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墨書 Inktalez
Gravekeeper
Qin Yuan held me tightly and nodded, "You know, I've been with Zhao Ke for three years. Our relationship, well, it's not exactly great, but it's hard for us to separate. It's like we've gotten used to each other. Although there's not much passion left when we're together, we never thought about breaking up. Zhao Ke has cheated on me a few times, but he quickly came back to me. Over the past year, he's been treating me really well. He's looking for an internship and has already secured a very good position. Once he graduates next year, we can get married."
I listened quietly.
Qin Yuan lowered her head, her voice a bit low but not overly sad. "I'm actually quite happy; I feel like we've finally achieved something together. But just recently, I found out he cheated again. I could smell another woman's perfume on him, and we had a fight. Yesterday was my birthday, and I thought if he came to celebrate with me, I would forgive him. But you know, he didn't show up. In the afternoon, I called him, and he sounded a bit sad when he answered. I asked if he remembered what day it was. He did. I asked if he was coming over. He said he couldn't face celebrating my birthday after cheating on me; he felt ashamed. Hearing that made me really angry. I thought Zhao Ke was just making excuses not to celebrate with me. I yelled at him, 'If you're so ashamed, then just go die!' After that, I hung up the phone and felt really hurt, so I called you, we drank some wine together, and then fell asleep."
I nodded and asked, "What happened next?"
"Then just now," she continued, "I received a call from the police station saying that Zhao Ke is dead. They want me to come in for questioning at noon. I... I don't know what happened, but I'm really scared and regretful now. I feel like Zhao Ke died because of me!" Qin Yuan finished speaking and hugged her legs as she began to cry.
I took a deep breath and said, "Alright, worrying won't help us now. Let's go check the scene; do you really think Zhao Ke would commit suicide over something you said?"
Qin Yuan paused for a moment before shaking her head. "Even though he loves me a lot, he's very flirtatious and thick-skinned; he wouldn't kill himself over my words."
"Exactly," I replied. "Let's go see for ourselves and stop worrying here."
Qin Yuan nodded and got up to get dressed. She put on a light green long dress that looked quite nice on her. As we were leaving, she rubbed her eyes and smiled at me, saying, "Song Fei, thank you for coming. But you don't need to worry; I won't hold you responsible for this. We're still good friends—just ordinary friends."
I felt quite touched that even at this moment she was concerned about my feelings. I gently patted Qin Yuan on the head and smiled back at her. "Alright then, since we're friends, let's skip the formalities and get going."
We stepped outside and took a taxi toward Zhao Ke's rented apartment.
Zhao Ke lived in the northwest corner of Donghai City; it was close to the factory where he interned. Of course, for ordinary vocational students like him, internships were often not very useful. In an era where master's degrees are everywhere and bachelor's degrees are as common as dogs, vocational students mainly rely on connections and luck to find good jobs.
When Qin Yuan and I arrived at Zhao Ke's house, the area was already cordoned off with police tape. His residence was an old single-story building, where three or four families could live together. Sharing rent like this made it much cheaper.
We walked toward the police line.
A police officer called out to me, "What are you doing? You can't go in; it's a crime scene!"
Just as I was about to respond, I saw Qin Hai rush out, looking panicked. Upon seeing me, he quickly said, "Hey, Song Fei, you're quite diligent as an Auxiliary Police officer! I hadn't even notified you yet, and here you are maintaining order."
Seeing Qin Hai eased my tension. "Maintaining order? The deceased is my friend. Let us in first."
Qin Hai nodded. "Of course you need to come in. If you hadn't shown up, I would have called you myself." With that, he pulled the police tape aside for us.
Upon seeing Qin Yuan, Qin Hai smiled and asked, "Is this your girlfriend?"
"No," I replied. "She's the deceased's girlfriend. Stop making wild guesses; let's go in and see what's going on."
"Well..." Qin Hai hesitated. "I think it might be best if this lady doesn't go in. The scene is a bit... well, let's just say it might give her nightmares tonight."
I nodded. "That's fine. Qin Yuan, wait for me here. I'll go take a look; just stay calm." With that, I walked into the room with Qin Hai.
