Deep in the Living

Chapter 1 Diary
【Old City Jail】

The building that resembles a medieval castle corresponds to the prison hall and entrance. On the fifty-meter-high walls on both sides, there are artificial sentry towers at intervals to cooperate with drones for joint inspections.

There seemed to be some kind of invisible electric grid or alternative film floating above the city wall.

A black sedan with gray lines painted on it and a metal cap on the top slowly drove along the only road and stopped in the empty prison parking lot.

The driver and the front passenger took out two black leather shoes at the same time, but the sizes were quite different.

Both of them were wrapped in black windbreakers, with eye-patterned badges on their chests, but the materials and colors were different.

The person who got out of the driver's seat was a young man who looked tender and fair-skinned, no more than 30 years old. As soon as he got out of the car, he was completely attracted by the prison.

The middle-aged man who got down from the passenger seat looked sluggish, with wrinkled bags under his eyes. He stretched as far as possible, as if he had slept all the way.

The middle-aged man did not look towards the prison, but instead cast his gaze towards the 'newcomer'.

"Are you so short-handed?"

The hoarse question was like an arm stretched out from between the rocks, pulling the young colleague's attention back from the prison.

The young man scratched his head embarrassedly and said, "Mr. Anderson, you fell asleep as soon as you got on the car... My name is Zhang Chi, from the Behavioral Science Department.

This time, the Minister arranged for me to accompany you on your "prison visit."

"Take the bird and follow me."

Zhang Chi was a little puzzled, "Does a prison like this still need birds?"

Anderson seemed unwilling to waste any more words, and he took out a metal container that looked like an egg from the lining of his coat.

Click~ The eggshell opened in a precisely mechanized manner, and a parrot-like bird was awakened and flew to Anderson's right shoulder.

Zhang Chi also placed his bird on his shoulder in a similar manner.

Just like that, the two of them walked into the oppressive prison gate one after the other.

Verify identity documents,

Surrender your weapons.

Blood test,

Psychological assessment,

After everything was ready, the two were led by a prison guard wearing a full-body protective suit to the depths of the prison, bypassing the mixed and relatively open complex area.
All kinds of obscene words were heard from the open cells in the complex area. The prisoners rarely saw outsiders wearing formal clothes without any protective measures.

Walking through the complex,
Then go through a fully enclosed corridor.

Walk down the spiral staircase at the end for fifty meters.
Arriving at the deepest area of ​​this border town prison, neither the prison guards nor the ordinary prisoners held in the comprehensive area were willing to go near it.

[Severe criminal detention area]

The prisoners imprisoned here have often committed crimes punishable by death and are extremely dangerous.

But for some reason they couldn't be allowed to die.

"Mr. Di has been moved to the "communication cubicle".

Please do not visit for more than 15 minutes. If any dangerous incident occurs during the visit, we will immediately interrupt the visit."

Anderson clasped his hands together and moved his wrists, while giving instructions to the young man beside him.

“Zhang Chi, I will mainly conduct the following conversation.

Without my permission, you are forbidden to talk to Mr. Di, and even the most basic eye contact should be minimized."

"Okay, I'll spend most of my time taking notes."

Zhang Chi has taken out the department's special notebook, ready to carefully record the content of the subsequent conversation.

"Let's go."

Go through the final transition area.

A new type of bulletproof glass is used as a partition to isolate the prisoners inside.

Zhang Chi was somewhat nervous because he had to come into contact with such a criminal on his first mission. After all, he had done his research before setting off and knew exactly what kind of dangerous person the other party was.

The archives call it a "demon".

This name comes from a survivor. According to his account, the person who was killing people at the scene was not a human being, but a demon with flaming eyes and curved horns on his head.

[Violent syndrome], [High IQ], [Lack of humanity], [Superhuman body]

Zhang Chi remembers these personal labels recorded in the files very clearly.

However, when Zhang Chi looked inside through the blocking glass, he only saw an ordinary young man doing standard push-ups.

There are no long curved horns, no devil's red skin. Instead, it has the same black hair and yellow skin as Zhang Chi.

Even when he sensed the visitor coming, the man did not stop doing push-ups, but moved his mouth slightly as he silently counted.

"198, 199, 200..."

After doing two hundred push-ups, 'Mr. Di' slowly stood up.

He deliberately wore a white shirt and trousers to greet the "guests", and because of the push-ups, sweat soaked a large area of ​​the shirt.

When Zhang Chi saw the other person's face, his first impression was friendly.

But after careful observation, Zhang Chi immediately read an invisible danger from this friendly face, and he became alert.

At this time, Mr. Di's gaze also moved over and the two looked at each other.

Zhang Chi, who became a trainee detective with perfect grades and almost full marks in all practicals, was instantly soaked with cold sweat on his back. However, he still tried his best to keep calm and nodded politely.

