Pristine Darkness Chapter 10

The remaining volare chapter will be posted either today or tomorrow! Thanks for all of your patience!

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Meanwhile, in this chapter we get a good look at Fu Wei’s family and a new lead appears! Hopefully the case can get cracked soon! ?

Chapter 10

"None of them match." Fang Qing said.

Jian Yao was astonished and looked at Bo Jinyan, but he looked calm and he didn't say anything.

At this point, Fang Qing didn't say anything more on the subject, but added, "Jian Yao, the victim Fu Wei's family has rushed over; their emotions are very unstable. You are an expert criminal psychologist and a woman, could you please come help us placate them?"

Jian Yao immediately agreed, and hung up. Bo Jinyan nodded at her. Jian Yao pondered for a little bit, then said, "You stay here by yourself- don't run about."

Bo Jinyan very indifferently smiled, pointing at his own cheek. Jian Yao stood on her tip toes and gave him a peck. Only at that point did he respond, "Sure, but I never run about."

Jian Yao replied, "… Sure, if you say so."

Jian Yao quickly went out the door and hailed a taxi, Bo Jinyan slowly climbed the stairs by himself. Today, the night skies were clear, the weather was cool. He walked to the second floor, and lifted his head to look at that courtyard. He was practically blocked by a tree, so nothing out of the ordinary could be seen.

Under most circ.u.mstances, Bo Jinyan was very obedient to Jian Yao. After he returned to his room, locked up the windows and door, Jinyan sat by himself on the bed in a daze.

However, his brain was spinning at a high speed.

In a different family setting with one husband and multiple wives, there would be long-term repression and resentment.

Arrogance, possessiveness, addiction to collecting things? Coupled with weak, and easily-controlled partners, and an ego boosted by money and power.

"Fu Wei… is a little l.u.s.ty. When he was in high school he fooled around with young girls and dated online."

"He had saved up his vacation hours… and even said that he hoped that he would have an affair."

"He had even left me his QQ ID. At the time, the older ladies that swept the floors and the other servers laughed at me."

    ……

The corpse had endured more than forty stab wounds, with each time, the knife meeting bone. The face was also cut into a mess. It was incomparable craziness.

Calm yet enraged, restrained yet crazy, it was an extreme psychological distortion originating from long-term repression.

    ……

The fresh wounds on the floor-sweeper's face.

Zhang Junfang raising the dustpan and harshly slamming it down.

The calm and quiet, the almost dead-silent courtyard. The servants remained silent.

Zhao Xia standing beside the fish pond and saying, "The boss won't go to my room tonight. Don't worry, he won't hit you again."

    ……

"Oh." Bo Jinyan lifted his head and lifted his bare feet  from the bed. He walked over to the window sill, picking up the binoculars that Fang Qing had left behind.

The courtyard was quiet, and the lights turned off.

He looked for a bit, moving the binoculars to look at a different area.

The kitchen.

The kitchen of the inn was shared with the Yao family courtyard. Now that it was almost 12AM, the light there had long been turned off. It was a very large, lone-standing building at the back of the inn.

Bo Jinyan felt the blood in his veins boil a little. Every time he was getting close to the truth, he always had this feeling. He took something out from his bag, something that he had taken from Fang Qing – a bottle of luminol.

As soon as he pushed open the room to his door, he suddenly stopped because outside of the building of the kitchen, he saw a dark shadow flash by. He immediately picked up the binoculars, but saw that there was no one there. Bo Jinyan immediately thought of how today, the police had gone to the Yao Family using the excuse of "disinfection" to collect fingerprints. That person had a keen mind, and also had anti-detection abilities. They probably were already alerted and would be taking measures.

Bo Jinyan immediately ran downstairs.

He quickly arrived outside of the kitchen. Inside it was pitch black- one could only see the outline of the counters. The moonlight lightly shone. There were only a few silent trees around.

Bo Jinyan looked around again, and really did not see the shadow of any person. Maybe just now, it was only a person pa.s.sing by.

He pushed the door a little. It wasn't locked; there was only a wooden board that seemed to serve as a lock*. Bo Jinyan slipped in sideways, not fully closing the door.

*Probably what it looks like, but lower tech

Lifting his head to look around, he noted that the room was around twenty metres squared with a large and long table, a cabinet of bowls, and a sink. Neat and ordinary. Bo Jinyan's line of sight first fell by the sink where there were two large knife racks that held more than a dozen knives. There were kitchen knives, paring knives, and boning knives. His line of sight moved upward, landing on the few thick work uniforms hanging on the wall. They must have come from the Yao family factory, worn by the chefs.

