Ази Хелл - Глава 8
"Just hide if you want, why are you getting angry and scaring me..."
Seeing that he had already left the room and was far away, she slowly went over and unlocked the door, but she didn't dare to take her eyes off him for a moment. Then she returned to the opposite side of him and looked at him.
He moved towards the door little by little:
"Let me go, I'm fine..."
His hand holding the knife was trembling violently. She knew she couldn't push him any further, or he might do something desperate. If he could just leave on his own, she'd be incredibly lucky!
He would take a step, then stop, to see her reaction.
"You can leave, I won't touch you."
She finally couldn't help but tell him.
He reached the doorway, stepped one foot over the threshold, and then the other foot stepped over the threshold as well, but then he suddenly turned around.
She was so frightened that she shrank back, not knowing what to do.
He stood at attention with his feet together, raised his right hand, and respectfully bowed to her.
"You're a true bro! You're a true bro! Thank you, thank you!"
He bent down and gently placed the knife inside the threshold with both hands. Only later did she realize that it was her family's fruit knife.
She was caught between laughter and tears.
Hearing his footsteps as he ran downstairs, she breathed a sigh of relief, tears welling up in her eyes. She hurriedly locked the door, clutched her chest, and collapsed onto the sofa. Her heart was pounding so hard she could barely move, and cold sweat streamed down her face. But as she listened, she wondered why he had only run two floors before stopping. Why hadn't he stopped running downstairs?
He was so terrified, she initially thought of letting it go, but then a question suddenly struck her, filling her with renewed fear: if he couldn't open the security door, how did he get in? Where did he come from? Besides, why did he only run up two floors and then stop? Could he still be hiding inside? Thinking about this, she felt a chill run down her spine. Should she not call the police?
She turned on all the lights in the room, making it brightly lit like a festive New Year's celebration. She was afraid of the dark, and then she had just suffered a fatal attack in the dark. She vowed never to sleep with the lights off again, and now just thinking about the darkness sent chills down her spine.
She took off her pajamas, put on her coat, and went to the bathroom to tidy herself up. Of course, she couldn't put on makeup anymore, otherwise what would she say to the police?
The police sirens blared downstairs at her apartment building within ten minutes of the 110 call being answered.
After repeated and careful questioning by the criminal police, she recalled that the incident must have happened after midnight. When she woke up, he was hitting his neck with both hands; in fact, she was woken up by him hitting her. Fortunately, he was unarmed; if he had been holding some tool and hitting her head, she would probably be dead already. He was thin and small, with a small head, wearing a black hood that revealed his small eyes. He wasn't even as tall as me; I'm 1.66 meters, and he was a head shorter than me, maybe around 1.60 meters at most. He was wearing an old suit, I think it was black or dark blue, probably about 70-80% new? It was quite clean, though.
Oh right, his hands weren't very big, and he was wearing white gloves, I think they were nylon white gloves, silvery-white? His pants looked like regular black pants.
She wanted to tell the police that his eyes were blood red in the dark, but if she were a policeman, she would think she was just confused from being frightened by him.
Yao Yulan went to the door and pointed to a white glove on the floor, saying, "This is the glove he got caught on the lock because he couldn't open the door." I was puzzled. I couldn't understand it at all. He couldn't open the security door, and he was so anxious that his hands were trembling as he begged me to open it for him. So how did he get in? Where did he come in from? She then pointed to a fruit knife on the floor and said, "It seems that he was in the living room before he attacked me. This is the fruit knife I left on the coffee table, and he put it in his pocket."
What shoes was he wearing?
It looked like rubber shoes, yes, rubber shoes! He was begging me to open the door for him, constantly pacing back and forth, quite nervous. He even said, "You dare call the police! I have two close friends downstairs, I can just shout and they'll come up and beat you up!" He was definitely a local, he spoke with a local accent.
The 110 call log reads:
At 1:00 AM on Sunday, June 15, 2003, we received a report that Yao Yulan, a resident of Room 605, Unit 3, Building 12, Xingfuli, Gujing District, said that a suspicious man broke into her home around midnight. Nothing was stolen and no one was harmed.
The man was approximately 1.60 meters tall, thin, wearing a black hood, white gloves, a blue or black suit, black trousers, and military-style rubber boots. He was carrying a stainless steel fruit knife from the victim's home. A white glove was left at the scene.
The next day, the Criminal Investigation Brigade of the Gujing District Public Security Bureau sent personnel to take a statement at the scene.
Exploration time: 13:00, Sunday, June 15, 2003
Investigation Unit: Criminal Investigation Brigade of Gujing District
Surveyors: Wang Liguo, Li Zhongxin
The incident occurred in apartment 605, unit 3, building 12, Xingfuli, Gujing District. The unit door lock was intact. The pull cord for the motion-activated light switch on the sixth-floor corridor was disconnected. The apartment consists of two large bedrooms and a living room; the two bedrooms face south, the living room faces north, and the balcony is located north of the living room. The balcony has an aluminum alloy window, and the floor is covered with white plastic linoleum flooring with two incomplete wavy footprints. On the same side, the fifth-floor balcony has an external awning, which also has two incomplete wavy footprints.
