Zhao Mingkun was silent as we looked into each other’s eyes. We both saw the same emotion there. I moved my body slowly, and my hands moved to Zhao Mingkun’s stomach and caressed it softly. There was a long scar on Zhao Mingkun’s stomach, longer than the one I had just operated on. If I weren’t touching the scar myself, I wouldn’t have believed something so ugly would exist on the body of a person so beautiful. I moved to caress the various wounds on Zhao Mingkun and imagined how they came to be.
Zhao Mingkun lay there quietly. She didn’t stop me or speak to me. A scar led to her breast, and my finger inched along with it. A sadness rose within me. All these scars, old and new, meant that this woman was not raised with care. Her childhood featured cruelty and blood.
“How.” I uttered slowly, “Did these come about?” Zhao Mingkun touched my face and said in a saddened voice, “Each scar represents a story. When we have time, I’ll tell you the stories, okay?” Her tone was gentle.
The emotions erupted, and I kissed her lips. It was the meeting of 2 lonely souls. Time stopped. I didn’t dare to use too much force lest I hurt her. It all started with a kiss and ended with a kiss.
We separated, and I understood this opportunity might not come again. I knew that the moment Zhao Mingkun said she would tell me the stories behind her scars in another time. Life was unpredictable. Humans were fragile. The two of us lay in bed, but we didn’t look at each other. There was nothing but silence. Suddenly Zhao Mingkun said, “You received a call before you came in. If you don’t go back soon, people will be suspicious. I’m not worried about you, but I’m worried that you might bring trouble to me.”
I nodded seriously. “Then you better take good care of yourself. You need to deal with that wound.”
Zhao Mingkun stood up, gritting her teeth. She tapped her wound and said, “I’ll deal with the rest myself. You don’t need to worry about me. If I can’t handle a wound of this level, then I deserve to die. But little kid, how was big sister’s body? Delicious?” Then she winked at me.
And at that moment, I thought, the real powerful ones never revealed their weakness.
When I left the motel, the boss grinned salaciously at me. “The motel has thin walls. Hehe, little brother, you’re leaving so soon? Why not stay for another round…” I was speechless. I thought about the sweat and blood on the bed. When the boss saw that, he probably would have more dirty thoughts.
I called a cab to hurry back to the factory. In the cab, I examined my ankle. It was sprained, but if I didn’t apply force, it didn’t hurt. Compared to Zhao Mingkun’s wound, this was nothing. Thankfully, I could still hobble around. When I arrived at the factory, the factory was already shut down. The workers were gathered outside the factory, listening to the factory manager ramble on about safety, confidentiality, and so on. After what happened, probably no one dared to use that cutter anymore. Seeing me in person, Guan Zhenglin and Gu Chen sighed in relief. Gu Chen asked, “You saw the killer?”
I shared with them how Zhao Mingkun spotted the killer and how we followed the killer through the sewer, but of course, I swapped Zhao Mingkun out for me, and I skipped the part at the motel.
Gu Chen scratched his head. “If I saw the bastard, I would have caught him.”
Guan Zhenglin said, “The killer is too cunning. Right, Wu Meng, come take a look at this. The killer actually left the message a long time ago. What’s with your leg?” Compared to Gu Chen, Guan Zhenglin was more attentive. I sighed, “I slipped when I was in the sewer.”
Guan Zhenglin bent down to examine it. She pinched and twisted my ankle before she sighed. “Your bones aren’t hurt, and it’s just a sprain. I’ll spray some medicine on it when we’re back at the station, and you’ll be better tomorrow.” Guan Zhenglin became my crutch as we moved towards the message. I suddenly remembered how unused to each other when we first worked together, but now the three of us were like a family. But the more I thought about that, the guiltier I felt towards Guan Zhenglin. The enmity between Guan Zhenglin and Zhao Mingkun could only be solved through death.
Soon we arrived back at the assembly line. There were many officers working to collect evidence. They checked every corner of the room. But I knew the killer wouldn’t leave any trace behind. This meant that the semen left in the 1st case might not even belong to the killer.
Guan Zhenglin pointed at a wall. “See up there.” I looked up and saw white traces on the faded red wall, but I couldn’t tell what the message was. Guan Zhenglin explained, “When the cutter was working, its internal temperature was very high. With high speed and high temperature, it’ll create an interesting reaction. When the high-temperature blood mist sprayed on the cold wall, it formed blood beads and condensed on the wall. It was then that someone saw the surfacing message.” I did understand this theory. When we were at Elm Town, we had a case where a husband was trying to scare his wife by creating various ‘supernatural’ events. For example, he used candles to write down horrifying words in the mirror. Normally the words wouldn’t be seen, but when the wife took her hot shower, the vapor would condense on the mirror. Since the wax was very slippery and water-proof, it would form the negative of the message. The killer must have done something similar on this wall.
Guan Zhenglin looked at the wall and continued, “It has been almost 2 hours since the accident. The message is now blurred, but we did take a picture of it and have translated it.”
“It’s a message that doesn’t make sense again?” I asked.
Guan Zhenglin nodded. “With my blood, with my name, the sin is hidden in ancient darkness, time will not always hide it. Others call it the truth and I call it justice. The justice will end. Rebirth is coming. New Life.”
I shook my head. I still didn’t understand what the message meant. It was equally confusing and baffling.
But I slowly agreed with Gu Chen. These messages sounded like religious teachings or cult learning. At least I didn’t think it was a message left behind to taunt the police. The message probably only had meaning to certain people.
I walked towards the cutter. The machine had already stopped operating. The large blades dangled before us. The blades shone dangerously. Most of the blades were dyed red, and blood was still dripping. I looked closer and saw human flesh stuck to the sides. These were the last traces Ol’ Wang had for this world. His clothes, his body, his person were all gone.
“The victim is Ol’ Wang.” I said, “Do you guys know that?” The two nodded. Gu Chen said, “Yes, someone saw Ol’ Wang walk towards us and the next second…”
“Where are the rest?” I asked. I noticed Xiao Liu and his unit were not there.
“Xiao Liu?” Guan Zhenglin looked at me. “If you’re asking about him, he led his team into the sewer to search the moment he heard you said the killer escaped from the sewer. He didn’t even tell us anything and led his people down the sewer. Since there’s no signal down there, we have no idea how things are progressing. Speaking of which,” Guan Zhenglin sniffed at me. “You do smell like the sewer. You should go back to shower, and we’ll go have dinner while waiting for Xiao Liu’s news. But since you didn’t catch the killer, I doubt his team would be able to.”
I nodded. Back at the station, I changed, took a shower, and had dinner. Xiao Liu’s team only returned when the moon was up in the sky. From Xiao Liu’s expression, we knew that he had found something, or else he wouldn’t be so happy.
I noticed two of his member carry a big gunny sack, and it stunk heavily.
“What is that?” Guan Zhenglin pinched her nose. “Why is it so smelly?”
Xiao Liu snapped his fingers. “These are the things I found in the sewer.”
“Why did you collect these things?” Guan Zhenglin was confused.
Xiao Liu had his people pour out the content. “Because with these things, we can be certain that the killer is not singular but is definitely a group.”
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