Bright red blood seeped out from the gauze!
"Woo woo woo," Huo Hu howled like a mad dog, biting his pillow desperately to suppress the sound. After finally venting his anger, Huo Hu growled in a low voice, "No, this can't go on! Where's the medicine? Where's the medicine?!"
Then he glanced at the computer screen again, and then frantically pulled at his hair, panting like a wounded beast, and growled, "I'm going to kill her, I'm going to kill her! They look so alike, why do they look so alike?!"
On the computer screen, a girl's photo kept changing, sometimes bright and lovely, sometimes with a radiant smile, sometimes innocent and cute, sometimes full of youthful vigor... It was Gao Xiaojie!
These photos were taken during her interviews!
On the desktop, there was also an open, password-protected Word document containing the following text:
December 24th, Christmas Eve.
I messed up. I searched for ages and finally spotted her working at the cake shop on the pedestrian street—it was truly the best opportunity God could give me! I kept watching her, but she stayed in the bustling city center, so I didn't have a chance to make my move. I finally saw her walk to a secluded alleyway, but then I realized she was wearing something around her neck…”
"I'm injured, but I won't give up! Because they're so alike! And their names all contain the character '节' (jie)!"
On the phone screen that Huo Hu had slammed to the side was a photo of him and a girl. She was a very pure and petite girl from Jiangnan, smiling brightly. Her eyebrows and eyes bore a slight resemblance to Gao Xiaojie's. It was only a resemblance; that cuteness, that carefree spirit, were exactly the same.
If the police saw this photo at that moment, they would be shocked, because this girl was the first victim, and the only girl, to die tragically at the hands of the man who slit her throat on November 10th.
Her name is Bai Jie!
Chapter 80 Infiltration
Chen Xu contacted an old friend of his, the one who loved playing games so much that he even learned Japanese specifically to play Final Fantasy. This guy's name was also quite funny, Wu Yu, so everyone usually found him rather ridiculous.
Wu Yu and Chen Xu were childhood friends. When it came time for college entrance exams, Wu Yu happened to get into the University of Technology, so Chen Xu immediately thought of him.
When Wu Yu saw Chen Xu, he was so happy he almost lost his teeth. He said, "You heartless bastard! I've been waiting day and night for you to treat me to a meal. Now my wish has finally come true."
Chen Xu was completely baffled and said, "Damn it, haven't you been freeloading off me enough? Why are you being so eager this time? You're being a little too eager."
Wu Yu proudly pulled out a newspaper and said, "Don't try to fool me this time. If you're going to treat me, you'll have to go for something classy. Your dad's awesome, he sold a rabies killer for over a billion dollars. Didn't you get a raise?" Then he pulled out another newspaper and said, "And another thing, you're pretty awesome too. You got in the newspaper without a word, and you even make games! To be honest, I played that Jin Yong Heroes game you made. I stayed up for three days and three nights to beat it. It was really awesome!"
Seeing him pull out so many newspapers, Chen Xu was even more speechless and said, "Are you carrying these around to show off to everyone you meet?"
Wu Yu wasn't embarrassed at all. Instead, he raised his eyebrows proudly and said, "Of course! My brother is successful, so I benefit from it too!"
Chen Xu broke out in a cold sweat and said, "I can treat you to dinner, you can choose the place. But you have to do me a favor."
"Okay! Tell me!"
"Do you know a math teacher at your school named Huo Hu? He's very young."
"Yes, I know him!" Wu Yu laughed upon hearing this, saying, "He's the professor who teaches our advanced mathematics course! How do you know him?"
Chen Xu chuckled and said, "I've heard of him. I've heard he's a good teacher, and I'd like to get to know him."
Wu Yu, unsuspecting, laughed and said, "So Professor Huo Hu's name has spread all over your area? Hehe, let me tell you, Professor Huo Hu's lectures are truly exceptional. I've always been bad at science. You know, math class is a nightmare for me. But I can listen to his lectures with great interest, and basically we're not afraid of him proctoring exams, hehe, we won't fail."
Listening to Wu Yu's words, Chen Xu felt increasingly puzzled. What was going on? Had he really made a mistake?
So Chen Xu thought for a moment and then asked, "Is Professor Huo Hu here now?"
