Gao Yang and Gray Bear followed Officer Liu into the White Apricot Alley.
It was so narrow it felt like the walls were closing in on them, and the haphazard clusters of sign boards glowed with neon light. Under their feet were all kinds of garbage and dirty puddles. The air was filled with the pungent smell of cheap perfumes.
Women wearing skimpy outfits and thick makeup stood outside their shops, smoking while watching Gao Yang and the two officers walk along the alley, their expressions lazy and numb.
Soon, Officer Liu reached a massage place at the end of the alley called ‘Authentic Thai Massage’. Outside the door were restriction lines and an officer standing guard.
Gray Bear showed the officer his badge, leading Gao Yang into the establishment.
Inside, the light was dim, and they found themselves surrounded by a gaudy pink. The front room for welcoming customers had a tea table and a couple cheap sofas. On the table were edible seeds, snacks, and braised food. The cigarette butts in the ashtray were all covered in vibrant lipstick.
A few scantily-clad women were being questioned by the police with their heads lowered.
One of them was an older woman. Her body had long lost its youthful figure under the extravagant red dress. Framed by her permed hair, her face was covered in thick foundation, creased and cracked by her wrinkles. She was obviously the owner of the massage parlor.
With a name-brand handbag in her right hand and a lady cigarette in her left hand, she kept rubbing her chest and vehemently protested in a husky voice, “I don’t know anything. The customer came for a massage, and I sent him a few of our ladies. But he was dissatisfied with all of them and kicked them out.”
“It was so busy that I didn’t have the time to humor him, so I decided to let him be. Half an hour later, I opened the door to the room he was in, and holy mother of god, I almost had a heart attack.”
“Are you the owner?” Gray Bear went up to the woman.
The owner gave him a leery wink. “Greetings, Officer. You must be their captain. Please call me Little Luo.”
Gray Bear didn’t play along. “Given our age, I’ll call you Sister Luo. Why don’t you show us the crime scene?”
“Oh, no!” The owner freaked out. “It’s the last room on the third floor. Please go ahead on your own. I’d sooner die than subject myself to the sight again.”
“Alright. Stay here. I’ll come back to talk to you.”
Gray Bear turned to go up the stairs. Gao Yang and Officer Liu followed. Past the narrow, twisty stairs that violated all sorts of safety regulations, they reached the third floor.
The place was a renovated old building. The years of neglect filled the air with a smell of rot and decay mixed with the fragrance of massage oil. It was a strange smell to say the least.
Officer Liu briefed them on the victim. “His name is Duan Geng[1].”
“Duan Geng?” Gray Bear snorted. “What a great name.”
Officer Liu continued, “He was 43, single. He ran a phone repair service in the neighborhood and frequented establishments like this, but it was his first visit to this particular shop. Estimated time of death was an hour ago. The cause of death was a stab in the chest with a dull item, resulting in excessive blood loss from the heart...”
Gao Yang and Gray Bear made it through the dim hallway as they listened and reached the room at the very end. The wooden door was slightly ajar. Gray Bear walked up to carefully open it, and immediately, they were assaulted with the pungent smell of blood and gore.
Gray Bear reflexively covered his nose, while Gao Yang held his breath. He could now easily do so for a couple minutes.
Inside was a massage room about a dozen square meters big. There was no window, and cast in a pink light, the walls were covered in posters for erotic films that left little to imagination.
On the massage bed in the center lay a man in his underwear. He was overweight with dark complexion and visible pores, and he lay prone with his limbs splayed and his head drooping from the edge of the bed. His open mouth was filled with black blood, and his pupils were dilated. His face was twisted in fear, but not to an inhuman extent.
His chest was a bloody mess with a half-meter long black iron stake protruding from it.
From the wound, his blood spread evenly across his upper body, drenching the bed and the floor with wet, viscous red.
There were signs of resistance. The bottles of massage oil on the small table had been thrown to the floor, and the crude closet in a corner of the room was broken.
Notably, on the wall that the victim’s head was pointing toward, his blood had been used to draw a pattern on top of the mess of erotic movie posters.
It was a circle. Surrounding it were sharp lines that could be light or fire, and at the center of the circle was a vertical eye.
As Gray Bear said, it looked like a symbol for some evil cult, giving off an ominous feeling of bad omens.
Just to be safe, Gao Yang quietly accessed his system to make sure his Luck points were accumulating at a regular speed before slowly walking into the room.
He had seen quite a lot of dead monsters before, some in a worse state than this man, so he wasn’t too bothered by the scene. The inexperienced Officer Liu, on the other hand, had to work hard to maintain his composure, but his pale face belied his calm front.
Gao Yang checked the dead body carefully. Under the nails was ash, most likely from the wall. He probably got it when he was struggling.
His expression was one of terror, but with a trace of confusion. It seemed like he had seen something horrifying that he couldn’t comprehend.
“It’s the psycho serial killer!” Gray Bear concluded when he saw the pattern on the wall.
“That’s left in every crime scene?” Gao Yang asked calmly.
“Yes,” Officer Liu was the one who answered. “We looked it up and couldn’t find a source. Experts speculated that the killer is likely a psychopath or a fanatic following a new cult.”
