Can’t Save the World by Pretending to be Dead
Chapter 3
Twenty-three years ago.
On 7 February 1997, early morning on the first day of the Lunar New Year.
It was a sunny day, the sun shone brightly and cloudsless.
Workers living on the third floor of Chang’an Fan Factory’s dormitory building No. 4 put on their new clothes and wrapped their new scarves, ready to go out to visit friends and relatives. The girl on the third floor stood in front of the iron door, her mother squatted down to tie her scarf, and the little girl’s clueless, clean eyes slowly looked upstairs.
Along the eaves of the corridor, she quietly watched and watched.
“Mummy, it’s raining red from the sky.”
“Where’s the red rain? It’s a sunny day, nonsense.”
“Red rain, look at the red rain.”
The young woman looked in the direction of her daughter’s finger, and when she saw the river of blood dripping down the wall from upstairs along the corner…
“Ahhhhhh!!!”
Ten minutes later, only two streets away, the police station police were called and arrived at the Fan Factory dormitory building.
At that time, Lao Wu was not yet called Lao Wu, he was called Wu Fang, a newcomer local police officer responsible for a particular neighborhood or community who had just joined the police station for half a year. On the first day of the Lunar New Year, all the old policemen went home to celebrate the New Year, only he and a dead woman senior were on duty in the office. When they received the alarm, they didn’t take it seriously, thinking it was some kind of neighbourhood dispute or husband-and-wife conflict.
Chang’an fan factory this area has been decades without a murder, but couples quarrel two to three days, the police often go to the door to help deal with these small matters.
Wu Fang came to the dormitory building of the fan factory with his seniors, he got off the bike and his heart was still relaxed for a while, but the old seniors were experienced. As soon as they saw the masses who surrounded Building 4, they immediately said that it was far from good.
“Xiao Wu, ready to call for support, today I see this thing is not simple.”
Wu Fang froze: “OK, I’ll go back to the office and call in a little while.”
Old Civilian Police: “Call now! Just that kiosk by the roadside, take their home phone and call!”
Wu Fang felt strange, but didn’t say anything. He ran to the kiosk and called the two police officers on duty at the police station in the next precinct to come over as well. By the time he finished the call, the seniors had already entered the Fan Factory Building Four. Wu Fang hurriedly followed, he walked in the narrow staircase, and had just reached the fourth floor when he saw his predecessor running out of a room and into the corridor.
It was 404.
There were a total of four families living on the fourth floor of the Fan Factory, 404 was closest to the stairs, and in order inwards were 403, 402 and 401.
“Uncle Zhang? What is it.”
Uncle Zhang extended a hand towards him.
Wu Fang stopped in his tracks.
The next moment.
“Vomit!!!”
At noon, the people from the city bureau’s criminal police brigade came.
The entire Fan Factory’s four dormitory buildings were all blocked off, and no one was allowed to go out.
Wu Fang, as the first police officer to arrive at the scene, saw everything that happened in that room.
Broken limbs, dim light, blood all over the room.
The man was killed by a single slash, and his body was placed on a chair by the murderer, sitting at the dining table.
On the table was a casserole with a pot of red meat simmering in it. Half of it was eaten and half was left. was like pork braised in brown sauce, but it wasn’t red meat. Because there was more meat simmering in a large iron pot on the kitchen’s gas stove, and a woman’s arm was stuck in the pot as if it were a chef’s carefully embellished decoration.
Wu Fang felt a wave of nausea.
However, things weren’t over yet.
The people from the criminal police brigade hadn’t come yet, and four of them, in the police station, pushed open the doors of the next three rooms.
“Here, there is still, here!”
“Here too!”
“I have three victims here!”
Suddenly, Wu Fang’s heart felt a chill rising from the soles of his feet.
It was freezing and piercing.
The warm winter sun could not warm it up, and the cold winter wind was not as icy as it.
The fourth floor of the fourth building of Chang’an Fan Factory.
Four families.
All killed off!
……
Now twenty-three years have passed, Xiao Wu has turned into Lao Wu, and also from a small police station community to the vice team of the city bureau’s criminal police brigade.
“Team Wu, still not going home today ah, it’s been a few days, sister-in-law don’t blame right? Haha.”
Old Wu holding an old enamel cup, brewed a cup of steaming hot black tea, full of concern: “Go home? Why go home?! The old couple looked smack! You young people understand what? Sticky all day, don’t you think it’s disgusting?”
“Team Wu, still looking at the fan factory case file ah.”
“Ai, the Fan Factory dormitory building will be demolished next week, you know?”
“I know, I know.”
Wu: “Really can not look into it…?”
Small criminal police: “When the dormitory building workers went to the spectators, they made a mess of the scene. Moreover it did not collect any useful clues. Hard to say, Team Wu heard that back then you proposed to start with the victims in room 404?”
Old Wu: “The proposal was useless, as usual, nothing was found out.”
The young detective muttered, “But I think what you said is the right one!”
Old Wu rolled his eyes.
Investigate, of course you have to investigate.
But it couldn’t be investigated back then, and it’s even more difficult to investigate now!
This is not like the Silver Case, the big case in the Northwest that was solved a few years ago.
