Chapter 68 Chapter 68 All homophobes are in the closet!
Ji Junjie was awakened by a strong smell of blood.
It was pitch black all around, and he couldn't see his hand in front of him. The air was hot and stuffy, and a sour, rotten smell came from the soft earth beneath him and went straight into his nostrils, almost making him vomit.
Ji Junjie, who didn't know where he was, moved his limbs.
A feeling of soreness and weakness spread throughout my body, and there was a heavy pain in the back of my head.
——Where is he?
——What exactly happened?
The vague memory in his mind told him that he had gone to Tongrong River Park that night...
The last scene that came into view was the person he met in the bushes by the river...
Did the other party knock him unconscious?
It can't be that they spent several days here after making love, right?
Ji Junjie stretched out his hands, fumbled on the ground for a while, and touched an aluminum kettle. He shook it and heard the sound of water splashing inside.
He unscrewed the kettle, moistened his dry lips, forced himself to wake up a little, then twisted his wrist and struggled to crawl forward a few steps.
There was a crisp sound of "dang", and a sudden cold dull pain came from his ankle. Ji Junjie then realized that he was tied up with chains and shackles!
He stood there in a daze, and it took him several seconds to finally react.
...Shit, was I kidnapped and imprisoned?
Ji Junjie subconsciously wanted to shout to attract help, but suddenly covered his mouth again.
He remembered what his cousin who was a police officer had said in a public service announcement on TV - if you encounter such a situation, you must never shout for help. If the kidnappers are nearby, they will probably glue your mouth shut, and you won't be able to move your hands freely!
The most urgent thing is to first understand the surrounding environment and then find a way to escape!
Unfortunately, it was too dark here, he couldn't see anything, and his movements were restricted, so Ji Junjie had to hold his breath and listen quietly to the faint and tiny sounds.
...It was so quiet, so quiet that it seemed as if I were sleeping underground. Even the rustling wind and the stench seemed to be floating down from above my head.
Could it be... that he was locked in a cellar?
At this moment, a sound came from not far above my head.
——Two men were talking, and one of them seemed to be unable to speak clearly.
Ji Junjie didn't dare to move. He tried to stand up, leaned against the wall, and listened to their conversation:
"...Get lost! Did you see the police again?"
"Buns, buns... I love to eat... candied haws..."
"He's the only one who knows how to eat! I'll eat you to death! You ungrateful bastard! If it weren't for me, you'd still be wandering the streets!"
"Wandering around isn't good!" said the lisping man. "Here's good! There's food to eat and games to play!"
"...Get out of the way! Don't block the road!"
Ji Junjie was still thinking about their conversation when he heard footsteps coming towards his head!
In the quiet and exciting darkness, it becomes bigger and bigger! More and more clear!
Ji Junjie was startled and quickly lay back down, squinting his eyes.
With a loud "whoosh", the sliding door above was lifted up, and a beam of flashlight slanted towards the corner of the house, sweeping through the air a few times.
In the dim light, a man climbed down the ladder by the wall with a briefcase in his arms and took a few steps towards Ji Junjie.
Ji Junjie didn't dare to move, his eyes were closed tightly.
The man stopped and coughed violently as if choked by a sour smell.
"Are you awake?" He raised his leg and kicked Ji Junjie in the knee. "The kettle is moving."
“…”
Ji Junjie endured the pain and tried to continue pretending to sleep, but the man kicked him in the stomach again, "Stop pretending to be dead!"
"ah!"
Ji Junjie couldn't bear the pain, so he bent over and covered his stomach. He raised his head in the light of the flashlight and asked, "Who are you?"
The man smiled and looked down at him condescendingly, "Now that death is imminent, it doesn't hurt to tell you... My name is Zhou Mingyuan."
"...die?" Ji Junjie trembled, "Please don't kill me, okay? What do you want? Money? I can send it to you..."
Zhou Mingyuan simply squatted down, pulled out the gleaming dagger from his bag, and turned it around in his palm, observing him with interest, as if observing a dying animal.
Ji Junjie was sweating profusely on his back. He didn't know what the other party had put in the kettle. Now he felt even weaker than when he just woke up. He couldn't even crawl!
In a flash, an idea popped into his mind.