With the gesture of nodding and greeting, he buried his head in the notebook in his hand and recorded the [feeling] just now.

"Mr. Di, this time we are here to ask you to help analyze a special case."

Anderson took over the topic and at the same time put a document that had already been sorted out onto the scanner, and a copy was soon delivered to Mr. Di.

It only took Mr. Di three minutes to look through the documents before he stacked them neatly again and held them in his hands.

They are completely soundproofed, and communication is transmitted via electrical signals.

Mr. Di's voice is transmitted through the wall receiver, converted into electrical signals, and then transmitted to the headphones worn by the two people.

Even after processing, the sound still sounds uncomfortable.

The sound was clearly coming from the earphones, but it felt like it was coming from deep underground.

"It's been a while since I've seen a young customer. I can help you analyze the case, but there's a condition. Talking to an old man like you, Anderson, will accelerate my aging. Let this young man talk about the case."

Anderson knew the criminal's temper very well. If he refused, his trip would probably be in vain.

He turned to look at Zhang Chi who was taking notes.

“Remember, do not discuss your personal information in the following conversation. You only need to ask about matters related to the case.

I will be monitoring the entire process, and if there is any inappropriate conversation, I will terminate the visit."

As a trainee detective in the Behavioral Science Department, Zhang Chi's future work involves contact with criminals, so he decisively accepted the task.

As a senior, Anderson took the initiative to step back and leave the place to the two young people.

Zhang Chi was not in a hurry to communicate with the prisoner in front of him. He first closed his eyes and communicated with something deep in his brain in a peculiar way.

After the communication, open your eyes again.

The naivety of a newcomer disappeared in an instant, replaced by a pair of extremely determined eyes.

Just as he was about to talk to the criminal behind the bulletproof glass.

The other party had a kind look on his face, and his raised right hand was waving at him at a fixed frequency.

The sound is also synchronized between the headphones, but it has become much more friendly than before.

"Come closer..."

Words seem to penetrate the mind,

But Zhang Chi remained motionless, relying on his spirit to block the other party's verbal interference.

The voice continued to come out of the headset, "Oh? It seems that you are a very good newcomer, but well~ If you don't come forward, you don't have to talk to me."

"Go forward." Anderson's voice came from behind.

Zhang Chi looked hesitant, but still walked slowly towards it and stopped one meter away from the glass.

"Ahem~Mr. Di can talk to me..."

Just as Zhang Chi took the initiative to ask a question, a voice suddenly came from the headphones and interrupted the question.

"What's your name?" Zhang Chi also realized that he had not introduced himself yet. When he was about to say his name between his teeth, the earphones spoke again.

"Zhang~Zhen... No. Let me guess, Zhang Chi, right?"

"Yes."

Just when Zhang Chi was about to get back to the topic, the other party took the lead and directly stated the analysis results of the case:
"This 'Butterfly Killer' will continue to commit crimes within three days. It is very likely that the victim has been kidnapped by him. Go to the area where he committed his second or third crime and investigate the missing obese males aged 45 to 55. Perhaps there will be clues."

While giving the analysis results, Mr. Di folded the photocopied manuscript in his hand with delicate techniques.

"Thank you."

After getting useful information, Zhang Chi did not stay any longer. He seemed to have sensed some danger.

Just as he turned to leave, a voice came from the headset again, "So, when are you going to commit the crime?"

"Um?!"

"To put it another way, when did you start to have the urge to kill, Zhang Chi? Let me guess..."

Zhang Chi decisively took off his headphones and ended the verbal communication with Mr. Di.

However, the communication was not interrupted. Instead, the other party's voice became clearer. It was no longer a sound processed by electrical signals, but came directly from behind.

If the previous sound seemed to come from underground, then this soundtrack was like a crack in the ground leading directly to hell, and the sound from the devil was constantly seeping out from within.

"What!?"

Zhang Chi was shocked to find that the glass partition between him and the criminal had disappeared.

"Calm down~"

The whisper from his mind instantly relieved the tension. Zhang Chi quickly put on the black gloves that matched his windbreaker and switched to combat mode.

This pitch-black windbreaker uses a combat-grade multi-layer flexible metal structure that can block even medium-caliber bullets. Zhang Chi himself also scored the highest score in the group in the confrontation test before joining the company.

He assumed a Mongolian wrestling stance, ready to pin down the unarmed prisoner in front of him.

Swish!
Something flashed past my eyes so fast that I couldn't see clearly.

Then something started to fall.

Zhang Chi looked down and saw that his ten fingers were scattered all over the ground and his combat gloves were cut smoothly.

Ten fingers connected to the heart,

However, his brain suppressed the pain, and he stared at Mr. Di in front of him with his eyes wide open, and found that the paper file in the other's hand was actually folded into the shape of a knife.

"Paper!"

Zhang Chi had no time to be shocked by the opponent's move, so he moved forward and swung out his fingerless hand with all his strength.

