"Stay here and don't move..."
Meng Zhoushan's face was solemn. He pressed Sui Yuesheng's shoulder and said only this. Then he turned and left the room, running upstairs quickly, with the corners of his clothes making a gust of wind.
Sui Yuesheng looked at the direction he left, frowned slightly, a hint of worry flashed in his eyes, then slowly pushed the wheelchair and followed.
Meng Zhoushan didn't have time to wait for the elevator and took the stairs directly. As a result, when he passed the corner, the mop that was originally leaning against the corner suddenly fell down, and the wooden stick fell to the ground with a crisp sound.
Meng Zhoushan didn't bother to help her up, and continued to run upstairs. However, he hadn't taken two steps when he suddenly realized something was wrong. He stopped half a beat late, turned back to look at the corner, and when he saw what was placed there clearly, his pupils couldn't help but shrink slightly -
There is a human head hidden there...
The blood blurred his face, making it difficult to distinguish his facial features. Meng Zhoushan could only recognize Fang as the gangster who kicked Sui Yuesheng today by the dark purple hair stained by blood and the strange metal ornaments on his ears.
The building was silent. The light bulb above my head suddenly flickered twice. The eerie and dark environment made me feel cold all over.
Meng Zhoushan walked down slowly. He took out a handkerchief from his pocket, wrapped it around his fingertips, then leaned over to pick up the mop and took a look. He saw that the originally gray cloth strip was soaked in blood and had turned dark red after oxidation.
This mop has been here since the afternoon.
And now it is ten o'clock in the evening. There is no doubt that the murderer has left long ago.
Meng Zhoushan had no choice but to put down the mop, take out his cell phone from his pocket, and walk upstairs while calling Yan Yuezhao.
He knew that the murderer had escaped, and his hurried steps gradually became slower, but his heart was sinking deeper and deeper.
Meng Zhoushan wondered if his behavior had changed, causing a butterfly effect that triggered this murder that didn't exist in his memory. He only knew that this case was related to the Ouroboros, and things would only get more and more difficult.
Based on the location where the female corpse had just fallen from the window of his house, he searched for Fang's residence room by room in the corridor and finally stopped in front of one of the doors.
Meng Zhoushan stood at the door and listened for a moment. After confirming that there was no one alive, he kicked the door open without hesitation. With a muffled "bang", the old door fell to the ground.
A bloody smell wafted into the nose, making people dizzy.
Meng Zhoushan walked in without changing his expression. He had to confirm some things before the police arrived, otherwise it would not be so easy to protect the crime scene.
This is a small room with only one bedroom and one living room. The windows are tightly closed, and there is no air in. A heavy wooden table is close to the window, and a nylon rope is tied to the table legs, leading to the window.
There was no doubt that the other end of the rope was tied to the female corpse that had just fallen.
Meng Zhoushan frowned, and finally wondered why he felt that the female corpse looked familiar. It was the girl that the man had been with today. He stood by the window and looked down, and could vaguely see the corpse hitting the window of his house again and again under the night wind.
The girl’s body is here, but where’s the man’s
Meng Zhoushan retracted his gaze and walked to the bedroom. His eyes passed over the pile of messy, unwashed clothes on the floor, and finally fell on a large bed in the middle.
There lay a torsoless body, with no limbs or head, and blood gushing out, almost soaking the entire mattress.
There was a blood-stained drawing on the wall, with a giant snake eating its own tail drawn on it, which looked grotesque and eerie.
It's Ouroboros...
Meng Zhoushan's face changed, and he was about to go in to see if there were any other clues, but suddenly a siren sounded from far away downstairs. He frowned for a moment and had to slowly leave the crime scene.
Sui Yuesheng also took the elevator up without knowing when. He pushed his wheelchair to the door and saw Meng Zhoushan walking out. He hesitated and asked, "What happened to you? Is it..."
Is someone dead
Before he could utter the last three words, Meng Zhoushan reached out and covered his eyes, and pushed the wheelchair to a more open space at the other end of the corridor: "Didn't I tell you to stay downstairs?"
Sui Yuesheng couldn't help but tremble her eyelashes. Meng Zhoushan felt a slight itch in his palms. He only heard a slightly helpless whisper: "I'm scared..."
Who wouldn't be afraid to see a female corpse banging against the window outside in the middle of the night
Meng Zhoushan thought so too, and slowly loosened his hand that was covering Sui Yuesheng. He realized that it was his negligence, and his tone was inevitably a little apologetic: "I shouldn't have left you alone down there."
