novelsite Chapter 11: Stinky Baby Has Watched Quite a Few Times
Chapter 11: Stinky Baby Has Watched Quite a Few Times
The lights in the interrogation room were blindingly white.
Jiang Chen lay on the cot, eyes closed, breathing steadily.
But Su Wan knew he wasn't asleep... His fingers tapped lightly on his side, rhythmically and calmly, as if he were playing some kind of beat in his head.
She didn't bother him.
Outside the interrogation room, Director Zhang stared through the one-way glass for a long time before finally turning and leaving. Footsteps faded into the distance in the corridor as night shift officers changed shifts, their whispers breaking the silence.
The entire police station operated slowly in the dead of night, like an old, worn-out machine.
Ding... Ring ring ring...!
The shrill ring of the telephone suddenly shattered the silence of the interrogation room.
Su Wan instinctively grabbed the microphone: "Feed?"
The voice on the other end of the phone belonged to the technical department's on-duty officer, carrying a strange, inexplicable tone: "Team Leader Su, we've found it. Although the killer's IP address used to send the emails went through multiple layers of VPNs, a gateway log left a trace... located in the west of the city, near the abandoned crematorium."
Su Wan frowned deeply: "An abandoned crematorium?"
"Yes. That place has been deserted for almost ten years, and even homeless people don't want to go there."
Click. Su Wan hung up the phone and turned to look at Jiang Chen on the cot.
He opened his eyes.
"You heard everything," Su Wan said.
Jiang Chen sat up, rubbed his temples, and said in a hoarse voice, still sounding like he had just woken up, "An abandoned crematorium... interesting."
"Interesting?" Su Wan's voice rose a half-octave. "A serial killer hiding in an abandoned crematorium, you find that interesting?"
"I mean," Jiang Chen stood up, walked to the whiteboard, picked up a marker, and wrote four words...
crematorium.
Then two lines were drawn below.
"Officer Su, don't you find it strange? A serial killer with extremely strong counter-surveillance capabilities, a cyber expert who can set up seven layers of intermediaries, would leave location traces in his own emails?"
Su Wan fell silent.
"Unless..." Jiang Chen turned around, "he did it on purpose."
"Did he deliberately let us find his location?"
"It's not leading, it's guiding." Jiang Chen drew an arrow on the whiteboard. "It's guiding us to that crematorium."
Why?
Jiang Chen did not answer immediately. He wrote down a few keywords on the whiteboard: abandoned crematorium, murder case in the western suburbs, underground fortifications, reporter.
Then connect them with a wire.
"The bodies from the three murders in the western suburbs haven't been found yet, right?" Jiang Chen suddenly asked.
Su Wan nodded: "Yes. This is also the key reason why we can't convict you... Without finding the body, we can't form a complete chain of evidence."
"Have you ever thought about where the body went?"
Su Wan's pupils suddenly contracted.
"You mean...the crematorium?"
Thump…!
Jiang Chen threw the marker on the table. The sound wasn't loud, but it was unusually clear in the quiet interrogation room.
"An abandoned crematorium, with incinerators, chimneys, and a full set of equipment for handling corpses. For a serial killer, it was paradise."
Su Wan's breathing became rapid.
Jiang Chen turned to face her, his eyes sharp as a knife.
"Officer Su, there's a passage in my new book that I haven't had a chance to publish yet. Would you like to hear it?"
Su Wan nodded subconsciously.
Jiang Chen's voice was as calm as if he were reading a text, but every word carried a chilling aura that sent shivers down one's spine.
"The woman's suitcase and the man's woven bag were both filled with cute little things."
Su Wan froze.
"Throw it far away, bury it nearby..."
Jiang Chen paused.
"I'd rather haul it myself than ask someone to help carry it."
The air in the interrogation room seemed to freeze.
Su Wan unconsciously clenched her fists, her face pale.
"Guess..." Jiang Chen's lips curled slightly upward, but there was no smile in his eyes, "How many pieces did it get?"
Su Wan opened her mouth, but no sound came out.
"You get a bunch, I get a bunch..."
Jiang Chen's voice grew softer and softer, almost like a whisper.
"In the end, it turned into a pile of mud."
silence.
A deathly silence.
The fluorescent lights in the interrogation room emitted a faint humming sound…
Su Wan stared at Jiang Chen, her lips trembling slightly.
She wasn't afraid... she was a detective, she'd seen things far more brutal than this.
What shocked her was...
This passage is almost identical to the autopsy reports of three murder cases in the western suburbs.
No, not almost.
It is exactly the same word.
"This passage..." Su Wan's voice was a little hoarse, "You wrote it in your novel?"
Jiang Chen shook his head: "I didn't have time to post it. It's from Chapter Fourteen of my new book, which I originally planned to update the day after tomorrow."
"How did you know...?"
