remain so calm in this environment and I had no idea where the killer came from. The fear was slowly overwhelmed by anger when I was reminded of the girl who was brutally killed and beheaded.
I reached my hands forward to grab at the killer but I grabbed at nothing. By then, the stray cats had almost all run out and the surroundings became quiet. I arched my body to block the narrow tunnel so that the killer wouldn’t be able to escape. I waited for a while but there was no movement.
Suddenly, a song came from afar and it was moving away. It was sung by that shrill voice but underneath the shrillness, I heard an indescribable emotion. I knew then there was another tunnel leading away from here. I wanted to give chase but I couldn’t see anything. I rummaged around for the flashlight but the thing had rolled to god knows where. Perhaps a cat had run away with it. Suddenly my hands closed around something round. My fingers found the eyes and nose. It hit me that I was holding the girl’s head. Her eyes appeared to be wide open.
I was given quite a fright. I let go and scrambled backwards. I hit something stick-like. I grabbed it and finally the light returned. With the flashlight, I saw the head was just beside me. It was the girl’s head and stuck into the back of the head was a dagger.
I then realized the killer was armed. The killer was able to be so calm in the darkness, it would have been easy for him to kill me but he didn’t do that but instead he chose to escape. Was he purposely letting me go or he was afraid of being captured? I really had no idea.
I looked around and realized this space was slightly bigger than the tunnel, at least it was big enough for a squatting adult. I scanned around, looking for the tunnel the killer used to escape but I realized there was none other than the one behind me. I examined the space closely. The girl’s head landed beside me but her body was leaning against the wall on the other side. The girl was naked. Uneven English letters were carved on her smooth skin. I had no idea what they said.
Beside the girl were two dead bodies. White bones were peeking through their flesh. The two bodies’ heads had decayed to become skulls. There were only some skins stuck to the skulls. Similarly, the two bodies were naked. From their sizes, they should be adults. The bodies’ genitalia were too destroyed to make out their sexes. But from the upper body, namely the chest, one was probably male and the other female. This was probably the entire family of 3.
The two adult bodies belonged to the girl’s parents. The girl probably didn’t expect that inside the dark hole, it wasn’t a kind person who raised the strays but a killer who was trying to lure her into her death.
I studied the two bodies and the girl’s headless body. I noticed something was different about the position of the girl’s body. I crawled forward like a cat and moved the girl’s body to the side. As I expected, a narrow tunnel appeared behind her.
Without thinking too much, I crawled into it. I crawled for about 10 minutes before I saw the lights. I walked out into the light. I finally understood why some people had such intense claustrophobia. The sense of oppression was real.
There was a door before me. I walked out and realized I was in an adult toy shop. The front door was locked from outside. I pulled on it and the door refused to yield. I stood at the window and looked out. This was not a particularly busy street, there were not that many people around.
I pasted my face to the window, hoping to spy the murderer. At the corner, a man in black flitted across my eye. I confirmed the man was 1.68 metres tall and he was the killer!
I kicked hard at the glass door but the door was surprisingly firm. I grabbed a chair and threw at it. The glass held. I was surprised that despite the location, the glass was bulletproof.
A man walked past and he kept looking at me. He took out his phone and said, “Honey, you won’t believe what I’m seeing. A man is trapped inside an adult toy store. Who knows what he’s up to. No I’m not kidding…”
I slapped my head and quickly took out my phone and gave Gu Chen a call. “Gu Chen, bring a unit to the street ahead. Hurry, the killer is a man, no, perhaps even a woman, around 1.7 metres tall. They are wearing full black. There won’t be many dressed like that around here. Quick!”
“What about you? Are you alright?” Gu Chen asked.
“I’m fine. Just follow my orders.” Then I ended the call. I thought about it and turned back to the back of the shop. I retraced my step and crawled back into the hole. I stopped when I passed the bodies. Then I moved on. When I came out, an officer was still guarding the hole. He looked surprised when he saw me. “What’s wrong?” I asked.
The officer said, “I should ask you that, Inspector Wu. Your face is bloody and your clothes are scratched. Your hair is out of place. What happened there?”
I didn’t have the time to explain so I quickly asked, “Did anything happen when I was in there?”
The officer thought about it. “20 minutes after you went in, a group of cats suddenly charged out from the hole. There were around 50 of them! After they came out, they scattered down the streets and disappeared. Gu Chen was worried about you so he called you but the calls went unanswered.” The officer explained, “But around 10 minutes ago, he received a call and led the rest of the unit away. I was left here to watch over the hole. I have no idea what happened.”
I nodded and patted his shoulders. “Find a few thin officers to haul the 3 bodies out from this hole. Tell them to be prepared.”
“There are really dead bodies inside?” The officer widened his eyes.
When I went back upstairs, there was only Guan Zhenglin. The rest of them had followed Gu Chen to chase after the killer.
Guan Zhenglin was still analyzing the trace inside the room. When I arrived, she turned to look at me and asked, “What have you been up to? Your whole face is covered in blood.” Then she took out a bandage from her toolbox and helped me wipe away the grime. “These look like cat scratches. You really should take a look at yourself. Those who didn’t know would think you were assaulted by some crazy woman.”
I turned to look out the window. It was dusk and the clouds were beautiful in colors. The setting sun showered golden rays on Guan Zhenglin's face. For some reason, my pumping heart started to slow down. I didn’t feel that nervous anymore.
“You’re right.” I uttered softly.
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