Chapter 3 – Some things, they have become inhuman long ago.
Twenty-three years ago.
It was the morning of New Year’s Day, 7 February 1997.
It was a sunny day. The sun was shining and there were no clouds.
The workers living on the third floor of the No 4 dormitory building of ChangAn Fan Factory put on their new clothes and wrapped themselves in their new scarves, ready to go out to visit their relatives and friends. A girl living on the third floor stood in front of her security door and her mother crouched down to tie her scarf. The girl looked up upstairs slowly with her bright eyes.
Her gaze followed the eaves of the corridor, slowly and calmly.
“Mum, it’s raining red rain from the sky.”
“What red rain? It’s a bright and sunny day, what nonsense.”
“Look, it’s red rain, the rain is red.”
The young mother followed her daughter’s pointing finger to look and when she saw the river of blood dripping down from the corridor upstairs.
“Ahhhhhhh!”
Ten minutes later, the police station that was only two streets away was alerted and shortly after they arrived at the dormitory building belonging to the fan factory.
At the time Old Wu was not called “Old Wu”. His name was Wu Fang and he was a new policeman that had only joined the police station half a year ago. On the first day of the new year, all the experienced policemen went home to celebrate the new year. Only he and an older colleague who was a widow were on duty. After receiving the alert, the two people didn’t take it seriously. They thought it was probably some sort of neighbourhood dispute or domestic incident.
There had not been a fatal case in ChangAn Fan’s fan factory for decades but there were domestic incidents every couple of days. The police officers often had to come to help deal with these kinds of minor incidents. {T/N: It’s not a translation mistake, guess author forgot that she wrote in Chapter 1 that the incident happened not long after the building was built.}
Wu Fang and his senior officer arrived at the dormitory building. When he got off his bicycle, his heart was still at ease. However his senior who was more experienced immediately saw the thick crowd surrounding the fourth floor and had a bad premonition.
“Xiao Wu, get ready to call for backup. I think this matter is not simple.”
Wu Fang was surprised: “Okay I’ll call for backup in a moment.”
The old policeman: “Call right now! There’s a small shop by the road, use their phone to call.”
Wu Fang felt a bit weird but he didn’t refute it. He ran over to the shop and used the phone to call the two policemen on duty in the neighbouring precinct. By the time he finished the call, the senior policemen had already entered Building No 4. Wu Fang hurriedly followed. As he walked through the narrow corridors and had just reached the fourth floor, he saw his senior run out from one of the rooms and back into the corridor.
It was Unit 404.
There were a total of four households on the fourth floor of the fan factory. 404 was the closest to the stairs, and then walking inwards it was 403, 402 and 401 in turn.
“Uncle Zhang? What’s the matter?”
Uncle Zhang stretched out a hand towards him.
Wu Fang stopped his footsteps.
The next moment.
“Oh!!!”
At noon, the officers from the City’s Major Crime Squad arrived.
The entire four dormitory buildings of the fan factory were sealed off and no one was allowed to leave.
As one of the first policemen to arrive at the scene, Wu Fang saw everything that happened in that room.
Broken limbs, dim light, the entire room covered in blood.
The male occupant was hacked to death by one blow. His body was placed into a chair by the murderer and he was sitting by the dining table.
There was a casserole pot on the table and inside was a pot of stewed red meat. Half of the meal was eaten and only half was left. It looked like braised pork but it wasn’t. Because there was more meat still being stewed in a big iron pot on the kitchen gas stove, and inside a woman’s arm was inserted like a chef’s elaborate decoration.
Wu Fang felt a wave of nausea.
However things were not yet over.
Before the Major Crime Squad arrived, the four ordinary police officers had opened the doors of the other three rooms.
“There, there’s another one here!”
“Here too!”
“I found three victims as well!”
Suddenly, Wu Fang felt a chill rising up from the soles of his feet.
Freezing him to the very bone.
The warm sun of summer could not warm it, and even the cold frost of winter could not be compared with it.