"He's not here!" Wu Yu shrugged. "Look at the time. It's 2:30, right when classes are in session. If he were here, would I be able to pick you up? Professor Huo Hu is teaching this afternoon, but he said he's on sick leave. We were planning to go see him."
"Are you taking sick leave?" Chen Xu immediately thought of the incident where he smashed the head of the man who slit the throat, so he said, "Do you know where Professor Huo Hu lives? Why don't you take me there now? I have something urgent to discuss with him."
Even someone as oblivious as Wu Yu would find this strange. He said, "Something's not right with you today. Why did you immediately say you wanted to see Teacher Huo Hu, and in such a hurry? What are you trying to do?"
Chen Xu said I had an urgent matter. Don't ask so many questions. Just one question: Are you taking me with you?
Wu Yu thought for a moment and said, "If you have eight chicken legs at the cafeteria, I'll take you there!"
Chen Xu said, "Go to hell! I'll buy eighty chicken legs and stuff you to death!"
However, when Chen Xu and Wu Yu arrived at the apartment building, Chen Xu suddenly stopped. Wu Yu asked in surprise, "Why did you stop again? Professor Huo Hu is upstairs. Didn't you have something urgent to attend to?"
Chen Xu thought about it and felt it was very inappropriate, because the man who slit his throat had seen what he looked like!
When he hit the man with the rock, the man glanced back at him. That glance was etched into his memory. If he had just gone up to him, and if this Huo Hu really was the man who cut the throat, then he probably would have attacked him on the spot!
Although he had some training, Wu Yu was right next to him, and Chen Xu understood the principle of avoiding dangerous situations. Encountering such a freak, he couldn't guarantee he could escape unscathed.
Chen Xu's original plan was to call the police after confirming that it was this guy, because if it really was him, the blood on the stone would be irrefutable evidence. But if it wasn't him, then he would not only have to bear the charge of disrupting official business, but more importantly, his identity might be exposed.
After considering it carefully, Chen Xu said, "Why don't you go up and check on him for me first? Don't say I asked you to do it, just say you're going to visit him. Don't mention me at all, remember that! Also, make sure to check if there's any injury to the back of his head."
Upon hearing this, Wu Yu said, "Why are you acting so strangely today? What are you trying to do?"
Chen Xu replied directly, "Eighty chicken legs. Now don't ask me anything!"
Wu Yu and Chen Xu had grown up together, and this was the first time he had seen Chen Xu so serious. After thinking for a moment, Wu Yu nodded and said okay. Then he added, "But you have to let me know what's going on later."
Chen Xu nodded, and Wu Yu scurried upstairs. Chen Xu found a secluded spot near the flower bushes below and hid there. His heart skipped a beat, so he lit a cigarette, and the nicotine helped calm him down.
Before he could even finish half a cigarette, Wu Yu came downstairs. He looked puzzled and said, "That's strange. Professor Huo Hu isn't home. He clearly took sick leave. Is he in the hospital? I can't get through to him on his phone."
"Not here?!"
"Yes! I banged on the door loudly, but no one answered. Finally, I knocked on the door until the neighbors came out. They said that Professor Huo Hu had gone out at noon."
"He went out?" Chen Xu had a sudden thought and said, "Since that's the case, then forget it. Which room will he stay in?"
Seeing Wu Yu point to the room on the left on the fourth floor, Chen Xu said, "I'll come next time. I have something to do, so I'll leave now." Without saying another word, he hailed a taxi and drove off, leaving Wu Yu hopping mad with anger.
After catching Wu Yu and leaving, the taxi circled back. Chen Xu looked around furtively to make sure Wu Yu was gone, then ran like a thief to Huo Hu's room. He knocked lightly on the door, but when he pressed his ear against it, he heard nothing.
Chen Xu glanced left and right and, finding no one around, secretly took out a piece of wire...
During the simulated training, the one-eyed instructor had taught him some essential knowledge for special forces soldiers, such as lock picking, identifying which herbs are poisonous, and first aid for injuries. He never expected to actually use it today.
Chen Xu could only pick simple locks like this one; he couldn't handle the kind of security doors with eight mortises. Luckily, the buildings in Huo Hu's neighborhood were quite old. The door was just a very ordinary wooden door with a common lock. Chen Xu easily opened it in a few moves.
