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Chapter 44: The kitten had big ears and big eyes, staring at Lei Chi non-stop.
When the group of people and Lei Chi were reviewing the surveillance footage from the rainy night, Xiao Liu, who had visited Wang Zheng’s home with Lei Chi, noticed something unusual: two elderly individuals were seen leaving the residential area, each carrying a large suitcase.
On that day, they had briefly checked Wang Zheng’s parents’ bedroom, and it was confirmed that the two elderly people did indeed take some clothing and shoes with them when they “left home.” However, regardless of the circumstances, these suitcases certainly did not need to be loaded with their disappearing belongings. After comparing the footage, it was evident that each of the two suitcases was as large as 28 inches, and just one of them would have been sufficient to contain the clothes they had taken.
There were many possible angles to explore this suspicious point. Lei Chi discouraged the group from speculating and divided them into two teams: one team went to find Wang Zheng to inquire about the suitcases, and the other team went to Xie Shaoqian’s store to inquire about the reasons for his departure from Beijing the previous week.
However, they did not anticipate the sudden turn of events as the situation escalated from a missing persons case to a murder investigation.
According to Xie Shaoqian’s initial statement, the two elderly people were subdued by Wang Zheng at home and then placed in 28-inch suitcases before being transported to Xie Shaoqian’s residence. Although Xie Shaoqian lived in the shop, he had another residence in the suburbs, which was a suitable place for hiding due to many nearby residents having moved away. Xie Shaoqian claimed he didn’t know Wang Zheng intended to kill the elderly people at the time. He had advised Wang Zheng not to go through with it, but Wang Zheng didn’t listen. Fearing being implicated, Xie Shaoqian left immediately after bringing the two elderly people to his place. It was only later, after receiving a call from Wang Zheng, that he learned of the murder and dismemberment, with Wang Zheng threatening him to handle the aftermath.
Lei Chi’s mind was filled with various thoughts. He couldn’t help but recall the young man waiting for him at the Crisis Management Office on that rainy night: timid, creepy, and self-deprecating. In hindsight, those fearful actions may not have been entirely due to his self-loathing as a half-zombified human. After all, he had just killed his own parents; perhaps he was genuinely afraid, or maybe it was all part of his disguise.
Reporting his parents as missing, Lei Chi believed that Wang Zheng’s actions at least proved that he was very composed. Wang Zheng had been cooped up at home for a long time, but his parents were not. According to the attitudes of the neighbors in Fuxingsan village that Lei Chi had encountered previously, if Wang Zheng’s parents had been absent for several days, there would surely have been many rumors and gossip, something Wang Zheng would not be able to handle. Considering that his parents had already contemplated leaving him, Wang Zheng simply went along with it, making their departure a logical scenario.
This person was very clever and very self-assured–Lei Chi thought—but also very cruel.
In Xie Shaoqian’s initial confession, he mentioned “dismemberment.” When Wang Zheng arrived at the Crisis Management Office that day, based on the timeline, he had already dealt with his parents’ bodies. Confronted by investigators immediately after committing the crime, Wang Zheng appeared both fearful and composed, which was a contradiction that puzzled Lei Chi.
Fuxingsan village was in a state of uproar, with a crowd of onlookers. Wang Zheng was taken away by the Crisis Management Office personnel, and the local police station also had to get involved, conducting a search of Wang Zheng’s residence along with Lei Chi’s team. Wang Zheng’s room was filled with various electronic components, and the captain of the local police station’s Criminal Investigation Division picked up a pair of headphones that were placed on the bedside table. After examining them, he furrowed his brow.
“Captain Lei,” he greeted Lei Chi, “come and take a look… I mean, give it a sniff.”
It was a sleek, white over-ear headphone with only two seams on the entire unit. Lei Chi noticed the black residue within the seams and smelled it, saying, “It’s blood.”
The captain’s expression darkened. “Xie Shaoqian said the dismemberment took place at his home, so why do Wang Zheng’s headphones have blood on them?”
Without wasting any time, they called in forensic experts from the city bureau to test for the presence of luminol reactions at the scene.
Surprisingly, apart from the headphones, there was no extensive residual blood at the scene.
The headphones were collected as evidence, and the captain mumbled to himself, “Used these headphones to subdue two people? Can they knock someone unconscious?”
