141: Investigative leads

After gaining a preliminary understanding of the case's horrifying nature, Shen Mingyuan knew deeply that to find Zhou Zihui or uncover the truth, he had to gain a deeper understanding of the teenager himself.

A child in the eyes of their parents is inevitably seen through a filter; he needed a more three-dimensional, objective portrait.

His investigation began at Zhou Zihui's school. With the cooperation of the school authorities and the class teacher, he conducted brief, informal conversations with several classmates who had interacted with Zhou Zihui, as well as his subject teachers.

The classmates' evaluations presented a contradictory composite: "Zhou Zihui? He... actually isn't bad. He's quite good at basketball and sometimes shows loyalty to his friends."

One boy scratched his head and said, "But he's just... a bit too self-centered. It feels like he can't really understand why others think differently than him."

Take the last time we played ball, for example. He clearly bumped into someone, and the other guy was a bit unhappy. It should have ended with an apology, but he refused. He thought the guy was making a mountain out of a molehill, and they almost came to blows."

"Right," another girl added, "It's a bit like... he's been protected too well by his family and thinks the whole world should give way to him? He lacks empathy."

Sometimes he speaks very bluntly, leaving no room for compromise. But if you ask if he's truly malicious, it doesn't seem like it either. It's just... he doesn't realize how hurtful his words are, or he simply doesn't care."

"That time he had the argument, it was just like that,"

A student who witnessed the conflict recalled, "It was actually a small matter, but both of them lost their tempers. Zhou Zihui said some pretty harsh things... like 'I'll kill you' and such. We all thought it was just talk out of anger, but... thinking back now, it's quite scary."

The teachers' views were more macro-level and tinged with regret: "Zhou Zihui's IQ isn't low, but his mind isn't really on his studies. He has a strong sense of self-esteem, is competitive, and can't handle being provoked."

His privileged family background might have made him somewhat arrogant and willful. We tried to guide him, but it didn't have much effect.

This incident... sigh, if it really was him, it's a tragedy born from a moment of impulse; if it wasn't, his personality and previous behavior have made him the most suspicious person. It's a pity for this child."

These descriptions sketched an image: a spoiled, self-centered, unempathetic, tough, and irritable teenager.

He had companions, but not necessarily close friends; he might not actively seek to do evil, but he was extremely easy to ignite into conflict and refused to back down.

This overlapped with the image of someone who might explode into extreme violence over a verbal spat and coolly handle the scene in terms of 'irritability,' but there were massive differences regarding 'coldness,' 'meticulousness,' and 'ritualism.'

Next, Shen Mingyuan began tracking Zhou Zihui's life trajectory. He learned from classmates and teachers that besides basketball, Zhou Zihui was also keen on 'Wilderness Exploration.' He often went 'exploring' with a few classmates who shared the same hobby in suburban forest parks, abandoned construction sites, and even some places rumored to be 'haunted.'

This provided a possible direction for a hiding place or activity.

He also visited several shops Zhou Zihui frequented: a milk tea shop near the school, a small shop selling outdoor gear, and the basketball gym he often went to. The clerks' impressions of him were mostly 'regular customer,' 'a bit cool, doesn't talk much,' and 'spends freely.'

By showing his credentials and explaining the situation, Shen Mingyuan was able to view some of the shops' recent surveillance footage.

The results of the investigation were both expected and disappointing. The surveillance showed that in the days before the incident, Zhou Zihui's behavior was no different from usual: leaving school, buying drinks, playing ball, going home. On the day of the incident and thereafter, he was no longer seen in these places he frequented.

Most crucially, the residential compound's surveillance clearly captured him returning home on the night of the incident, and thereafter, the surveillance at the Unit building entrance never recorded him leaving.

Just like that, in his own home, right under the nose of the surveillance, he had 'disappeared.'

Shen Mingyuan stood below the Unit building where Zhou Zihui's home was located, looking up at that window.

The arrogant youth in his classmates' words, the regrettable student in his teachers' eyes, the figure returning home on time in the surveillance... and the killer in the police files who might have murdered with extreme cruelty and mysteriously vanished, along with the demon who created the 'blood room' in the forensic doctor's words—these several images collided violently in his mind, unable to be pieced together into a coherent person.

An arrogant and irritable teenager might kill impulsively, but it would be very difficult for him to complete a scene arrangement filled with such twisted ritualism.

And if the killer wasn't him, how did a living person disappear from a home under surveillance?

Was his disappearance a voluntary escape or a forced abduction?

Or... was something even more bizarre and unpredictable happening, something that couldn't be explained by common sense and exceeded the scope of ordinary crime?

Shen Mingyuan organized his thoughts, turned around to head upstairs again, and knocked on the door of Zhou Zihui's home. He needed to see the starting point of this 'disappearance' with his own eyes and have a conversation with his parents that focused more on details.

