Gangye Police Officer, whose full name was Gangye Yoshiko, was a mature woman in her twenties or thirties.
The impression she gave Shen Gu Mirai was "assertive."
Although she wasn't wearing a police uniform, she wore casual warm clothes that immediately made her seem like someone working in law enforcement or inspection.
As soon as Gangye Yoshiko saw Beichuan Si, she quickly approached him, handed over a paper bag containing clean clothes, and then said,
"Beichuan, did you find a crime scene again?"
Gangye Yoshiko glanced around Lake Park and instinctively added the word "again."
She added "again" because this student, Beichuan Si, had discovered multiple headless murder cases or crime scenes in the past half month.
Five cases, large and small, had already lined up.
Considering this high school student's unusually strong draw for bizarre phenomena,
Gangye Yoshiko had made an exception by giving him her personal cell phone number.
"Are you alone?" Beichuan Si glanced at the empty space behind Gangye Yoshiko, and a rarely seen look of disdain appeared on his face.
"Who do you think caused this?" Gangye Yoshiko found herself amused by the boy's look of disdain, flicking the ash off a lady's cigarette with ease.
Responding to a situation wasn't simple, and these past days, her team had been overwhelmed by cases Beichuan Si reported. If she needed more personnel, she had to get approval from her superiors. Of course, the main reason was that she hadn't seen the crime scene and couldn't summon people just based on a few words from a high school student.
"I have to say, you young fellow, instead of focusing on studying and dating, you keep stirring up trouble, adding more work for your Sister Gangye—" Gangye Yoshiko said as she took two steps up and then saw Shen Gu Mirai, who was hidden behind Beichuan Si.
Oh?
Gangye Yoshiko revealed a meaningful smile.
"Beichuan, is this your girlfriend?"
Before Beichuan Si could answer, Shen Gu Mirai behind him already had a sweet smile, speaking in a soft voice,
"Yes, I am Mr. Temple's girlfriend. Sister Liangzi, you can call me Mirai."
The woman's words were deceitful.
Beichuan Si just glanced at Shen Gu Mirai sideways and didn't bother to argue.
He took two steps forward and got straight to the point.
"This situation might be related to the serial killings I reported ten days ago. It's in the hut back there. You should take a look yourself."
"Ah... I understand."
Gangye Yoshiko twitched her nose.
The air carried a faint smell of blood and a peculiar stench.
It was the smell of a corpse.
...
The subsequent events were unexpectedly simple. Gangye Yoshiko called in colleagues to clean the crime scene, and after Beichuan Si and Shen Gu Mirai went through the police station's procedures and recorded statements, they were taken by car to a nearby ice cream shop.
"Judging by the methods and the victim's gender, it might really be the perverted murderer who started his spree three months ago. Of course, we can't rule out the possibility of a gang crime. Everything depends on the forensic results,"
Gangye Yoshiko didn't resort to smoking in front of two minors; instead, she chewed gum as she spoke,
"The case is similar to the female corpse you discovered ten days ago, Beichuan. The perpetrator violently hit the victim's head with a blunt instrument like a steel pipe or bat and then used exceptional surgical skills to remove the arms—Hmm? Do you have anything to ask, little friend of Beichuan Family?"
Gangye Yoshiko turned her head to look at Shen Gu Mirai, who raised her hand.
"Why can't it be a copycat, Sister Liangzi?" Shen Gu Mirai lowered her hand and curiously asked.
But her question made Gangye Yoshiko chuckle.
"We rule out the possibility of a copycat because we haven't announced the existence of this serial killer yet. But after this Lake Park corpse case, I think we won't be able to keep it under wraps. We police are inadequate, so we can only caution residents to be careful when going out, especially cute high school girls like you, Mirai-chan."
Gangye Yoshiko continued,
"Though we don't know the reason, most victims are teenage high school girls."
"Really, Sister Liangzi, I have Mr. Temple to protect me." Shen Gu Mirai clung to Beichuan Si's arm shamelessly, acting as if they were passionately in love.
"Have we exhausted the current information?" Beichuan Si asked, as usual, choosing to ignore Shen Gu Mirai.
"Yes, I'll let you know if there's any firsthand information. You must also be careful, Beichuan. You've appeared at two consecutive crime scenes, so you might become a target for the killer."
"I'll be careful." Seeing there was no more useful information, Beichuan Si simply nodded, downed his lemon juice in one gulp, and said, "School starts tomorrow, and I have some matters to attend to. I'll take my leave now."
"This unyielding boy without a rabbit in sight." Seeing Beichuan Si's quickly departing figure, Gangye Yoshiko felt a headache coming on again.
Beichuan Si always behaved too calmly and maturely, making it difficult for her to communicate with him properly.
"Is your boyfriend like this at school too?" Gangye Yoshiko asked without restraint.
"Hehe..."
Shen Gu Mirai's eyes turned, and she touched her smooth chin, thinking of Beichuan's behavior at school.
Beichuan Si's current demeanor couldn't simply be explained as a change in personality; he seemed like a completely different person.
With the title of Beichuan Si's girlfriend, the conversation about him continued a while longer.
From Gangye Yoshiko's mouth, Shen Gu Mirai learned about the unknown side of Beichuan Si outside of school.
Unlike his bullied persona at school, Beichuan Si during the winter break seemed like a different person, assisting in discovering crime scenes, and even helping the police capture suspects.
When she heard that Beichuan Si once subdued an extremely dangerous criminal with his bare hands, Shen Gu Mirai couldn't help but widen her eyes.
She didn't recall the school version of Beichuan Si knowing how to do that, subduing vicious criminals bare-handed? Shen Gu Mirai felt a hint of anticipation for the upcoming school year.
With nightfall beginning to set in, after exchanging phone numbers with Shen Gu Mirai, Gangye Yoshiko kindly drove the young girl back home.
"Be especially cautious these days; it's best not to get involved. But for now, you need to stay on your guard because you were at the scene today, and it's not surprising if the killer takes notice. Remember, if anything unusual happens, call me immediately. I will come as soon as I can."
"Thank you, Sister Liangzi," Shen Gu Mirai said at the entrance of her family's three-story residential house, waving goodbye to Gangye Yoshiko.
After Gangye's car drove out of sight, she breathed a small sigh of relief, starting to fish for her keys.
"I really got some intriguing information. So Beichuan has such a side..." Shen Gu Mirai's thoughts wandered, feeling her curiosity bubbling over.
Having someone so peculiar hidden next to her, how could she not feel passionate interest?
Finally finding the keys, Shen Gu Mirai opened the front door.
Her little rabbit slippers were haphazardly placed at the entrance.
The house was already consumed by darkness, with the end of the long hallway leading to the upstairs and bathroom stairs, encasing the entire house in silence.
Of course, this was normal as Shen Gu Mirai's parents typically worked late, and an empty house had become commonplace.
However, this entirely ordinary scene suddenly made Shen Gu Mirai freeze in place.
Her hands and feet felt like they plunged into an icehouse, a chill rushed to her head, causing her body to tremble.
Someone had been here!