Hiền allowed me to rest in this place until I could fully resolve this incident. While members of the police were there, it was hard since they were even more confused than me. They took some pictures, returned to nowhere and that’s it. “You are a detective, you got this” one of the guys told me.
-”… Hiền confirmed that An and Thành returned after Long was declared dead, Sang couldn’t walk and Ly looked so tired to even come up with the murder… Hương and Vinh were also possible. So now the culprits can only be Tú, Hương, Vinh, Hiền, and Minh”, I thought to myself. But as I walked, I felt a growing unexplainable sense of dread as I walked upon the steps. It was then time to figure out the rest of the block’s layout. There were 2 bathrooms at each floor, and in each of these were a window that mainly served as an air vent, but was large enough to fit one person though with no difficulties. There was a path by the end of the narrow walkway to reach the back of the block, and this is where the balconies looked out to. The next day Lương took me to the electric room and said that it would be managed occasionally by a technician. The room itself was a narrow room whose main component was a device with a set of switches, buttons and wires going in and out to other parts of the place. While it was hard for me to understand the entire device, I can guarantee that it can at least control the supply of electricity in the entire block.
-”The door had been broken a few days ago”, Lương said.
We walked through the end, and as he waved goodbye and left me now alone in Hiền’s tent, I couldn’t help but think about the ideas of possible culprits.
The night in this place felt truly lonely. The street lights were nonexistent, they barely shine in the night at all and had to be constantly fixed. Hiền’s tent is an alone and dark place, and I was given blankets that she would use as tablecloths next the morning. By the time Long died, the culprit locked the door from the inside, and only by an explosion did everything knock down, so how did the culprit get out? The height of that second balcony when jumped down could break somebody’s legs. But by the time I was lost in thought, I received a weird piece of paper with red ink written on it that said:
“
You thought all that there was, was one corpse? And you couldn't solve it? Go out and ask the moon and let it point you to where the second one lies.
Alice
“
The moon?
I got up from the mat, and walked outside. I decided to head to the most beautiful moon-watching place here; the lake, where a surprise lied…
CHAPTER 2.1: MURDER OF THE ALONE
-”Oh.”
Minh was dead before my eyes. Blood was everywhere in his clothes, his hands holding a rose flower. He had a few stab wounds, and they are rather deep. There was another red letter nearby that wrote:
“
The lovelorn has now been free of all suffering.
Alice
“
Nearby, there was a bike, which I assumed was his. There was also a rose bouquet with a lot of money inside. His face and upper body was filled with scratches that I hadn’t seen the first moment we met. I waited until tomorrow evening to announce an emergency meeting by the lake.
-”It turns out Minh died last night by the lake. His face got scratches, nearby are roses, his bike. What did you do last night?
-”I was staying at home with An.”, Thành replied; followed by a nod from An and his grandpa.
-”I was tidying up things, when this ends I’ll move away from this place.”, Hiền murmured.
-”We don’t care anymore, we were at home, that’s it.”, An replied.
-”We need to babysit”, said Hương and Vinh.
-”We can’t do anything. Do you think any of us can get out of the goddamn place and kill this kid?”, Ly shouted.
The roses definitely meant something, I can’t figure out. Minh said he used to fall in love with Linh, so was he planning to meet her? Everything must have led to that part, as this place is rather remote, crime might be popular.
There was no rhyme or reason for me to accuse anyone of these crimes, as a lack of evidence was hugely there. But what if he got drunk so much he mistakes someone else for Linh? And since people in a family would often look similar, it seemed that he might have mistakenly rendered An or Ly as Linh. So either one can be the culprit. But how could Minh be killed without a weapon? It was simple: the knife had been disposed of. But similar to Long’s case, there was no one to truly blame for this accused crime. And this time, I realized this case is no simple case, it is something that is carefully planned and executed, and needed more investigation. There can be only one person that I can depend on now.
CHAPTER 2.2: THE BEER ORIGINS
Without further ado, I visited Lương the next morning. The people in the marketplace now had completely known and spread word of Long and Minh’s death, and it was dangerous, because rumor tends to build up, and in cases had caused innocent people to be accused of crime, yet the ones behind the rumors had no charges at all.
As we sat down now in his office, Lương looked in his giant note stacks, and he pulled out a really old one.
