Chapter 377: Chapter 377: The Person Behind

We followed Uncle Chen into the bedroom, and the first thing that caught my eye was a large freezer. Now, that struck me as odd. In all my twenty-something years, I’ve never seen anyone keep a freezer in their bedroom.

“What’s this for?” Gu Chen couldn’t help but speak up as he eyed the freezer. “Even if the weather’s this hot, there’s no need to put a freezer in here, right?”

Mary chimed in with a curious tone. “This world is interesting. The thing lying flat like a box is called a freezer, while the one standing upright like a cabinet is called a fridge.”

The freezer was shut tight, its indicator light blinking to show it was still in use. There didn’t seem to be anything else unusual in the room. Uncle Chen wasn’t here to show us some quirky homeowner’s habit of keeping a massive freezer in their bedroom.

Which meant Uncle Chen’s discovery had to be inside that freezer.

I spoke up, my voice tinged with unease. “Your discovery is in the freezer, isn’t it? What’s inside?”

Uncle Chen stepped forward and opened the freezer. We crowded around to take a look, and what we saw would haunt us for the rest of our lives. Inside the horizontal freezer lay a corpse, curled up in a tight ball. A sharp, pungent smell hit us immediately, and we knew exactly what it was.

Formalin. The unmistakable stench of formalin.

By now, the formalin had solidified, frozen along with the corpse into a single mass. Over time, formalin liquid turns into paraformaldehyde, making it cloudy. That’s why we were staring at a murky yellowish substance. Still, the corpse’s features were discernible.

Judging by the skeleton, this body hadn’t been here for too long. Even preserved in the freezer, the decay was severe. Half the face was rotted beyond recognition, and patches of white bone jutted out unevenly across the body.

Coroner Wang stepped closer, his expression grim. “Looking at the overall state of the body, I’d say the age is between eight and ten years old. Given the level of decay, even stored in a freezer, this corpse has been here for at least six months.”

I pressed a hand to my temple, addressing the group. “Let’s take it back for a DNA test. We should be able to find traces of Zhang Zuochen when he was alive. A comparison will confirm if this is him. Though honestly, I’d bet it is.”

As I studied the corpse, I continued. “After Zhang Zuochen’s suicide, Zhang Zijun and Guo Limin took care of the body. The next day, it vanished without a trace. Now we know they didn’t bury him. They kept Zhang Zuochen’s body in this freezer all this time.”

Mary glanced back toward the door. Guo Limin, standing outside, could probably hear our conversation, but she didn’t say a word.

Mary spoke softly. “To keep their child close, to pretend he never died, the couple couldn’t accept reality. They lived day after day in despair, staring at Zhang Zuochen’s body, clinging to hopeless nights.”

I let out a heavy sigh, turning to Mary. “I’m afraid it’s more than that.”

I pointed at the numerous air fresheners lined up on the windowsill. “See all these air fresheners? They’re to mask the stench of decay from spreading. And those water stains by the bed—if we test them, I bet they’re not just water. They’re likely formalin residue.”

I gestured toward the bed next. “Look at the indentations on the bed. If you examine them closely, you’ll notice a pattern. These aren’t random dips. They’re consistent, almost linear, suggesting whoever lay here couldn’t turn over.”

“Which means,” I said, staring at the corpse, “on those lonely, desperate nights Mary mentioned, Guo Limin was sleeping with this body in her arms. With the weather so hot, taking the corpse out would cause the ice to melt, releasing an awful smell.”

“That’s why there are water stains on the floor and a pile of air fresheners on the windowsill.”

I continued, painting the grim picture. We could almost see it unfolding—late at night, after everyone else was asleep, a mother sitting up in bed. She opens the freezer, gently lifting the corpse into her arms. As it slowly thaws, she uses a towel to wipe her beloved son’s body.

Her movements are tender. In the first half of her life, she had never wiped her son’s body with such care. Now, she finally has all the time in the world to do so. She learns every inch of his frame, knowing exactly where others had hurt him.

Like a collector polishing a cherished antique, Guo Limin tends to him with the same devotion.

The corpse’s odor is overpowering, yet she doesn’t flinch. But to keep the neighbors from noticing, she douses the room with air fresheners. In a haze of sickeningly strong artificial scent, a mother cradles her son and falls asleep.

She whispers, “Goodnight, my son.”

She vaguely remembers the last time he replied—it was three years ago.

