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墨書 Inktalez
"Why do you think it would be water?" we asked curiously.
Mary rested her chin on her hand and replied earnestly, "First, I believe that the Killer used fire in this case, and the counterpart to that is water. Second, those candle tears on the wall look very much like winding snakes, which we can also interpret as flowing water. Thirdly—"
At this point, Mary hesitated a bit before continuing, "Previously, the Killer made a move that everyone should have seen. He inserted his finger into her body. I think the Killer must have had a deeper meaning behind that action, though it’s also possible he just wanted to taste it. In any case, from this perspective, I believe the next person to die should be related to water."
Mary's reasoning was not without merit; after all, we were all just speculating wildly. Alley said, "Both of your theories make sense; we can't think of anything else."
I nodded and said, "For now, let's assume there are these two possibilities. What we need to do is confirm the scene of the death. If Mary's theory holds true—that it was a water-related murder—then there are many more places where a murder could occur. In this regard, Alley, you need to instruct your colleagues at the precinct to pay extra attention to rivers and lakes."
"Plum, send a message to the precinct immediately!" Alley instructed.
"If it was a snake-related murder," I continued pondering aloud, "snakes are not common in the north. If the Killer is using this method to kill, he must find enough snakes. In the first video, among so many animals, there were only three snakes. This indicates that the Killer couldn't get more snakes."
"You remember all that?" Alley asked. "You can recall how many types of animals there were?"
I nodded.
Alley sighed and said, "I really envy you. Now I understand why I can't join the Special Investigation Team."
I patted Alley's shoulder, thinking about how he shouldn't envy me; I had just lost my wife and my brother's life was uncertain. But sometimes people are like that—they envy others without realizing that someone in a corner might be envying them too. I pushed those thoughts aside and said seriously, "It's easy for the Killer to find dead mice, but if he wants to find or buy snakes, it would leave a trail of transactions for us to follow."
"If I'm thinking correctly," I said with my eyes closed, "the Killer would definitely choose to commit his crime at a zoo! There are plenty of snakes there, and almost no one goes at night. If I were the Killer, killing here would undoubtedly be a good choice."
"How many zoos do we have in our city? Is there a dedicated Snake Pavilion?" I opened my eyes and asked.
Mary pulled up a map of Cangtai City on her computer and said to us, "Cangtai City doesn't have a dedicated Snake Pavilion, but there are two zoos that both feature snake exhibits."
I nodded and then said, "Go to these two locations immediately and have them remove the snakes from their exhibits and place them in a secure area. This is much easier to control than the water-related murder scenario; we can't afford to take on both risks. The only risk we can control is this one—let's go now."
Alley saluted and said, "We'll arrange everything right away."
Two hours later, an unfortunate message came from Alley. When they arrived at the second zoo, the director informed them that last night, someone had broken the lock on the Snake Pavilion. All the snakes inside had gone missing. They reported it to the police immediately, but since it was not a homicide, it was handled by the local precinct and had not been escalated to our level.
During our investigation, they still thought they had found the snakes.
According to the director, after closing time last night, all the animals were secured, and there was a routine check conducted every day. The inspection took place at eight in the evening. Everything seemed normal during that check. However, when they began their rounds again at five in the morning, they discovered that the door to the Snake Pavilion had been opened.
The door to the Snake Pavilion was equipped with a hydraulic lock, but even so, Killer managed to pry it open. Hundreds of snakes were missing. They checked the surveillance footage right away but found that the computer had crashed, leaving them unable to retrieve any information. They reported it to the police that morning, but as of now, there had been no updates.
The director said, "Some snakes are not a big deal, but among them are about ten venomous ones, and a few are highly toxic. If they get out and bite someone, that would be a serious responsibility! Police officers, you must find these snakes quickly!"
Upon hearing this news, I couldn't help but slam my fist on the table, startling those around me. From the very beginning, Killer had been leading us by the nose. Just when we thought we had cracked one of the clues, we discovered that Killer had already prepared for a third case before even starting on the second one. This was nothing short of an unfair game.
