False evidence

Chapter 182 Special Professions (Part 2)

Makeup artist.

Applying makeup to the dead!
Gao He and I looked at each other, both of us vaguely guessing what was going on. Gao He even took out his portable voice recorder and started recording.

Inside the restroom, the man's 'monologue' continued.

"When I first went to you, I wanted to salvage our relationship. After that, I only dared to watch you from afar. I truly loved you! But what about you? In just one year, you've already got another boyfriend?!"

"Xiaoxian, you know I can't live without you! I can't bear to see you and that man together, I really can't!"

“I can’t live without you, so… so I came up with a plan. I put on makeup and hid in the stairwell of your building. When you come home from your night shift, I’ll suddenly jump out and scare you.”

Once, twice... the more you experience it, the more you realize that ghosts aren't so scary, and a dead person is just a shell, so there's even less to be afraid of. But I never expected that the first time I appeared, you were so frightened that you fell backward and hit the back of your head!

I didn't want you to die!

"Heh...heh, but at least you won't leave me now. I know you like the rain, and every time it rains, I'll go to your grave to keep you company. I'll leave whenever the rain stops. But what about your new boyfriend? He hasn't visited you even once!"

"I got you, but I'm still looked down upon. I don't care what others think, but there's one woman—no, there are two—who, like you, have a mole between their eyebrows, but they're not as beautiful as you. Every time I see them, I think of you. Neither of them is as pretty as my girlfriend, so why do they avoid me like the plague? What right do they have?"

“I was heartbroken, and I wanted to teach them a lesson. So I dressed up as their deceased relatives and friends… I wanted them to know that ghosts aren’t scary, and corpses are just soulless shells, which are even less scary…”

"Enough!" another man's voice said in a deep voice, "You can arrest them now!"

Gao and I rushed into the toilet. In front of the last stall, a 'woman' who had been facing away from the door turned around and took off her wig.

The man dressed as a woman was Liu Hong, except that he had a mole on his forehead, which I don't know what he used to do.

In that cubicle, a man in a hospital gown with a buzz cut was huddled in the corner, a wig lying next to him.

He must have been wearing makeup, but now his face is covered in tears and snot, making it impossible to recognize him.

However, judging from his face shape, I could still recognize him as the mantis-faced figure that appeared in my dream.

The mantis-faced man seemed stunned, and after a long while, he asked, "Are you police officers?"

Upon seeing Gao He show his identification, he seemed to lose all his strength instantly, staring blankly at his bare feet, muttering, "It's just a job, why do they all discriminate against me?"

I've figured out the whole story, and upon hearing this, I couldn't help but shout:

"You said it yourself, it's just a job! No one is discriminating against you, and no one has the right to discriminate against you! Relationships and marriages require mutual consent. Some people simply can't accept the other person's feelings! Forcing the other person to accept is not love, it's selfishness!"

Before the police officers who arrived took "Mantis Face" away, Liu Hong, who had washed his face, asked Gao He and me to hand over a woman who was unconscious behind the door of the stairwell on our floor to the medical staff.

That was the woman who passed by our door that evening, and the one that Gao and I initially followed after leaving the ward.

She wasn't injured; she was simply knocked unconscious by Liu Hong after entering the stairwell.

I breathed a sigh of relief.

The tragedy in his dream did not happen in reality. Meng Chao should still be sleeping soundly in his dormitory bed.

This beautiful woman was the female victim in my dream. She's alright.

However, another 'mantis face'...

It can only be said that reality is often more convoluted and unexpected than stories.

The next day at noon, Gao He came to my ward again.

"That guy last night was a makeup artist at a funeral home. He's been sent for a forensic psychiatric evaluation. More than two years ago, he broke up with his girlfriend, Li Xiaoxian. A year later, Li Xiaoxian had an accident in front of her apartment building and died despite attempts to save her."

Gao He took a deep breath. "Our people investigated along this direction and found that both victims had visited the local funeral home where he worked before the incident because of the death of relatives or friends. Lou Yihua is the woman from yesterday. Her sister, Lou Yiya, died unexpectedly eight days ago, and her funeral was also held at that funeral home. So, she is the third target."

I asked, "The first two victims both had moles between their eyebrows, but Lou Yihua didn't."

Gao He said, "We checked Li Xiaoxian's information, and she and Lou Yihua look about 70% alike. This may have triggered the murderer... triggered another abnormal thought in the suspect. As for what the suspect was thinking, unless he says it himself, it's hard for ordinary people to imagine."

This morning we also took a statement from Lou Yihua. I found that she is also very superstitious. And last night happened to be the seventh day after her sister's death.

The sisters were very close. One night, hearing a knock at the door, they saw a woman in a hospital gown walking unsteadily. The sister assumed it was her sister's spirit returning from her seventh-day memorial service, and that the woman might have some last words. So, in a daze, she followed her.

I can only shake my head and sigh. It goes without saying what kind of makeup a mortuary makeup artist would give herself as a form of "punishment" for those who despise her profession.

Even an ordinary person would be startled by such makeup. Let alone someone who believes in ghosts and spirits. To see such a terrifying face at night…

Pidan and the monkey who came this morning have already heard the whole story from me.

The monkey asked, "What will be the verdict for that 'mantis'?"

Gao He said, "The nature of the case will depend on the results of his mental evaluation."

Pidan said, "Actually, he's quite pitiful too..."

As I shook my head, Gao He immediately retorted, "Sanqi said last night that no one has the right to discriminate against someone else's legitimate profession! Perhaps Li Xiaoxian can't accept his profession, but that doesn't mean it's discrimination. He's just getting stuck on his own issues, and his mental state clearly deteriorated later on."

Gao was silent for a while, then suddenly asked me, "Do you remember the old man who asked us for cigarettes yesterday? He's not dead."

"Oh."

“He is Lou Yihua’s father. He was hospitalized because of Lou Yiya’s death. If Lou Yihua had had an accident last night, then he would have… So, what you said yesterday was right. It’s just that the whole thing triggered a chain reaction, which is why he’s alright.”

I asked Gao He, "Where is Liu Hong?"

"He also stayed up all night, and went home after giving his statement."

Gao He said, "He knew you had questions, and he asked me privately to tell you that he has very sharp ears. Yesterday, when Lou Yihua passed by the door, he heard another set of footsteps, also high heels, but the sound was clearly different. The point of impact was different; it should have been a man wearing high heels."

He said he heard a man in high heels enter a room on this floor, and that the clothes and wig he wore last night were found in that room—the storage room. They were likely what the suspect was wearing when he followed Lou Yihua to the hospital. The fact that there were two wigs might suggest that the suspect wasn't completely mentally ill, but rather had some premeditation.

I truly find what he said unbelievable. You say he didn't install any listening devices? How could he hear so much with just his ears?

(End of this chapter)