Lei Chi shrugged without saying a word. Wang Zheng’s computer was also seized, and he stood in the young man’s bedroom, looking around with an unusually heavy heart. The image of a half-zombified human in society was already terrible, and this case would undoubtedly deal it a devastating blow.
On their way from Wang Zheng’s home to the local police station, Xiao Liu received a phone call, turned around, and told Lei Chi, “Xie Shaoqian drove out of town to dispose of the bodies, just as we suspected. He used his five-seat minivan, which he normally used for deliveries and pickups. No one suspected a thing. The body parts were in the trunk, and they even poured some cement inside to make sure the suitcases would sink if they were thrown into water.”
Another colleague in the car was puzzled and said, “They dismembered the bodies too? Weren’t they afraid of the smell being noticed? They must have had some serious guts.”
Lei Chi responded, “It was stormy those days, with few people going outside. The smell would have been dispersed by the wind and rain.”
Xiao Liu hesitated, swallowed, and finally said in a low voice, “In fact, it’s more than just dismemberment. To prevent the bodies from being identified through DNA, Xie Shaoqian said Wang Zheng also cooked the body parts. The police are currently rushing to Xie Shaoqian’s place, and the scene… it’s likely to be quite gruesome.”
A somber silence filled the car, and after a while, Lei Chi’s colleague next to him cursed under his breath, “Damn, those were his own parents.”
Lei Chi arrived at the local police station, where many people had heard about the young man from the Crisis Management Office, who was a werewolf. As they passed by, they couldn’t help but give him a second look. Lei Chi was used to such attention and didn’t pay it any mind. He went directly with the captain into the interrogation room.
“The initial confession from Xie Shaoqian was quite prompt. He basically answered everything we asked,” the captain informed Lei Chi. “Captain Lei, I’m sorry, but you can’t participate in the interrogation. We’ll handle it for now.”
Xiao Liu grumbled quietly on the side, “It should have been your job from the beginning.”
Lei Chi glanced at him, and he quickly fell silent. “I understand. Captain Yang, can you help me ask a question?” Lei Chi said to the captain.
The captain asked, “What is it?”
Lei Chi: “It’s about the headphones.”
The captain looked puzzled. “Headphones? What’s the matter with the headphones?”
Lei Chi: “I can’t help but feel like I’ve seen those headphones somewhere before, but I can’t quite recall where.”
Compared to Xie Shaoqian’s rapid and detailed confession, Wang Zheng remained silent throughout.
After being brought back to the Crisis Management Office, Wang Zheng kept quiet, continuing to do so until Lei Chi returned along with Xiao Liu and entered the interrogation room.
Wang Zheng glanced at Lei Chi, then quickly lowered his head. He no longer needed to maintain a facade, and Lei Chi recognized this as a habitual reaction; he was afraid to make eye contact with others.
Half-zombified individuals stood out in their appearance: red eyes, wrinkled skin, pale complexion, and stiffening joints. As the virus invaded and their condition worsened, their brains gradually developed voids, leading to the loss of their ability to speak, walk, and think, leaving only their primal survival instinct: the pursuit of food.
However, there were now many types of drugs available to control the zombie virus, and they were highly effective. By strictly following a doctor’s instructions for medication and regular check-ups, the symptoms could be rigorously controlled. In internal Crisis Management Office units, Half-Zombie Human Affairs Offices, Half-Zombie Human Employment Guidance Centers, and the Half-Zombie Human branch of the National Museum, many individuals like Wang Zheng continued to work normally.
Lei Chi watched Wang Zheng, who was being questioned by Xiao Liu, for a while without saying a word.
In the Criminal Investigation Division, there were also three half-zombified individuals, each working in different positions. Perhaps because Lei Chi himself was a special individual, most of the people he interacted with were either Sentinels, werewolves, or half-zombified individuals. In a way, they were all the same kind. People of the same kind got along well, with no barriers between them, and they didn’t need to carefully choose their words when speaking.
But now Lei Chi couldn’t help but wonder if this sense of being in a safe and equal space might make them overlook the much larger number of ordinary people outside their circle.
“People like us have a hard enough time just living normally,” Wang Zheng hoarsely said.
Lei Chi knew he couldn’t fully understand Wang Zheng’s pain. He was just thinking, would Wang Zheng have it even harder compared to his three colleagues? The enclosed environment was sheltered, but it was also relatively safe.
