Tick, tock.
The hour hand completed its rotation, pointing to 11.
The usually bustling Yongan Police Station was eerily quiet.
It was as if someone had suddenly pressed the pause button; everyone froze in place, momentarily forgetting what they were supposed to be doing.
Ji Mingrui held a freshly filled cup of hot water. Having pulled out his chair, he maintained a half-seated, half-standing posture: “…”
Ji Mingrui didn’t know how to evaluate the two “drowned rats” currently sitting in their office.
Xie Lin and Chi Qing were completely soaked, looking exactly like they’d just been fished out of the water. Just from this sight alone, nobody in the office could fathom what on earth the two of them had gone through before arriving here.
There were two solid wood chairs in the reception area, and the two of them happened to occupy both.
Both of them were tall with long legs; with their frames sitting there, the visual composition was actually quite harmonious.
Except they didn’t look like they got along at all. The visual harmony was a complete illusion—especially his bro, Chi Qing, who had maintained a freezing cold expression the entire time since being dragged in by the arm.
…
After a long while, the trio of rookies finally regained their ability to form words.
Su Xiaolan: “Uh.”
Jiang Yu: “This…”
Ji Mingrui: “You guys…”
The two of them appearing here in this unexpected state wasn’t the most horrifying part. The most horrifying part was another detail—the trio’s gazes simultaneously landed on the two men’s hands, which had been tied together ever since they walked through the door.
This tie… they recognized it.
It was the exact one Xie Lin had been wearing during the day when he came to deliver food to Brother Bin.
The question was…
How did this tie end up wrapped around the two men’s wrists?
“What’s… going on with you two?”
Ji Mingrui knew Chi Qing’s temperament all too well after all these years.
Let alone having his hands tied with a tie—usually, even if you stood half a meter away, he’d find you too close and complain that you were affecting his breathing.
“Can someone explain what happened?”
Ji Mingrui stared at Chi Qing. “Especially you, Comrade Chi Qing. Why are you here at this hour?”
“And drenched like this, too,” Ji Mingrui couldn’t wrap his head around it. “…Is your germaphobia actually cured? Which hospital is that amazing? I’ll go deliver a silk pennant to them tomorrow with the inscription: ‘Bringing the Dead Back to Life, Hua Tuo Reborn’.“
Chi Qing had been stared at since he walked through the door, and his patience was reaching its limit: “Ask him.”
Ji Mingrui: “?”
Chi Qing: “He knows very well what he did.”
Xie Lin: “…”
Actually, ever since Xie Lin said “Get out of the car” and saw Chi Qing’s expression, he had a vague feeling that this might be a misunderstanding. Chi Qing really didn’t look like someone “resisting arrest out of guilt.” On the contrary, he clearly hadn’t expected their destination to be the police station.
Seeing that Chi Qing knew the cop surnamed Ji after coming inside further confirmed this guess.
Xie Lin said, “There’s been a bit of a misunderstanding.”
After saying this, Xie Lin asked, “Do you have any dry towels?”
Su Xiaolan had an unopened pack in her drawer. After she handed one to Xie Lin, he directly draped the towel over Chi Qing’s head. Then, before Chi Qing could react, he went to untie the tie around their wrists.
Chi Qing instinctively tried to pull his hand back, but Xie Lin held it down firmly. “I know about your germaphobia. If you don’t want to untie it, that’s fine too. I don’t mind staying tied together with you like this indefinitely.”
Consequently, Chi Qing’s reaction shifted from direct resistance to a more enduring, tolerant resistance.
Because this knot was tied incredibly tight—the main reason being the “Fast and Furious” stunt they had pulled in the car—the dead knot had tightened under the strain until it was seamless, making it hard to even find a gap to undo it.
Chi Qing: “Can you hurry up?”
Xie Lin, his fingers resting on the tie, looked up. “You want to do it?”
…
For a germaphobe, touching someone else and being touched by someone else were both fatal propositions.
