Chapter 93
“Brother Nan, I’m really fine. I can join the crew soon, don’t worry about me.” Li Chu, dressed in pajamas, stood in the living room, trying her best to deal with Tang Congnan and get him to leave quickly.
However, Tang Congnan didn't leave after seeing her; instead, he wandered around the house. If it weren't for his normal demeanor, Li Chu would have thought he'd received some tip-off and come to catch her in the act. Although "catching in the act" wasn't quite the right term, the atmosphere certainly felt like it.
“It’s good that you can control yourself. You’ve rested for quite a while now. Film the new drama well. If there’s anything Qian Duoduo can’t handle, call me. Same goes for any trouble or anything unusual.” Tang Congnan had come to check why Li Chu hadn't left for the set yet, and to see her current state—whether she had gained weight or was swollen, and if it would affect filming. Seeing her radiant appearance, he nodded with satisfaction.
“Got it, Brother Nan. Love you! Bye bye.” Li Chu waved her hand and said obediently.
As soon as Tang Congnan left, Li Chu rushed back to her room and saw Ning Manqing sitting in the cloakroom, seemingly lost in thought.
“Teacher Ning… ahem…” Li Chu called Ning Manqing’s name a little guiltily, and when Ning Manqing looked over, she gave an appeasing smile.
The situation earlier had been quite sudden. They were snuggled in bed, engaging in a deep discussion about the script, when Li Chu's phone suddenly received a message from Tang Congnan, saying he was coming to see her and was already at the door, about to come in. Tang Congnan also had the passcode to Li Chu's home. At that moment, Li Chu's mind went blank, fearing exposure. Without thinking, she pushed Ning Manqing into the cloakroom, stuffed Ning Manqing's clothes onto her, and rushed out of the bedroom.
Thinking back now, this must have been quite a shock for Ning Manqing.
Indeed, in Ning Manqing’s twenty-eight years of life, she had never experienced such a thing. She had never imagined that one day her relationship would feel like a secret affair. For a moment, she had a subtle, dazed feeling of wondering whether she was the legitimate partner or the hidden lover.
“He’s gone?” Ning Manqing slowly put the clothes on the side. Li Chu had been in such a hurry that she had even stuffed some of her own clothes onto Ning Manqing.
Looking at the pinkish-white bra in Ning Manqing’s hand, Li Chu curled her toes and nodded.
“Peach-scented.” Ning Manqing sniffed her fingertips, her eyes crinkling as she smiled at Li Chu.
Li Chu didn't react for a moment and blurted out, “My laundry detergent is lavender-scented.”
“But you’ve worn it.” Ning Manqing’s fox-like eyes were full of innocence, using real evidence to prove the correctness of her words.
Li Chu blushed, pulled Ning Manqing out, and changed the subject, “Is your flight this afternoon? Shall I see you off?”
“No, it’s easy to get photographed. I don’t know how long I’ll be gone this time.”
“Focus on your own things first. I’m on set too, and I won’t be out for a few months.” Li Chu helped Ning Manqing smooth her slightly messy hair and said in a seemingly casual tone.
In truth, she was a little reluctant, but some things were more important, so parting was inevitable.
Ning Manqing rested her head on Li Chu’s shoulder and twirled her hair with her fingers, softly saying, “I’ll handle it as quickly as possible.”
“No rush. Let me know if there’s anything I can help with.”
Ning Manqing kissed Li Chu’s cheek and said, “Okay.”
After Ning Manqing left, Li Chu suddenly felt the room was much emptier, even though she had been living alone before.
She tidied her room and found the gift she had used a few days ago in a box. It was shaped like a small fish, with a wire extending from its mouth for easy handling, ending in a round bead. It would look nice as a little decoration.
Li Chu initially wanted to throw it away, but after thinking about it, she disinfected it, put it away, and tucked it into her suitcase, lest Qian Duoduo discover it when she came to help pack tomorrow. As for the matching outfit that she didn't know where she had stuffed, Li Chu had given up on finding it.
On the tenth day of the Lunar New Year, Li Chu, with three suitcases, flew to the filming location with her assistants and participated in the opening ceremony. The Exiled officially began filming.
The Exiled consisted of five stories, interwoven with three main plot lines, one subplot, and Rong Yun's hidden storyline. The first main plot line was the "Anhe Building Serial Dismemberment Case," filmed in Mengzhou. There was a well-shaped building similar to the Anhe Building in the script, only ten floors shorter, with correspondingly fewer residents.
Li Chu and some of the crew members stayed in a small building not far from the Anhe Building. The conditions weren't great, but Li Chu wasn't picky; having a place to stay was enough.
Li Chu was a little worried about getting into character, but when she was truly immersed in the scene, the emotions surged, and she found it wasn't that difficult.
The noise and gloom of the location were reminiscent of the Anhe Building. From an aerial view, the central courtyard looked like a man-eating black hole—a breeding ground for evil desires in impoverished soil.
Li Chu stood in the corner, observing the events unfolding in the building, like a detached judge overlooking human desires. At this moment, she suddenly touched Rong Yun's soul.
