Pure Darkness

Chapter 86

Idiot.

Oi! I am an article!

This nickname was only owned by Jian Yao and the others. No matter what question they asked, Xu Huqiang could not remember anything anymore, nor did he know more about this ‘Blockhead’, not his real name or where he lived. He only vaguely remembered that Blockhead was very tall. He could not remember his face.

It's been two decades, and everyone involved in that year's case has died or been scattered. Although Blockhead is one of the little brothers who have been hanging out with the gang for a few days, of course, the commoner on the street would not know about his involvement in the past.

Oi! I am an article!

Looks like the trail is over.

However, everyone knew that they were very close to the truth.

Bo Jinyan's second goal on the way to Tong City was to visit the family who had lost their son over 10 years ago.

To be honest, the family's financial situation is pretty good. They live in a small community in the city center. When the door opened, Jian Yao and the others met the faces of the two weak and haggard elders. They had received news that their son's body had been found, and they could not see it with their own eyes.

Oi! I am an article!

Their son was the first young man to be killed by a butterfly killer.

They are already numb by their years of waiting, but when they learn that their son has been cruelly murdered by someone more than 10 years ago, they find that their son has, the years of waiting were completely meaningless, and they could not help but cry.

“What kind of child is Li Zhijin?” Jian Yao asked softly. He can always provide comfort to the victims, who are also ready to lower their vigilance and talk to him.

“Zhijin, he. . . he's really a good boy!” the mother was crying. “He is wise, obedient, and devoted to his parents.”

Every child is pure and innocent in the eyes of his parents.

Especially those who are lost.

At the same time, Fang Qing and Bo Jinyan were looking for a room that belonged to the child at that time. They look for reasons and characteristics of why he became the killer's first victim, and what triggers the killer to commit a crime.

The furniture and furnishings all date back to the previous century and have been untouched ever since the child disappeared. Fang Qing opened the old wardrobe and looked at the typical clothes of young people. In addition to her school uniform and basketball gear, she also saw.. . how to install her – sleeveless tops and street-style T-shirts.

Gangster movie posters were plastered all over the wall, and they were all yellow due to age. Inside the drawer were some mock toy weapons. Fang Qing took out one, pointed it at his thigh, and shot. WTB! Even though the bullet was made of plastic, it was still extremely painful, and left a deep red mark.

Finally, Fang Qing dug out a rusty long machete from the bottom of the storage box under the bed. It was impossible for Zhijin's parents not to know the whereabouts of this machete, but they had treated it as something left of their child and thus kept it. It can be seen that their adoring love for their child is very deep, and their sadness cuts them sharply.

——

After they finished their affairs in Tong City, the Special Case Unit returned to the investigation command center at the police station in the adjacent Xun Town.

Bo Jinyan spoke to An Yan, alone, for a while.

“Has all photos from TKP that year been sorted?” Bo Jinyan asked.

An Yan replied, “Of course.”

“Did you create a 3D simulation of that scene?”

“Of course. Police officers that year took photos of the scene in great detail, from every angle. I have the whole scene restored, in panorama, on my computer. What do you want to find?”

After a moment of silence, Bo Jinyan said, “Look at my father-in-law from every possible angle. When she lay in a pool of blood, did she look like a butterfly?”

An Yan was really surprised. He looked at the screen, and saw limbs and body parts being dismembered, bent and twisted. Then, the blood under their bodies, like a decorative pattern, spread out, elongated.

. . . . . .

Bo Jinyan stood in front of the window, letting a cool twilight wind sweep her face.

In his mind, he remembered a time, a very long time ago. There were others who helped him find out more about Jian Yi's case. There were even some pictures, which the person found. The guy was always nice, and he said, with a smile on his face, “Do you think I'm so free to help him rent an apartment? I'm also a little in love with her.”

“Jinyan ah, don't you think Jian Yao's mother likes me and wants me to be her daughter-in-law? She always smiles at me.”

“Oh, yes, because there is you, it makes no sense for him to like me.”

. . . . .

