Birth of the Strongest Crowd

Wang Jian calmed down for a good while before picking up his phone again and looking at the photo of the female corpse, still unable to stop his chubby cheeks from trembling.

In the photo, a naked woman with her limbs tied to the bed frame was lying spread-eagled.

Her body was unmarked without any abnormalities, and would have been quite arousing if her head wasn't so horrifying. Her entire face skin had been flayed off, leaving just a bloody, gruesome mess.

And that wasn't all - a sharp knife was stabbed into her forehead, seemingly pierced in several centimeters deep.

Unable to look at the corpse further, Wang Jian quickly noticed the blood writings on the wall, instantly lighting up his eyes.

The words on the wall read: "Night Judge, I declare war on you, come judge me." Signed: Disciple No. 9.

The previous horror was swept away in an instant, his eyes shining as he was filled with excitement.

He immediately uploaded the photos onto his computer and mosaicked the woman's face.

Then he posted the photos on a social media site, and wrote a blurb below:

"I originally wanted to quietly be an onlooker, but what I got was ridicule and shame. Ah, I can't pretend anymore, time to show my hand.

In fact, I'm a private detective, specializing in investigating various unsolved major cases. My only goal is to give the living strength, and let the dead rest in peace.

Recently, the Night Judge has burst onto the scene, and I've been following the case. Although I'm also a fan of the Night Judge.

But crime is still crime. As a private detective, I've investigated the Judge.

Although I didn't find out his identity, today I obtained an even more shocking piece of news.

Someone has declared war on the Night Judge, and it happened just today. Everyone, take a look at the photos!"

He already had a big online following, and coupled with the Night Judge's recent popularity, this post instantly went viral.

Whether people believed his bluff or not, they were all very concerned about this information.

Many people started commenting and asking questions online.

"Brother Wang Jian, your photos can't be fake right?"

Wang Jian gave a cold laugh in response, "I stake my reputation as Wang Jian that they are absolutely real."

Those familiar with him knew that this bastard's guarantees regarding his personality, character, scholarship etc. were all unreliable. But as long as he used his name as a guarantee, it was almost certainly true.

As a result, before the police even had time to contain information about the skinning case, news about it was already spreading like wildfire, and everyone knew a good show was about to start.

When the special investigative team learned about this, they weren't too angry about it. On the contrary, they saw a good opportunity to have the two criminals fight each other, giving the police a chance to take them both down at the same time.

A few days passed, and during this time Wang Jian was the center of attention online, with waves of adoration coming his way.

Although many people said he just got lucky to snap those photos, and was showing off online, he didn't explain himself, just happily watched everyone discuss it.

"Everyone, I feel like there's more to this skinning case, it may be a serial murder. As a righteous private detective, I have to catch the murderer before he kills again. So everyone, I'm off. If you hear of anyone being killed for no reason, it may well be me. Don't worry, even if I die, there will be another me. Our lives in this world are meant to give the living purpose, and name the dead. I, Wang Jian, am fearless!"

After posting this pretentious drivel online, he was preparing to take a nap. He had been a bit crazy online these past few days, sleeping very little, and was dead tired.

This nap lasted until 10am the next morning, when he was woken up by a phone call.

"Cousin, can you help me out? I have a delivery, please help receive it for me, I'm at work."

Wang Jian was annoyed, "Can't the delivery man leave it at the community gate?"

The caller responded, "No, I bought a fish tank, with delivery to my door. It should be almost to my place. You know where my spare key is right? Cousin, please help me out this time, I don't often ask you for favors, but I have no choice today. If it's not received today I'll have to wait a long time again."

Left with no choice, Wang Jian said "Oh fine, I'll go now."

He quickly got dressed and headed out. His cousin only lived in the next community compound, very close by.

If it was far he would never have agreed, but the two cousins had a good relationship, and it wasn't far, so he couldn't refuse.

More than 10 minutes later, he arrived at his cousin's door. He took out a key from a small hole next to the door and unlocked it.

After waiting in his cousin's home for a few minutes and eating some oranges on the coffee table, the fish tank was delivered.

After completing the task, he ate a few more oranges before closing his cousin's door and heading back.

He had been rushed coming over, so didn't notice the surroundings. But now headed back with more time, he started looking left and right.

Very soon his eyes fell on something down the hallway, and his heart was filled with dread.

At the end of the hallway, a home had its door seemingly closed, but the wind blew it open a sliver.

He desperately wanted to just leave, but as if possessed he walked to the crack in the door.

"Hello? Anyone home?" He called out twice.

A few minutes passed with no response. He called out twice more, still no response.

His sense of unease grew stronger and stronger. Pushing the door open, a familiar bloody stench gushed out.

His cheeks twitched as an unbidden thought came to him - "Could I have been chosen as the strongest onlooker?"

Having mentally prepared, he walked straight into the room, following the smell to a bedroom.

He was smarter this time, first carefully peeking in bit by bit until he saw the feet tied to the bedframe. His face turned pale.

Barely holding back the horror, he glanced over the whole room. It was just as he had guessed.

Instantly, his legs turned to jelly and he slumped down. But he did not scream or faint.

After calming for a couple minutes he stood up again, first took some photos, uploaded them online, before dialing the emergency number.

An hour later at the police station, Li Yang, Zhao Xiaobao, and Wu Xin were all looking at Wang Jian with probing gazes.

"It's you again, if we don't suspect you something's not right!" Li Yang said with a smile.

Actually, they had already ruled out Wang Jian as a suspect based on surveillance footage and Wang Jian's cousin's testimony. It was just a coincidence.

But Li Yang felt this fat guy's luck was just unbelievable. Hence the teasing.

Hearing this, Wang Jian said bitterly, "Officers, I don't want this either. But, ai, it's all my cousin's fault!"