At once, my eyes turned toward the girl sitting in my room. By now, I was already getting a bad feeling, but to be sure, I needed to read more of these articles and the comment sections below them.
There weren't just one or two. There were dozens of posts on this topic. They all talked about the brutal murder cases that had been happening recently in Srimnet, and how the police still had not caught the killer.
Five cases. Five bodies.
Information about the serial massacre had exploded across Polokis like a bomb. From top to bottom, the whole site was full of little news items about the case. Some comments showed extreme fear, such as:
—Oh God! I'm never going outside again.
—My brother just bought a handgun. He works late at night a lot, so better safe than sorry.
—You maniac! Stop it!
—I heard the police already caught him, right? This is terrifying!
…However, mixed in among them were also a few comments that sounded provocative and insane.
—Come kill me! I'm right here!
—Heh, maybe I should try walking around town at night today.
—Just some serial killer. Why bother wasting brainpower on it?
But overall, the main thing everyone on Polokis was talking about was the recent murder cases. They had clearly had no small impact on the people living in this city.
"What are you reading?" JJ's voice came from behind me. When I turned around, she was already right beside me.
"Just a few news articles. Looks like there's some serial killing case outside."
"Sigh." She let out a breath. "We were in the middle of talking, so why did you suddenly stop and start reading the news?"
"There are a few things I want to clear up."
"Is that so? Then let me read too. Let's see…"
Then she bent slightly and eagerly leaned over my shoulder.
Most of the articles on this site only talked vaguely about the two most recent cases, or were mainly trying to steer public opinion. To find full details on all the murders, I had no choice but to search the unofficial blogs of "freelance reporters" on Polokis. A while later, I found a profile called "@Iwon" and a link attached to it leading to the place where most of the details about those cases were stored.
Normally, no one would bother digging into detailed case information like this. Maybe detectives, or a few people doing it out of personal interest—but certainly not me.
Without missing the chance, I immediately clicked it.
The laptop screen turned black, with white text in a plain font. The headline was written large and sensationally:
The Srimnet Massacre, the secret files.
The words "secret files" weren't exactly baseless either, because it had been written by @Iwon. One of the people with the most accurate information on crimes happening in this city. Some people had guessed that @Iwon was actually a criminal detective, which was why he could know all these hidden details. Others thought he was the serial killer himself because of just how detailed the information he had was.
However, no one could know the truth behind it. @Iwon never responded to comments or posted anything about his personal life. All he ever did was throw up a link to his personal blog, where all the information about the cases was stored.
Details of all five cases were mentioned in his article. After reading through it once, I gathered a few useful pieces of information.
Basically, the police had not found any connection between the five bodies, so their current assumption was that this was a random serial murder case without a clear motive. The list of victims included: Matsuda, a Japanese politician visiting Srimnet. Morlyn, a female student at Saint Helen School. David, a worker who often worked late at the southern port construction site in Srimnet. Tyson, a gym teacher. And finally, one homeless man with no known identity.
There was a lot of information in @Iwon's post, but none of it mentioned any physical characteristics of the killer except for the fact that the bodies had been dismembered with horrifying brutality—and that inside each of their throats, there had been an undissolved piece of candy.
And once again, I narrowed my eyes and looked at JJ. There were a few things in this article that really didn't sit right with me.
Behind me, she rubbed her chin, her eyes still moving across the lines of text with a thoughtful expression.
"Hmm… this article is pretty interesting, actually. But why don't you scroll down more? It's getting good."
"Well… I just think there's something off about all this…"
Then I suddenly saw a link to a security camera video extracted from the case of the female student named Morlyn. Without hesitating, I clicked it right away.
It was a short video, maybe only twenty seconds long. Even though the image quality was poor, the sound was very good. Despite only using the laptop speakers, I could clearly hear footsteps and rain falling on the sidewalk where the camera was mounted. A figure in an orange sports jacket appeared, walking slowly forward. I guessed that had to be Janethan, because from the picture uploaded earlier, she had been wearing the same jacket as in the video.
At first, I thought I was being misled by this clip. Janethan didn't look hurried at all. She wasn't running from anyone, nor did she show any sign of panic. But at the fifteenth second, things changed.
Janethan turned into an alley, stood there for maybe two or three seconds, then suddenly collapsed to the ground. Her sports jacket had turned into a darker color. And immediately after that, the video ended in the worst possible way.
My hand nearly stiffened. My eyes couldn't leave the screen. To make sure what I had just seen was really real, I strained my eyes and replayed the video eight times. Nothing changed. The timestamp beneath the camera footage still ran, meaning there had been no video editing involved, and that gave me a splitting headache.
Three seconds. In only three seconds. No visible action had been taken against Janethan by anyone else, and yet by the end of the clip, she had collapsed with her clothes soaked in blood. There wasn't a single scream or cry for help. The killer had taken the girl's life in just three seconds, and somehow done it in a way that kept her from even being able to scream—that was absurd to the point of insanity!
"Wait. Can you stop at second 15?" JJ suddenly tilted her head. "Why does this girl look familiar…? I think I've seen her somewhere before?"
I looked at JJ again, forcing a strained smile.
"Probably just people looking alike, right?"
"No. My memory is pretty terrible, but I never forget the people I kill. I'm sure of that!" she said, thumping her chest proudly.
"Good joke. You're funny. But let me keep reading."
At the scene of the first four murders, the killer had not left behind a single trace. Until the final case, David. Somehow, he had left the murder weapon at the scene. And it had the shape of a sharp kitchen knife. My conclusion at this point was already fairly clear. There was no way all of this was just random coincidence. Not the fact that she had tried to kill me the night before, and not the fact that she had lost her weapon.
And when I scrolled down to the picture of Tyson, the victim from the fifth case, JJ's eyes suddenly lit up. She happily pointed at the picture and said something that made my scalp crawl:
"I know this guy! I left Morgan at his house!"
The serial killer that everyone in this city was tearing the city apart trying to find.
Right now, he was sitting in my room and reading this article with me.
Sounds like a joke, doesn't it?