Ba ethnic group's bewitching charm - the executioner - Chapter 45
Manan was racking his brains, but he still couldn't find answers to these questions. Now, what he wanted to know more about was the purpose of the Ba people bringing him here. And what about the others? They certainly had nothing to do with the Ba people's deaths, and they wouldn't know the whereabouts of the Ba people's sacred object. So why did the Ba people capture them?
As he thought about it, Ma Nan's head started to ache, so he simply lay down on the bed and closed his eyes.
Just then, he suddenly caught a faint whiff of a strange fragrance.
“I’m going to kill him,” Yang Zheng said to Yang Mei.
Yang Mei remained motionless in Yang Zheng's arms for a long time. Upon hearing Yang Zheng's words, her body seemed to stiffen slightly, but she still kept her head resting on Yang Zheng's chest and said nothing.
Did she also hate that household registration police officer in her heart, just like Yang Zheng, wishing he would die immediately?
“I have to find a way to get you out of here,” Yang Zheng continued, cupping Yang Mei’s face in his hands. He saw that her face was once again filled with sorrow. His heart ached; he felt he had truly wronged her. If Yang Mei hadn’t come to take the photos that time, if she hadn’t stayed to be his makeup artist, she certainly wouldn’t be in this predicament now.
"I must take you away from here," he whispered in Yangmei's ear.
Yang Mei's response was to hug him even tighter and curl up as much as possible, as if she wanted to merge her whole being into his body.
Yang Zheng closed his eyes, knowing that from this moment on, he had shouldered a responsibility.
Suddenly, he thought of something, and abruptly pushed Yang Mei away. In the girl's astonished gaze, he jumped off the bed, faced the corner of the wall, and shouted, "As long as you let her go, I'll do anything you ask."
Yang Mei followed his gaze and saw the hidden camera in the corner of the wall.
"I can die, I can kill for you, as long as you promise me you will never hurt her."
"Yang Zheng!" Yang Mei's eyes were already filled with tears. She rushed over and hugged Yang Zheng again, feeling the man's body trembling. In fact, at this moment, he needed her support to stand up.
At that moment, her heart suddenly trembled for no apparent reason.
She couldn't help but pull the man into her arms, gently patting his back. The man gradually calmed down, and his breathing became steady. But Yang Mei suddenly felt something was wrong; Yang Zheng's body in her arms was getting heavier and heavier, and finally, she couldn't hold him anymore, and the two of them fell to the ground together.
Yang Zheng remained motionless.
Yang Mei was startled. She had just called out Yang Zheng's name when suddenly, that familiar, faint fragrance wafted over again. Then Yang Mei realized that Yang Zheng wasn't unconscious, but simply asleep. As for why he had fallen asleep before her, it was probably because Yang Mei had just cried and had a stuffy nose.
When Yang Mei realized this, she slowly collapsed and lay down next to Yang Zheng.
Perhaps she had slept for a long time, or perhaps it had only been a short while, when Yang Mei was suddenly awakened by a light tapping sound. She opened her eyes and saw that Yang Zheng was still fast asleep, in the same position as before.
I turned over and sat up, feeling that my body had become ice-cold.
The knocking continued, coming from the doorway, and the sound grew increasingly urgent.
Yang Mei was a little scared. She went forward and picked up Yang Zheng, calling his name loudly and patting his shoulder hard. After a while, Yang Zheng slowly opened his eyes. He first saw Yang Mei's panic, then heard the urgent knocking on the door. He frowned, quickly stood up, walked step by step to the door, took a breath, prepared himself, and suddenly pulled the door open.
Outside the door stood Liu Hongzhong, looking utterly panicked.
"What is it?" Yang Zheng demanded sharply.
“Something’s happened, someone else has died,” Liu Hongzhong said, his voice trembling with tears.
Yang Zheng was taken aback. Although he had witnessed so many deaths in just one or two days, he still felt tense when new deaths occurred.
He grabbed Yang Mei and followed Liu Hongzhong, running towards one side of the corridor.
