Mo Lin flipped through the photos on the camera. It was obvious the person had been tailing him day and night for several days. Each photo’s lighting and scene looked awkward, likely due to the restricted angles and positions from which they were taken.

In the most recent photos, a man wearing a black baseball cap inexplicably appeared. Mo Lin searched his memory for this figure, certain he had never seen this person before.

The same stranger appeared in photos from three different locations, which couldn’t be a coincidence.

Continuing to scroll through the photos, there weren’t many, and no more useful information was found.

Mo Lin pulled out the memory card from the camera’s slot and then hung the camera back around the man’s neck. “Let him go.”

“No way,” Gu Yuan was determined to confront the man to the end.

“Be good,” Mo Lin’s tone was almost coaxing, like talking to a child.

“He was secretly photographing you, why let him off?”

Seeing this, the man immediately pleaded, “I promise I won’t take secret photos anymore. I’ll quit the paparazzi circle as soon as I get back!”

Only then did Gu Yuan release the man’s arm.

The man scrambled away, even tripping in the hallway, clearly scared out of his wits.

Gu Yuan flexed his wrist, which he had used too much force on earlier, and when he looked up again, Mo Lin was looking at him seriously. Not only that, but he seemed to want to get closer, with one arm propped against the wall by Gu Yuan’s left ear, leaning in.

Mo Lin didn’t touch him, but his breath fell on the strands of hair on Gu Yuan’s forehead, and it was clear his breathing had become deeper than before.

“Like playing the hero, huh?”

If Mo Lin’s magnetic voice could be compared to an instrument, it would definitely be a slowly flowing cello.

Even though the words carried a hint of reproach, when he said them, they turned into a playful tease.

Gu Yuan looked straight ahead, not feeling he was wrong at all. “I was solving a problem.”

“There are many ways to solve a problem, why choose the most dangerous one?”

“I didn’t think it was that dangerous.”

“What if the other person was a murderer, armed with a knife, or even a gun? What would you do?”

His words didn’t sound like a question, more like he was giving Gu Yuan a quiz.

Gu Yuan replied, “You seem to forget, I’m also a police officer.”

The two locked eyes, and there was an unimaginable stubbornness in Gu Yuan’s gaze. Mo Lin finally gave in. “Then next time, can you consider including me?”

Gu Yuan said, “I’ll try.”

“Don’t just try, you need to remember it.”

“Got it. If there’s nothing else, I’ll head back.”

Gu Yuan bent down, slipping under Mo Lin’s arm, and started changing his shoes.

“Wait, I’ll drive you.”

*

Gu Yuan was driven home by Mo Lin. After a simple meal, his phone vibrated with a notification from the group chat:

“Zhang Haiyan will be executed in two days…”

Gu Yuan turned off his phone and turned on the TV. Major TV stations were also racing to report Zhang Haiyan’s sentencing.

After washing up, Gu Yuan lay in bed, staring at the ceiling, recalling all the details of the case and the autopsy results, until he succumbed to sleepiness and unknowingly fell asleep…

At three in the morning, he was awakened by a call from Li Meng: A male body was found at the landfill, confirmed to be a criminal case.

Gu Yuan had just fallen asleep not long ago, but waking up at this hour, he was extremely alert. He grabbed the spare investigation kit from home and rushed to the scene.

It was Li Meng’s shift today, so he was the first to arrive. The person who reported it was Mo Lin.

Li Meng didn’t have time to question why Mo Lin was at the landfill in the middle of the night. When he pulled the body bag out of the dirt pit, he felt very uncomfortable. The stench of the corpse was overwhelming, and he had to fight the urge to vomit several times.

Lao Yang’s retirement application had been approved, and it was too late at night to disturb the elderly man, so Li Meng had no choice but to call Gu Yuan.

When Gu Yuan arrived at the scene, even through two layers of masks, he could smell a distinct odor different from the landfill’s stench. He was very sensitive to the smell of corpses and could even judge the environment around a body by the different odors.

The body bag had already been opened by Li Meng and placed beside the corpse. The deceased was wearing a black long-sleeved hoodie on the upper body and loose shorts on the lower body, with the body curled into a “question mark” shape.

Gu Yuan squatted down to examine the body, which was already highly decomposed, with a blackened, swollen face. The eyes were bulging out of the sockets due to pressure, and a large amount of putrid fluid was flowing down from around the body, with dark red fluid seeping from the mouth and nose.

Lifting the deceased’s clothing, the abdomen was covered in large putrid blisters, some of which had burst, oozing a light green liquid, and the entire abdomen was severely bloated.

It was autumn, and the weather wasn’t too hot, but the landfill environment was harsh. Gu Yuan estimated the time of death: “The time of death is roughly two weeks ago.”

Due to the severe decomposition and bloating of the body, emitting a foul odor, Gu Yuan suggested contacting the funeral home to have the body transported for further autopsy.

The funeral home staff were quite professional, seemingly accustomed to seeing bodies and smelling the stench, showing no excessive expressions.