Under the tired and expectant gazes of Mr. and Mrs. Zhou, Shen Mingyuan, with a professional and trustworthy demeanor, carefully inquired about Zhou Zihui's specific daily routine, emotional changes, whether he had mentioned any special people or things, and if there was anything unusual in the house in the days before he went missing. The parents' answers were mostly consistent with what he had learned before, filled with worry and confusion, providing no Breakthrough new information.

"I'd like to see Zihui's room, if I may? From an investigative perspective," Shen Mingyuan requested.

"Yes, of course! We haven't moved much in his room, just hoping there might be some clues..." Mother Zhou hurriedly led the way.

Zhou Zihui's room was typical of a teenager from a well-off family. A single bed, a desk, a wardrobe, a bookshelf, with posters of basketball stars and outdoor scenery on the walls. Slightly different from an ordinary boy's room was the presence of more traces of Wilderness Exploration: a corner of the bookshelf was stacked with the 'Wilderness Survival Manual' and 'Chinese National Geography,' a trekking pole leaned against the cabinet, and there was a multi-functional outdoor survival knife (an unsharpened model) on the desk.

Shen Mingyuan put on the latex gloves he carried with him and began a methodical inspection. He first observed the overall layout of the room and the placement of items; there were no obvious signs of a struggle or a hurried search. Then, his attention fell on the corner where the outdoor gear was placed.

He carefully checked every detail of the trekking pole, the survival manual, and even the model knife, finding no hidden compartments, engravings, or unusual stains. Next, he opened the low cabinet beside them. The inside was cluttered but not messy, stuffed with old sports equipment, assault jackets he no longer wore, a folding bucket for camping, and other miscellaneous items.

Shen Mingyuan's gaze swept across every inch of the cabinet like a hawk. Suddenly, his vision fixed on the bottom plate at the very back of the cabinet. A layer of thin dust had accumulated there, clearly not having been cleaned for a long time. However, on top of this uniform layer of dust, an unusually clear, straight-edged rectangular blank area was revealed. This area was spotless, forming a sharp contrast with the surrounding dust, like the clear imprint left by a stamp that had just been moved.

"Here," Shen Mingyuan pointed to the blank space and turned to Mr. and Mrs. Zhou, who were watching him nervously, "What was originally kept here? A box? Or an object of a fixed size that had been here for a long time and was only recently removed."

Father Zhou and Mother Zhou leaned in to look closely, their faces showing expressions of confusion and effort to remember. "This... it seems like an old chest was here? Or a storage box? It's been too long. Some of Zihui's childhood things were piled here, and we didn't pay much attention..." Mother Zhou said uncertainly, "It seemed to be... green? Or camouflage? I can't remember clearly, anyway, it was something he used when playing exploration games before."

"Would it have contained things like ropes, hooks, or pulleys?" Shen Mingyuan pressed.

"It's possible! He did have a set of those 'Exploration Kits' kids play with, with ropes, small grappling hooks and such... Later when he grew up and started doing the real thing, I don't know where those were put away," Father Zhou suddenly realized.

Shen Mingyuan's heart stirred. He immediately stood up, no longer looking at the cabinet, but instead turned his gaze toward the room's window. The window was tightly shut, and the curtains were drawn. He walked to the window and carefully inspected the curtains.

These were blackout curtains made of a sturdy material. Shen Mingyuan gently pinched the edge of the curtain fabric with his fingers, feeling carefully around the track and the top. Soon, near the center of the top of the curtain, he discovered several irregular patches of fraying and slight stretching, as if they had been repeatedly rubbed or pressed by something angular or particularly rough.

"Are these curtains new? Or were these damages already there?" Shen Mingyuan asked.

Mother Zhou stepped forward to check, her expression shifting. "This... the curtains in this room were just replaced last year! I remember very clearly, they were brand new. How could there be such holes?" She touched the marks with her hand. "This doesn't look like wear and tear from old age; it looks more like... they were damaged by something pulling or scraping against them?"

Shen Mingyuan looked up at the metal slide rail that held the curtains. A fixing screw on one section of the rail seemed somewhat loose, causing the track to sag slightly and creating an unnatural gap with the tightly secured part next to it. He reached out and gently flicked the loose track with his finger.

In the silent room, the friction of the metal produced a faint "creak."

However, as Shen Mingyuan attempted to piece together the clues into a complete "rappel escape" scenario, several doubts flooded his mind one after another, riddling this seemingly clear deduction with cracks.

First, why would the rope be tied to the curtain rod or the curtain fabric?

If it were for rappelling, the most secure anchor point should be the window frame itself, or heavy, stable furniture like a bedpost or a table leg.

Curtain rods, especially this kind of domestic slide rail, have a limited weight capacity and are by no means an ideal choice for bearing the weight of a teenager plus the impact of a descent.

Unless... the rope itself wasn't long enough, and the curtains were needed to extend the distance between the anchor point and the windowsill? But doing that would make the knots exceptionally complex and dangerous.

Second, how was the rope untied?

If Zhou Zihui had successfully used this rope to descend to the ground, then after he landed safely, he would have had to untie the knot from below to take the rope with him and leave no trace.