The ChangAn Factory’s Building No. 4’s fourth floor.
Four families.
Every single one of them had been killed!
***
Right now 23 years have passed. Xiao Wu had turned into Lao Wu (Old Wu), and had also changed from a small policeman into the squad leader of the City’s Major Crimes Squad.
“Captain Wu, you’re still not going home today? How many days has it been, won’t your wife blame you haha?”
Old Wu held an old enamel cup and brewed a cup of hot black tea. He said nonchalantly, “Go home? Why would I go home? An old man and an old woman, we find each other annoying to look at. All you young couples know how to do is stick to each other all day and night, don’t you find it nauseating?”
“Captain Wu, are you still looking over the fan factory’s case ah?”
“Ai, do you know the fan factory’s dormitory will be demolished next week?”
“Yes I know, I know.”
Old Wu: “Can I really not solve it….”
Little detective: “That year all the workers in the dormitories went to look and the crime scene was a complete mess. We didn’t collect any useful clues. By the way Captain Wu, I heard back then you wanted to focus the investigation on the victims of 404?”
Lao Wu: “That was my suggestion, but we didn’t discover anything.”
The little detective praised, “But I think your method was correct!”
Lao Wu rolled his eyes.
Of course they investigated. But they couldn’t discover anything back then, and of course they couldn’t right now!
This was not like the White Silver case that was cracked a few years ago in Northwest China.
The White Silver murderer left his semen at the crime scene and it was only because back then DNA technology and databases were not sufficient so they couldn’t discover him. But the murderer of the fan factory had uncommonly good luck. The crime scene was disturbed by so many people that not a thing could be found, so of course no clues were left behind.
So was this really the end of it all?
Next week, the fan factory would be demolished….
At this time, the phone suddenly rang.
“Hello, this Su City’s Major Crimes Unit. En? WuMen Police Station? En, that’s right, huh what did you say…. He turned himself in?”
The small detective clutched the telephone receiver and turned his head. “Captain Wu!”
Old Wu: “What’s wrong?”
“He- he turned himself in!”
Putting down the enamel cup, Old Wu seemed to guess something. He said slowly, “… who turned himself in?”
“The ChangAn Fan Factory murderer!”
***
A week had passed.
The dormitory buildings of ChangAn Fan Factory were supposed to be demolished this week. Suddenly the murderer of 23 years ago appeared and the entire country’s citizen’s gazes were once again focused on this small dormitory building.
The police, investigators, reporters, and all kinds of people who are curious and want to eat melons converged on this dormitory building every day. {T/N: “Eat melons”, participate/observe gossip and drama.}
Even the Central Television Station sent journalists over to interview.
That day Lian Xi had just put on his clothes and was preparing to go out. He had only opened the door a crack when he saw a female reporter holding C Television Station’s microphone come up the stairs. As she walked she was speaking to the camera behind her, “This is where Su City’s 2.07’s extraordinary robbery and murder case which shocked the nation occured. Right now we’re on the fourth floor. Since that brutal murder case, only one household is occupied on this floor. He lives in Unit 403. Let’s go interview him.”
Lian Xi who had immediately shut the door: “….”
Dong dong dong!
Boom boom boom!
“Hello, is there anyone there?”
Lian Xi who blocked the door: As long as I pretend to be dead, you can’t see me. As long as I pretend to be dead, you can’t see me!
After three minutes, “It seems that this tenant is not at home. Then let’s go have a look at the scene of the incident…”
At this time, there was a cheerful and loud ringtone emanating from behind the door of Room 403.
The female reporter: “….”
Lian Xi: “….”
Lian Xi quickly hung up the phone.
From outside, a measured and nice sounding female voice said: “Hello, is there anyone at home?”
Lian Xi, pretending to be dead, did not move a muscle.
After five more minutes, the female journalist: “….”
She smiled. “Looks like this tenant is indeed not at home.”
