014, The Disappearing Head

16:58.

At the bathroom door in neighbor Roy's home.

"Dr. Du Wei, are you sure you want to take a look?"

Tom looked at the expressionless Eastern man and shrugged his shoulders before asking again.

If it weren't for the high danger of this matter, if it weren't for wanting to make this man realize his situation, if it weren't for the fact he said he had studied forensic science, he would never have agreed to bring him to the scene.

Listening to Tom's words, Du Wei calmly glanced at him and said, "Why not?"

Tom shook his head and said, "The scene inside is very bloody, even I, an experienced police officer, find it nauseating and uncomfortable. You, an ordinary person, if something frightens you, well... you know."

Du Wei reached for the bathroom doorknob, looked back at him, and said, "I've dissected bodies at school that are probably more than the criminals you've caught in your lifetime. And while you're advising me, the corner of your mouth involuntarily trembled, and your eyes subconsciously squinted. Though it was subtle, it was obvious—you want me to go in."

As he said this, he looked squarely at Tom, "Do you have anything else to add?"

Tom's mouth twitched, "No... nothing more."

One shouldn't deal with a psychologist.

These people are truly more disgusting than the bloodiest of bodies.

Click...

He pushed open the bathroom door.

The lighting inside was very dim, and there were large dark brown stains on the floor.

Next to the toilet, something twisted like a pretzel lay quietly. If it weren't for the two arms forcefully bracing against the edge of the toilet, it would be hard to tell it was a person.

Du Wei frowned, the air filled with the smell of blood and some sort of vomit, involuntarily reminding one of a slaughterhouse.

He had majored in forensic science at university and later chose to give up due to certain reasons. Otherwise, he would certainly have been an excellent forensic doctor by now.

Click...

He pressed the light switch on the wall.

Instantly, the glaringly white light brightened the entire bathroom.

Du Wei scanned the corpse propped up by its hands against the toilet, a black dress covering what had once been a slender figure, now twisted in several coils as though wrenched by some monstrous force.

Her arms were largely purple-red, with the muscles on her forearms bulging out in places.

Looking further back, one could only see a cross-sectional wound.

The large pool of blood on the floor had spread out from the position of the toilet. Although it had already solidified, it wasn't hard to imagine how ferociously the blood had splattered at the moment of injury.

It was clear, the likelihood this was the work of the Evil Spirit was greater.

Du Wei coldly retracted his gaze from the body and glanced at the bathroom's arrangement, then turned to look at Tom.

"Where is her head?"

"We've searched the entire house, but we couldn't find it anywhere."

Du Wei took note of this in his mind, nodded and asked, "Has anyone of your people entered this room?"

Tom's face showed some discomfort, "No, this case is a bit special. We don't plan to enter before the experts arrive, so as not to disturb the scene."

Du Wei nodded, "Judging by the coagulation time of the bloodstains on the floor, it's been over an hour. But without inspecting the body first, I can't confirm her exact time of death."

Tom acknowledged and then closed the bathroom door with disgust.

Roy's death was too horrific and bloody; even the most experienced police officers couldn't help but feel psychological discomfort.

"We can't touch the body before the coroner arrives. They will take care of the rest."

Tom took a deep breath and slowly said to Du Wei, "Also, you've been Roy's neighbor for a long time. How much do you know about her?"

Du Wei's expression remained calm as a series of previous discoveries flashed through his mind.

For instance, she had left with a heavy suitcase, yet when they met again the next day, she claimed that due to the rainy weather, she returned home after midnight and did not continue her journey.

However, in fact, it hadn't rained at all last night; the actual rainfall started at 6:16 AM.

Du Wei was absolutely certain of the time, as he had almost stayed awake all night.

And he saw Roy again after 7 AM; her umbrella was wet. If she really had returned home at midnight, the umbrella would definitely be dry.

Of course, this couldn't prove anything, he looked at Tom and said indifferently, "Not much, as far as I remember, Roy is a very solitary person. Although we are neighbors, we're not close."

"Okay, others have said the same. However, we've discovered that Roy had a boyfriend. Have you seen him?"

Tom frowned and led Du Wei out of the bathroom.

As they walked, Du Wei shook his head, "I haven't seen him, what's his name?"

Tom replied, "Not sure, this person's information only exists in Roy's diary, and he's referred to only by pronouns, without a real name."

As he spoke, Tom asked again, "Also, this morning, when you saw Roy, what did you talk about?"

After thinking for a moment, Du Wei said, "It was just a neighbor's greeting early in the morning. She told me she was going to the supermarket and asked if I needed anything. She offered to bring it back for me."

"So?"

"I asked for a pack of cigarettes, the Black Forest kind for five dollars a pack."

"Alright, my friend... I think you should feel fortunate."

When Tom heard the name of the cigarettes, his expression suddenly turned odd.

Du Wei raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean?"

"I think you'll understand once you see it, given your intelligence," Tom sneered and led Du Wei to a storeroom, pushing open the door.

The room was empty, with an open black plastic bag on the floor.

The room was devoid of a single ornament; the bare walls were exposed, and the ceiling had been removed, revealing the brown concrete roof.

The floor, the walls, and even the ceiling were covered with red symbols drawn with paint.

They were interlaced with each other, resembling some sort of puzzle, yet seemingly following a specific pattern, similar to some of the Arrays of the Turin Cult.

Du Wei stared at those symbols for a while and then suddenly sniffed, "There are traces of blood in there."

Tom looked at him in surprise, "How do you know?"

Du Wei's face showed an odd expression, but he still spoke calmly, "I'm very sensitive to the smell of blood... I can distinguish it no matter how old it is."

Tom clicked his tongue in amazement, "Well, now I believe you might really have majored in forensics in college."

Then he put on gloves, walked over to the plastic bag, parted it, and took out a pack of cigarettes, shaking it at Du Wei.

"This is..." Du Wei didn't look at him but kept his gaze on the open black plastic bag.

Inside the black plastic bag were two sharp knives, deodorant, antiseptic, cleaner, air freshener, and an unopened black dress, along with a bottle labeled Ethoxyethane.

"Ether, huh..."

Du Wei's eyes turned slightly chilly, he was an exceedingly intelligent man and naturally cautious of Roy's abnormal behavior.

Asking her to buy cigarettes for him was, in fact, also an attempt to test the waters.

What he hadn't anticipated was that the woman had apparently planned to make a move on him.

"See what I mean? If you hadn't come back when that woman was already dead, I might be setting up quarantine tape in your house right now," Tom said, whistling humorously as he tossed the cigarettes to Du Wei.

Du Wei casually put the cigarettes into his pocket, touched the handgun he carried close to his body, and his face remained expressionless, filled with indifference.