Love Me if You Dare: Pristine Darkness

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After the gruesome discovery of the previous chapter, more is revealed about the victims, their manner of death, and their background, as well as the cave where they were ‘preserved’. No one could have anticipated that the truth would hit close to home for Jian Yao, who now has to deal with the resurfacing of some very unpleasant memories. Thankfully, she has Bo Jinyan beside her, and he knows just how to soothe and encourage her.

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Bo Jinyan let out a soft, “Oh.”

Jian Yao’s face was also like ice. After a moment’s stillness, she took his hand and said, “I’ll bring you to take a ‘look’.”

The newest, and also the outermost corpse, was that of a man. The corpse appeared to be in the preliminary stages of decay, so the estimated time of death was deduced to be at least a month ago. His clothes were still intact – a semi-worn camouflage outfit. A pair of hiking boots was on his feet.

This man was tall, and the planes of his square-shaped face stood out sharply. He looked to be about forty years old. Jian Yao noted that his bones were thick and solid, and, from his appearance, it seemed he had died with his eyes wide open.

The butterfly behind him was brash and garishly beautiful, and looked like it was about to lightly flutter away.

“He is not an ordinary person,” Jian Yao shared her gut feeling with Bo Jinyan. “He was definitely killed for a reason.”

Bo Jinyan pulled on his gloves and touched the corpse’s fingers and bones. Then, he nodded and said, “Ask the forensic pathologist to come over and check if there’s anything out of the ordinary with this body.”

The forensic pathologist quickly observed that there were several old stab wounds on the body, and the injuries had been quite severe. These did not seem to be the work of the killer but had probably already been present.

“That’s somewhat interesting,” Bo Jinyan concluded.

The second corpse was also that of a man. He had been dead for at least a year and the corpse was desiccated. Although he was of medium build, he had been strong and sturdy. The fingers on his right hand had been broken, and his right shoulder bore an old gunshot wound.

The butterfly behind him was pure black, both sinister and peaceful.

The third man had died even earlier, as evidenced by the extent of the corpse’s desiccation. He had a nose ring and three thick gold chains, and was clad entirely in designer clothes. A wooden box had been placed beneath his feet, full of gold bars from XX bank.

“Check if the gold bars were stolen,” Fang Qing exhorted a criminal investigator in a low voice.

The fourth corpse was that of a lady. Like Feng Yuexi, she was completely naked. From her bones, she looked to be in her thirties. However, the posture of her death was even more humiliating. Both legs had been spread open and lifted up. Her head had been raised so she looked up, and her hands were placed together on her chest in a posture of prayer. The wooden box beneath her contained a shrivelled human organ, recognisable as having been cut off a man.

Next to her was a man in his fifties. He had been positioned so he looked like he was kneeling in worship, and his head was bowed. The most important male organ had been cut off.

……

When it came to the ninth, tenth, and eleventh corpses, the situation was different.

They had all died at least ten years ago. There was an old man over seventy years old, and a young man and woman in their twenties. The butterfly paintings behind them were also blurred, and they had not been ‘nailed’ to the cave wall, but suspended. There were also no nails in their bodies. For some unknown reason, at first glance, the scene was especially serene.

However, if one took a closer look, the horror was magnified. Because they had been hacked into more than ten pieces, and then the entire body had been spliced together.

……

“That is to say, the way the earlier victims died is different from the later ones,” Jian Yao said.

“He is continually evolving, maturing, and finding stability,” Bo Jinyan said. “His abnormality is becoming more and more severe.”

The last corpse surprised everyone. Because he was the smallest in size, the forensic pathologist’s initial evaluation was that he was only a teenager when he died. He was also the youngest of all the victims.

This deceased teenager had also been hacked into several pieces. He was neatly dressed and his posture was serene. The butterfly behind him had already faded.

There was an incense burner on the ground at his feet, not far from the previous three bodies. The incense burner was full of ash, and there were four sticks of incense which had already burned down. In front of the incense burner were signs that someone had burned paper* there.

*T/N This ‘paper’ is probably joss paper (aka ‘ghost money’), or, specifically, ‘hell money’. These are burnt before the altars of deceased relatives or ancestors in order to venerate them or to ensure that they have all they need in the afterlife – the burning of this ‘spirit money’ enables the deceased to buy what they need in the afterlife. It is also possibly a bribe to Yanluo (Judge of the Deceased) so that the deceased have a shorter stay or a lighter punishment in hell. Read more here.

……

Jian Yao wondered at the possibility that the real butterfly killer had been a victim* of the terrible crime that Chen Jin had witnessed that year. After that, Chen Jin had been scared so severely* that the scene was forever seared deeply into his memory. Chen Jin had also been attacked by the killer, but could it be that he managed to avoid further harm due to his two companions’ arrival?

*T/N I am puzzled as to why the text says the butterfly killer might have been the victim of the crime. I think it’s more probable that there’s a mistake in the original text, and Jian Yao is wondering whether the butterfly killer is the killer in the crime Chen Jin witnessed.