-”Minh’s death is a really fun one here.”
-”You call people dying ‘fun’?”
-”Not really, I just don’t care about him that much. He’s constantly outside and denies all guests his place. Long was more welcome, just the fact that the guy is absolutely crazy after he drank alcohol, which basically means always. Oh, and an interesting document, here. … Minh, arrested for robbery and assault, 4 years in prison. These really screwed up his personality and life. He tried to work in mainland Hanoi and couldn’t because of his background, but that’s when he met the special person that brought hope to his life, or that ‘Linh’ in Sang’s family. She used her network to guide him down a small factory down here, namely Xuân Lê factory.”
-”Is there anything else worth mentioning about him?”
-”He’s outside most of the time, and doesn't care about anyone except Linh maybe. None of us really have an offensive relationship with him because we had none.”
-”Does he have a relative here or something?”
-”Absolutely no one.”
So it was pretty clear that unlike the universally hated Long, there would be a lot less reason for someone in the block to kill Minh like this. But what if he stumbled into a fight with people outside the block, and got killed like this? Fights over wine and beer were common, and I think if he shared the same beer brand with Long, there ought to be some alcohol-related common ground that I can use to resolve both cases. I met up with Hiền and decided to ask her a few things. Like before, word had spread quickly about Minh’s death, and Hiền ought to have heard a few things about it even if she is not directly at the crime scene. We sat down in that old tent of hers.
-”Young man, next time you get here, you gotta pay something per cup.”
-”Yes. And I wanted to ask you something too.
-”What is it?”
-”You know about Minh’s murder recently, right?”
-”Oh yes, I heard the meat-selling-women at the shops gossiping about that. What’s next?”
-”In his crime scene and Long’s crime scene, I noticed beer bottles of the same brand. Since Long told you to buy beer for him, can you point me to the place you buy?”
-”Yes.”
Hiền proceeded to take me through several alleyways, shortcuts, large roads, and even using alternate entrances of dormitories similar to ours. The whole adventure felt like wandering in a maze and somehow made it to the exit. Some roads were of such horrible quality that Hiền just casually decided to walk down the wild fields nearby to avoid walking on the sinking mud. When we finally made it to the shop, it felt much farther than the actual distance of maybe just one and a half kilometers. I was tired, and could barely walk when we arrived, while Hiền looked fairly unfazed. We were greeted by a happy voice.
-”Welcome! What would you like to drink?”
The restaurant owner greeted us so casually, but we didn’t even see him. It was normal for him to greet frequent customers like this. Right as we sat down, a teenager brought a menu to us, and asked us the same thing as the owner.
-”Ask your owner to bring some tea here, we have something to talk to him.”, I replied
Soon enough the owner was at our place with the tea set. Having seen Hiền’s rather serious face, he may had slightly guessed what was going on.
-”So I heard some things from my staff, who had run to the market this morning for some beef and pork. Long has died right?”, calmly he asked
-”Yes.”
-”I see. How sad…”.
The owner said that with a voice and an attitude that felt like he was losing a source of income rather than a friend, and I wouldn’t blame him though. But then it was my time to introduce myself to the owner, and who knows if I can gain some useful information from him?
-”Excuse me please, Mr owner. Can you tell me a little about yourself?”
-”Who are you to demand that of me?”
-”I am Tiến, from the Police Force. Please give me your info.”, I said as I was pulling out my fake police credentials to him. I know a lot of people who can make these fake credentials, and a strange feeling that I had met one swept through my head. The owner reluctantly gave me his documents, and I was checking them rather thoroughly while trying to remember everything. "Mr T.V.Hùng, legally owning a bar-restaurant in X district, aged 47. Legally allowed to sell brands of light beer, that is of alcohol to water ratio less than 10%, as well as cigarettes to people of legal age."
-"Thanks for the info." I replied to him. He still seemed so bitter about that. "So do you recall anything that led to Long's and Minh's death?"
-"About Long, that afternoon I still saw Hiền go to me for some beers and never heard anything until today. And who the hell is "Minh"?"
-"A factory worker that lives below Long in the dormitory. He had no friends, no family, pretty much no one. Does he go here frequently?"
-”There were increasing numbers of people in factories going here, that can be anyone. People go in collective groups too, so do you know which factory he is from?”
