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Crime Scene
墨書 Inktalez
A few rays of the setting sun shone there, only to be swallowed by the endless darkness. On the crumbling concrete wall, not a ripple stirred; it felt like a coffin resting in this remote corner, filled with oppression. This was a prison that no one cared about.
"Number 1320941, Shaoshilin, you are free from today." Listening to the prison guard's low voice, which sounded like a duck's quack, my head felt heavy. I pushed open the door that seemed to have been sealed for a century, and the sunlight outside was so bright that I could barely open my eyes...
Instinctively, I rubbed my eyes and slowly opened them. The intense sunlight streamed in through the gaps in the curtains. Ever since that incident happened, I often dreamed of the past. After a simple wash and breakfast, I rode my old bicycle—making noise everywhere except for the bell—toward my workplace.
The archives were located in the southwest corner of the Public Security Bureau. Entering through the side door, I saw Old Qin, the guard in his forties, dozing off. When he noticed me enter, he didn’t even blink. I casually tossed a Yellow Crane Tower cigarette into his direction, and only then did Old Qin smile and say, “Xiao Shao, you’re here?”
Looking at Old Qin's yellowed teeth stained by smoke, I replied, “Still smoking those five-yuan Red Rivers? You old rascal earn as much as I do; why not get something better?” With that, I ignored Old Qin and headed straight for the archives. Behind me, I could vaguely hear Old Qin mumbling, “I have children and grandchildren; every penny counts…”
This place was indeed a quiet corner; hardly anyone came here. The large archive room sat quietly, with only me and Old Qin throughout the day, plus a college student who had just started interning not long ago. To be honest, what century are we in? The twenty-first century—the internet age! All files should be digitized by now. With a computer and an internet connection, if you have permission, you can find anything you want online. Why bother coming here?
However, paper documents still needed to be preserved; after all, sometimes the internet isn’t entirely reliable—it's all about double insurance. Additionally, there were case files from before the internet era that had been kept; some were older than me and lay quietly on the shelves, untouched for over ten or even several decades.
As I pushed open the door to the archive room, I found that the new intern girl had already arrived. I greeted her but noticed she was deeply engrossed in flipping through a file on the table. I thought to myself how brave she was to be alone in such a large archive room. Stepping quietly behind her for a peek, I saw that she was reading about a bizarre case that occurred six years ago in Niulan Village.
At that time, I had just been transferred to the Criminal Investigation Team, and it was my first homicide case that I personally participated in.
Niulan Village is located in the western part of Yuzhou City, surrounded by high hills. Simple farmers had lived there for generations, busy with spring plowing and autumn harvesting. There were many villages in these mountains; Niulan Village was just one of many inconspicuous ones situated on a gentle slope among hundreds of households—about four or five hundred people in total.
However, nearly half of those young adults had gone out to work, leaving behind only some elderly people and women along with small children who didn’t attend school. They spent their days playing tag around the village—quite lively indeed. On summer mornings while it was still dimly lit outside, several small kids would gather at the village entrance to play.
The adults couldn’t be bothered to supervise them. Little did they know that one day, these kids would come up with an idea: one child around seven or eight years old turned to his younger companions—who were only four or five years old—and said, “Do you know what’s in the dry well behind our village?”
As soon as the topic of the Child King was brought up, everyone began to chatter. A snot-nosed little boy said, "My grandma says there are monsters living inside, and she never lets me go near it because they eat children. Last time, my grandma even saw one herself!" Another girl, who seemed a bit simple-minded, chimed in, "That's right! My grandma told me the same thing. She said there are monsters too!" Various voices filled the air, some claiming there were monsters, others saying it was just a big bug, and some insisting that once you went in, you wouldn't come out.
In short, the adults forbade the children from approaching the dry well. This wasn't surprising; the well had been around for quite a while—at least several hundred years—and had long since dried up. Nowadays, with running water available, even the area around the well had become overgrown and neglected. The adults were merely concerned that the children might play too close and fall in, getting hurt. However, despite their warnings, no one bothered to fill in the well since nothing had happened for so long; everyone was too lazy to care.
The Child King declared, "You’re all just scared! Whoever is brave enough should come with me to check out that dry well! I want to see what this monster looks like!" At his young age, he was fearless and curious about danger.
With someone leading the way, the group of children scattered like sheep, chasing each other until they reached the area around the dry well. However, having heard so many stories about monsters, they were all a bit apprehensive and dared not step closer; they only gathered at a distance to peer inside. The Child King felt a twinge of fear as well but knew he had to show his courage at this critical moment.
