While reviewing the case files and watching a TV drama, Su He felt that the murderer killing people was not to achieve the so-called "perfect crime" as in the movies. It was more like a mystery fanatic's pathological fantasy of murder!
In the "Twin Eyes" case, the murderer had won once, confusing the police's perspective. And now committing the crime again, blatantly provoking, if the murderer is not caught as soon as possible, people will continue to be murdered.
At this moment, Su He's phone rang. He picked it up and saw it was Ma Mingzhe calling.
"Hey, Su He, lend us 800 bucks..."
"What's the matter?"
"This afternoon we went for a group acting interview. We waited until the evening and no one wanted us. To save two bucks on the shared bike fee, we decided to walk back. While walking, we came across a foot massage parlor and they called us in. It cost 998 for one person...We don't have enough money on us, still lacking 800...Consumption in the capital city is too high..."
Damn, you guys couldn't bear to take the 2 dollar shared bike, but didn't blink at the 998 dollar foot massage.
"F*ck, it's that expensive?" Su He felt a little headache coming. Ma Mingzhe and the other two usually scrimped and saved, even reluctant to buy a piece of clothing. Yet when they walked into the foot massage parlor, they swiped the credit card clean.
"A beautiful woman doesn't care if I have a car or a house. She washed my feet and massaged me, listened to my troubles and gave me solace. You say 90 minutes for 998 bucks, isn't that expensive?"
Su He was speechless. A thousand bucks could pay for a hundred takeout deliveries.
After hanging up the phone, Su He transferred the money to Ma Mingzhe. Just then, Zhou Bing came over and said, "Su He, you go back first."
Half of the criminal police team continued to investigate clues and analyze the case. The other half accompanied Su He to watch "Who is the Murderer", and finally everyone reached the conclusion that the murderer was just imitating the plot of the drama and it was irrelevant to the story.
So they watched the TV drama for nothing.
Su He also felt awkward. Every time the murderer commits a crime, he is very cautious and careful, leaving no clues that can confirm his identity. Judging solely from the motive, the murderer does not seem to have a pattern in choosing victims, which poses a great challenge to the police.
The only thing that can be done now is to increase efforts to check surveillance videos near the murder scene to look for clues.
Stepping out of the police station, the night air sobered Su He up quite a bit. He rode his e-bike towards the hostel.
The beauty of the capital's nightscape needs no elaboration. Whether it is modern high-rise buildings or historically rich old hutongs, they all have their unique charm.
But when Su He thought that the murderer was still at large under the night, having brutally killed six people and could commit another crime at any time, he lost his appetite for the scenery.
"Bang!"
A car rushed out from the street corner and hit Su He's e-bike straight on.
Su He only felt a huge force coming at him, and his whole body flew up, falling onto the greenery, his arm cut by a tree branch leaving a big gash that was bleeding profusely.
A panic-stricken woman got out of the car and ran over, stammering: "Are...are you alright?"
Su He got up and moved around a bit, realizing only his arm was injured. He turned to look at the woman.
"I'm sorry... I just got my driver's license. I don't dare drive in the daytime, so I wanted to practice driving at night... Just now I panicked and stepped on the accelerator instead of the brake. Let me take you to the hospital, don't worry, it's my responsibility and I will be accountable..."
The woman was sincere in her attitude, so Su He didn't blame her. But looking at her car parked to the side with the wipers still swaying left and right, Su He didn't dare get in her car.
Checking the wound on his arm, it was not serious, but the gash was too long and would need stitches.
"No need to go to the hospital, let's go to the clinic ahead." If it wasn't an arm injury, Su He could have stitched it himself.
The woman nodded again and again. She took her bag from the car and followed Su He towards the clinic.
At the clinic, the doctor was cupping an old man. Seeing Su He with blood all over his hands, he hurriedly walked over and said, "Take off your clothes."
The doctor first stopped Su He's bleeding, cleaned the wound, gave him a local anesthetic, then started stitching. The whole process took less than ten minutes.
"Alright, go home and rest well. Don't get the wound wet or lift heavy objects. Come back to change dressings in three days..."
The woman paid for him, but Su He stared at the newly stitched wound. Suddenly, an idea popped into his mind!
The police were trapped in a misunderstanding. The murderer being able to do surgical sutures does not necessarily mean he must be a surgeon at the hospital. Even ordinary clinic doctors have received suturing training, and the victims' sutures were basic simple interrupted sutures.
This widened the scope of investigation by several times.
Walking out of the clinic, Su He and the woman added each other's WeChat. The woman transferred 2000 yuan as compensation. The e-bike was totaled so Su He took out the battery and threw the scrapped frame directly into the trash can.
He sent Zhou Bing a message with his guesses and took the subway back to the hostel.
Upon entering the room, Ma Mingzhe and the other two had not slept yet and were chatting away.
Dong Yong: I've experienced all sorts of difficulties in my life, weathered all kinds of storms, until the day Girl No. 66 walked out the door, I felt like the sky collapsed on me.
Ma Mingzhe: You haven't met No. 99 yet...
Pan Zhigang: *Cough cough*, Su He is back!
The lights were off in the room and none of them noticed Su He's injury. After washing up in the bathroom, Su He went back out and lay on the bed.
Dong Yong stuck his head out from the top bunk and laughed: "Su He, tomorrow we'll go deliver food with you!"
"Oh? Don't want to act anymore?"
"Damn, that group leader peeked at us through the door gap to see if we could play dead bodies. Ma Ge argued with him for a bit and they almost got into a fight..." Pan Zhigang said.
"Later the group leader gave Ma Ge a line to read. Ma Ge struggled for half a day until his face turned red, he didn't even dare fart..." Dong Yong added.
Ma Mingzhe sighed and said, "Bros can see we don't have the skills for this. Let's just go obediently back to delivering food, contributing to building a beautiful China!"
"You guys go deliver food. I came to the capital to do great things. I plan to buy a tricycle to collect scraps. When I have money, I'll upgrade to a truck, expand the business and recreate past glories!"
Pan Zhigang had no plans to go out delivering anymore. On the way back, he scouted around and realized there were no scrap collection stations within a radius of several kilometers. He planned to start his own business!
No one responded to Pan Zhigang because they knew tomorrow morning after waking up, Pan Zhigang would definitely join them in delivering food again.
We plan thousands of roads at night but walk the old path when morning comes. No matter how hot-blooded Pan Zhigang is feeling now, after a night's sleep he'll forget it all and will still have to go deliver food.
The wise do not fall in love, the bitter repeat old mistakes - continue the takeout life, build a beautiful China!