Volume One: First Scroll
Experiment
“As long as one is alive, if one can seek life, one should not seek death.”
Lin Yan took out a wet wipe from her bag, slowly and deliberately pressed it to the corner of her lips, wiped down along her jawline to clean off the orange juice, and then wiped her fingers clean one by one.
Song Yuhang, watching, couldn’t bear it any longer: “You’re just wiping your hands, do you have to be so… so *that*?” She really couldn’t bring herself to say those two words in front of so many people.
Lin Yan’s gaze flicked lightly towards her. Whether in the past or now, perhaps she herself hadn’t realized it, but in front of Song Yuhang, she always intentionally or unintentionally revealed her desire; in other words, she seduced without a trace.
And Song Yuhang just happened to fall for her act1.
Lin Yan smiled and handed her the faintly fragrant tissue: “Seeing mountains as mountains, seeing water as water; what you are, is what you see lo2.”
This was a bit of a mouthful and rather Zen-like. Duan Cheng leaned over the front seat: “Captain Son, what are you guys talking about?”
Fang Xin pulled him back with one tug: “Buddhist philosophy. If you don’t understand, just sit down.”
Lin Yan gege3 laughed. Amidst her laughter, Song Yuhang’s ears quietly turned red again, and she snatched the tissue away.
“If I wipe, I wipe. Who’s afraid of whom.”
While Lin Yan was turned away talking to Fang Xin, Song Yuhang saw the faint lipstick mark she had left on the tissue. Instantly, like a thief with a guilty conscience, she glanced to the side; Lin Yan was still talking to Fang Xin.
She had only intended to wipe her mouth, but who knew she would still press her lips to that lipstick mark, slightly closing her eyes.
So fragrant.
Her scent.
Lin Yan watched her thoughtfully.
When Song Yuhang came back to her senses, she met that teasing, not-quite-smiling gaze and instantly, as if a big secret had been exposed, her face flushed crimson, burning hot.
As the vehicle moved, Lin Yan intentionally or unintentionally leaned closer to her, that faint, elusive fragrance seeping into every pore of her body.
The sound of the wheels drowned out her words.
“Captain Song, don’t be embarrassed ya4, it’s a gift for you.”
Song Yuhang clutched the tissue as if it were a hot potato5, quickly wiped her hands, threw it into the trash can, looked straight ahead, and even pushed Lin Yan’s increasingly leaning body back upright.
“Sit properly.”
“Proper in public, unrestrained in private. Captain Song ya Captain Song, where’s that vigor you had when you forcibly kissed me in the kitchen?” Lin Yan lowered her voice. They were sitting close, and with a slight tilt of her head, she was right by Song Yuhang’s ear.
Song Yuhang straightened her back, not looking at her: “Lin Yan, I’m warning you, don’t go too far.”
“Oh, hugging and cuddling isn’t too far, but verbal teasing is? Double standards o6.”
“You…” Song Yuhang took a deep breath and subtly shifted forward a bit, lest the hot breath from Lin Yan’s words keep drilling into her neck and ear.
It tickled intensely.
Lin Yan found it amusing. Song Yuhang was truly an interesting person: on one hand, she relentlessly pursued her, and on the other, she would get nervous and shy from her proximity.
Seeing such an embarrassed expression on the face of someone usually fearless7 was indeed rather amusing ne.
Thinking this, Lin Yan intentionally or unintentionally grazed Song Yuhang’s earlobe with her fingernail, a touch as light as a dragonfly skimming water8. Song Yuhang, however, jolted as if electrocuted, whipped her head around to look at her, and clenched her jaw.
“Lin. Yan.”
She was really going to be angered to death by her. Didn’t she see the current situation? A whole car full of people! On one hand, she was exploding with shame, and on the other, she was being teased by her to the point of…
Lin Yan blinked innocently and sat back: “It seems Captain Song doesn’t like my kisses. What a pity. I was about to say…”
Song Yuhang shot a look over: “Pity what?”
Lin Yan’s gaze lingered on her lips. Though her mouth said “nothing,” her eyes clearly said “something.”
Song Yuhang truly felt that if she sat next to her for one more minute, she would die—either from shame or from being overwhelmed by suppressed emotion9.