"I told you, I've done a lot of research," Jiang Chen interrupted her. "This isn't something I made up. It's the exact words of a serial killer from the 1960s when he was arrested and confessed to his crimes. It's recorded in a long-out-of-print crime record."
"I found that book at a used bookstore."
Su Wan stared intently into his eyes, trying to find a trace of panic or guilt within them.
But she found nothing.
Jiang Chen's eyes were as open and honest as a mirror.
"Officer Su, I know what you're thinking right now... He's lying, he saw it with his own eyes at the scene."
"But think about it, if I actually went to the scene, why would I write it down? Wouldn't that be like walking into a trap?"
Su Wan fell silent.
She couldn't refute this logic.
bite…!
Su Wan's phone rang. It was Zhou Guoping calling.
"Captain Su, we've reached the outskirts of the crematorium." Zhou Guoping's voice was low, carried by the howling of the night wind. "There is indeed something unusual about the location you mentioned."
"What's wrong?"
"The incinerator's chimney is hot."
Su Wan's heart sank.
The crematorium, abandoned for ten years, still has hot chimneys.
Jiang Chen didn't need to explain what this meant.
"Someone burned something tonight," Zhou Guoping said, his voice even lower. "And it's very likely... more than one thing."
Su Wan took a deep breath and looked at Jiang Chen.
Jiang Chen didn't say anything, but picked up a marker and wrote two words on the whiteboard.
Alive.
Su Wan stared at those two words for three seconds, and suddenly understood what he meant.
"Captain Zhou, don't go in," she said into the phone. "The killer might still be inside, but he won't surrender easily. How many exits are there in that area?"
"Three. The main entrance, the side entrance, and the back entrance."
"Seal it off completely." Su Wan's voice was decisive as she gave the order, "But don't go in... He's waiting for you to go in."
Zhou Guoping was silent for a moment: "You mean, there's a trap inside?"
"He wasn't sure. But Jiang Chen thought it wasn't that simple that the killer deliberately led you to the crematorium."
"Grass…"
A low, gruff voice came from the other end of the phone, followed by a series of orders.
Su Wan hung up the phone and turned to look at Jiang Chen.
"How can you be so sure the killer won't make a move tonight?"
Jiang Chen sat back in his chair, his hands clasped in front of his abdomen, his relaxed posture unlike that of a detained suspect.
"Because he hasn't had enough fun yet."
"What do you mean?"
"Officer Su, have you ever played cat and mouse?" Jiang Chen didn't wait for her answer. "After a cat catches a mouse, it doesn't eat it right away. It plays with it. It lets it go, catches it again, lets it go, catches it again... until the mouse is exhausted and can't run anymore."
"That's how this killer is. He's not an ordinary serial killer; he has histrionic personality disorder. He needs an audience, he needs an adversary."
"I am his opponent."
Jiang Chen's voice was calm, but Su Wan could hear a hint of anger hidden in it.
"He won't harm anyone tonight. He's waiting for me."
"Waiting for you?" Su Wan frowned. "You're still in detention; there's no way you can leave."
Jiang Chen smiled, a smile that contained both helplessness and a hint of provocation.
"Then you just wait and see. He'll send me something tomorrow morning."
"What should I send?"
Jiang Chen stood up, walked to the window, and looked at the dark night outside.
"Women's suitcases, men's woven bags."
"It's full of 'cute little things' that he prepared."
Su Wan felt a chill run down her spine.
Rumble...!
A muffled clap of thunder suddenly came from outside the window.
It is going to rain.
Su Wan glanced at her watch... 1:20 AM.
Meanwhile, outside the crematorium.
Zhou Guoping led his team to lie in ambush near the three exits. The world seen through the night vision goggles was a desolate, pale green silence.
Lin Xiaoyu lay down beside him and suddenly whispered something.
"Team Leader Zhou."
"Um?"
"Look at that."
She pointed to the window on the second floor of the crematorium.
A glimmer of light flashed past the window.
That didn't look like the light of a flashlight; it was the light of a fire.
Orange-red, swaying...
It is candlelight.
Zhou Guoping's heart suddenly raced.
"Attention everyone, there's a suspicious light source on the second floor," he said in a low voice into the walkie-talkie. "Don't make any sudden moves, continue to observe."
The firelight flickered a few times in the window and then disappeared.
There was no sound. No one was there. No footsteps.
just like…
There was never anyone in that room.
Lin Xiaoyu pinched her arm hard to stop herself from trembling.
Zhao Gang, standing beside her, whispered, "Don't be afraid. If he really dares to come out, can't all of us hold him down?"
Lin Xiaoyu forced a smile, but didn't say anything.
She wasn't afraid of the killer.
She was afraid…
The killer is watching them.
From some corner they couldn't see, in some way they didn't know, they were watching all of this.
It's like watching a play.
In the interrogation room, Jiang Chen lay back down on his cot.
This time, he really closed his eyes.
Su Wan looked at him, hesitated for a moment, and then spoke.
"Jiang Chen".
