Blutiger Handabdruck

Kapitel 11

8:30?

Xu Haicheng's heart skipped a beat. Between 8:00 and 8:30, he had been calling him repeatedly, but he hadn't answered. Then Xu Haicheng smashed up the jewelry store. This was definitely not a coincidence. Xu San was always timid and cowardly, relying on his agility to steal small-time thieves. For him to go on a robbery alone was neither in line with his personality nor reasonable.

Then, remembering how he had begged her to lock him up in the police station that day, she suddenly realized that his purpose in doing so was to be locked up. Being locked up in the police station would certainly be much safer than his dilapidated house; something else must have happened that terrified him, for he would risk imprisonment to be put in the station.

Xu Haicheng deeply regretted why he hadn't answered the phone last night.

Back at the station, he went straight to the crime scene, the detention and interrogation room of the detention center.

According to Pan Xiaolu, Xu San looked very panicked when she gave her statement yesterday. She said she didn't intend to rob anyone, but only accidentally broke the display window. The police officer in charge had been working overtime for several days and didn't have the energy to argue with her, so he gave her a pen and some paper and told her to reflect on her actions. Unexpectedly, she found him dead inside this morning.

Pan Xiaolu was already waiting at the door of the interrogation room. When she saw him salute sharply, her gaze fell on the back of his hand, which was covered with blood scabs, and she was slightly surprised.

Xu Haicheng took the gloves she handed him and went inside. Two other police officers from the Criminal Investigation Division were collecting evidence at the scene. They greeted him politely before returning to their work.

The detention and interrogation room was very small, no more than ten square meters. There was a small bed against the wall, a table across the middle, and two stools on either side. Xu San lay between the bed and the table, barefoot, his big toe peeking out from a hole in his sock, a deathly pale blue.

Xu Haicheng had known him for several years, and although they weren't exactly close, there was some affection between them. He couldn't help but feel a little saddened. As he approached the corpse for a closer look, his expression changed. He had seen many corpses and countless strange expressions on the dead, but this was the first time he had ever seen such a distorted face.

Xu San's lips were crooked and an unsightly purple; his eyes seemed about to burst from their sockets, with slight bloodshot retinas; at first glance, it looked as if a powerful external force had crumpled his entire face. This face, these eyes, this frozen expression of death, even every pore seemed to tell the story of the fear its owner felt at the moment of death.

What exactly happened to Xu San at the moment of his death?

Xu San could no longer answer this question. His hand was gripping the blanket tightly with fear, and he had pulled most of the blanket off the bed. His shoes were neatly placed under the bed. Clearly, before he died, he had fallen asleep fully clothed and was disturbed when he got up, without even having time to put on his shoes.

Thinking of that blushing child from over a decade ago now a cold corpse, Xu Haicheng felt a slight pang of emotion. But the worst thing a detective can do is let emotions cloud their judgment, so the emotion quickly passed, and his attention returned to the case. "Did the forensic doctor say what the cause of death was?"

"The preliminary diagnosis is a myocardial infarction, but the exact diagnosis will only be known after an autopsy," Pan Xiaolu added. "Because you were coming to see it, it was specially preserved and will be sent for autopsy shortly."

"What was the time of death?"

"It was around midnight last night."

"Did the person on duty hear anything?"

Pan Xiaolu shook her head.

Xu Haicheng frowned deeply. Could it be that Xu San had a hidden illness? But even if he did, his expression wouldn't have been so distorted when he died. If it wasn't a hidden illness, then how did he die?

Looking around, the cramped interrogation room was clearly visible. A small window opened high, revealing the pale gray sky outside. The door had a viewing window covered by barbed wire. A ballpoint pen lay quietly in the corner, and a small turtle had been drawn on the wall by some suspect. In this tiny space, there was nothing suspicious about it.

Part One, Section 23: Chapter Four, Part One of the Abiding Tribulations (7)

"What about his confession?" Xu Haicheng recalled that the police officer in charge had given him a pen and a piece of paper.

"Here it is." Pan Xiaolu handed him the bag containing the evidence she had given.

Xu San's handwriting, like his personality, was thin and withered, resembling tiny ants on the white paper. Xu Haicheng pulled it out and read it carefully. Xu San's tone was extremely humble, saying that he had accidentally broken the display window while passing by the jewelry store and had absolutely no intention of robbery. He then went on to say that he had now reformed and begged for leniency, willing to accept administrative detention. It seemed his plan was simply to hide in the detention center for a while. Xu Haicheng thought to himself, "Is he hiding from that country bumpkin father and daughter?"

At the end of the explanation, there was Xu San's solemn signature: Xu Zhaoqing.

So this was his real name. Xu Haicheng thought to himself, he had known him for over ten years, and only today did he learn that his name was Xu Zhaoqing. He guessed that after his grandmother died, no one had ever called him by his real name. He handed the document back to Pan Xiaolu, looked down at Xu San's body, and felt a slight sadness in his heart. A person whose original name had been forgotten had now finally disappeared completely from this world.

