233 Threats

 

We just came back from Xing Dong Village, but we were heading back there again. I was not familiar with the officers in the car. They joined the forces after we left, so they were Xiao Liu’s people. Xiao Liu purposely had them follow me, so I knew his intention. Along the way, we didn’t say anything. The killer looked out the window and said nothing either.

I pondered the issue of Guan Zhenglin’s safety; who used my name to message everyone; where was Guan Zhenglin? I felt like there was a bigger conspiracy behind this and the target was me. In the years I had worked with the police, I had landed quite a few people into prison, but none of them should know about me joining the special task force and Guan Zhenglin. Someone who could do something like this, there was only one candidate in my mind, Wu Zui. And from the start, Wu Zui had been targeting me, from the case that caused me paranoia, to the case with Liu Yinyan, and now the maybe imaginary conversation I had with him.

The killer who sat behind me must still have something he had hidden from me. Furthermore, I had no idea which of the persona was responsible for the deceit. According to the uncle persona, he had managed to mediate between all the personas but he didn’t achieve that overnight. Therefore, there was a period of time when the separate personas were doing their own thing without the knowledge of the other personas, so could that mysterious persona be related to Wu Zui?

I closed my eyes and thought about it. Suddenly I was reminded of something. I asked the killer, “Tell me. How many people you’ve killed?”

The killer was still looking out the window when he heard my question. He turned over to ask, “Why do you ask? I’ve already told you everything.” I looked at the killer seriously. Realizing I was not joking, he admitted, “8 people.”

“8 people?” I widened my eyes and repeated my question, “8? You’re sure.”

The killer chuckled and added, “Yes, but I didn’t kill them, Yama did. There were 8 of them. From the start of the case, there were the 2 first OLs.” He lifted his fingers. I looked at him and frowned. He continued, “Then the little girl’s family of 3.” He raised a whole palm. “That’s 5. The last 3 are the noisy boy, the widow, and Ol’ Wang.” The killer concluded slowly, “8 people and 3 stories. After Wu Xiufang died, Wu Xiufen carried everything away with her, including the bowls of the 12 Zodiacs. The bowls weren’t worth much so I had no idea why she would take them.”

Hearing that, I started to sweat. I took a few deep breaths before I said, “But 9 people have died.”

“9?” The killer said, “I only remember 8.” It looked like the killer really didn’t know that. Since he had already admitted to the murder of 8 people, there was no reason for him to hide about the 9th if he did do that. So who killed the boss of the sex store?

When I communicated with this uncle persona, he also said that he only killed 8 people. The time of death of the female boss was longer than the other victims. When we found her, she was already a pile of bones. According to the witness, the male CEO who was friends with the female boss, he saw a young woman saunter out from the sex store, so that should be the killer. Among the killer’s personas, there was only 1 normal female person. It was Ze.

However, Ze wasn’t the killing kind. Guan Zhenglin said that the female boss was bitten to death, and that didn’t sound like something Ze would do.

I looked at the killer, and the killer looked at me. From his expression, I saw confusion. The killer admitted that there was a period of time in the day when he didn’t know what his body was doing. During this lost hour, some other persona must have surfaced. Things were getting confusing. There were other personas inside the killer. I demanded, “Are there any more persona inside you?”

Hearing me, the killer was silent. Several minutes later, he said, “No, I am sure that there is no other persona inside me. I am the only one controlling this body now.” I pulled on my hair. The moment the killer slumbered, who was controlling his body; who killed the female boss and why?

At that moment, my phone rang. I looked at my phone and felt it turning sinister. Someone had tampered with my phone, so they could still be listening in. However, I had no choice but to accept.

“Gu Chen?” I asked, “What is it?” Gu Chen said, “I’m at Xing Dong Village already. What should I do next?”

I turned to the killer. “This is the chance for you to lighten your sentence. I know you have recorded many videos about your dissociative personality disorder, but there were only the 2 of us back there. Do you understand what I mean?” I looked into the killer’s eyes. “So I’m asking you do you know where that underground space is?”

The killer looked at the other officers and me. “You are openly threatening me. Is this acceptable protocol?” Everyone in the car and even Gu Chen heard him. I knew I was not following protocol, but I was never one for rules anyway. I continued slowly, “Yes, everyone heard it. There were only the 2 of us underground. If I say you are the killer, then you are the killer and vice versa. I could have said you wanted to kill me when we were alone, but you were stopped by the police in time.” After I said that, everyone in the car was silent. I continued, “Maybe Ze did this, but you have to know where this place is, so you better tell me, or I’ll make sure you’ll be taken down for everything.”

The killer sat up and pleaded, “I don’t know. Ze did everything on her own. She said that we shouldn’t kill the girl, and we cannot see a girl’s naked body. She never allowed us to surface when she went underground! After the integration of the personas, we knew about these things! We have come to an agreement that we would never hide anything from the other personas!”

“I’ll only count to 10!” I looked at him. “10, 9, 8…”

The killer’s face was red, “You are threatening me! Everyone, you heard him. He’s threatening me!”

“7, 6, 5…”

No one spoke.

The killer was silent before he said, “I have waited for this day for 5 years. You can’t do this to me! I beg you. You know the truth, I didn’t kidnap your girlfriend!” Before death, no one could be that cavalier. The killer was the same, and I was the same. But the killer cared about his own life, and I cared about Guan Zhenglin’s life.

“4, 3, 2…”

Then he blurted out, “All I know is that I would wake up in front of the tombstone. So I have to guess, it should be under the tombstone.”

I nodded and told Gu Chen, “That’s the place. Gu Chen, did you hear that?”

Gu Chen answered, “The tombstone? That’s likely. This morning, we’ve turned the village upside down and we found nothing so the entrance could be up the mountain. We’ll head up the mountain now. If I find the place, I’ll call you.”

I said, “Move quickly. It has been 12 hours since she was kidnapped. Guan Zhenglin is afraid of the dark, and we need to find her to ensure her safety.”

After a moment’s silence, Gu Chen said, “Wu Meng, you need to understand that Guan Zhenglin is a coroner and a police officer. As a police officer, she has prepared to take the risk that comes with the job.”

I didn’t say anything.

Gu Chen continued, “Calm down, I can feel your anxiety. Anxiety and rationality are opposite. I’m hanging up now. I will move as fast as I can, don’t worry. Guan Zhenglin won’t die that easily. Be calm.”