Chapter 72: Obsession, Slaughter, and the Resurrection of a Good Brother...
The lake water was as clear as a mirror left by the gods on earth, and light filtered through the shadows of the trees.
The beautiful and romantic lakeside villa features a garden designed in an incongruous inverted cross shape. To outsiders, the Western-style, eccentric decorations perfectly reflect the artist's unconventional and unorthodox nature.
The white lace gloves were slowly pulled up to her elbows, and the elegant "woman" put on red-soled high heels, the sharp heels tapping against the wooden floor.
The lakeside was damp, and the floorboards were rotten. The air smelled of formaldehyde and disinfectant.
She didn't find the smell pungent; instead, she held her wine glass and hummed a melodious foreign song, though her voice was different from that of an ordinary woman.
"How long are you going to keep me locked up?" Fu Shengnan asked with difficulty, lying on the restraint bed with her hands and feet bound.
She had liquid food inserted into her nose, just like the woman next to her.
She recognized her; it was a renowned national-level badminton player. They had appeared together in the *Liancheng Daily*, one in the economics section and the other in the sports section, both hailed as representatives of the new era's women.
"Sister, you always speak so bluntly, I don't like it." The woman in white lace sat by Fu Shengnan's bedside, applying lipstick to her handsome and refined face in front of the mirror.
After being imprisoned for five days, Fu Shengnan said wearily, "Panxia, if you hate me for not being able to take you out of our hometown and for letting your mother ruin you, you can kill me. But please spare the others, okay? If you want to die, I'll die with you. Just don't kill anyone else."
"You still don't understand your brother." Fu Panxia seemed like a different person at this moment. He showed the expression of a little girl's anger and complained, "Fenfen doesn't like you always lecturing your brother. Why does everyone have to lecture your brother and make him do things he doesn't like?"
Fu Shengnan felt utterly helpless, watching as Fu Panxia spoke to her in the same tone as her younger sister "Fenfen," who had died sixteen years ago.
In her view, this was an escapist act, an excuse for murder and revenge!
"Fenfen" left the bedside and knelt down to pray in front of the two-meter-high cross hanging upside down on the wall. Half an hour later, "Fenfen" got up, took the holy water that had been offered for thirteen days, and wiped Fu Shengnan's legs once again.
"Fenfen" moved with solemnity, muttering incantations as she wiped Fu Shengnan's legs, then went to the side to wipe the athlete's arms.
"Fenfen, please stop hurting people. I can give you my leg, and I swear I'll never leave you again. Please let her go; they're all innocent."
“It wasn’t Fenfen who caught them.” Fenfen pouted and put down the “holy water”. She walked angrily to Fu Shengnan and said, “Brother caught them because he wanted Fenfen to have her own body. Brother owes Fenfen. In brother’s heart, Fenfen deserves to have the best body in the world.”
If it weren't for the fact that "her" voice was exactly like Fu Panxia's, Fu Shengnan felt that she would have been fooled by "her".
Fu Shengnan doesn't believe that two souls can exist in one body. Even when she's tied to the bed and her life is threatened, she still regrets sending Fu Panxia abroad to study art, otherwise he wouldn't have come into contact with these alternative beliefs.
In just one year, his parents made him drop out of school and return home to retake the college entrance exam. They tore up all of Fu Panxia's paintings from childhood to adulthood, shredding them to shreds and burning them to ashes.
In the Fu family, a child who cannot become a scholar or professor is useless. Until they can barely afford to eat, the money that Fu Shengnan brought back shattered Fu Panxia's respect for his parents, causing everything he had experienced since childhood to reignite and engulf him, attacking him.
So there's a second way to go.
It turns out that the parents who made him obey their every command were just like the vulgar and mercenary people they talked about, who had been influenced by the stench of money.
Fu Panxia then realized that he was the only one who had been sacrificed in this family, along with his younger sister Fu Zhuofen, whom he had mistakenly fed with rat poison.
Sixteen years ago, he didn't know there was rat poison in the food. He only knew that Fenfen was convulsing from hunger, and that his parents, for the sake of face, gave all their money as a wedding gift to their uncle in the same clan.