"Um."
"Those things you said...those things you wrote in your novels..."
"What's wrong?"
Su Wan opened her mouth, but in the end only said one sentence.
"You've watched a lot of that, haven't you?"
Jiang Chen opened his eyes and turned to look at her.
The incandescent light in the interrogation room cast a cold white glow on his face, and the corners of his mouth slowly turned up, revealing an ambiguous smile.
"Officer Su."
"Um."
"How long have you been following my book?"
Su Wan's face suddenly turned red.
"I didn't..."
"You were already following the first book," Jiang Chen interrupted her. "If you weren't a fan, you wouldn't have hesitated when you arrested me, wouldn't have softened during the interrogation, and you certainly wouldn't..."
He paused.
"They won't call me by my nickname."
Su Wan opened her mouth, but couldn't utter a single word.
The interrogation room was so quiet you could hear two people's heartbeats.
then…
Beep beep beep... Beep beep beep...
The clock on the wall pointed to exactly 2 a.m.
The interrogation room door was pushed open, and Director Zhang walked in, holding a mobile phone in his hand.
"Just received it." Director Zhang handed his phone to Su Wan. "It's been sent to Jiang Chen's readers' email address."
Su Wan glanced down at the screen, her pupils suddenly contracting.
The email has no body.
There is only one photo.
The photo shows a pink suitcase and a gray woven bag placed side by side.
A label was hanging on the zipper of the suitcase.
The label had two words written on it…
Jiang Chen.
Su Wan turned her phone around to face Jiang Chen.
Jiang Chen stared at the photo in silence for a long time.
Then he laughed.
That smile held a hint of bitterness, helplessness, and a touch of excitement.
It's the kind of excitement a hunter feels when they finally see the footprints of their prey.
"He actually sent it."
Jiang Chen stood up, stretched his stiff neck, and heard a cracking sound.
"Officer Su, Director Zhang."
"I am now formally applying... to participate in the arrest."
Director Zhang frowned: "During your detention period, according to regulations you cannot..."
"You can't catch him." Jiang Chen interrupted the bureau chief, his tone as calm as if stating a fact. "Without me, you wouldn't even be able to touch his shadow."
"But you let me go..."
Jiang Chen remained silent for a moment, then his eyes sharpened.
"Within a week, I made him walk into this interrogation room on his own."
Silence fell again in the interrogation room.
Director Zhang stared at Jiang Chen for a long time, and Su Wan stared at him for even longer.
The clock on the wall ticked away.
2:07 AM.
The thunder outside was getting closer and closer.
Director Zhang let out a long breath, as if he had made a momentous decision.
"Three days."
"What?" Jiang Chen didn't react.
"I'll give you three days." Director Zhang's tone left no room for argument. "If you can help us solve the case within three days, your suspicion will be completely cleared, and I will apologize to you in front of the entire bureau."
"What if it can't be broken?"
Director Zhang did not answer, and turned to walk out of the interrogation room.
The moment the door closed, Su Wan heard Jiang Chen's low laughter.
I'm not laughing at Director Zhang.
It's a laugh at the murderer hiding in the shadows, thinking he's in control of everything.
Three days is enough.
Jiang Chen turned his head and looked at Su Wan, his eyes shining.
"Officer Su, could you do me a favor?"
"What kind of help?"
"Find me a laptop."
Su Wan was taken aback: "What are you going to do?"
Jiang Chen's lips curled up into a smug smile.
"renew."
"what?"
"I told you, he wants me to write, so I'll write it for him to see." Jiang Chen walked to the window, pushed it open, and the night wind carrying the scent of rain rushed in.
"If he wants to play, I'll play along to the end."
"only…"
He reached his hand into the rain and caught a drop of rain.
"I'll set the rules of the game now."
Boom!
A bolt of lightning ripped across the sky, illuminating the entire interrogation room in a blinding white light.
Su Wan looked at Jiang Chen's backlit profile, and her heart suddenly raced.
I felt a little strange.
Because of…
She suddenly felt that this man, who said he wanted to "rewrite the rules of the game" on a stormy night, had an inexplicable...attraction.
She shook her head sharply, banishing the dangerous thought.
"I'll go find the computer."
She turned and left, her footsteps fading into the distance in the corridor.
Jiang Chen was left alone in the interrogation room.
He stood by the window, raindrops hitting the back of his hand, splashing up tiny droplets.
The system's voice sounded in my mind again.
[Host's emotional fluctuations detected; Detective Insight bloodline activation increased to 81%]
[Host, please note... the real battle has only just begun.]
Jiang Chen smiled.
"I know."
He pulled a coin from his pocket… he’d picked it up from the floor of the interrogation room… and flicked it into the air.
Coin flip, flip, flip…
Snapped.
He caught it.
front.
"Good luck."
He put the coin back in his pocket, turned and walked to the interrogation table, where he sat down.
The rain outside the window finally intensified.
Whoa…!