-”Xuân Lê Factory.”
-”Well yesterday a group of about 15-20 people from the factory walked in and ordered a lot of things. It was a huge day for them. You need to go there and ask though, since I don’t know anyone. But I heard that one of them is going for some ‘Linh’ girl in main Hanoi, so there’s that.”
-”Understood.”
This shop owner does not seem to cooperate anymore, so I turned to the teenage staff guy, who was out there carrying some things. He introduced himself as Nam moving from mainland Hanoi, and has been working here for a week. However, the work conditions are so harsh he was considering leaving, as he thinks that Hùng is some maniac for waking up at 3am and forcing him to do the same. I figured he might have better luck at figuring things out and would be a lot easier to work with. So I came up to him, looked directly at his slightly scared face, and ask:
-”Nam, do you know anything about the murders of some person named Long and some person named Minh somewhere 1.5 kilometers from here?”
-”I heard some people talking about it some time ago, and had no idea who they were. It seemed nobody cares about them, and only used their murder as some sort of pastime gossip.”
-”Anything else?”
-”Curiosity got the cat, so I went to Minh’s murder site itself. It was rather early in the morning, so most things were rather unaffected. Someone has told the police about this, and so they are starting the investigation. ”
I then used my fake police power to visit the entire place. The ceiling was low, and there was only one floor and the uppers were used by the owner himself There was nothing in the back much, just several chefs that took the role of waiters when needed. Beer boxes were imported, and they had the same brand used in the murders. The back side led to an empty yard, and from there the lake can be seen. There were not that many customers. The kitchen and fridge were filled with basic raw food, and they seemed to be grown naturally, so the risk of Long and Minh dying to poison is none. Not much else is in the restaurant, it’s pretty barebones.
Right at the moment, Nam’s personality went through a huge change. He went inside the house and told Hiền something that seemed to shock her so much, and turned to Hung with a huge evil grin:
-”My job here is done.”, he said firmly. Hung tried to convince him several times to keep him, but he just left without a word.
-”He won’t be able to feed himself anyway. He has no parents, no siblings, no caretakers. He’s going to regret it.”
This was back in the time when underage workers were still common. We had to do everything to provide, simply because we can’t afford anything. Even a full nutrition meal was a huge dream. I think Nam is just simply reckless and he will want to come back later, considering his dire situation. But as he walked through me, I felt a strange sinister aura, but I just brushed that aside as the cases that were ongoing were far more important. However, he then left me a note that he said was sent to him by someone else:
“
I’ll give you a hint: Long and Minh’s murder share the same culprit.
Arthur
”
I turned to the still shocked Hiền, and asked her if she knew how Linh looked like. “Same as her mother,” she replied. So if the roses were for Linh, could it be that either Ly and An are culprits. Long is universally hated, so it wouldn’t rule them out either. The other idea was that the culprit was jealous of Minh over An, so he decided to act first. The only contender I can think of is Thành, but seeing how many people had crushes on the sisters, the scope was super expanded, similar to Long’s murder. Hiền and I decided to head back home, we can not do anything here anymore. Long really doesn’t have that many relationships outside, so me and Hiền make our way to the next place where the clue can lie: Minh’s factory.
CHAPTER 2.3: THE BUSTLING FACTORY
The factory was nearer than I expected, and involved way less trekking through dirt roads and way less maze navigation. It is located on a pedestrian road when finally I felt like there was actual life in everyone here, compared to the lifeless and dull personality of almost everyone in the dormitory. The factory at the day was active. Workers delivering things, clothes being boxed. For a lot of these workers, the bare minimum wage paid at places like this was basically their entire funding. An old woman around Hiền's age came to me and asked if I knew someone named Minh about 20 years old, because she hasn't seen him this morning and he also left no information to her about his sudden disappearance.
-"I am afraid to tell you that the Minh you are looking for has recently been murdered. The case is being investigated, and you can help by cooperating'. I replied, whilst showing the police card.
As she saw the police card, her face went blank. She breathed several times, trying to not panic, and stuttered while replying:
-"Y-Y-Yes, P-Pl-please go this w-way…"
She then announced for all workers to stop working and exit through the back door, even though the front door that we just entered was much nearer and much more accessible. I followed them, despite the woman's efforts to stop me dead in my tracks. But I have seen enough and took a picture of it. Underage workers with a lot of bruises were seen, these wounds are large and frequent enough to count as a serious offense. As I was holding her forcibly and didn't know what to do, Thành conveniently took some tape and circled it around the wall and the woman next to it, effectively tying her to the wall using tape..