She gritted her teeth, straightened up, but hit the car roof, making a loud *peng* sound.
Lin Yan couldn’t hold back and burst out laughing with a *puchi*10.
Song Yuhang rubbed her head. Before she could curse out loud, Zheng Chengrui from the front passed back a walkie-talkie.
“Captain Song, Captain Zhang is looking for you.”
“She insists she did it alone. No matter how we question her, she absolutely refuses to budge.”
Modern interrogations long ago stopped using torture to extract confessions. The ubiquitous surveillance cameras are not only for monitoring every move of the suspect but also to constantly remind criminal police officers to lead by example and not cross the line11.
Zhang Jinhai paced back and forth outside the interrogation room.
After hearing him out, Song Yuhang also frowned: “What about her son?”
“He’s been sent to the Municipal Hospital under protection.”
“Send more people, patrol twenty-four hours without interruption. We absolutely cannot let anyone have an opportunity to exploit.”
Zhang Jinhai quickly gave the orders, and another team of armed criminal police rushed to the hospital.
Song Yuhang pondered for a moment: “How about this: I’ll conduct the interrogation. I’ll trouble Captain Zhang to go in wearing an earpiece; I’ll say a line, and you repeat it.”
With the one-month deadline looming, if the case wasn’t solved, they would all be under immense pressure12.
Zhang Jinhai quickly abandoned his reservations: “Alright. You’re an old hand13 at interrogation. Give it a try.”
In the “Ding Xue Case,” Lin Yan had witnessed her style of interrogating criminals. She knew this person could not only flexibly apply micro-expression psychology but was also adept at psychological attacks14, step by step dismantling the other’s mental defenses.
Even someone as experienced and highly counter-surveillance-aware as her would have to think twice15 when facing Song Yuhang.
“Yo, Officer Song finally couldn’t resist stepping in personally.”
Once it came to official business, Song Yuhang’s entire demeanor reverted to that serious and earnest aura.
She handed an earpiece to Lin Yan: “Want to listen in?”
Lin Yan snatched it and put it on: “Absolutely. Let’s begin.”
A faint smile touched Song Yuhang’s lips. Hearing the sound of the iron door opening and locking on the other side, she sat down again.
“Wei Fengzhen, since Yu Xinye has been dead for so many years, yet you still use his old number, it shows you are not a heartless woman.”
“You are a mother, and a mother’s love makes her strong. I have reason to believe you would do things to protect your child, but I don’t believe you would kill for your child. Because those children who died, they also had families, parents. You’ve already abandoned a daughter; that kind of heart-wrenching16 pain, I think you should be able to understand.”
“The difference between humans and animals is that humans have the instinct to seek advantages and avoid harm17, and also the gift of empathy. How could you bear to inflict the pain you’ve already suffered upon others?”
“All of us in the police deeply sympathize with your experience, but the law is fair and just. It will not let a bad person go, nor will it allow an innocent and upright person to be wrongly accused. Think carefully. Your son is still young. If you really take the blame for this crime, you might very well waste your life away in prison, or…”
Song Yuhang paused: “Never see your son again.”
“As long as one is alive, if one can seek life, one should not seek death.”
Zhang Jinhai continued her words: “What other concerns do you have? Tell us, and see if we can help you. You have to trust us, the police. In this world, no one wishes more for truth and justice to be upheld than the police.”
If these words had been spoken face-to-face, Lin Yan probably would have been moved to prostrate herself in admiration18. While she inwardly scorned this person’s kindness and naivety, she couldn’t help but feel stirred by her words.
Song Yuhang was just that kind of person; whether in speech, action, or her very being, she naturally possessed a convincing power.
Zhang Jinhai imitated Song Yuhang’s tone about seventy to eighty percent accurately, but that was enough.
Across from him, Wei Lihong had gone from choking sobs to weeping uncontrollably: “No… I didn’t… I was the one who harmed those people… It was all me…”
Song Yuhang dropped a bombshell19.
“What are you afraid of? Are you afraid someone is threatening your son’s life?”
“Rest assured,” Zhang Jinhai said, taking a tablet from his subordinate’s hand and passing it over. “Your son is very safe in the hospital. You can see him.”
