Ази Хелл - Глава 32
Tingting looked at her with teary eyes. It's been two or three days, and there's still no sign of my mom. My grandparents are going crazy with worry!
After a while, Tingting said, "Please, Aunt He, come with me to check on my mom's room. I'm afraid of the dark by myself."
He Fangmei took Tingting's hand and walked to Sister Chen's door. She took the key from Tingting, inserted it into the lock and turned it twice. She gently pushed the door open and reached for the light switch by the door, but smelled a strange odor. She was startled and sniffed carefully. It really did smell strange. In her haste, she turned on the light. She saw that the small living room was clean and tidy as usual. There were only a few pairs of slippers inside the door and a pair of large slippers on the threshold, as if someone had taken them off when they left.
She took off her leather shoes and put on slippers. Tingting also changed into slippers and followed behind her to look at the bedroom.
He Fangmei coughed loudly twice, then slowly pushed open the door. She glanced at the door and immediately turned back to say that everything was fine. Not feeling reassured, she looked back again before closing the door and pushing Tingting out.
Tingting said, "What's wrong, Aunt He? You have to let me see!"
Without saying a word, He Fangmei pushed Tingting forcefully and ran out. Once inside her room, she released Tingting and knelt on the ground, vomiting and crying loudly.
Tingting was also frightened and cried, asking Aunt He, "What happened to my mom? What happened to my mom?"
He Fangmei kept saying "your mother, her, your mother, her," but in the end she didn't say anything and collapsed to the ground unconscious.
The cries of the two women alerted the neighbors. It was already a very sensitive time, and with people returning home from get off work, the building was bustling with activity. Even the slightest disturbance could cause panic, let alone cries coming from the top floor. The neighbors rushed over and saw the doors of two apartments on the sixth floor wide open. Their hearts sank. They then saw Tingting kneeling and crying in He Fangmei's apartment. How could they not suspect what had happened?
When He Fangmei woke up, she saw her neighbors and cried even more bitterly, pointing at the door across the hall, unable to speak.
Perhaps because they'd been through so much lately, the people there had become more aware of the crime scene. One of the men invited another into the Chen family's house. As soon as they opened the bedroom door, even the two men couldn't help but take two steps back. They dared not look any longer, hurriedly retreating and closing the door, saying, "We can't disturb the scene! Let's call the police!" The other said, "No wonder the hallway light wasn't working yesterday!"
Wang Liguo received a call from the city bureau's command center, saying that another woman had been murdered in apartment 602, unit 1, building 99 in Gujingli. He was furious and rushed to the scene immediately.
He stood at the entrance with his flashlight, hesitant to enter the building, because the building's door was an electronic intercom security door, a thick steel plate door with a triple-lock security lock. Entering the building directly through this door wasn't impossible, but he would need to know how to pick locks, which most people probably couldn't do. If the murderer also knew how to pick this type of security door, the case would become even more complicated.
The bureau chief also brought relevant experts and technicians from the bureau to the site.
Wang Liguo could almost see the murderer lurking in the darkness, mocking them. The victim was again dressed in pantyhose and high heels, with apples, tomatoes, and playing cards laid out in front of her. Wang Liguo noticed that this time, there were four bloodstained clubs in front of the victim, and four bloodstained hearts on the murderer's side. Last time there were three, now there were four—what did that mean? He also noticed a white ring around the victim's left wrist, clearly indicating that a watch had once been worn there.
Wang Liguo found a rag and a pair of large slippers at the entrance to the living room. He deduced that the murderer was wearing large slippers and used the rag to wipe his footprints clean—the same old trick.
There were two incomplete, wavy military glue marks on the balcony, and two more on the awning of the fifth-floor balcony. Other than that, no other traces were found. It seems they came up from the fifth-floor landing.