Gently pushing open the door, Chen Xu, like a thief... well, he really was a thief... Chen Xu lay prone on the floor, carefully closing the door. But the hinges of this old-fashioned door were rusted, and when he closed it, it suddenly creaked open. Startled, Chen Xu darted to the doorway, half his body outside and half inside. But after a long while, hearing no movement from inside, Chen Xu mustered his courage and went back in, peeking into the bedroom. Huh, there really was no one there!
Chen Xu carefully closed and locked the door, then looked again and, sure enough, no one was there.
This is a one-bedroom, one-living room, one-kitchen, and one-bathroom apartment. The house is quite old, and the decoration is simple. The room is quite damp, and although the balcony faces south, it is blocked by trees outside and doesn't get any sunlight, making it look quite gloomy.
The living room and kitchen were tidy up quite well, with the dishes and chopsticks neatly arranged and the living room floor spotless, but the bedroom felt completely different.
The bed was disheveled. There were also traces of blood on the pillowcases. The nearby trash can contained fallen black hair and bloodstained gauze, which made Chen Xu even more suspicious. However, the items on the table were relatively tidy. A computer sat there, clean of dust, suggesting it was frequently used.
On a whim, Chen Xu turned on the computer, hoping to find something inside.
The computer only takes two minutes to boot up, but those two minutes felt incredibly long to Chen Xu. No wonder there's a joke that goes like this: the longest time in the world isn't twenty years under Leifeng Pagoda, nor fifty years under Five Finger Mountain, but two minutes waiting for the computer to boot up…
Chen Xu waited those two minutes with bated breath, constantly listening for any sounds outside, wondering if anyone would open the door. Mainly because he had nothing to do, he naturally kept overthinking.
Two uneventful minutes passed, and the system finally finished running. The computer booted up relatively quickly, without any junk software running at the same time, such as Xunlei or QQ, which are programs that start automatically by default during installation but are actually useless.
Judging from this, this guy shouldn't be a complete novice in electronics. Just as Chen Xu was about to turn on his computer to look for something, a software suddenly popped up... "Snow Fox Desktop Wizard".
This software is nothing special, as it's just a system beautification tool that allows you to place alarm clocks, decorative patterns, photo albums, and so on on your desktop. Chen Xu had used it before.
However, the photo album that popped up along with the software immediately changed Chen Xu's expression!
Because the girl in the photo album is Gao Xiaojie!
Chen Xu quickly located the album's directory, and upon opening it, found dozens of pictures, all of them of Gao Xiaojie! They were all photos taken during her interviews!
Chen Xu slammed his fist down hard: "It really was him! He's the throat-slitting man!"
Chapter 81 Sudden Music
The computer was filled with photos of a girl. Nine out of ten people who saw this would assume the computer's owner really liked the girl. But Chen Xu, combining all the speculations, understood at that moment why the man who slit the throat attacked Gao Xiaojie instead of Guan Yi… because his target was Gao Xiaojie!
Thinking of this, Chen Xu broke out in a cold sweat! If he hadn't gone to the pedestrian street with Guan Yi that day, if they hadn't met Gao Xiaojie, if Guan Yi hadn't taken a few so-called neck braces just for fun and given one to Gao Xiaojie... If any of these "ifs" hadn't happened, then there's a 90% chance that Gao Xiaojie would already be a beautiful corpse by now.
Because this throat-slitting man wasn't chosen randomly at all; he specifically targeted Gao Xiaojie! Although it's unclear whether the previous five victims were also targeted, Gao Xiaojie definitely was!
Chen Xu had Xiao Min check the bloodstains in the trash can again, and sure enough, it was still Huo Hu. Inside the wardrobe, Chen Xu also saw the red down jacket that the man who slit the throat wore yesterday. This down jacket had obviously been modified; there was cardboard inside to make the jacket look bigger than it actually was.
Now it's absolutely certain! As long as he sees him in person again, as long as he sees the scar on the back of his head, Chen Xu can immediately call the police and have this guy arrested!
"Hmm, the reward is 30,000 yuan!" Chen Xu continued flipping through his computer files. He wanted to see if there was any more concrete evidence. After a quick search, he found quite a few violent movies and a few pornographic films. Clicking on them, even Chen Xu, who had watched porn since childhood, found it hard to handle… Absolutely extreme SM! Violent and abusive!
There were also some games: a Counter-Strike game, a Vice City game, and a Beach Head game. They all seemed to be shooting games, or games that involved shooting. Chen Xu quickly checked the download timestamps and discovered that they were all downloaded at the end of October this year!