"Fenfen, please let go of the sister next to you, okay? Please persuade your brother not to kill anyone else, okay?" Fu Shengnan pleaded earnestly, but her rapid breathing caused her to choke on her mouth and nose. Liquid food blocked her airway, making it difficult for her to breathe and causing her to cough violently.
Just a second before Fu Shengnan thought she was going to choke to death, "Fenfen" finally decided to pull out the tube and rinse Fu Shengnan's mouth and nose with water.
"Ah...ha...ha." Fu Shengnan gasped for breath, when she suddenly heard Fenfen's laughter beside her.
"Was it fun, sister?" Fenfen said in a childish voice, "Mom often played like this with brother, pressing his head down in the pig trough in the backyard and making him give me back to her. At that time, brother wanted me to come back to life. Not only do you not understand brother, but you also let Brother Maihai monitor him. You are just like Mom and Dad."
“I’m different, Fenfen. They would rather leave for distant lands and never come back than escape from you.” Fu Shengnan said sadly, “Don’t torture yourselves anymore. Release the innocent people, and I will die with you.”
Unfortunately, "Fenfen" didn't continue talking to her. After re-inserting the tube, she sealed her mouth shut.
"Fenfen has a pretty face, Fenfen has a charming chest, Fenfen has strong and beautiful arms, and legs, two legs that can lead to freedom." "Fenfen" excitedly wiped the formaldehyde jar, in which the heads and bodies floating were those of models and lingerie saleswomen.
"Fenfen" squatted on the ground practicing spells and incantations from ancient Western mysticism. Above her four body parts, there was a gap. "She" muttered to herself, "Fenfen wants to eat ice cream."
Another male voice came from "her" body, it was Fu Panxia's voice: "Fenfen, how about you use your own body to eat tomorrow? Brother still needs to complete the last step, you wait for brother obediently."
"Okay, brother. Hurry up, Fenfen wants to wear her new clothes out." Fenfen said happily and excitedly, "Fenfen has been waiting for so long, Fenfen can't wait any longer."
"Fenfen, be good. There's only one last step. It'll be soon." Fu Panxia stroked her face and said with a faint smile, "The summer flowers I've been longing for are finally about to bloom."
"Fenfen loves her brother, her brother is the best."
***
It was nearing the end of the workday in the Liancheng City Criminal Investigation Team office.
Shen Zhenzhu opened her eyes, and in her mind, she had already merged the murderer's silhouette with someone she knew in reality.
She didn't hastily assume the killer was a woman just because she saw her wearing an evening gown, and she was glad she didn't think so.
"Director Liu is here, Sister Pearl, you can begin." Zhao Qiqi stood anxiously in the corridor waiting for Director Liu, while Chen Zhenzhu had time to organize her thoughts.
Gu Yanzheng recalled his criminal investigation training abroad, which included courses on the practice of piecing together human bodies for "artificial human" rituals, involving a kind of witchcraft mentality and anatomical worship. However, he was unclear how Shen Zhenzhu had learned about this, and at least for now, he couldn't deduce the killer's identity from it.
He hadn't been helping Shen Zhenzhu solve cases recently, but the rapid growth of the junior cadre surprised him and also gave him a sense of urgency to move forward quickly.
"You all speak, I'm listening." Director Liu casually found a seat and sat down, still unaware of how the missing persons case had suddenly escalated to the terrifying level of a serial murder case.
Shen Zhenzhu walked to the blackboard and first pasted a photo of human anatomy on the blackboard, which corresponded to the victim's information.
“This method of killing doesn’t fit the way Eastern societies do,” Director Liu said in a low voice. “It does resemble the Western mysticism you’ve speculated about. But I don’t know much about it, so tell me more about it.”
Shen Zhenzhu cleared her throat and began to speak: "The headless female corpse was found to have markings that corresponded to the golden ratio of the body parts of the other three people, indicating a kind of 'ritualistic' behavior. It was an attempt to preserve the body using embalming methods and to piece it together according to the golden ratio. It can be inferred that the murderer's purpose was to assemble these body parts into a completely new human being."