Zhang Zuochen’s body has been found.

I sighed deeply before speaking again. “Now all the pieces of the puzzle fall into place. Guo Limin is the killer. Her son, Zhang Zuochen, was bullied to the point of suicide. After learning the secrets hidden in his body, Zhang Zijun and Guo Limin started hunting down those responsible. They knew their son had been cruelly tormented, but a corpse can’t speak.”

I stepped out of the room, my eyes locking on Guo Limin, still seated on the sofa. Slowly, I began. “They didn’t know exactly who bullied their son. Their investigation hit a dead end, but they came up with a plan. Who was closest to their son? His classmates. Surely, one of them must know the truth.”

I sat across from Guo Limin, my voice steady. “So you turned your attention to Hu Ningning. As a mother who wasn’t always there, you knew her name. Hu Ningning was a good student in the class, and she was on friendly terms with your son—the only friend he ever mentioned to you.”

“Parents often overlook it, but children understand far more than we think. Their hearts are more sensitive, their observations sharper than any adult’s. When you grabbed Hu Ningning, there was someone else with her. His name was Li Jun, another classmate of hers and your son’s.”

Guo Limin stared at me in silence. Her gaze mirrored Zhang Zijun’s so closely. No surprise there—husband and wife, even their eyes were alike.

I pressed on. “That day, your goal was to take Hu Ningning. But you didn’t expect an extra catch. Li Jun. From Hu Ningning’s mouth, you learned what kind of person he was. I’m guessing you kept them separated, locked away. But why did you trust Hu Ningning’s words so completely?”

I furrowed my brow, staring at Guo Limin. “Hu Ningning gave you four names—four people most likely to have bullied your child. You believed her. So you started hunting them down. They tormented your child, so you returned the favor. You tormented theirs.”

I held up a single finger. “The first time, you didn’t hold back. You didn’t know where to draw the line. In the process, you accidentally killed Li Jun. You had planned to torment him longer. But after that, you abandoned such unpredictable methods for something more precise, more controlled.”

“Fists are hard to measure,” I said. “Your own strength is tough to gauge. Too hard, they die. Too soft, it’s unsatisfying. Tools, though—they’re different. What I don’t get is this: we pulled your records. Neither you nor your husband studied anything in university that matches these professional techniques. Yet somehow, you knew exactly how to do it, avoiding fatal spots.”

I glanced at Coroner Wang, then back at Guo Limin, my tone serious. “After the first time, the second time you used a fishhook. The third, a whip. Each time, you avoided vital areas. Completely different from your initial approach.”

I leaned closer to Guo Limin, enunciating every word. “Which means someone is behind you. Someone told you what to do. I’ve always had a question: why would you trust the words of a ten-year-old so implicitly? If Hu Ningning pointed at someone as your son’s bully, did you just believe her without question?”

I bent down to whisper in Guo Limin’s ear. “So taking Hu Ningning was just for show. No matter what she said or did, you wouldn’t follow her words. When you made your plan, someone was helping you from the shadows, weren’t they?”

“A man wearing a mask. His name is Wu Zui, isn’t it?”

I stared into Guo Limin’s eyes, unblinking.

“Those detailed records—if they weren’t obtained through special investigation, there’s no way you’d have them. But if you already had that information, you wouldn’t have needed to take Hu Ningning. The only reason you did was to hide the person helping you from behind.”

That catchphrase of Wu Zui’s, that signature style of his.

Months after abducting Guan Zengbin, here we are today. Wu Zui has finally resurfaced. I’ve caught a trace of him once again, but I still don’t understand. What does Wu Zui want? Why is he so determined to oppose me? This time, will I finally catch him?

Guo Limin heard my words and let out a faint smile.

“Everything you said earlier, I’ll admit to,” she said softly. “But Wu Zui? I don’t know what that is. They bullied others, so it’s only fair they get bullied in return. Except they wouldn’t take their own lives, so I had to help them along. You should thank me. Otherwise, more people might have died because of them.”

I shook my head. “What they do is their business. You’re not God. You don’t have the right to judge anyone.”

“Hahaha!”

Guo Limin burst into wild laughter. “They’re not even adults. If my son’s life is so cheap, and theirs so precious, then fine—I’m not God. I’m just a mother. A mother who did what needed to be done.”

“And besides,” she added, her voice turning sharp, “don’t you want to know where Hu Ningning is?”