Chapter 54

"Meng Chang'an? You want to tell me that he is the murderer?" Han Fei didn't have time to ask more questions before the bodies of the seven victims were torn apart, slowly merging into that terrifying monster.

Without reason, without hope, without kindness, the monster only wanted to destroy everything in front of it.

"Did the seven victims have to relive the pain of being torn apart every night?" Han Fei stepped out of the bedroom, glanced at the digital clock on the wall, and saw that it was almost 4 a.m., the time when the eighth victim died: "They have been resisting all along..."

The monster was about to appear, and Han Fei silently closed the door.

The haunted house was no longer safe; the monster would attack everyone indiscriminately.

"The seven victims are separate individuals, but they have been artificially joined together. What can I do to save them?"

Han Fei was already very tired. He went to the corner of the living room and chose to exit the game.

Taking off the game helmet, Han Fei picked up the water cup on the table and took several big gulps.

He sat on the edge of the bed, his gaze fixed on the wall covered with crime scene photos, finally settling on one of them.

"Meng Chang'an."

Drowsiness and fatigue washed over him like a tide, and Han Fei could no longer hold on. He lay down on the bed and fell asleep.

...

Around 10 a.m., Han Fei was woken up by his phone ringing. He took out his phone and quickly answered: "Li Xue? What happened?"

"I'm at your doorstep. Can we meet now?"

"At the doorstep?" Han Fei hung up the phone, quickly got dressed, and hurriedly went to open the door: "Why did you come to my place so early in the morning? Don't you have to work?"

"I am working now. Let's talk inside." Li Xue's expression was very serious, as if something major had happened.

After closing the door and drawing the curtains, Li Xue pulled Han Fei to sit on a chair: "Last night, the Municipal Public Security Bureau mobilized police forces and conducted a thorough search of the Xinhu Ecological Nature Reserve before dawn. They found a black wooden house within an hour of starting the search."

"Was it that easy to find?"

"They thoroughly inspected the wooden house inside and out, even dug up the surrounding land for technical testing, but found no traces of bodies or human activity."

"That's impossible!"

"Stay calm." Li Xue gestured for Han Fei to continue listening: "This black house seemed to be deliberately set up to mislead the police. At my teacher's insistence, the police expanded the search area. After four hours, a police officer accidentally fell into a depression, and the police later discovered another black wooden house at the deepest part of the ecological reserve."

"I remember. Wei Youfu also entered the Xinhu Ecological Reserve twice. He returned empty-handed the first time but found fragments of the child's clothes the second time." Seeing Li Xue's expression wasn't good, Han Fei asked softly: "What did you find in that house?"

"The deepest black house had no modern communication tools, very primitive. It was small, divided into two levels: above ground and underground. The above-ground level was ordinary, like a cabin built by a forest ranger, but entering the underground level through a hidden passage revealed a different world." Li Xue's expression worsened: "The underground level was filled with many household items and children's clothes, neatly arranged. However, the police found a separate room dug out in the underground level, which the murderer called the Garden of Eden."

The Garden of Eden means paradise, a land created by God, with beautiful flowers, trees, and various birds and animals. People lived there in peace and harmony.

"What was in that room?" Han Fei had a foreboding feeling.

"Experienced detectives couldn't control their vomiting after entering the room." Li Xue showed Han Fei some pictures on her phone: "The room was completely covered in blood and strange symbols. Multiple child bodies were found buried in the soil beneath the room. The earliest body, according to the forensic doctor, was from twenty years ago."

"Can the identities of those children be traced?"

"All were abandoned infants and orphans, with incomplete information. However, the identity of the earliest body was traced." Li Xue scrolled through her phone and found another picture: "He Yuhuai, who donated his kidney at the age of six. His father was the director of the Xinhu North Street Private Welfare Institute—He Shuye."

"Wait, I'm confused. The director of the welfare institute that took in homeless people is He Shuye? His child's body is also in that black house?" Han Fei asked, voicing his doubts.

"As our investigation deepened, He Shuye is a major suspect in the North Street Welfare Institute. The black house in the ecological reserve is related to him. His child's kidney donation was not entirely voluntary but part of a private transaction. He Shuye's first earnings came from his child's kidney."

"That makes him a scumbag!"

"But he was very well-disguised. Almost everyone who met him thought he was a good person. After his child died of illness, he funded the renovation of the North Street Welfare Institute to honor his child."

"What a hypocritical reason." Han Fei's eyes were cold: "Where is this person now? Have you controlled him?"

Li Xue shook her head: "He Shuye is indeed a major suspect, but he had a clear alibi when Wei Youfu, A Mei, and Gu Ye died. Additionally, He Shuye died in a car accident a few years after the human puzzle case."

"He died?"

"Yes, Jiang Jiang and He Shuye, the two most directly involved in the case, are both dead. It seems there might be another hand controlling the human puzzle case." Seeing Han Fei frowning, Li Xue softly comforted him: "Although the murderer hasn't been caught yet, there has been a significant breakthrough. We now believe there is more than one murderer, and there might even be a 'mutual assistance' killing in this case."

"Mutual assistance killing?"

"He Shuye is closely related to the deaths of Xiao Qing, Cui Caiyi, and Cui Tianci in the human puzzle case. The police have gathered more and more clues, and with the significant advancements in forensic technology, it won't be long before the case is solved!" Li Xue's expression became even more serious: "I came to see you today for another reason. The murderer is cruel and cunning, with a strong desire for revenge. He might come after you."

"Come after me?"

"Yes, the drama you are filming recently will also attract his attention. You must be careful."

After Li Xue finished her instructions and was about to leave, Han Fei stopped her again: "Li Xue, I've been thinking a lot these past few days. There is someone the police should focus on!"

"Who?"

"The adopted younger son of the old lady in the refrigerator corpse case—Meng Chang'an." Han Fei opened his computer: "I know his online reviews are very good, and people around him think he is excellent, but he might actually be a severely twisted madman."