The video feed, transmitted in real-time from the hospital surveillance, showed two police officers armed with live ammunition standing at the door of the hospital room. Another officer sat by the bedside. Medical staff were currently bathing the child and had just changed his urine bag.
“The Municipal Central Hospital is a hospital that cooperates with our police force. Your son is very safe there. We will protect him twenty-four hours a day, and the medical staff will also look after his health condition around the clock.”
Wei Lihong caressed her son’s pale profile on the screen, large tears streaming down.
Song Yuhang continued: “His latest medical report is out: end-stage uremia20. He needs dialysis at least three times a week. You not only have to take care of him but also bear the financial pressure. Imagine, if your husband Li Hai were still alive, your lives probably wouldn’t be so tight.”
“So, tell me, how did Li Hai die? Did *that person* kill him, or did you kill him together?”
“No!!!”
Listening to the woman’s hysterical21 wails through the earpiece, Lin Yan moved it slightly away and said in a low voice.
“How did you know they killed Li Hai?”
Song Yuhang mouthed: “Guessed.”
Ahead, after passing the last toll booth, they were about to exit the expressway. The closer they got to Jiangcheng City, the more nervous the group became.
This atmosphere also indirectly affected Lin Yan. She rubbed the space between her eyebrows, took a deep breath, and watched the road signs for downtown Jiangcheng City draw nearer.
She knew very well that the suspect hadn’t shown head or tail yet and was hiding in some obscure corner of downtown Jiangcheng City.
The enemy was in the dark, they were in the light. For some reason, there was always a lingering sense of unease in her heart.
She shook her head, trying hard to dispel this feeling.
In such situations, Song Yuhang, on the contrary, became even calmer. She quietly waited for the other party to finish shouting, then added the last straw to the camel that was about to collapse22.
“Let me guess. You and Li Hai weren’t happy after marriage. Firstly, his parents couldn’t accept your rural background, but they couldn’t go against their son’s wishes, so you still got married.”
“After marriage, the novelty quickly wore off. Li Hai started staying out all night, seeking pleasure outside. After you had the child, he became even worse. He only refrained from divorcing you to save face23. Your heart turned to dead ashes24, and you poured all your love and energy into the child. But the good times didn’t last long; your son got sick. A hospital check-up revealed congenital kidney disease, right?”
“Not only did Li Hai not want to pay for the child’s medical treatment, he even started preparing for a divorce. Just then, *that person* appeared. He had changed beyond recognition. He came back to take revenge on you, but he didn’t kill you. Instead, you two killed Li Hai together.”
Zhang Jinhai leaned forward slightly, firmly fixing his gaze on her every expression.
Wei Lihong’s face was covered in tears. She shook her head desperately, her whole body, in handcuffs, trembling: “No… no… no… I didn’t kill him… I didn’t… I didn’t!!!”
Song Yuhang suddenly raised her voice: “Where is the crime scene?! How did you kill him?!”
Wei Lihong broke down, wuwu25 crying, burying her head in her palms: “No… it wasn’t… I didn’t mean to… it wasn’t…”
Song Yuhang decided to administer one last strong dose of medicine: “Confessing frankly can be considered atoning for your crime with meritorious service. The government will cover a large part of your son’s subsequent treatment costs. That can be considered doing everything possible out of benevolence.”
Wei Lihong cried until she was out of breath26: “I’ll talk… I’ll talk… I’ll tell you everything… As long as you protect my son properly…”
This was Bai Ling’s first time coming to his home.
In a private house hidden next to a garbage dump in a suburban industrial park, the man took down a large lock hanging on the door, the kind of big, sturdy iron lock used for warehouses.
Darkness followed, and Bai Ling became a little scared.
The man reached in and pulled a greasy light cord. The whole room suddenly brightened up; it was unexpectedly divided into two levels.
“Go in. She’s about your age. You should like her.”
Who was this “she”?
These days, Bai Ling had been in a muddled state. There were cuts on her wrist from a knife, self-inflicted.
But thankfully, Dashu27 had saved her again.
Soon, she saw the “she” he had mentioned.
This seemed to be an abandoned warehouse. Miscellaneous items were piled up at the entrance, a washbasin was to the side, emitting the smell of disinfectant.