*T/N 屁滚尿流 (pi gun niao liu) – literally, to urinate in one’s pants.

An Yan, who had been quietly standing in a corner, suddenly raised his head and said, “I’ve found out who bought this entire piece of land about 10 years ago.”

Everyone looked at him.

An Yan said, “His name is Hu Qiyong, a native of Tong City. He was born on 29 April 1965, and was unemployed during the eighties. He was jailed many times for brawling, and he was sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment in 1981 for robbery. In 1995, due to his involvement in the killing of Jian Yi, the highly decorated deputy team leader of the Tong City criminal investigation squad, and his parents, he was stripped of his political rights, sentenced to death, and executed in court.”

After a moment of shock, Fang Qing thought briefly before saying, “That means someone used this dead person’s identity and bought this piece of land? In the nineties, China’s household registration system* was not perfect, and the registration cyber-network had lapses. What’s more, this is a rural wasteland, so it would have been easy to commit identity fraud. Moreover, doing this would prevent the off chance of the land being taken over for development . . .” He cut himself off abruptly and turned his head to look at Jian Yao. What he saw caused him to break out in cold sweat.

*T/N Read more about the household registration system (戶口 hukou) here.

Not understanding what was going on, An Yan also turned to look at her.

Jian Yao’s eyes were huge in her pale face. Her hands, hanging loosely at her sides, were clenched into fists.

But, a hand placed itself steadily on her shoulder. Bo Jinyan told everyone, “Jian Yi is Jian Yao’s father, my father-in-law.”

——

It was very late at night.

Outside the window, the night sky was thick with stars yet startlingly desolate. Jian Yao sat in the temporary conference room in the small guest house at the foot of the mountain, lost in thought.

At the round table not far away, the criminal investigators were working through the night, chasing down the clues. It was as if the thread of every single clue had been ignited and was now blazing furiously.

“The identity of victim no. 1 has been quickly verified. He was a Class A criminal fugitive, wanted by the Ministry of Public Security with a reward for his capture. He fled and disappeared without a trace more than six months ago.”

“Dang! Too amazing! That ferocious bandit has been slaughtered by this serial killer!”

“Victim no. 3 was also wanted by the Ministry of Public Security!”

“Victim no. 2 as well! Missing for three years!”

“Victims no. 4 and 5 were fugitives. After killing the man’s wife and father-in-law, they took all the money and eloped! Never expected this kind of story!”

“Victim no. 7 was also a fugitive; he committed both rape and murder.”

. . . . . .

“Victim no. 10 was an old man, an ordinary person who came from Tong City. He disappeared 12 years ago. His family searched for him all this time, but never found him.”

“Victim no. 12, the young man, is also an ordinary person from Tong City. He was only 15 when he disappeared, and he has been missing for many years. His family never stopped searching for him; they thought that he had been sold off to traffickers. Who would have thought he would be buried in this mountain so close by.”

……

Out of the blue, Jian Yao’s tears fell. Those vague, distant, warm, and sorrowful memories flooded her mind, and she barely managed to hang on to her self-control. Afraid that someone would notice, she got up and walked to the window, covering her face so that no one could see.

Someone embraced her lightly from the back. Jian Yao immediately dashed the tears away, but before she could say anything, Bo Jinyan was already speaking. “Sometimes, I wish I could hop into a time machine to see what little Jian Yao was like.”

Jian Yao bowed her head and remained silent.

He smiled faintly and said, “Ah, she must have been a brave, kind, quick-witted – and a little bit stubborn – young lady. I have sufficient grounds for arguing that your current crabby temperament is merely your natural character laid bare. Despite being so young, you could follow your father’s instructions and protect yourself as well as your younger sister. You’ve had the innate skill to fight crime since you were a young girl, just like me. We were really born to be together.”

Jian Yao smiled through her tears.

Bo Jinyan held her hand tightly and kneaded her palm, as he usually did, before saying, “One perspective in child psychology is that a child’s temperament and innate character is fixed by the time he or she is six years old. The kind of person one eventually becomes has already been determined by one’s environment and nurturing influences before the age of six. Although you lacked your father’s presence in your life thereafter, I am sure that, at the most important stage of life, the earliest stage, your dad was your best companion. I know that this is extremely precious to you.”

Jian Yao’s tears fell ceaselessly. Several criminal investigators came over on noticing how fiercely she was sobbing. Bo Jinyan had nothing with which to block their view, so he simply pulled the curtains across, enveloping the two of them. Then, he patted her back lightly.

Go ahead and cry, my little wife. 

I know that this is the deepest wound in your heart. You rarely speak of it, even to me. Now, this wound has finally been ripped open, and in a most unexpected way. So, how should we face it?

“Don’t be afraid to face and deal with your wounds,” Bo Jinyan whispered into her ear. “Even though the bravest person may be grieving, he still has to seek the truth and answers he needs through his tears.”

Jian Yao was shaken. She looked up at him, at the sunglasses on his face, at his thin face with its sharp planes, at the walking stick he had leaned against the wall.

She reached out and hugged him tightly.