"What use would the killer have for a 'new human'?" Director Liu asked.
Shen Zhenzhu said, "They would talk to, sacrifice, or feed the pieced-together body, and perhaps try to 'activate' it. In the eyes of the killer, these parts are carriers, and the killer's severe history of abuse has led to 'dissociative identity disorder' or even 'paranoid personality disorder'."
I learned from the open judicial archives in the Public Security Library that in the 1987 Lourdes murder case in France, the perpetrator pieced together the limbs of 12 girls into the shape of a "six-winged angel," placing different metal pieces corresponding to the sun, moon, and stars at the heart of each body, begging to summon the archangel to descend.
In the 1977 U.S. "St. Petersburg Puppet Master Case," the perpetrator dismembered six prostitutes and strung their joints together with wire to create a "marionette," with the aim of creating a "mother who could dance forever," which involved Slavic witchcraft curses.
This type of killer is a variant of the 'savior-type serial killer,' whose core motive is to achieve symbolic atonement through criminal acts. Their behavioral patterns blend morbid mourning, witchcraft, and anatomical worship. I suggest that during the investigation, focus on individuals around Fu Shengnan who have a history of personal trauma, sources of occult knowledge, and an obsession with the 'perfect body.'
“I don’t know about others, but there are quite a few people around Fu Shengnan who have suffered trauma. Like Liang Zhiya, who was hurt by love; Mai Hai, who was hurt by rumors; and Fu Panxia, who was hurt by her mother.” Lu Ye said, “If the murderer is among them, how do we determine their specific identity?”
This is also the question everyone has about Shen Zhenzhu: it's simply impossible to deduce the murderer's identity from just one criminal profile.
“The process of elimination.” However, Chen Zhenzhu was already prepared: “First, these serial killers are all driven by personal reasons; a woman in their lives has died, and they obsessively believe they wronged ‘her,’ hoping to perfectly resurrect her. Second, in the calculation of the golden ratio, the killer must also be proficient in mathematics. Third, they must have had contact with Western occultism—”
“Fu Panxia?” Gu Yanzheng sat in the first row, not drinking a drop of water from his teacup, and said attentively, “He has a sister who died because of him, a history of studying in the West, and is a math teacher and an acquaintance of Fu Shengnan.”
"Him?!" Lu Ye stood up in surprise, his hands gripping the table as he said, "How could it be him?"
“He wants to ‘activate’ his sister, whom he killed, whose death was the root of his childhood trauma,” Shen Zhenzhu said firmly. “There is no other candidate who meets the above criteria except him.”
“If it was him, then he might have put that pencil in the art classroom. He had every opportunity to access Liang Zhiya’s pencil.” Zhao Qiqi suddenly realized, “He looks like a decent person, how could he do something like this!”
Seeing that Gu Yanzheng hadn't refuted Shen Zhenzhu's words from beginning to end, Director Liu probably agreed with her reasoning.
In this unprecedented serial murder case, Director Liu was very impressed with the ability of the new generation of criminal investigators to deduce the serial killer simply by using criminal profiling.
Director Liu hesitated and said, "In the past, we had evidence but couldn't catch people. Now you can deduce the murderer, but there's no evidence. Without evidence, we can't even issue an arrest warrant, let alone a search warrant."
Shen Zhenzhu was also troubled by this, and said seriously, "Director Liu, the matter is urgent, and it may be too late to find more evidence. I am really certain that Fu Panxia is the serial killer!"
Gu Yanzheng pleaded on Shen Zhenzhu's behalf, "Director Liu, this case is extraordinary. Could we handle it as a special case?"
Knowing that time was of the essence, Director Liu glanced at his watch and said, "Xiao Shen, I'll trust you this time. We still don't know how many victims he has, nor do we know the location of the victims or the missing bodies. I'll give you 24 hours to solve the case. We can't let anyone else die under our noses! Go ahead and do it. If anything goes wrong, I'll take the blame for you."