The footsteps outside gradually receded. After ten minutes, they finally finished filming the footage at the crime scene and went back downstairs. Lian Xi gave a sigh of relief. He logged into the phone and saw the missing call log. He raised his eyebrow in shock and called back.
“Hello, is that Xiao Lian ah? How come you only returned the phone call now, what were you doing before?”
“I had something before. Uncle Li, is there something the matter?”
“Yes there’s something! It’s great news! My home is getting demolished!”
Lian Xi: “??!!! What?!”
Uncle Li: “Oh, I’m so happy I lost my head. It’s not just my home that’s getting demolished. Your home is getting demolished too! Our entire neighbourhood is going to be demolished!”
It was then that Lian Xi finally understood the ins and outs of the matter.
It turned out that the municipal government had always planned to build another highway from WuNan District to ZheJiang Province. There had already been plans for that last year but it was never decided where exactly the highway would be built. Many communities were rumored to be demolished but Lian Xi’s small neighbourhood had never been rumored to be involved. But suddenly from yesterday, they received sudden notice that their complex was going to be demolished!
Uncle Li was so happy he couldn’t believe it!
Uncle Li was Lian Xi’s neighbour when he was a child.
After Lian Xi’s father had died in the drunk driving incident, he lived together with his grandfather for a while. Uncle Li’s family lived right across from them. After Lian Xi’s grandfather passed away, Lian Xi was still young and didn’t have any other relatives so he was sent to the orphanage. However he still had a property there.
The apartment was very old and dilapidated, no one wanted to buy it. So it could only be left there.
Who knew that this pie from the sky could suddenly drop down and it was actually going to be demolished!
Uncle Li: “Xiao Lian, how can such a good thing happen to us. I heard every household will receive over one million yuan! Hurry up and come back to go through the administration procedures. People already started lining up at the neighborhood committee this morning. You should hurry up too!”
Lian Xi: “Okay, thank you Uncle Li. I’ll come immediately.”
After hanging up the phone, Lian Xi felt like he was in a trance.
Demolition.
Get rich overnight….
Demolish.
Get rich overnight!
He lowered his head and looked down at his hand. Suddenly his eyelashes trembled. In his gaze he saw a flash of warm, golden light.
He followed the golden light and raised his head.
He saw an honest-looking, middle-aged man standing inside his room. The man was wearing a big padded jacket and his head was covered in blood. He rubbed his hands awkwardly and bowed to Lian Xi. He seemed as though he wanted to say something but didn’t know what to say. So he suddenly smiled then bowed again. Then his body slowly vanished into the air.
Lian Xi opened his Weibo.
For several days, the entire country had been hotly discussing Su City’s 2.07 Murder Case.
He clicked on the top ranking trending hashtags.
After flipping through the top articles on Weibo, he quickly saw a warm and tender photo of a family of three.
The woman was wearing a white dress and was nestled next to her husband. They were holding the hands of a little girl with two pigtails. All were smiling happily into the camera.
In the corner of that man’s lip there was a big black mole. Because he was smiling, the mole was slightly raised.
After looking for a while, Lian Xi smiled.
“It looks like this time I got a blessing ah.”
***
Because the fan factory’s murderer was suddenly apprehended and led to an ultra-high amount of discussion and attention from the outside world, the demolition of the building was pushed back and gave Lian Xi and other residents more time to move.
In the next few days, Lian Xi was busy doing administration to get the demolition fees for his own apartment.
To get to WuAn District, it took an hour on the bus each way. Two hours back and forth! But Lian Xi didn’t mind. He got up early the next day to go line up at the neighbourhood committee.
It doesn’t matter how much the demolition fee was, the main reason was because he wanted to get the procedures finished quickly so as to not disrupt the nation’s important business of building a highway of course! {T/N: He’s being sarcastic, of course he wants the money.}
In the evening, Lain Xi returned home to the fan factory’s dormitory with the final paperwork.
