"Captain, Fāngaluo has posted another Weibo!" Luo Hong shouted as he raised his phone.
"What, he's back?" The members of the special investigation team gathered around, staring at Luo Hong's phone and shaking their heads. It was the same sentence structure, the same style, but this time the numbers went from two, three, and now tirelessly counting to four, as if he was determined to cause public panic. However, the people on the death list seemed to be living more comfortably one after another, and there was no sign of the so-called serial murder case.
When Fāngaluo posted the second death announcement, netizens were calling for the police to quickly catch this psychotic murderer. But by the third and fourth, they were completely numb. They thought they had seen through Fāngaluo's true face. He was not a vicious killer, just a delusional patient with an overactive imagination. Everything he did was for attention!
Not only did netizens think so, even the members of the special investigation team started to doubt their previous judgment.
Liú Tāo, who had hurried back from outside, rubbed his almost bald head and cursed, "Damn it, Fāngaluo is definitely playing with us! There isn't even a second victim, so where did the third and fourth come from? I almost ran my legs off to protect Sūn Yǐng, and I still don't get any understanding. Whenever that kid got a chance, he'd run away. While chasing him, I nearly fell off a balcony from the sixth floor and died in the line of duty! Yet, he looked me in the eye and scolded me for being nosy. Who is this all for?"
The officer responsible for protecting Fāngluóshān was even more angry, "Deputy Chief, that's nothing for you. Fāngluóshān's bodyguards took me to a gym to test my skills, and I got beaten so badly that I couldn't get up. The bodyguards he hired are seasoned mercenaries. I'm just a small cop; how can I be their match? Fāngluóshān is deliberately humiliating me; he doesn't trust us police at all!"
As soon as the officer had finished speaking, Fāngluóshān's assistant called to inform him about Fāngaluo's latest death announcement, and then scolded him, "It seems that our head office has overestimated the investigative abilities of your bureau. A group of elite officers, actually being led around by the nose by a delusional schizophrenic. Our head office is very busy lately, and we may not be able to cooperate with your investigation in the future. Instead of wasting time and energy, you might as well take Fāngaluo to the hospital to get his brain checked."
After hanging up the phone, the officer felt ashamed and embarrassed.
Several team members responsible for protecting Zhào Wényǎn and Cáo Xiǎofēng were also either directly or indirectly reprimanded and brought back. They not only felt humiliated but had also been on the receiving end of many disapproving glances and grievances over the past few days, greatly wounding their self-esteem. Their warnings about the seriousness of the situation were now being used to shame them.
The entire special investigation team was now feeling dispirited and skeptical about life. Even the pile of lunch boxes Liao Fang had brought back was left untouched and getting cold. What was there to eat? If they didn't solve the case, they'd have to live with the stigma of being nothing more than a bunch of drunkards and eaters, which was a disgrace for the Criminal Investigation Brigade!
Zhuāng Zhēn looked solemnly at Fāngaluo's Weibo, lost in thought. The team members gathered around the case analysis board, trying to make sense of the clues, yet they couldn't come up with any leads. If their gazes could turn into tangible objects, these boards would probably have been riddled with countless burnt holes.
At this moment, the director and deputy director came in person, gathered everyone together in the meeting room, and scolded them harshly, expressing their deep disappointment and emphasizing the severe social impact caused by this case. In short, if they didn't solve this case, their bureau would become a laughing stock in the whole city!
After adding tons of pressure on the special investigation team, the leaders finally left. Everyone let out a sigh of relief, only to sink into unprecedented anxiety and confusion.
"Murder sketches have been released, and the identity of the mastermind is known to everyone, so why can't we find any evidence? Who killed Gāo Yīzé? How did they get upstairs? How was the crime committed? Are Fāngaluo's subsequent death announcements just bluffs? Is he trying to confuse us, distract our attention, and hinder our investigation? If we hadn't assigned so many people to protect those so-called potential victims, we might have caught Fāngaluo by now, right?" Liú Tāo pounded the table furiously, "Damn it, I've never seen such audacity, such cunning, such a troublesome suspect!"
"Yeah, Fāngaluo is too brazen! Did he think we couldn't catch him?"
"Where does he get his confidence?"
"Probably from the assassins he hired. Their killing methods are too bizarre!"
"If he's capable, he could play games with us forever, otherwise, one day we'll catch him!"
The team members joined in the criticism of Fāngaluo, while Zhuāng Zhēn remained pensive, then looked back at the messy case analysis board. There wasn't a single useful clue on it. The special investigation team had now hit a dead-end. If there was going to be a breakthrough, they needed to change their approach.
As the public had said, the special investigation team was completely being led by Fāngaluo. His sketches, his death announcements, had already drawn all the police's attention. But what was his motive? Was it really for attention? Was he someone so desperate for fame? Would he rather be universally condemned than forgotten by the world?
For some reason, a scene suddenly came to Zhuāng Zhēn's mind: Fāngaluo lifting his head slightly to look at him and smiling faintly during the interrogation. At first, he sat opposite to the light, swallowed by darkness, quiet and seemingly nonexistent. But when Zhuāng Zhēn moved the spotlight to shine on his face, there was no squinting, no change in expression. He didn't seem nervous when scrutinized, nor did he panic when interrogated.
In that moment, Zhuāng Zhēn made a judgment— this was a person with a level of cunning and insight deeper than the ocean, having extraordinary control over his body and emotions. Such a person wouldn't act like a show-off just to gain attention. What did he really think? Had they been misled by him from the beginning? Was this case really unrelated to him? Was there another reason behind Gāo Yīzé's death?