Gao Yang inspected the pattern and the circle at the center in particular. He didn’t share any of his thoughts.
A few minutes later, the three of them walked out of the room.
As they went down the stairs, Gray Bear asked Officer Liu, “Are the results for fingerprints out?”
“They’re all fingerprints from those working here, and none on the victim’s clothes. No suspicious traces or substances were found at the scene either.”
“Has the surveillance footage been checked?”
“Yes. The place doesn’t follow the usual safety measures. The front room on the first floor is the only place with cameras.” Officer Liu thought for a moment. “And the windows on the second floor don't have security bars.”
Gray Bear nodded. “Which means the killer may have entered the room through the windows and snuck away after committing the crime.”
“It’s possible,” Officer Liu said. “But we haven’t found traces for that on the windows either.”
They returned to the front room on the first floor.
Sister Liu was still appealing to the officer’s understanding, “What should I do? After what happened, how am I supposed to run this business in the future?”
“Business? You may forget about it in the foreseeable future.” Gray Bear gestured at the woman. “Tell your people to pack up shop and come to the station to give statements.”
“Wait,” Gao Yang called out to Gray Bear.
Gray Bear quickly turned around. “Seven...Mr. Jin, what have you found?”
Gao Yang didn’t deem that a response and instead took a step toward the owner. “How has the business been, Sister Luo?”
“Good, good. We’ve been fully booked every evening.” Sister Luo sounded proud. “Our girls are experts at giving massages. They have all been trained professionally...”
“Massage?” Gray Bear snorted. “That’s all they do?”
Sister Luo was unfazed. “Of course! This is a legitimate massage parlor!”
“Do you keep books?” asked Gao Yang.
“Oh, I do. But I’m not good with computers, so I write everything down instead.”
“Please show me,” said Gao Yang.
Gray Bear didn’t understand why Gao Yang would ask to check the account books, but he believed the young man must have a few tricks up his sleeves to become a Protector as soon as he joined, and at such a young age.
So Gray Bear played along, “Go. Fetch it for Mr. Jin.”
“Of course. A moment.”
Sister Luo turned to enter the back room. Soon, she returned with a thick account book.
Gao Yang took it and flipped through a few pages, paying special attention to the dates. He looked deep in thought.
Then he closed the account book and returned it to Sister Luo.
“That’s it for me.” Gao Yang didn’t let it show, but he had come to a hypothesis.
1. His name 段更 is pronounced the same as 断更, which means a serial work, be it novel or comics, going on hiatus. ?
Gao Yang and Gray Bear followed Officer Liu into the White Apricot Alley.
It was so narrow it felt like the walls were closing in on them, and the haphazard clusters of sign boards glowed with neon light. Under their feet were all kinds of garbage and dirty puddles. The air was filled with the pungent smell of cheap perfumes.
Women wearing skimpy outfits and thick makeup stood outside their shops, smoking while watching Gao Yang and the two officers walk along the alley, their expressions lazy and numb.
Soon, Officer Liu reached a massage place at the end of the alley called ‘Authentic Thai Massage’. Outside the door were restriction lines and an officer standing guard.
Gray Bear showed the officer his badge, leading Gao Yang into the establishment.
Inside, the light was dim, and they found themselves surrounded by a gaudy pink. The front room for welcoming customers had a tea table and a couple cheap sofas. On the table were edible seeds, snacks, and braised food. The cigarette butts in the ashtray were all covered in vibrant lipstick.
A few scantily-clad women were being questioned by the police with their heads lowered.
One of them was an older woman. Her body had long lost its youthful figure under the extravagant red dress. Framed by her permed hair, her face was covered in thick foundation, creased and cracked by her wrinkles. She was obviously the owner of the massage parlor.
With a name-brand handbag in her right hand and a lady cigarette in her left hand, she kept rubbing her chest and vehemently protested in a husky voice, “I don’t know anything. The customer came for a massage, and I sent him a few of our ladies. But he was dissatisfied with all of them and kicked them out.”
“It was so busy that I didn’t have the time to humor him, so I decided to let him be. Half an hour later, I opened the door to the room he was in, and holy mother of god, I almost had a heart attack.”
“Are you the owner?” Gray Bear went up to the woman.
The owner gave him a leery wink. “Greetings, Officer. You must be their captain. Please call me Little Luo.”
Gray Bear didn’t play along. “Given our age, I’ll call you Sister Luo. Why don’t you show us the crime scene?”
“Oh, no!” The owner freaked out. “It’s the last room on the third floor. Please go ahead on your own. I’d sooner die than subject myself to the sight again.”
“Alright. Stay here. I’ll come back to talk to you.”
Gray Bear turned to go up the stairs. Gao Yang and Officer Liu followed. Past the narrow, twisty stairs that violated all sorts of safety regulations, they reached the third floor.
The place was a renovated old building. The years of neglect filled the air with a smell of rot and decay mixed with the fragrance of massage oil. It was a strange smell to say the least.
Officer Liu briefed them on the victim. “His name is Duan Geng[1].”