"Yes!" Gu Yanzheng watched Director Liu leave, then turned to the entire fourth team and said, "Axi, you take your men and keep Fu Panxia under surveillance 24/7. We can't let her get away with this."
“Brother Zheng, regarding the time and place he’s going to make his move,” Shen Zhenzhu said as she approached Gu Yanzheng, “there’s a Western studies shelf in the city library with occult texts donated by overseas Chinese, such as ‘Solomon’s Little Key’ and ‘Faust.’ I think they might touch on this topic. It would also be convenient to check the library cards to see if anyone else has been exposed to this, which might serve as evidence.”
“Okay, even if it’s not crucial evidence but it forms a chain of evidence, that’s fine. We must go and come back quickly.” Gu Yanzheng nodded and saw Shen Zhenzhu pulling her coat and walking out the door. He then said to the others in the office, “Aye, take some people to investigate the places Fu Panxia has been frequenting lately and who she has been in contact with.”
"Professor Qi from Liancheng University has studied Western mysticism for a period of time. I've invited him over so you can study it together." Director Liu will definitely be working overtime today to follow up on this case. After reporting to the provincial department, he found the relevant professor and had someone drive over to invite him.
Wu Zhongguo prepared case materials for Professor Qi, tossing aside the Wubi input method root chart: "I hope Sister Pearl can find the ceremony location. We can't let Fu Panxia kill his sister too; that would be too beastly."
Zhao Qiqi was still studying the series of professional terms Shen Zhenzhu mentioned, such as "dissociative identity disorder" and "witchcraft thinking and anatomical worship," when she heard this, she said, "I don't quite understand how a badminton player could get in touch with Fu Panxia. Logically speaking, one is a math teacher and the other is an athlete, so they shouldn't have any connection."
"The connection lies with Fu Shengnan." Gu Yanzheng pointed to the information next to Fu Shengnan's photo on the blackboard and said, "In June of this year, Fu Shengnan's Xingsheng Company's real estate project opened, and she invited Du Jun, the national badminton champion, to cut the ribbon."
“That makes sense then.” Zhao Qiqi scratched his head, glanced at the time, and said, “Why isn’t Sister Pearl back yet?”
On the other side, the city library.
Shen Zhenzhu walked to the book corner donated by overseas Chinese, opened the books, found the ones that seemed to be about Western mysticism, went to the front desk, showed her police ID and said, "Comrade, could you show me the borrowing records for these books?"
The library staff member deftly opened a drawer, found a library card among stacks of duplicate cards, and handed it to Chen Zhenzhu: "They are mostly borrowed by one person, named Mai Hai."
"Him?" Shen Zhenzhu immediately called Mai Hai, who was still at the dinner table toasting with a department leader, asking for their forgiveness for President Fu's temporary inability to attend.
Upon receiving the call, he left the table and found an empty private room, saying, "A book? I remember. It was for Fu Panxia. He used to live with his parents and was afraid to borrow books he didn't know, so he asked me to lend it to him."
Shen Zhenzhu lowered her voice and said, "What exactly do you know?"
Mai Hai paused, then said incredulously, "You actually found out this far?"
Shen Zhenzhu said, "If you want things to be good for President Fu, you'd better tell me everything you know. Hiding things will only put President Fu in danger!"
Mai Hai hesitated for a few seconds before finally saying, "President Fu is worried about her younger brother. Knowing he has suicidal tendencies, she asked me to take good care of him. After all, she's busy with work and can't always be there for him. Especially in the latter half of this year... President Fu has also become very strange, always researching missing persons and murder cases. I think it's because of Fu Panxia. Section Chief Shen, this matter has gone beyond the bounds of familial affection and is completely out of control. It must be dealt with by law. I don't want to betray President Fu, but I also don't want her to be hurt."
I've considered the family history of mental illness—paranoia, delusions, violence, self-harm—but President Fu is normal; she shouldn't be burdened with debts owed to her by others. However, since you've investigated this far, I'm not afraid to tell you. Fu Panxia is dangerous, extremely dangerous. You can't judge his behavior by common sense. You must be very careful when you're with him. He has a secret place that no one can find; I think President Fu is probably there too.”
