I asked Gao Qiang, "Didn't you see the situation here just now?"
"I did, but I thought these were just random drawings, so I didn't mention them."
"These drawings are from the Gospel of Matthew in the Bible. How could they be random?" I scolded him, then climbed to the upper floor of the dormitory and saw that there was still a lot of mud and sand on the stairs. It seemed to have been left by whoever dragged the body.
I walked up step by step, with Gao Qiang following me. When we reached the second floor, we found that both sides of the hallway were lined with small rooms. Some traces disappeared in the middle of the hallway. I looked left and right, and in broad daylight, it was easy to see that the room on the left had many ropes hanging inside.
I kicked open the door and walked in to inspect the ropes. They were the same size as the marks left on the victim's body.
It seemed the killer had used these ropes to bind the victim. This was a startling discovery. I had Gao Qiang take photos and then took some of the ropes. When we returned to the body, Zhao Simeng had already finished the autopsy. I asked her, "Did you find anything?"
"It's similar to before. It's the same person's work. It seems that someone like him... if he was born to ordinary parents, they would probably hate him," she said.
Before Zhao Simeng could finish her sentence, I already knew she was hinting at something. "Check his birth records at the hospital. Also, maybe you could visit the orphanage?"
"Yes, if I had given birth to such a child, I probably wouldn't have been able to accept it either."
"You guys are impressive, you actually guessed all of this. I'll send someone to check," Xiao Yuande said.
"Hurry up and come back!" I told him. I then mentioned the ropes to Zhao Simeng, and she said she would check for any fingerprints or nail residues.
Before we left, Zhao Simeng and I came back to the dormitory where we found the ropes. She glanced at the walls and said, "The killer must have been an employee here. He liked to draw scenes from the Gospel of Matthew on the walls every day."
I nodded, "This must have made the others uncomfortable. Anyone who came to his room, or saw it like this, would have been terrified. He must have worked here, but for a short time."
"He may have been ridiculed and ostracized by his colleagues because of his issues," Zhao Simeng added.
I thought to myself, he must have wanted revenge on others. Could this be the reason for the factory fire?
Though the room was dirty, there were clear signs that someone had been there recently. The killer must have returned to take the ropes, turning the room into a place where he punished his victims.
But why choose this place?
I raised several questions with Zhao Simeng, but she knocked my head gently and said, "Maybe he just thought it was convenient? Don't overthink it. We can also investigate the orphanage when we have the chance!"
There were hundreds of orphanages in Gaogang City. How long would it take to investigate them? It seemed this would require the entire police force.
Zhao Simeng and I began our search on De Road in Gaogang City, while the others went to their designated places. One officer returned at this point and called to tell me that they had found a birth record for a Wang Wenlin, a patient with porphyria at the hospital, but they couldn't confirm where he was now.
I asked Li Hong from the technical department, and they said they hadn't found anything. It seemed that after he was discharged, Wang Wenlin had vanished without a trace.
That left the orphanage as the last lead. Gao Qiang, Xiao Yuande, Liu Chao, Zhang Wang, and the others, who had been sent out, called after some time and reported that they hadn't found anything. Zhao Simeng and I arrived at the last orphanage on De Road just then.
To our surprise, this orphanage was the same one from the last time, the Kangcheng Orphanage.
"This is the last one. What should we do?"
"I know, I've been here before. Li Lian also lived here."
"Oh, you brought Li Lian with you?"
"Yes!"
Zhao Simeng and I exchanged words and entered the orphanage. We went straight to see Sister Guo. I said, "Hello, Director Guo, it's us!"
"Officer He, what are you here for again today?"
Since we already had information about Wang Wenlin, I went straight to the point, "Did Wang Wenlin grow up in your orphanage?"
"Wang Wenlin?" At the mention of his name, Sister Guo clearly looked startled. The vein in her hand was pulsating, indicating that her blood circulation had quickened.
"Yes, but I haven't been in contact with him for a long time," she replied.
"Why?"
"He left the orphanage when he was 16. He should be 18 now. Officer He, why are you looking for him?"
When Sister Guo mentioned Wang Wenlin, I noticed her eyes flicker, which proved she was lying.
Zhao Simeng, standing next to me, couldn't see it, but I had used my sharp eyes.
I didn't press her, but politely said, "Oh, no, it's just that there's a case related to him, so we came to ask the orphanage a few questions."
"Is that so? Ask anything you want," Sister Guo said.
"What was Wang Wenlin like in the past?" I squinted my eyes, trying to probe.
"He was just an ordinary kid, but his personality was very introverted. He didn't like to interact with others. When he was 16, he left. I heard he went out to work," she said.
As soon as she said that, I was certain Sister Guo was lying. But I didn't expose her. I thanked her for her cooperation, and then Zhao Simeng and I left. Simeng asked me, "Are we just leaving?"
"She's lying. I'm sure Sister Guo is connected to Wang Wenlin. We need to investigate her!"
I called the technical department and asked them to investigate Sister Guo. I also asked Zhao Simeng to accompany me and walk around the orphanage. When we saw an auntie worker, we approached her and asked, "Hello, Auntie, we're police officers. Do you know Wang Wenlin?"
"Wang Wenlin? Are you looking for him?"
The mention of his name caused an even bigger reaction from this auntie than from Sister Guo. I frowned slightly and said, "Yes, what's the matter?"
"I have to tell you, Wang Wenlin was a disaster. When he was born, his behavior was very strange. He liked to be alone. One night, in the orphanage's backyard, a nun saw a strange child crouching by the pig pen, biting the flesh of the pigs with his mouth. The nun was terrified and called people to pull the child away. It turned out to be Wang Wenlin, his mouth full of blood, as he had just drunk the pigs' blood."
"Drinking the blood of animals?" Zhao Simeng said, astonished.
"Yes, and he often fought with the other children in the orphanage. He even killed a nun once. Wang Wenlin is nothing but a devil. Two years ago, he was kicked out of the orphanage."