“Duan Geng?” Gray Bear snorted. “What a great name.”
Officer Liu continued, “He was 43, single. He ran a phone repair service in the neighborhood and frequented establishments like this, but it was his first visit to this particular shop. Estimated time of death was an hour ago. The cause of death was a stab in the chest with a dull item, resulting in excessive blood loss from the heart...”
Gao Yang and Gray Bear made it through the dim hallway as they listened and reached the room at the very end. The wooden door was slightly ajar. Gray Bear walked up to carefully open it, and immediately, they were assaulted with the pungent smell of blood and gore.
Gray Bear reflexively covered his nose, while Gao Yang held his breath. He could now easily do so for a couple minutes.
Inside was a massage room about a dozen square meters big. There was no window, and cast in a pink light, the walls were covered in posters for erotic films that left little to imagination.
On the massage bed in the center lay a man in his underwear. He was overweight with dark complexion and visible pores, and he lay prone with his limbs splayed and his head drooping from the edge of the bed. His open mouth was filled with black blood, and his pupils were dilated. His face was twisted in fear, but not to an inhuman extent.
His chest was a bloody mess with a half-meter long black iron stake protruding from it.
From the wound, his blood spread evenly across his upper body, drenching the bed and the floor with wet, viscous red.
There were signs of resistance. The bottles of massage oil on the small table had been thrown to the floor, and the crude closet in a corner of the room was broken.
Notably, on the wall that the victim’s head was pointing toward, his blood had been used to draw a pattern on top of the mess of erotic movie posters.
It was a circle. Surrounding it were sharp lines that could be light or fire, and at the center of the circle was a vertical eye.
As Gray Bear said, it looked like a symbol for some evil cult, giving off an ominous feeling of bad omens.
Just to be safe, Gao Yang quietly accessed his system to make sure his Luck points were accumulating at a regular speed before slowly walking into the room.
He had seen quite a lot of dead monsters before, some in a worse state than this man, so he wasn’t too bothered by the scene. The inexperienced Officer Liu, on the other hand, had to work hard to maintain his composure, but his pale face belied his calm front.
Gao Yang checked the dead body carefully. Under the nails was ash, most likely from the wall. He probably got it when he was struggling.
His expression was one of terror, but with a trace of confusion. It seemed like he had seen something horrifying that he couldn’t comprehend.
“It’s the psycho serial killer!” Gray Bear concluded when he saw the pattern on the wall.
“That’s left in every crime scene?” Gao Yang asked calmly.
“Yes,” Officer Liu was the one who answered. “We looked it up and couldn’t find a source. Experts speculated that the killer is likely a psychopath or a fanatic following a new cult.”
Gao Yang inspected the pattern and the circle at the center in particular. He didn’t share any of his thoughts.
A few minutes later, the three of them walked out of the room.
As they went down the stairs, Gray Bear asked Officer Liu, “Are the results for fingerprints out?”
“They’re all fingerprints from those working here, and none on the victim’s clothes. No suspicious traces or substances were found at the scene either.”
“Has the surveillance footage been checked?”
“Yes. The place doesn’t follow the usual safety measures. The front room on the first floor is the only place with cameras.” Officer Liu thought for a moment. “And the windows on the second floor don't have security bars.”
Gray Bear nodded. “Which means the killer may have entered the room through the windows and snuck away after committing the crime.”
“It’s possible,” Officer Liu said. “But we haven’t found traces for that on the windows either.”
They returned to the front room on the first floor.
Sister Liu was still appealing to the officer’s understanding, “What should I do? After what happened, how am I supposed to run this business in the future?”
“Business? You may forget about it in the foreseeable future.” Gray Bear gestured at the woman. “Tell your people to pack up shop and come to the station to give statements.”
“Wait,” Gao Yang called out to Gray Bear.
Gray Bear quickly turned around. “Seven...Mr. Jin, what have you found?”
Gao Yang didn’t deem that a response and instead took a step toward the owner. “How has the business been, Sister Luo?”
“Good, good. We’ve been fully booked every evening.” Sister Luo sounded proud. “Our girls are experts at giving massages. They have all been trained professionally...”
“Massage?” Gray Bear snorted. “That’s all they do?”
Sister Luo was unfazed. “Of course! This is a legitimate massage parlor!”
“Do you keep books?” asked Gao Yang.
“Oh, I do. But I’m not good with computers, so I write everything down instead.”
“Please show me,” said Gao Yang.
Gray Bear didn’t understand why Gao Yang would ask to check the account books, but he believed the young man must have a few tricks up his sleeves to become a Protector as soon as he joined, and at such a young age.
So Gray Bear played along, “Go. Fetch it for Mr. Jin.”
“Of course. A moment.”
Sister Luo turned to enter the back room. Soon, she returned with a thick account book.
Gao Yang took it and flipped through a few pages, paying special attention to the dates. He looked deep in thought.
Then he closed the account book and returned it to Sister Luo.
“That’s it for me.” Gao Yang didn’t let it show, but he had come to a hypothesis.
1. His name 段更 is pronounced the same as 断更, which means a serial work, be it novel or comics, going on hiatus. ?