Wang Liguo went outside to the fifth-floor landing and shone his flashlight on the window frame in the corridor. Sure enough, he saw stomping marks on the window frame. However, he still didn't quite believe that the murderer could open the security door. He ran down to the first floor and went outside to look. He moved a bicycle from the wall and placed it against the wall next to the door. He stood on the back rack and leaned against the wall to look. Although it wasn't very clear with the flashlight, he could see stomping marks on the awning of the security door. Upon closer inspection, he also noticed that the corridor window above the awning looked like it had been opened.
The murderer was very short, maybe 1.60 meters? How could he reach the awning?
There was only one way: he stood up by riding his bicycle and holding onto the wall. In other words, he stepped onto the awning of the security door and entered the corridor through a window on the first floor.
When Wang Liguo returned to the crime scene, experts said that based on their simulation experiments and deductions, the suspect stayed at the scene for at least two hours after committing the murder.
The murder likely occurred two days prior, in the early hours of Saturday, July 5th.
After taking photos and drawing a diagram of the scene, and covering the body, Wang Liguo went across the street to ask the deceased's daughter to come and see what was missing.
He Fangmei pulled Tingting over. Tingting cried and said that her mother's watch and cell phone were gone, but the necklace was still there, and it seemed that nothing else was missing. Tingting said that her mother's cell phone was a Siemens 2108, a second-hand one, blue; the watch was a black women's digital watch, bought at the market last year for 50 yuan.
Suddenly, He Fangmei let go of Tingting and ran into the balcony like a madwoman. After taking one look, she knelt on the ground and fainted. People hurriedly carried her back to her home. Just as she recovered, she rushed into her own balcony, picked up the soybeans on the ground with both hands, hugged them to her chest, and sobbed uncontrollably. After a long while, she finally said, "I harmed Sister Chen. Sister Chen died in my place!"
Wang Liguo, who had been watching her intently, seemed to understand something and couldn't help but feel a deep sadness. He couldn't help but think that every death makes me lose a part of myself, because we all belong to the same human race. We should never ask for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for you and me.
Rumor has it: Where tragedy has occurred, terror lies.
Reporter Zhao Xiaowei asked her colleague Yang Ming:
"I really don't understand. My neighbor was setting off firecrackers downstairs, and I thought they'd caught some kind of psychopath. But when I asked, they said they hadn't. If they haven't caught anyone, why are they setting off firecrackers? They said it's to ward off ghosts and evil spirits. I saw quite a few people setting off firecrackers when I got home from get off work last night! What's wrong with people these days?"
"What's wrong? Scared, huh! Some people say setting off firecrackers can ward off disaster and avert calamity, saving you from a murderous demon. Those who were already desperate for a lifeline immediately believed it. You don't know, there are people selling peach wood charms at the night market—small yellow papers with some incomprehensible cryptic writing, claiming that sticking them on your balcony will guarantee you escape this disaster, money-back guarantee if ineffective. Quite a few people are buying them! Mostly women, especially old ladies. When a disaster strikes, it always creates many business opportunities; there are always a few clever people who profit from the fear of the majority. SARS..." At the height of the uproar in Guangzhou, people were saying vinegar could cure diseases, and a bottle of ordinary vinegar that cost three to five yuan was selling for hundreds of yuan, and there wasn't even any in stock. All the goods in the supermarket went up in price; even instant noodles became unaffordable for ordinary people. Those unscrupulous merchants always seem to profit from disasters. A Wenzhou man who makes security doors and windows contacted me, wanting to treat me to dinner. I asked him why. He said he wanted to partner with me in business, asking me to remind citizens to install his security doors and windows whenever I posted news of murders. It's fucking ridiculous! Who does he think he is?!
"My mom's neighbors said that this psychopathic killer first forced women to undress, eat, drink, and play cards with him, and then beat them to death. Others said that's impossible; he knocked them unconscious first, dismembered them, and left blood all over the bed and room. After that, he acted like nothing had happened, eating, drinking, and playing cards with the corpses. After drinking, he even shoved a bottle into the victim's genitals. Do you think he could eat and drink while guarding the people he killed? He even played cards with dead bodies? Wasn't he afraid or disgusted? What kind of person is he?"