Perhaps pain couldn’t be compared at all. No matter how small the pain might seem to others, when it happened to oneself, it was a heart-wrenching agony, something that had to be endured in silence, and those who hadn’t experienced it couldn’t possibly understand.
“The relationship between parents and children is too difficult; I really don’t understand, and I don’t know how to handle it,” Wang Zheng said in a low voice. “It’s like an endless mutual torment. I can’t forever be the capital they show off and take pride in, and they can’t give me the support and understanding I want.”
Xiao Liu asked, “Is that why you killed them?”
Wang Zheng hesitated and said, “…Not entirely.”
After the New Year, Xie Shaoqian’s store had difficulty recovering its funds, and he and Wang Zheng did everything they could. One of them borrowed money from an underground loan shark, while the other obtained a loan online using their identity card. They barely managed to get through a tough period. However, their business hadn’t improved, and they were unable to sustain it any longer. With the repayment deadline approaching, they couldn’t even come up with half of the money. At Xie Shaoqian’s suggestion, Wang Zheng remembered that his parents had sold their house in the central city to pay for his medical treatment, and there was still some money left. Xie Shaoqian came up with the idea of using that money and reminded Wang Zheng that both of his elderly parents were receiving pensions.
Upon learning of Wang Zheng’s plan, his parents were furious almost instantly.
“They said many hurtful things.” Wang Zheng stared blankly at the pen in Lei Chi’s hand. “I’m useless, a burden to them. Even though I were the real parasites, I still had the audacity to ask them for money.”
He suddenly shrank his neck, as if he had remembered something that made him uncomfortable.
“…My mom said something.” Wang Zheng’s wrinkled face trembled, as if he wanted to laugh, but his mouth drooped on the other side, and he gritted his teeth. “I told her that I could support myself just fine, and I didn’t need much, just 50,000 yuan. I could pay it back in a month. I asked them to trust me this once. She looked at me and said, ‘You’re not even human anymore; why should I trust you?'”
Wang Zheng wanted to scratch his face, but his hands were shackled and couldn’t be raised. He swayed on the stool and looked at Xiao Liu and Lei Chi. “She said I’m not human, so what am I then? Ha.”
Xiao Liu glanced at Lei Chi, who had remained silent, and continued with the questioning.
“So, did this plan kill them after this incident?” Xiao Liu asked. “Xie Shaoqian said he tried to advise you.”
“He didn’t advise me,” Wang Zheng calmly replied. “He told me about a suitable place for dealing with trouble and reminded me to ask for the password to their pension accounts before taking action.”
In addition to the money left over from selling the house, Wang Zheng and Xie Shaoqian also needed his parents’ pensions. Therefore, the two elderly people couldn’t die but had to disappear, pretending to be temporarily cut off from their son. Wang Zheng had purchased the suitcases himself, and he told his parents that Xie Shaoqian was planning a trip to Hong Kong and needed to bring back some duty-free goods. His parents didn’t suspect the purpose of the suitcases. Even the idea of cooking the body parts was Xie Shaoqian’s suggestion to make it seem like they had disappeared completely. Xie Shaoqian even voluntarily suggested driving the suitcases to another city to dispose of the bodies more perfectly.
“He told me to take out all the money, and we would split it fifty-fifty,” Wang Zheng said. “I agreed. When we discussed these matters, I recorded everything. You can find these voice recordings on the data disk on my computer.”
Xiao Liu noted down everything he said.
“…So, shortly after the New Year, did you already have the intention to carry out the plan?” Lei Chi continued to ask.
“I’d thought about it for a long time,” Wang Zheng replied calmly, as if narrating a story. “They were always dissatisfied with me, starting when I failed the college entrance exam. Even after I got infected with the zombie virus, I didn’t want to move. But they felt ashamed. I was the victim; what was there to be ashamed of? But they didn’t think that way. After moving to Fuxingsan Village, I lost touch with my friends, and there was no suitable place for people like us to work over there. Apart from staying at home, where else could I go?”
He grew increasingly angry.
