Chapter 363: Guo Li Has Been Taken

2022-05-20

The three of us stepped inside the apartment, only to be greeted by a sight none of us expected. In the brief moment before entering, I’d imagined countless scenarios, preparing myself for anything. Somehow, this possibility had never crossed my mind.

The bedroom was completely empty. Not a single person. Not even a trace of a body. We exchanged baffled glances. There was a large wardrobe in the room. When Gu Chen opened its doors, it turned out to be empty as well—no grisly scene, no blood, nothing. Not even a shadow of anyone.

Gu Chen checked under the bed just in case, but found nothing there either. After coming up with nothing, Gu Chen looked completely at a loss. He asked, “Why did the killer lure us here this time? Before, there was always a body. Now there’s nothing—not even a corpse.”

I frowned, thinking it over for a moment before I finally spoke. “From what I can figure, the killer didn’t leave himself much time this time. If he wanted to avoid being caught, then clearly this place wasn’t a good spot. The killer must have moved Guo Li somewhere else. That’s the only explanation.”

With that, I headed for the door and called out to the principal. “Don’t just stand there. The killer’s long gone. You should contact Guo Li’s parents as soon as possible.”

The principal looked at me, then slowly said, “Alright, I’ll reach out to her homeroom teacher and have them notify her family.”

Mary chimed in, “But the killer told us on the phone to come here and have a look around. That means he must have left us a clue of some kind, right?”

I nodded. “Exactly. Every other time, the killer left us a note with instructions. I have no doubt today is the same. There’s a message somewhere—let’s find it.”

Everyone agreed and said, “Got it.”

We split up to search for a clue, focusing on finding a small slip of paper.

Half an hour later, the principal found me. “I already got in touch with Guo Li’s parents,” he said. “They’ll be here soon. I didn’t tell them the details yet—they should arrive in about half an hour.”

I nodded. “Good. You did the right thing. No need to get too specific for now.”

While I was talking with the principal, Mary had managed to find a hidden note.

Mary announced, “Found it. Here’s the note—it just says, ‘Why?’”

“What do you mean?” I asked. “What exactly does it say?”

Mary pressed the note into my hand. “See for yourself. It’s written right there.”

I took the note from her and looked down at the few words scrawled on it. In fact, there were only three—just: Why.

From the moment we’re born, each of us asks the world questions—why is this, why is that. We ask those around us. We ask ourselves. Now the killer was asking us that most direct question: why. But what exactly was the killer getting at with this question? What did he want answered?

“Why?” Gu Chen and the principal read out loud in unison.

I shook my head. “With what we know now, we have no way of guessing what the killer’s really after.”

I went on, “Let’s keep searching. The killer’s notes always follow a pattern. He’s not just trying to stump us with some unsolvable riddle. That means there’s a real clue hidden here somewhere, otherwise we wouldn’t know where to start.”

“Keep looking,” I ordered.

The rest of the group got busy searching.

I wandered through the room, keeping an eye out for anything that might point us toward an answer. Given how the killer had left us clues before, it probably wasn’t going to be too complicated. The clue had to be about Guo Li, and if so, her bedroom was the best place to look.

I said to the other three, “Let’s start with Guo Li’s room. The clue might be in there.”

When we’d searched for a body earlier, we’d looked through every bedroom. I could tell at a glance that the two rooms had very different styles. One was cold and sparse, while the other had a girlish touch—the second one was clearly Guo Li’s.

That was the room Gu Chen had kicked open earlier.

We headed back in and this time paid close attention to every detail. I stood by the door scanning the whole room. The window was shut tight. In the middle of summer, with the weather so hot, that didn’t add up.

Looking clockwise around the room, I noticed the wardrobe Gu Chen had opened. All it held were clothes. Next to it sat a crammed bookshelf, filled with things like charging cables, stacks of tissues and even a bunch of empty bottles—just about everything except books.

As soon as Gu Chen opened the bookshelf, all that stuff tumbled out. He quickly moved to block the falling mess, then sighed and said, “I have no idea how someone stuffed all this in here.”

Mary hurried over to help.

I said, “She probably just shoved things in wherever she could. Keep searching. With this much mess, the killer could have hidden something important inside.”

My focus shifted to the desk next to the bookshelf. Sitting on the dusty surface was a lamp with a touch switch, also sprinkled with dust. Judging by the dirt, Guo Li clearly wasn’t much for studying—she barely used the lamp.

There were a few books on the desk too, but none looked like they’d been touched.

Under the desktop were three drawers. The leftmost one was locked, but the other two weren’t. I put my gloves on and opened both. They were filled with all sorts of odds and ends—face masks, sunscreen, even scissors—just not a single book.

I rummaged through the drawers but turned up nothing useful. It looked like any secrets must be inside the locked drawer. The padlock was small and easy to break.

I took the lock in my hand—just an ordinary padlock. From my experience, breaking it wouldn’t take any skill at all. With a hard tug, it snapped open. Seemed even a ten-year-old girl had secrets of her own.

Inside, there were only a few diaries. I glanced over at Gu Chen and Mary, who were still sifting through the mess in the cabinet.

I handed a diary each to Gu Chen and Mary. “If I’m right, the clue to the killer’s ‘why’ is hidden in these diaries. Let’s take a look.”

Gu Chen noticed the little lock I’d set on the desk and commented, “This thing could barely keep a secret. It wasn’t hard to open at all.”

I agreed, “Exactly. Even I could pop it open. If her parents ever wanted to snoop while she was at school, this lock wouldn’t stop them. But her parents never seemed to have the time. If the school didn’t require parents to pick up their kids, I doubt they’d bother showing up.”

“Let’s see what we’re dealing with,” I added.

Just then, voices sounded from outside. The principal called out, “Guo Li’s parents are here.”

I handed my notebook to Mary. “See if there’s anything useful in here. Skip anything irrelevant.”

They both nodded.

I stepped out of the room where the principal stood with a man and woman. Their clothes and demeanor suggested they had decent jobs. Compared to Liang Zhengyu’s parents, these two seemed much more composed.

The principal glanced at me. I nodded and started, “I need you to listen closely to what I’m about to say. First, your daughter has been taken. Second, her situation right now is extremely dangerous.”

Before I even finished, their faces drained of color.

I continued, “We still have a chance to get her back. But I need you to tell me what you know instead of panicking or crying. Wasting time won’t help us—do you understand?”

The man replied, “Alright, just ask whatever you need. We’ll cooperate.”

I gestured for them to sit and said, “Based on the evidence we have, the killer may have targeted your daughter because she bullied another student.”

“Did that happen?” I looked the two of them in the eyes.

They hesitated, clearly deep in thought, but neither answered right away.