Further inside, a person in a wheelchair turned around. They wore a woolen cap, their skin was very pale, and their face had many spots caused by poor metabolism due to kidney disease.
Those eyes were calm and undisturbed. The person was enveloped in black clothing, looking exceptionally thin and frail.
Bai Ling widened her eyes curiously at her, but the girl immediately turned away again, maneuvering the wheelchair to the computer and continuing to type.
The man smiled: “She doesn’t talk much. You two play. I’ll step out for a bit.”
After saying this, he walked over to the person in the wheelchair, pretended to pick something up for her, but actually whispered: “Don’t let her leave here alive.”
“And you?” The girl finally deigned to look away from the computer screen at him.
The man gave a meaningful smile: “Me? Of course, I’m going to find our last experiment subject.”
Jiangcheng Municipal Central Hospital.
The criminal police officer on duty at the hospital room door had been standing there all afternoon. He handed his phone to his colleague.
“Aiyo! I can’t hold it anymore. I’m going to the toilet. Watch things for me for a bit.”
“Alright, alright. Go quickly and come back quickly. You’re always the one with issues.”
His colleague chuckled and scolded, but still waved him off.
Not long after he ran into the toilet, a cleaner pushing a cart appeared in the corridor, heading this way.
“Stop! Special care ward28. No entry without permission.” The criminal police officer stopped him.
The middle-aged man wore a mask, a blue disposable surgical cap on his head revealing some graying at the temples, and shoe covers on his feet. He spoke with a regional accent29.
“Didn’t Doctor Zhao ask me to come? Said this patient soiled the bed, asked me to come change the sheets.”
Doctor Zhao?
The criminal police officer paused for a moment; it seemed a doctor surnamed Zhao had indeed come to examine the patient inside just a while ago.
He subconsciously looked at the man’s ID: name, position, hospital, and official stamp30 were all complete.
He made way: “Alright, go in. Be quick ah.”
“Okay, thank you, Police Comrade. You’ve worked hard, Police Comrade.” The man’s face showed an honest and simple smile. As he pushed the cart past, the criminal police officer suddenly felt something was wrong—an instinctual premonition of danger.
He subconsciously put his hand on his gun. Faster than him was the other’s knife, stabbing straight into his stomach and twisting viciously, the pain rendering him speechless.
The man gripped the knife handle and pushed it deeper. The criminal police officer staggered back a few steps and was caught and steadied by someone.
The criminal police officer inside the room heard a commotion at the door, rushed over in one bound31, and pulled the door open.
Outside stood a cleaner in his forties: “Hello, I’m here to change the bedsheets.”
The smell of disinfectant in the room masked the heavy scent of blood on him.
The criminal police officer stepped back, clearing the doorway: “Come in. Strange, where are the two people at the door?”
The cleaner pushed the cart, large enough to hold a person, forward: “I just saw them go to the toilet, so I knocked directly.”
“Even if going to the restroom, one person should have stayed ah,” the criminal police officer muttered, putting his gun back into its holster.
The cleaner took a clean bedsheet from his cart: “Perhaps they really had to pee ba.”
Seeing that the man seemed a bit overwhelmed on his own, the criminal police officer said: “Let me help you ba.”
“No need—” Before the man’s words had faded, the criminal police officer had already yanked open the white cloth covering the cart, instantly revealing a dark head.
His pupils contracted. Before he could react, the man had already lunged at him with the knife.
He was immensely strong, pinning the officer’s shoulders, and directly slit his throat with one slash. Splashing blood splattered on the snow-white wall.
The man licked the fresh blood from the blade, his face etched with the madness and excitement of bloodlust.
The window of the 24th floor of the hospital was opened. Following two loud sounds, *peng* *pa*, screams erupted from the crowd below.
The man lifted the child from the bed, stuffed him into the cart, gagged his mouth, tucked the two criminal police officers’ service pistols into his back waistband, threw the bloodstained jacket into the cart as well, and swaggered out.
The entire crime was executed in one go, taking no more than five minutes.
The criminal police officer who had escaped disaster by going to the restroom ran back to see the room door wide open and knew something had happened. He rushed in with one bound, and a thick smell of blood assaulted him, nearly making him choke and pass out.
There were bloodstains on the windowsill too. He leaned over and looked down, his eyes instantly splitting with rage and grief32.