Ziyu, the winding road, and destiny have brought us back to where it all began.

——

Jian Yao sat alone inside the office. After a while, he heard the sound of walking sticks knocking on the ground. He looked up and saw Bo Jinyan pushing the door to enter.

“Jian Yao.”

“I'm here.”

He walked to sit across from her. “I've drawn some conclusions.”

Jian Yao's heart clenched tightly. “Continue.”

“The butterfly killer is Blockhead. Blockhead becomes a butterfly killer when he grows up.”

Although he had already hidden this suspicion, hearing Bo Jinyan speak with great certainty, a feeling that Jian Yao could not describe bubbled in his heart. “Betulkah? Why did he. . . do that?”

“He made restitution,” said Bo Jinyan. “He paid compensation for the crimes he committed. That year, he must have been at the scene, and he must have been holding a knife. The incident was very stimulating for him, psychologically, and has also been his nightmare ever since.

To him, your father, as he lay in a pool of blood, was imagined as a butterfly. That day was the beginning of the butterfly killer.

A very convincing piece of evidence is that the first few people he killed were all recklessly hacked to death, then arranged, by drawing, to become butterflies. This is exactly how the psychological mapping is done.

The first young man he killed was almost a replica of him. He hated the version of himself, so he killed Lin Zhijin. To him, it was like killing himself once.

I think he chose to rent a mountain area using your father's killer's identity as a form of redemption for his crimes. In the name of your father, to do redemption, and to kill those very wicked and cruel disciples.

He's different from all the serial killers we've met before. I don't think he's been happy in the last 20 years. The crimes he had committed in his youth had burdened him all his life. And, now, he can't take it anymore, and wants to solve everything.”

Jian Yao raised her head to look out the window. It's dark. A layer of dark clouds surrounded the moon, whose halos of light faintly shone. The top of the tree was silent, and the building was so quiet, it was like being in an open countryside. Something in the darkness pierced his heart, piercing through the depths of his soul. He wanted to drink some water, but it turned out that his fingers were icy cold. He lowered his head and whispered, “So. . . ‘J’ left in TKP, does it stand for ‘Jenny*’?”

*T/N Jenny is Jian Yao's English name.

Bo Jinyan was silent for a breath or two. She reached out her hand to caress his head, and replied, “That's possible.”

“He watched me all this time?”

“The only thing he can do is greet you,” Bo Jinyan said.

Jian Yao looked at him, her emotions suddenly stirred. After a long time, he also smiled, and spoke carefully and slowly, “True, he can only greet me. If he dares to approach me, I will beat him all out.” He clutched Bo Jinyan's hand, and he smiled faintly.

“Thank you, Jinyan.” Jian Yao buried her face in his arms.

“Hey, why are you thanking me?” Bo Jinyan said, “I only protect my dear, why should I thank you?”

Jian Yao smiled again. “What's next?”

“We've got a picture of his past, we know about his present, next. .”

“Predict its actions in the future.” Both voices sounded at the same time.

Jian Yao looked at him. His fingers trace his facial line. Both of them were silent for a moment, then he said hoarsely, “Hey, this feeling, you know, the feeling that is in my heart, is truly amazing.”

Jian Yao held onto his thin finger and remained silent, wordlessly.

Bo Jinyan slowly continued, “The people she killed in the past few years are all fugitives. This was the joy of hunting, for him. Ordinary people could no longer satisfy him. So, the next one will also be a fugitive. Since he openly provoked the police, he would commit another crime soon. And, all we have to do is find a fugitive who meets all his preferences, someone who is very new, and most deserving to be killed – we have to find his prey faster than him. Then, we sit down and believe that an opportunity will open*.

*T/N (shou zhu dai tu) – literally, to keep ( ⁇ ) tree stump ( ⁇ ), waiting ( ⁇ ) rabbit ( ⁇ ). This phrase had a story behind it, about a lazy farmer who saw a startled rabbit running past him, his head hit a tree stump, and died. He took the rabbit home and cooked it for his food. After that, he refused to do any work, instead choosing to wait for the rabbits to pass by, hitting their heads and dying. The phrase is usually used to criticize people who refuse to be diligent, or to accept change; people who would rather just wait for an opportunity to happen than work toward them. Here, Bo Jinyan says all they can do is create ideal conditions (hunt prey) and wait for the butterfly killer to act.