-"It should be slightly easier for you to do your job now. An is waiting outside, I'm back to her". Thành waved goodbye and quickly left, and we were impressed at the speed he managed to pull out the tape. The woman woke up tied, and after refusing for a while, she eventually accepted defeat to the massive tape layers around her.
-"So, what is your name, and what are you doing?"
-"My name is Hằng, and I am the leader of this factory."
-"Why are you abusing workers?'
-"I..I..I…"
-"That's it, you're going to get arrested."
I got Hiền to the back to interview the workers, and I'm sitting here and observing closely. This woman is from a more wealthy background, and Sang wouldn't be wrong to say that the area we are in right now is politically heavily corrupted. Due to the lack of pay, many families offer their child to work. I'm surprised how many people were here in this small place. But it was time for me to ask the important questions. I went to the back and asked everyone about the recently deceased Minh, and similar to Lương's response, most of them had close to no interaction with him. Someone said that Minh told him he had a crush on a girl named Linh in Hanoi, and was planning to meet her. That was all everyone knew about Minh.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
The room is now empty with me reading all of Hang's info and wondering why she hasn't been caught by the police yet. And I noticed some suspicious envelopes on the table.
-”Sorry, as a police officer, may I read those?”
-”NO!”
-”You are being super not cooperative here. Remember, I could take stronger actions against you.”
-”Fine.”
The factory looked really barebones, most of the machinery was heavily outdated. Minh’s spot has a small sewing machine and a piece of paper stating the amount of work he had to do for each day of the week. The place is rather barren with not too much to be found. But then a postman came and gave us a package, and I went out to check. It’s a book written in French, but I had limited knowledge of the language. But implying from the words that I do know, it seems that this is some manifesto of a political movement. Why would Hang read this book anyway? On the package the sender’s name was censored with very bold not-erasable ink, and there is no message or address from the sender. It seemed that this book wasn’t aimed at Hang, but to whom else was it sent for? I asked Hang about it and she was even more confused than me. I had no idea left, so I went outside and around. There were some bikes used for delivering, and a lot of filled sacks waiting to be sold. I noticed some roses appeared to be torn, Minh might have torn them for his flower bouquet.
I prepare some of the equipment and photoshooting for my police report of this land, but seeing that I need at least Minh’s murder to be finished first before doing anything else. Not many people knew about him, but I feel like I had been trusting Lương a little too much. So it was back to square one, I decided to return to the block, hoping to find some new clues within its residents.
CHAPTER 2.4: THE YOUNG COUPLE AND THEIR DARK SECRETS
When I was on my way of return, I met An and Thành on the road. This duo is always weirdly cheerful around one another, they were the perfect couple. They don’t seem to be bothered too much, even if a detective is secretly following them.
After they had chosen a place that they thought was empty, they sat down on a bench and started hugging each other. However, they then started whispering to each other despite the area containing no one; I believe they might have noticed my existence. I ran away carefully, because I knew what Thành could do; it would be horrible to be taped to a wall with no way of getting out.
I ran back to Hiền’s tea place, that way I could feel somewhat safe. But I can’t help but feel that they were scheming something. By the very first moment I met Thành, I felt slightly cold despite it being a hot summer day, and not to mention An’s personality-less voice would make a perfect disguise for all that she said. I saw them coming back with some food in bags, and their compassionate looks towards each other as they were holding cups of cold coffee. They were the happiest couple alive at that moment. But then I saw them heading towards Minh’s apartment, with Thành grabbing some tools from his home; soon they had already knocked down the door.
-”WHAT ARE YOU DOING?”, I shouted as I ran to them.
-”Home reform. This thing can be for rent for a lot. You can join us in cleaning this stupid mess up.”, An calmly replied.
-”This ain’t happening”. I interrupted them. “Let me search the house one more time.”
-”Go ahead.”