"Do you know who my sister is?!" Ji Junjie shrilled, "My sister is a police officer! The Jiangtan Little Detective! She's currently working at the Provincial Public Security Bureau... If I go missing, my parents will definitely ask her to find me! If you dare to lay a hand on me, she'll definitely shoot you!"
"...Sister?" Zhou Mingyuan found it very funny. "Shouldn't a perverted homosexual like you be left unloved and uncared for? Why would your family help you?"
"Who said my family doesn't care about me?"
"Oh?" Zhou Mingyuan raised his eyebrows and scratched the ground with his dagger. "You have a family, and you still go to a place like Tongrong River Park?"
"...I'm just curious..." Ji Junjie lowered his head, "I just had a quarrel with my parents..."
"Oh, what a wicked boy!"
I don’t know what touched Zhou Mingyuan’s heart. He looked at Ji Junjie thoughtfully for a while, put down the dagger, and began to tell his past.
"… Three months and ten days ago, on an unusually sunny afternoon, my father kicked me out of the house."1
Ji Junjie carefully moved towards the wall and, following Ji Yinhe's instructions on TV, carefully asked the other party, "...What are you talking about?"
"A novel from Taiwan and Hong Kong called 'The Evil Son' tells the story of people like you."
Ji Junjie was a little confused, "N-Never heard of it..."
"Of course, books like this can only be read through smuggling." Zhou Mingyuan glanced at his watch and wiped the dagger carelessly.
The bright light was reflected on Ji Junjie's face.
He stared at that pretty little face for a moment, patted it twice, and suddenly said with a smile: "It's still early, why don't I tell you my story."
"……OK."
"Many years ago, when I was still in elementary school, I got out of school early that day and came home. I accidentally ran into my dad, shirtless, rolling around on the ground with a man..." Zhou Mingyuan took out a cigarette from his pocket and lit it. "I was scared. I turned around and found my mom right behind me... Then the man put on his clothes and ran away. My dad chased after him, and my mom followed him out too—"
"And then?" Ji Junjie was a little fascinated by what he heard. Judging from the age of the other party's parents, that was a forbidden love in a special era!
Zhou Mingyuan exhaled a cigarette and said, "My mom was killed by a truck and my dad was paralyzed."
“…”
Ji Junjie didn't dare to speak, and heard the man squatting next to him say, "Do you think I hate my dad? Do I hate the person who destroyed my family?"
"……hatred."
"Yeah, I hated it, but there was nothing I could do. That man ran faster than a rabbit, and I didn't even know his name... And my dad, lying motionless in the hospital bed, became my last remaining relative in this world." Zhou Mingyuan said muffledly, cigarette in hand. "Actually, later on, I was very curious about how my dad got involved with this kind of thing, but he wouldn't tell me, and the neighbors were also very secretive about it... It wasn't until I couldn't sleep one night after work and was walking in Tongrong River Park that I discovered your guys' tricks!"
"...What do you mean by 'us'?" Ji Junjie twisted his body, causing the chains to clang. "What have we done to you? It's not like we seduced you... I remember you were the one who came up and touched my palm first that night, right?"
Zhou Mingyuan snorted and laughed, "If I don't do this... how can I catch you all in one fell swoop?"
“…”
Zhou Mingyuan fell into deep thought again. "The first time I went to that park, I was really scared. Someone touched me right away and invited me to his house... After I refused, he even scolded me for being rude—'If you don't like men, why are you in this park so late at night!'... That one sentence reminded me of how my dad, after hooking up with that guy, often went out for a run in the middle of the night. And this place is only one stop away from my childhood home!"
Ji Junjie looked at the sharp weapon in his hand and asked, "Can you put down the dagger and talk?"
Zhou Mingyuan patted his face and asked, "Aren't you afraid that I will kill you?"
Ji Junjie didn't know where he got the courage from, "Whether you kill me or not, I can't escape!"
Zhou Mingyuan laughed, "Not only will I kill you, I'll also cut your body into pieces, boil them in a pot... and then throw your body parts into the Tongrong River to feed the fish!"
Ji Junjie's heart was pounding and he felt like his pants were about to be wet.
He wanted to scream, but Ji Yinhe's calm words on TV rang in his ears again.
Stay calm! Stay calm!
"...So, you are the serial dismemberment murderer!" There was only a hint of surprise in Ji Junjie's tone.
Zhou Mingyuan nodded.
