Here Lies The Wicked

Chapter 1: Case Files

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation  Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Searching case files.

‘The Case Of Multiple Missing Persons’— searching through questioning transcripts and police interview recorders.

Number of missing persons: 15.

Date of the first case: 5th of March.

Case summary: There have been multiple cases of missing persons in Zhou City, and the victims have four things in common.

Firstly, they were alone before their disappearances. They were either at their workplace, residential area, or home;

Secondly, there were no footprints, fingerprints, hair, dander, or any other leads found near the locations of disappearances;

Thirdly, the victims had informed either friends or family about hearing mysterious footsteps via phone;

Lastly, none of them suffered loss of property.

“Good day, Miss Li. We’re from the Fuyang Street Police Station, and we have come regarding the disappearance of your good friend Miss Ye Xiaoli. Given that you were the first one to discover her disappearance and report it, we need to ask you for some details to help us solve this case and locate Ye Xiaoli as soon as possible.”

“Ah, oh, oh, okay… this is?”

“This is our interview recorder. Both our writing and recorder are part of the standard operating procedure for police questioning; you have nothing to worry about, Miss Li.”

“Hmm, okay. My apologies. It’s…it’s my first time experiencing something like this…it’s my first time dealing with the police. I’m…I’m a little nervous. Sorry for the inconvenience.”

“It’s understandable, let’s continue.”

“O…Okay, go ahead with the questions.”

“We found Ye Xiaoli’s phone on the floor of her house. After looking through her call logs, we found that you were the last person she called. Ye Xiaoli called you a total of four times within the span of two hours. The first call was at 1907 hours, the second was at 1915 hours, the third at 1959 hours, and the fourth at 2039 hours. The longest call was the third call, lasting 37 minutes, whereas the last call lasted for five seconds, and that was made within three minutes of the termination of the third call. This means that Ye Xiaole called you right after she hung up. Might we ask why she called you so many times before she disappeared?”

“I don’t know if you would believe there are…tainted…things…in this world? The other day she told me that she was afraid. She sounded terrified; her voice was trembling as she spoke on the phone,” said Li Siya, whimpering.

“Tainted things? Relax, Miss Li, take your time. Come, dry your tears.”

“Thank…thank you…”

“As Ms. Li is emotionally unstable at the moment, she is unfit to be questioned. We shall wait till she is ready before we proceed with the questioning.”

“I…I’m better now; continue with the questioning. Please! You have to find Ye Xiaoli! You have to save her!”

“Don’t worry, Ms. Li. It’s our job to find her. Ms. Li, you were saying that Ye Xiaoli sounded terrified on the phone?”

“That day I…I heard it. Xiaoli was scared…I could hear it in her voice. She was very frightened! In the Finance Department, she had never been the timid one. But on that day, I could hear her fear through the phone. She was scared, and she felt that she was in danger! She had just returned from her annual leave, and there was quite a fair amount of work to be done in the Finance Department. Xiaoli is one of our bosses’s relatives’s niece, and there are some financial matters that outsiders, like us, can’t know about. You understand what I’m trying to say…don’t you? On that day…Xiaoli stayed back alone. Normally, all the girls in the department stayed back, but that day was different. At seven in the evening, out of nowhere, Xiaoli called me. She sounded anxious; her voice trembled. I could feel her terror. She must have been shivering. She said that she could hear the sound of a man’s feet coming from the corridor outside her office. She said that it sounded like the man was pacing back and forth, and that the sound got louder as he slowly approached the office from the stairway–” She broke off, gasping for breath.

“Ms. Li, do you need to take a break?”

“…No…I…am better now.” She pushed between gasps.

“Okay.”

“Xiaoli said that she thought it was someone pulling a prank, but everytime she called out–“Who is it?”–or rushed out of the office to see who it was, the sound vanished, only to come back after a few minutes. It would head toward the office from the stairway, pacing continuously back and forth. Everytime it neared the office entrance it would stop. It was as if…as if one of those old, replayable cassettes, with the two spools of back tape, was being replayed–over and over again.”

“Yes, we know that.”

“After some time, Xiaoli called me again. She still sounded anxious and afraid. The sound of footfalls was still there. It never left. She could hear it pacing between the stairway and the office, continuing back and forth, exactly like a tape being played. Xiaoli was already sobbing in fear. Finally, she dashed out of her office without turning off her computer, nor finishing her work.”

“What happened after that? Did Ye Xiaoli reach home safely?”

