Voodoo Dolls, Judging All Evils

In the city of Jiangcheng, the banquet hall of the Sofitel Hotel was packed to the brim. Today was the day when Chen Jianghe, the chairman of Xingfa Transport Company, hosted his guests. It should have been a harmonious gathering, but the guests were buzzing with discussions. "If it weren't for fear of upsetting Chairman Chen, I wouldn't have come to this ill-fated event." "Yeah, Chen's son, Chen Zheng, is a downright spoiled brat. He actually assaulted a 20-year-old girl. I heard from my friends at the hospital that the girl will spend the rest of her life with a colostomy bag!" "But I heard Chen Zheng was released. They said there was a psychiatric evaluation report, so he's not held criminally responsible?" "Humph, whatever illness he has, he deserves to die." As a man in his fifties appeared on stage, the murmurs among the guests ceased. "Thank you, my friends, for coming and thank you to the great lawyer Lin for helping my son clear his name of injustice." As Chairman Chen's words fell, applause filled the hall. Just as everyone was standing to raise their glasses and cheer, an unsettling scene unfolded in the corner of the room. Unlike the well-dressed guests around him, a man in a green long shirt sat in the corner. He wasn't holding a wine glass but two crimson crochet hooks. As his hands moved swiftly, the ball of yarn near him gradually disappeared. In no time, a cute yarn doll appeared in his hands. The doll, with its snow-white body, held a miniature pair of scissors. Although the scissors seemed to be made of yarn, a metallic sheen glimmered under the spotlight. The doll's overall design was adorable, except for its eyes, which were two black voids, giving off an eerie vibe. The man, Zheng Yi, held the doll as if greeting the Chen family on stage, waving the miniature scissors. Through the doll's eyes, Zheng Yi's fair skin, delicate features, and slightly curved peach blossom eyes, along with his long black hair tied in a ponytail, gave him a somewhat feminine allure. As the banquet progressed, and the guests grew tipsy, no one noticed Zheng Yi biting his thumb lightly and smearing a hint of vermilion onto the doll's eyes. The once-empty eyes flickered with a red light, as if infused with life. After a brief tremor, the doll stood up straight and glanced around in surprise before nodding at Zheng Yi. When the doll turned its head to look at Chen Zheng, who was toasting on stage, its eyes seemed to drip blood. It moved with an awkward, mechanical step towards the stage and disappeared into the crowd. Zheng Yi stood up, adjusted his loose sleeves, and muttered with a mischievous smile, "Celebration dinner? I hope this beheading feast suits your taste." Three days later, at Longquan Residential Area. Police cars filled the Longquan Residential Area, and a crowd gathered outside the blue-and-white police tape. "What happened here?" "I just saw a bunch of cops at the door of Apartment 306." "306? Wasn't that where the r****t lived? He got out because of some mental illness claim, right?" A black jeep with flashing police lights arrived, interrupting the gossip. The door opened, and a pair of dusty black leather boots stepped out. "Deputy Chao, the owner of Apartment 306 in Building 1 of Longquan Residential Area was found dead at home last night." "The caller was his mother, who fainted due to extreme agitation. She's been taken to the hospital." Listening to the young policewoman's report, Deputy Chao rubbed his sunglasses and tousled his slightly unkempt hair, looking like he had rushed here after a night of revelry without time for grooming. "I had a look around when I arrived. This is a complex area." "There are three garbage dumping sites nearby. Assign three officers to watch them, and no garbage trucks are allowed to operate." "Assign another officer to watch the hospital." "Let's go upstairs, and you can brief me on the way." With that, Deputy Chao took the information from the policewoman and briskly walked upstairs. "The deceased, Chen Zheng, male, 31 years old, unemployed." Deputy Chao paused in flipping through the papers. "Chen Zheng?" The policewoman seemed to sense Deputy Chao's confusion and nodded. "Deputy Chao, it's the guy we caught a while back, the rapist." Deputy Chao glanced back at the residential area, looking puzzled. "I remember his father being quite wealthy. Why would he live in such an old residential area?" The policewoman flipped through her papers and said, "According to the landlord, Chen Zheng rented this place. He seemed to only come here occasionally." Deputy Chao asked, "Cause of death?" At the mention of the cause of death, the policewoman's face visibly paled, transitioning from red to white, then a shade of blue. "At the scene, we couldn't determine the cause. The forensic doctor said the trauma was too extensive; we need to conduct an autopsy at the station for an accurate cause of death." Deputy Chao furrowed his brow and handed the papers back to the policewoman. "Extensive trauma?" With a puzzled expression, Deputy Chao gestured for the police officers at the door to step aside. As he pushed open the door, a strong smell of blood hit him. Even though he was a veteran detective of over a decade, such a strong odor made him instinctively cover his nose with his index finger. Just as he was about to step inside, a young man in his twenties wearing a gray jacket collided with him, covering his mouth with his hand. The young man couldn't apologize due to his mouth being covered, so he waved his hands continuously and ran to the corner of the hallway, retching on the floor. "You damn kid, don't go home this week. I'm assigning you to sleep at Old Sun's forensic lab tonight." "You've been a detective for two years and still vomit at crime scenes." The young detective, Yuan Xiaolong, crouched on the ground, vomiting acid from his stomach while stuttering. "Mas... master, it's not my fault. This guy is just too damn messed up. You'll see when you go in." Deputy Chao clicked his tongue and walked straight into the house. Keys on the hall table, a water glass on the coffee table, and clothes on the balcony, everything was neatly arranged. No matter how he looked, he couldn't associate these with the words "death scene." The smell of blood in the air seemed like a hallucination from Deputy Chao's hangover. But when he saw the grim-faced detectives in the bedroom, Deputy Chao knew there was trouble. Entering the bedroom, he saw Dr. Sun, the forensic doctor, in a white coat and blue shoe covers, taking photographs and collecting evidence from the bed. Deputy Chao put on shoe covers and stepped in. The light-yellow wooden floor was unusually clean, and as he looked at the bed, Deputy Chao believed the mattress beneath Chen Zheng must have been white. But now, the mattress seemed like a sponge soaked with blood , oxidizing and turning black, resembling a plump piece of braised pork. As his gaze moved upward, Deputy Chao's pupils dilated, and his forehead creased deeply. He didn't know how to describe the state of the deceased. If he had to describe it, it was like a disposable bamboo chopstick that had been snapped during a meal. From the centerline of his body, Chen Zheng's entire abdomen's skin seemed to have been unzipped, spread neatly on both sides like bat wings, and the gaping wound extended up to his collarbone. His heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys were clearly visible, like a textbook human anatomy specimen. Deputy Chao crouched down next to Dr. Sun. "Old Sun, what the hell happened here?" Pausing his work, the forensic doctor known as Old Sun took a deep breath. "Well, what you see is what happened." "At the moment, we can't pinpoint a fatal stab wound. The skin was cut open, leading to excessive bleeding and death. We can't determine the exact time of death due to the air conditioning running in the room." The more Deputy Chao listened, the colder he felt. His annoyance seemed to make his tone less friendly. "Maybe, should be, can't determine? So basically, we know nothing." Upon hearing this, the forensic doctor finally turned his head, his slightly clouded eyes revealing his age. He stared directly at Deputy Chao. "Deputy Chao, I told you not to be afraid."