Seeing that he had no intention of taking action immediately, Ji Junjie quickly said loudly: "Then you may have some misunderstandings about me. Those gay men you killed... are different! I just speak a little softly, look a little better, and have a few brothers with whom I have a good relationship-"
With a clang, Zhou Mingyuan thrust the dagger into the ground beside his cheek, the blade slicing off a strand of hair. "I don't believe it... If you're different from them, why did you come to this park? Aren't you courting death?"
“Ahhhhhh—”
Ji Junjie finally couldn't hold back his tears, and they flowed out along with his urine.
"A filthy person like you deserves a proper cleansing of the soul... Let me cut off that disgusting part of your body, and also scrape your backside clean with a knife. That way, maybe in your next life, or the next, you can be a decent and normal person..."
Zhou Mingyuan stood up with a dagger in his hand and reached out to pull Ji Junjie's clothes. At this moment, he suddenly heard singing coming from above his head!
"…dirty grasshoppers! They're crawling all over the ground!"
It’s Zhao Liu singing!
Zhou Mingyuan's expression changed. This was the code for the game he and Zhao Liu had agreed on long ago.
If a policeman approaches, Zhao Liu will sing this nursery rhyme to tip him off!
Zhou Mingyuan no longer cared about Ji Junjie. He let go of the dagger and put it into his sleeve. He quickly climbed up the ladder and covered the sliding door panel back.
The strong stench of garbage from the recycling station spread in the slightly warm night breeze. He raised his flashlight and looked around - he didn't know where the six Zhao people had gone. There was a half-eaten bun on the ground at the door, shaking gently in the light.
Zhou Mingyuan suddenly had an ominous premonition in his heart. He retracted his steps, turned around and ran towards the back window of the recycling station!
As long as he climbed over the window, there was a motorcycle below that he had prepared for his escape.
However, someone was quicker than him! The iron plate by the window was suddenly pushed open, and a tall, slender figure flashed out at high speed. Then, the cold, hard muzzle of a gun was pointed between his eyes.
"Zhou Mingyuan."
Ji Yinhe raised his chin in the dim night and said in an unquestionable tone: "Jingzhou City serial dismemberment killer, surrender!"
With a "clang", the dagger in Zhou Mingyuan's hand fell to the ground, making a desperate crisp sound.
*
Three hours ago.
Provincial Department Office.
After listening to Ji Yinhe's explanation of the current biggest suspect, Zhou Mingyuan, the workshop director of the traditional Chinese medicine factory, Tan Li immediately called the police officer on duty at the branch's household registration department and asked them to work overtime overnight to fax Zhou Mingyuan's detailed information.
Sun Gaoge grunted as he took out the precious slide projector from the office cabinet and projected the words on the paper onto the large white wall of the office, muttering:
"Zhou Mingyuan, from Jingzhou, 36 years old, unmarried and childless, currently lives in the dormitory of the Chinese medicine factory. His mother, Li Chunhua, died in a traffic accident, and his father, Zhou Dawei, is paralyzed in bed and unable to take care of himself—"
"Traffic accident?" Lu Zheng pondered for two seconds, "I'll go out and make a phone call."
Tan Li nodded in confusion and continued to show everyone Zhou Mingyuan's archival materials from childhood to adulthood.
Unfortunately, they did not find any useful key clues.
Lu Zheng returned to the office at this time. He strode over to Tan Li, handed her a stack of documents, and explained:
"Captain Tan, this is the report on the car accident involving Zhou Mingyuan's parents... Because it was a major traffic accident in Jingzhou that year, my teacher led a joint investigation between the public security, procuratorate, and court in order to reasonably convict and sentence the driver. I read it in the archives, and these two names sounded very familiar, so I asked the teacher on night duty there to send it over... Perhaps it can provide some insights into solving this case."
"……good!"
Time was running out and we had been working all night for several nights in a row. We didn't even have time to say thank you. We immediately divided the information into parts and studied it word by word.
However, this time, the materials provided by Lu Zheng did not bring any new gains to everyone.
The crackdown team was a little discouraged for a moment. Just when Tan Li was about to let everyone go back to the duty room to catch up on some sleep, Comrade Xiao Ji suddenly raised a piece of paper in his hand high and trotted into the slide projector.