Zhuāng Zhēn looked back at his phone once again, showing a completely bewildered and frustrated expression. Fāngaluo's posts were always concise. There were no more or fewer words in his second, third, or fourth death announcements. So resolute.
For the first time, Zhuāng Zhēn felt that his intelligence wasn't enough. He had dealt with the most cunning drug lords and terrorists in the world, but their thought processes couldn't compare to Fāngaluo's one-thousandth of complexity. Zhuāng Zhēn just couldn't figure out what he was thinking and doing.
"Luo, contact all the sub-bureaus in the city and ask them to provide us with the information about the homicides before and after the death announcements were posted," Zhuāng Zhēn admitted that he couldn't outsmart Fāngaluo, so he decided to go around him to investigate the case. His instinct told him that Fāngaluo's death announcements were no joke. The person's mindset was steadier than a mountain; how could he be babbling nonsense like a lunatic on the internet?
"Captain, do you think those death announcements are real?" Xiao Luo had developed deep suspicions about this inference.
"Each of you go and find out. I believe the death announcements are real, but the potential victims might have been misunderstood. What if Fāngaluo isn't the mastermind behind it all? What if Gāo Yīzé's death has nothing to do with him, and he only happened to find out about some inside information by chance? Go and find out if there are any suspicious homicide cases that occurred during the time frame of the four death announcements and see if there are any commonalities between these cases, especially in the relationships between the victims and Gāo Yīzé. We need to change our approach," Zhuāng Zhēn instructed.
"Alright, we'll go check other sub-bureaus. Come on, let's divide the tasks."
Three days later, all the members of the special investigation team gathered in the meeting room, their eyes scrutinizing a huge whiteboard filled with photos, drawings, and remarks.
Zhuāng Zhēn, with bloodshot eyes, picked up a marker and pointed at a picture of a victim, and slowly said, "The deceased is Wáng Wěi, male, 21 years old, employed as a pipeline worker, died on the second day after Fāngaluo's third death announcement, at a low-cost hotel in the red-light district, died of mechanical asphyxiation, found dead naked, no signs of sexual activity. He had two fingers broken off with no trace of them. The local police station couldn't find any clues related to the murderer at the scene and the case was eventually classified as a robbery and murder."
"Keep in mind that he graduated from Shī Da Fù Zhòng 256, and Gāo Yīzé graduated from Shī Da Fù Zhòng 253. They were classmates in the same year, so they might have known each other. That's why he came into our sight."
Zhuāng Zhēn drew an arrow, connecting Wáng Wěi's photo with the third death announcement.
Then, he pointed to two other photos, "This is Zhào Kāi, male, 21 years old, dropped out of junior high and ended up in questionable activities, no legitimate profession. He died on the third day after the second death announcement, cause of death was a sharp object wound in the abdomen; those who have read the case report might find this case very familiar. Yes, it happened in our area and was eventually classified as a robbery and murder."
Zhuāng Zhēn looked around the room, and everyone avoided his gaze, looking ashamed.
Zhuāng Zhēn didn't push the matter further, after all, even he hadn't expected that this seemingly straightforward robbery and murder case would be related to Gāo Yīzé's fall. He then pointed at another picture, "This is Máo Xiǎomíng, male, 20 years old, with the same education background as the previous victim, died due to drug overdose, found dead at home, died on the second day after the fourth death announcement. On the surface, there is no apparent connection between him and Gāo Yīzé, but they were friends in their daily life, more precisely, Máo Xiǎomíng was a runner for Zhào Kāi. Both of them died tragically; are their deaths somehow related? Can this be linked to the serial murder case?"
Zhuāng Zhēn drew a question mark next to their pictures, and continued, "First: their time of death coincides with Fāngaluo's death announcement; Second: their activities were once concentrated near Shī Da Fù Zhòng, could it be possible that they knew Gāo Yīzé and Wáng Wěi during their school days? Third: they..."
Before Zhuāng Zhēn could finish, a police officer came in with a freshly printed WeChat chat record, looking excited, "Chief, after visiting a few places, we found out that Zhào Kāi and Máo Xiǎomíng might actually know Gāo Yīzé. Look at this!"
Zhuāng Zhēn took the printed record and looked at it, his eyes suddenly glistening with understanding.
The chat records contained lines such as: "Gāo Yīzé, I know him. His original name was Gāo Fēi, he changed it later."
"He must have had plastic surgery! His nose was definitely altered; it wasn't this good-looking before, absolutely ugly!"
"Is he a good person? Haha, this is the funniest joke I've ever heard!"
"This guy is a villain! He's really not human!"
"No no no, I was drunk, I was talking nonsense. I don't know anything, how could a middle school dropout like me know Gāo Yīzé?"
Despite getting questioned by others later, Zhào Kāi and Máo Xiǎomíng didn't talk about Gāo Yīzé anymore. Their friends just thought they were bragging and didn't take it seriously. However, the special investigation team, after getting the chat records, thought differently. If they had merely been suspicious before, now they were sure that the deaths of Wáng Wěi, Zhào Kāi, and Máo Xiǎomíng were definitely linked to Gāo Yīzé's fall. It was without a doubt a series of murders!
"Go and bring Fāngaluo in! He must know what's going on!" Zhuāng Zhēn said decisively.