Chapter 66

Chapter 66 6. The Silence of the Lambs-0

“Hell?”

Liu Yi frowned.

When he studied in England, he had followed his mentor and come into contact with some crime files related to religion. Cases involving Satan worship, extreme beliefs, or apocalyptic doctrines weren’t rare in Europe and America. But in China, cases related to religion were relatively few and usually quite uniform, so hardly anyone specialized in studying them.

“I mentioned earlier that Xiao Bin later developed some symptoms of schizophrenia.”

Mrs. Tan thought for a moment, then continued: “Although I’m not entirely sure whether his schizophrenic symptoms were related to his method of suicide, at the time, his symptoms were unusual enough that I included them in one of my papers.”

She reached for a journal on the table, flipped to her published article, and handed it to Liu Yi.

Liu Yi read the title and quickly skimmed the abstract. It was an article exploring the relationship between certain psychological mappings in psychiatric patients and disease progression and treatment efficacy.

“Xiao Bin’s medication treatment was never very effective, and because of work, he refused hospitalization. About a year ago, he began showing self-harming tendencies. At that time, I suggested some harmless ways to distract himself, like snapping a rubber band or squeezing foam.”

Mrs. Tan shook her head lightly. “But the way he chose to vent his emotions was by abusing and killing small animals.”

“Abusing and killing small animals?”

Qi Shanyu repeated the term.

Mrs. Tan nodded.

“He often brought stray cats and dogs home, then killed them cruelly and posted photos on Weibo or forums, letting angry netizens verbally attack him, gaining a sort of masochistic mental comfort. He also said he would see the dead animals covered in blood around his feet, staring at him all night.”

She paused, then added: “After he told me about this, I advised him against it. It was not only cruel but also could attract doxxing from netizens, severely affecting his daily life. Later, I adjusted his medication, and when I next asked, he didn’t want to bring it up again.”

Liu Yi hummed attentively.

“I remember Xiao Bin also mentioned that his grandmother was a devout lay Buddhist, always fasting and chanting. She told him killing is a grave sin.”

Mrs. Tan sighed softly.

“At that time, Xiao Bin said that someone like him, who had killed so many innocent lives, would certainly descend into the Knife Mountain Hell after death and be trapped there for 54 billion years.”

She paused and looked at Liu Yi and Qi Shanyu:

“I asked a police contact about the details of Xiao Bin’s suicide… and I can’t help but feel that his method of suicide was somehow imitating the concept of ‘Knife Mountain’?”

…

Liu Yi and Qi Shanyu continued discussing Xiao Bin’s case with Mrs. Tan for a while. By nearly 11:30, realizing that lunch would soon be served, they hurriedly excused themselves.

At that moment, Professor Tan came downstairs holding the baby. Tan Luo Bao had just finished feeding and was in the happiest, fullest mood. Seeing Liu Yi and Qi Shanyu, he giggled and reached out to touch Liu Yi’s face.

They froze, gently teasing the baby’s soft little hands, and after promising the Tans they would visit again, finally stepped out, glancing back every few steps.

Before leaving, Liu Yi noticed a small invitation on the hallway table, titled in bold: “New Applications of Criminal Psychology Profiling in Criminal Investigation Practice.”

“Oh.”

Mrs. Tan noticed Liu Yi looking and, as if remembering, smiled and handed him the invitation.

“It’s a seminar next Saturday organized by the Psychology Department at X University. The speaker is a professor recently returned from the U.S., who trained in FBI criminal psychology for two years. Quite impressive.”

She winked playfully.

“That morning, my husband has a class, and I’ll be home with the baby, so I can’t go. If you two are free, it would be good to attend together.”

“Alright, thanks.”

Liu Yi accepted the invitation graciously. The speaker’s name was unusual: surname Ying, given name Chuan, followed by titles “Associate Professor, X University Psychology Department” and “Visiting Consultant, Xinhai Public Security Bureau.”