Before he could go inside, he was called out to by the security guard uncle. {T/N: The other guy, not the murderer.}
“Hey Xiao Lian ah! You’re back.” After speaking, he spoke to the group of old men and women that were sitting around him. “This is Xiao Lian who lives on the fourth floor. Ever since that happened, he’s the only person that’s ever lived on the fourth floor.”
“It’s actually such a handsome young fellow!”
“Young man, aren’t you scared?”
Lian Xi laughed dryly and shook his head: “I’m not scared.”
As he walked away, the sound of the security guard uncle chatting to the group drifted over to his ears.
“Let me tell you, who knew that Liu SanZao would turn out to be such a huge bastard ah! I have been his colleague for half a year ah, half a year! I couldn’t tell at all!”
“That Liu SanZao, didn’t he go somewhere far away originally? How come he came back? Wasn’t he scared of being caught?”
“Why ask me, how would I know? When he first came, he would often go to wander around in Building No 4. I asked him what he was doing, guess what he told me? He said that he heard that that’s the building where people had died and that it was going to be demolished in half a year. He was curious and wanted to look at it a few more times because he wouldn’t get the chance to in the future. I think he’s just a pervert!”
“That’s right! It’s been so many years and no one has discovered him. That old bastard, he just wanted to come look at the place where he killed all those people!”
The small detective who had come back to the scene to take pictures and prepare to write a criminal investigative report happened to pass by. He heard this and twisted his lips.
After returning to the municipal bureau, he asked, “Captain Wu, why do you think Liu SanZao returned to the fan factory? Hasn’t he been living well all these years? Since he’s been hiding for so long, why go back?”
Old Wu: “Why do you think?”
The little detective recalled the gossip of those old men and women: “Is it really because the fan factory is going to be demolished? Captain Wu, what did the murderer say when you interrogated him?”
Old Wu sneered: “He’s gone insane. That night I don’t know where he got the wounds on his body but his entire face was covered in blood. He rolled and crawled his way into the police station, weeping and crying for his dad and mum and begging the police officers not to kick him out. He said there was a ghost outside! Afterwards when he questioned, he confessed the entire thing. And he was muttering about ghosts, ghosts. I think the ghost is in his heart!”
“I think I get it. He’s pretending to be insane, thinking he can get off more easily this way. What an idiot.”
“Humph. The law will definitely bring justice to the victims. This old bastard won’t be able to escape.”
The two people chatted a while longer then the small detective asked, “Captain Wu, you haven’t said why he decided to go back to the fan factory.”
Captain Wu held the warm enamel cup in his hands and his gaze was faraway. He thought for a long time. “That old pervert has been abnormal for a long time. The fan factory is going to be demolished and he felt like he would never again see his “masterpiece” of yesteryear. So he wanted to go back and look more while he still could. Think about it, if you could stand at the place where you committed a crime every day but no one knew it was you… isn’t it exciting?”
The little detective trembled. “I think it’s terrifying! I’d be scared I was going to be caught.”
“That’s why you’re not a murderer hahahaha!”
“But I heard he was just a small-time hooligan back then. Initially he broke into Room 404 and just wanted to rape the woman who lived there. Who knew that the husband who was originally supposed to take the daughter to his parents place for new years greetings remembered he had forgotten something halfway and returned suddenly, running into him. So I suppose it can’t be considered premeditated?”
“And then? He was scared that if he only killed the residents of Room 404, then it might be investigated back to him. So he decided to just kill to the end and murdered everyone on the entire floor to cover his tracks. Doesn’t this count as premediation?”
“Ah, that…”
“From the moment he unsheathed his knife and saw blood, then he was no longer human. Or it can be said…”
Captain Wu gritted his teeth and closed his eyes. In front of his eyes the scene from 23 years ago appeared once more, that purgatory that chilled him to his very bones.
“From the moment he touched that woman’s ass on the street, from the moment he broke down the door to rape her….”
“He was no longer human.”
The little detective: “Ah….”
Captain Wu put down his cup and looked at him. He said in an earnest voice, “Xiao Wang ah, some people, when they’re born they are human. But some things, they have already become inhuman long ago….”
