Chapter 293: The Shadow in the Photograph

Looking at Lü Xiangyang’s bruised and swollen face, I really didn’t know what to say. Right now, the best thing to do was to quickly notify his family so they wouldn’t worry. Come to think of it, if it weren’t for what happened with Lü Zhiqiu, we wouldn’t have even realized that Lü Xiangyang was missing. Maybe it’s fate, but in some strange way, Lü Zhiqiu is still watching over her little brother.

With that thought, I turned to Gu Chen and said, “I’ll leave Lü Xiangyang’s situation to you. Contact his parents for me. Best to call the police too, though from the looks of it, he’ll probably just move somewhere else.”

Gu Chen nodded, then glanced toward Zhao Mingkun and said, “I don’t know what’s really going on here, but let me make one thing clear—if so much as a hair on Wu Meng’s head is harmed, you’ll answer to me. Got it?”

Zhao Mingkun snorted coldly. “What’s done is done. Let’s go.”

I wasn’t sure how I felt, but I spoke up, “It’s fine, Gu Chen. I’m safe for now. Don’t worry. She’s keeping me alive for a reason. By the way, now that we’ve found Lü Xiangyang, I need you to run a check on someone. I’ll send you their info soon. With Mary’s help, we’ll probably dig up what we need pretty quickly.”

Gu Chen nodded again, but his eyes never left Zhao Mingkun.

Zhao Mingkun said, “You’d better stay put. You’ve probably heard about my reputation.”

“You’re ruthless—a killer,” Gu Chen shot back.

“Exactly.” Zhao Mingkun replied. “So don’t try anything stupid.”

With those words, Zhao Mingkun pulled me back with her. We backed out of the area, and she stuck the spare key into the ignition, revving up her motorbike before roaring off into the distance.

Just as I opened my mouth to speak, Zhao Mingkun cut in abruptly. “I told you long ago—we’re nothing alike. Once we get your little girlfriend out, we go our separate ways. After that, let’s never meet again.”

Right then, I felt the distance between us growing wider and wider.

When we got back to Zhao Mingkun’s new place, the night passed quietly. Sometimes, it’s only when you haven’t lived through something that you believe the world is all sunshine and roses. But when reality bites, people turn out to be lonely and selfish. When it comes down to it, everyone just loves themselves the most.

I sent Gu Chen a text, telling him not to worry about me, and also asked him to check up on someone’s background.

If Lü Xiangyang isn’t the killer, and Gu Chen manages to find a lead on this new person, maybe we’ll finally pin down who the real killer is. All the different clues are starting to line up in my mind—a chain coming together. The killer’s methods, their motives, even how quickly they strike.

Of course, I still don’t understand every detail. Like, what exactly did the killer do to make these people die even when she wasn’t at the scene? How did she pull that off with such precision?

It’s like we’re standing at the door to the truth, just waiting for Gu Chen to unlock it.

Even so, we still haven’t figured out who killed Lü Zhiqiu seven years ago. Out of the thirteen people involved, we’ve been able to rule out quite a few, but there are still several who can’t be cleared just yet. Right now, the only ones we can definitely cross off the list are Luo Ding, Wang Yikai, and Yang Licheng. As for the rest, there’s no way to know if they ever left to meet Lü Zhiqiu, since that was a long, endless night.

The next morning, Zhao Mingkun didn’t wake me up early, so I slept straight through till noon.

When I walked out of the room, I found Zhao Mingkun just sitting there, staring into space. Her eyes were fixed on the ceiling, lost in thought. Sirens blared and car engines rumbled outside the window, but Zhao Mingkun didn’t even flinch. Everything was so still, it felt like I was the only other person left in her world.

I could see nothing but loneliness and sadness in her eyes.

Finally, she noticed me and asked, “You’re awake?”

I nodded.

She spoke again. “So, what exactly should we do today? We’ve questioned all thirteen people once already. Now, nine of them are dead. Including Hu Pei and Liu Ruijie, that makes eleven. Just four left who aren’t in immediate danger: Zhang Xue, Zhao Pingjuan, Zhou Moli, and Liang Mei, although we still can’t reach her at all.”

