Chapter 134: Half a Newspaper Page

2022-05-20

The old Village Chief called for his wife to fetch the scale, the old-fashioned kind. He dumped all the meat onto the tray, adjusted the weights on the balance, and after a moment, the scale settled. He squinted at the measure, then announced, “My goodness, this is nearly ten pounds!”

His words sparked a wave of shock in all of us. Staring at these chunks of cooked meat, none of us knew what to say. The killer had claimed to prepare a ‘surprise’ for us—was this really what he meant?

I spat twice, still seeming to taste it in my mouth.

Gu Chen gritted his teeth. “The killer’s getting more and more brazen. First, he left bloody words on the wall. Then he put dumplings on the Village Chief’s windowsill. At this rate, who knows when he’ll just waltz up to us and announce he’s the murderer!”

Gu Chen might just be venting, but we all knew how far things had gone. I didn’t even want to imagine what crazy thing the killer might pull next if we kept sticking around here.

Captain Zhou looked worried. “This killer’s getting too bold. Tonight, let’s lie in wait on the rooftops. You know, every snowy night, he dumps the corpses. That way he can hide his tracks.”

“So why not wait for a heavy snow, then spring a trap?” Captain Zhou looked around at us.

I frowned—he had a point.

Gu Chen praised the idea. “Exactly! Tonight, forget sleep. Let’s keep a lookout. There’s only ten pounds of meat here—not nearly a whole corpse. The village isn’t that big. If we rope in a couple more people, we could keep watch everywhere. No way the killer slips by us then!”

“I’m in,” I nodded. “But we’ve got to find people we trust. If word gets out, the killer might hear about it and not show up at all. Then we’d be powerless.”

The old Village Chief was beaming. “Perfect! Right now, the killer’s hiding and we’re exposed—he can see our every move. If we do this, the tables turn. We’ll be in hiding, just waiting for him to show himself. We’ll definitely catch him then.”

He added, “Oh right, Wu Meng, didn’t you suspect there might be more than one killer? Let’s get a few more helpers.”

Captain Zhou eyed the Village Chief. “Just be sure they’re people you really trust.”

The Village Chief frowned and tapped the side of his wheelchair, clearly mulling over the options. After a long while, he spoke. “There’s Old Xia—he’s always been my right-hand man. Erxiao keeps to himself and doesn’t talk to the villagers much. What do you think about asking them?”

Oddly enough, both Old Xia and Erxiao had been on my list of suspects. Now, we might need their help. Truth was, with the way things stood, neither one really had the time to make or deliver dumplings. Old Xia had bad facial burns but was fit and strong. Erxiao seemed perfectly normal—he could definitely help.

We looked at one another—all feeling this was actually a solid plan.

Seeing our agreement, the Village Chief said, “Alright, I’ll call Old Xia and Erxiao now.”

I said, “Pick a spot where villagers aren’t likely to see us. Better to play it safe.”

The Village Chief nodded, pulling out his phone to make the calls.

I glanced up at the sky, still blanketed in gray. Looked like the snow would hold off today, but the weather app promised more snow in the next day or two. As long as it snowed, the killer would probably strike again.

By mid-afternoon, around three or four, we gathered at Li Danan’s house. His place was on the easternmost edge of the village, where other villagers rarely went. We all showed up—except Erxiao, who had to walk for over an hour and was still on his way.

I passed the time looking around Li Danan’s place.

It was clear he lived alone. The place was a mess—blankets and quilts strewn everywhere, not an attempt to fold or stack them. A few clothes piled in a corner, looking like they hadn’t been washed in ages.

Li Danan had lost both hands. No matter how nimble his feet were, he couldn’t be the killer. So meeting here made sense. He seemed a bit shy, almost never having this many guests before, and kept tossing coal into the stove without a word.

He even turned on the TV for us.

I hadn’t eaten all day, my stomach growling with hunger. Not that I wasn’t hungry, but with the way things were, I’d just throw up anything I tried to eat. The shock from the dumplings was still too much. Only someone as tough as Gu Chen could scarf down a whole table of meat after what happened.

So I’d spent the afternoon sipping water to keep myself going. Just then, I felt the urge to pee and headed for the bathroom.

All the village yards were laid out the same: you enter the main house, with the kitchen on the east and the bathroom on the west. I opened the bathroom door and stepped in, only to see its walls plastered with layer upon layer of old newspapers, rattling in the breeze. That’s when I realized—the papers were there as windbreaks.

The newspaper was yellowed from age and weather. Standing there, I read some out of boredom. Most were old Yumu City Evening News issues, with the occasional other paper mixed in. Some of the articles were oddly interesting.

Glancing around, my eyes landed on one headline that really caught my attention.

That evening paper had an enticing title—’The World’s Twenty Most Notorious Killers.’

My curiosity got the better of me and, before I knew it, I was hooked. But just as things were getting good, the rest of the story was covered up by another layer of newspaper. I pulled up my pants and reached out to tear the top layer away. The moment my hand touched it, I found the upper paper was just loosely placed.

Behind it, the back half of that evening paper had been completely torn off. Running my fingers along the ripped edge, I could feel the rough stubble. That meant the newspaper had been torn quite recently.

Sure, you might want to read something while using the bathroom. Maybe you even get caught up and want to see what happens next. But who finishes the article and then tears it out to take with them?

Suddenly, a possibility occurred to me—murder by imitation. Not out of admiration for some master criminal, more like picking up a new trick by chance.

The killer had to be copying one or more of the methods listed among the twelve described on the missing half-page. My mind racing, I quickly tore down the full sheet and snapped a photo, sending it to Sister Mary. I told her to track down the exact article online.

If I was right, then the killer had been inside Li Danan’s house, even used his bathroom. And given Li Danan’s shy nature and lack of friends, that meant he knew the killer—even if he wasn’t the killer himself.

He was also the first witness on the scene. Could all of this really just be coincidence?

Lost in these thoughts, I suddenly heard someone tugging at the door outside. I stuffed the newspaper into my pocket, lowered my head, and pretended to be fiddling with my belt just as the door opened.

It was Li Danan. Putting on an innocent face, I said, “What’s up?”

He gave a shy smile, glancing at me and behind my back. “Not much. You’ve been in here a while, so I wanted to check. Out here we use pit toilets, and with the snow, it’s pretty slick near the edge.”

I laughed. “What, you think I’ll fall in the latrine?”

He looked a bit embarrassed and didn’t say anything more. As we walked out, Erxiao arrived.

Back inside, I told everyone, “Alright, now that we’re all here, let’s go.”

With that, I headed straight out, leaving the others looking puzzled.

They might have wondered what I was up to, but followed anyway. Gu Chen quickly caught up with me, whispering, “What’s going on? Don’t tell me you think Li Danan is the killer. How would he dump bodies without hands?”

I slipped the half-page of newspaper from my pocket and quietly handed it to Gu Chen. “Found this in the bathroom here. My guess—the killer learned those dismemberment tricks from this article. Only, the rest of the page’s missing. We still don’t know exactly what was on it.”

We kept it discreet. Nobody behind us noticed.

I kept my voice low, telling Gu Chen, “This case just keeps pulling in more and more people. I don’t think it’s as simple as we thought. Don’t tell anyone else about this for now.”

“Not even Guan Zengbin?” Gu Chen asked.

I nodded.

“What are you two plotting?” The old Village Chief, seeing us walking faster and almost out of the village, hurried to catch up and called from behind.