A white glove left behind by the suspect and two footprints on the linoleum floor were collected at the scene. A diagram of the scene was drawn, and photos of the indoor and outdoor areas of the scene were taken.
Later, in an interview with a television reporter, Wang Liguo said that at the time, we were not aware of the connection between the two cases of trespassing.
Rumor: Why is it said that those who survive a great calamity are destined for good fortune?
The next day, the neighbors learned of Yao Yulan's ordeal. Aunt Li, who lived in the same building, told Yao Yulan that she had seen the short man, wearing a black suit and riding an old bicycle, the kind her daughter rode. Around eight or nine o'clock that evening, she returned from playing mahjong and saw him standing in the yard, looking up at something. She thought he was some rural relative who might be lost and was about to ask if she could help him when he probably saw her and turned away, embarrassed.
Later, it was said that someone had seen the man at the entrance of the alley, pushing his cart into their courtyard, locking it opposite the third gate, and leaving. He later returned to unlock it and push the cart again.
Some people also said they had seen this man at the alley entrance more than once at night.
Yao Yulan exclaimed, "Oh my god! After hearing so many rumors, I was so scared I couldn't eat or sleep for days. The more I thought about it, the more terrified I became. It turns out this guy had been watching me all along! And for more than just a day or two! Why? Her mind was in turmoil. She even thought this didn't seem like a burglary or robbery; it could be murder! But she couldn't understand why anyone would hire such a stupid hitman to harm her. Maybe he just wanted to give her a warning, to scare her?"
With SARS outbreak, it's not bad to walk around every day on my way to and from get off work; I can see new things that I can't see when I'm on the bus.
That day, as she approached the main street at the alley entrance, she saw a thin, small waitress from a barbecue restaurant chasing away an old beggar. The tables were set up on the sidewalk, and the old man, carrying some tattered belongings, went from table to table begging. The waitress said to him, "You old geezer, you stinking bastard, are you trying to stop people from eating? Get out of here!" Yao Yulan thought the young girl was rude and spoke to him like that. But looking at the thin old beggar, his filthy, black face and hands were also quite annoying.
At this moment, a man stood up, picked up a bunch of grilled meat skewers from the table with both hands, handed them to the old man, and whispered, "Here, take these and find somewhere to eat."
The waitress immediately rushed to the man, pointing her finger at him and saying, "I don't care if you want to give it to him, but you have to go somewhere else! You're not allowed to give it here! This is a barbecue restaurant, a place to make our customers happy, not to feed beggars!" The man, blushing and speechless, left without uttering a sound. This incident surprised her; she hadn't expected the kind man to be so timid. She glanced at him a few more times, noticing his short stature and unremarkable appearance, thinking, "You can't judge a book by its cover." When she reached the alley entrance, this unremarkable man seemed to be staring at her from the opposite side, and she couldn't help but glance at him again.
Now, hearing what people were saying, she suddenly remembered that the man's build did resemble the thug who had attacked her, especially his suit. But weren't the two men worlds apart?
Having suspected that someone might already be watching her, Yao Yulan immediately checked all the important items in her house. Gold and silver jewelry, cash deposit slips, and documents were all there; nothing had been touched. This made her even more certain that the murderer was after her. But who could it be? And why?
After much thought, she couldn't help but think of that project. When she learned about the office system installation for that building, they were already close to signing the contract. She had managed to find the head of that unit, offer a hefty bribe of 100,000 yuan, and snatch the project from someone else. That swindled guy was ruthless; perhaps he hired someone to kill her? She remembered how happy she was after securing the project, but later she heard that the swindled guy had almost gone bankrupt, and he often had nightmares of masked men chasing her with knives, leaving her drenched in sweat and utterly distraught. Having considered this possibility, she immediately packed up her important and valuable belongings and quietly hid in her luxurious apartment in the Imperial Garden.
While packing up her valuables, Yao Yulan also took out something extremely worthless. If she threw it on the street, probably no one would pick it up. However, when she was alone and bored, she couldn't help but take out this most worthless thing again and again, looking at it endlessly.
It was a photograph, a family photo taken three years ago, showing her with her husband and their daughter.
It's safe to say the photo was taken with a cheap point-and-shoot camera; the focus was off, and the portrait is blurry.
If she hadn't been packing her things, she wouldn't have remembered this photo; she had long forgotten about it.
She picked it up by chance and couldn't put it down. They had taken such beautiful photos together, how come she had never noticed? As she looked at them, her eyes blurred, and she couldn't help but want to cry.