Zou Zhengze pulled open the door and saw his beloved with another man, lying together. Upon his return, their wide eyes, filled with fear, stared at him in terror.
"You whore! How dare you cheat on me behind my back?!"
Images of past vows and tender affections surged through his mind. Zou Zhengze’s eyes instantly reddened as he raised the kitchen knife.
The blade paused in mid-air. Zou Zhengze took two deep breaths before lowering the knife.
"Scum! Then stay together forever."
Filled with hatred, Zou Zhengze dropped the kitchen knife and slammed shut the door of the refrigerator.
Snip off the crab’s legs and large claws, remove the apron, pry open the top shell, extract the stomach, suck out the roe...
Li Ang’s skill in eating crabs was extremely proficient. Using only chopsticks and a spoon, he achieved the effect of a scholar enjoying crabs with a traditional crab-eating toolkit. His elegant manners, dignified way of eating, and relaxed posture made Officer Wang Fengnian increasingly uncomfortable as he watched.
What was even more absurd was that this fellow told jokes while eating. He could masterfully deliver jokes of all styles, from the most refined to the most common, making Wang Congshan and her mother roar with laughter. The atmosphere was exceedingly harmonious.
Officer Wang Fengnian searched his mind for a joke. He deliberately coughed to draw attention, then said in a deep voice, "Once, there was a young man who had achieved nothing in his life. As he lay on his deathbed, he yearned to be praised just once. This desperate wish moved the heavens, and they sent a doctor who came and said, ’This illness of yours... it’s quite severe.’"
The atmosphere in the living room suddenly fell silent, leaving only the whirring sound of the electric fan blades.
"HAHA, HAHAHA," Li Ang laughed appreciatively, and Wang Congshan and her mother joined in.
To break the awkward silence, Wang Congshan passed her empty bowl. "Dad, pour me some soup."
Subconsciously, Li Ang took the empty bowl and ladled soup for Wang Congshan. By the time he realized what he had done, he saw Officer Wang Fengnian’s hand frozen in mid-air and the grave expression on Mother Wang’s face.
The atmosphere in the living room grew even more solemn and oppressive; it felt as if water could drip from the air.
"...I almost forgot! Last time Fang Ni from across the hall brought us green dumplings. I’ll take some crabs over to them."
Mother Wang stood up, went to the kitchen to grab a large plastic food container, and filled it with some crabs. She headed out, leaving their apartment door ajar, and went straight to the neighbors across the hall.
"Fang Ni? Fang Ni? Are you home?"
Mother Wang knocked on the neighbor’s security door with her knuckles. Meanwhile, inside their living room, Li Ang and Wang Congshan kept their heads bowed, enduring Officer Wang’s piercing, solemn gaze.
"Hmm, why isn’t anyone answering..."
Mother Wang sniffed curiously. "What’s that smell? Is it drifting over from their balcony?"
In the living room, Li Ang, who had been silently eating crab, suddenly snapped his head up. He and Officer Wang both turned to look at the neighbor’s security door.
There was a very strong... smell of blood.
They exchanged glances and, as if by unspoken agreement, both stood up and walked into the corridor.
"They might not be home," Officer Wang said to his wife with a smile. "Xinwan, you go back and eat with Shan Shan. Xiao Li and I will just step into the hallway for a smoke and a chat."
"A chat?" Jiang Xinwan looked at her husband suspiciously, her eyes conveying, You’d better not scare the boy, before she turned and went back inside.
After his wife went inside, Officer Wang closed their own security door. His gaze instantly turned cold as he crouched down.
Zeng Weiming and his wife, Wang Fangni, who lived opposite, had placed a rubber mat outside their door to block mud and other dirt. Inside their door, they had a cotton mat for anti-slip purposes and to trap fine dust.
Wang Fengnian saw a thick trail of bloodstains stretching from the threshold of the neighbors’ security door to beneath the rubber mat.
Lifting the mat revealed a sticky, half-dried pool of blood.
Enough blood to flow from inside the security door to the outside... Wang Fengnian thought. Either the residents accidentally spilled a basin of pig’s blood intended for making blood cake right at their doorway, or someone suffered a major arterial bleed and calmly watched themselves bleed out while slumped against the door.
Wang Fengnian banged heavily on the door, shouting the neighbors’ names. When he received no response, he took out his phone to call his colleagues at the police station for backup. He also called the building’s property management, asking them and the complex security guards to come up.
Just as he was about to kick the door open, Li Ang leisurely took out a paperclip. He twisted it a few times and picked the lock of the security door.
"Easy there, Officer," Li Ang said, putting away the paperclip and scratching his head with a smile. "No need to look at me like I’m a criminal. Lock picking is just a hobby of mine. I even wrote a paper on it once, discussing the security weaknesses of the ten most common types of security door lock cylinders on the market."
Wang Fengnian said with a taut face, "It’s ’Officer Wang’ to you. And don’t call me ’brother’."
Li Ang’s face brightened, and he replied smoothly, "Got it, Dad. I’ll definitely take good care of Shan Shan."
If it weren’t for the inappropriate time and place, I’d definitely teach this kid what military combat techniques feel like! Wang Fengnian fumed internally.
Taking a deep breath, Officer Wang pushed open the security door. Zeng Weiming’s apartment was pitch-dark; you couldn’t see your hand in front of your face.
Li Ang took out his phone, using its screen light to cast a faint light into the gloom.
Wang Fengnian didn’t step directly into the apartment. Using the light from Li Ang’s phone, and protecting his hand with his sleeve, he cautiously flipped the living room light switch on the wall.
Light flooded the living room. Wang Fengnian couldn’t help but suck in a sharp breath.
Blood. Blood. Blood. Bloodstains were everywhere.
The ceiling, lamps, walls, table, floor, the TV wall, the shoe rack... everywhere he looked was covered in a dark crimson.
Drip patterns, splatter patterns, streams, smears, contact stains... an astonishing and grotesque array of bloodstains filled the room.
It resembled an abstract painting by a deranged artist.
The overpowering, metallic stench of blood was impossible to ignore, stabbing straight at the brain. Wang Fengnian’s scalp tingled. In his more than twenty years as a criminal investigator, he had never seen such a bizarre and eerie scene. Not even during the recent seven months, with their frequent strange occurrences, had he encountered a case comparable to this.
An adult human’s total blood volume is roughly six to eight percent of their body weight. This means a 70-kilogram adult male has about 4,200 to 5,600 milliliters of blood, approximately equivalent to three large 1.5-liter bottles of soda.
To create this spectacle... Officer Wang quickly made the calculation. It would take the blood of at least two people.
"Fuck, what the actual..." Wang Fengnian’s hand tightened on the doorframe as a curse escaped him.
"SSS..." Li Ang sucked in a sharp breath, just like Officer Wang, and said in a low voice, "This Nordic country-style decor... must have cost a fortune, huh?"