"Snap!" There was a sound of flesh touching flesh.

His palm failed to touch Mr. Di, but his wrist was firmly grasped by the other party.

The grip didn't feel human at all, but rather like some kind of hot iron chain that was locking my wrist tightly.

"What kind of monster are you!?"

Zhang Chi still didn't give up and decisively raised his foot to kick high.

Snapped!
This time it was a real hit.

But the feeling transmitted from the instep was as if kicking the surface of stone. Mr. Di in front of him did not move at all, only his head was tilted about 10 degrees.

Danger!

Zhang Chi felt an unprecedented danger!
At this moment, the soft whispers in his head became noisy, and it even felt like his entire face was about to split apart.

sizzle~
Some tentacle-like structures oozed out from between the relaxed eye sockets and teeth, and some cracks appeared on the tip of the nose, as if the entire face was about to split open, revealing the most terrifying part inside.

Chirp! Chirp!
The birds are singing constantly,

The bird that had stood on Zhang Chi's shoulder in advance was chirping at this moment and flapping its wings frantically, trying to leave its owner.

Seeing that Zhang Chi was about to change into some terrifying posture,
Whoosh~ Something that cannot be captured by the naked eye is attacking from the front again.

Zhang Chi only felt as if something was inserted into his mouth. The horrific changes on his face were forced to stop, and his brain consciousness gradually became blurred.

Looking down,

The knife folded from paper had been inserted into the mouth and reached the brain, destroying a certain tissue.

While dying,

The brief awakening reminded Zhang Chi of something.

He seemed to hear invisible whispers from his brain from one day on.

Seems to become like a stranger now and then under the influence of whispers,

It seems that he killed his girlfriend some time ago.
Snapped!
The body fell heavily to the ground, and pink liquid flowed out of the mouth where the paper knife was inserted.

The agent was killed.

The prison alarm did not sound.

Only the bulletproof glass used as a partition was lowered from the ceiling again.

At this time, Mr. Anderson, who was standing outside the glass, slowly took out a cigarette and lit it for himself. Looking at the corpse, a hint of surprise flashed in his eyes.

He was not surprised that his colleague was killed, but was surprised that Mr. Di had become stronger during the time he was imprisoned.

Mr. Di was squatting beside the corpse, seemingly examining it and giving his analysis results. "This guy himself didn't even know that he had 'changed', thus achieving perfect camouflage... These things are 'evolving'."

Anderson's voice came through the headset: "I'm sorry to bother you, Mr. Di, with this matter."

“Since you have already determined ahead of time that this person has a problem, why not resolve it internally?”

Anderson shrugged and said, “If the news that there is a ‘fake person’ among us leaks out, it will definitely cause widespread panic. We cannot afford even a one in ten thousand risk.”

By comparison, it sounds much better that the detective is accidentally killed by the criminal while visiting the prison."

"is it?"

Mr. Di suddenly stood up, walked to the glass, and pressed his entire face against the glass, as if he was going to break through from the inside.

Anderson, the old man, was sweating profusely at the sight. "Mr. Di, there must be something in return for asking you for help. We have found the things you entrusted us with last time."

Hearing this, Mr. Di immediately returned to normal, took the initiative to step back, and his words became gentle.

"is it?"

Anderson took out an exquisite notebook with a leather cover from his coat. It looked quite old. "I'll make a copy for you now."

"No, give me the original."

Mr. Di actually held a handful of teeth, which were temporarily extracted when he examined the corpse.

These solid teeth seemed to be embedded between Mr. Di's fingers as a temporary prop.
Place five fingers on the glass surface and rotate clockwise, and a circular opening will be cut in the bulletproof glass.

Crackling~
The outstretched arm dumped the tooth out, rolling it to Anderson's feet, and then made a 'catch it' gesture.

This action directly triggered the prison alarm, and the red light flashed.

However, Anderson did not step back, but stepped forward and handed over the diary in his hand.

After taking the diary, Mr. Di instantly became "well-behaved" and his attention was completely focused on the diary.

He immediately reached out to touch the cover, and even put it to his face and sniffed it carefully, as if he was caressing the skin of his beloved.

"Ah~ It's great that it hasn't been stained by other people's scent and hasn't been looked through by anyone. Thank you, Mr. Anderson."

The visit is over.

Anderson took the initiative to explain the situation to the prison authorities and asked them not to interfere with Mr. Di's reading of the diary.

When Mr. Di returned to the room, he could no longer hold back. He washed the blood stains on his palms and then wrung them dry with a towel.

Sitting at the desk,
Use your index finger to gently lift the cover of the diary and focus your eyes on the words inside.

[Owner: Luo Di]

[Diary start: June 2026, 6]

Day 1, sunny weather

As he took in each word, Luo Di's thoughts went back several years, to that special and unique high school era.

　Keep everyone waiting for a long time

　　
　
(End of this chapter)