Games, so many violent movies and porn, plus the identity of the throat-slitting man. Chen Xu basically concluded that this guy was mentally unstable, definitely a pervert! And maybe he only started becoming a pervert at the end of October!
The situation deteriorated at the end of October. The first girl was victimized on November 10th... If Chen Xu hadn't been in contact with her during this time, he could have easily ripped her head off and used it as a football.
Chen Xu carefully searched each drive one by one. He gave up on the C drive for the time being because it had too many files, and the other drives contained nothing but games.
"If we keep searching like this, we won't find anything even by dark." Chen Xu felt that no one should have written evidence of his crime on a computer; it would be too easy to expose him.
Thinking about this, Chen Xu considered leaving, but then he reconsidered and pulled out a data cable from Xiao Min, connecting it to the computer and copying all the files inside... Xiao Min's hard drive was large, and this data cable had a fast transfer speed of 500MB per second. It would only take about five minutes to steal all the files from the computer. Then he would have Xiao Min analyze the information in all the files using binary code to see if there was any hidden evidence.
Binary code involves directly reading the original machine code of a file to analyze its contents. When Chen Xu used to hide things on his father's computer, he would rename single files to resemble system files, such as the image cache file Thumbs.d in the image folder. Outsiders wouldn't notice the filename, making it a very effective method for hiding files.
Chen Xu figured that maybe this guy's computer also had some kind of method for hiding files, so he figured he'd analyze it and see.
Five minutes felt like an eternity, and Chen Xu was nervous, so he wanted another cigarette. But he didn't dare smoke there, so he put Xiaomin on the table and let her copy the documents herself, then slipped out to the balcony, closed the door, and lit a cigarette.
Just as Chen Xu lit his cigarette, he suddenly heard the sound of a door opening outside, which really scared him to death!
Hohu is back?!
Chen Xu peeked through the crack in the door and saw a figure. He was so frightened that he immediately closed the door and dared not look any further. He lamented to himself, "Why am I so unlucky?" The thought that the computer was still on and Xiao Min was still connected to it made Chen Xu even more terrified. He wondered if he should just rush out and fight that guy!
The person who entered was Huo Hu. However, his eyes were bloodshot and he looked absent-minded. Although he saw that the computer was on, he was only stunned for a moment, assuming that he hadn't turned it off before, and didn't suspect that someone had entered his room at all.
It wasn't that Hohu lacked a sense of crisis, but rather that his mind was in such a state of confusion that he had no time to think about what had happened before. Moreover, Hohu was quite certain that it was impossible for anyone to know his identity and sneak into his room to investigate.
As for why he didn't see Xiaomin's watch on the table, it was partly because Huo Hu hadn't noticed it. Secondly, Chen Xu's usual habit was to plug the USB ports into the back of the computer, so Xiaomin's watch was placed behind the computer case and blocked from view by Huo Hu!
As a result, Huo Hu didn't notice anyone inside the house at all; he collapsed onto the pillow and buried his face in it. Chen Xu, on the balcony, was so anxious he was about to pee himself, but he really didn't dare to rush in.
It's not that Chen Xu was cowardly; most ordinary people are like that. Although Chen Xu had trained in virtual training for a long time, this was his first time actually fighting someone in real life, especially when he was well-prepared. It was certain that he was nervous and apprehensive, and it was also certain that he wanted to go up but didn't dare to... He hadn't been pushed to the brink!
Chen Xu hid on the balcony, barely daring to breathe or move, afraid of making even the slightest sound to attract the creature's attention. After a while, however, he suddenly heard a wild, beast-like howl coming from inside the house. Although the sound was very low, Chen Xu, pressed against the door, heard it clearly.
This is a very old-fashioned house. Although the bedroom faces south, instead of the large floor-to-ceiling windows that are popular now, there is a wall facing the balcony. There is an old-fashioned window on the wall, but it is always closed. There are also curtains. When the curtains are drawn and the door is closed, the house is really dark, and you can't tell day from night.
So Huo Hu didn't even realize there was someone outside. He kept rolling around on the bed, and the noise made Chen Xu, who was outside the door, pound his heart in his chest. He had no idea what this pervert was doing in the room.
Just then, a very soothing and low-pitched piece of music started playing.