Chapter 3 – Some things, they have become inhuman long ago.
Twenty-three years ago.
It was the morning of New Year’s Day, 7 February 1997.
It was a sunny day. The sun was shining and there were no clouds.
The workers living on the third floor of the No 4 dormitory building of ChangAn Fan Factory put on their new clothes and wrapped themselves in their new scarves, ready to go out to visit their relatives and friends. A girl living on the third floor stood in front of her security door and her mother crouched down to tie her scarf. The girl looked up upstairs slowly with her bright eyes.
Her gaze followed the eaves of the corridor, slowly and calmly.
“Mum, it’s raining red rain from the sky.”
“What red rain? It’s a bright and sunny day, what nonsense.”
“Look, it’s red rain, the rain is red.”
The young mother followed her daughter’s pointing finger to look and when she saw the river of blood dripping down from the corridor upstairs.
“Ahhhhhhh!”
Ten minutes later, the police station that was only two streets away was alerted and shortly after they arrived at the dormitory building belonging to the fan factory.
At the time Old Wu was not called “Old Wu”. His name was Wu Fang and he was a new policeman that had only joined the police station half a year ago. On the first day of the new year, all the experienced policemen went home to celebrate the new year. Only he and an older colleague who was a widow were on duty. After receiving the alert, the two people didn’t take it seriously. They thought it was probably some sort of neighbourhood dispute or domestic incident.
There had not been a fatal case in ChangAn Fan’s fan factory for decades but there were domestic incidents every couple of days. The police officers often had to come to help deal with these kinds of minor incidents. {T/N: It’s not a translation mistake, guess author forgot that she wrote in Chapter 1 that the incident happened not long after the building was built.}
Wu Fang and his senior officer arrived at the dormitory building. When he got off his bicycle, his heart was still at ease. However his senior who was more experienced immediately saw the thick crowd surrounding the fourth floor and had a bad premonition.
“Xiao Wu, get ready to call for backup. I think this matter is not simple.”
Wu Fang was surprised: “Okay I’ll call for backup in a moment.”
The old policeman: “Call right now! There’s a small shop by the road, use their phone to call.”
Wu Fang felt a bit weird but he didn’t refute it. He ran over to the shop and used the phone to call the two policemen on duty in the neighbouring precinct. By the time he finished the call, the senior policemen had already entered Building No 4. Wu Fang hurriedly followed. As he walked through the narrow corridors and had just reached the fourth floor, he saw his senior run out from one of the rooms and back into the corridor.
It was Unit 404.
There were a total of four households on the fourth floor of the fan factory. 404 was the closest to the stairs, and then walking inwards it was 403, 402 and 401 in turn.
“Uncle Zhang? What’s the matter?”
Uncle Zhang stretched out a hand towards him.
Wu Fang stopped his footsteps.
The next moment.
“Oh!!!”
At noon, the officers from the City’s Major Crime Squad arrived.
The entire four dormitory buildings of the fan factory were sealed off and no one was allowed to leave.
As one of the first policemen to arrive at the scene, Wu Fang saw everything that happened in that room.
Broken limbs, dim light, the entire room covered in blood.
The male occupant was hacked to death by one blow. His body was placed into a chair by the murderer and he was sitting by the dining table.
There was a casserole pot on the table and inside was a pot of stewed red meat. Half of the meal was eaten and only half was left. It looked like braised pork but it wasn’t. Because there was more meat still being stewed in a big iron pot on the kitchen gas stove, and inside a woman’s arm was inserted like a chef’s elaborate decoration.
Wu Fang felt a wave of nausea.
However things were not yet over.
Before the Major Crime Squad arrived, the four ordinary police officers had opened the doors of the other three rooms.
“There, there’s another one here!”
“Here too!”
“I found three victims as well!”
Suddenly, Wu Fang felt a chill rising up from the soles of his feet.
Freezing him to the very bone.
The warm sun of summer could not warm it, and even the cold frost of winter could not be compared with it.
