The Cannibal Demon

Gu Yuan held the head in his hands and said calmly, “Bring a bag.”

Li Meng handed over a large bag, wrapping the head inside. Through the transparent plastic, the features appeared even more horrifying. The two large hollow sockets seemed like abysses staring straight at him, sending chills down his spine.

Old Yan led the trace inspection team to immediately examine the area around the body. Inside the room, there were numerous drag marks of blood and bloody wheel prints. After moving the wardrobe, they found no bloodstains underneath, nor any obvious spatter patterns.

Blood was smeared on the clothes and floor, and the prefab house had some water seepage, affecting the judgment of the blood volume.

Yan Ji noticed the wheel marks on the ground, forming four distinct directional traces. He glanced at the suitcase beside him and said, “The wheel marks on the ground should be from the suitcase wheels. It’s highly likely that other parts of the body were taken away in the suitcase.”

Wang Yue carefully examined the indentations on top of the wardrobe and checked the two scattered suitcases at the scene, saying, “Call the victim’s daughter in.”

Soon after, the victim’s daughter, Wu Jiao, entered. She wore a white V-neck dress with a green trench coat over it, giving her a slightly mature and intellectual look. But being under 20, her face was still youthful with abundant collagen.

Wang Yue was somewhat surprised, not expecting the victim’s daughter to be so beautiful, with a tall figure and excellent head-to-body ratio, comparable to a TV star. He had only seen ballet dancers with such a presence.

Probably from crying for a long time, Wu Jiao’s eyes were red and swollen, but it didn’t affect her delicate beauty.

Wang Yue asked, “How many suitcases are in the room?”

“Three,” Wu Jiao replied without hesitation. “One of the largest is missing.”

Wang Yue: “Are you sure?”

Wu Jiao: “I’m sure. The largest suitcase is the one I brought back from school because the college entrance exam is approaching, and I brought some school stuff back.”

Yan Ji: “How big is the missing suitcase?”

Wu Jiao: “28 inches.”

“28 inches…” Yan Ji looked at the widest width between the wheel marks, mentally simulating the size of the suitcase. It indeed matched a 28-inch large suitcase.

Yan Ji asked again, “What about your mother’s physique?”

Wu Jiao: “She’s very thin, under 1.5 meters tall, probably only about seventy pounds.”

Wang Yue didn’t expect a woman under 1.5 meters to have such a tall daughter. He estimated Wu Jiao to be around 170 cm.

“Where do you usually cook?” Mo Lin suddenly asked.

Wu Jiao: “Down the slope, in a small house. We usually cook and eat there.”

Mo Lin: “Take me to see.”

The two walked down the cement road to a low house at the bottom of the slope. The house was made of cement, with only one window and a wooden door, which had a rusty lock hanging on it.

Wu Jiao found a key in the window sill’s gap and unlocked the door.

Wu Jiao pushed the door open and turned on the light.

In the corner of the kitchen was a stove, with a large sink beside it. In the center was a collapsible small table, with a low stool next to it.

Seasonings and knives were piled on the stove, and leftover dishes were also on the stove, covered with a net. In the corner of the stove was a small refrigerator.

Mo Lin smelled a very strange odor, somewhat sour and rancid, mixed with the smell of spoiled food.

Judging by the type of food, it seemed like lunch.

The water in the sink was almost depleted.

“Where do you usually get water?” Mo Lin asked.

“We get it from other people’s houses, using a kettle and an electric bike to bring it over.”

“Do you know when was the last time you fetched water?”

Wu Jiao shook her head: “I haven’t been home for a long time.”

On the stove connected to the gas, there was an iron pot with one-third of it filled with oil, and a layer of oil residue at the bottom.

Mo Lin looked around but didn’t see a kitchen knife. He noticed uneven chopping marks on the cement floor, seemingly recent, but the gaps in these marks were filled with dark grime.

“Have the trace inspection team check if there’s any blood in the kitchen.”

Mo Lin stood up and once again surveyed the small kitchen.

In the corner of the stove, he saw a small block. Upon closer inspection, he found it was a human fingertip, with the nail structure clearly visible.

He picked it up with gloved hands to examine it. The fingertip’s severed end was very smooth, clearly cut by a sharp object.

Wu Jiao turned pale with fright, apologetically looking at the severed finger in Mo Lin’s hand, covering her mouth as she cried.

Mo Lin placed the severed finger into an evidence bag: “Dismemberment site.”

Heavy rain pounded on the roof, creating a dense and noisy sound, leaving everyone inside stunned.

Mo Lin looked again at the residue in the oil pot and the plastic dish rack on the stove, asking Wu Jiao, “Are there any missing utensils?”

Wu Jiao held back her tears, went over to check, and said, “It seems like a clay pot is missing.”

