The weapon by the pillow

Chapter 23, I deduce, is... a sacrifice.

"A gold ring?" Lynx's expression changed. "Jin Dafu! He likes to wear gold rings! A very thick gold ring, it looks like it's set with something! I saw him once from afar at an industry gathering before, and I remember him very well!"

The gold ring in Cheng Tan's dream provided another crucial clue.

This clue once again points to Jin Dafu, the owner of Jincheng Demolition Company.

Another key figure has emerged!

Another brainstorming session ensued... If Jin Dafu was the one who ordered the measurements back then and might later be involved in Li Wan's death, then where is he now? Is he still alive? Was tonight's setup his doing? Or... is it revenge from the victims of that time?

Meanwhile, at a 24-hour convenience store two blocks away from Anpingli.

Cheng Jing didn't buy anything; she went straight to the public phone booth at the very back.

An old-fashioned telephone booth.

She picked up the phone and dialed.

The phone rang five times before being answered, and an old voice came from the other end: "Feed?"

"Master, it's me." Cheng Jing lowered her voice.

There was a two-second silence on the other end of the phone, followed by the familiar voice of Zhou Zhigang, a retired criminal investigator, "Xiao Jing? Calling a public phone at this hour... are you near the scene?"

"Yes, the outskirts of Anping." Cheng Jing spoke quickly. "Master, I need you to tell me the truth—what exactly are you hiding regarding Li Wan's case thirteen years ago?"

There was a long silence on the other end of the phone, and she could hear heavy breathing.

"Master, I know you were under a lot of pressure back then. The higher-ups demanded that the case be closed as soon as possible, but due to insufficient evidence, it had to be shelved. I also know that some clues may not have been fully recorded in the case file for various reasons."

Cheng Jing's voice was soft, but every word was like a nail: "But now, Zhao Jianguo and Wang Bin are dead, and their deaths are suspicious. Seven innocent people are trapped in a haunted house, and it's being broadcast live online. Someone is going to completely expose the case from back then. If you know anything, you must tell me now, otherwise more people might die tonight."

Zhou Zhigang sighed, the sigh coming through the telephone line sounding particularly weary.

"Xiao Jing... knowing too much about some things won't do you any good."

"I'm already at the station, Master. The benefits and drawbacks don't matter; the truth is what matters," Cheng Jing insisted.

Another long silence followed.

Zhou Zhigang finally spoke, his voice low: "In Li Wan's case... when we investigated it back then, we found some 'inconsistencies'."

"What do you mean?"

"The tools and bloodstains at the scene all belonged to Li Wan, that's for sure. But on the handles of some tools, we found very blurry, overlapping fingerprints," Zhou Zhigang said, puzzled. "It wasn't just one person's fingerprints touching the area multiple times; it was fingerprints from different people partially overlapping. The technical department analyzed them back then, but they could only separate three incomplete fingerprint fragments, and they couldn't compare them."

"Did multiple people handle the same weapon?" This conclusion surprised Chen Jing.

"What's even stranger," Zhou Zhigang continued, "is that these overlapping fingerprints didn't appear in the normal grip position, but at the ends or sides of the tool. At the time, we made a judgment, and it felt like... it wasn't used for attack, but for... transmission."

"transfer?"

"Take a wrench, for example," Zhou Zhigang further explained. "When normally held, fingerprints should be in the middle of the handle. But we found blurry, overlapping fingerprints on both ends of that wrench's handle. It's like two people each holding one end, passing the tool around."

Cheng Jing's mind raced, several imagined scenarios flashing through her mind: "What does this delivery tool mean? Collaborative murder? Or... some kind of ritual?"

"I don't know." Zhou Zhigang's voice was even lower. "There's something even stranger. When Li Wan's body was found, her clothes were disheveled but neatly dressed. Buttons were fastened, zippers were zipped up, and shoes were on. This doesn't fit the typical crime scene characteristics of a murder, especially one with a possible motive of sexual assault or abuse."

"You mean... the killer even tidied the victim's clothes after committing the murder?"

"Or, it might have happened before the murder." Zhou Zhigang paused. "Xiao Jing, I personally suspect that Li Wan's death might not have been a simple murder. The tools at the scene, the strange marks, the overly 'clean' state of the body... it's more like some kind of... punishment ritual. And there might have been more than one participant."

Cheng Jing felt a chill run down her spine: "A punishment ritual? Why? Who did Li Wan offend?"

"That's why we couldn't get any further on the investigation back then," Zhou Zhigang said with a wry smile. "Li Wan's social relationships were very simple; she had no obvious enemies. Her income was average, and she wasn't involved in any large financial disputes. As for her love life... we found out she had a boyfriend at the time, but they broke up a month before the incident, and he had a clear alibi. The motive remained a blank."

"What about Zhao Jianguo and Wang Bin? Were they really ruled out back then?"

"On the surface, I ruled it out, but I never gave up in private," Zhou Zhigang said. "The rumor that Zhao Jianguo's 'ice pick is the best' was actually spread by me."

"What?!" Cheng Jing exclaimed in astonishment.

"Back then, during my visits, I deliberately chatted with a few elderly residents, mentioning that I suspected the murderer might have used a special tool like an ice pick, to see if anyone would react," Zhou Zhigang explained. "The very next day, someone came to 'anonymously report' that they saw Zhao Jianguo saying 'ice picks are the best' in front of the hardware store. It was too much of a coincidence, so coincidental that it seemed like someone was deliberately trying to lead the clues to Zhao Jianguo."

"Was someone framed?"

"Or perhaps Zhao Jianguo was just one of the scapegoats pushed out." Zhou Zhigang's voice was heavy. "As for Wang Bin, I found that around the time of the incident, his bank account had an extra sum of money, five thousand yuan, deposited in cash. The source is unknown. But at the time, the higher-ups were urging us to close the case, so these 'minor details' were put aside."

There was so much information that Cheng Jing couldn't process it all at once.

"Master, who do you think set up this scheme tonight?"

There was a longer silence on the other end of the phone.

"...I don't know," Zhou Zhigang finally said. "But I have a feeling that the person who set this up knows more about the case than we police do. They know the details that weren't recorded in the case files, like overlapping fingerprints or neatly arranged clothing. Now they're revealing these details bit by bit through live streaming and Cheng Tan's nightmares, like they're...teaching him."

"teaching?"

"Teach everyone—including the police and the public—what exactly happened back then." Zhou Zhigang's tone became very serious. "Xiaojing, you have to be careful. If this really is a ritual, then this might just be a reenactment of it. And rituals usually involve sacrifices."

Sacrifice.

This word made Cheng Jing grip the microphone tightly.

"Of the eight people trapped, who will be the sacrifice?" she asked.