Chapter 139: The Heart Knot
Chapter 139: The Heart Knot
Upon hearing Chen Chuan's instructions, Wang Ganshi's entire body trembled, and he immediately ordered the driver to stop the car. He then leaned out of the window and shouted, pointing at the bald man they had seen earlier.
The members of the Security Agency became excited, as they had been patrolling for so long that they were getting agitated. Finally, they had found their target, and they all jumped out of the car and rushed to pin the man to the ground.
The bald man was both startled and angry. He struggled and shouted, "What are you doing? Who are you? Let me go!"
One of the Security Agency members said harshly, "Don't you know what you've done?"
The bald man looked bewildered.
Chen Chuan witnessed this scene and said to Wang Ganshi, "There's no need to be so rough. He's probably just someone who has come into contact with the butterfly tattoo, not our real target."
At this moment, the Second Self's fading was very slight, so this person was likely not the source.
But Wang Ganshi still felt uneasy. "This... Expert Chen..." He glanced outside and tentatively asked, "Will these people...?"
Chen Chuan reassured him, "Don't be afraid. Monster Tales aren't spread through typical infection methods. Otherwise, a county this size would have heard of it by now, and we wouldn't have to wait until now."
In fact, he had just patrolled around and hadn't found anyone like this, which was a good thing. It indicated that the Monster Tale hadn't spread widely yet, and the people with the tattoos had them for some special reason.
Wang Ganshi finally relaxed, but he still didn't get out of the car. Instead, he instructed the Security Agency members, "Drag him to the car and check if he has a tattoo."
The Security Agency members immediately dragged the bald man to the car and checked him. They found a colorful butterfly tattoo on his back, which startled everyone. One of the team members ran over and said, "Officer Wang, he has it, he really does!"
Wang Ganshi quickly turned to Chen Chuan.
Chen Chuan said, "Ask him where he went earlier and where he's been these past few days."
Wang Ganshi immediately repeated the instructions to the team member and then assured Chen Chuan, "Don't worry, Expert Chen. These brothers from the Security Agency are the best at questioning."
Chen Chuan nodded and said, "Just make sure it's the truth."
Wang Ganshi coughed and said, "Yes, it will be the truth." After thinking for a moment, he felt a bit uneasy and said awkwardly, "I'll go and check."
After a while, Wang Ganshi returned and said, "Expert Chen, I asked him..." Knowing that Chen Chuan wasn't familiar with the area, he held up a map and pointed to a specific location, "Expert Chen, take a look. This person had been to these places..."
Chen Chuan examined the map and then took out the previous map, comparing it with the routes taken by the people with butterfly tattoos. Of course, this was just to ensure it was within the past few days, as it was too early to trace back further.
He circled an area where the routes overlapped and tapped it with his pen, "Let's go around this area again."
Wang Ganshi looked at the map and suddenly became concerned when he noticed a station at the center of the area. "Could those people have come from somewhere else?"
If so, the scope of the investigation would be much broader.
Chen Chuan said, "Not necessarily. Let's go take a closer look first."
"What about the man we just caught?"
Chen Chuan replied, "Let's take him along for now."
In most cases, once the source of a Monster Tale is dealt with, the remaining people are likely to be unaffected, but to some extent, they might still be influenced. This was something Chen Chuan couldn't control. All he could do was to find the source as quickly as possible and eliminate it to prevent more people from being affected.
"Okay."
Wang Ganshi returned to the car and instructed the driver to head towards the location. The Security Agency's vehicle followed with the bald man in tow.
Since the location wasn't far, they arrived in less than a few minutes.
This time, as soon as they arrived, Chen Chuan noticed a change in the Second Self's fading, which was now more pronounced. He looked towards a middle-aged man standing by the roadside, holding a briefcase and about to unfold a newspaper. "That's the one," he said.
Wang Ganshi didn't need to be told twice and immediately got out of the car, ordering the Security Agency members to apprehend the man. The man seemed to struggle fiercely, but he was eventually dragged to the car by his collar.
After a while, Wang Ganshi returned, looking perplexed. "I checked, but this person doesn't seem to have the butterfly tattoo."
Chen Chuan said, "Not having it on the body doesn't mean it's not inside the organs."
Wang Ganshi couldn't help but shudder at these words. "I'll go and ask him again."
Chen Chuan thought for a moment and said, "I'll go with you." He got out of the car and was about to walk towards the back when, after only two steps, he slowed down.
He glanced at the Second Self and noticed some faint fading again.
Wait, there's more! He looked around, but due to the Security Agency's recent capture, many pedestrians had been scared away, leaving only them.
He looked up, but there were no tall buildings nearby, only a few flying birds. He lowered his gaze to the street and finally focused on a manhole cover. There's something down there...
He walked over and said a few words to Wang Ganshi, who was taken aback. "Are you sure, Expert Chen?"
Chen Chuan nodded.
Wang Ganshi hesitated for a moment and then said, "Okay, I'll make the arrangements." He searched around and found a shop with a phone nearby. He made a call.
Within half an hour, municipal engineering maintenance personnel arrived and opened the manhole cover. They went inside to investigate and, after more than an hour, they used tools to retrieve a bloated, rotten, dark green corpse with worms still wriggling on it.