Bo Jinyan picked up the luminol and very carefully picked some specific areas, then sprayed them.

After quietly waiting for a few minutes, Bo Jinyan lifted his head and smiled.

Fu Wei's father was Fu Dafan, a man  already in his 50's. This time, he came by himself because his wife was paralysed. Because she had been confined to her bed for many years now, there was no way for her to be brought here. Thus, he had to first settle down his family before coming, and by then his son had already been dead for a couple of days.

He was a technician at a local factory where he had worked his whole life. Right now he was sitting in the reception room of the police station  wearing an almost worn-out coat, formal trousers, and old leather shoes with both eyes looking completely red, and at the same time ferocious yet gaunt.

Jian Yao saw the appearance of this elderly father, and also felt aggrieved. Although they gave him gentle rea.s.surances,  who could actually empathise and heal the pain of losing a child?

Both of Fu Dafan's hands were in his hair because just now, he had finally seen his son's corpse.  He was still slightly trembling. He couldn't understand- how could his son just be gone?

The child he had brought up with hard work, the son who was mischievous and smart, that made him proud yet made him miss him. He knew that his son wasn't obedient enough. Although the economic situation in their family was ordinary,  since he was young he was never treated shabbily, and was often doted upon more than  children in other families.

Once this son had grown up, he was no longer close to his parents. After entering university, he rarely returned during winter and summer break, calling rarely other than for living expenses. After he started working, every time he called they wouldn't speak for very long. But this was a child he deeply loved, the only flesh and blood he had in this world. But as long as they knew he  was happy, as parents they were willing to use everything in exchange for his happiness.

However, he died. Died in such a gruesome and painful fashion, leaving behind only a pile of blood, flesh, and bones to return to his parents.

Fu Dafan's tears kept falling in large drops.

Jian Yao quietly said, "Mr. Fu, take care of yourself. We will definitely catch the criminal."

Fu Dafan let out a painful howl, suddenly lifting his head to look at her, "The criminal? I heard that the criminal is a psychopath. I heard them say that! I heard everyone in the streets say that. But you cops, how could you have let a psychopath come out and kill people? Why can't you guys even catch a psychopath? Why?!"

He suddenly pounced on Jian Yao, and she unconsciously took a few steps backward. The two officers on the side immediately intercepted him, and held onto this emotionally distressed father. Jian Yao's face was slightly pale, but she also felt bad for him. The officers motioned for her to leave for a bit, and after Jian Yao saw the pained and forlorn Fu Dafan she immediately turned around and left.

It was night, the trees were silent and the winds had stopped.

Jian Yao stood in the hallway of the police station gazing at the silent mountains and city.

She thought again about her own father, how even now she could barely remember his face.

She had probably been five or six years old at the time, and could only faintly remember her father's strong shoulders, the shiny, silver police badge, the crisp police uniform. He held her as he smiled- he  would often only get home past midnight, his body stinking of sweat, but he would never forget to go by her and her younger sister's bedside to give them a kiss goodnight. Sometimes, she would be awakened, reaching her hand out for "Daddy!", and would see that determined man, gently smiling at her.

The rims of Jian Yao's eyes became wet.

The floor full of blood, a broken corpse, the pained moans added to the blurred scenery that flashed across her eyes. The last memory was her father's quiet instructions, "Jian Yao, Daddy is giving you a mission — take your sister and hide in there. No matter what, do not come out, do not make any sounds."

    ……

Everything was the same in the world; there would always be crimes.

There would always be a need for someone to guard the borders of the world of the ordinary people.

Father was one, Bo Jinyan was one, and she was one as well.

Jian Yao dropped her head, took out her cell phone, and called Bo Jinyan.

After a ring, Bo Jinyan picked up.

"h.e.l.lo?"

"h.e.l.lo, my beloved." Bo Jinyan's voice was very low.

Jian Yao was startled, the edges of her lips curved upward. Every time he was excited, he could not help but call her "beloved". Did this mean that he had already made some headway in the case?

Indeed, Bo Jinyan lightly laughed, "Guess what your husband has discovered."

This person… since getting their marriage licence, although he was still not very romantic,  through the little things in his words and actions, he  liked to show off his marriage from time to time. Especially when he was with Fu Ziyu and An Yan, he would suddenly lightly say something like, "I am already married. You should not be asking me about these kinds of things, go ask Mrs. Bo."

Fu Ziyu and An Yan: "……"

Everyone was only trying to ask him where he was going for dinner that night, did he need to immediately act like a man ready to die for virtue…?

    ……

Jian Yao laughed as she asked, "Then may I ask what did Mr. Bo discover?" If Jian Yao knew the situation that Bo Jinyan would be facing next, she definitely would not be able to laugh at all.