The ChangAn Factory’s Building No. 4’s fourth floor.
Four families.
Every single one of them had been killed!
***
Right now 23 years have passed. Xiao Wu had turned into Lao Wu (Old Wu), and had also changed from a small policeman into the squad leader of the City’s Major Crimes Squad.
“Captain Wu, you’re still not going home today? How many days has it been, won’t your wife blame you haha?”
Old Wu held an old enamel cup and brewed a cup of hot black tea. He said nonchalantly, “Go home? Why would I go home? An old man and an old woman, we find each other annoying to look at. All you young couples know how to do is stick to each other all day and night, don’t you find it nauseating?”
“Captain Wu, are you still looking over the fan factory’s case ah?”
“Ai, do you know the fan factory’s dormitory will be demolished next week?”
“Yes I know, I know.”
Old Wu: “Can I really not solve it….”
Little detective: “That year all the workers in the dormitories went to look and the crime scene was a complete mess. We didn’t collect any useful clues. By the way Captain Wu, I heard back then you wanted to focus the investigation on the victims of 404?”
Lao Wu: “That was my suggestion, but we didn’t discover anything.”
The little detective praised, “But I think your method was correct!”
Lao Wu rolled his eyes.
Of course they investigated. But they couldn’t discover anything back then, and of course they couldn’t right now!
This was not like the White Silver case that was cracked a few years ago in Northwest China.
The White Silver murderer left his semen at the crime scene and it was only because back then DNA technology and databases were not sufficient so they couldn’t discover him. But the murderer of the fan factory had uncommonly good luck. The crime scene was disturbed by so many people that not a thing could be found, so of course no clues were left behind.
So was this really the end of it all?
Next week, the fan factory would be demolished….
At this time, the phone suddenly rang.
“Hello, this Su City’s Major Crimes Unit. En? WuMen Police Station? En, that’s right, huh what did you say…. He turned himself in?”
The small detective clutched the telephone receiver and turned his head. “Captain Wu!”
Old Wu: “What’s wrong?”
“He- he turned himself in!”
Putting down the enamel cup, Old Wu seemed to guess something. He said slowly, “… who turned himself in?”
“The ChangAn Fan Factory murderer!”
***
A week had passed.
The dormitory buildings of ChangAn Fan Factory were supposed to be demolished this week. Suddenly the murderer of 23 years ago appeared and the entire country’s citizen’s gazes were once again focused on this small dormitory building.
The police, investigators, reporters, and all kinds of people who are curious and want to eat melons converged on this dormitory building every day. {T/N: “Eat melons”, participate/observe gossip and drama.}
Even the Central Television Station sent journalists over to interview.
That day Lian Xi had just put on his clothes and was preparing to go out. He had only opened the door a crack when he saw a female reporter holding C Television Station’s microphone come up the stairs. As she walked she was speaking to the camera behind her, “This is where Su City’s 2.07’s extraordinary robbery and murder case which shocked the nation occured. Right now we’re on the fourth floor. Since that brutal murder case, only one household is occupied on this floor. He lives in Unit 403. Let’s go interview him.”
Lian Xi who had immediately shut the door: “….”
Dong dong dong!
Boom boom boom!
“Hello, is there anyone there?”
Lian Xi who blocked the door: As long as I pretend to be dead, you can’t see me. As long as I pretend to be dead, you can’t see me!
After three minutes, “It seems that this tenant is not at home. Then let’s go have a look at the scene of the incident…”
At this time, there was a cheerful and loud ringtone emanating from behind the door of Room 403.
The female reporter: “….”
Lian Xi: “….”
Lian Xi quickly hung up the phone.
From outside, a measured and nice sounding female voice said: “Hello, is there anyone at home?”
Lian Xi, pretending to be dead, did not move a muscle.
After five more minutes, the female journalist: “….”
She smiled. “Looks like this tenant is indeed not at home.”