Sui Yuesheng said nothing, but shook his head silently. A pair of pale and slender hands tightly grasped the hem of Meng Zhoushan's clothes, as if afraid that he would leave again. With his eyes lowered, I wonder what he was thinking.
When Yan Yuezhao and his men rushed over in the middle of the night, they saw this scene. He ran out of breath and immediately rushed to Meng Zhoushan and asked nervously, "Where is the body?!"
Meng Zhoushan was often invited to help write crime reports before, and he was familiar with everyone in the police station. He glanced at Yan Yuezhao and motioned to Fang to go to the room and look: "Inside, two."
Yan Yuezhao saw the door being kicked open, and looked unfriendly: "You went in?"
The smell of blood in the air became thicker and more pungent.
Meng Zhoushan glanced at Sui Yuesheng, took out a cigarette from his pocket, lit it with a lighter, and the smell of tobacco quickly overwhelmed the blood. The smoke curled up, making the eyes hidden behind the lenses look indistinguishable: "How can I find the body if I don't go in? How can I call the police if I don't find the body?"
Yan Yuezhao: "Stop talking bullshit to me, I'll settle the score with you later!"
Yan Yuezhao had never seen Sui Yuesheng before. Seeing him leaning against Meng Zhoushan, he could not help but glance at him in surprise. However, due to the emergency, he did not ask. He put on shoe covers and gloves at the door and went into the crime scene with his men.
Before the Ouroboros appeared, there had never been such a bloody murder in the city. As you can imagine, Yan Yuezhao's angry curse rang out in the room: "Where is the corpse head?!"
The forensic doctor was used to his temper: "Head, not found."
Yan Yuezhao: "Where's the arm?"
Forensic evidence: "Under the bed."
Yan Yuezhao: "Where are the legs... Oh, I saw them, in the kitchen."
The walls were not soundproof, so most of their conversations could be heard. Sui Yuesheng leaned against Meng Zhoushan quietly, smelling the faint smell of tobacco on the man, and suddenly raised her head and asked, "Has the person living next door been dismembered?"
His voice was very soft, like water soaked in ice, faintly chilly, and only the two of them could hear it. However, it echoed barely perceptibly in the corridor.
Meng Zhoushan lowered his eyes to look at Sui Yuesheng, but saw that those eyes were just pure surprise. He flicked the ash lightly and exhaled a wisp of smoke: "Don't ask so many questions, kid."
Sui Yuesheng smiled softly upon hearing this, and indeed did not ask any more questions.
Not long after, Yan Yuezhao walked out of the house with a gloomy face. He obviously realized the difficulty of this case, and there were deep wrinkles between his brows.
When the forensic examiner came out carrying the body bag, he happened to pass in front of Sui Yuesheng. He hid behind Meng Zhoushan, making it hard to tell whether he looked disgusted or afraid.
Meng Zhoushan patted his shoulder and comforted him silently.
Yan Yuezhao came forward and joked, "Meng Zhoushan, who is this? Are you an illegitimate child?"
Meng Zhoushan paused when he heard that, and the eyes behind the lenses looked straight at him. Because of the refraction of the light, a gleam flashed, and his eyes were cold.
Yan Yuezhao is a bad mouth, he has been like this since he was a child: "Meng Zhoushan, why are you glaring at me? You don't even take care of your own nephew, but come to take care of other people's brats."
Yan Yuezhao was busy with work and his ex-wife was abroad, so he always liked to send her to Meng Zhoushan.
Meng Zhoushan didn't want to explain too much: "Neighbor next door."
Yan Yuezhao: "Did you find the body? Take notes separately. You know the process better than me."
A female police officer pushed Sui Yuesheng aside and began to ask him in a low voice what happened at the time of the incident. Yan Yuezhao signaled the assistant who was going to take Meng Zhoushan's statement to go to the room to help investigate and collect evidence, while he took the statement himself. However, before he could open his mouth, Meng Zhoushan asked, "What was the approximate time of death between what time and what time?"
Yan Yuezhao hissed, "You're not a policeman. Does this have anything to do with you? Is it serious?"
Meng Zhoushan said: "It's very heavy."
He needs to eliminate the suspicion of Sui Yuesheng.
Yan Yuezhao didn't intend to tell him, but Meng Zhoushan had already guessed it. He said calmly, "I met them at the staircase at 1:30 pm, so they died after 1:30 pm. I was writing at home at 4 pm, and I saw the hair of the female corpse flash by through the window. The deceased must have been killed at that time."
so,
"Their deaths occurred between 2pm and 4pm."