The murderer in the Silver Case left his semen behind, and it was limited by the lack of DNA technology and databases back then that he didn’t find it. But the fan factory dormitory building this murderer, to the contrary having the good luck, the scene, it was good since it was destroyed clean by the crowd, since they did not leave any useful evidence.
Could it be that this is really the end?
Next week, the fan factory dormitory building will be demolished ah…
At this time, the bureau phone rang.
“Hey, Su City Bureau Criminal Police Brigade. Eh? Wu Men Police Station? Well yes, you said… surrender?”
The small criminal police gripped the microphone tightly and quickly turned his head: “Team Wu!”
Old Wu: “What?”
“Self, surrendered!”
Putting down the enamel cup, meditatively seemed to guess what, Lao Wu slowly asked, “… Who turned himself in?”
“The murderer of Chang’an Fan Factory!”
***
Things have passed a week now.
Originally, the Chang’an Fan Factory dormitory building was due to be demolished this week, and suddenly the murderer from twenty-three years ago popped up, and the nation’s attention was once again focused on this tiny dormitory building.
The police, reporters, and all sorts of melon eaters who were bursting with curiosity were going back and forth near the dormitory building every day.
Even CCTV (the Tv’s station name) sent reporters down to interview.
On this day, Lian Xi just got dressed and went out, and the door was only opened a crack, when he saw a female reporter holding a C station interview microphone, walking up from the stairs, and while walking, she also said to the camera behind her, “This is the scene of the shocking nationwide ‘Suzhou City 2.07 large home invasion robbery and murder case’, and now we came to the fourth floor. It is reported that only one family has lived on this floor since that brutal murderous killing, and he lives in room 403 on this floor. Let’s interview him.”
Lian Xi who shut the door: “…”
Knock knock knock!
Knock knock knock!
“Hello, is anyone there?”
Lian Xi who blocked the door: as long as I pretend to be dead you can’t see me, as long as I pretend to be dead you can’t see me!
After three minutes: “It seems that the tenant of this household is not at home, so let’s continue to look at the scene of the incident….”
At that moment, a cheerful, smooth mobile phone ringing came through the door of room 403.
Female reporter: “…”
Lian Xi: “…”
Quick of eye and deft of hand; he hangs up the phone quickly.
Outside the door, a well-worded and nice female voice rang out, “Hello, is anyone home?”
Pretending to be dead, Lian Xi was not moved by it in the slightest.
After another five minutes, the female reporter: “…”
Smile.
“It seems that this tenant is indeed not at home.”
Hearing footsteps outside the door drifting away, ten minutes later, they finally finished filming at the crime scene and went downstairs. Lian Xi then breathed a sigh of relief. He opened his mobile phone and saw the incoming call record, raised his eyebrows in surprise and called back.
“Hey Xiao Lian ah, why are you calling back just now? What happened?”
“There was something just now, Uncle Li, what’s wrong?”
“Something’s happened! Good thing! Our house is being demolished!”
Lian Xi: “???!!!!!!!!!” I’m thorough.”
Uncle Li: “Oh, I’m so happy, my house is going to be demolished, and your house is going to be demolished! Both of our houses will be demolished, and our neighbourhood will be demolished!”
Then, Lian Xi finally learnt the whole story.
It turned out that the municipal government had been planning to build another highway from Wu Nan District to Zhejiang Province. There was a plan for this last year, but it never said which block it would go from. Many communities are rumoured to be demolished, but never anyone rumoured to be demolished to Lian Xi’s that community there. But just yesterday, suddenly, the building is going to be demolished!
This caused Uncle Li to be so happy!
Uncle Li was Lian Xi’s childhood neighbour.
After Lian Xi’s dad died in a drunk driving accident, he lived with his grandpa, and Uncle Li’s family was right across the street. When Grandpa passed away, Lian Xi was still young and had no relatives left, so he had to go to an orphanage. But their house was still there.
The house was so remote and old that no one would buy it, so they could only put it on the market.
Who knew that this pie in the sky would fall, and that it would be demolished!
Uncle Li: “Xiao Lian ah, you say how can there be this good thing, I heard that each family gives more than a million! Come back and do the formalities, people are queuing up at the neighbourhood committee this morning, hurry up!”
Lian Xi: “Okay, thanks Uncle Li, I’ll go now!”
After hanging up the phone, Lian Xi was still in a trance.
Demolition.
Overnight Riches …
Demolish a building and relocate the inhabitants.
Become rich overnight！
He slowly lowered his head to look at his own hand, and suddenly his eyelashes trembled, and as far as his eyes could see, he only saw a bright and warm golden light.
He raised his head along with that golden light.
Only to see a middle-aged man wearing a large cotton jacket, his head covered in blood, and his face honestly standing in the room. He rubbed his hands together hastily and bowed towards Lian Xi. Boarding up his body as if he wanted to say something, but he didn’t know what to say, so he naively smiled again and bowed again. Then, the body slowly dissipated into the air.
As he dissipated, the golden light around him also disappeared, turning into starlight dancing all over the room, and finally returning to peace.
Lian Xi opened his Wei bo.