Shen Zhenzhu hung up the phone and took a deep breath.
The "secret place" that Mai Hai mentioned should be the location of the resurrection ceremony chosen by Fu Panxia.
Shen Zhenzhu opened the book in her hand and asked the library staff again, but still did not know the approximate location.
“There’s a full moon here.” The librarian helped find a foreign language book with special symbols related to occultism, saying, “We don’t usually lend these kinds of books out; they’re a bit like cult stuff. I don’t know if you can understand them.”
Following her finger, Shen Zhenzhu saw in foreign language that "soul possession" must be performed on the night of a full moon. If the time is missed, a new vessel must be found and the resurrection ritual must be performed again after three years.
"Today happens to be the fifteenth of the lunar calendar, a full moon night." The library staff member frowned, looking at the evening glow, and said, "Officer, is there a cult here?"
"It's an isolated incident, not exactly a cult. Thank you so much for your help." Shen Zhenzhu recalled Western films she had seen before, where whether it was werewolf transformations, vampire resurrection, or Frankenstein's monster undergoing human modification, they all basically required the infusion of the power of the "full moon." Similar to the Eastern concept of "moonlight," which has a powerful blessing effect on spirits and ghosts.
Shen Zhenzhu noted this down, thanked the library staff, and left the library.
***
"Why hasn't Shen Zhenzhu returned yet?" Director Liu called Gu Yanzheng over in his office and said, "Professor Qi has arrived. Where is she? Half an hour is enough for her to go to and from the library."
Zhao Qiqi said anxiously, "I called the library, and they said Sister Pearl came out a long time ago."
"They should be back soon." Time was of the essence, so Gu Yanzheng said to Director Liu, "Let Professor Qi explain it to us first, and I can tell Lao Shen about it when she gets back."
Director Liu walked to the door and instructed Gu Yanzheng: "The provincial department has put a lot of pressure on us. Fu Shengnan and Du Jun are both top performers in their fields. Last year, they were both awarded the title of March 8th Red Banner Pacesetter in the city. If the media finds out that something happened to them, how can the women of Liancheng work properly? There might even be rumors that a serial killer is targeting March 8th Red Banner Pacesetters!"
"Understood, I will definitely speed up the investigation." Gu Yanzheng returned to his office and shook hands with Professor Qi first: "Thank you for waiting. We can begin now."
Professor Qi, with his gray hair and reading glasses, was among the first group of Chinese scholars to study abroad and a patriot who resisted the temptations of the outside world to return to his motherland.
He studied all the materials and said to Director Liu, Gu Yanzheng, and the others from Team Four, “Your analysis is correct. It does involve a ‘soul transfer’ ritual, a combination of Western alchemy and witchcraft. The head, torso, upper limbs, and lower limbs are all here, proving that the ritual has reached its final stage. However, there are two other points you don’t know about that require attention.”
He drew an inverted cross on the blackboard and marked the four body parts with the symbols for "gold," "mercury," "sulfur," and "salt." He also drew a blank space above which he wrote "moon."
Looking at the bewildered operators, Professor Qi said, "Your analysis that the body is a container is correct. This ritual requires the person performing the ritual to voluntarily sacrifice their own life, and at the same time, a sacrifice is needed in the place representing the 'moon'."
"We need another victim?!" Wu Zhongguo exclaimed in disbelief. "What kind of victim? We'll protect them immediately!"
Professor Qi said, "'The moon' represents the driving force, and there is only one part in the human body that can have this function—the brain. The murderer wanted to find a young woman with a golden brain and use her brain to inject life into the body on the night of the full moon, so that the creation of the entire 'new human' would be complete."
"Call Shen Zhenzhu right away." Gu Yanzheng suddenly remembered Shen Zhenzhu's boastful words to him, saying that Fu Panxia praised her for having a brilliant mind that could solve cases. He grabbed the phone and dialed Shen Zhenzhu's number.
But no one answered the phone on her mobile phone.