Her gaze fell upon a purple mark on Xu San's neck. She quickly crouched down and gently pulled back the collar of Xu San's coat, revealing the mark—a bite mark. "Xiao Lu, what do you think of this bite mark?"

Pan Xiaolu was stunned for a moment, looking at Xu Haicheng with a bit of embarrassment. She had noticed the teeth mark a long time ago. Its location was unusual, and she guessed that it was left by Xu San when he was having sex with a woman.

Xu Haicheng looked up and saw her expression, understanding what she was thinking. He beckoned her to come closer for a better look. "Don't you think this tooth mark is strange?"

The teeth mark was a deep purple, very clear, and oval-shaped, indicating that the person who bit down had their mouth wide open and bit down hard, not the gentle, affectionate nibbling between a man and a woman. Pan Xiaolu noticed this too and said, "It's quite strange."

"Can you guess when this tooth mark was left?"

Pan Xiaolu was startled again, looking at Xu Haicheng with a strange expression, wondering if he had damaged his brain the night before. Xu San had been arrested and taken to the station at eight o'clock last night, so the teeth mark was naturally from before. Xu Haicheng seemed to know what she was thinking and said, "You guessed wrong. If it was left before he was arrested, it should have recovered somewhat, and the teeth mark wouldn't be so clear."

"When was that left behind?"

Xu Haicheng pondered for a moment and said, "It was left by him before he died. Not long after he bit Xu San, he died. His blood congealed and his muscles stiffened, which is why the tooth mark turned blackish-purple and clearly preserved the shape of the teeth."

Pan Xiaolu could hardly believe her ears. After a moment, making sure she hadn't misheard, she asked, "You mean, someone came here last night and bit Xu San?"

"It's incredible, I thought so too. But based on the analysis of the teeth marks, that's exactly what happened."

"But last night, the duty room didn't see any outsiders enter, and there were no strangers' footprints in the room."

Xu Haicheng frowned and said, "This tooth mark couldn't have just appeared out of thin air, could it?"

"It grew out of thin air." Pan Xiaolu repeated these words, then suddenly realized something, and her expression changed slightly.

However, Xu Haicheng didn't notice. He raised his wrist and bit down hard, then looked closely. Each tooth was clearly visible, the teeth marks initially white, then dark red... Every hour, he checked on it, and by evening the teeth marks had faded and become almost invisible. The skin's self-healing ability was so rapid; the teeth marks on Xu San's neck were indeed of a strange origin.

Note ○2: This is a real case. After the deceased smashed the urn containing the ashes, he began to suffer a mental breakdown and ultimately committed suicide. The manner of his death and the suicide scene were extremely gruesome; even veteran detectives accustomed to seeing brain matter were uneasy and initially believed it to be homicide. Further details are omitted as they are irrelevant to the main point of this article.

Note ○3: The lines spoken by Zi Ling in the TV series "Another Dream" were voted by netizens as the most "dizzying" lines of 2007 because she said more than ten times in one breath.

Section 24: Chapter Five, Part Two of the Abiding Calamity (1)

Chapter Five: The Second Part of the Calamity

I always thought I was fearless, even during that near-death experience at Julong Cave. But later, as I relived the near-death experience in my nightmares every night, I realized that the deepest fear is one that you can't feel at all, yet it's already ingrained in your very bones… (Excerpt from "Police Detective's Diary")

Leaving the interrogation room, Xu Haicheng walked around the area. The detention center was on the first floor, backed by a tall outer wall, beyond which were low-rise residential buildings. Nothing seemed amiss. He then carefully questioned the police officer on duty the previous night, as well as the suspect detained in the next room. Just as Pan Xiaolu had said, no one had heard any noise, and no unauthorized personnel had entered the interrogation room. He wasn't surprised by this answer; after all, this was a police station under the jurisdiction of the Public Security Bureau, heavily guarded. It was precisely because of this that Xu San's sudden death seemed exceptionally strange.

Then he and Pan Xiaolu went to the jewelry store that had been vandalized the day before. The shop assistants had different opinions, but they all agreed that Xu San looked terrified when he arrived at the jewelry store. After looking around for a while, he suddenly smashed the window. When the shop assistants grabbed him, he didn't resist and even seemed to secretly breathe a sigh of relief.

The shop assistant's statement corroborated Xu Haicheng's judgment: Xu San did it on purpose, but he didn't expect that even the detention center couldn't save his life.

Then he and Pan Xiaolu went to Xu San's simple home, which was just as cold and lifeless as the place they had visited a couple of days before. Xu Haicheng's phone number was still on the table. The two looked it over but found no valuable evidence, so they returned to the Criminal Investigation Team.