Yang Ming shook his head and sighed:
"The fact that you can ask these questions is enough to prove that you are psychologically normal and not abnormal..."
"Go away! I'm talking to you seriously, you're making fun of me again!"
"I wouldn't even cook you in hot pot! Your skin and meat are too tender! I couldn't bear to!"
"Well! Looks like you've lost your mind. Did you catch his infection and become the second pervert?" Zhao Xiaowei touched his forehead. "You don't even have a fever, so why are you talking nonsense?"
"How should I put it, little girl?"
Taking the opportunity, Yang Ming grabbed Zhao Xiaowei's hand, turned on the computer, and pointed to the screen:
"The thoughts of these psychopaths are fixed, negative, and repetitive; they're trapped in their own vicious cycle, always viewing the people and things around them from an antisocial perspective. They completely disregard the external world, considering everything solely based on their imagination and fantasies, believing they can alleviate their stress through fantasy. However, they distort the people and things around them, preventing them from engaging in healthy interactions with society. These recurring daydreams only exacerbate their inner pressure and crisis, making them increasingly alienated from society. When they're acting normally, they often don't appear to have any problems, and may even seem... Unnoticed, this way of thinking leads to their inability to control themselves, resulting in personality splits, a split personality, frequent daydreaming, living in a fantasy world, often trapped in nightmares, and constantly having internal monologues. However, these monologues are entirely based on their own chaotic logic, devoid of reason and rationality. This causes them to hold a rigid attitude towards the causes, development, and results of events, refusing to accept any reason or adjust or change their absurd perceptions. Their so-called views on things are also crude and vague. Once they are caught in fantasy and daydreams, most of the content revolves around revenge against others. Rape, abuse, possession, control, torture, dismemberment, and inflicting pain, even death, on themselves or others—these fantasies and daydreams are triggered by their past experiences of vicious aggression. In other words, they are destined to be alone their entire lives, devoid of true friends; their minds are always filled with preconceived notions, and they are constantly indulging in daydreams and fantasies, living their entire lives within their own stubborn, hateful, and absurd thoughts. Because they lack the thinking and emotions of normal people, they will not experience your fear and disgust. This time, the deranged killer again used a fruit knife to stab the victim, leaving numerous wounds. He then dressed her in pantyhose and high heels, did her makeup, inserted a beer bottle into her vagina, and placed canned fruit and beer around her, along with four clubs and four hearts. While the exact details are unknown, we can imagine that the murderer did this to evoke stimulation, excitement, and sexual fantasies. He believed this would instill fear of death in the city and fulfill his revenge. Therefore, he felt no fear or disgust while doing so, but rather immense satisfaction, especially sexually. This makes him a truly heinous monster.
Zhao Xiaowei's eyes widened, and her mouth gaped open:
"How do you know so much? You're practically an expert on psychopathic murders! Last time you said that psychopaths only put pantyhose on their victims after they've killed them, how did you know that?"
Zhao Xiaowei bent down and stood behind Yang Ming, her chest pressed against his back, and placed her hands on his shoulders.
He could clearly feel the allure of those two soft mounds behind him, and he tried his best to control the impulse in his heart.
“Thank you for the reward.” Seeing that she remained motionless against his back, he continued, “The deceased had many wounds, yet his socks were worn outside them, and they weren’t torn!”
Zhao Xiaowei made two "ah ah" sounds, her eyes wide and mouth agape as if she were thinking about something.
Yang Ming was called away by the editor-in-chief, but returned quickly. Zhao Xiaowei saw his gloomy face and couldn't help but feel curious:
"This is quite unusual lately. You're usually so cheerful and carefree. What's wrong with you today? Did you break up with someone again?"
"Who's afraid of heartbreak these days!"
Yang Ming said irritably.
"This looks serious. Something even more heartbreaking than a breakup must be that your boss is going to promote you!"