Chapter 34

At 2:45 AM, the TV screen suddenly turned on by itself.

The eerie cold light illuminated the pitch-black living room, and within the flickering black and white static, several human faces could be vaguely seen.

Han Fei let out a slight sigh of relief. His palms and back were drenched in sweat. When the hair appeared through the gap in the blanket, he was truly terrified.

"There are only twenty minutes left."

This hellish time was finally coming to an end. Han Fei didn't know how he had endured it. He saw a glimmer of hope in the long, dark night.

On the living room sofa, five figures faced away from the bedroom, all staring at the old box TV as if there was something incredibly captivating in the flickering static.

Tick, tick...

The sound of the electronic clock's hands moving mixed with Han Fei's own heartbeat. He tried his best to remain calm. It was now the final moment, and there must be no mistakes.

His gaze swept over the figures on the sofa and finally settled on the TV screen.

Amidst the static and the crackling sound, a man's voice could be heard, but it was unclear, as if a madman was muttering to himself.

Han Fei focused his attention, and the man seemed to be saying words like "disassemble," "pupate," "liberate," and "beauty."

"1044 is a haunted house, where the victims of the Human Jigsaw Case were confined. I saw Wei Youfu and Mei here with my own eyes. But the tone of the man on the TV doesn't sound like a victim; it sounds more like a killer."

The victims of the Human Jigsaw Case were ordinary people. Han Fei had seen all their photos taken just before their deaths, each filled with despair and pain. They wouldn't say such meaningless words at the brink of death.

To solve the case, Han Fei memorized everything the man on the TV said.

"The killer's state when he killed was a bit strange, as if he was performing some kind of ritual." Han Fei recalled the information about the Human Jigsaw Case in his mind.

The police took this case very seriously. Even after ten years, the Xinhu police were still investigating, preserving all evidence and offering a reward for clues indefinitely.

Han Fei also learned some inside information through the police's public disclosures.

Serial killers can generally be roughly categorized into four types: delusional, mission-driven, hedonistic, and control-oriented. The Xinhu police classified the Human Jigsaw Case killer as mission-driven and extremely violent control-oriented.

Most of the victims in the Human Jigsaw Case were women and children, so many people believed the killer might not be very tall. His physical strength determined that his targets would be weaker than him.

He sought something from those weaker than him to satisfy his twisted inner desires.

Of course, the police wouldn't disclose all the information before solving the case. Some of the information Han Fei found online was not entirely accurate, but it gave him a direction.

At first, he had also thought along these lines, but after hearing the man's words on the TV, he realized the killer's motives were not simple and might have deeper reasons.

"Pupate? Butterfly?"

Han Fei obtained a piece of information from the game that the police didn't know: the suspect in the Refrigerator Corpse Case, Meng Chang'an, had predicted the Human Jigsaw Case.

Meng Chang'an himself was not a normal person. The first time he killed, he told his family that he was influenced by something, and he did such a crazy thing to see the butterflies in his mind clearly.

"The Refrigerator Corpse Case and the Human Jigsaw Case are both related to butterflies. What does this butterfly symbolize?"

Meng Chang'an was once influenced by butterflies, and from the man's voice on the TV, it seemed the killer in the Human Jigsaw Case was also influenced by butterflies.

"Looking only at the crime scenes, the Human Jigsaw Case killer seems mission-driven, but hearing his terrifying and cruel voice, this madman seems to be in some kind of delusion. His motives are very complex."

Han Fei was not a professional detective. Just a few days ago, he was still racking his brain to make the audience laugh. Deduction and analysis were courses he had only recently started learning.

His gaze shifted to the figures on the sofa. Han Fei looked at the five blurry figures and recalled the information about the Human Jigsaw Case victims.

"Looking at the order in which they were killed doesn't reveal much, but if we look at the age order of the victims..."

At 12:14 AM, the first child who appeared in the house looked very similar to the youngest victim in the Human Jigsaw Case.

"Cui Tiangci, 12 years old, had once been a child model. He died between 11 PM and 1 AM."

Next, Han Fei looked at the second ghost on the sofa, the long-haired woman who passed by his bedroom door at 12:44 AM.

"Cui Caiyi, Cui Tiangci's sister, 18 years old, had very beautiful and pure eyes. She was a model for contact lenses and had taken photos for many stores."

His gaze slowly moved to the short-haired woman holding a fruit knife. Han Fei recalled the victim's photo in his mind: "Xiao Qing, 20 years old, a female student who tutored part-time during her university years. She was academically and morally excellent, and in private, she was a leg model. She used her earnings to pay for her education and sent part of it home to help her family with medical expenses."

Sitting next to the short-haired woman was a small woman wearing high heels, with pale skin.

"Zhang Lingfan, 23 years old, a relatively unknown female streamer with beautiful, white hands. She often took nail art jobs and was a hand model. Her death time was around 1 AM, which matches the time she appeared just now."

"According to age, the next victim is 25-year-old Mei. She had left lipstick test photos on a shopping platform and had many lip photos on social media. Many people wanted to invite her to be a lip model."

"The one closest in age to Mei is Wei Youfu, 26 years old, who died around 3 AM. He was the only victim with no notable physical features. The police believed Wei Youfu was killed because he accidentally entered the crime scene, and it was the killer's first time, so various factors led to his death."

"Besides Wei Youfu, there was another male victim, the oldest among all the victims. His name is Gu Ye, 29 years old, who had been a print model. He died between 3 AM and 4 AM."

The Human Jigsaw Case had eight victims. Except for the eighth victim whose information was still unknown, the death times of the remaining seven victims were all related to their ages.

The older the victim, the later the death time.

From midnight to 4 AM, from the deepest night to the dawn approaching.

From the age of 12, when the human body enters puberty, to 30, when physical strength begins to decline slightly.

Each victim in the Human Jigsaw Case seemed to be carefully selected. This was not a random killing but a premeditated crime.