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墨書 Inktalez
The sky had completely darkened, and the heavy blackness seemed to press down on his chest, suffocating and despairing.
Hao Hongtao lay on the bed in the detention center, staring out the skylight at the outside world. The starless sky suddenly filled him with sadness.
He turned over and sat up, pulling a pack of cigarettes from his pocket. He took one out and fished a box of matches from beneath the blanket.
Scratch...
The match ignited but quickly went out.
He struck a second match, but it extinguished as well. Then came the third and fourth matches, both failing to light.
Impatiently, he cursed and tossed the matches onto the bed before lying back down, only to sit up again moments later.
This back-and-forth continued several times as he felt increasingly restless. He picked up a match once more, and this time it lit on the first try.
He took a deep drag and slowly exhaled the smoke. He attempted to blow a smoke ring but failed after several tries, shaking his head in frustration as he continued to gaze out the window.
There was no clock here, so he had no idea what time it was. However, tonight there were no stars or moon; in the pitch-black cell, only the glowing tip of his cigarette flickered in and out.
After finishing the cigarette, he lay back down. The feeling of restlessness faded away as he closed his eyes, preparing to sleep.
But after a long while, he still felt no drowsiness.
He turned over, facing away from the outside, trying to cultivate sleep again. Suddenly, a cold breeze swept through, causing him to shiver involuntarily.
"Damn it, why is it so cold?" He pulled the blanket that he had kicked to the side back over himself.
However, the cold did not diminish; instead, it grew colder, as if he were lying naked in the snow during winter.
He turned over and suddenly came face to face with a pale face.
"Ah!"
He let out a scream and sat up abruptly.
There was nothing in front of him.
He exhaled. Was that just an illusion?
He reached out his hand and groped at the edge of the bed.
Suddenly, his hand touched a cold object. It was too dark to see anything, so he relied on instinct, continuing to feel around until he picked up the cold object and brought it closer to examine it.
Upon closer inspection, he was immediately terrified, nearly losing his mind. He forcefully threw the object away because it was a human finger.
Panic-stricken, he sat on the bed, gasping for breath.
After a few minutes, he slowed his breathing and muttered, "Damn it, I refuse to believe there are really ghosts in this world."
With that thought, he felt braver. Although his heart was still racing, he groped his way out of bed. The moonlight streamed through the skylight, instantly brightening the room and allowing him to see what was in front of him.
He searched for the object he had thrown away earlier, thinking it might have been a cigarette since it was too dark for him to see properly.
However, after searching in the corner for a long time, he straightened up and wiped the sweat from his forehead.
At that moment, he suddenly felt a gaze piercing through him, causing his recently relaxed body to stiffen once again.
His heart raced like a drum!
He turned his head sharply, but there was nothing behind him.
Yet, the feeling of dread lodged in his throat remained, as he could still clearly sense a hateful gaze fixed on him.
His legs began to tremble, and he found himself kneeling down.
“Zhuo Man, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to. It was Qin Yu; it was Qin Yu who made me do this.”
He actually started to cry.
Looking up, he saw a shadow on the bed.
Fear widened his eyes once more as he finally recognized it was a woman, her long hair spread across his bed, and then he saw her pale face.
She walked with her head!
Hao Hongtao became even more certain that the woman on the bed was Zhuo Xiaoman. He knelt on the ground, desperately bowing his head and pleading for mercy.
Then the woman on the bed began to laugh loudly, her laughter sharp and piercing, like the wails of ghosts.
Hao Hongtao pressed his ears tightly, but the sound seemed to emanate from deep within his heart.
“Zhuo Man, I’m really sorry!”
He forced himself to say those words.
The woman on the bed suddenly stopped laughing, and a large amount of blood began to flow from her mouth, staining his bed a deep red.
She jumped off the bed with a thud, and if she were an ordinary person, that impact might have killed someone on the spot.
