After reassuring her a bit more, Jiang Shihe left Ruan Qing'an's room. Only after the door was closed, isolating her from the man's tall figure, did Ruan Qing'an lower her eyes.
Behind her, the mummified ghost holding the portrait stood quietly, exactly the same as the "person" who had frightened Jiang Shihe earlier.
As Ruan Qing'an raised his hand and formed a hand seal, runes appeared in response.
...
At this moment, outside the apartment building.
Jiang Shihe frowned deeply, his emotions in his eyes unreadable. After a brief moment of agitation, he took out a cigarette from his bag. Only after lighting it and the smell of nicotine filled the air did he manage to calm his chaotic thoughts little by little.
He tried to recall what Ruan Qing'an had just said, starting from the art studio, then to the strangeness of tonight, and most importantly—it was probably all true what she had said.
Because the "person" Jiang Shihe saw downstairs did indeed seem to be holding something in his arms, especially the almost smooth and flat face under the mask, without even a protrusion at the bridge of the nose.
"Tsk, this is really troublesome..."
As the scent of nicotine filled the air, Jiang Shihe's gentle and gentlemanly smile faded, becoming somewhat dangerous.
His eyes and brows were extremely aggressive, and coupled with his excessively tall stature, he could bring a strong sense of oppression. If it weren't for Jiang Shihe's smile being like a mask, it would be difficult to dispel that sense of dominance.
On the street, a man held a cigarette between his long, slender fingers, while his other hand scrolled through his phone, his brow furrowed as he looked down.
What Jiang Shihe was looking at were sticky notes, which detailed all the unusual things he had observed over the past few days, with the last one being about today's events...
"So the death loop is indeed related to supernatural forces?"
"The Dragon Team isn't in a hurry to tell us. How many people can trust such power? Plus, with the serial murder case, it might alert the killer who killed me."
"We'll have to keep this under wraps and act in secret..."
Jiang Shihe lowered his head in thought, his expression turning somewhat grim as he bit the cigarette between his lips. The most troublesome thing was that he was a private investigator, not a monk or a Taoist priest.
Just as Jiang Shihe was thinking of Long Qi, his phone suddenly rang, and the caller was none other than Long Qi from earlier.
After the call connected, Long Qi's heavy voice came through: "Mr. Jiang, are you busy? After the case at F University today, I immediately arranged for people to examine and identify the case. The forensic doctor also worked overtime all night. Now we finally have some results. It's the same way the previous people died."
"This is indeed a follow-up to the serial murder case, but... it's even stranger than the previous cases."
Jiang Shihe paused: "What's wrong?"
"The deceased, Zhang Wu, died from excessive blood loss. All the blood in his body had been drained, and not only blood, but even his brain was as if it had been squeezed dry, with not a drop left. However, the forensic doctor said that no wounds were found on the shriveled body."
"Such massive bleeding could not have occurred without any wounds, but the current situation is that the deceased's blood seems to have been drawn out of his body out of thin air, which is simply impossible."
Long Qi's voice was already trembling slightly, but he still managed to maintain his composure: "Do you remember the blood all over the ground? We've checked it, and it wasn't the total blood volume of one person, but the total blood volume of all the victims who died at the hands of that murderer."
"So, the murderer collected the blood after killing the person and then used it all at once here?"
Jiang Shihe paused: "This is a provocation against the police."
Long Qi's voice was tinged with pain: "I know, but we still haven't found any useful clues."
"..."
The brief silence on the phone was deathly still.
Jiang Shihe finally spoke: "Looking at the previous cases, have we still not found any commonalities among the victims, Captain Long?"
“Gender, social class, occupation... there is nothing similar about them. I suspect that all the victims were randomly selected.”
Upon hearing Captain Long's words, Jiang Shihe retorted, "No, I've studied the murderer's timing, intervals, and chosen locations. He was selective."
"But none of the dead had anything in common."
Jiang Shihe, a cigarette dangling from his lips, spoke in a slightly hoarse voice. He tossed a strand of hair behind his ear, his once meticulously styled hair now disheveled, giving him a wild look. His voice suddenly deepened: "There's one we haven't checked."
"What?"
"Their experiences."
Long Qi sighed: "Mr. Jiang, I've checked."
Jiang Shihe said, "Some secrets can't be found even with a cursory investigation. Everyone has secrets, and perhaps their hidden secrets have similarities."
Upon hearing this, Long Qi seemed to remember something: "Mr. Jiang means to start with Zhang Wu's personal experiences, find out his hidden experiences, and then use that to find commonalities among the other victims?"
"Captain Long, some shames should not be known."
Jiang Shihe chuckled silently. Long Qi seemed to have finally been awakened, and finally came back to his senses from his previous dazed state. His unconscious fear was suppressed.
"Captain Long, don't worry about what's true or false. Your duty is always just to solve cases and protect the people of the capital."
Long Qi took a deep breath: "Thank you, Mr. Jiang."
Jiang Shihe chuckled, stubbed out his cigarette and threw it into a roadside trash can. He turned to leave, but just as he was about to speak, he seemed to see a strange flash in his peripheral vision.
He paused, then quickly walked to the roadside bushes, squatted down, and reached out to brush them aside—
Hidden in the bushes was a camera.
The lens was only discovered by Jiang Shihe because of the reflection of the light, and he felt a vague sense of unease.
Long Qi, on the other end of the phone, asked, "What's wrong, Mr. Jiang?"
"I found the camera on the street."
Jiang Shihe lowered his eyes, a vague sense of unease creeping into his heart. He instinctively turned on the camera, and the first photo that appeared on the screen was—
A tall man tossed his hair and walked over from a distance.
The photo was taken five minutes ago.
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