What Bo Jinyan saw was a dark world that glowed lightly of fluorescence.

The wind outside of the window caused the trees to rustle in a gloomy ma.s.s. The kitchen was even darker, like a monster. There were only two places that glowed with light.

Luminol must be used very cautiously because once it touched blood and chemically reacted, at the same time it would also affect the follow-up testing of the blood contents. Thus, Bo Jinyan  chose only one area to use the luminol.

In this area, there was a knife. A boning knife that was inserted on the knife rack.

The cooks in the kitchen would of course need to cut through bone and cut meat so the body of the blade would be contaminated with blood. Once the animal blood was washed off, it would still leave behind traces of blood, thus once it met luminol, it would cause a reaction. But it was only for cutting bone and meat, not for slaughtering. Bo Jinyan believed that there was no chef's knife that would look  the way that this one looked- with the entire body of the blade, the edges, all shining with fluorescence. It was to the point that even the entire wooden handle glowed blue.

It was like it had once been soaked in blood. Like the person who held the knife had let go of it, and the entire knife had been dyed by the blood spray from the aorta before then being pulled out.

Bo Jinyan only sprayed one side of the knife, leaving the other for the forensic personnel.

Although the luminol could not be taken as actual evidence — it would require additional testing to become evidence —  Bo Jinyan could basically ascertain that this was the murder weapon!

Bo Jinyan quietly looked at it for a long time.

In another area, there hung a few work uniform jackets.

Nearly all of them had only a tiny bit of fluorescence, probably because when the knives were being used in the kitchen, someone accidentally got blood on it which no longer washed off. There was only one piece of clothing, where the entire chest area was completely blue, and it could no longer be washed off.

"Oh." Bo Jinyan softly sighed.

"…Why are you in the kitchen?" Jian Yao asked from the other end.

Bo Jinyan answered, "Because I think the criminal is right here.

My profile cannot be wrong, the criminal is definitely within the established range. Sherlock Holmes once said: 'Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth." So, after eliminating the people that the criminal cannot be, the one that remains, must be her.

The women in the Yao family all have long-term, repressed psyches, but in that courtyard there is another group of people who have also endured long-term repression. They have been bullied, verbally abused, and treated violently, but for the high wages from the Yao family, they have to bear it. The women of the Yao family have taken the deformed pressure that they themselves endure, and discharged it on those people. Thus, the servant's situation  became even worse.

As per the written testimony of the workers at the inn, the servants in the back courtyard would also go help out in the inn. Thus, they may have come into contact with Fu Wei. And as to what triggered "her" murderous intentions, I think it must have been due to Fu Wei's l.u.s.tfulness. It triggered a deeply hidden pain in her heart.

The identification records claim that the weapon was around 20cm in length and 10cm in width. There were a lot of knives that fit this description , but the dimensions of the often-used kitchen knife also fit this description. A servant that is always sweeping and working in the kitchen, if she wanted to kill someone, what would be the weapon that she would most likely think of and be able to get her hands on? It would be a tool that she is most familiar with, one that she finds most convenient, and most comfortable."

"It can't be that she left the weapon in the kitchen?" Jian Yao asked out of surprise because she didn't know that Bo Jinyan had already found it.

Bo Jinyan quieted for a bit, then coldly chuckled, "A normal person would not, he would immediately hide or dispose of the weapon. But firstly, if the kitchen suddenly lost a boning knife, and a murder case happens, it would rouse the suspicions of others. She is a smart person, knowing that the most dangerous spot is safest spot. Secondly…." he lifted his eyes to the knife and garment shining with fluorescence, "If she really hated everything, and left the knife in the kitchen and continued to use it, wouldn't it give her a sense of happiness?"

Jian Yao was stunned.

A knife that had been soaked in human blood, that had cut human flesh and was then used to cook food for the Yao family and for the guests…

She suddenly shuddered, feeling waves of disgust.

Bo Jinyan was on the other end to comfort her, "Don't worry, these past few days at the inn, you've followed my tastes and probably didn't eat any meat."

Jian Yao responded, "…of course not! I'll immediately let Fang Qing know to bring in the team!"

"Alright," Bo Jinyan replied, "I will be he -"

His voice suddenly stopped, and there were hoa.r.s.e and intermittent sounds of breathing.

Jian Yao started, "Jinyan? Jinyan!"

There was no response, and then suddenly there was an ear-splitting static noise, as if the cellphone had fallen on the floor. Afterwards, no matter how many times she called his phone, no one picked it up.

Translated by clue

TLCed by geeky

Edited by Ely