"Ever since we came back from Hedong, that kid Fu Panxia has been pestering Sister Pearl... He even said he admires her abilities and her crime-solving skills..." Zhao Qiqi grabbed her hair, her eyes wide, and said, "He's been eyeing Sister Pearl for a long time?!"
"Otherwise, why would a criminal suspect keep lingering around the police? He must either be reckless or have some other purpose!" Wu Zhongguo picked up the phone and tried to call Shen Zhenzhu again, but he still couldn't get through.
"Call Zhou Chuanxi!" Gu Yanzheng said.
Before Gu Yanzheng could make the call, Zhou Chuanxi called first: "Fu Panxia has seen me, but it's inconvenient for me to show my face. Who knew that the plainclothes officers we sent out lost track of Fu Panxia!"
Zhao Qiqi wanted to rush to Chen Zhenzhu's side immediately. She swallowed hard and said, "He must have gone to find Sister Zhenzhu. What should we do? Did he kidnap Sister Zhenzhu?"
Wu Zhongguo said, "Don't worry, she'll be on guard if she knows Fu Panxia is the murderer."
Zhao Qiqi said, "But why did she go with him?"
Wu Zhongguo said, "Maybe she's trying to find the 'address'? If she doesn't go, there will be no chance to rescue the victims."
Professor Qi looked at the moon slowly rising outside the window and said, "Tonight is the night of the full moon, an auspicious day that comes only once every three years for the resurrection ceremony."
"Everyone go out and check for her possible presence—" Gu Yanzheng was issuing the order when Wu Zhongguo's pager suddenly went off.
Wu Zhongguo waved his hand sheepishly, then bent down to take out his pager and said, "It must be my wife urging me to go home. You guys go ahead... Hey, it's not my wife, it's Sister Pearl. She sent me four numbers using your phone number."
Gu Yanzheng strode over: "What number? Didn't you leave any other message?"
Wu Zhongguo said, referring to the message on the pager, "'4131'? She didn't send it to you, so why did she send it to me?"
Lu Ye stopped and muttered, "'4131'? What does that mean?"
All four teams were stopped in their tracks by "4131". They knew that Shen Zhenzhu's sudden message must have some kind of signal, but what exactly did it mean?
More than four hours after Shen Zhenzhu left the office, Director Liu rushed over, furious, and said, "You haven't solved the missing person case, and you've lost your deputy section chief? Does she know someone wants to dig out her brain? What exactly are you doing?"
Gu Yanzheng stood in front of the blackboard and said in a low voice, "The fact that she can send a signal means that it's safe at the moment. She must have found something in the library. The time doesn't need to be expressed like this; it most likely represents 'address information'."
Director Liu paced back and forth in his office: "Then why didn't I send it to you? I sent it to Lao Wu. Does Lao Wu have something that you don't?! How could that be!"
Do I have him but I don't?
Wu Zhongguo glanced at Director Liu silently, without saying a word.
He was equally anxious, pacing back and forth in the office, not wanting his good friend who watered the flowers and raised the fish every day to be in danger.
Suddenly bumping into the desk, he saw the Wubi input method root table on the corner and instantly felt his meridians activated, exclaiming, "I know! 4131 is the Wubi input method root table!"
Zhao Qiqi ran over quickly: "Typically, type it out and let's see what the character is!"
-----------------------
Author's Note: Pearl: Thanks to my slacking-off buddy's terrible memory, I memorized it before he could! [Okay]
There are red envelopes! [Let me see]
***
Similar cases include the "Cleveland Puzzle Killer of 1950," who created "human skin costumes" and female bodies in an attempt to assemble an "ideal mother," influenced by eschatological beliefs. This case also inspired films such as *The Silence of the Lambs* and *The Texas Chainsaw Massacre*.
This case also involves a second personality (the fourth team doesn't know yet). It also touches on the concept of alchemy, but I won't go into too much detail in this chapter, otherwise it will be too complicated.
***
This chapter references and cites "Criminal Psychology" as well as international open judicial information and online materials, with slight modifications.
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