They caught someone.

When I read in the diary that Fang Lin wrote her lower body was cut off by the man who adopted her, using scissors, and that he said he wanted her to become a real girl, I involuntarily drew in a sharp breath. It was a kind of fear that rose from the depths of my heart—or perhaps not fear, but pity.

Because I could picture it: in a dark room, using sharp scissors to mutilate a little boy’s body. How bloody that would be. Even with anesthesia, the pain afterward would be unbearable for an adult, let alone a child.

Yet Fang Lin mentioned it so lightly, almost in passing. I wasn’t sure if she had been so tormented that she no longer saw the world as normal, or if she was silent in anticipation of a more explosive reckoning. Perhaps she had already buried the seeds of pain and hatred deep within herself, waiting for the day they would blossom.

Jin Ze continued to read through the diary, occasionally snapping pictures with his phone for reference, since the diary would soon be stored as evidence.

As Jin Ze read, I caught several chilling passages in Fang Lin’s diary.

Her adoptive parent forced her to bind her feet—a practice, as far as I remembered, that had been banned since my grandmother’s generation because it was utterly inhumane. To bind up a child's feet and prevent them from growing—just imagining it was painful. Fang Lin was born male, so his feet would grow faster and stronger than a girl’s; the torture must have been even worse.

A diary entry from 2003 completely changed Fang Lin’s life.

July 15th, 2003. Light rain. Today is Lin Lin’s tenth birthday. He took me to another city, where I met a faceless, strange uncle. That man performed a sex change operation on me. From today on, Lin Lin is truly a girl. He said being a girl was nice, though I didn’t agree, but I had to accept it.

After reading this entry, I realized Lin Lin, though originally a boy, underwent a sex change at the age of ten, so in a sense she truly became female. I don’t have prejudice against transgender people—someone like Jin Xing, who’s been in the news a lot lately, also underwent gender reassignment. But I was still profoundly shocked; Fang Lin’s childhood was tragic. And I couldn’t help but wonder: what kind of monster was her adoptive parent, who insisted on turning Lin Lin into a woman? And what was the story behind that faceless uncle in the diary? How could someone without a face perform surgery?

Perplexed, but my eyes kept scanning the diary. Fang Lin wrote that she had to take estrogen every day, and her breasts were slowly developing. She gradually accepted being a woman. No wonder I hadn’t noticed anything odd when she was with me. Someone who underwent surgery so young, and was trained ever since—she truly was a woman in many ways.

By this time, Jin Ze had reached the last page of the diary. The writing was densely packed, filling the entire page.

July 15th, 2011. Clear skies. Today is Lin Lin’s eighteenth birthday, her coming-of-age. I’m happy—I am finally an adult, now I can have my own thoughts, my own life, my own world. Uncle said that adulthood makes me a real woman. Suddenly, I understood what he meant. I said nothing, but I prepared myself.

At night, he came to my room and praised my figure, calling me his masterpiece. I smiled at him, but inside I was utterly repulsed. He threw himself onto the bed, his gaze ravenous like a wild dog. I played along, but seized the moment and grabbed him below. He once cut me there; tonight, I would crush his. He howled in agony. As he writhed in pain, I spat out the steel wire I’d hidden in my mouth and wrapped it around his neck. He began to struggle desperately, but my resolve was set—I wouldn’t let him go. I tightened the wire, wrapping it hard around his throat. Blood began to seep from his neck, and his struggles intensified, hastening his death. The wire cut deep into his throat, slitting it open. In the end, he left me.

I killed him. I hate myself, but I also love myself. This was my lifelong dream, yet something I never wished to do. From now on, Lin Lin will be alone—but I didn’t want him to leave me, so I peeled his skin off layer by layer with a sharp blade, slowly cutting away his flesh, though the bones and flesh remained attached. I rubbed salt and preservative into the skin and flesh, so he would not rot. I intended to dry out his corpse and make it a mummy.

Forgive me for dealing with you in such a cruel way, but everything I learned, I learned from you. Lin Lin never truly wanted to kill you; after all, you raised me. But I had to. Other than this female body you made for me, Lin Lin has nothing left. Like any ordinary girl in the world, I want to protect my own body—even if it was made. Living in this world, even with nothing, one must have her own faith. My faith is my body. Uncle, thank you—it is your death that protected my faith.

Tonight, they have come for me. I am no longer alone...

-------------------------------------------------------------

After reading Fang Lin’s lengthy diary entry, a heavy, indescribable feeling pressed down on my chest, suffocating me, as if I had swallowed filth.

Frankly, the diary wasn’t written in an oppressive style, but its content was so perverse and horrifying that I didn’t even feel she had committed much crime. She merely carried out her revenge. The seeds of her hatred had been planted when her foster father mutilated her.

And now I finally understood the mummy in the attic—that must be the corpse of Fang Lin’s adoptive parent.

At this moment, Jin Ze muttered beside me, “Tonight, they have come for me. I am no longer alone... What does that mean?”

That was the last sentence of Fang Lin’s diary, and I had no idea what it meant.

Jin Ze flipped through the diary again and said, “Clearly, there’s more than this. Many pages have been torn out. Whoever left us this notebook must have concealed some things—they only wanted us to know about Fang Lin and her adoptive parent.”

I nodded and said, “Yes, this notebook is like the sketchbook from last time—it was left by the little girl, which means it was left by the killer. Why does he want us to know all this?”

Jin Ze thought for a moment and said, “He killed Chen Mengying and the others first, then created this transgender corpse for you to discover. Besides wanting you to know the secret, he probably also wants Fang Lin to be terrified, since this is her lifelong trauma. And this time, he brought Fang Lin’s adoptive parent’s mummy to the attic, put Fang Lin in a coffin, and is preparing to kill and dismember her. I suspect he plans to murder Fang Lin in the same way she killed her foster father. This seems to be a reversed act of revenge. I think I know who the killer is now.”

Just then, footsteps sounded outside—the arrival of Fang Qinghe with several police officers.

Jin Ze immediately said to Fang Qinghe, “Captain Fang, quickly confirm the identity of the mummy upstairs and check if it’s Fang Lin’s adoptive parent. Also, find out if this person adopted any other orphans in the past, and check if he had any illegitimate children or other descendants.”

With Fang Qinghe’s keen insight, he naturally understood Jin Ze’s intent and promptly sent people to investigate.

Suddenly, Fang Qinghe’s phone rang. After he answered, a hint of joy appeared on his face.

He announced, “Good news—the person who signed for the package at the funeral home has been caught.”