Thinking of this, the seven or eight-year-old bravely called out, "You cowards! Watch me!"
As he spoke, the Child King walked toward the dry well. A few braver kids followed him closely. Near the well's edge, they could vaguely see a small path that was overgrown with weeds. Interestingly enough, it appeared that something had recently passed through; the weeds on one side of the path were bent toward the direction of the well. However, the children's attention was solely focused on the well itself; they didn't notice these details.
Slowly approaching the edge of the well, they exchanged glances but none dared to lean over and look inside. At that moment, the Child King mustered his courage and leaned forward with determination. He closed his eyes at first as if bracing himself for something unknown but then opened them.
As soon as he opened his eyes, he was startled by what he saw and let out a loud "Ah!" He instinctively tried to back away but stumbled and fell directly into the well. Although it wasn't very wide, a child of seven or eight could easily slip in; he disappeared into its depths while his cries echoed above.
The other children erupted into chaos and scattered in all directions. Many cried out in panic: "The monster got Er Mao Donkey! The monster got Er Mao Donkey!" In rural areas, children often had silly nicknames; while Er Mao Donkey sounded quite poetic as a formal name, I won’t reveal it here.
By this time, villagers had begun their daily routines—some went to work in the fields while others tended to pigs or prepared meals. No one expected that shortly after rising, they would hear a group of children crying and rushing home. Confused about what had happened, they hurriedly asked the kids for details and learned that Er Mao Donkey had fallen into the dry well. This was no small matter; upon realizing what had occurred, villagers rushed toward the well—especially Er Mao Donkey's grandfather. With his son and eldest grandson away and his wife having passed early on, he lived with this little grandson who was like a precious gem to him. Hearing that he had fallen into the well sent him into a frenzy.
A crowd of villagers quickly gathered at the edge of the dry well. Peering inside blocked by sunlight made it difficult to see anything clearly; all they could hear was Er Mao Donkey's cries echoing from below. A heavy weight lifted from their hearts knowing that at least he was alive; now they just needed to figure out how to get him out.
They tried throwing down a rope but realized that being so young and terrified, Er Mao Donkey couldn't grasp it no matter how hard he tried—he just kept crying. His grandfather was beside himself with worry when suddenly a thin man volunteered: "Let me go down! I'll tie the rope around him first and pull him up before I come back up myself."
The method seemed feasible, and without further hesitation, they decided to follow the approach suggested by the Tall and Thin Person. After an hour of effort, they finally managed to lower the Tall and Thin Person down into the well. The darkness below was overwhelming. The Tall and Thin Person tied a rope around the child, pulled on it, and with everyone’s combined strength, they successfully hoisted Er Mao Donkey up. Upon inspection, there were numerous scrapes on its body, and one of its legs was broken. All things considered, it was a stroke of luck amidst misfortune.
A few people hurriedly carried Er Mao Donkey toward the village's Health Center, while the others focused on pulling the Tall and Thin Person back up. At that moment, the Tall and Thin Person found it unbearably hot at the bottom of the well. It was the peak of summer, and even the morning air felt scorching. The stagnant air in the dilapidated well was suffocating. Suddenly, a foul odor wafted into the Tall and Thin Person's nose—truly unbearable. While preoccupied with rescuing Er Mao Donkey earlier, they hadn’t noticed it; now alone in the well, the stench was unmistakable, reminiscent of something rotting.
Could it be that a small animal had fallen into the well and its corpse was decaying? The thought made the Tall and Thin Person feel nauseous. They instinctively looked around carefully, only to be horrified—this was no small animal's corpse; it was a human body!
The corpse had already begun to rot and stink, covered by several large stones. In the dim light, they could vaguely see that the corpse's eyes seemed to be staring back at them. This sight nearly caused the Tall and Thin Person to faint in that desolate well. No wonder Er Mao Donkey had been so frightened that it lost its grip on the rope; even an adult would have been terrified out of their wits.
Just then, another rope was thrown down. The Tall and Thin Person grabbed hold of it and began to climb up with all their might. Despite the sweltering heat, a chill ran down their back. The others watched as if they had just emerged from a river; the Tall and Thin Person was drenched in sweat and trembling uncontrollably, unable to speak.
“Did you let a monster eat you?” an Old Man teased upon seeing the Tall and Thin Person’s condition.
“Damn it! Damn it!” the Tall and Thin Person cursed twice before exclaiming, “There’s a dead person down there!”
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