The footsteps outside gradually receded. After ten minutes, they finally finished filming the footage at the crime scene and went back downstairs. Lian Xi gave a sigh of relief. He logged into the phone and saw the missing call log. He raised his eyebrow in shock and called back.
“Hello, is that Xiao Lian ah? How come you only returned the phone call now, what were you doing before?”
“I had something before. Uncle Li, is there something the matter?”
“Yes there’s something! It’s great news! My home is getting demolished!”
Lian Xi: “??!!! What?!”
Uncle Li: “Oh, I’m so happy I lost my head. It’s not just my home that’s getting demolished. Your home is getting demolished too! Our entire neighbourhood is going to be demolished!”
It was then that Lian Xi finally understood the ins and outs of the matter.
It turned out that the municipal government had always planned to build another highway from WuNan District to ZheJiang Province. There had already been plans for that last year but it was never decided where exactly the highway would be built. Many communities were rumored to be demolished but Lian Xi’s small neighbourhood had never been rumored to be involved. But suddenly from yesterday, they received sudden notice that their complex was going to be demolished!
Uncle Li was so happy he couldn’t believe it!
Uncle Li was Lian Xi’s neighbour when he was a child.
After Lian Xi’s father had died in the drunk driving incident, he lived together with his grandfather for a while. Uncle Li’s family lived right across from them. After Lian Xi’s grandfather passed away, Lian Xi was still young and didn’t have any other relatives so he was sent to the orphanage. However he still had a property there.
The apartment was very old and dilapidated, no one wanted to buy it. So it could only be left there.
Who knew that this pie from the sky could suddenly drop down and it was actually going to be demolished!
Uncle Li: “Xiao Lian, how can such a good thing happen to us. I heard every household will receive over one million yuan! Hurry up and come back to go through the administration procedures. People already started lining up at the neighborhood committee this morning. You should hurry up too!”
Lian Xi: “Okay, thank you Uncle Li. I’ll come immediately.”
After hanging up the phone, Lian Xi felt like he was in a trance.
Demolition.
Get rich overnight….
Demolish.
Get rich overnight!
He lowered his head and looked down at his hand. Suddenly his eyelashes trembled. In his gaze he saw a flash of warm, golden light.
He followed the golden light and raised his head.
He saw an honest-looking, middle-aged man standing inside his room. The man was wearing a big padded jacket and his head was covered in blood. He rubbed his hands awkwardly and bowed to Lian Xi. He seemed as though he wanted to say something but didn’t know what to say. So he suddenly smiled then bowed again. Then his body slowly vanished into the air.
Lian Xi opened his Weibo.
For several days, the entire country had been hotly discussing Su City’s 2.07 Murder Case.
He clicked on the top ranking trending hashtags.
After flipping through the top articles on Weibo, he quickly saw a warm and tender photo of a family of three.
The woman was wearing a white dress and was nestled next to her husband. They were holding the hands of a little girl with two pigtails. All were smiling happily into the camera.
In the corner of that man’s lip there was a big black mole. Because he was smiling, the mole was slightly raised.
After looking for a while, Lian Xi smiled.
“It looks like this time I got a blessing ah.”
***
Because the fan factory’s murderer was suddenly apprehended and led to an ultra-high amount of discussion and attention from the outside world, the demolition of the building was pushed back and gave Lian Xi and other residents more time to move.
In the next few days, Lian Xi was busy doing administration to get the demolition fees for his own apartment.
To get to WuAn District, it took an hour on the bus each way. Two hours back and forth! But Lian Xi didn’t mind. He got up early the next day to go line up at the neighbourhood committee.
It doesn’t matter how much the demolition fee was, the main reason was because he wanted to get the procedures finished quickly so as to not disrupt the nation’s important business of building a highway of course! {T/N: He’s being sarcastic, of course he wants the money.}
In the evening, Lain Xi returned home to the fan factory’s dormitory with the final paperwork.
