Chapter 196: Pierced Through

2022-05-20

Guan Zengbin and Zhang Qinrui had just finished stitching up the corpse when we heard someone shouting outside that something terrible had happened again. The few of us hurried out to investigate and quickly learned there were more dead—two, in fact, under strange circumstances. The crime scene was already sealed off.

I asked, “Where did this happen?”

He glanced at me and Xiao Liu, then said, “Xingfu Apartment Complex—the same place where Old Wang and that child lived.”

We exchanged wary looks. For someone to die at a time like this, it meant the killer was on the move again. But since we’d already sent a team to that complex as soon as we found Old Wang’s background, how did the killer get away with more murder unnoticed?

This person clearly only knew bits and pieces, unable to answer the questions burning in my mind. I glanced at the child’s parents, then leaned in close to Guan Zengbin and whispered, “You’ve finished the child’s autopsy, right?”

Guan Zengbin nodded. “That’s right.”

I turned to Zhang Qinrui. “Zhang Qinrui, stay here and help out. The rest of us will check out Xingfu Apartment Complex.”

Without wasting time, we got in the car and drove over. Xiao Liu brought his own team along too.

In the car.

“What was going on with that child?” I looked at Guan Zengbin.

He bundled up his surgical gloves and stored them back in the custom toolkit before answering. “Cause of death was definite—fatal fall from height, spine snapped. He died around 1 a.m. today. No trace of drugs in his body, which means he was thrown off the building while completely conscious. Except, he wasn’t able to cry out.”

“Why not?” I asked.

Guan Zengbin’s face showed real sorrow. “The child’s parents were just outside, so I didn’t say it outright. The killer cut out his tongue and shoved a big stone in his mouth. When he fell from the building, the rock smashed into his teeth and knocked them all loose. It’s… unbelievably cruel.”

I braced my chin on my hand, fighting to keep my anger in check. We all knew this killer had not a shred of mercy, no hesitation even when it came to small children. Like a cold-blooded animal, all he knew was how to kill.

With a long sigh, I still said, “Old Wang’s nightmare became reality. That noisy kid is dead now, and in death he’ll never be noisy again. So—who’s the next target?”

Gu Chen, driving with his eyes on the road, chimed in, “According to the killer’s stories penned by Old Wang, there are three scenes. First, the worker caught in the machinery—no name given. Second, the widow across from Old Wang’s home. Third, the child, already dead.”

Taking in Gu Chen’s words, I said slowly, “That means the next victim should be the widow.”

Before long, we arrived at Xingfu Apartment Complex. From the car, before even getting out, we could see a crowd forming around one of the buildings. Police tape cordoned off the entrance.

We parked, and both teams rushed forward.

The whole way in, the murmurs of curious onlookers never stopped.

“I heard it was the widow on the second floor,” an older woman whispered, half-heartedly covering her mouth, but her voice carried like a megaphone.

“Really?” another woman, who clearly wasn’t from this building, replied. “Is she the one always bringing men home?”

The first woman nodded firmly. “That’s the one.”

As soon as we entered the building, an evidence guy met us at the door and led us upstairs. He was one of Team Leader Li’s men and reported to Xiao Liu as we climbed, “Captain Liu, Team Leader Li advised us to interrogate every person mentioned in the killer’s story, so that’s what we did.”

Xiao Liu nodded. “Who’s the deceased?”

By now, we’d reached the second floor. The door of Apartment 201 was open but taped off. No need to ask, the victim was clearly from this unit. Inside, our colleagues had begun photographing and processing the scene.

We ducked under the tape and stepped inside. The officer continued, “Her name is Zhou Yufeng. She was thirty-two. Her husband died in a car accident five years ago. They didn’t have any kids. According to neighbors, she didn’t have a very good reputation.”

Xiao Liu nodded along.

The officer went on, “Over the last five years, Zhou Yufeng didn’t really work—she lived off various men. When we came, she was already our first person of interest to question…”

“But no one answered the door. The longer we waited, the stranger it felt. So we forced it open, and this is what we found inside.”

He pointed toward the bedroom.

Seeing what lay inside left us all stunned.

“Judging by the scene, no one’s messed with anything yet…” Guan Zengbin said quietly.

A nearby teammate added, “We knew you’d be coming, so we didn’t touch a thing.”

Everyone nodded.

The woman’s body was on top, the man’s below.

Her corpse arched backward, held in place by a steel rod, so she stayed in the exact pose she died in—off the bed, frozen like a sculpture. The man’s corpse served as a grim pedestal beneath her, bearing her weight. In this eerie balance, they remained locked in their final moments.

Xiao Liu finally said, “Judging by the wounds, it’s clear what happened. Both of them were skewered by a steel rod—one thrust impaled them both.”

I glanced at Guan Zengbin and said, “Let’s take the bodies down.”

They nodded, but no one really knew how to start. We all stood by, helpless. Gu Chen studied the scene, frowned, then went to the bed, pulled on gloves, grabbed the part of the steel rod sticking out, and yanked it out with all his strength.

Without the rod for support, the woman’s body toppled sideways onto the bed, and a little blood trickled from both wounds.

I eyed the steel rod Gu Chen still held. It was brutally sharp, more like a broken spear than a rod. Whoever got hit by this wouldn’t stand a chance. Looking closer, the end was hexagonal, each edge cut with deep grooves for blood to flow.

I turned back to the wounds that penetrated both corpses. Each was a perfect hexagon. I figured even doctors would dread injuries like these—their shape made stitching nearly impossible, just like why triangular scrapers have always been known as the most vicious cold weapons.

Blood oozed out unstoppable from the rod’s grooves, and air would flow in, blocking the arteries. It wouldn’t take long for both victims to die. I was certain the killer made this weapon himself.

Gu Chen studied the rod. “This kind of steel bar has almost no resistance. You know how on TV, when a knife stays in someone, they’re not dead yet, but if you pull it out they die fast? That’s because those knives are smooth, no grooves.”

“But with this?” Gu Chen shook his head. “No one would last long at all.”