I barged inside of the home once again, and started looking for everything. The place was uncleaned for so long, and now that its owner is dead, it was even more of a mess. There were dead mice, spider webs, and weird noise from the wall was present again. Except this time, I used full force to punch through all the walls. And as it turns out, there was really a shallow layer behind, with a letter on the floor and a lot of dust caught in it. I picked the letter up, the title said “Love Letter to Linh”, and read it. Attached with it are replies back to back from Linh and Minh, that got weirder and weirder.
-”... And Thành would tell me that after the factory revolution, I would have to compete with other men to be the manager. I promised to you that when I had the position, I would make my way to Hanoi. Then we shall be happy ever after…”
-”...YOU ARE A FOOL. I INTRODUCED YOU TO THE FACTORY SO I CAN GAIN THAT LITTLE COMMISSION PRICE. YOU ARE OF NO USE TO ME!…”
-”...You impersonator, Linh my girl would have never done that. She is sweet and beautiful, unlike you. Please Linh, I believe those cruel words aren’t yours, this impersonator won’t know your secret!...”
-”...OH YES, I FAILED A SERIOUS CLASS TWICE, THAT’S THE ORDEAL. WHY ARE YOU STILL HERE TO READ THE MESSAGE?
WHY ARE YOU PLAYING A LOSING GAME AGAINST ME?..."
-”...The impersonator, I know all your tricks and illusions. Give Linh back to me!...”
-”... NO. I AM LINH HERSELF, WHY DO I NEED TO MEET A FILTHY PIECE OF TRASH LIKE YOU?
SHALL WE SETTLE THE MATTERS IN THE NIGHT LAKE? I NEEDED TO TELL YOU. THIS GROUP IS ANYTHING BUT NORMAL.
THERE IS NO POINT ANYMORE!”
At least that was all I could read. The censored parts were covered in heavy black ink that would be impossible to clean and decipher. By this point, it was obvious. Linh’s letters are being tampered by a third force that writes in bold. I took some pictures of the thing, only for another one of those cryptic pieces of paper to fall from the letter chain.
“
A surprise awaits you in the forsaken police station.
Louis
“
If this letter was here before Minh’s death, it would be so much weirder to have their conflict settled in front of a police station. I could only have so much time before An and Thành suspected me of anything, so I put the letter chain in my pocket and ran out. They were calmly waiting for me in Hiền’s tent.
-”Have you done yet?”An calmly asked, “It’s 45 minutes already!”
-”Done. I’m out. Why are you putting this supposed free apartment for rent anyway? And even that, you would know that by superstitious belief no one would stay at a murdered-person’s home, right?”
-”I know. But this place has a benefit: There is a primary school opening here, and we can offer it to some clueless teacher.”
-”You don’t have legal ownership of the place, you can’t put it up for rent.”
-”Yeah, make that dead Minh come back to life and have him come here so we can convince him to do the paperwork. Not to mention, what do you want us to do with all of this space anyway? College is expensive, I’m trying to save up for it.”
-”Minh’s relative can, and will screw you two over.”
-”I would be surprised if they existed in the first place”, Thành now joins in with An on the matter. He carried a lot of tools inside and started fixing and repainting the walls. All of Minh’s possessions were put in bags for later reselling or incinerated with him in his funeral. An ignored my warnings, started helping her boyfriend as well. I sat in Hiền’s tent confused on how to tell this to anyone and how to process this. But then, Nam passed through us, and after asking about the process of tidying, he offered his help. Soon enough the three of them finished the place, with Nam officially stating that he will reside there until he feels like leaving, without need of paperwork. I needed to tell Lương about this, it’s so weird on so many levels.
Having finally set place to Lương’s, I informed him of An and Thành’s destruction, but I was met with a chilling reply:
-”Great, even more income.”
-”That change and tidying needed your agreement!”
-”They had the full right to do it, they own this place. I had to follow their orders.”
I was at a loss for words.
-”What do you say?”
-”This manager position, this little elder’s political safety, all was by them. Even this series of murders was to off Long and Minh, the bad talkers and reputation-drainers, and I could dispute it as some coincidental murder over some basic conflict. An and Thành had total control of this place since Linh left. Kid, let me tell you a story.