But judging by the strain marks and damage on the curtains, the knot would have been under considerable tension at the time, and might even have been jammed tight.

How could a person suspended in mid-air or standing below perfectly untie a weight-bearing knot from the curtains so easily, without leaving a single fiber or mark of wear?

This would require skill, tools, and possibly even someone upstairs to cooperate—but the room was empty.

Furthermore, why would he choose such a complex and dangerous way to leave?

If he just wanted to avoid his parents or sneak out, he could have chosen a simpler time or used a safer method.

Choosing to perform a professional rappel from his own bedroom window implied that he required absolute stealth and believed that conventional ways of leaving posed a risk. Who was he guarding against? The police? Or someone else?

Finally, and most importantly: the level of proficiency.

Finding, checking, and utilizing old rope tools, quickly and securely setting up a rappel point, completing a descent of at least two stories, and nearly perfectly cleaning up the traces above after leaving... the calmness, decisiveness, outdoor skills, and psychological resilience required for this series of operations far exceeded those of an ordinary sixteen-year-old boy described as "arrogant, spoiled, and lacking empathy."

This was more like something a well-trained person, or someone with multiple similar experiences, could accomplish.

Shen Mingyuan pushed open the window and leaned out to look down. Below was the residential area's green belt, a dense thicket of shrubs that appeared as shadowy silhouettes in the night.

If a rope had truly hung down, there should be signs of trampling or dragging below, but now nothing could be seen clearly. The rope... if it ever existed, where did it go?

He withdrew his gaze, his brow furrowed. He seemed to have found a "passage," but the passage itself was filled with deeper clouds of suspicion.

Zhou Zihui's disappearance was by no means a spur-of-the-moment teenage adventure. Behind it lay meticulous preparation, unconventional choices, and an unsettling "proficiency" that did not match his age.

Shen Mingyuan withdrew his gaze from outside the window and let it fall on the anxious parents. The silence in the room was so thick it could almost be wrung out like water.

"Mr. Zhou, Mrs. Zhou," Shen Mingyuan's voice broke the silence, his tone as calm and professional as possible, "I have a few more questions that might touch on some private matters, but they are crucial for judging Zihui's current situation.

Please think back carefully. Before the incident, or even further back, did Zihui... show any abnormalities?

I don't just mean feeling down or throwing tantrums, but something more fundamental—for example, were there moments when his way of speaking, his habits, or even the feeling he gave off suddenly became unlike his usual self?

Even if it was just for a very brief moment?"

Father Zhou and Mother Zhou exchanged a glance, their faces showing confusion and a hint of being offended. Mother Zhou shook her head instinctively. "No, Xiao Hui is just Xiao Hui. Sometimes he's a bit stubborn, but... how could he be like another person? Lawyer Shen, what do you mean by this?"

Shen Mingyuan did not back down and continued to guide them. "For example, has he ever... talked to himself in the air, or seemed to be conversing with someone invisible? Especially when he was alone?"

This time, a very subtle hesitation flashed across Father Zhou's face, which Shen Mingyuan keenly captured. Father Zhou hesitated, "This... it seems... once when I got up at night and passed his door, I heard some movement inside, as if he was talking in a low voice... I pushed the door open and he stopped immediately, saying he was reciting a text or playing a game with dialogue or something... At the time, I thought it might just be a kid having an imaginary friend and didn't take it to heart. What... what does this prove?"

"Imaginary friend..." Shen Mingyuan repeated in a low voice, the clouds of doubt in his heart growing even denser.

Would a sixteen-year-old boy with a strong and arrogant personality still have an "imaginary friend" that usually belongs to much younger children? Combined with those illogical, overly proficient "escape" methods, a chilling possibility emerged in his mind: Dissociative Identity Disorder (Multiple Personality Disorder)?

But how could a previously "normal" teenager suddenly develop such a severe second personality that could perfectly execute complex actions? There must be a powerful, long-standing trigger or foundation behind it.

He took a deep breath and turned to Mr. and Mrs. Zhou, his tone even more solemn. "Mr. Zhou, Mrs. Zhou, please understand that I am not doubting Zihui's character or conduct. On the contrary, because many of the current doubts point to a 'perpetrator' image that is seriously inconsistent with his usual personality and abilities, I am more inclined to believe that he might not be the real culprit, or... he was involuntarily involved in a situation far beyond his own control.

To find him and save him, we must figure out exactly what happened to him.

So, please think carefully again. Regarding Zihui, is there anything you think might be irrelevant but could be very important... any special circumstances? Even from a long time ago, or even things from when he was born?"

This question clearly struck a hidden core. Mother Zhou's face instantly turned pale, and she instinctively gripped her husband's arm. Father Zhou also pursed his lips, his eyes filled with struggle and pain. Only heavy breathing remained in the living room.

After more than ten long seconds, Father Zhou seemed to have made up his mind. He spoke with a dry voice, each word coming out with extreme difficulty:

"Lawyer Shen... we intended to keep this matter buried in our hearts forever... Zihui... when he was born, the hospital told us he was a Chimera."