Love Me if You Dare: Pristine Darkness

Blockhead.

This nickname is all Jian Yao and the others got. No matter what questions they asked, Xu Huqiang could not remember anything more, nor did he know anything more about this ‘Blockhead’, not his real name or where he lived. He only hazily remembered that Blockhead was very tall. He could not recall his face.

It had already been two decades, and all the people involved in the case that year had either died or scattered. Although Blockhead was one of the little brothers who had hung around with the gang for a few days, naturally, the ordinary man on the street would have no idea about his past involvement.

It seemed as if the trail had ended.

However, everyone knew that they were so close to the truth.

Bo Jinyan’s second objective in travelling to Tong City was to visit a family who had lost their son over 10 years ago.

To be honest, the family’s financial situation was pretty good. They lived in a little community in the city centre. When the door opened, Jian Yao and the others were met with the wan and haggard visages of two elderly people. They had already received the news that their son’s body had been found, and they were unable to view it with their own eyes.

Their son was the first youth to be killed by the butterfly killer.

They were already numbed by their years of waiting, but when they found out that their son had been cruelly killed by someone over 10 years ago, all those years of waiting were truly meaningless, and they could not help bursting into tears.

“What kind of child was Li Zhijin?” Jian Yao asked gently. She was always able to give comfort to the victims, who would also readily lower their guard and talk to her.

“Zhijin, he . . . he was a really good child!” the mother cried. “He was sensible, obedient, and filial to his parents.”

Any child is pure and innocent in the eyes of his parents.

Especially those who have been lost.

At the same time, Fang Qing and Bo Jinyan were searching the room that belonged to that child at that time. They were looking for reasons and characteristics as to why he had been the killer’s first victim, and what had triggered the killer to commit crimes.

The furniture and furnishings were all from the previous century and they had been left untouched from the time the child had disappeared. Fang Qing opened the old wardrobe and saw clothes typical of youth. Apart from school uniforms and basketball gear, he also saw . . . how to put it – street-style sleeveless tops and T-shirts.

Gangster movie posters were stuck all over the wall, and all were yellow with age. In the chest of drawers were several imitation toy guns. Fang Qing took one out, aimed it at his thigh, and fired. WTF! Although the bullet was made of plastic, it was still extremely painful, and left a deep red mark.

Finally, Fang Qing dug out a long, rusty machete from the bottom of a storage box under the bed. It was not possible that Zhijin’s parents did not know about this machete’s existence, but they had treated it as something remaining of their child and thus kept it. It could be seen that their adoring love for their child was very deep, and their grief cut them sharply.

——

After they had concluded their business at Tong City, the Special Cases Unit returned to the investigation command centre at the police station in neighbouring Xun City.

Bo Jinyan talked to An Yan, alone, for a while.

“Have all the photographs from the crime scene that year been sorted out?” Bo Jinyan asked.

An Yan replied, “Naturally.”

“Did you make a 3D simulation of the scene?”

“Of course. The police officers that year took very detailed photographs of the crime scene, from every angle. I have the entire restored scene, in panorama, on my computer. What do you want to find?”

After a moment’s silence, Bo Jinyan said, “Look at my father-in-law from every possible angle. When he is lying in the pool of blood, does he look like a butterfly?”

An Yan was thoroughly taken aback. He looked at the screen, and saw the dismembered limbs and body parts, bent and twisted. Then, the blood beneath their bodies, like a decorative pattern, spreading out, extending.

. . . . . .

Bo Jinyan stood before the window, letting the cool twilight breeze brush his face.

In his mind, he was recalling a time, very long ago. There was another person who helped him find out more about the Jian Yi case. There were even some pictures, which that person had located. That person was always kind, and he said, with a smile on his face, “Do you think I’m so free as to help her rent an apartment? I’m also a little in love with her.”

“Jinyan ah, don’t you think that Jian Yao’s mother has taken a fancy to me and wants me to be her son-in-law? She’s always smiling at me.”

“Oh, yeah, since there’s you, it’s illogical for her to fancy me.”

. . . . .

Ziyu, the road twists and turns, and fate has brought us back to where it all started. 

——

Jian Yao sat by herself inside an office. After a while, she heard the sound of a walking stick tapping on the ground. She looked up and saw Bo Jinyan pushing open the door to walk in.

“Jian Yao.”

“I’m here.”