Yet another day had passed. Who knew how those three people were doing or whether they were even still alive?

I turned to Zhao Mingkun. “You’ve got those three people’s phone numbers, right? Try calling to check in on them.”

Zhao Mingkun nodded.

We called each of the three. Thankfully, they all picked up, which was a huge relief—if anything, the killer was moving so fast it was hard to keep up. Over the phone, the three women told us they planned to leave Dongxing City today for other cities and would only come back once the killer was caught.

Even their escape plans were different—one was flying, another taking the train. There’s just no way the killer could take out all three in such a short window, not unless they had superhuman skills. It was obvious the three were truly scared; within just a few hours, they’d wrapped up work and were gone. Talk about quick.

I had Zhao Mingkun remind them to be careful, over and over again, before finally letting her hang up.

The call had barely ended when my own phone started ringing. It was Gu Chen.

“Any news?” I asked.

Gu Chen said, “Yeah. Remember that photo of a person’s head you sent me? I passed it on to Mary. She said she spotted a shadow in the image.”

“A shadow in the photo?” I asked, surprised.

“Right. The photo quality was awful, and it was taken at night, so under normal circumstances all you can see is a fuzzy human head. But when Mary used professional tools to enlarge it without distorting anything, she found a shadow hiding behind one of the columns in the corner of the image.”

From that photo, Lü Zhiqiu was clearly already dead. The killer had placed their feet on either side of her severed head and snapped the picture from above. But why take the photo? And how did it end up on Liang Mei’s computer?

What’s Liang Mei’s connection to what happened seven years ago?

I hurried to ask, “So, can you see who’s hiding behind the column?”

“Not clearly. Mary said the killer wasn’t zoomed in, so when they took the picture, they accidentally caught part of someone half-hidden behind the pillar not far away. Whoever took the photo probably didn’t notice, since it wasn’t a great hiding spot.”

I frowned, but then a new thought struck me.

We’d found that photo on Hu Pei’s swapped phone, but the image was nothing like as clear as the one on Liang Mei’s computer. So did Liang Mei send the clear photo to the killer out for revenge? And who switched out the phones? What was the point of that?

Also, when the killer took the photo and caught part of another person in the shot, would they have noticed that shadow when they looked back at the picture? If so, might they have tracked down that person from seven years ago to exact revenge, too?

Could it be that, by chance, the killer from seven years ago spotted this secret in the photo and started targeting those original thirteen survivors? Which means the killer has to be one of them. Does that mean the one who killed Lü Zhiqiu and the one killing the others now are actually the same person?

Obviously, the killer can’t have killed themselves. So the prime suspect is one of the four still alive. And if I had to bet, I’d say Liang Mei is the most likely.

One shadowy figure captured in a photo has made the case more confusing than ever. Who took the picture? Who was hidden behind the column? Are the killer from seven years ago and the current murderer connected or even the same person? The truth is getting harder and harder to figure out.

“Alright,” I said. “Keep Mary on the trail of that person I told you about. If anything pops up, let me know right away.”

“Will do!” Gu Chen replied. “Watch your back.”

“Got it,” I answered.

Zhao Mingkun turned to me. “Well? Any new leads?”

I gave a nod. “Yeah. Mary picked up a shadow in the photo, but she couldn’t tell who it was. Still, no matter who the killer is, Liang Mei knows something’s up. That picture is proof enough. And it looks like she only decided to flee after she saw it.”

Zhao Mingkun shook her head. “Liang Mei already said she was leaving when she got back from the reunion. So what happened to her at that party? Did she go just to find out who was hiding behind that pillar all those years ago? Maybe she couldn’t tell, so she decided to get rid of everyone, just to be sure.”

I frowned, because what Zhao Mingkun said made sense, but there was something that just felt off. What exactly did the killer gain by taking that photo? It seemed like such a pointless risk.

Besides, judging by the crime scene, the murder was a spur-of-the-moment decision, not some grand scheme. After killing someone, the last thing the killer would want is to stick around and take pictures. It just doesn’t add up.

It was all just too strange.