"No wonder I searched the lab before and couldn't find any switches."
"We'll have to get the engineering team to break up the floor directly."
Li Fan said, picking up his phone and dialing. A few minutes later, a large engineering team arrived at the scene. Upon reaching the laboratory, they forcibly pried open the floor and discovered that the space beneath was hollow. After shining a flashlight for a while, they realized it was a sprawling underground chamber, like a maze.
This must be the labyrinth Yin Chushuang had mentioned. It looked quite complex, but with so many of us, we should be fine. The SWAT team used extending tools to lower a rope and then began to descend one by one. Liu Yuning, Xiao Yuande, and I also went down.
Dozens of police officers moved through this maze, in pairs of two, searching everywhere with weapons. Liu Yuning and I were a pair, pointing our guns around, but we found no one. The walls of the maze were adorned with various weapons, but upon closer inspection, they turned out to be children's toys. There were also many wine bottles scattered around, containing the violet-infused red wine we had tasted earlier. Numerous pipes ran through the area, seemingly flowing in a certain direction.
Of course, we didn't dare to try the wine again. We took out an extractor to collect some samples for analysis back at the station, and then continued to advance. We followed a pipe diligently, and after an unknown amount of time, we smelled a strong violet fragrance emanating from a crack not far away.
I figured there must be quite a few violets planted nearby. I hadn't expected to find them even in an underground labyrinth.
I contacted Li Fan and the others via radio, asking them to help us break through a wall. Once the wall was breached, we rushed in. We saw Gongsun Jiayi standing amidst a multitude of flowers, bound to an iron pillar in the center. His body was covered in whip marks, as if he had been executed in a cruel manner!
We approached him and saw that many of the violet flowers were stained red. His eyes were wide open, veins bulging, as if he had seen a terrifying sight before his death. One of his hands was bound by rope and still held a wine glass with a small amount of red wine remaining. I noticed that red wine stains were around Gongsun Jiayi's mouth, suggesting he had consumed some before he died. However, the distribution of the wine traces was chaotic, indicating he had likely been force-fed.
I lifted the deceased's eyelids and found his pupils dilated, his corneas clouded and deepened, and the lividity of the corpse did not fade under pressure. Rigor mortis appeared to be easing. He had been dead for at least 24 hours.
But we had only separated from Gongsun Jiayi less than four hours ago. How could this have happened?
I suddenly observed that the deceased's neck was bound by a chain, completely blocking his trachea. This would slow down the decomposition of his internal organs. However, even considering this principle, the time of death far exceeded the normal range.
If Gongsun Jiayi had already been dead, who was it we saw earlier?
I remembered that when Yin Chushuang was with him, she hadn't shown any signs of abnormality, as if she had no idea Gongsun Jiayi had been replaced.
Noticing my contemplation, Liu Yuning asked what I was thinking. I shared my thoughts, and she nodded, saying, "Yes, this possibility is very high. Why would Gongsun Jiayi find a double? Was he trying to make us believe he was dead so we would stop pursuing him?"
"Yes, that's the only explanation. But such a trick is easily seen through by us. Do you think Gongsun Jiayi is that kind of person?"
My rhetorical question made Liu Yuning troubled. Clearly, she also believed Gongsun Jiayi wasn't that foolish.
If he had truly used the "golden cicada shedding its shell" tactic, the time of death would have to align with reality, not be so significantly delayed. Perhaps Gongsun Jiayi didn't know how to control the time of death, but I doubted he would overlook such a detail.
Given the circumstances, we had no choice but to call for the body transporters. This time, we wouldn't trouble Xie Chuchu and the others, as their conclusions would likely be similar. We would simply take the body back for further verification.
With that thought, the body was taken away. Forensic technicians continued to search amongst the countless violet flowers, scanning with various instruments. Li Fan and his team found over a dozen dismembered female bodies in an empty room. They were cut into pieces and placed in large glass bottles, soaked in the violet-infused red wine. Computers were present nearby, seemingly used for comparative experiments.
"This is a wicked individual, experimenting on living people with red wine. No wonder people have died here before. Perhaps those girls were dismembered and used for experiments," I said through gritted teeth, filled with anger.
Witnessing the bloody scene before her, Liu Yuning also expressed her fury, "Yes, it's despicable. I will teach these scoundrels a lesson when we get back!"
"Don't be impulsive. Police officers assaulting criminals will go to jail!"
"I didn't say I was going to hit anyone. I have a better way to deal with people like this!"
"Oh? Let's stop talking and focus on collecting evidence," I said, calling for assistance to bag each piece of the body. However, when we unearthed a few shoulder blades, we found them fused with congealed blood, requiring considerable effort and warming to dissolve the blood before we could retrieve the bones.
Various dismemberment tools were present at the scene: scalpels, saws, scissors, and even kitchen knives, all stained with blood and hung on the walls. On the gleaming silver workbenches, human organs were laid out, along with the left legs of two girls and one right hand. The area had never been cleaned, resembling a human meat processing plant. Blood flowed like a river, a truly horrific sight.
Even without experiencing it, one could easily imagine the terrifying scene of several researchers in white coats standing before the workbenches, using saws to dismember bodies, blood splattering onto their uniforms.
After collecting bones, skin, and flesh, everything was packed and taken away. The smell in that bloody room would likely linger for a long time. We took a series of photographs before leaving, feeling unwell.
After a thorough investigation, the forensic technicians stated that besides the fingerprints and footprints of this "Gongsun Jiayi," no other traces of anyone else were found at the scene. It appeared as though he had reached a dead end and committed suicide.
All signs pointed to someone deliberately trying to send a message to the police. Gongsun Jiayi, feeling cornered, had apparently taken his own life out of guilt.