Chi Qing was silent for a few seconds before turning his head to look at Ji Mingrui: “Get me a pair of scissors.”
Xie Lin: “…”
Ji Mingrui thought to himself: Looks like my bro’s germaphobia isn’t cured after all.
And it seems to have gotten even worse.
After Xie Lin untied the tie, before he could answer everyone’s questions, Wu Zhibin called him into his office.
The trio could only cast their curious gazes toward Chi Qing.
Chi Qing was still meticulously wiping his hands with a wet wipe.
Even now, he hadn’t asked about Xie Lin’s identity. First, he didn’t care; second, it was very easy to guess.
The same went for Xie Lin.
The only ones completely baffled were Ji Mingrui and his team. Ji Mingrui waited a while but didn’t get an explanation from Chi Qing. Recalling the message he had sent Chi Qing that evening which got no reply, a terrifying guess gradually formed in his mind: “—Don’t tell me you both went looking for the primary crime scene and bumped into each other there?!”
What kind of scenario was that???
Chi Qing finished wiping his hands and said, “You’re not completely stupid.”
Inside the office.
Wu Zhibin didn’t care about this misunderstanding; he only cared about one thing: “You care a lot about this case.”
The last time he was in this same spot, he had phrased this as a question. This time, it had become a statement of fact.
“If you didn’t care, you wouldn’t go looking for the suspect.”
“Now can you tell me why?” Wu Zhibin looked at Xie Lin across the desk. Driven by a sharp intuition, he pressed on, “…Why do you care so much about this case? What exactly did you see at the crime scene that day?”
The color of Xie Lin’s shirt looked much darker after being soaked, almost approaching black. Only when he wasn’t smiling were his somewhat sharp and severe facial features fully revealed, making him look far less “approachable” than usual.
Xie Lin twirled the ring on his finger: “He might want to kill people.”
This sentence was no less than a sudden clap of thunder. Wu Zhibin stood up abruptly: “What did you say?!”
Xie Lin reached into the file folder on the side and took out the photos one by one again, arranging them in a row. The cat corpses appeared before their eyes once more.
Xie Lin seemed to arrange the photos according to a certain pattern. Wu Zhibin looked closely and realized Xie Lin had ordered them by the neatness of the wounds. From left to right, the wounds got rougher and rougher, which also meant the killer’s methods were becoming increasingly brutal.
This was a very common phenomenon.
When a killer uses violence to achieve a sense of catharsis, they lose control of themselves during the act. This is also why many murderers choose to continue mutilating a corpse even after committing the crime.
However, Xie Lin’s finger pointed in the opposite direction: “Look at them from right to left.”
Wu Zhibin took a look, his pupils unconsciously dilating.
“The times of death for these cats are too close together, making it impossible to distinguish. But another cat corpse was found today at the primary scene. When I went there, rigor mortis hadn’t set in yet. It was that cat corpse that confirmed the sequence for me,” Xie Lin explained, then added, “The people you dispatched should have arrived by now, right?”
Upon finding the scene, Xie Lin had messaged Wu Zhibin. Wu Zhibin replied, “They’ve arrived. The scene has been cordoned off, and physical evidence has been retrieved and is being sent for testing. Continue.”
Xie Lin’s hand slowly brushed over the knife marks in the photos.
“Compared to other knives, a serrated knife has a distinct pulling and tearing sensation when cutting. It allows one to very clearly feel the sensation of flesh and muscle being sliced open under pressure—Have you ever dragged a knife through meat? That feeling of resistance and forward motion can sometimes be addictive.”
Wu Zhibin frowned deeply as he listened.
“A sharp knife is generally used for a quick kill. Only someone with deep hatred would slowly savor the sensation of inflicting pain.”
“The knife marks on the first cat are very rough, cutting all the way from the trachea down to the abdomen, even pausing several times in the middle. But look at the last cat corpse: the killer even started pursuing the neatness of the incision, and the speed of the blade grew slower and slower. He’s very calm… In fact, it’s highly likely he’s practicing.”
