In the cramped, closed room, Duan Lie was lying on a table, his limbs tied straight with ropes in a spread eagle position.
Su Mo was wearing black clothes and a blood-red cloak, with a pure black featureless mask covering his face. As Duan Lie opened his eyes, Su Mo slowly got up from his chair.
He walked to Duan Lie's side, tilting his head as he looked at Duan Lie: "You can actually feel fear too?"
Duan Lie made "mm mm mm" sounds from his mouth, not knowing what he was trying to express.
Su Mo did not care and simply nodded to himself: "That makes sense. Even if you're a freak serial killer, your biological instincts still kick in when facing death."
After saying that, he took out Duan Lie's phone, then leaned his head against Duan Lie's as he wanted to smile, but suddenly remembered he had a mask on - Su Mo felt it was a pity no one could see his smile.
Then in a low voice he said: "Come, smile for a photo, let's take one together."
After speaking, he used Duan Lie's phone to take a photo. After taking the photo, he looked at the result, mumbling to himself: "Not bad, just that your expression isn't great. You should be smiling more, smiling really freakishly..."
Next, using Duan Lie's account, he posted this photo on Tiger Sounds, with an accompanying message: The culprit behind the Xikang City Dismemberment Serial Murder case, Duan Lie, has been sentenced.
After posting it out, he took out the phone card and carefully placed the phone together with the card on a nearby cabinet.
Having done all that, Su Mo leisurely stretched. Somewhat lazily he said: "Alright, let's start too."
Then he closed his eyes slightly, with 98 strands appearing in his mind - one strand was glowing red, which he controlled and pulled it out from the seal.
The next moment, Su Mo opened his eyes again. His perspective changed - in his eyes Duan Lie seemed like a disordered puzzle, very inconsistent and uncomfortable.
Beneath the mask, his expression was pained yet filled with viciousness. He picked up a carving knife next to him, then walked to Duan Lie's side.
Looking at Duan Lie whose body kept struggling with an expression of extreme horror, Su Mo seemed to hear Duan Lie saying: "Quickly help me, help me become whole, help me become orderly..."
Su Mo murmured: "Don't rush, I'll help you right away. It'll hurt a bit, but it'll pass, just endure it..."
After speaking, he sized up Duan Lie's thighs with the knife, comparing back and forth a few times before finally deciding on the best spot. Then he raised the carving knife high up and swung down fiercely.
Blood splattered everywhere, painting the world a crimson red. The corners of Su Mo's mouth uncontrollably lifted as he again raised his knife up high before swinging down hard once more.
At the first knife stroke Duan Lie's eyes were already filled with red lines, bulging outwards as he fainted dead away, unlikely to ever wake up again.
Gradually, the thigh got cut off. Su Mo finally saw an orderly scene and started chuckling lowly, an eerie laughter seeping out despite it not being loud.
Then his actions sped up as he started on the second leg, followed by the right arm, left arm. After cutting off Duan Lie's four limbs, he looked dissatisifedly at the neck area.
Walking to the neck, gripping the knife with both hands, he finally felt relief after slicing it through - Duan Lie was finally complete.
At this time, the pungent bloody smell in the room stimulated Su Mo's nerves. He reveled in it, starting to dance gracefully around the room.
Looking at the quartered corpse, he felt a happiness like never before, a bliss that surpassed all joy, leaving him intoxicated.
His strong self-awareness forcibly halted his expanding emotions - he was afraid of being too deeply affected and causing himself problems, so Su Mo continued with his tasks.
Using the prepared alcohol, he started cleaning the wounds before cauterizing them with fire, to prevent more bleeding.
Then about an hour later, the six body parts were fully processed by Su Mo.
He placed the torso on the table, then packaged up the other five parts neatly in prepared bags, and started cleaning up the scene.
Of course he wasn't cleaning up blood stains - that was outright impossible with the sheer amount. What he cleaned were possible traces he might have left behind himself - an easy job.
With no surveillance, gloved hands and feet and a mask on, all that was left were these clothes. After changing out of them he immediately doused them in gasoline and burnt them cleanly with no trace left.
After the scene was cleaned up, around two o'clock, he brought the other body parts out to complete the final step.
Duan Lie's 4 victims - each had their own separate crime scene. Su Mo brought the parts to every one of those scenes, dumping the four limbs down accordingly.
Finally, using Duan Lie's keys, carrying Duan Lie's head, he went to Duan Lie's home.
Smoothly unlocking the door, he placed the head on the coffee table. Next to the head he put down a piece of paper, with a skull symbol on it and the five words inscribed: Night Tribunal's Judgement.
Next, using a strand of wire he tied the inner lock in a slip knot, then exited the room closing the door. Outside, he pulled on the wire, locking the inner door.
Lastly he changed the direction of the wire and gave it a harsh pull, snapping the wire out. Thus, a perfect sealed room was completed.
Su Mo gave a small satisfied nod, thinking to himself: "This is true art."
He had shattered Duan Lie into six portions - four limbs across his four separate crime scenes, torso at an abandoned delivery station, and head at home. To Duan Lie this was very fitting, it was unfortunate he would never know.
To give the entire ceremony greater artistic meaning, not only did Su Mo not leave the slightest clue, he prepared a sealed room puzzle for the police - he felt this was very interesting.
Glancing at the time showing almost four in the morning, perfect timing - he calmly made his way towards the archives.
Returning to the archives, humming a cheerful tune, Su Mo enjoyed a nice warm shower. After showering he contentedly went to bed and fell asleep.
"My name is Duan Lie, my memories start from when I was 5 years old. Since I gained awareness, I knew my family was rich. Dad did business in the county, mom stayed home to take care of me.
However, my parents quarreled very often, almost every day. I felt very sad and annoyed - my ears never had peace and quiet, with dad and mom's fights filling my brain every night as I slept.
After quarrelling, dad would typically go out and not come back anymore that day. I didn't know what he went out to do.
As for mom, she would hug me and cry bitterly, saying some things I didn't fully comprehend, though I still remembered parts - stuff about dad having affairs out there, gambling, and so on.
Initially on seeing mom so heartbroken, I would still comfort her. But gradually, mom started bringing a man home frequently. I knew mom had done wrong.
Yet I didn't dare to tell dad, afraid that he would divorce mom - that would make me very sad."