Chapter 49: The Bloodstained Blue Ribbon
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In the WeChat chat box, a game screenshot popped up:
A broken blue silk ribbon.
X: “[Your cousin said you found this that day]”
Chu Feng: “[Yes]”
That day, he and Lin Lan were searching in room 404 of Dream City. They found a crumpled red scarf in the pocket of Little Shiyu’s school pants in the wardrobe. When they opened it, they found this ribbon inside.
Chu Feng speculated at the time that this bright blue silk ribbon was probably used to hang an ID card. There were bloodstains on the broken ribbon, and there were white letters: …ning Limited. He tentatively suspected that the person who died might be the unemployed cat abuser from room 402.
He wanted to know what new clues X had discovered. As a regulator who constantly risks his life to rescue players, X might have a more unique insight than him.
Chu Feng waited modestly.
After a while, X sent a message:
[There are bloodstains on this ribbon.]
[There should have been a murder case in that residential building before.]
Chu Feng: “……”
This clue was so obvious that even the naked eye could see it. Did it really require the intervention of the highest regulator to analyze?
Chu Feng now really wanted to take back the “good morning” he had just sent to X.
But out of social etiquette, Chu Feng still politely replied:
[Haha, I noticed that too. 😊]
Chu Feng tapped his fingertip and deliberately sent a middle-aged person’s sarcastic smiley face to X.
[The train is about to enter a tunnel, the signal is bad…]
Chu Feng typed in the chat box, about to send it, ending the conversation with X…
[There should be fingerprints on the real ribbon.]
X suddenly sent a message.
Chu Feng paused for a moment, immediately deleted the words in the chat box, and re-entered:
[What do you mean?]
X sent a [How to strangle someone from behind].gif.
Chu Feng understood. The victim’s neck might have been cut with a knife before, causing bleeding but not immediate death. So the killer grabbed him from behind and then pulled the ribbon around the victim’s neck, pulling it forcefully.
The bright blue silk ribbon, stretched into a thin strip, wedged into the wound on the victim’s neck, soaked in blood…
As the killer kept exerting force, the ribbon snapped and fell to the ground.
In theory, the killer might have indeed touched this ribbon, but it might not necessarily have left fingerprints. Chu Feng replied to X:
[What if the killer wore gloves?]
X: [Then this ribbon would have no value in being hidden.]
Chu Feng paused at his fingertip. He suddenly felt that the perspective of this highest regulator was indeed somewhat different.
He had previously thought that the residents of the building where Little Shiyu lived all seemed to be seasoned criminals. Would a murderer not wear gloves when committing a murder? Would they be so careless as to leave fingerprints?
But if there were no fingerprints, and this ribbon was only soaked in the victim’s blood, then it was just an ordinary item at the crime scene, no different from other things splattered with blood, such as the floor or clothes.
A ribbon stained only with the victim’s blood had little value; it could only prove that the person had indeed died.
However, back then, Xie Shiyu had hidden this ribbon alone, and he had disguised it by wrapping it in a red scarf, stuffing it in his school uniform pocket, and putting it in the wardrobe. It was hidden very discreetly.
This indicated that this ribbon had exceptional value.
Based on this fact, if one were to infer in reverse, then this ribbon likely had both the victim’s bloodstains and the killer’s fingerprints, making it crucial evidence in the case.
Where there’s a loophole, the killer made a mistake at that moment of murder.
—And such crucial evidence was taken away by Little Shiyu.
Chu Feng’s heart skipped a beat. If he were the killer, and such significant evidence was taken away by someone, he would spare no effort to retrieve it.
And the killer, among the neighbors of Little Shiyu, who were seen every day, how could seven-year-old Xie Little Shiyu escape the killer’s pursuit?
***
Goodbye~
Seven-year-old Little Shiyu waved at the large lawn of the youth palace, saying goodbye to little Chu Feng:
“Let’s play together again next week!”
“Yeah!”
Little Chu Feng also waved back at Little Shiyu, carrying his small backpack, heading home.
His home was very close to the youth palace, only two to three hundred meters away, so his parents were very relieved to let him come back on his own.
Behind Chu Feng, Little Shiyu pretended to turn around casually and leave, but he secretly hid behind a pillar in the lobby of the youth palace, silently watching little Chu Feng walk back home safely.
“Meow—”
Little Chu Feng hadn’t walked far when he suddenly seemed to hear the sound of the little cat brought by Little Shiyu and turned around sharply.
Behind the pillar of the youth palace, Little Shiyu quickly squatted down and covered the mouth of the meowing little cat:
“Little Qi, don’t make a sound.”
The black-and-white cat Little Qi stared at Little Shiyu with its emerald green cat eyes.
Little Chu Feng looked around, but there was no one, no cat. He thought it might be his imagination.
Behind little Chu Feng, Little Shiyu had been silently hiding behind the pillar, watching. Every time, Little Shiyu would make sure that Chu Feng had safely returned home before truly turning to leave.
In the old city, in the residential building.
Room 504.
A piece of tan-colored cardboard was placed on the table.
The tall, thin man looked grim: “That night, when I left, I found this on the stairs.”
The aunt’s face changed color abruptly. “You mean… someone really went in?”
A pack of smuggled cigarettes was placed on the table along with the cardboard.
“This was found at the convenience store.”