By the time the body was transported back to the funeral home, it was already 5 a.m., and the sky hadn’t yet lightened. The lights in the funeral home were fully on, exposing the male corpse on the autopsy table in its most gruesome state.

The details that weren’t clear in the dark were now fully revealed.

Fully geared up, Gu Yuan began examining the body. When he touched the head, he felt a distinct bone crepitus at the back of the skull, with the occipital bone sunken inward and a large amount of black coagulated material under the scalp.

“The deceased suffered a blunt force trauma to the head before death.”

He moved the swollen, thickened lips aside with a tongue depressor to check the deceased’s teeth.

After thoroughly examining all parts of the deceased’s body, Gu Yuan felt a bit dizzy from the stench.

“The deceased is male, approximately 24 years old, 170 cm tall, weighing around 60 kg, with the fatal injury to the head and no obvious wounds on other parts of the body.”

Li Meng instructed someone to compare recent missing person reports to see if there were any males matching the description.

Hearing that Gu Yuan was going to open the chest of the corpse, Li Meng finally couldn’t take it anymore and went outside for some fresh air.

Mo Lin, wearing a mask, stood at a distance not too far from Gu Yuan, seemingly observing the body or perhaps lost in thought.

Gu Yuan extracted blood from the deceased’s heart for DNA testing. He glanced at Mo Lin, “How did you know there would be a body at the landfill?”

Mo Lin’s train of thought was interrupted. “I found a lot of yellow soil under the doormat at Zhang Haiyan’s house, which seemed suspicious, so I checked places nearby with yellow soil.”

Gu Yuan recalled the pair of shoes found at Mo Lin’s house, with a lot of yellow soil on the soles. It seemed he had been out and about quite a bit recently.

“Is that the only reason?”

“Not entirely, it’s quite complicated and hard to explain in a short time…”

Gu Yuan sensed that Mo Lin was secretly investigating Zhang Haiyan’s case, but Mo Lin was reluctant to reveal too much. The day after tomorrow was Zhang Haiyan’s execution day, what was he striving for?

After recording the autopsy report, Gu Yuan hurried home for a shower before heading back to work.

The lab sent a jaw-dropping message: “The deceased’s DNA matches the male semen found in the flight attendant’s vagina, belonging to the same person!”

This news sent chills down everyone’s spine. The deceased died two weeks ago, while the flight attendant died a week ago.

“What on earth is going on?” Li Meng was completely baffled.

Just as Gu Yuan returned to work, he offered what he thought was a reasonable explanation: “The semen was extracted from the deceased before death. The killer preserved the deceased’s semen and then placed it in the flight attendant’s vagina.”

This seemed to be the only reasonable explanation.

Li Meng asked, “Then what is the connection between the deceased and Zhang Haiyan?”

Mo Lin suggested, “Why not ask her?”

So Zhang Haiyan was brought to the interrogation room once again.

When asked about her relationship with the deceased, she didn’t think much of it, seemingly indifferent to taking on another murder charge, and admitted it straightforwardly.

“He was my ex-boyfriend. We had a falling out two weeks ago. I hit him on the head with a dumbbell when he wasn’t paying attention. After he collapsed, I hit him a few more times, and then he was gone. You found his body? Impressive!”

Zhang Haiyan, knowing her execution was imminent, seemed fearless.

After confirming the deceased’s identity, the deceased’s parents rushed from their hometown to claim the body. The elderly couple was stunned at the sight of the body in the funeral home, taking a while to accept that the unrecognizable corpse on the autopsy table was their son.

The atmosphere was heavy all morning, with Zhang Haiyan’s name haunting the conversations at the police station like a demon.

Time quickly passed to the afternoon, with the sky heavily overcast, seemingly brewing a storm. Everyone hoped the day would end quickly, eager to witness Zhang Haiyan’s execution the next day.

The thunder was loud at night. Gu Yuan stood by the window, watching the rain-soaked night through the glass, suddenly feeling the rain was surreal, and the road under the streetlights seemed unreal.

Gu Yuan received a group message, notifying everyone of an emergency meeting.

The next morning, the rain stopped.

At 9 a.m., it was time for Zhang Haiyan’s execution.

Everyone was elated, with some even setting off fireworks in broad daylight to celebrate, as the murderer was finally brought to justice.

Just then, the police station received a call.

The caller claimed to be the real culprit of the serial murders and urged the police to thoroughly autopsy Zhang Haiyan’s body.

The caller was a male, requesting to speak with the renowned criminal psychology expert, Mo Lin.

Mo Lin answered the call with a calm voice, “Hello.”

The killer’s voice was smug, “I’m the real serial killer. Zhang Haiyan is innocent. Surprised?”

Mo Lin asked, “How so?”

The killer laughed triumphantly for a long time, “I’ve prepared a big gift for everyone. Surprised?!”

Mo Lin’s lips slowly curled into an exaggerated smile, “Indeed, quite surprising… I’ve also prepared a big gift for you, which you should be receiving shortly.”