Chapter 141: Division of Roles

2022-05-20

Erxiao stared at the red-hot poker with a cool expression. “So you’re saying we killed Luo Sumei?”

Cradling that bottle of soda, I nodded seriously. “I have to trust myself. Someone once told me, ‘No matter how impossible it seems, once you’ve ruled out everything that’s not possible, whatever remains—no matter how unlikely—must be the truth.'”

I pointed at Old Xia. “Old Xia, you’re the butcher. I was right to suspect you from the start. You used a dull knife to chop off Luo Sumei’s left leg, then tossed her into the snow. After that, you called Li Danan and had him report it to the police. That was when the first body-dumping began.”

Then, I turned to Erxiao. “You’re the hunter, since you and Old Xia acted together. When the victim died, you two cut off her left leg and right arm, and let the dog take care of the rest. I haven’t seen your Blackback in person, but I have seen photos.”

As I spoke, I tried to recall the details. “Your dog’s completely black except for the fur around its neck, which is kind of brown. This type of dog barely sheds, but not never. That’s why we found a short brown hair stuck to her leg. The test results aren’t back yet, but I bet that came from your dog.”

Erxiao thought for a moment, then said, “You’ve got quite the imagination.”

I shook my head. “It’s not just guessing. The old Village Chief told me you’ve had that dog for years. Such a loyal animal. I figure you must have killed it with tears in your eyes.”

Normally so talkative, Erxiao fell silent at that.

I continued, “But I was naïve. I thought two murderers were already too many, but the truth is, I missed a few. Come to think of it, if two people could do it, then why not more? It’s not all that surprising.”

“Hmm?” Erxiao spoke less and less.

I cleared my throat. “One of you guarded the west gate of the village, another stayed in the supermarket. Neither of you had time to make dumplings or mince meat. Because of that, I dropped my suspicions too soon, actually letting both killers join the investigation team.”

“That gave you the chance to lead us here.” I glanced at them both. “You set us up.”

I waved a hand. “But that’s not what I’m here to talk about. What matters is, who’s the third person who dumped the body? If my guess is right, it was Uncle Li at the east gate. He’s blind. I’ve never actually met him, but I know he has remarkable knife skills and loads of free time.”

Erxiao’s brows knitted together.

Seeing the look on Erxiao’s face, I knew I was on the right track. “Because he’s blind, it doesn’t matter what’s on the cutting board. Sun Kangning told me Uncle Li’s amazing—he can cook for himself just fine.”

I let out a long sigh, speaking quietly. “Over all those years, maybe you never even killed a cow, a dog, or a chicken. Facing a living person… that’s a step most people just can’t take.”

I looked at all three of them. The way their faces changed was almost fascinating. All three had withdrawn, silent faces. Blood still streaked the corner of Li Danan’s mouth and was dripping steadily onto the floor.

I glanced out the window. Snow kept falling, yet the room felt cozy and warm.

But our conversation was colder than the snow outside.

Killing someone is never as easy as it looks on TV—just waving a knife or pulling a trigger. It’s different in real life, far messier and scarier. That’s real blood, real wounds, and all the terror and guilt that comes with taking a life.

“Ever heard the old story?” I began. “A gentleman can’t bear to watch an animal die, nor stand to eat meat if he’s heard its cries. Because Uncle Li can’t see, giving him that job made perfect sense. And while we’re at it, we have to mention Uncle Li’s good friend—Sun Kangning’s father.”

My tone turned sharp. “The five of you made this plan, hiding it from everyone else. Isn’t that right?”

With nothing else to say, I let the silence hang.

We sank into a brief and heavy silence. The three exchanged glances, and finally Erxiao spoke. “Wu Meng, you’re spinning wild stories. Sure, your theory sounds nice, but what actual evidence do you have?”

I answered slowly, “Evidence? I don’t have much. But you all turned your backs on Li Danan—what more do you need? You said Gu Chen and Captain Zhou ran toward the highway. But when I arrived, except for footprints at the supermarket’s entrance, the snow around here was untouched.”

“What, did they fly away?” I sneered. “I’m already in your hands. Why keep pretending?”

Silence. Again.

Suddenly, Erxiao kicked over a shelf at the back. The crash was so deafening I had to clap my hands over my ears.

Erxiao’s face turned red with anger. “Wu Meng, we’ve played along with your act, so why won’t you just let it go? You got what you wanted, we got what we wanted—can’t you leave it at that? Go back and be your great detective. We’ll just keep living our simple lives in the village. What’s so wrong about that?”

He looked like he might cry. “I’ve wanted to sell this store for two years, but I’ve been stuck here. You tell me, what do you think I’m after? Stupid, isn’t it? I even bought a place in Dongxing City—so what am I clinging to?”

Now Erxiao was wailing, sitting on the floor without caring about his image at all.

Old Xia, face blank, stepped over and untied Li Danan. Li Danan let out a sigh, wiped the blood from his face, and stared blankly as he sat down on a chair.

He slipped back into that awkward, embarrassed look. It left me wondering whether the fierce Li Danan from before was really him, or if this was the real one. Maybe they’re both real, or neither. Sometimes, not even we know who we really are—never mind trying to figure out someone else.

So there we sat, together in silence in the supermarket.

Erxiao stopped crying, still sitting on the floor. Old Xia leaned quietly against a shelf. Li Danan sat across from me, peaceful and still.

But none of them tried to hurt me. Maybe all my earlier precautions were for nothing.

I picked up the bag of potato chips. They burn easy—makes for a dangerous weapon. If the flaming plastic stuck to someone’s skin, they’d go up in seconds. Dried plums are slippery and easy to trip someone with. And if you shook a soda hard enough to spray it at the power box, you could short out the whole building.

I sighed and said quietly, “I found out the floor under that shelf is hollow. There must be a storeroom beneath us. Right now, I bet Uncle Li and Sun Kangning’s father are down there guarding Captain Zhou and Gu Chen.”

As soon as I finished, Erxiao tapped on the shelf beside him: three long knocks and two short ones.

A moment later, four people entered from outside the store. Or rather, two dragged two others. One was Uncle Li, the other Sun Kangning’s father. Gu Chen and Captain Zhou were both unconscious.

Uncle Li might be blind, but he knew his way around this place like he owned it. Clearly, these people went way back.

When Sun Kangning’s father saw me, he gave me a smile—a bitter, weary one.

Wiping away the last tear, Erxiao said, “You got it. That day, I came back from getting supplies in the city. Found Luo Sumei in the village. She looked lost, standing in the snow. I lost control of myself.”

“Afterwards,” Erxiao explained, “Luo Sumei cried her heart out. It was snowing—nobody around—but I was scared, terrified even. I wanted to kill her but didn’t know how. In the end, I threw her into the cargo hold of my truck.”

He kept talking, tears streaming down his face. “It was around one in the afternoon when it happened. I reached the east gate at about one-thirty. I thought, if I let her go, my life would be over—ruined forever. So I called my best friends in the village.”

Looking around, Erxiao said, “These four friends—I’ve always kept to myself except with them. We’ve been together for ten years. They agreed: if we let Luo Sumei go, it would be trouble down the line.”

“But none of us knew how to kill.” Erxiao gave a bitter smile. “You’re right—we’ve never even killed a chicken, so how could we possibly know how to take a person’s life?”

Li Danan added, shyly, “That’s when I remembered a newspaper in our bathroom—it told you how to kill people. So I tore out that half page. Each of us picked a method for ourselves. Four limbs and a head—five chances in all.”

Uncle Li chimed in, “That way, all five of us had blood on our hands. No one could walk away clean.”