He walked to sit opposite her. “I have already drawn some conclusions.”

Jian Yao’s heart clenched tightly. “Go ahead.”

“The butterfly killer is Blockhead. Blockhead became the butterfly killer when he grew up.”

Even though she had already harboured this suspicions, on hearing Bo Jinyan speak with such certainty, a feeling that Jian Yao was unable to describe bubbled up in her heart. “Really? Why did he . . . do that?”

“He was making restitution,” Bo Jinyan said. “He was making restitution for the crimes he has committed. That year, he was definitely at the crime scene, and he definitely wielded a knife. That incident was hugely stimulating to him, psychologically, and also became his nightmare from then on.

To him, your father, as he was lying in a pool of blood, was envisioned to be a butterfly. That day was the beginning of the butterfly killer.

A very compelling piece of evidence is that the first few people he killed were all recklessly hacked to death, then arranged, with drawing, to become butterflies. This was precisely his means of psychological mapping.

The first youth he killed was almost his replica. He hated that version of himself, so he killed Lin Zhijin. For him, it was like killing himself once.

However, the more people he killed, the more guilt, suffering and happiness he experienced, and he was drawn in deeper and deeper. This is why, next to the bodies of the very first victims, there is an incense burner, so that he could perform the memorial rites and deal with his guilt. After that, he found a way to achieve an equilibrium – he started to kill criminals. This way, he could satisfy his psychological needs without giving himself any psychological burden. He also began to enjoy killing people, moving on from his initial copycat method of indiscriminately hacking people to death to more cruel and refined methods.

I think he chose to rent that mountain area using the identity of your father’s killer as a form of atonement for his crimes. In your father’s name, to make atonement, and kill those disciples of utter evil and viciousness.

He is different from all the serial killers we’ve encountered before. I don’t think he has ever been happy in these past 20 years. The crime he committed in his youth has weighed heavily on him his entire life. And, now, he can no longer bear it, and wants to bring things to a conclusion.”

Jian Yao raised her head to look out of the window. It was already dark. Layers of dark clouds ringed the moon, whose halo was faintly glowing. The treetops were silent, and the building was so quiet, it was like being out in the open countryside. Something in the darkness was piercing her heart, penetrating the depths of her soul. She wanted to get a drink of water, but found that her fingers were as cold as ice. She lowered her head and whispered, “So . . . the ‘J’ that was left behind at the crime scene, does it stand for ‘Jenny*’?”

*T/N Jenny is Jian Yao’s English name.

Bo Jinyan was silent for a breath or two. He stretched out his hand to caress her head, and replied, “It’s possible.”

“He’s been watching me all this time?”

“The only thing he can do is to say hello to you,” Bo Jinyan said.

Jian Yao looked at him, her emotions suddenly in turmoil. After a long period of time, she also smiled, and spoke carefully and slowly, “That’s right, he can only say hello to me. If he dares to come near me, I’ll beat him up thoroughly.” She gripped Bo Jinyan’s hand, and he smiled faintly.

“Thank you, Jinyan.” Jian Yao buried her face in his arms.

“Hey, what are you thanking me for?” Bo Jinyan said, “I’m only protecting my darling, why would I need to be thanked?”

Jian Yao smiled again. “What’s next?”

“We’ve already gotten an idea about his past, we know about his present, next . . .”

“Predict his future actions.” Both voices sounded at the same time.

Jian Yao looked up at him. His fingers were tracing the line of her face. Both were silent for a heartbeat, then he said, huskily, “Hey, this feeling, you know, the feeling I have in my heart, it’s really wonderful.”

Jian Yao held on to his thin fingers and remained silent, wordless.

Bo Jinyan slowly continued, “The people he has killed in recent years have all been wanted criminals. This is the joy of the hunt, for him. Ordinary people can no longer satisfy him. So, the next one will also be a fugitive. Since he has publicly provoked the police, he will commit another crime very soon. And, what we must do is to find a fugitive who satisfies all his preferences, someone very recent, and the most worthy to be killed – we have to locate his prey faster than he does. Then, we sit and trust that an opportunity will open up*.

