225 Yama

 

When I heard this request, I was not afraid of indecent exposure but of how the killer would feel when he discovered the tracer on the bowls. “Remember, other than the bag and the bowls inside, do not bring anything. Of course, except this phone.” The killer ordered, “When you arrive, I will contact you. That’s all.” Then the killer hung up. I looked at the phone with a frown. This was an old phone. Other than calling and messaging, it had no other function. I tried to use this phone to call my number, and I realized it couldn’t connect. I understood then this phone couldn’t connect to the outside world.

In other words, I would lose contact with the outside world. I stood in the yard and looked around. When did the killer arrange this, and how could he get the timing so right? Since this involved Guan Zhenglin’s life, I didn’t hesitate for long.

I started to strip. Who knew what the killer would do if I kept him waiting for too long. I suddenly was reminded of something. When I was inside the dark tunnel with the cats, my flashlight fell to the ground. That was the perfect chance for the killer to kill me, but he didn’t. I didn’t know which persona occupied the killer then, but I knew that if I could summon that persona out, I could capture the killer without using any force.

However, would that really solve the problem? This person had many souls, but once we destroyed the physical body, all the souls would die. However, we couldn’t pinpoint which soul had committed the murder and which soul was innocent.

Despite the thoughts in my mind, my hands hadn’t stopped moving. The weather was cold on the night of early spring, but I had no choice. After I stripped down, I shivered immediately. I worked my limbs, carried the bag, and got on the bike. I cycled along Min Feng Street. The weather was cold. There were not many vehicles on the road, but the street cleaners had gotten out for work already. I hadn’t ridden a bike for a long time already. I soon broke out in a sweat. A cleaner auntie was sweeping the ground not far from me. I had no choice but to keep on cycling. When I passed the auntie, the auntie suddenly stopped. I frowned and turned to look. Then I realized the auntie was actually just 20 years old. Then it hit me. This was the killer.

“How’s Guan Zhenglin?” I demanded.

The killer looked around and removed his jacket. He tossed it to me and said, “Cover it up.”

I looked at the disgust on the killer’s face like he was about to vomit. I quickly used the jacket to cover up my crotch. Then I asked, “If you don’t feel comfortable, why did you have me strip?”

“It was not me who made that demand but my big brother.” The killer spoke in a fluid Chinese language. His voice was soft and gentle, and it sounded like a girl. I looked at her face closely and noticed she was dressed in a female outfit. She was about 1.7 meters tall. After removing the cleaner’s jacket, I saw that she was all dressed in black, even her shoes were black. These two properties confirmed for me that this was the killer.

“Your big brother?” I asked.

The killer didn’t answer me. “Follow me.”

“What about the bike?” I asked.

The killer answered, “Toss it under the bridge.” Then the killer tossed her own bike under the bridge. “Follow me.” The killer repeated.

From these few interactions, I knew that the persona who dominated the body now was the woman, a misanthropic woman, to be precise. This woman was probably the person I met in the sewer. I wondered if she would be kind enough to let Guan Zhenglin go. I probed, “Miss, have we met in the sewer before?”

The killer continued to walk ahead as if not worried that I might ambush her from behind. She understood that I wouldn’t do that as long as she still had the hostage. But the strange thing was, if the killer was here, then who was the person who captured Guan Zhenglin at Xing Dong Village, and if they were the same person, how did they get to Dong Xing City so quickly?

The woman answered, “We have indeed met but not in the sewers.”

I got it then. I only heard the woman’s voice in the sewers, but we hadn’t really met. So if we had met, it had to be the cat tunnel. This woman was the persona who allowed me to go. However, based on our current interaction, she no longer felt so merciful to me.

“Then you must be the person who let me go. I encountered you in the cat tunnel, but you didn’t kill.” I said.

“I didn’t kill you, but you’ve ruined my plan.” The woman said, “I’m not someone who murders the innocent, but if someone made my little sister unhappy, I will kill them.”

A bad feeling rose within me. The killer hadn’t checked the bowls, and I believed Captain Lee’s people would have been following the tracer already. Once they confirmed that I had made contact with the killer, they would make their moves. Therefore I had to confirm Guan Zhenglin’s safety before I handed the bowls over to the killer.

I said, “Your mother told you that once you finished drawing the 12 Zodiac signs, she would return. But you waited and waited, and she never did. Before you finished painting the 12 Zodiacs, your mother died. Your father knew you were not his biological daughter, so he mistreated you. Your mother was the only one who really cared about you.”

The woman paused in the middle of the bridge and didn’t move. She didn’t turn around either.

I also stopped. I stood 1 meter behind the woman and continued, “The formation of dissociative personality disorder has to do with childhood experience. No one would give birth to other personas for no reason. The young girl back then couldn’t accept that her mother had died, so she started to turn to avoidance. It was then that the second persona emerged.”

The woman’s shoulders shook, and I knew I had hit on the point. I continued, “The girl couldn’t face the truth, so she could only escape, but no one could help her, so she created a second persona. This persona would carry all of her sadness. He would shoulder the pain of all the other personas. When the little girl fell into a slumber, the other persona could control her body. After the girl’s mother died, the girl’s father led her away. But her father understood that the girl was actually Wu Xiufang’s child. So he treated her badly. He might have beaten her when he was angry. So this new persona was very strong. He has a masochistic tendency but also a sadistic tendency. So he must be the planner behind all the murders.”

The woman turned around with an expressionless face.

“This persona’s name should be Yama.” I said, “One of the personas found out the truth from the father’s diary, but at that moment, the little girl’s persona was awakening. She was the real anchor. Even though she was already 15, her mind was only 5.

“She couldn’t remember anything. All the girl could remember was that she needed to finish painting all the 12 Zodiac Signs so that her mother could come home.” I looked at the killer but didn’t dare to raise my voice. “But the bowls have already disappeared. The girl was anxious when she couldn’t find the bowls. Therefore you appeared. As an understanding big sister, you comforted her and promised her that you’d find the bowls.” The woman’s expression finally changed. Her lips moved like she was saying something. I continued, “But the 3 of you are not enough. You need someone clever to set up all the plans. So another persona surfaced. This was a middle-aged man. He is familiar with psychology and is extremely knowledgeable, so he is the planner.

“But,” I shook my head. “A persona’s strength is dependent on his personality, Yama might be the persona created by the little girl, but he sustained all the pain and despair. She created him, and he slowly overwhelmed the little girl’s consciousness. It was not until recently that you couldn’t control him anymore. When you were in the sewers, you could have escaped easily, but you insisted on injuring Zhao Mingkun. This slowed you down, and that was how you lost the precious bowls.”

The woman suddenly chuckled.

I pressed, “Now that you have all 12 bowls, it’s time to let the little girl out. She is the real owner of this body. You can’t let her slumber any further. I know the English spells that you left behind are to keep Yama asleep!”

The woman’s expression turned blank. She looked around like a lost little girl. She looked so afraid. I was glad, this was the little girl’s persona, and from her, I could get Guan Zhenglin’s location.

I took one step forward, but at that moment, the murderer’s hand went for my neck.

He had a wicked grin on his face. His voice was hoarse. “Don’t try to trick the others. I own part of this body, and I couldn’t care about the bowls. As long as the other persona has that wish to kill, I will appear. They can’t ever stop me because everyone has that murderous urge inside them! Everyone has that one moment where they might lose it! Can you really blame me for that?”

I felt like my lungs were closing up.