For several days in a row, the whole country was hotly discussing the Su City 2.07 tragedy.
He clicked on the first of the hot searches.
Scrolling through the popular Wei bo, he soon saw a cosy family photo of a family of three.
The woman was wearing a white dress and snuggled up next to her husband. They were holding a little girl with two pigtails, smiling happily towards the camera.
On the side of the man’s mouth, there is a large black mole. Because he was smiling, that mole was also slightly raised.
After silently watching for a long time, Lian Xi smiled.
“Looks like this time, it’s a blessing.”
***
Because of the sudden appearance of the murderer of the Fan Factory dormitory building, the Fan Factory leaders did not immediately demolish the dormitory building due to the super high level of discussion in the outside world. This also gave more time for tenants like Lian Xi to move.
In the next few days, Lian Xi was on the way to complete the formalities and wait for the demolition fee.
To get to Wu Nan District, the bus ride alone took an hour every day. The round trip is two hours! But Lian Xi was not tired at all, he got up early in the morning and went to queue up.
It doesn’t matter what the demolition fee is, the main reason is to finish the formalities early, so as not to delay the livelihood of our country’s highway construction!
In the evening, with the final list of procedures back to the fan factory dormitory building.
Before Lian Xi entered the door, he was shouted at by the gatekeeper uncle.
“Eh Little Lian, you’re back.” With that, he said to the group of grandparents sitting next to him, “This is Little Lian, who lives on the fourth floor! He’s the only one who’s lived on the entire fourth floor for so many years.”
“Unexpectedly, such a handsome young man!”
“Young man, aren’t you afraid?”
Lian Xi shook his head with a dry smile, “Not afraid.”
After he left, there were still chats from a group of gatekeeper uncles behind him.
“I’ll tell you, which one can know that Liu Sanzao is such a beast! I’ve been his colleague for half a year, half a year! I didn’t see it at all!”
“You say this Liu Sanzao, originally far away, how come he came back, he is not afraid of being found out?”
“Ask me, I really know! When he first came here, he often went to the fourth building. I asked him what he was doing, and guess what he said? He said he heard that it was the building of the dead, and that the dormitory would be torn down in six months, so he was curious and looked at it a little more, but then he couldn’t see it anymore. I think he’s a pervert!”
“That’s right! After so many years, no one has found him, the old beast, just thought to come over and take a look, to see in which block he killed someone back then!”
The small criminal police officer who went back to the scene to take photos and prepare to write a criminal investigation report passed by, and when he heard this, he skimmed his lips.
Returning to the city council, he asked, “Team Wu, why do you think that Liu Sanzao suddenly returned to the fan factory. Hasn’t he been fine all these years, and after hiding for so many years, he has to go back?”
Old Wu: “Ooh, then why do you think he is like that?”
The young criminal police officer recalled the gossip and gossip of those grandparents, “Is it really because the fan factory is going to be demolished? Team Wu, when you interrogated the prisoner, what did the prisoner say.”
Old Wu sneered, “He’s crazy. That night I do not know where to get a body injury, covered with blood, crawling to the police station, crying and begging the police not to drive him out, there are ghosts outside! When he was interrogated later, he gave a full account and kept muttering about ghosts being there. I think he has a ghost in his heart!”
“I know, he’s just pretending to be a psychopath, thinking he’ll stay alive? Old fool.”
“Oh, the law will give the victim an explanation, this old beast can not escape.”
The two spoke for a while, the small criminal police: “Wu team, you have not said yet why he wants to go back to the electric fan factory.”
Wu’s team held a warm enamel cup, his gaze was far away, thinking for a long time, “That kind of pervert has long been abnormal. The fan factory is going to be demolished, he will never see his ‘masterpiece’ again. So he wants to go back to see more. You say, if you stand next to the scene of the crime every day, others still can not find you… Don’t you feel stimulated?”
The old police: “Call now! Just that kiosk on the roadside, take their home phone and call!”
The little criminal police shivered: “I just feel scared, afraid of being caught!”
“So you’re not a murderer hahaha!”
“But I heard that he was just a punk back then too. At first, he broke into the 404, just wanting to rape the mistress, who knew that the man was supposed to take his daughter to his mother-in-law’s house to pay her respects first, and then he suddenly dropped something halfway back, and that’s when he was bumped into. It’s not considered a planned murder.”
“Then what happened afterwards? Afraid of being found out that he only killed the 404 family of three, and checking on himself, he simply carried it through, whatever the consequences and picked the locks of the doors one by one, and killed all the people on the ground floor! Wasn’t it planned before?”
“Ah, this ……”
“From the moment he moved the knife and saw the blood, he wasn’t a person. Or maybe….”
Team Wu gritted his teeth, he closed his eyes, and that early morning twenty-three years ago, that body-chilling world’s purgatory floated before his eyes.
“From the time he groped someone’s arse on the street, from
the time he picked the lock and entered the door to rape…”
“He’s not a human being anymore.”
Small criminal police: “Ah….”
Squadron Wu put down the enamelled cup, looked at him and said seriously and sincerely, “Xiao Wang ah, some people, born to be individuals. Some things have long been not human.”