"Look!" Ji Yinhe said excitedly, "There's a third person at the accident scene! This photo is very old, but you can vaguely make out a man whose clothes are not properly dressed!"
"What's wrong with the man?" Guan Ye asked in confusion, "It's normal for a man to pass by on the street..."
"No." Tan Li narrowed her eyes, looking at the remaining documents in her hand. "When Li Chunhua and Zhou Dawei got into the accident, there were no cars around. They suddenly ran into the road, so the driver has always believed that he should not bear full responsibility. That's why you police officers held a meeting to study the situation, right?"
"Yes." Lu Zheng nodded.
Ji Yinhe snapped his fingers. "So, this disheveled man is most likely the culprit who caused Li Chunhua and Zhou Dawei to run into the street!"
She pinched her chin, lowered her head and thought slowly, "If we compare it to our case, maybe..."
"This man is having an affair with Zhou Dawei." Tan Li smiled. "Comrade Xiao Ji, I saw the inference you wrote on the blackboard."
Ji Yinhe smiled a little sheepishly. "But this also explains why Zhou Mingyuan hates homosexuals so much... Because his father was one of them, and he indirectly caused his mother's death. It must have left a deep psychological trauma on him at the time."
Tan Li: "Yeah, that makes sense. That's why Zhou Mingyuan, as an adult, kept hunting down those gay men to vent his anger."
Guan Ye narrowed his eyes, "This is too cruel. What kind of hatred or grudge is this? Not only did they kill him, but they also dismembered the body and hid the torso..."
Lu Zheng, who had been standing nearby with one hand in his pocket, had remained silent the entire time. He then spoke softly, "Let me offer another perspective... I think Zhou Mingyuan probably realized that, like his father, he had developed a reaction to men. He couldn't accept a father like that, and certainly couldn't accept himself like that, so he took such a drastic action."
Ji Yinhe clapped his hands slowly, "My mom once said that homophobic people are all closeted!"
"..." Everyone looked at him in confusion. Comrade Xiao Ji waved his hand a little embarrassedly, "Dialect, dialect!"
Everyone: “Oh…”
Since Tan Li had seen the blackboard, Ji Yinhe no longer hid it and took out the criminal profile of the serial killer he had made last time to share with everyone.
She held the chalk in her hand and summarized the timelines of several cases, finally concluding, "It's been over a week since Zhou Mingyuan last committed a crime. Judging from the timeframe, this is already the longest span. I'm afraid he'll attack the next person, Ji Junjie, tonight!"
Tan Li clapped her hands, "Alright! Then let's try our best to take down Zhou Mingyuan tonight!"
So the question is, where can we arrest people?
Tan Li called the night security guard in the dormitory area of the Chinese medicine factory, but the other party said that the person had left in the evening and had not returned yet.
Could it be that Ji Junjie has been killed in some secret place?
Ji Yinhe couldn't help but shudder, and then he heard the usually dull Sun Gaoge ask: "Do you think Zhou Mingyuan would go to see his father before killing someone? After all, his father has such a great influence on him..."
"It's possible." Tan Li nodded. "The security guard said his father has been paralyzed for many years and has multiple organ failure. That's why he doesn't live in Zhou Mingyuan's house, but is fostered outside."
"Send him to the hospital? Orphanage?" Guan Ye asked. "That would cost a lot of money, right?"
"...It won't cost much." Lü Xiaoyan, the chief forensic examiner, was passing by the office. Seeing that the crackdown team hadn't left work yet, she poked her head in and added, "There's a health care ward for employees' families at the Third People's Hospital near the Chinese medicine factory dormitory. It's very affordable at a welfare rate!"
"Okay!" Tan Li readily clasped her fists towards Lu Xiaoyan, then turned to discuss with Zhao Zhuoqun:
"Old Zhao, that bastard knows we took Ma Guoqiang away, and he must be prepared to be arrested. He must be standing high up in the Third Hospital, watching our every move! Let's do this - I'll take a few police officers to his house in the Chinese Medicine Factory dormitory, pretending to arrest him while making a feint to the east and attacking in the west. The rest of you will go to guard the gate of the Third Hospital. If he leaves, follow him closely! Be careful not to alert the enemy. Tonight, we will definitely find the place where he committed the crime!"
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Author's words: 1 Excerpted from Bai Xianyong's "The Evil Son"
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