“These are just your speculations,” Wu Zhibin said.
“There’s one more crucial point.” Xie Lin pointed to the stab wound on the cat’s chest. It was located a bit higher up, and every single cat had a similar knife wound in that area, where it had been directly pierced with a knife. “This specific wound is very unique. A cat’s heart is generally located between the 5th and 8th ribs.”
Xie Lin spoke the most terrifying deduction in a very flat, plain tone: “Only a human heart is located between the 2nd and 5th ribs.”
“…”
“Of course, these might all just be coincidences. I can only say my intuition tells me that the killer might have a different target in mind.”
Wu Zhibin thought back to the day of the incident when he called Xie Lin over to take a look. At that time, Xie Lin was also examining the knife marks just like this—ever since he was very young, this kid had been exceptionally good at starting from the criminal’s psychology.
He seemed to know how the killer split open the flesh, how he dragged the blade down bit by bit. He knew what the killer was thinking at that moment, and knew why the killer chose this type of serrated knife instead of another, more convenient, smoother blade.
With the air conditioning running in the office, he looked at Xie Lin’s profile. For a fleeting moment, he seemed to see the teenager in the school uniform sitting in the General Bureau’s conference room ten years ago.
At this time, the Bianmin Grocery store, which was open until 11:30 PM, was about to close up shop.
Someone pushed open the grocery store door.
Ding-ling— the door bell chimed.
The little boy had finished his homework. He was actually already very sleepy, yawning as he packed up his pencil case.
The sound of rain outside the window was very loud.
It almost drowned out the sound of the bell.
11:35 PM.
Inside the Yongan Police Station.
“Put down whatever you’re working on. First thing tomorrow morning, go to Haimao and continue the investigation. Do not miss a single surveillance camera near the primary crime scene.”
Ji Mingrui didn’t quite understand why Brother Bin’s expression had turned so serious after coming out of the office: “Got it, Brother Bin.”
He was getting ready to take his good bro’s statement.
Regardless of anything else, Chi Qing had shown up at the crime scene; they still had to go through the proper procedures.
Ji Mingrui scribbled on his notepad, then looked up: “Um—” He wanted to call him but didn’t know how to address him for a moment, so he paused for two seconds before saying, “Mr. Xie? Could you come over here too.”
He pointed to the empty seat next to Chi Qing: “You sit here. Let’s get both your statements done right now.”
Chi Qing shot him a look.
Ji Mingrui immediately knew what he wanted to say: “Big bro, I know these two seats are too close to each other. But I’m taking statements here, I can’t exactly have you sit here and have him sit all the way by the office door.”
Chi Qing: “He can sit here, and I’ll go to the door.”
Ji Mingrui: “…”
Bro, there’s no need for all that.
Ji Mingrui decided to skip the topic and just started asking: “You first. Why did you go out at this hour tonight?”
Chi Qing: “Because the weather is nice.”
Xie Lin listened to the sound of rain outside the window: “You think the weather tonight is nice?”
Chi Qing: “Do you have a problem with that?”
“…”
Ji Mingrui noticed that Chi Qing’s temper was exceptionally abrasive when facing Xie Lin: “Stop, stop right there. We’re doing statements, so just do the statements. Don’t fight.”
Ji Mingrui cleared his throat and continued asking: “Who threw the first punch between you two?”
Xie Lin: “Probably me.”
Chi Qing: “Him.”
Ji Mingrui: “You guys could have just talked it out. Even if you ran into each other at the scene, you could have sat down calmly and talked it over slowly.”
Xie Lin: “It’s my fault. He bought a knife… and then happened to show up at the scene, looking very suspicious. I was afraid he’d run.”
Chi Qing gave him a look: “You were holding a knife. Do you think you looked normal?”
Ji Mingrui’s mood while taking these statements was exceedingly complicated.
He wanted to say that honestly, neither of them were normal, so they really shouldn’t be acting like the pot calling the kettle black.
