Chapter 58: Questions and Questions

“He Shouye, who despised kids, somehow became the director of an orphanage? That just screamed suspicion. While managing the orphanage, he adopted many abandoned kids and babies.

“With the suggestion from several criminal psychologists, we went through the notes left behind by He Shouye and we did notice some problems. After He Shouye’s son died, it was like he changed into a completely different person. His tone, his hobby, his personality had a 180 change. He started to peruse books about philosophy and the mental world. He’d lock himself up in his office and he was seen occasionally wandering out alone at night. It felt like he was looking for something or someone.

“We visited a few kids who grew up at the orphanage. Most of the kids had a very good impression of their director and they appreciated his care. However, a small group of them thought the man was very weird because he would often ask them questions that were inexplicable. Questions like whether they had dreamt about someone standing beside their bed at night; whether they had dreamt about a black box; and whether they had seen a butterfly that would only land on people’s heads.

“It sounded like He Shouye was looking for a specific child but he failed to find them. Therefore, he decided to create one that would fit his requirement and that child was most likely the 8th victim in the human jigsaw case.

“What kind of child was he looking for? And why would a dead child fit his requirement? No one has the answer.

“It felt like he was conducting some kind of ritual, a ritual that was guided by his twisted mind. Throughout the transmutation process of his whole personality, a term appeared many times in his notes and that was the butterfly. In the later half of He Shouye’s life, the butterfly was more than just a bug, it took on a symbolic meaning.

“This discovery reminded our officers of another haunting resemblance in the history of another person of interest. Yes, when we looked through the stuff left behind by Meng Changxi, like He Shouye, it showed that he also had been studying up on the human brain and the butterfly. He too had been searching for the butterfly. This is the connection between Meng Changxi and He Shouye, the butterfly.”

At this point, Han Fei had no choice but to interrupt Li Xue. “Meng Changxi has been missing for so long already, these information that he supposedly left behind could have been easily planted.” Han Fei had met Meng Si in person. Through her, he knew for a fact that the person who was obsessed with those books and the butterfly was not Meng Changxi but Meng Changan.

“It’s not easy to manufacture fake evidence. First the culprit has to familiarize himself with Meng Changxi’s handwriting and then he has to know all of Meng Changxi’s social account password, and ultimately, who would spend years to set up all these things?”

“Simple, the real killer would. Meng Changxi is his scapegoat so naturally he has to do all these things.” Han Fei lowered his voice to say, “Compared to Meng Changxi, I still think you should focus on Meng Changan. This seemingly harmless man might be the most dangerous and heartless one. One who might be cold-blooded enough to murder his own mother.”

Just as Han Fei said that, he heard a noise come from behind him. He reacted quickly but even so, when he turned around, he only saw an empty can roll down the street.

“Who’s there?” Han Fei was not reading those sleuthing books for no reason. Without a change to his expression, he whispered into the phone, “Li Xue, someone is following me. I suspect they have overheard our conversation.”

“Where are you now?”

“I’m at the entrance to the set of Flower of Sin. The families of the human jigsaw case’s victims are all here.”

“Don’t go home yet. Come to Northern Street’s Frontier Mall instead, there are crowds there. I’ll go meet you there as well.”

“Okay.”

After hanging up as casually as he could, Han Fei wandered towards the mall. He did not take any public transport because that was not something he’d normally do. The feeling of being followed was not strong. Han Fei sauntered around the mall for a long time but he did not spot Li Xue. It was not until dusk that he got a call from her.

A few officers had been observing Han Fei through the mall surveillance, everything was normal. Han Fei did not meet up with the police to explain his situation. Thankfully the police did not lose their trust in Han Fei due to this incident, if anything, they all decided they needed to add more security detail on Han Fei. As a low popularity actor, Han Fei had never been followed before. This time, he finally got to experience the life of a celebrity, however, it was not paparazzi who was tailing him but a dangerous criminal.

After purchasing a week’s worth of groceries at the mall as well as a few new locks, Han Fei returned home. Han Fei cooked a simple dinner and added the new locks to the door and window. “This should be safe enough.”

He placed the weapons that he bought from the internet around him. He practiced a round of the fighting skill Li Xue taught him. Then he settled down to read through the books he bought online, these were the same books Meng Changan read when he was young. When it was almost midnight, he rubbed his eyes and put the books down. “Of all the questions that He Shouye asked the kids, there are two that stand out. One is the dream about the black box and the other is the sight of the butterfly that would only land on people’s heads.”

Li Xue did not know about the Easter Egg of the black box in Perfect Life. However, Han Fei did know about the Easter Egg, from his conversation with Huang Yin. “Is it possible that the butterfly is also searching for the black box in my brain? But Perfect Life wasn’t in existence when the human jigsaw case happened a decade ago. Or the black box has long been in existence, even before the game, Perfect Life?

“He Shouye and his gang have been looking for abandoned babies and children, are they looking for a suitable candidate who could neurologically support the black box?”

Han Fei stared at the gaming helmet on the table. He possessed a piece of information that he had been keeping from Li Xue, he was also an orphan. However, he did not grow up at Xin Lu Northern Street’s Orphanage but at a place called Happy Orphanage situated in the old city. The orphanage once gave him a feeling of home, the people around him were the walking definition of happiness.  They would celebrate all the major holidays at the orphanage, but one day, everything changed.

“Before I have the chance to make all of you laugh, I’ve lost my own laughter, life really is full of surprises and ironies.”

Connecting all the wires, Han Fei cleared his mind. Before midnight struck, he put on the helmet. Blood dripped and Han Fei’s world turned red.