Jian Yao's heart was pounding. Indeed, the mist of doubt and suspicion, the past, the circumstances before, all seemed to be interwoven in a complicated web. But, with his words, Bo Jinyan had revealed an important point. Rather than chasing after the butterfly killer, following behind him, it would be better to rush in front of him, predict his path, then catch him!

When I investigate cases, I like to take shortcuts. You have to get used to it, and keep following it.

He just raised his head to look at her.

“Will he be ready?”

“She definitely knows this we will do.”

“Hah?”

Bo Jinyan coldly said, “Isn't this what she wants? To pit ourselves against us and see who caught the criminal first. A criminal whose deepest soul has been so shackled that he can no longer move forward, this will be a life or death struggle for him, his deadly attraction. I complete it.”

Jian Yao was stunned.

“Is it really like that. . . a problem that is hard to solve?”

Bo Jinyan let out a short laugh. “Hard head? If I may speak frankly, lately, China has finally produced a viable serial killer.”

Jian Yao paused for a moment before smiling as well.

It was at this moment that someone knocked on the door, and faint voices were heard. Bo Jinyan removed the smile from her face and Jian Yao let go of her hand before walking over to open the door.

The corridor was bright. Fang Qing stuck his head into the room, looked around and smiled. “Jian Yao, look who came to visit our troops.”

Jian Yao smiled as she looked back, then stood glued to the spot in surprise.

Luo Lang stood in the corridor in a black suit, very neat, with a clean white shirt. He held a cigarette in one hand, while the other carried something. He looked at her and smiled.

They last met over 10 days ago, but Jian Yao suddenly felt as if a lifetime had passed. Everything around them also seemed to freeze in time in that split second. Moreover, as she looked at him, she also set her sights on him. It was then that he realized that this man's eyes were very deep and dark like a cold, bottomless pit.

Luo Lang's line of sight had moved onto something behind him. “Bapak. Bo.”

Bo Jinyan's light voice sounded above her head. “Bapak. Luo.”

Thinking about it, this was actually the first time the two of them had met. Jian Yao hesitated a little, but Fang Qing leaped up cheerfully, “Gosh, really, you two can greet each other and make the atmosphere so estranged. I think it's okay.”

Jian Yao and Luo Lang immediately laughed.

However, Bo Jinyan did not. He felt that Fang Qing had spoken properly; he and Luo Lang had been estranged from the start.

Luo Lang's gaze returned to Jian Yao. Under his gentle supervision, without expecting it, something moved lightly deep within Jian Yao's heart. Still smiling, he asked, “Luo dage , why are you suddenly here?”

Luo Lang replied, “It so happens that I took a case in this province; I knew you guys were here, so I came to look for you.”

Jian Yao nodded. He's always been like this. If the case is related to his hometown, he always tries harder, and is more active than usual.

After all, he was also born and raised in Tong City.

The corridor suddenly became quiet.

Fang Qing looked at the three of them who were standing in silence, then patted Luo Lang on the shoulder and said, “Let's go, we haven't eaten, let's eat together.” After which, he rummaged through the bag in Luo Lang's hand. “What good stuff do you bring? Let's party together!”

Luo Lang laughed as he threw the bag towards Fang Qing before smoking his cigarette. At this moment, Jian Yao and Bo Jinyan had already walked out of the room, her hands on her shoulders. He did not pay attention to Luo Lang. “Let's eat with us,” he said gently. Bo Jinyan made a voice in agreement.

Luo Lang smoked his cigarette again as he looked out the window. The sky was already dark, and the city lights were twinkling brightly, like eyes staring at it. At this point, Fang Qing patted his shoulder once more and said, “What are you thinking? Let's go!”

Luo Lang smiled and followed him.