Before he could go inside, he was called out to by the security guard uncle. {T/N: The other guy, not the murderer.}
“Hey Xiao Lian ah! You’re back.” After speaking, he spoke to the group of old men and women that were sitting around him. “This is Xiao Lian who lives on the fourth floor. Ever since that happened, he’s the only person that’s ever lived on the fourth floor.”
“It’s actually such a handsome young fellow!”
“Young man, aren’t you scared?”
Lian Xi laughed dryly and shook his head: “I’m not scared.”
As he walked away, the sound of the security guard uncle chatting to the group drifted over to his ears.
“Let me tell you, who knew that Liu SanZao would turn out to be such a huge bastard ah! I have been his colleague for half a year ah, half a year! I couldn’t tell at all!”
“That Liu SanZao, didn’t he go somewhere far away originally? How come he came back? Wasn’t he scared of being caught?”
“Why ask me, how would I know? When he first came, he would often go to wander around in Building No 4. I asked him what he was doing, guess what he told me? He said that he heard that that’s the building where people had died and that it was going to be demolished in half a year. He was curious and wanted to look at it a few more times because he wouldn’t get the chance to in the future. I think he’s just a pervert!”
“That’s right! It’s been so many years and no one has discovered him. That old bastard, he just wanted to come look at the place where he killed all those people!”
The small detective who had come back to the scene to take pictures and prepare to write a criminal investigative report happened to pass by. He heard this and twisted his lips.
After returning to the municipal bureau, he asked, “Captain Wu, why do you think Liu SanZao returned to the fan factory? Hasn’t he been living well all these years? Since he’s been hiding for so long, why go back?”
Old Wu: “Why do you think?”
The little detective recalled the gossip of those old men and women: “Is it really because the fan factory is going to be demolished? Captain Wu, what did the murderer say when you interrogated him?”
Old Wu sneered: “He’s gone insane. That night I don’t know where he got the wounds on his body but his entire face was covered in blood. He rolled and crawled his way into the police station, weeping and crying for his dad and mum and begging the police officers not to kick him out. He said there was a ghost outside! Afterwards when he questioned, he confessed the entire thing. And he was muttering about ghosts, ghosts. I think the ghost is in his heart!”
“I think I get it. He’s pretending to be insane, thinking he can get off more easily this way. What an idiot.”
“Humph. The law will definitely bring justice to the victims. This old bastard won’t be able to escape.”
The two people chatted a while longer then the small detective asked, “Captain Wu, you haven’t said why he decided to go back to the fan factory.”
Captain Wu held the warm enamel cup in his hands and his gaze was faraway. He thought for a long time. “That old pervert has been abnormal for a long time. The fan factory is going to be demolished and he felt like he would never again see his “masterpiece” of yesteryear. So he wanted to go back and look more while he still could. Think about it, if you could stand at the place where you committed a crime every day but no one knew it was you… isn’t it exciting?”
The little detective trembled. “I think it’s terrifying! I’d be scared I was going to be caught.”
“That’s why you’re not a murderer hahahaha!”
“But I heard he was just a small-time hooligan back then. Initially he broke into Room 404 and just wanted to rape the woman who lived there. Who knew that the husband who was originally supposed to take the daughter to his parents place for new years greetings remembered he had forgotten something halfway and returned suddenly, running into him. So I suppose it can’t be considered premeditated?”
“And then? He was scared that if he only killed the residents of Room 404, then it might be investigated back to him. So he decided to just kill to the end and murdered everyone on the entire floor to cover his tracks. Doesn’t this count as premediation?”
“Ah, that…”
“From the moment he unsheathed his knife and saw blood, then he was no longer human. Or it can be said…”
Captain Wu gritted his teeth and closed his eyes. In front of his eyes the scene from 23 years ago appeared once more, that purgatory that chilled him to his very bones.
“From the moment he touched that woman’s ass on the street, from the moment he broke down the door to rape her….”
“He was no longer human.”
The little detective: “Ah….”
Captain Wu put down his cup and looked at him. He said in an earnest voice, “Xiao Wang ah, some people, when they’re born they are human. But some things, they have already become inhuman long ago….”
