Calm

The fingerprints on Zheng Wei's neck belonged to Liu Yang. Yet Liu Yang's body, with Fang Lin's head sewn onto it, was lying right there on the autopsy table!

What in the world was going on? Had he risen from the dead and strangled Zheng Wei?

The instant this absurd thought crossed my mind, a chill seized my heart. I couldn't help but think of that ghostly voyeur lurking in my home—at some point, I’d felt a desperate certainty that it wasn’t human at all. And now there had been a murder committed by a corpse, and the scientific worldview I’d relied on began to crack at the seams.

But I quickly reassured myself. "Liu Yang" is such a common name; it might not even be the same person.

So I shifted my gaze to the forensic doctor everyone called Miao Miao, the one with the formidable curves. She glanced at the report in her hand, frowned, and announced, "The fingerprints on Zheng Wei’s neck belong to the body on the autopsy table."

The moment she said this, the mortuary fell into a deathly silence. Everyone stared at the corpse on the table, surely thinking the same thing I was: how on earth had it come back to life and strangled Zheng Wei?

At that moment, Jin Ze suddenly turned to look at me, a sly smile playing at his lips. He asked, "Chen Mu, what’s your take?"

His abrupt question startled me, but I quickly recovered. This time, I felt no guilt at all—when Zheng Wei died, I was with He Ping; I had a perfect alibi, and there was no way I was a suspect. He had no reason to doubt me.

So I replied with some irritation, "Why are you asking me about corpses coming back to life? You should be calling in a Taoist priest."

No sooner had I spoken than He Ping shot me a cold look. "Chen Mu, be serious—this is a police station."

"I am being serious," I retorted. "You all said yourself that the surveillance showed no one coming in. Now Zheng Wei has Liu Yang's fingerprints on his neck. If that's not a corpse coming back to life, what is it? Or do you think Zheng Wei grabbed the corpse’s hand and strangled himself? That would be utterly pointless."

As I was speaking, Miao Miao gave me a look of open disdain, which left me a little embarrassed. I had been a bit crass, and to say such things in front of a beautiful woman was hardly dignified.

Jin Ze only gave a faint smile. Then he stepped up to the autopsy table, glanced over the composite body of Liu Yang and Fang Lin, and said, "Chen Mu is right—Zheng Wei was indeed strangled by Liu Yang's hand. But someone else used Liu Yang’s hand to do it. As for the motive, it's simple. Zheng Wei must have discovered something during the autopsy, so the killer murdered him and took the evidence. This is an exceptionally cold-blooded killer—before leaving, he even took the trouble to stitch the head back onto the body, neat and tidy."

He paused, then continued, "There’s no killer on the surveillance footage because he was already here, and he’d disabled the cameras on this floor, giving himself a way to leave unnoticed. Now we have two priorities. First, Miao Miao, immediately re-examine Liu Yang’s transgendered corpse for any clues the killer might have left behind. Second, He Ping, organize a search of this floor. The killer might still be hiding somewhere, unlikely as that may be."

Before leaving, He Ping asked Jin Ze, "If the killer just wanted the evidence, why bother strangling Zheng Wei with Liu Yang's hand?"

Jin Ze replied, "In my experience, the more deranged the criminal, the more they enjoy leaving clues for the police—sometimes as a challenge, sometimes just to muddy the waters. This killer clearly wants to throw us off and put us under pressure. Not everyone in this world is a strict materialist. Quite a few cases get hastily closed because the investigators are too unnerved by the unknown."

I agreed with Jin Ze on this point. I’d heard of cases like the Boy in Red, the Eye-Gouging Boy, the 717 Reservoir—they all had a supernatural edge, and all seemed to end with nothing resolved.

He Ping left to search the floor, and the beautiful forensic doctor fetched her instruments and returned to the autopsy table. She showed no fear of the body, dismantling it as if she were taking apart an ordinary toy. This gave me a sense of distance from her. Such an extraordinary woman—gorgeous face, stunning figure—could have done anything, but she’d chosen this line of work. She must truly love it; otherwise, how could she endure such a job? I wondered what kind of man could ever win her heart. Did she remain this detached even in the most intimate of moments, as if it were just routine?

Quickly, she used tweezers to pick at the stitches on the corpse’s neck, then deftly began to remove the thread that held the head on.

As she worked, I forced myself to look at Fang Lin’s face. Maybe it was the formalin, or some special preservative, but her features showed no sign of decay, only a little swelling that robbed her of some of her beauty. Her hair was tangled across her cheeks, making her look terribly forlorn, and those once-bright eyes now bulged in death, as if silently demanding why I hadn’t been able to protect her.

In that moment, my heart was filled with pain and regret for my own helplessness.

By then, Miao Miao had finished unpicking the stitches. She simply lifted Fang Lin’s head away. Even as she did so, her ample chest rose and fell with calm, untroubled breaths.

She set Fang Lin’s head aside and picked up the scalpel to begin her examination, tracing down from Liu Yang’s neck.

But just then, Miao Miao suddenly froze. Her chest gave a visible jolt. She was clearly startled by what she saw.

I was intensely curious about what could shock her, and Jin Ze must have noticed too, because he immediately stepped forward and asked, "Miao Miao, what did you find?"

Miao Miao steadied herself, glanced again at Liu Yang’s neck, and announced, "The body has no internal organs."

At this, my heart lurched. I saw Jin Ze lean over to look, so I, too, out of curiosity, walked to the autopsy table.

I bent to peer into Liu Yang’s neck—and drew a sharp breath. The neck was a bloody, gaping black hole. Inside, it was hollow, as if some creature had crawled in and devoured all his internal organs, leaving an empty shell behind.

Miao Miao shone a flashlight into the cavity, and I could see even more clearly—it had been completely hollowed out, and very neatly. There was still some residue left in the abdomen—not exactly fresh blood, but clearly this had been done recently.

Jin Ze spoke with calm certainty: "Just as I suspected, the killer came here to retrieve evidence that could incriminate him. That evidence was inside Liu Yang’s body. I think Liu Yang must have swallowed it before his death, and the killer only learned this recently, so he came to get it. The evidence was in the stomach or intestines, but extracting it entirely wasn’t easy—so the killer removed all the internal organs, which also satisfied his urge for violence."

Miao Miao then asked, "If he wanted something from the stomach, there are plenty of surgical tools here. He could have just cut it open—that would have been much simpler. Why go to all this trouble?"

Jin Ze narrowed his deep-set eyes. "Unless you’re the killer, you’ll never understand his thinking. I said before, this is an extremely calm and deranged individual. He created this seemingly perfect transgender corpse—as far as he’s concerned, it’s a work of art. Cutting open the abdomen would have ruined his masterpiece. That’s also why he cleaned up the blood and re-stitched the head before he left. This killer is chillingly methodical; I’d wager his heartbeat never even rose above eighty during the whole thing."

I had to admit, I admired Jin Ze’s analysis. The expert in psychology could truly grasp the mind of the criminal.

Just then, He Ping returned—unsurprisingly, he hadn’t found the killer. He leaned in close and whispered something to Jin Ze, deliberately keeping it from me.

I was more than happy to keep out of this mess. "Since you’re all busy with the case, I’ll stay out of your way. If I hear anything about my girlfriend’s case, I’ll be sure to report it."

I was just about to leave when Jin Ze suddenly called out, "Wait. You’re coming with me."