After taking over the case, Rong Yun reviewed and analyzed it. The case wasn't starting from scratch. Over the past four months, the task force officers had exhausted all means of investigation. Although they hadn't found any clues about the murderer, they had investigated everything they could and analyzed everything they could.
Through criminal profiling, experts determined that the murderer was likely a male beta who appeared outwardly non-aggressive, even somewhat solitary and gloomy, alienated from the crowd, and perceived by others as strange, possessing a certain degree of strength.
He dismembered his victims and then used their body parts to express self-perceived symbols, with strong directionality, conveying his inner thoughts and demands. He didn't seem to have any strong sense of ritual, and the times of the murders were not fixed. The officers tried to analyze the dates of the murders, but they were chaotic and most likely unrelated.
The methods of death for the several victims were also different, indicating that he didn't have a fixed obsession with how to kill, nor was he obsessive-compulsive. The method of dismembering the bodies wasn't particularly neat or clean, seemingly done for convenience, but occasionally, for his own peculiar aesthetics, he would make other arrangements.
For example, the symbol he created with the dismembered parts of the second victim had puzzled the officers for a long time. He had divided the body into six parts—the usual head, two arms, two legs, and torso. He placed the torso below the head, the two arms in a V-shape slightly below the torso, the two thighs forming a tighter V-shape in the lower half of the torso, and the calves twisted together.
It wasn't until one day, while they were eating and discussing the case, that the team leader had a flash of inspiration while looking at a plate of fish. None of the team members liked to eat fish heads, so the fish head remained intact, connected to the fish bones and tail, while the rest of the fish had been eaten.
In most drawings of fish, the tail is depicted as crossed and joined. Perhaps the two arms represented the fins.
When this deduction was made, everyone who had just eaten fish felt nauseous.
Rong Yun also frowned when she heard this deduction, once again expressing her disgust for this form of symbolic expression.
After reviewing the three case files, Rong Yun found that the murderer wasn't committing provocative crimes. He was even very careful, and it was certainly not a random act. The three victims he chose had one thing in common: they lived alone in the Anhe Building and had little contact with the outside world. This meant that no one would immediately discover their deaths, giving him ample time to commit the murders and dismember the bodies.
When the first case was discovered, the police thought it was a revenge killing. They investigated the social connections of the deceased, Chen Yi, who was from out of town and had come to Haigai City two years prior. Apart from work, Chen Yi had few social connections in Haigai. Neighbors said he was someone who was reluctant to interact with others, possibly because his sales job had drained his enthusiasm.
On the night of Chen Yi's estimated time of death, the neighbor living in 1308 said they hadn't heard anything unusual. The building was always noisy, and they were used to wearing earplugs to sleep.
Five young people lived in 1306. The apartment was larger and divided into four rooms. They lived in four of the rooms. Regarding what happened that night, the five also claimed to be unaware, as they worked at a nightclub, going to work at 8 p.m., getting off work at 6 a.m., and coming back to sleep.
The police couldn't find anything, and the residents of the building were always vague in their responses. After all, this place was a haven for all sorts of shady activities—prostitution, theft, fraud, drug use. There were few clean and innocent people, and no one wanted to get involved.
The case had to be put on hold. Limited police resources had to deal with more pressing matters. It seemed that apart from a few officers still pondering the case, no one cared about Chen Yi's death. Even the landlord, Xiaoduo, just hastily cleaned the apartment, invited a master to perform an exorcism, and rented it out to a new tenant.
It wasn't until the second case that the police realized something was amiss.
The deceased in the second case, Zhang Mengzhong, who lived in 2416, had come to Haigai City five years ago but wasn't a long-term resident of the Anhe Building. He had only been renting for six months. His social connections indicated he was unemployed, but he wasn't without a source of income; he was a game booster.
Neighbors recalled that Zhang Mengzhong didn't like to go out, sometimes not leaving his apartment for a month at a time. He usually ate instant noodles and ordered takeout, rarely interacting with anyone. Zhang Mengzhong's landlord also said he didn't like to see people, but he never defaulted on rent, so she never went to his door to collect it.
The police investigated Zhang Mengzhong's social connections. It could be said that apart from the online world and food delivery drivers, Zhang Mengzhong had no contact with anyone. The delivery driver who frequently delivered to Zhang Mengzhong said he had never actually seen Zhang Mengzhong's face, as he would only open a crack in the door to reach out and take the food, also asking him to take out the trash.
Such a person shouldn't have made enemies to the point of being murdered. Connecting this to the previous case, it was undoubtedly a serial killer at work, posing a serious threat.
Zhang Mengzhong's body was discovered much later than Chen Yi's, more than ten days after his death. A neighbor, while cooking, kept smelling a foul odor and intended to confront Zhang Mengzhong. However, Zhang Mengzhong didn't open the door, so the neighbor climbed through the window and found the decomposing body, then scrambled to report the case to the police, only to be reprimanded for entering someone else's home without permission.
And just like Chen Yi's case, the investigation of this case stalled.
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