Chapter 67: Pictures

Dong Hwa Ice Factory was closed many years ago but its underground ice cellar was surprisingly tidy, which suggested that it was cleaned often. “Stay up there and guard the entrance. We can’t both go down there. What if someone tries to lock us up when we’re down there? I’ve already called for reinforcement so you won’t be alone for long.”

Li Xue used the flashlight on her phone to look around and she soon discovered something. “What is that?” The light from the phone aimed at the corner. Li Xue spotted a ceremonial urn and a colored picture of Meng Si. “A photograph of the victim? Why would her picture be here? Someone has set up an altar for her here?” The underground ice cellar was small enough that one could capture everything in it in one glance. There was nothing to block one’s sight either. It meant that the possibility of an ambush was zero. Li Xue walked towards the corner but instead of messing up the evidence, she used her phone to record everything.

“Did you find anything?”

“I found a picture of Meng Si, someone specifically made an altar for her here. Based on the ash inside the urn, this has been here for quite some time already.”

“That’s all?” Han Fei valued the clue given by Meng Si greatly but Li Xue did not treat it as seriously as he did, after all, she did not know about its source. “How about we exchange places? I’ll go up there and you’ll come down?”

After helping Li Xue up, Han Fei jumped into the ice cellar. The moment he entered the cellar, a strange familiarity overwhelmed him. Claustrophobia, eeriness and endless waves of darkness. His limbs numbed, Han Fei was instantly reminded of what he experienced at Meng Si’s house when the old lady lost control. The feeling Han Fei had at Room 1031 was similar to what he was feeling now inside the underground ice cellar. ‘So that chill was a replication of how the lady felt when she died!’

He switched on the flashlight function on his phone and turned to examine the picture and the urn at the corner. Meng Si in the picture was still young, there was no white in her hair. ‘Why didn’t the person use a more recent picture of Meng Si?’ Han Fei thought. ‘He probably couldn’t get his hands on one…’

“Dong Hwa Ice Factory should be the first crime scene so the person who made this memorial probably knew about the truth of the case and is extremely close to Meng Si. The chances are, it is one of Meng Si’s 3 sons. The eldest has an altar at home so there is no reason for him to purposely set up a second one here. So it is between Meng Changxi and Meng Changan.” A cold draft ruffled Han Fei’s hair. Even though the ice cellar was built underground, it had surprisingly good ventilation. This drew Han Fei’s suspicion. “Why does an ice cellar need good ventilation?” He followed the draft to a different room corner. The draft came from a sewer duct that was embedded into the ground. The duct cover had a gap in it and there was where the wind came from. Han Fei squatted down and grabbed at the edge of the cover. As he suspected, the cover was an entrance and it led into a tunnel. “It goes further down?”

Han Fei hesitated as he stared into the thick darkness. The moisture in the air increased and a light stench emitted from the tunnel. “Li Xue, the cellar’s original drain has been hollowed out and it connects to the city’s underground sewer system. Should we go down to take a look?”

“We should wait for reinforcement. Xin Lu used to employ a subsurface web-style pipe drainage system but with the expansion of the city, it has been updated to the subsurface corridor-style drainage system. The former employed a convoluted web of buried pipes to facilitate liquid and solid sewage transfer, while the latter expanded the underground tunnel system to include manmade irrigation systems and to accommodate other underground transmission lines. The most iconic example is the Paris Sewer System. Therefore, it is a literal underground maze down there and we’ll get lost without a map.” Li Xue was a former heavy crime detective. With her wealth of experience, she knew when to charge and when to hold back. They waited for 10 minutes before Li Xue’s two colleagues arrived. They were different from normal civilian officers, they were from the investigation unit. One of them came with a temporary warrant to enter the city’s drainage system. He pulled out the map and they followed it as they ventured underground. A faded stench lingered in the air as the underground rivers gushed noisily. They walked down the paved corridors for the maintenance workers. Above them were the pipelines for water, fibre optics and gas that were built decades ago.

“Assuming Dong Hwa Ice Factory is the first crime scene, is it possible that the killer used this underground tunnel to move the bodies?” Li Xue contemplated out loud while Han Fei pondered over every single word Meng Si had said to him. The other officers continued to study the map.

“Sister Li, this area that we’re at does not show up on the map.” One of the officers enlarged the digital map. “Someone has dug out a tunnel underneath the ice cellar.” The city’s drainage map did not match the actual scene. Li Xue’s group had entered an area that was not supposed to exist. They followed along the tunnel and when it opened up, Li Xue and Han Fei could not believe their eyes. The underground ‘room’ was filled with various pictures and stacks of documents about the human jigsaw case and frozen body case. Most of the documents were yellowed, they were here for a long time already. Someone had been collecting them for years.

“Do not touch anything! Put on your gloves now!” But there were more surprises waiting for them. On the deepest wall of the cave, there was a collage of different individuals. Most of them had a circle drawn over their faces with black marker. 3 of them were the exceptions. The first was He Shouye, his picture was crossed off with a red marker. The second of Meng Changan. His picture was circled with a red marker. The picture was also punctured at many places, pock-marking Meng Changan’s face. The cave owner really hated this person.

The last picture was also the most surprising. The picture was quite recent, it was probably taken not too long ago. The man in the picture was Han Fei. A black marker was used to draw a question mark over Han Fei’s face.

“The people with the black circles are all suspects in the two cases but they have been cleared of their suspicion. The owner probably conducted his own investigation to come to the same conclusion.

“The red cross means his eliminated target, the red circle is probably his next target. Lastly the question mark…” All the officers turned to Han Fei, the latter shrugged. “I reported to Li Xue that I was being followed that one time, could it be this guy who was tailing me?”

“That is very possible. But why are you given a question mark? Did you do something unusual that day you were followed?” Li Xue stared at Han Fei’s picture.

“Hmm… I believe I had just left the set for Flower of Sin then. I was talking on the phone with you, I remember saying something along the lines of, ‘Compared to Meng Changxi, you should focus more on Meng Changan. He is more dangerous’.” Han Fei’s eyes widened. “Yes! I remember now! Right after I said that, I heard a sound come from behind me. Probably that statement struck a chord with my stalker!”

“From all the information the police have so far, all the evidence points towards Meng Changxi, you’re the only person who believes in his innocence.” Li Xue glanced at the stacks of documents inside the cave and made a judgement, “Could it be Meng Changxi who has been living in this underground cave after he has gone missing?”