The tall, thin man picked up the piece of cardboard, examined it carefully. It was clear that this piece of paper had been cut from somewhere:
“Do you think this looks like the cardboard boxes that the convenience store receives?”
“But… that’s impossible. You haven’t been here for long, so you don’t know. Li Dawei, the owner of the convenience store, is impossible. It’s more likely that it was that seven-year-old brat from Room 404!”
“What does a seven-year-old kid know!” The tall, thin man sneered, “Maybe… that convenience store owner isn’t what you think he is.”
“How could that be?” The aunt said indignantly, “I’ve lived here for so long, how could I not know? Li Dawei wouldn’t dare to do anything, he’s honest and upright. Even when a few workers asked him to buy beer, he didn’t dare to refuse. How could such an honest and simple person that deserves to be bullied have the guts to steal our goods…”
—Deserve to be bullied.
This sentence from the aunt suddenly pierced the unemployed tall, thin man’s heart. His tone suddenly turned cold:
“Don’t underestimate honest people.”
The tall, thin man smiled sarcastically, “Don’t they often report on TV, those murderers, who all look so honest, and when they’re caught, their neighbors can’t believe it was them.”
In this moment, the aunt inexplicably felt a chill, the man in front of her, unemployed and defeated, always trying to shift blame, most of the time made her angry, but occasionally, in a fleeting moment, that fire would be extinguished by another kind of coldness.
The aunt shivered and didn’t dare to argue with the tall, thin man anymore.
“This matter can’t be left like this.”
The tall, thin man tossed the pack of stolen cigarettes, “That convenience store owner needs to be taught a lesson.”
***
At sunset, the sky was covered in colorful twilight.
Chu Feng, 29 years old, walked towards the lawn of the youth palace with a small shovel.
Nothing had changed here.
A large expanse of lush green grass, a small square, a large statue, bamboo groves, pine groves, and nameless trees that would bloom with flowers but never be called out.
On the lawn, just like in the past, there were children from interest classes playing and laughing, chasing and playing around.
Chu Feng stood under the sunset, quietly watching for a while.
The seven-year-old him back then never imagined that over twenty years later, he would be standing here, amidst changed circumstances.
— They did indeed grow up together as promised.
But they couldn’t grow old together.
Chu Feng reached into his pocket and realized he had forgotten to bring cigarettes in his haste. At 29 years old, he walked alone to the place where he and Little Shiyu buried their “treasure” together in the past.
Under the pine trees, Chu Feng squatted alone, picked up the small shovel, and began digging into the black soil.
Most of the nearby children were playing with mud, so Chu Feng, a grown man, digging under the trees, looked extremely odd.
“Uncle, what are you doing?”
“…” Chu Feng: “Gardening, loosening the soil.”
“Oh—”
The child’s parents also found this person strange and quickly pulled their children away.
Chu Feng didn’t mind; with everyone gone, he could dig in peace.
The shovel kept digging, and Chu Feng wasn’t sure if he would find anything. Little Shiyu had said the spot he chose was very safe, and Chu Feng trusted Little Shiyu’s reliability. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have taken the trouble to come here by train.
But it had been 22 years…
As he dug, the soft soil emitted a musty smell.
After digging for a while…
In the loose soil, a peculiar-shaped stone suddenly appeared.
— It looked a bit like a pentagram, the one he and Little Shiyu had picked up together back then!
Chu Feng looked at it, stunned. After 22 years, the little treasure they buried was still here.
His eyes suddenly stung, and Chu Feng felt a lump in his throat. The seven-year-old Little Shiyu hadn’t lied to him; it was indeed very safe.
The biggest lie Xie Shiyu had ever told him was before boarding the plane at 27, when he said:
“Darling, wait for me to come home.”
Chu Feng rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand.
At 29 years old, crying like this in public would be too embarrassing.
He picked up the small shovel again,
Clang—
A sound, the shovel hit a small iron box!
Chu Feng frowned. He remembered he hadn’t put any iron box in there. Could it be Little Shiyu?
Chu Feng dug out the box, expecting it to be a metal pencil case, but to his surprise, it was about three or four times the size of a pencil case.
Dusk, the sunlight was dimming, casting a yellowish hue, and the wind brought a chilly sensation.
Suddenly, Chu Feng had a bad feeling.
He took a step back, slowly, and cautiously opened the mysterious iron box—
Inside laid a skeleton!
Chu Feng covered his mouth in shock.
The skeleton was very small. Upon closer inspection, it might be… a dead cat.
What’s even stranger was that this cat… had been dismembered.
It was divided into five pieces, each tied with a strange knot using red plastic ropes.
Especially the cat’s feet, two eerie white bones, tightly bound with soil-covered plastic ropes.
Feet, dismemberment, knots…
In an instant, Chu Feng suddenly remembered a case from when he was in first grade, during a period when the news, newspapers, and radios were all reporting on one case:
Dismemberment case.
Male foot chunks were found in the sewage outlet of the old West City neighborhood, the feet were tied with red plastic ropes, with extremely strange knotting.
Little Shiyu’s family lived in the residential building of the old West City neighborhood.
Could it be…
A chill surged suddenly.
Chu Feng stood in the bloody sunset, and at that moment, he realized very clearly what kind of people seven-year-old Little Shiyu was secretly fighting against every day.
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