Yan Yuezhao quickly raised his hand to stop him: "Meng Zhoushan, I suggest you shut up, because you are also a suspect, understand? You will have no place if you talk too much."
Meng Zhoushan's eyes fell on Sui Yuesheng who was not far away. Yan Yuezhao said, "I don't mind if you take me away for investigation, but you must ask carefully to see if he has any witnesses."
Meng Zhoushan and Sui Yuesheng were not together when the murder happened, so he had no way of knowing whether Fang was the one who did it. Although the young man was frail and had difficulty walking, he did not look like someone who could have committed a murder.
Yan Yuezhao hummed: "I know, but he is not a big suspect. Killing and dismembering a person is a physically demanding job."
The murderer seemed to be playing hide-and-seek, deliberately hiding the man's body in various places, under the bed, in the cabinet, in the kitchen, and in the corner of the stairs, waiting for people to accidentally discover it and then scream in fear.
Meng Zhoushan suddenly asked Yan Yuezhao: "Did you see the Ouroboros pattern on the wall?"
Yan Yuezhao hadn't realized the seriousness of the situation yet: "What?"
Meng Zhoushan repeated: "Ouroboros."
Yan Yuezhao suffered from his lack of education. He only remembered that there was a red circle on the wall. He scratched his head and asked, "What kind of snake is ouroboros?"
Meng Zhoushan exhaled slowly, wondering how he had managed to be friends with this kind of person for more than a dozen years: "It is enough for you to just know that it is a religious pattern. I doubt the murderer will commit the crime again."
Yan Yuezhao frowned: "Do you suspect it's a serial murder case?"
Meng Zhoushan nodded, his eyes solemn.
Yan Yuezhao's face also looked grim. "We have to wait until the second case occurs before we can make a formal judgment. I just checked. The two deceased, a man and a woman, were both from other places, unemployed vagrants with very complicated social relationships. We cannot rule out the possibility of revenge killing."
Meng Zhoushan knew that he would not believe such a ridiculous thing just because of his few words: "Anyway, you should pay more attention to this building during this period of time. I suspect that there will be more murders."
"That's for sure," Yan Yuezhao knew that Meng Zhoushan liked to go to messy places to collect materials, "but don't you consider moving out? Places like this are full of all kinds of people, and several people die every time."
Meng Zhoushan shook his head. There were still many things he hadn't figured out.
Yan Yuezhao: "You want to collect materials. A few prisoners have just left the bureau. I'll keep the position for you. If you want to experience life, you can go there anytime."
Meng Zhoushan refused: "Thank you, you can keep it for yourself."
Yan Yuezhao stopped joking and was about to ask about the incident. At this moment, the forensic officer suddenly came out of the house: "Boss, the rope tied to the female corpse is not strong enough. We dare not pull it up directly. We have to go downstairs to catch it."
Yan Yuezhao saw it when he just entered the house. The female corpse was hanging directly outside the window of the downstairs resident. It must be scary in the middle of the night. He said impatiently: "You still tell me such a thing? Go down and knock on the door to negotiate."
After saying this, he muttered to himself: "I wonder which unlucky guy lives downstairs."
Meng Zhoushan glanced at him quietly and said, "I live downstairs."
Yan Yuezhao: “…”
Meng Zhoushan didn't explain too clearly when he called the police, only saying that a murder had occurred. Yan Yuezhao drove over in a hurry in the middle of the night. Hearing what he said, he hissed, "What else do you have to say? Tell me clearly at once."
Meng Zhoushan threw the key to the room to him and said, "The murderer hid the male corpse's head at the corner of the stairs, covered with a mop. I saw it when I came up."
Yan Yuezhao reacted and immediately rushed down with his men. The chaotic footsteps were particularly clear in the building, echoing repeatedly.
Sui Yuesheng was still taking notes. Meng Zhoushan leaned against the wall, waiting, hearing intermittent conversations.
"What are you doing between 2pm and 4pm..."
"Cook… "
"anything else… "
“Wash the dishes… mop the floor…”
"Is there no one else at home..."
"Cousin... Uncle... Aunt..."
The policewoman's voice was full of pity. She wondered why a child with disabled legs would be forced to do this: "Can't you walk with your legs?"
"cannot… "
"That is to say, you stayed at home between 2pm and 4pm. Can your uncle and aunt testify to that?"
