Chapter 174: Declaration of Dominion

2022-05-20

I’ve been alive for over twenty years now, and I’ve met all kinds of people with their own quirks. So a killer who likes to write little stories about their victims before striking? It honestly doesn’t seem that strange to me anymore.

But in a city as sprawling as Dongxing, home to twenty million people, finding someone cloaked in black is anything but easy. I’m sure Old Bai only came to us after exhausting all the usual avenues—surveillance and such turned up nothing. Someone as capable as Team Leader Li wouldn’t have overlooked the obvious.

In other words, either the apartment complex’s surveillance was sabotaged, or the killer managed to avoid the cameras. Yet Xiao Lu seems to have seen the killer—or maybe, the killer let Xiao Lu see them on purpose.

I closed my eyes, and a vivid image flickered through my mind. A man with deep, dark circles under his eyes, as if he never sleeps. He’s got a certain flair, loves reading—especially serious literature—and keeps a cactus as his friend.

He avoids mirrors, yet he’s tall and striking, with a mixed heritage and an extreme obsession with cleanliness. He can’t stand being the slightest bit dirty.

But maybe that’s just one side of him.

And in a city as huge as Dongxing, there must be more than a few men like that.

Guan Zengbin spoke up, “We’ve been talking for a while, but we still haven’t looked at the two bodies. Maybe we’ll find something new if we do.”

Team Leader Shao replied, “No need. The autopsy reports are already in. Both victims had their throats cut. The first was Zhao Kaifang, and the second was Luo Xiaolu. They lived in the same complex—Dongchang Apartments, Phase I, Building 5. One lived in Unit 402, the other in 502. Zhao Kaifang was in 502, Luo Xiaolu in 402.”

As he spoke, Team Leader Shao glanced at me. “Wu Meng had it right just now. According to Captain Li and the others, the killer did enter the victims’ apartments.”

Guan Zengbin asked, “Was there any sign that the women were assaulted?”

Team Leader Shao looked down at the autopsy report on the desk. “No. Forensics found no signs of assault on either of them.”

“DNA analysis turned up nothing in our database, which means the killer has never left any traceable record before,” Team Leader Shao said, worry creasing his brow. “In my experience, once someone like this starts, they won’t stop until they’re caught, no matter how many years pass.”

Gu Chen sounded surprised. “Really?”

Team Leader Shao slapped the table. “The killer will keep going, and won’t leave Dongxing City. With twenty million people, that’s twenty million potential stories.”

Guan Zengbin grew anxious. “But how can we possibly predict the next target? With so many stories posted online, we can’t track them all down. And if the killer hides their IP as well as this time, we might once again only know the story after another body’s been found.”

I nodded slowly, working through the logic. “The killer is declaring their dominion.”

“The next victim is likely to be a single young woman,” I said.

“Let’s check out the crime scene,” I added.

Everyone nodded in agreement.

This case isn’t just about keeping Dongxing’s single women safe; it’s also about whether we get transferred back to Dongxing. We were determined to give it our all. But when we arrived, there was already another team on site—led by someone we knew well, Xiao Liu.

It’d been months since any of us had seen Xiao Liu. Seeing him now stirred up complicated feelings. When he saw us, Gu Chen ignored him and walked right in. I greeted Xiao Liu, and he quietly smiled back.

“You all go upstairs first,” Team Leader Shao said to us.

I glanced at Team Leader Shao and then at Xiao Liu. After all, it was Shao who’d trained Xiao Liu himself. Running into each other again must have brought up old memories, but we didn’t want to get dragged into their mentor-apprentice business. We headed up. Everyone has their own motivations and choices, and as long as it doesn’t hurt anyone, let them be.

Since the case was going nowhere, Team Leader Li had Xiao Liu come back to do another sweep of the scene for anything overlooked. They’d just arrived, and before they left, they’d warned building management not to touch a thing in either apartment. Everything had to stay exactly as it was after the deaths.

We went to the first victim’s home—Zhao Kaifang. Both Zhao Kaifang and Luo Xiaolu worked similar white-collar jobs, doing the standard nine-to-five grind. Neither had a boyfriend; each rented their own place in the same complex.

I nodded. That story told us one thing for sure: the killer must’ve staked out the place for a long time. This wasn’t random—he had a meticulous plan. Any slip, and reality wouldn’t line up with his story.

For example, if Luo Xiaolu had moved a boyfriend in with her, the killer wouldn’t have had the chance to strike.

But that’s the part he couldn’t control—so maybe the stories are just clues, just hints at who’s next, not a strict blueprint for the crime. Which means there must be more to the story.

I’d already stepped into Zhao Kaifang’s apartment, taking in the scene. We slipped covers over our shoes, and every step across the wooden floor made a loud creaking sound—almost painfully obvious. You really have to walk barefoot in these kinds of places.

The layout was the same upstairs and down, so Zhao Kaifang’s bedroom was directly above Luo Xiaolu’s.

When we drew the heavy curtains, the room dimmed almost instantly.

We switched on the UV lamp, and a galaxy of tiny spots glittered across Zhao Kaifang’s bedding. Under the purple light, these traces were impossible to miss.

One of the team went pale and stammered, “This… this can’t be right.”

I shot him a look. “What’s wrong?”

He managed, “When we checked last time, there weren’t this many! Why are there so many glowing spots now?”

[An advertisement for a novel website was here.]

I frowned but said nothing, grabbed the UV lamp and headed down to 402.

We repeated the process, and saw the same thing—Luo Xiaolu’s bedsheet was covered in glowing traces, way more than we’d found before.

Pulling back the curtain, I glanced at the garden, where patches of snow still hadn’t melted. “After your first check, did anyone replace the locks or have building management keep watch over this building?” I asked.

They shook their heads.

An ugly truth dawned on me. “The killer must have come back—checking his territory. Judging by all this, it didn’t happen in one day. He’s been returning, again and again.”

“The killer keeps coming back?” Gu Chen asked, surprised. “Then couldn’t we just stake out the place and catch him?”

I shook my head. “It’s not that simple, but we should assign people to keep watch just in case. See, most people would never expect a killer to return to the scene—that’s ‘hiding in plain sight.’ But he did come back, and he left traces behind. If we’d skipped this second check, we’d have missed all of it.”

“What about surveillance?” I asked.

They shook their heads again. “The network system was hacked, and all the footage was wiped. No images of the killer exist.”

I scowled and kept staring out at the snow. In those icy drifts, I could almost see a grinning face. That was our killer: lurking in the darkness, thrilled he’d gotten one over on us. Right now, in some cold or warm, hidden corner, he’s probably writing his next dark tale.

There’s no way he’ll stop now.

He’s hiding among us.