So basically, a few years ago there was a new lottery company announcing gigantic prizes for the ticket winners, with the number being generated daily using a computer program. Unbeknownst to them, The company had no prize winners at the time due to the ticket numbers being generated in a perfect random manner, and the special prize was pretty much beyond any sort of comprehensible luck to the average person. But to this intelligent boy, it would only take him a few computer lessons at his school and he had perfectly hacked their machines and stolen the program they used for winning ticket number generation. And from that week on, he would go to the company, search for the prize tickets, and submit them back to the company, rendering him win the special, first, second, and third prize all to himself, almost twice every month. It was not until higher management of the company got hold of him, but they weren’t able to find traces of him cheating in any way, nor can they search his school’s computers since the school refused. No sort of objections could stop him, as he got An getting the prizes for him instead, and he continued this until the company owner declared bankruptcy. And with those hacking skills, he accessed my computer and found this.”
He opened up his computer, and I was somewhat in awe. He admitted everything in front of me, but I won’t have the authority to cast any command on him. I noted everything, went up and took a disk to copy Long’s spreadsheet of corruption and bribery details. I will use this after everything ends.
-”Oh, if you wanted to arrest me, I think you knew the story of the bombed corrupt politicians right? Basically some politicians in high government level were found to be involved in illegal corruption and bribery, and guess who found that out? Thành himself. He released all the details anonymously to both the public and the police, which almost caused massive protests had it not been for massive intervention from higher forces, and threatened the politicians that he knew exactly who and where they were. The politicians were scared, so they sent a gang against him. But little did they know that Thành set up massive booby traps and bombs on the path the gang used to reach this place. The bomb killed about 30 people of the gang, and of the 15 that made it to this city alive, An caught them and used them as human experiment subjects for even stronger and poisons and medicines. None of those guys made it out without either being seriously disabled or as a thrown out corpse. It was a message to those politicians too, saying that nothing can be done against those two, otherwise they won’t make it alive. They tried to identify who the threat was, the only thing they knew was that he was in this city. But then Thành unleashed his final card, he managed to find a massive group of people mad with the government, and instructed them to use bombs in packages to throw at those politicians, and started a massive political protest. None of the politicians and their family survived, all of their properties are stolen and robbed. But surprisingly enough, a foreign organized terrorist group named “Reapers” called him the “special leader they wished for” and claimed all of their crimes for themselves, without any mention for a specific person. Let’s see, there are about 3500 deaths caused by the protests, robbery and madness. It was the most maddening days, the military needed to be deployed. Thing is, Thanh got the politics under control, because he exploded the most influential people, and there was nothing else to stop him from taking over the country entirely.”
-”THAT’S HORRIFYING! WHY WOULDN’T YOU REPORT THEM?”,
-”I was one with those politicians, the old mayor. He wanted to end the monstrous destruction of Thành once and for all, and in doing so, he got himself into a mystery explosion and died without a corpse. Which you can already guess. Thành then used some of that threat level to put me in his place. That’s all I know of.”
-”What about An?”
-”A few years ago, there was a huge flu plague spreading through this city. Us outskirts were severely harmed, the plague was deadly enough to kill if the victims did not receive proper treatment and medications. However, out of nowhere some traders appears, stating that they created the solution that worked for everyone, but the production costs were extremely expensive. But the disease was deadly enough we have to anyway. Many families went bankrupt, or have dead members, or both. But eventually they “found” a much cheaper medication that saved tons of lives. A medicine company won the case, both the cheap and expensive medicine were theirs, but they were “lenient” to make the traders pay twice the amount of money it was worth for their scams, and it didn’t end well. And when the CEO of this company appeared in public, she received massive praise from the media and people. But no one knows that the CEO is no one but An herself, using makeup and clothing to make her look far older than she is. Little did everyone know, the pandemic was one of An’s massive experiments, and might have caused at least 5000 deaths, with the actual number maybe near 7000. It started in a mainland Hanoi lab, in which she broke in and created the virus.
Some time later the company was handed to someone else, and An began this time messing with unknown poison. She was still the bullied 13-year-old, but one day her bullies, some of her innocent classmates, and some teachers and faculty were found dead near a water bottle, with blood on the ground and vomit too. The police found a complex and deadly poison that the production would far exceed the knowledge of the most talented scientists, so they immediately discard anyone in the entire school as the culprit. An was able to get away with it. In fact, An used her middle school mates and animals in the school farm as experiments subjects. This was when Thành moved here, and into An’s class, and since everyone is horrified of her so much, they let Thành be the new student as a sacrifice. But you can already guess what’s next. ”
-”So, had they been found?”
