Chapter 353: The Other One

2022-05-20

All of us turned to look where Coroner Wang was pointing—at the little boy’s mouth.

Earlier, outside, we hadn’t paid much attention to the boy’s mouth. He’d been facing away from the sun, so his face was shaded, making it hard to see clearly. But now that Coroner Wang had us taking a closer look, we finally saw what was on his lips.

Just then, Gu Chen’s phone rang. It was a call from the principal. I took the phone and put it on speaker. “What’s going on? Did you find the child? Didn’t you say you’d taken every safety precaution? Then why has a student from Taishan Elementary still ended up dead?”

At my words, the principal sounded uneasy, his tone heavy with regret. He said, “We… we didn’t expect this either. We never thought a fourth grader would end up like this. I figured we were only looking out for the younger kids. Fourth graders are already eleven or twelve.”

I really couldn’t help but sigh at that.

The principal kept going. “People in town don’t have a strong sense of safety. Once a child is a teen, it’s nothing for them to walk to and from school alone. Their parents all have to work, so it’s normal not to have much time at home. But still… who could have imagined something like this would happen?”

I let out a breath. “Forget it. What’s done is done. Let me give you one final warning: make sure your students are safe. If a parent doesn’t show up, don’t let the child leave. Now, do you know who this boy is?”

“Yes,” the principal hurried to answer. “The child’s name is Liang Zhengyu. He’s in fourth grade, class one.”

“Didn’t his parents report it?” I glanced at Uncle Chen and went on, “Have his parents not contacted the school?”

The principal replied, “Not yet. I just spoke with his homeroom teacher, Teacher Luo. He said that Liang Zhengyu’s parents both work in the city. They’re home only late at night, around eleven or twelve, and leave again before dawn. Sometimes neither parent comes home at all, so most of the time it’s just Liang Zhengyu by himself.”

Uncle Chen looked at me and said, “Honestly, that’s pretty common in this town. Parents go to work in Dongxing City and leave their kids here. You could call these kids left-behind children.”

At that, the principal quickly added from the other end of the line, “Exactly, that’s the situation. We can’t assign a bodyguard to every single student. You need to catch the killer fast—if this keeps up, even if our school has thousands of students, it won’t be enough for the killer to get through each day!”

“So, tonight Liang Zhengyu’s parents probably didn’t come home. They think their son is home and have no idea he’s dead?”

“That’s right.” The principal said.

“And one more thing,” the principal added. “Liang Zhengyu has a younger brother—Liang Zhengkun.”

That caught all our attention. The killer’s note had given us the task to ‘find the other one.’ Could this Liang Zhengkun be the one the killer was referring to?

“And where is Liang Zhengkun right now?” I asked.

“I don’t know…” the principal stammered. “With Liang Zhengyu gone, as for Liang Zhengkun…?”

I pressed, “How old is Liang Zhengkun? What grade is he in?”

“Liang Zhengkun is nine. He’s in second grade, class one.”

I gave quick orders: “Right now, contact Liang Zhengkun’s homeroom teacher. Go to his home together and check what he’s doing this moment. Send us the address as soon as you get there—no matter if he’s there or not. Understand?”

“Understood,” the principal replied, “I’ll get on it right away.”

I nodded and quickly added, “And while you’re at it, notify Liang Zhengyu’s parents and have them come from Dongxing City as soon as possible.”

“Got it,” the principal said, “I’ll get it done immediately.”

After hanging up, our group exchanged glances. Gu Chen spoke up, “That note the killer left for us—it told us to find another one. I’m guessing it’s Liang Zhengkun.”

I agreed, replying, “But right now, let’s focus on what we can learn from Liang Zhengyu’s body.”

With that, we all looked toward Coroner Wang.

Coroner Wang nodded and began, “While you were talking, I finished most of the autopsy. Earlier, I had you look at his mouth—did you all see what I meant?”

The three of us nodded.

He continued, “There are tiny needle marks on the lips. They’re not very close together and very small; you’d miss them if you didn’t look carefully. I used tweezers and found some fine fibers—it looks like thread was pulled through. Just ordinary sewing thread.”

He paused for a moment to watch us before finally saying, “The killer used a needle and thread to sew this boy’s mouth shut.”

“Was he afraid the boy would make noise?” Uncle Chen asked.

I shook my head. “Try it yourself—if you clamp your mouth shut, you can still shout.”

Uncle Chen did just that, and sure enough his voice still carried.

Watching him, I added, “So it’s not about stopping him from calling out. Plus, there’s no one around that spot anyway, so the killer wouldn’t care if he made noise or not.”

Coroner Wang nodded. “While you were talking, I checked his tongue. The tip has needle marks too. In other words, the killer sewed his lips and tongue together.”

Coroner Wang nodded again. “I’m not sure what the direct purpose is, but coupled with the fishhooks used elsewhere, it seems the killer keeps choosing sewing-type methods.”

I frowned. “What about the cause and time of death?”

Coroner Wang replied, “Time of death was around 6:30 in the evening.”

The town’s elementary school lets out at 5:30 p.m., so Liang Zhengyu died about an hour after school ended. That means the killer abducted him in a very short window. There aren’t all that many cameras in town, and since the killer dodged them last time, it probably wasn’t hard for him again.

Given the tight timeline, the killer must have planned everything out in advance—how to capture and kill the boy. After grabbing Liang Zhengyu, he would have brought him straight to the scene. The fishing line and hooks must have been prepared ahead of time.

“Uncle Chen,” I said, “go check the stores selling fishing gear in town. With so many fishhooks, someone’s making a big purchase. See if anyone recently bought a large amount.”

Uncle Chen nodded and walked aside to make some calls.

“What about the cause of death?” I pressed.

Coroner Wang spoke up, “He died of sudden cardiac arrest.”

He shook his head and added, “That means the child probably couldn’t handle the pain, fear, and anxiety. He was basically scared to death, right there. Maybe the killer meant to torture him further, but the terror was already more than he could take. In a way, maybe that’s a mercy.”

Coroner Wang let out a long sigh. “This killer is unimaginably cruel—if he can do this to children, who knows what else he’s capable of.”

I couldn’t be sure yet, but one thing was clear—the killer wouldn’t stop here. I didn’t know how many more ‘tasks’ he’d give us, but it was obvious each one would get another child killed. Two children were already dead, with Hu Ningning still in his hands.

I had no idea what he planned to do with her in the end.

Coroner Wang went on, “Same as last time—I found anesthetic in his system. The killer must have drugged the kid before taking him away. Both times the doses were pretty high. If he’d used just a bit more, the child would’ve never woken up. So you’re right, the killer definitely isn’t a doctor or anything like that.”

“Yeah,” I said. “Anything else? Fingerprints, perhaps?”

“Nothing.” Coroner Wang replied, “The killer was meticulous—not even the fishhooks have anything left on them.”

I nodded and didn’t say more.

Half an hour later, Gu Chen’s phone rang again. It was the principal calling.

“What’s the situation?” I asked.

“Liang Zhengkun, he…”