The conditions inside the house were very basic, and Zhao Ke lived in one of the rooms that didn't even have a window. Such a room probably cost no more than a hundred yuan a month, which showed how frugal Zhao Ke was.
As I entered the scene, I was taken aback. The entire enclosed room was covered in blood—black blood. A corpse lay in the center of the room, sprawled out like a large object, surrounded by scattered chunks of flesh and even half a lung that had been cut out.
I squinted my eyes and felt a wave of nausea wash over me. As a medical student who had experienced several terrifying incidents before, I still found my stomach churning at the sight before me. No wonder when I saw Qin Hai earlier; he was wiping sweat from his forehead.
The members of the Criminal Investigation Team were taking photographs and gathering evidence.
I suppressed the nausea rising in my throat and shifted my gaze from the corpse to the surroundings of the house. The furniture inside appeared normal, showing no signs of a struggle. On the table lay a letter written in blood, resembling a blood note or a suicide note.
I inadvertently glanced towards the doorway, where I noticed a row of scratch marks on the wall to the left. Stepping over the bloodstains on the floor, I approached the scratches and reached out to touch them. They were fresh, with traces of blood still visible.
A chill ran down my spine; I knew this incident was likely more complicated than it seemed.
At that moment, the sound of police sirens echoed outside, and a figure appeared at the crime scene—it was Chen Shan. He nodded at me and then asked a member of the Criminal Investigation Division, "What have you found?"
A middle-aged man in his forties approached. "It's basically confirmed as a suicide. There are no signs of a struggle at the scene, and all the wounds on the deceased can be attributed to self-inflicted cuts with a dagger. The blood note left on the table indicates he committed suicide out of regret for cheating on his girlfriend."
Chen Shan surveyed the scene and shook his head. "It may not be that simple; doesn't this scene seem too brutal?"
The veteran detective from the Criminal Investigation Division replied, "Yes, that's what's strange about it. In previous suicide cases we've handled, victims often show fear at their last moments. Most choose methods like sleeping pills or cutting their throats; many who cut their wrists even call for help afterward because they fear death. But this victim's case is too horrific—unless he had a mental illness before his death, it's hard to imagine someone could die this way. He severed all the arteries in his limbs, and after that, he even opened his chest cavity to remove his lungs. From his actions, it seems he intended to cut out his heart as well but lacked the strength to finish."
Upon hearing this, I understood why there was so much blood at the scene.
Chen Shan nodded and then looked at me. "Song Fei, what do you think?"
"I need to think it over," I replied as I walked over to the table to examine the blood-written note. It contained just over ten words: "Yuan, I'm sorry. We'll meet again in our next life."
The note seemed quite normal, and its handwriting matched Zhao Ke's previous writing style. However, the hard paper had several puncture marks made by Zhao Ke's fingers.
I took a deep breath and turned to Chen Shan. "Brother Chen, this case is likely related to those things."
Chen Shan walked over and simply said, "Look."
I glanced at the other detectives on the scene.
Chen Shan smiled and said, "Don't worry, these are all my brothers. We often handle cases together, and encountering a bizarre case is quite normal. Everyone knows what's going on; it's just that we usually don't talk about it."
I nodded. "Just like that detective earlier, a normal person wouldn't commit suicide in such a brutal manner unless they had a mental illness. But I knew this deceased; he was a college student, mentally stable, and had a positive outlook on life. Although he might regret infidelity, he would never choose to take his own life. Also, look at this suicide note. Although the handwriting is Zhao Ke's, when he wrote it, the strokes were shaky, and he pressed down hard as if he were enduring immense pain or struggling against something! More importantly, over here..."
I moved to the window and pointed at the fingerprints on the side of the door. "The concrete wall has several fingertip marks that Zhao Ke clearly clawed out. He was evidently trying to get out of here, fighting against something. His fingers left three distinct marks on the wall, but in the end, he couldn't escape and died here."
Chen Shan sighed. He must have already known the outcome; he just wanted me to confirm it again. He waved his hand and said, "That's about it. We'll classify this case as a suicide for now. Song Fei, you, me, and Qin Hai will continue to follow up on this case. From a motive standpoint, the deceased's girlfriend is quite suspicious; let's find out more about her."
"Uh, it can't be his girlfriend," I immediately replied.
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