As the members of the Security Agency witnessed the scene and caught a whiff of the scent, they couldn't help but retch, even with their masks on.
Expert Chen requested a pair of gloves and approached the body, examining it calmly. He searched through the victim's clothing and eventually found a rope knot that had turned pale and discolored.
When he held the knot, the fading symptoms on his second self intensified. It was clear that the knot consisted of two symmetrical double circles, resembling a butterfly.
Holding it, he walked over and asked, "Wang Ganshi, do you recognize this?"
Wang Ganshi, suppressing his disgust, took a closer look. "A heart knot?"
"Is it common?" asked Expert Chen.
Wang Ganshi thought for a moment. "It's an old custom from the Skillful God Festival. Women would weave skillful knots as tokens of affection during the festival. But nowadays, only the older generation still practices this tradition. The younger folks don't bother with it anymore." He then asked tentatively, "Expert Chen, is this related to the butterfly tattoos?"
Expert Chen replied, "It's not clear yet. We need to ask around. Bring those two over for questioning."
Seeing that Expert Chen wasn't going to examine the body further, Wang Ganshi heaved a sigh of relief. He immediately summoned the two detained individuals and showed them the heart knot, asking if they had seen anything similar recently.
The bald man who had been apprehended first took a look and nodded. "I've seen it. The night before last, I went out to the night market and found this in my pocket on my way back. I don't know who put it there."
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Wang Ganshi quickly followed up, "What did you do with it?"
The bald man scratched his head. "I just threw it away. I'm a grown man, and my son is almost as tall as me. What would I want with this?"
The middle-aged man glanced at the bald man and hesitated before speaking.
Wang Ganshi fixed his gaze on him. "What were you going to say?"
The middle-aged man said, "I've seen it too. I only noticed it after returning from the night market that night. But I clearly remember not buying anything like this. It just mysteriously appeared in my pocket."
"What did you do with it?"
The middle-aged man seemed hesitant for a moment but eventually answered, "I gave it to a friend."
"Who did you give it to?" asked Wang Ganshi.
The middle-aged man stammered, claiming it was a friend, but from his demeanor, Wang Ganshi could tell what had happened. He let out a few cold laughs.
Expert Chen, having formed a preliminary judgment, said, "Wang Ganshi, go and ask those who have been confirmed to have tattoos and are in custody if they've seen or come into contact with similar items. Also, ask them how they eventually disposed of it."
"Okay! Expert Chen, please wait a moment. It might take some time." Wang Ganshi also felt that the case was progressing, and with a sense of urgency, he rushed off to make a phone call.
Expert Chen signaled to the company driver, who nodded and went to buy drinks and cigarettes for the Security Agency members.
Then, Expert Chen took out a tube of nutritional gel and consumed one. Afterward, he approached the Security Agency members and struck up a conversation.
When they learned that he had a relative who was a captain in the Patrol Bureau, the Security Agency members immediately showed respect and became more friendly.
For these Security Agency members, the 'expert' title held little weight, but the Patrol Bureau's reputation carried significant influence. Nominally, they belonged to the same government department, and they were seeking formalization. Apart from the county government office's approval, they also needed to pass the Patrol Bureau's review. One by one, they approached Expert Chen, hoping to impress him.
After some time, Wang Ganshi returned, his hair disheveled. He handed a document to Expert Chen and excitedly said, "Expert Chen, I've asked them all. Everyone has seen this knot. These are their statements..."
Expert Chen flipped through the document. Although the individuals had obtained the heart knots at different times, there was a common thread—they had all noticed the knots after returning from the night market. And in the end, the knots were either lost or given away.
After a moment of contemplation, Expert Chen said, "After losing these knots, they developed butterfly tattoos... Hmm, this must be because the heart knots ended up on their bodies."
Wang Ganshi was taken aback, then exclaimed in shock, "So, the heart knot is the butterfly tattoo?"
Expert Chen replied, "It's very likely. Currently, we know of eight deaths related to this. The earliest case can be traced back to ten days ago, right?"
"Yes, yes."
Expert Chen nodded. "In that case, it seems like one person dies each day, which aligns with certain patterns in the monster tales. If we count from ten days ago, then there should have been ten consecutive deaths. In other words, there's approximately one more..." He recalled the recent corpse. "...one more person who died, but it wasn't reported."
"No, that's not right." Wang Ganshi seemed to have an epiphany. "Yes, that corpse, Expert Chen. The flesh..." He paused, feeling nauseous. "...the flesh didn't transform into a butterfly and fly away. The heart knot was still there."
Expert Chen explained, "Precisely because he died from other causes, the heart knot remained on his body and didn't become a butterfly tattoo."
Wang Ganshi understood, "Expert Chen, are you saying he died from other causes?" He muttered, "Yes, that must be it..."
As for how he ended up dead, perhaps the manhole cover was missing that day, and he fell into the pit, only to be covered later? The thought made him feel uneasy, and he quickly dismissed it from his mind. He asked, "Expert Chen, what should we do next?"
Expert Chen glanced at the sky and said, "I've been thinking, and if my deduction is correct, there might be a way to handle this."
...
...
(End of Chapter)
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