“In our old neighborhood, at least others knew how I got infected. Fuxingsan Village was full of gossip and rumors about everything. They didn’t defend me; they scolded me when they came back. They said it was my lack of discipline, that if I hadn’t failed to get into a good university and couldn’t find a good job, I wouldn’t have had to work as a door-to-door salesman and wouldn’t have encountered such a situation, dragging the whole family down…”
He spoke too quickly and coughed several times. Gradually fibrosing vocal cords and a reduced swallowing function made it difficult for him to speak. He took a few breaths and closed his mouth.
“How did you carry out the act?” Lei Chi asked again.
It had been raining continuously for several days, starting off intermittently and then gradually intensifying. After Wang Zheng and Xie Shaoqian agreed to carry out their plan, Wang Zheng mixed sleeping pills into the tea at home, making both elderly people drink it. When both of them were unconscious, Wang Zheng put them into separate large suitcases and waited for Xie Shaoqian’s assistance. Xie Shaoqian parked the car in a blind spot of surveillance cameras, and during the journey, he damaged several of the cameras. Wang Zheng and Xie Shaoqian, holding umbrellas and wearing hats, slowly pushed the suitcases out of the residential area. The security booth at the entrance was merely symbolic, and there were almost no people on the road. Everything went more smoothly than they had expected, and they successfully transferred the suitcases to Xie Shaoqian’s home.
During the time they waited for the elderly couple to regain consciousness, Xie Shaoqian and Wang Zheng prepared an electric cooker and a pot.
As soon as the parents woke up, they immediately sensed something was wrong and began begging Wang Zheng and Xie Shaoqian for mercy. In front of Xie Shaoqian, Wang Zheng managed to extract the passwords for their pension accounts and the regular savings account in their home.
“I told them that as long as they gave me the passwords for their pensions and savings accounts, I would let them go.”
Xiao Liu: “Did your parents believe you?”
Wang Zheng suddenly fell silent for a moment.
His face twisted strangely in the light.
“…My dad didn’t believe me, but my mom did,” he convulsed, and his voice changed. “My mom said, ‘Zhang Zhang, Mom believes you. Please don’t harm Mom.'”
Lei Chi and Xiao Liu exchanged a quick glance: Wang Zheng was wavering.
“She cried.” Wang Zheng continued to gasp. “I… I rarely saw her cry before. But she cried a lot later, especially after she found out I was infected with the virus.”
Xiao Liu asked again, “What were you thinking at the time? You eventually went through with it. What did Xie Shaoqian do?”
“Xie Shaoqian was in the room, and he urged me to hurry.” Wang Zheng lowered his head, breathing heavily in big gulps. His tear ducts had already been eroded by the virus, and crying was an extremely difficult task for him.
To make it easier for Wang Zheng to proceed, Xie Shaoqian raised the electric cooker and knocked out the two elderly people.
“…Then I put on the headphones and used a kitchen knife.” Wang Zheng didn’t lift his head; he rested it against his hands, his voice hoarse and low. “It was hard to cut… my strength wasn’t enough, and Xie Shaoqian wouldn’t help me. He said he couldn’t kill. So I did everything by myself. When I was cooking, he still wouldn’t help me, and he said it smelled too bad, so he went outside.”
Cutting and cooking took an entire day. Wang Zheng was exhausted and collapsed in a pool of blood. It was during that time that his headphones got stained with blood.
Lei Chi stood up straight. “Why did you wear the headphones?”
Wang Zheng replied, “…I needed to stay calm. It helped me stay calm.”
Lei Chi asked, “When your mom begged you, had you already decided not to kill?”
Wang Zheng replied, “I don’t know… I still wanted to, but… I was just… too scared.”
As he recalled the events of that day, he appeared increasingly distressed and agitated.
Lei Chi asked, “So, you wore the headphones to stay calmer while carrying out the act?”
Wang Zheng: “I had no choice. If I let my parents go, they wouldn’t spare me.”
While they were cleaning the scene and pouring concrete into the suitcase, Xie Shaoqian told him to act like he was searching for his parents and, if possible, go to the police station to report them missing to make their disappearance seem more plausible. The heavy rain was still pouring down, and Wang Zheng, who was still wearing his disguise, returned home as an overweight man. After taking off his disguise, he put on a black raincoat, went out, walked around the vicinity of Fuxingsan Village, and even asked a few people for directions to the police station. No one treated him kindly, but he finally reached the Crisis Management Office and met Lei Chi.
“When you carried out the act, did you ever regret it?” Xiao Liu couldn’t help but ask.