"Can… "
The record is over.
Meng Zhoushan walked over and held Sui Yuesheng's wheelchair arm from behind. The policewoman nodded slightly: "Thank you for the trouble."
The policewoman tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and smiled, "Editor Meng, you still like to run to the crime scene so much, so you have to be careful. If there is any follow-up result, the police may need to contact you to continue the investigation."
Meng Zhoushan nodded, indicating that it was okay. He pressed the elevator button, pushed Sui Yuesheng in, and went downstairs together. When the door closed, he asked, "Are you scared?"
Sui Yuesheng nodded: "The corpse is scary."
Meng Zhoushan looked at him, implying: "People are sometimes scarier than corpses. People become corpses after death, but people are innate, so if we have a choice, we will never touch sin in this life."
Sui Yuesheng suddenly asked softly: "What if we don't have a choice?"
The air in the elevator was silent for a moment because of his words.
Meng Zhoushan moved his fingertips slightly, and was about to say something, when the elevator door suddenly opened with a ding. He came back to his senses, pushed Sui Yuesheng out of the elevator, and smiled: "Indeed, we cannot guarantee that we will never touch sin, just like we cannot guarantee that we will live forever."
His voice sounded softly: "So no matter where we are, we must leave ourselves a way out."
It has been confirmed that Sui Yuesheng has nothing to do with this case. Meng Zhoushan moved into this dangerous building, in addition to wanting to find out the truth about the Ouroboros incident, there is another more important thing, which is to ensure that the young man in front of him will never touch a crime.
Yan Yuezhao and his men rushed into Meng Zhoushan's house, opened the window and untied the female corpse hanging upside down outside the window. After they collected evidence, they carried the body out of the door in a body bag, and half-dried blood dripped down, leaving a bloodstain on the floor.
Meng Zhoushan moved aside to make room for them, put his hands in his pockets, and Yan Yuezhao said, "Mop the floor for me."
"Mop the floor?" Yan Yuezhao scratched his ears, suspecting that he had misheard. He thought Meng Zhoushan was still so picky. "It's good enough that I asked Fazheng to clean the windows for you, and you still want me to mop the floor for you?"
It was late at night, so they didn't want to disturb the residents. Yan Yuezhao and his team took the body away, and planned to come back the next day to ask other residents about the situation.
Meng Zhoushan could only wait for them to leave and then clean up the mess himself. However, such a big noise in the middle of the night alarmed the surrounding residents, and many of them opened their windows and looked out.
Sui Yuesheng pushed the wheelchair into the house and just saw Meng Zhoushan closing the window. He found a rag on the locker and leaned over to wipe the blood stains on the floor.
Meng Zhoushan came over and gently took the rag from his hand: "Let me do it."
Then he asked, "Are you sleepy? There is a small compartment over there. You can go in and take a nap."
Sui Yuesheng glanced at the wall clock and found that it was already three o'clock in the morning. She was a little afraid of disturbing Meng Zhoushan, so she shook her head and said, "It's okay, I can just go home and sleep..."
Meng Zhoushan adjusted his glasses. His eyes seemed to be able to see through people's hearts. He asked helplessly, "What if your uncle doesn't open the door for you? Are you sleeping in the corridor?"
He guessed this wasn't the first time this had happened.
Sui Yuesheng unconsciously gripped the wheelchair armrests: "It's okay, he will open the door when he sobers up."
Everyone knows how cold the corridor outside is, so Meng Zhoushan naturally couldn't let Sui Yuesheng stay in the corridor alone. He stood up and walked to the door, closing it with a click: "Stay here with me tonight, I'll make the bed, and you can sleep in the room next door."
There was only one bed in the room. Sui Yuesheng looked up at Meng Zhoushan and said hesitantly, "Uncle Meng, where are you going to sleep?"
Meng Zhoushan put his coat on the sofa and said, "I'll sleep on the sofa."
He seemed to react after he finished speaking and glanced at Sui Yuesheng: "How do you know my last name is Meng?"
Sui Yuesheng smiled and said, "I heard the policeman call you 'Meng Zhoushan'."
Meng Zhoushan nodded and didn't ask any more questions.
Sui Yuesheng said: "Don't you want to know my name?"
Meng Zhoushan paused when he heard this, then slowly squatted down in front of Sui Yuesheng, his eyes level with his own, and asked with a very patient smile, "What's your name?"
Sui Yuesheng said word by word: "Sui Yuesheng..."
He said: "My name is Sui Yuesheng..."