Empreinte de main en sang

Chapitre 51

But the girl's experience only made Qin Ge and He Lan more puzzled. Now that they were certain they hadn't come to the wrong place—this was Zhang Shanren's house—who was the online friend who met the girl? How did he get the key to the house and leave her there to watch over it?

Where did Zhang Shanren go? And what is the relationship between him and the man who arranged to meet the girl?

Without finding Zhang Shanren, all these questions remained unanswered. However, since Qin Ge and He Lan had come, they certainly didn't want to leave empty-handed. Therefore, they conducted a more thorough search of the house, hoping to find some evidence to prove that Zhang Shanren was the "Mask" who killed the crowd administrator.

The evidence was easy to find. There was a computer in the study with internet access. Opening the QQ login window, "Mask's" number was immediately found in the drop-down menu for QQ accounts. This at least proved that "Mask" had logged into QQ on this computer.

Helan quickly found a hidden folder on the computer's hard drive. Opening it, she found it filled with pictures. Helan only glanced at them before blushing furiously and standing up to give her seat to Qin Ge. Qin Ge browsed through the pictures one by one and soon found Li Jianjun's photo. This confirmed the origin of the photos; they must have been purchased by "Mask" from members of the killer group.

The only remaining question is whether Zhang Shanren is truly "Mask". Although this is Zhang Shanren's house, it's entirely possible that someone else is manipulating everything here. For example, the man who arranged to meet the girl is highly suspicious.

Qin Ge continued browsing the pictures when suddenly, a photo of a boy caught his attention. The background of the photo was a beach, and the boy looked to be about fifteen or sixteen years old. If these photos hadn't been mixed in with the others, Qin Ge wouldn't have found them strange. But it was precisely because these photos seemed so normal to most people that they caught Qin Ge's attention.

Next, several more photos of teenagers appeared, but they were clearly not the same people from before. These teenagers were about the same age, and their faces still bore the indelible traces of childhood innocence.

Qin Ge stared at the photos, vaguely sensing something stirring in his mind, but he couldn't quite place what it was. He slapped his forehead and turned to call He Lan, who was hiding to the side, over.

Helan looked at the photos and was also a little puzzled. She clicked the mouse, making the photos of these boys appear alternately. Suddenly, she couldn't help but let out a soft gasp as the screen stopped on a boy with a pointed chin.

“I remember this child. I saw his missing person report when I first arrived at the team four months ago.”

Her words brought something to Qin Ge's mind. A chill ran through him; the photo of the missing boy on the computer screen—what did that mean? Could the child's disappearance be related to Zhang Shanren?

If Zhang Shanren was indeed the administrator of the mass killings, then he must be a person with psychological defects. Such a person is fully capable of doing some unexpected things—including murder!

Qin Ge's breathing became rapid, and a few thoughts that suddenly popped into his mind filled him with fear.

"Take the main unit away later, and when we get back, compare these teenagers' photos with the registered missing persons." Qin Ge swallowed hard, and when he stood up, his movements were a bit too abrupt, almost causing him to trip over his chair.

Helan was also a little nervous. She asked in a low voice, "Should we call for help?"

Qin Ge waved his hand and walked out of the study without looking back. He Lan followed behind and saw him enter the bedroom, searching every corner very carefully.

After the bedroom was the guest room. Women's clothes hung on a clothes rack, and there were cosmetics and snacks on the table. The girl had obviously been staying here for the past few days. Qin Ge checked around but found nothing unusual. Finally, he went to the bed, lifted the covers to reveal a Simmons mattress. He called He Lan to help him lift the mattress, and under the bed was a large rectangular leather suitcase.

He took out the suitcase, which was locked. This lock was purely decorative; anyone could pry it open in a very short time. Qin Ge went out and returned with a screwdriver, quickly prying open the lock. Inside, it was a suitcase full of clothes.

Qin Ge's deduction has finally come true—these clothes were once worn by the boys in the photos.

Lifting the clothes, there were other things at the bottom of the box: watches, MP3 players, cell phones, handheld game consoles—mostly small gadgets. They undoubtedly belonged to those teenagers as well.