From afar, Yang Zheng saw Ma Nan and the household registration policeman standing by a door, and he subconsciously slowed his pace. At this moment, the household registration policeman turned his head, his gaze sweeping over Yang Zheng and staring intently at Yang Mei beside him.
Yang Mei hid behind Yang Zheng, whose fists were clenched and whose steps became increasingly heavy.
Ma Nan suddenly stepped in front of the household registration police officer, blocking their hostile gazes.
Yang Zheng walked to the door, glanced inside, and immediately turned around, pulling Yang Mei aside.
He had seen dead people and had killed others himself, but the scene in the room still made him feel terrified, and a surge of power rose up in his chest and rushed to his throat.
The person who died this time was Zhao Sihai, whose face was covered in scars.
Unlike the other victims, Zhao Sihai was not tied to a chair. In fact, there wasn't even a chair in the room; Zhao Sihai lay stiffly on the floor, his two lower legs cleanly severed.
After his leg was cut off, he obviously crawled on the ground for a distance, so there were two bloody streaks that stretched two or three meters backward from his severed leg before forming a large pool of blood.
Zhao Sihai's eyes were still wide open, his face contorted into a hideous grimace. His right arm was outstretched, his index finger raised, as if trying to tell others who had killed him.
Chapter 28
The computer in Xu Wen's home had Tencent's QQ installed. In the installation folder, four QQ numbers that had previously logged in using that machine could be found. Normally, one would need to log in to view the chat history, and logging in requires a password. However, experts could bypass the login step because all the chat history was stored in a database file. By using other software to open that file, the chat history could be viewed. Furthermore, even if you're not an expert, you can download specialized tools online to access the chat history offline.
Some very valuable clues were obtained from the chat history of one of the numbers.
In the chat history of that number, a group was found called the "Killer Group." The group contained over 20 numbers, and based on the chat content, it was determined that most of these individuals suffered from mental illnesses. They exchanged information about their self-harm and abusive behaviors towards others. More importantly, the detective had also appeared in this group over two weeks prior.
The detective only said a few words in the group chat, but they were crucial. He said he had some big plans for the coming days, so he needed some helpers, and anyone interested could contact him privately.
Looking at the date, it was the day after the first video recording circulated online.
In addition, the owner of the number had private conversations with many people in the group, and the content was roughly the same, all about other people arranging to go to a place to take photos with him.
Most importantly, there's the chat history between the account holder and someone with the online name "Mantis." It shows that Mantis is a photographer, and the account holder was the one who brought people to his location to take photos. Furthermore, in recent chat logs, the account holder repeatedly asked Mantis if he had contacted the detective, expressing a desire to become the detective's assistant.
The owner of the phone number is Luo Bin, the boyfriend of the deceased Xu Wen. The two had been living together for over three years. After Xu Wen's death, Luo Bin also disappeared, and now he is considered a prime suspect.
However, in the afternoon, the newspaper delivered two discs, both sent by the detective to a reporter. Everyone had already seen the contents of the first disc; the crucial one was the second. It also recorded the murders of two people, one of whom was Xu Wen. After the other man was killed, the masked detective actually removed his own mask and took off the black cloth bag covering the victim's face. The victim's face was magnified and, after processing, confirmed to be Luo Bin—many photos of the two of them together were found in Xu Wen's home.
When Qin Ge returned to the criminal investigation team, he first listened to the technical staff explain the situation. Then, while watching the second disc sent by the newspaper, he and He Lan almost simultaneously discovered that they had seen the masked man who killed Luo Bin before.
He is Yang Zheng, the owner of a photography studio in a back alley. He once provided information about Xu Li to a household registration officer at the local police station.
Qin Ge immediately led his team to the back streets and alleys, notifying the local police station along the way and instructing them to go to Yang Zheng's residence as soon as possible and monitor the area. Half an hour later, Qin Ge arrived with the criminal investigation team and rushed into the old house, only to find it empty. After a thorough search, they found no valuable clues and, in the end, could only bring Yang Zheng's laptop back and hand it over to the technical department to see if they could find anything.