*T/N 守株待兔 (shou zhu dai tu) – literally, to guard (守) a tree-stump (株), waiting (待) for a rabbit (兔). This idiom has a story behind it, about a lazy farmer who saw a startled rabbit run past him, hit its head on a tree-stump, and die. He took the rabbit home and cooked it for his meal. Thereafter, he refused to do any work, choosing instead to wait for rabbits to run past, hit their heads and die. The idiom is normally used as to criticise people who refuse to be diligent, or to accept change; people who would rather just wait for opportunities to occur rather than working towards them. Here, Bo Jinyan is saying all they can do is to create the ideal condition (hunt down the prey) and wait for the butterfly killer to act.

Jian Yao’s heart lurched. Indeed, the haze of doubt and suspicion, the past, the former circumstances, all seemed to be interwoven in a complicated web. But, with his words, Bo Jinyan had exposed the crucial point. Rather than chasing after the butterfly killer, following behind him, it would be better to rush in front of him, predict his path, then capture him!

When I investigate cases, I like to take shortcuts. You have to get used to it, and keep up.

She simply raised her head to look at him.

“Will he be prepared?”

“He definitely knows this is what we will do.”

“Huh?”

Bo Jinyan coolly said, “Isn’t this precisely what he wants? To pit himself against us and see who gets to the criminal first. A criminal whose inmost being has been so fettered that he can no longer move forward, this will be a life-or-death struggle for him, his lethal attraction. I complete him.”

Jian Yao was dumbfounded.

“Is it really such an . . . intractable problem?”

Bo Jinyan laughed briefly. “Intractable? If I may speak bluntly, in our recent times, China has finally produced a decent serial killer.”

Jian Yao was momentarily silent before smiling as well.

It was at this time that someone knocked on the door, and faint voices were heard. Bo Jinyan took the smile off his face and Jian Yao released his hand before walking over to open the door.

The corridor was brightly-lit. Fang Qing stuck his head into the room, looked around and smiled. “Jian Yao, look who has come to visit our squad.”

Jian Yao smiled as she looked behind him, then stood rooted to the spot in shock.

Luo Lang stood in the corridor in a black suit, exceedingly neat, with a spotlessly white shirt. He held a cigarette in one hand, while his other hand was carrying something. He looked at her and smiled.

They had last seen each other just over 10 days ago, but Jian Yao suddenly felt as if a lifetime had passed. Everything around them also seemed frozen in time in that split second. Moreover, as she stared at him, he also fixed his gaze on her. It was then that she realised that this man’s eyes were as deep and dark as a bottomless, cold pit.

Luo Lang’s line of sight had already moved to something behind her. “Mr. Bo.”

Bo Jinyan’s light voice sounded above her head. “Mr. Luo.”

On thinking about it, this was actually the first time the two of them had met. Jian Yao was a little hesitant, but Fang Qing jumped in cheerfully, “Gosh, really, the two of you can greet each other and make the atmosphere so estranged. Guess that’s all right.”

Jian Yao and Luo Lang immediately laughed.

However, Bo Jinyan did not. He felt that Fang Qing had spoken true; he and Luo Lang had been estranged from the start.

Luo Lang’s gaze returned to Jian Yao. Under his gentle scrutiny, without expecting it, something stirred lightly deep inside Jian Yao’s heart. Still smiling, she asked, “Luo dage, why are you here out of the blue?”

Luo Lang replied, “It just so happened that I picked up a case in this province; I knew you guys were here, so I came to look for you.”

Jian Yao nodded. He had always been like this. If the case was related to their hometown, he always took more effort, and was more active than usual.

After all, he was also born and bred in Tong City.

The corridor suddenly quietened down.

Fang Qing eyed the three of them who were standing in silence, then slapped Luo Lang’s shoulder and said, “Let’s go, we haven’t eaten yet, let’s eat together.” After that, he rummaged through the bag in Luo Lang’s hand. “What good stuff did you bring? Let’s feast together!”

Luo Lang laughed as he threw the bag towards Fang Qing before taking a puff of his cigarette. By this time, Jian Yao and Bo Jinyan had already walked out of the room, his hand on her shoulder. She wasn’t paying attention to Luo Lang. “Come eat with us,” she said softly. Bo Jinyan made a sound of assent.

Luo Lang took another deep puff of his cigarette as he looked out of the window. The sky was already dark, and the city lights were twinkling brightly, like eyes staring at him. At this point, Fang Qing  patted his shoulder once more and said, “What are you thinking about? Let’s go!”

Luo Lang smiled and followed him.