“Perfect, it’s directly related to our work. We must attend.”

He put the invitation away, thanked Mrs. Tan again, and left with Qi Shanyu.

On the return trip, Liu Yi had Qi Shanyu drive while he sat in the passenger seat, scrolling on his phone.

“By the way, Liu, there’s something I didn’t want to mention in front of Mrs. Tan…”

Qi Shanyu turned at a red light, glancing at Liu Yi.

Liu Yi didn’t lift his eyes from the phone, replying with a single syllable: “Mm?”

“Do you remember the autopsy you did six months ago? The frozen old man?”

The light turned green, Qi Shanyu drove onto the on-ramp to the highway.

“Later we investigated. The old man did commit suicide in his supermarket freezer. His second son moved the body to the second-floor lounge to fake a natural death and hid the will to claim insurance.”

Qi Shanyu paused, then continued: “The issue is, the old man’s will… I remember it mentioned ‘hell’.”

After a moment without reply from Liu Yi, Qi Shanyu glanced at him in the rearview mirror, noticing Liu Yi staring intently at him.

“What’s up?” Qi Shanyu asked.

“I didn’t expect you to think the same thing I did this time.”

Liu Yi laughed, teasing: “Telepathy, maybe?”

Before Qi Shanyu could blush, Liu Yi waved the phone screen and returned to the topic.

“I checked—one of the eighteen levels of hell is called ‘Frozen Hell.’ One of the sins punished there is ‘gambling.’”

Qi Shanyu frowned. “Right… the old man was a gambler, deeply in debt.”

Liu Yi put his phone away, looking out the window.

“Those obsessed with gambling descend early into Frozen Hell; those who abuse animals die under Knife Mountain…”

He watched the traffic, expression serious, murmuring:

“These two bizarre suicides happening consecutively—surely not just coincidence.”

April 13, Tuesday.

Liu Yi received a large cardboard box from a subordinate unit. Opening it revealed a box full of bones.

“Pretty efficient, already delivered.”

He pulled out the examination request and read it carefully.

Jiang Xiaoyuan ran over with a tea cup: “Boss, what’s this?”

Liu Yi answered: “The bones dug up a few days ago in Xin Changyuan, remember?”

Jiang Xiaoyuan immediately nodded vigorously.

Xin Changyuan was an area jointly invested in by the Xinhai City government and a real estate developer, planned as a film and television base in the eastern suburbs, about 300 acres, centered on an old town site with wetlands and lotus ponds around it. The construction blueprint had been publicized in the newspapers, set to start after the New Year.

About five days ago, workers unearthed a skeleton.

Unlike typical unmarked graves, this skeleton had no coffin and was wrapped only in a thin blanket. No burial goods, not even clothes.

The foreman noticed immediately, halted the excavation, and reported it. Police quickly discovered evidence of homicide and took the remains.

The case was reported the same day, prompting speculation about the identity of the skeleton. At the time, the skeleton went to the forensic department of the East City Suburb police, not the forensic institute.

Now, five days later, the bones had been pretreated, soft tissue removed, and species and gender identification completed. The skeleton was mostly intact, belonging to an adult male. It was sent to the institute to determine the exact age.

“Based on the degree of skeletonization, the body likely died about five to eight years ago?”

Liu Yi tapped his chin while reading the detailed case materials. “This range is a bit loose…”

The time for skeletonization varies with environment.

Bodies buried in soil usually take three to four years to fully skeletonize, over ten years to dry out, and over 300 years to become lightweight and fragile.

Exposed to air, skeletonization is faster: ten days to a month in summer, five to six weeks in spring/autumn, slightly longer in winter.

Infestation by maggots or other scavengers accelerates the process. Experiments in the U.S. showed that in hot weather, fly larvae can completely strip an adult body of soft tissue in about a week.

Assuming the body was initially buried, the East City Suburb police considered the soil moist and loose, and Xinhai’s warm climate, and determined a flexible estimate of “five to eight years ago.”