Wang Zheng fell silent for a moment, and his face started to twitch again. His voice became extremely low and almost inaudible.
“When I was cutting my mom’s throat, she woke up in pain… She couldn’t speak anymore, but I knew what she said… She said, ‘Zhang Zhang, Mom’s in pain…'” Wang Zheng started to shudder violently. “I cried as I cut… I didn’t want to… I was very sad too…”
Lei Chi scratched his head and stared coldly at the trembling Wang Zheng, then got up and left the interrogation room, letting another person take over.
The office was filled with smoke, and Lei Chi waved it away before leaving the Crisis Management Office building for some fresh air. As he stood in the courtyard, he noticed a furry little head poking out by the side door.
In an instant, Lei Chi perked up.
It was a kitten with big ears and big eyes, staring at him intently.
“Shh…” Lei Chi didn’t know how to greet the little cat, so he whispered for a while, then crouched down and waved at it. “Meow?”
He meowed in a rough manner, and the little cat’s fur stood on end. It turned and ran into the side door.
The side door led to only one office, and that office contained one person who had a little cat.
Lei Chi walked to the adjustment department and adjusted his clothes on the way. His clothes were covered in the smell of tobacco, and he wasn’t sure if Bai Xiaoyuan was okay with that.
The sand cat was sitting on Bai Xiaoyuan’s desk. When it saw Lei Chi enter, it tensed up and, with inadequate confidence, let out a meow in his direction.
Lei Chi: “…”
It’s quite amusing, he thought.
Both Tang Cuo and Bai Xiaoyuan were working diligently at their desks. Bai Xiaoyuan looked up, nodded a greeting at Lei Chi, and then continued examining the documents on his desk.
“Where’s Qin Ge?” Lei Chi asked. He did have something to discuss with Qin Ge, and it seemed that Qin Ge also had something to discuss with him. He reminded himself, ‘I didn’t come here just for the little cat.’
“He and Xie Zijing are having a meeting upstairs.” Tang Cuo raised the documents in his hand and said, “They have some work arrangements.”
Lei Chi: “There aren’t any major events recently.”
“Not too major,” Tang Cuo chuckled. “But this year, Director Gao plans to conduct a maritime screening for the various government departments and universities with Sentinel Guides.”
Lei Chi grasped the situation. “Because of what happened with Bi Xingyi?”
Tang Cuo nodded and seemed to hesitate, then said, “Well, it’s something like that. We’ve obtained some information and are currently investigating.”
Lei Chi finally seized the opportunity and turned to look at Bai Xiaoyuan and her cat. He suddenly realized why Wang Zheng’s headphones had seemed familiar to him: he had indeed seen them on Bai Xiaoyuan’s desk more than once.
“Do you also like listening to music?” he asked Bai Xiaoyuan.
Bai Xiaoyuan raised her head, looking somewhat impatient, and glanced at Lei Chi and the headphones he was pointing at. “These aren’t for listening to music; they’re our Sentinel Guide-specific white noise headphones.”
Lei Chi was taken aback and quickly said, “I’m sorry,” then picked up Bai Xiaoyuan’s headphones. These headphones were exactly the same as Wang Zheng’s, with a large “H” painted on the ear cups.
“These are high-end white noise headphones from the Soli M series,” Bai Xiaoyuan explained, cradling her cat, which had become even more nervous due to Lei Chi’s approach. “They’re not suitable for you, as they cost over thirty thousand yuan each.”
Lei Chi asked, “Why aren’t they suitable for me?”
Bai Xiaoyuan replied, “These headphones can only play specialized white noise that only Sentinels and Guides can hear clearly. You’re a werewolf, so you can only hear very faint background noise at best. They also can’t be used to listen to music, so there’s no point in you buying them.”
Bai Xiaoyuan gave Lei Chi a look that clearly said, “Don’t think about sharing the same model with me.”
Lei Chi had initially wanted to ask Bai Xiaoyuan why she needed to maintain her composure, but what slipped out was a different question. “Can half-zombified humans hear the white noise?”
Bai Xiaoyuan seemed to think it was impossible, and she looked at Lei Chi as if he had a poor understanding.
Lei Chi added, “Thank you; I’ll treat you to dinner sometime.”
Bai Xiaoyuan looked puzzled, and Tang Cuo applauded for some inexplicable reason.
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