Then, the woman began to hop directly toward him. He moved back in terror, but after just two steps, his back was pressed tightly against the wall.
“Please, let me go! It wasn’t my intention. Look at me; I’ve already been punished. I beg you, spare me.” Hao Hongtao knelt on the ground, desperately bowing his head repeatedly, each thud against the floor causing blood to flow from his forehead. Tears streamed down his face, which twisted into a terrifying grimace.
Zhuo Xiaoman stopped about a meter away from him, her eyes wide open as she seemed to peer into his soul.
He continued to bow his head against the ground, the sound dull and heavy.
Suddenly, a pair of pale hands wrapped around his neck. He widened his eyes in horror and opened his mouth to gasp for air. The arms drew closer, and the air he could breathe became scarcer. Each difficult breath felt like it would pop his eyes from their sockets.
Abruptly, those arms forcefully pressed his head down toward the ground.
With a thud, Hao Hongtao nearly lost consciousness, stars dancing in his vision.
The arms around him slowly loosened, and then a pale hand appeared before him. He could even see the pores on that pale hand, tiny beads of blood seeping from them and gradually growing larger until they dripped onto the floor with enough weight.
He stared wide-eyed at the long nails just a few centimeters away from his eyes. Suddenly, that hand flipped over, and the nails plunged brutally into his eye.
He screamed like a slaughtered pig, immediately covering his eyes with both hands, and then one eyeball slipped into his palm. He looked at his own eyeball with the only eye he had left.
"Ah..." he screamed loudly, but no one came in from outside; everything felt so bizarre.
Suddenly, he went mad, scratching his face wildly with his hands until it was covered in blood. In the end, he even forcefully jabbed his fingers into the socket of his other eye, gouging out his eyeball and laughing maniacally.
A large amount of blood flowed from his mouth, staining his shirt red. In less than a moment, he had turned into a blood-soaked figure. Then, his laughter turned into a silly giggle. Immediately, his hands grabbed at his lower body and pulled hard as if he felt no pain, still giggling. He then tossed aside what he had torn off and collapsed limply to the ground.
The next day, the sun had just risen.
The guards were carrying food towards the cell.
"Ah..."
A scream echoed from within the cell.
Hao Hongtao's body had already stiffened; he lay in the center of the cell, still holding his two eyeballs in his hands. Blood splattered everywhere, creating a scene that sent chills down one's spine.
"What was the cause of death?"
"Excessive blood loss. I think he gouged out and tore off both of his eyeballs and his genitals himself."
"Captain, there are no footprints from anyone else at the scene. Strangely, it seems he knelt down to plead with someone; there are signs of wear on the knees of his pants, but no signs of a struggle." Jiang Jie reported the findings to Captain Xing.
Captain Xing nodded and slowly walked around the cell, but found nothing.
"Let's move the body first!" He then looked at the officer guarding the cell and asked, "Did you hear any sounds from inside here last night?"
Both officers shook their heads, saying no.
Captain Xing could tell with a glance that they had likely been slacking off and sleeping last night; otherwise, they wouldn't have been unaware of what was happening in the cell. A person could not possibly gouge out their own eyeballs without making a sound, and the scene was so bloody it resembled a scene from an American blockbuster—anyone, no matter how strong, would feel chills at the sight.
"Captain, we didn't find his genitals."
How could that be? It was like a locked room mystery; the door was locked with only two keys—one with the guarding officer and the other with the Warden. The officer's key was safely on him, and there were no signs of damage to the lock. Who could pass through walls, kill him, and take away his genitals? That was completely impossible.
"Search again and see if you can find anything."
The officers searched the entire room but found nothing and ultimately had to give up.
Captain Xing sat in his office, frowning tightly. This case had too many inexplicable aspects. Even in a locked-room murder, there would eventually be some flaw exposed. However, after reviewing the entire case, he found no breakthrough. The fact that a prisoner was killed in their cell was a tremendous disgrace for the police unless it truly was a suicide!
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