“Yes, yes. Xiaoli was still on the phone with me when she was on the taxi ferrying her home. She was too afraid to put down the phone. She was afraid that she might start overthinking the situation. Whether it was a prank or not, she never knew. All she wanted was for me to be with her through our call. Xiaoli was really rattled this time…WAIT! That’s not right! Wrong, wrong wrong! It’s totally wrong! Xiaoli hung up once she got home, but she called back almost instantly. She was weeping and shrieking, repeating that he had arrived, he had followed her, he was coming, he was following her…Can you imagine how defenseless Xiaoli felt at the time. She lost it completely!” finished Li Siya in a whimper.

“Miss Li! What happened to Ye Xiaoli after that?”

Li Siya could not go on.

“Control your breathing. Take a deep breath and exhale slowly Miss Li, you have to find a way to calm yourself down. Now slowly calm yourself down. You are safe, no one can hurt you.”

“Inhale…exhale…inhale…exhale…

“Did the sound of the footsteps follow Ye Xiaoli to the apartment unit she was renting?”

Li Siya did not answer.

“Miss Li, was Ye Xiaoli telling you that she heard the footsteps again the last time she was talking to you over the phone before her disappearance?”

She still did not answer.

“Miss Li, please tell us right now, in the five-second call Ye Xiaoli last had with you, what happened to her? This affects the chances we have of finding your friend Ye Xiaoli within the crucial 24 hours of her disappearance.”

“Please, you have to save Xiaoli! The footsteps… the footsteps were right in Xiaoli’s apartment! It was in her apartment! It was coming out of her bedroom–step by step! Why! Why! Xiaoli was crying and screaming over the phone!”

“Are you saying that the footsteps appeared right in Ye Xiaoli’s apartment?!”

Once again the officer was met with silence.

“What happened after that? Miss Li?”

He paused but she did not answer.

“Miss Li? Miss Li!”

Silence.

“Li Siya, please cooperate with us for the purposes of this investigation. Tell us: What did Ye Xiaoli last see in her bedroom? Did the footsteps sound different from the previous one? Did it happen right in front of Xiaoli? Did Xiaoli see what the suspect looks like?”

She never answered any of the questions.

Searching case files.

‘The Fall Of Tongjiang Bridge’— questioning transcripts, police interview recorders, 212 video recordings from the Road Transport Department, a technical report of the bridge, technical reports of affected cars, SD memory cards from dashcams, autopsy reports.

Death toll: 53.

Date of the first case: 2nd of March.

Case summary: Cars were reported falling from Tonjiang Bridge into the river below. The bridge was open to the public of Zhuo City for two days as part of a trial. Over the course of the two days, twenty-one cars fell into the river, resulting in fifty-three deaths. The trial has been suspended and the bridge closed ever since. Both incidents have three things in common:

First, in both cases, all incidents took place at night with no witnesses;

Second, there were no survivors. None of the people in the cars that fell survived;

And last, CCTV footage from the Road Transport Department revealed no suspicious vehicles, people, or potential targets near any of the cars that fell at the time of the incidents.

“Um… uh… officer, do you know that we have a saying in the construction industry? It’s called… life piling.”

“Using people as piling?”

“Yes, yes. It is the same thing, it is the same thing, but it’s a taboo to say it that way. We usually call it ‘life piling’. Officer, it looks like you too…believe in this?”

“That is just an old piece of superstition made by our ancestors. An ancient habit taken from the history of Lu Ban. Are you trying to tell me that the Tongjiang Bridge incidents took place because of a missing life pile?”

“No, no, it’s not because of a missing life pile, but because of the river. The river is cruel, and this place is vicious. A single life pile…might not, um…maybe…a few more…life piles. Then maybe the viscidity of the river would be reduced. We have a saying in our line of work for that: if you can’t drill pilings in a suburb, using a life pile would grant instant success. And if you can’t drill pilings into a former cemetery, using a life pile would grant instant success…but there is also one other saying–sacrifice an animal before constructing a building, sacrifice a person before building a bridge. Building a bridge is more costly than building a tall building…”

 “Pa! Zhang Chengde, how could you, a science stream student, believe in such ancient superstitions?! As a vetran with many decades under your belt in the construction industry, you are too superstitious. Tell me, did you, Zhang Chengde, sacrifice lives for all your previous housing projects, school projects or bridge projects? Had you deceived innocent farmers, frogmen or the homeless? Did you send them underground before pouring concrete on them? Killing them for your life piles? At the end of the day, you could have explained it away as an accident, thus avoiding legal trouble, couldn’t you? I think your brain needs to be filled with bullets.”

Searching case files.

‘The Case Takeaways Infested With Human Oil’, also known as ‘The Takeaways Infused With Oil From Delivery Men’s Corpses’.

Death toll: unconfirmed.

Suspected cases: unconfirmed.

Date of the first case: unconfirmed.

Case summary: classified!