The phone in the duty room rang loudly. The operator picked it up: “Wei, Jiangcheng City Public Security Bureau.”
Before the person on the other end had finished speaking, his face instantly turned deathly pale.
Zhang Jinhai was also urgently called out of the interrogation room. Two criminal police officers dead, just like that! The murderer was so vicious and depraved it was outrageous33!
Feng Jianguo slammed his palm down on the table in the training room with a *pa* sound; even the teacups jumped. The room fell silent as cicadas in winter34. Even Zhang Jinhai, who had just stepped in, shrank his neck and dared not speak.
He paced back and forth, extremely agitated: “Call Song Yuhang! Ask her where she is! F*ck35, even if she were crawling like a turtle, she should have crawled back by now ba!”
The two brothers36 who died were both from her team. When Song Yuhang received the news, she froze for a moment, her eyes slowly reddening. She leaned her head against the seat in front of her.
Lin Yan looked at her, opened her mouth, but the teasing words intended to cheer her up couldn’t be spoken.
She slowly raised her hand and gently placed it on Song Yuhang’s back, offering silent comfort.
They had already entered the city. The traffic was heavy as a flowing river and horses like a dragon37; it was the evening rush hour, and their progress was very slow.
Lin Yan watched her shoulders tremble and gently patted her back. But Song Yuhang suddenly lifted her head, her eyes bloodshot, her gaze burning hot in the twilight.
Song Yuhang panted heavily, gritting her teeth: “No more… no more people can die… We have to find that little boy quickly, and the next victim.”
Lin Yan was startled, then jolted to understanding by her words: “That little boy also has uremia, so his kidney source can’t be used anymore. So he kidnapped that little boy just to practice before performing a kidney transplant?!”
She spat fiercely and also became restless: “F*cking madman ba! Since he’s no longer afraid of exposure and dares to kill openly, it means he’s reached the point of no return38. So that means he’s already found a suitable kidney source…”
Song Yuhang muttered, speaking with conviction: “Who could it be? Who could it be? Who could it be…”
As she spoke, she rubbed the space between her eyebrows somewhat impatiently. The grief of learning about her comrades’ sacrifice was diluted by the urgency of the murderer about to kill for a kidney.
They had to find that person before the murderer did.
Zheng Chengrui opened his laptop, and a satellite map of the entire city sprang to life before their eyes: “Captain Song, we are now on South First Ring Road39. Taking North Fifth Road can avoid the traffic.”
Duan Cheng, who was driving, immediately made a turn.
Lin Yan was also recalling all the clues in this case from beginning to end.
“The deceased are teenagers, mostly female. The reason their kidneys weren’t taken was due to incompatible matches. So, can we confirm that the victim group is also teenagers?”
Song Yuhang nodded: “Correct. They also share another commonality: most have strained relationships with their parents, or are predominantly from single-parent or left-behind40 families. Children from such families are most easily neglected, which in turn creates opportunities for the murderer to commit crimes.”
Fang Xin didn’t understand: “Then why, if he fancies someone, doesn’t he just snatch them directly? Why go to such great lengths to psychologically manipulate them?”
Song Yuhang slightly closed her eyes and frowned: “Perhaps… the murderer is extremely psychopathic, enjoying the thrill of manipulating people in the palm of his hand. This feeling of holding the power of life and death makes him feel very stimulated and comfortable. In that world, he is God, he calls the shots. Even if the match is unsuccessful, he wants to use what he considers a ‘kind’ way to send them off to ‘escape suffering’ and attain early bliss in the afterlife.”
She recalled Wei Lihong’s sentence during the interrogation: “Since they want to die, then I’ll just fulfill their wish.”
Probably also from the murderer’s mouth.
Single-parent, divorced, left-behind…
A flash of light seemed to go through Lin Yan’s mind. She grabbed Song Yuhang’s wrist, so forcefully that her fingertips turned white.
“Song… Song Yuhang, I know who the next victim is.”
LP: Re-translated on May 16, 2025
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Understandable.. cramps are the worst… do take care and rest a lot… thanks for the upload
Thank you! I feel much better today :)
Understandable.. cramps are the worst… do take care and rest a lot… thanks for the upload
Thank you! I feel much better today :)