※

The head was taken back to the police station for autopsy, while the trace inspection team continued to search for evidence at the scene.

Thunder roared, and the incandescent lights in the autopsy room were fully lit. The ferocious-looking head was placed on the autopsy table. Gu Yuan carefully shaved the hair around the temples, the dense hair and white maggots separating from the head.

The nerves and blood vessels around the temples were very rich, and Gu Yuan carefully dissected them. As the dissection deepened, Gu Yuan found a ruptured middle meningeal artery below the fracture site.

The temple is the thinnest part of the human skull plate, medically known as the “pterion.” If this area is subjected to violent blows, it can easily fracture, damaging the middle meningeal artery and forming an epidural hematoma, causing immediate unconsciousness.

Gu Yuan found a small amount of viscous blood in the epidural space. Due to the small amount of bleeding, it’s temporarily unclear if it occurred postmortem. If the body had been dragged head-down, bleeding due to gravity is possible, and the bleeding amount isn’t much.

He picked up a piece of tissue and placed it in a bag, instructing his assistant, “Take it for cranial membrane analysis.”

Cranial membrane analysis can detect if there is hemoglobin in the bone tubules. If there is, it’s an antemortem injury; if not, it’s postmortem.

Gu Yuan noticed that the sunken area of the temple had been repeatedly hammered with a blunt object, showing multiple arc-shaped impact marks. Gu Yuan measured this arc and calculated the diameter of the circle, then mentally searched for tools that could produce such marks: “It’s a 4.5cm diameter iron hammer.”

“A 4.5cm iron hammer…” Tang Xiaoliu from the trace inspection team, who was taking photos, thought for a moment: “Isn’t that just an iron mallet?”

Gu Yuan: “Yes.”

Generally speaking, if it’s an old iron hammer, the hammerhead, due to friction or various reasons, will accumulate surface debris or rust. Using such a hammer to kill would leave evidence on the victim’s scalp. It’s hard to see macroscopically, but the lab could likely detect substances on the hammer’s surface, which is crucial for solving the case.

The circular mark was clearly a result of vertical force, resembling the victim lying on the ground with their head tilted left, being struck vertically with the hammer.

If the victim was standing when struck by the hammer, the hammer’s swinging trajectory would be arc-shaped, and the force point would shift to a certain quadrant.

Gu Yuan stared at the head on the autopsy table, everyone waiting for his next words, but after a long wait, nothing came.

Tang Xiaoliu asked, “Teacher Gu, any other findings?”

“This blunt force injury was caused by the victim lying on the ground, head tilted left, being repeatedly struck vertically with a hammer. The center of the blunt force injury is concentrated, with no signs of struggle. Before this injury formed, the victim was likely already dead. Once the cranial membrane analysis results are out, we can determine if it’s antemortem or postmortem.”

Gu Yuan stared at the head on the autopsy table. The head was already highly decomposed, the wound’s severed end also decomposed, destroyed by maggots, making it impossible to observe vital reactions, thus unable to accurately determine the cause of death.

Now, they could only perform a craniotomy for further dissection.

Gu Yuan had a doubt in his mind, but he couldn’t find an answer for now: “What do you think the murderer’s motive is?”

“Murder motive?” Tang Xiaoliu thought for a moment: “Judging by the chaotic traces at the scene, it looks like a home invasion robbery. The door was closed from the inside, indicating the murderer was familiar with the house’s structure, knowing they could reach in through the window to close the door. They not only knew the house’s structure but also the kitchen’s location, indicating the murderer was likely someone the victim knew. The murderer brutally dismembered and gouged out the victim’s eyes, which looks like a revenge killing.”

Sitting not far away, Mo Lin watched Gu Yuan’s back with a smile, his long legs crossed.

Knowing the person opposite was in a dilemma, he leisurely added, “There are three common murder patterns: emotion-driven, profit-driven, and personality-driven. Which type do you think this case belongs to?”

Tang Xiaoliu looked at Gu Yuan in confusion, only to see Gu Yuan’s dark eyes filled with composure and calmness: “I agree with Tang Xiaoliu’s view. I think it’s emotion-driven.”

Mo Lin’s lips slightly curved, continuing, “The murderer took the victim’s eyes, why not take the head?”

Gu Yuan was stumped, as analyzing criminal psychological activity had always been his weak point.

“At present, it indeed seems emotion-driven.” Mo Lin stood up from the stool, walking behind Gu Yuan: “But we can’t rule out the third type.”

Gu Yuan: “What do you mean?”

“The third type, personality-driven, simply put, is a psychopathic or mentally ill perpetrator. Such cases have three very distinct characteristics: vague motive, brutal methods, and difficulty in solving.”

Gu Yuan: “You think the murderer has a mental illness?”

[Author’s Note]

Sorry for being late.