Alley and his team had already rushed back to the Police Department. I said, "Now we can basically confirm that Killer intends to use snakes for murder, but we have no idea when or where."
Everyone fell into silence; my mind was also in disarray. We had been here for two and a half days now, and aside from finding playing cards at Yan Junde's house, Yan Junde hadn't shown his face at all. Where could he be? Killer hadn't mentioned him for so long; could it be that those who kidnapped Yan Junde were not connected to Killer at all?
One unresolved mystery after another was suffocating.
In the evening, the Third Victim was found. On a mountain, a Mountain Dweller discovered a large pit and nearly fell in when he looked inside. He saw that this pit was four or five meters deep and filled with writhing snakes; a human body lay within it, surrounded by various snakes crawling over it.
We arrived at the scene along with the Fire Department and the zoo director. Aside from being startled by the body, the director remained relatively calm. Looking up at Snake Pit above us, there was a device with an iron chain; rubber balls about the size of eggs were embedded in it at intervals. The bottom few Rubber Balls were covered in deep bite marks as if someone had bitten them hard. The chain was wrapped around a nearby Pulley, making the entire trap resemble a well.
The snakes were brought up by professionals; each time they retrieved one, the director marked it with a check on their list. It took over two hours to recover hundreds of snakes before darkness fell. The only fortunate aspect of this tragedy was that all of the hundreds of snakes lost by the zoo were found.
Every single one was in that pit; many had simply been crushed to death.
We managed to extract the body; a Forensic Expert warned us: "Do not touch anything carelessly; anyone with wounds should not go down there. We don't know how many venomous snakes have injected their venom into this pit. Although there is antivenom available, it's better to be cautious since determining which snake's venom caused poisoning in such circumstances is quite difficult."
Fortunately, there was an available lifting tool here; Alley bravely descended into the pit where everything was sticky and slimy. The entire body exhibited a strange dark purple hue—clearly indicating death by snake venom. The corpse had swollen up and looked as if it might burst at any moment.
Tying the corpse to the Iron Chain, we turned the Pulley and soon discovered that it moved with a certain rhythm and pattern. This pattern manifested in the fact that we could only turn the Pulley once every two minutes. During this interval, no matter how hard we tried, the Pulley remained stubbornly still. It seemed that there was a special mechanism within the Pulley that controlled the timing.
Finally, the body was lifted up. We saw that both the legs and arms of the corpse were tightly bound together, rendering it completely immobile. A half-broken rope was still attached to the body, with one end tied to the iron chain. We took the body directly back to the mortuary and let the Forensic Expert begin the autopsy.
When we untied the hands and feet of the corpse, we found a USB drive also bound to the deceased's hand. After securing the USB drive, the Forensic Expert began conducting the autopsy. After a while, he said, "The cause of death for this person is quite tragic. Various snake venoms were detected in the body, but it's impossible to determine which venom was fatal at this point. In other words, this is a Viper Pit; such a death is truly horrific."
"Moreover," the Forensic Expert continued, "the deceased had lost several teeth, and there were signs of tearing at the corners of his mouth." He added, "The mouth was filled with blood, and we found remnants of rubber inside. Comparing it with the rubber at the scene, it belongs to the same object. Losing even one tooth is excruciating; imagine what this person went through."
Listening to the Forensic Expert's account, a vivid image formed in our minds: the deceased biting down hard on a Rubber Ball while being surrounded by snakes below, putting all his weight on his teeth. One by one, his teeth fell out until he could no longer hold on and fell into the Snake Pit.
Terrified snakes began to bite at him frantically, and in that unimaginable agony, he ended his life.
Alley said, "We haven't found any relatives of the deceased yet; our team is still investigating. Should we immediately check the video on the USB drive to find out how the Killer operates next? The longer we delay, the more danger there is for the next Victim. This time, we must rescue them before the Killer strikes again."
"Exactly!" I replied, looking into Alley's determined eyes. "Let's watch the video right away."
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