-”For Thanh’s lottery case, the company can not trace back the hacker. Everytime the prize announced someone would get it for him. The bombing’s culprits were found and faced massive charges, since they didn’t even knew about his existence. An’s virus were deemed a natural one from the forests, so they only vaccinate people instead of pursuing the case further.”
I felt a breezing cold feeling after listening to what Lương said about Thành and An, because I didn't expect them to go that far in cruelty without paying anything for it. I wanted to confront them, but seeing how maniacal and intelligent either of them are, it’s best not to do anything and just kept hiding in the shadows. I got the detective status slipped to An though, so I feel like I need to be extra careful, and perhapped needed some backup from serious forces.
I returned to the now-completely-polished Minh’s home. Nothing inside even belongs to Minh anymore, anything by him was sold. Even the strange shallow wall that contained the letter was completely reformed, and Nam-the current resident said that he destroyed it and added a wall to add some space and avoid mice or insects from getting inside the empty wall. Unlike the lunatic duo, he felt a lot more neutral and uncaring in everything, though I still don’t understand how he was able to keep his sanity while having such long contacts with them.
-”Nam, you knew about the murders in this place, right?”
CHAPTER 2.5: THE BORED OBSERVER
-”Yes I do. In fact I know exactly who did it and how, but telling you those details are just ruining the fun.”
-”Please tell me anything that you know. I’m the police.”
-”Even if you are a god, I won’t tell you. And you’re a detective anyway, it doesn’t matter?“
-”Why are you so stubborn?”
-”Telling you ruins all the fun of the readers trying to solve this case with you.”
-”Who are those readers?”
-”I am one of them, and I’m pretty sure there are a lot more people closely observing everything through our eyes right now.”
The teenager sitting before me was so absurdly different when I first saw him in his restaurant. A hardworking, fun staff has now become so tired and weak. He was fully awake before, but now he looked sleepy and bored. Was he like this all the time? I admit sometimes in my job my mind just went into a complete pause like this, it just refused to think or do anything. So did Nam actually solve the case, or does he just want to brag to look cool and gain some extra points from An and Thành? I guess from the fact that he was able to shock Hiền heavily from one sentence alone makes him rather threatening. Nam then called me and spoke with his sleepy voice:
-"To give you somewhat of a clue, I'm gonna tell you a short story. Back in the day, some group of 5-7 kids that ran around, beat and rob other kids. When they stumbled on this An, little did they know the least painful and most victorious for them was to puke blood until their body dies of blood loss. An took up her butcher knife and sliced the leader's head out of his live body as she needed a brain for some experiment. Pretty sure none of the other kids ended out with an intact head either. Oh, me and Thành got the perfect seat to see that real life horror movie. So sad there's only two of us. You somehow entertained me a bit for that first case, so the next time something good goes I'll call you. This is your first clue: if An kills anyone by poison, they will appear signs of vomiting, blood loss, body shivering and pain. Collect all those four, since it is her signature."
I could understand if Nam was forced to be happy at the restaurant, since in my old job I had to smile every time to customers too, even for cases that made me cry. But being this emotionless is another level. Nam definitely wouldn't explode politicians or mass poison children, but he will take the front seat to watch others do it. I suddenly remembered that it would be illegal by law to sell any sort of private letter. While Thành, Nam and An had lost all of their morality somewhere, the traders that buy Minh’s previous things wouldn’t accept the letter. Nam allowed me to search this place freely and soon I found the letter again in a well-hidden closet. Upon rereading, I noticed no strange events being with it, but on the same closest I found the mysterious French book I saw back in Hang’s factory. When I brought it to Lương, he replied that due to the book’s length and his rusty knowledge, it would take him 3 days to ask a translation company to help him. He also said that I would not need to pay a dime for this translation, as he had also been hunting for the book for a very long time. What Nam said appeared in my head again, so I decided to return to Nam’s apartment to ask him some things, but he quickly jumped to the second floor as if something very urgent was waiting for him up there. About a minute later, Ly was down and I greeted her, however she looked so despair and sad right now.
-”Sang, … he will die”, she said as she was trying to hold back her tears.
