The weapon by the pillow

Chapter 46 Our goal... is to break the deadlock!

There was no television in the house; the tablet screen was small, and it reflected an old face.

"A tattered bed sheet..." the old man repeated in a low voice, this time with a hint of appreciation, "Cheng Tan... Li Kai... and that shadow of unknown origin... interesting."

He slowly reached out and precisely picked up the "blank" card from the scattered cards.

His fingertips caressed the smooth surface of the cards.

"A blank canvas..." he murmured to himself, "It has nothing in it, yet it can be anything. Like the secret in that room, like the ghosts in those people's hearts."

He gently tapped the whiteboard down onto the table, making a crisp sound.

"The game isn't over yet."

"Let me see just how muddy this stagnant pool you 'variables' that have suddenly barged in really are."

His gaze was fixed on the deep night outside the window, towards the direction of Anpingli, as deep and unfathomable as an ancient well.

Room 402, Building 7, Anpingli.

Two beams of flashlight trembled in the swirling dust, illuminating the corpse hanging in the center of the room, illuminating Liu Li's pale face frozen in terror, and illuminating the stripped black wire deeply embedded in her neck.

An aura of death permeated the room.

There was also a sweet, rotten smell in the air.

"Just died... no more than ten minutes ago." Shadow checked the body's temperature and stiffness again, his voice low. He carefully avoided the messy drag marks and kicking marks on the dusty ground, and carefully examined the area around the body.

"The angle of the ligature marks is wrong; it doesn't look like suicide by hanging. It's a homicide disguised. It feels like there were at least two killers, one controlling the victim and the other hanging her with the rope. They moved very quickly."

"Homicide! Not suicide!" Cheng Tan forced himself to look away from Liu Li's wide-open eyes.

The second nightmare... electrical wires... Wang Bin died, and Liu Li died too. Both died from murders related to "electric wires".

If this is a liquidation process, then is the "electrical wires" item considered "completed"?

"Another wire...the same one on my sister's neck..." Li Kai stood by the hole, his face ashen, his fists clenched so tightly they cracked. His gaze was fixed on the wire, the pain and anger suppressed for thirteen years erupting once more. "That damn killer! It's the same person...that gang of scum, it's the same group!"

"Not necessarily." Lin Qian shook her head coldly, scanning room 402 with her flashlight. This room was even messier than 403, piled with more discarded furniture and clutter, and the dust was thicker, but there seemed to be recent signs of activity—the dust in some areas had been wiped away, leaving blurry marks. "But there's definitely a connection. Thirteen years ago, the Li Wan case used electrical wires, and thirteen years later, the deaths of Wang Bin and Liu Li are also linked to electrical wires. This is no coincidence. It's a…mark. Or, part of a ritual."

Wu Wenbin adjusted his glasses, suppressing his fear, and carefully examined the room: "This place... seems to have been lived here? Recently?" He pointed to a crooked table in the corner, on which was an empty mineral water bottle and several instant noodle containers. Although it was also dusty, the dust was noticeably thinner than that on the surrounding furniture.

"Didn't Liu Li move out a long time ago?" Lynx asked, puzzled. "Isn't 402 always empty?"

"Maybe she didn't move far, or... she came back." After examining the area around the body, Shadow began searching the rest of the room. "She might have been living here secretly all along. Or maybe she just came back recently."

"What are you coming back for?" Cheng Tan asked. "To wait to die?"

As soon as he said it, he shuddered.

"Perhaps... I had no choice but to come back." Lin Qian said thoughtfully. "That lipstick, 'She's dead too.' Now she really is dead. Doesn't this seem like... a prophecy fulfilled? Or rather, an order executed? Liu Li might have known something, was forced to return here, and then was silenced."

"Silenced? By whom? The mastermind? Or..." Li Kai's gaze swept over everyone in the room again, finally landing on Cheng Tan's face, "...one of us?"

"Hasn't everyone figured it out yet? This scheme... is a scheme within a scheme!" Cheng Tan shook his head. "Li Kai's design must have been manipulated. He set up such a huge scheme, and we are his pawns. Even though I just smashed this wall, it seems..."

"It also seems to be part of his plan!" Lin Qian chimed in. "Cheng Tan did the right thing just now! We should trust him!"

"So, our most important task... is to break the deadlock!" Cheng Tan said firmly.

"I agree, we need to search this room," Shadow agreed. "Let's look for clues. Clues about Liu Li, why she's here, and the killer. We can't just wait around."

"Yes, search!" Li Kai immediately agreed, walking towards the pile of clutter. "Some of my sister's things might have been moved here too! The items in that box might not be all of them!"

Cheng Tan stood still.

Suddenly, the fragmented hallucinations in my mind flashed back more vividly.

Rough hands wearing gold rings... a paper cutter... tearing a photograph...

Photo!

He suddenly looked at Liu Li's corpse.

Her coat pockets had already been checked by Shadow; only her wallet was found. But what about the other pockets? Or… her person?

"Shadow," Cheng Tan suddenly spoke, "check her left hand... is she holding something?"

Upon hearing this, Shadow immediately and carefully lifted Liu Li's dangling left hand.

My fingers were stiff, and sure enough, there seemed to be something in my tightly clenched palm.

It took him some effort to pry open the stiff fingers.

It's not a photograph in my palm.

It is a key.

A very small, old-fashioned brass key.

It looks like a key used to open drawer locks or small box locks.

"The key?" the lynx leaned closer. "What does it open?"

The shadow carefully wrapped the key in a handkerchief and then continued checking.

He pulled something out of Liu Li's right trouser pocket.

A small plastic hair clip... a faded pink hair clip.

There was a hair clip exactly like this under the table in room 403 before!

"Two identical hair clips?" Wu Wenbin exclaimed in surprise. "This...this belongs to that little girl from back then? The little girl Li Wan protected in Cheng Tan's memory?"

"What's Liu Li's relationship with that little girl?" Lin Qian frowned. "Sisters? Relatives? Or... is she that little girl?"

"The ages don't match," Li Kai shook his head. "When my sister had the accident, the little girl looked only seven or eight years old. Now she's probably in her early twenties. Liu Li is over forty this year."

"So Liu Li knows that little girl, or... is this hair clip some kind of token? Souvenir?" Cheng Tan guessed.

Just then, Ah Zhe, who had been staying at the entrance of room 403 without daring to come over, suddenly shouted in a trembling voice, "The door...there's a sound outside! Footsteps!"

Everyone's spirits lifted! Was the rescue finally on its way?

Have the police arrived yet?