Finally, Qin Ge found a burned CD at the bottom of the box.

Back in the study, I inserted the CD into the drive and browsed the files. It was an RMVB format video file. Double-clicking it launched the media player, and the screen appeared—

Qin Ge and He Lan both widened their eyes. They never expected that someone they were familiar with would appear on the screen.

Chapter 31

From room 8 to room 4, they had to pass through three rooms. Even if Ma Nan and Yang Mei walked slowly, it would only take them five or six minutes at most. Ma Nan knew that Yang Mei must know some of Yang Zheng's secrets, but seeing her cold face at this moment, he swallowed back the words that were about to come out.

Room number 4 is just ahead, the door is ajar.

Ma Nan stopped at the door and gestured for Yang Mei to go in first. Yang Mei opened the door, but was stunned; Yang Zheng was not in the room.

Perhaps Yang Zheng went to the wrong room when he came back; all the rooms here are pretty much the same.

Ma Nan then rushed into the room before Yang Mei could, going straight to the bed. There was a coat on the bed; Yang Zheng had been wearing it when he left room 8. This meant that Yang Zheng must have returned here after leaving room 8.

But he has now disappeared.

"Let's look in the other rooms," Yang Mei said.

Ma Nan stared at the coat on the bed, his brows furrowed. Now that Yang Zheng had returned here, there was no reason for him to go to any other room. Unless something had happened to him that no one else knew about.

Yang Mei walked over, looking at the coat with a somewhat bewildered expression. She picked up the coat and felt that it still carried Yang Zheng's body heat.

“He just left here not long ago,” Yang Mei said. “There’s no way out here, so he must still be here.”

Ma Nan stared at a small wooden box on the bed and shook his head: "It's not that there's no way out, we just haven't found it yet. Otherwise, how would we have gotten in? And where did that old man go?"

Yang Mei also saw the small wooden box, about the size of a palm, made entirely of wood, with a lid on top.

"Is this your stuff?" Manan was clearly quite interested in the box.

Yang Mei shook her head: "It's not mine. I don't know if it belongs to Yang Zheng, but this is the first time I've seen it."

Ma Nan picked up the box and held it in her palm. The box was quite exquisite, and it felt light in her hand; she couldn't guess what was inside. At this moment, Yang Mei also came over and stared at the box.

With his other hand, Ma Nan gently opened the lid on top.

The box was empty; there was nothing inside. This was very strange. Yang Mei had never seen the box before, and now it was under Yang Zheng's coat. It was either a clue deliberately left by Yang Zheng, or it was placed there by the Ba people hiding behind the scenes. But in any case, there should be something inside the box.

Suddenly, Ma Nan noticed something strange about Yang Mei's expression. He was about to ask her something, but when he opened his mouth, he couldn't speak. Then, he smelled a faint fragrance.

Yang Zheng had just said that these rooms always emit a fragrance that can quickly put people to sleep. Ma Nan believed this without a doubt, because he had already smelled the fragrance once and actually fallen asleep.

Now, the fragrance returned to the box. He now knew the box's purpose was to put them to sleep, and he knew something else was about to happen, but at this moment, he was powerless to stop it.

Yang Mei fell to the ground first, and Ma Nan swayed and also collapsed onto the edge of the bed.

The dream seemed distant, and Ma Nan walked endlessly within it. He vaguely felt he was rushing to an appointment, but didn't know who he was meeting. Finally, he saw a person's back, and he ran quickly to that person, only to find that it was none other than the deceased Ba Rong.

Baron said, “Child, everyone makes mistakes in their life. Sometimes you have to let those mistakes continue because once you make a mistake, you have no choice.”

Ma Nan listened in a daze, feeling that at that moment, Ba Rong suddenly grew taller, while he himself became a seven or eight-year-old child. Snowflakes began to fall from the sky, and some celestial sounds were drifting in from afar.

“If I could turn back time, I would never have chosen this identity for myself,” Barong continued.