-”I want to see it. That’s what I should do. Don’t worry, I will get all the government work done for you. Remember, I am a police officer.”
-”Thanks, I don’t know what to pay you back.”
-”Nothing. Your cooperation right now is what I need the most.”
-”I need to get supplements for his funeral. People already heard it, and gave me some money.”
-”Here, take this, it’s more than what you have, which would be enough for you. I will give people’s money back for them.”
-”Thanks..."
CHAPTER 2.6: GOODBYE, SANG.
When I rushed from Nam’s new apartment up to the second floor to follow his steps, I saw him at An’s door. He somehow had a key to open the door, which he said An gave him some time ago. We opened the door. And I can’t believe it. Sang was lying in his bed, vomiting blood into a bag.
-”Why..are..you..cough..even..h-”, Sang said weakly to us.
Sang, in this moment felt impossibly low, as he wasn’t able to finish a sentence anymore without violently coughing, his hands were struggling to hold the bag, and his legs were shaking uncontrollably. He was weak by the first moment we met him, but I didn’t expect him to go this low. Unlike how emotionless he was in his apartment, Nam now tried not to let out a grin.
-”Sang, it was such an amazing adventure, that you had your highs and lows. But now, I think it is time. ”
-”What?”
-”I don’t want to break it to you. But I want you to reflect on all that you did, your judgment is near. Thành is coming up here, he will be the final judge for you”
His apartment now feels impossibly gray and melancholic. Ly left him a bottle of soup as she left to buy things earlier. But he wasn’t able to take up a spoonful of soup and feed himself.
-”Let me help you.”, I took a spoon and tried to feed Sang, and it took a long while for me to have a little soup put in his mouth.
-”Tiến, … as … for .. my last wish … license .. in closet”
I decided to search his closet, and I found a driver's license for trucks with Sang’s name. Nam mysteriously left sometime before, and Thành was in his place before we even realized.
-”I am here, to read the eulogy for your death.”
Thành’s voice is chilling cold, because I knew that in one way or other, he would be the director of all the murders if he is not the culprit himself. Everyone paused for a long time. Meanwhile, An invited all the other residents to the door and placed a funeral bouquet next to Sang’s bed, as if this was the real Sang’s funeral.
“
Tran Tuan Sang.
From the day you were born, to the day you are dead, your life has been nothing but mistakes. You failed the university entrance test, worked a dead-end truck job for years on end. And while your mates eventually moved to higher positions, you were still here to look at the sky and ask why it didn’t rain money.
You were so miserable to not witness the birth of the angels that are your daughters. Your sinful greed and wrath has brought all the demise on you. You made An never felt like a human before, and for today, as you lied, she was here to watch you suffer to your final breath, without shedding a tear. You will not die alone, but you will die lonely.
And you looked into the sky once more, to wish yourself as a good father once more right? That world where your daughters and wife were happy to return home, and together you shall make a delicious meal, had flashed before your very eyes. Perhaps that Sang had met you. Oh, I wish An listed you as a father that protected her from this twisted world, instead of her listing you as nothing but a failed subject for her twisted experiments. You had the foolish thought that the friend of justice was still with you, but you were only forever wandering in the darkness of his own shadow.
You will be screaming in pain and scared for the last time, when the evil magic of the great witch Alice shall reach you, for a death of betrayal.
”
This might be the first time in my life that I ever heard something that cruel and chilling. Thành’s cold voice doesn’t help either. The people at the door now went inside, to look at their neighbor one last time. Vinh had to console Huong from crying, and Hiền was outside taking care of their baby. Nam quickly returned and give An back her hammer that Thành borrowed to help fix his apartment No one spoke a word to each other, but we all knew one thing. Sang’s death will be anything but a peaceful sleep. So I wanted to stay with him for his last moment, but Ly came back and pushed me out, saying that people should be with their own family members when they’re about to die. An bursted out the door with Thành and Nam waiting for her, stating that they have prepared to watch the murder in the best spot. Nam took up some corn he stole from the restaurant, and with his microwave, they quickly made a huge bag full of popcorn and invited me to try it out, but I refused. I was too tired anyway, so I went back to Hiền’s tent. Unfortunately, this led to my biggest mistake that I have ever made throughout my entire detective career.