I changed the world.

A car painted with the word "Patrol" stopped near the sidewalk. This was not a main road, and there weren't many pedestrians. Two uniformed police officers got out of the car. One of them, a middle-aged man who looked older and was around forty, pushed up his bowler cap and looked up at the building in front of him.

"No. 382, ​​Bajiao Lane, this is the place where the police were called before."

This is a rather old-looking 7-story building with yellow walls, a fairly common type of tenement building. Such buildings are very common in the main urban area, and most of them were built around the 1980s.

"Hey, Brother Wang, is this another false alarm?" Another young policeman, who looked to be in his early twenties, yawned and said, "We've already encountered two false alarms this week."

"I don't know, but the operator said the call was made using a personal cell phone, so it's probably not a fake." The middle-aged policeman placed his hand on his baton and said, "In any case, it's always better to be careful."

"Better safe than sorry, I understand."

The two policemen locked the car and then walked towards the nearby tenement building.

"At 20:06, we received a call from an upstairs resident who said they heard strange, pitiful screams coming from the first floor and asked us to come and check the situation." The middle-aged policeman pulled up the call log on his phone and confirmed it again.

"Could it be domestic violence..." the young policeman guessed.

"We cannot rule out that possibility. However, when the call center contacted the person who reported the incident, they said that the first floor was a rental unit, so they were unaware of the living situation."

"We'll find out soon enough by asking."

The two policemen looked around as they walked down to the first floor. The hallway lights seemed to be broken, so the two policemen simply turned on their flashlights and shone them around as they walked to the door. The younger policeman reached out and pressed the doorbell.

A pleasant ringing sound rang out, but after ringing for a while, no sound came through until the ringing stopped.

The two policemen exchanged a glance, and the younger officer rang the doorbell again, but no sound came through until the doorbell went silent.

"Is he not home?" the young policeman muttered, and then began banging on the door with his palms, making quite a lot of noise.

"Damn it, my hands are numb from clapping..." After clapping for a while without any response, the young policeman withdrew his hands and shook his palms: "Brother Wang, it seems they're not home. We don't have a search warrant. Maybe they're just a couple arguing. It's not right to just break down the door. Why don't we go back first?"

"Well... that's the only way. I'll report the situation first, and let's leave this case as it is for now..." The middle-aged policeman nodded. For patrol officers, there are countless trivial matters every day, and it's impossible to investigate every single one. In situations like this, this is usually how it's handled.

The middle-aged policeman lowered his head, pulled out the walkie-talkie from his waistband, and was about to call headquarters when suddenly, he caught sight of something out of the corner of his eye…

"Huh?!" He crouched down and shone his flashlight under the door crack. There were some damp patches there, as if some dark liquid had seeped out. He reached out and touched the damp patch on the ground with his index finger, then brought it to his nose and sniffed.

"The smell of blood!" The policeman's face changed drastically, and he stood up abruptly: "Something really serious has happened."

Upon hearing this, the young policeman quickly crouched down, reached out and touched the liquid seeping from the crack in the door, sniffed it, and said, "It really is blood... Brother Wang, do you think there might be something inside..."

"Let me report this first." The middle-aged policeman picked up the walkie-talkie: "Hello, Chief Li, something's happened here. I'm currently on the first floor of No. 382, ​​Bajiao Lane. No one is answering the door, but there's blood seeping out from under the door. We suspect a murder has occurred inside. Um... um... okay... we'll be on the lookout... okay... over."

Putting down the walkie-talkie, the middle-aged policeman said to his partner, "Chief Li said their reinforcements will be here soon. We'll have to assess the situation ourselves. If it's not too dangerous, you're allowed to break down the door."

"Then what are we waiting for? I'll go get the battering ram." The young policeman looked both nervous and excited. This was the first time he had encountered such a scene since graduating from police academy two years ago.

"Well, you go."

The battering ram was quickly taken by the young policeman. Because it might involve a murder, Officer Wang immediately drew his sidearm, a 9mm police revolver with a six-round magazine and good accuracy within 25 meters. Officer Wang carefully disengaged the safety, held the gun with both hands, and nodded to his partner.

Without hesitation, the young policeman gripped the battering ram with both hands, aimed it at the door latch, and then swung backward like on a swing, using the momentum to slam it down hard.

In just a couple of seconds, the lock was broken open, and the young policeman stepped forward and kicked the door open, then shone his flashlight, which was already set to high beam, inside.

"We are police officers, inside..." The police officer surnamed Wang shouted, pointing his revolver at the open doorway. However, before he could finish speaking, the second half of his sentence got stuck in his throat.

Blood... Looking through the open doorway, the walls and floor inside the room were covered in splattered blood. Besides the blood, there were also scattered pieces that looked like chunks of meat, as if a live fish had been chopped up on a cutting board...

"Ugh..." The strong smell of blood and the horrific scene made the young policeman holding the flashlight vomit.

"This..." The middle-aged policeman covered his mouth with his hand, barely managing to suppress the surging emotions. Then he took out the walkie-talkie and brought it to his mouth: "Hey, Chief Li, we've broken down the door. There's blood everywhere inside. It must have been a murder. We're going in to check it out... Okay, we'll be careful. Okay... Received... Over."

"Ah Hao, go inside, be careful... take out your gun, don't hesitate if there's any danger."

The young policeman next to him had finished vomiting and wiped his mouth. His face was pale. He hesitated when he heard this, but after glancing at his partner, he decided not to say anything cowardly. He pulled out his revolver and held it in his hand, while holding a flashlight in his other hand and shining it as he walked inside.

P.S.: I've created a QQ book club group (856901067). Feel free to join if you're interested.

Chapter Fifty-Three: Cat?! Monster?!

Upon entering, one finds the living room, which is completely dark as the lights are off. In the beam of a flashlight, the floor is covered in bloodstains. Two policemen walk in one after the other. The middle-aged policeman tries to turn on the light switch by the door, but it doesn't respond after a few tries.

"I can't turn on the light, is it a tripped circuit breaker or something else...?"

"I don't know, just be careful..."

There were mutilated pieces of flesh lying on the ground. The middle-aged policeman squatted down and, despite his discomfort, looked at them. There were many pieces of clothing still hanging on them, so they were indeed human body fragments.

"Hey, Chief Li, we've entered. We found body parts in the living room, confirming it's a dismemberment case. The killer's methods were extremely brutal. We're going to check the other rooms. Over..."

"Brother Wang, look!" came a low exclamation from the side. The middle-aged policeman quickly turned his gaze and saw four deep marks on the wall where the young policeman's flashlight beam shone, as if some prehistoric monster had scratched it.

"What...is this? Are these marks made with a knife?" the young policeman gasped.

"I don't know... but it looks very powerful." The middle-aged policeman frowned and shook his head.

"There shouldn't be anything left here. Let's go check the rooms inside."

Moonlight streamed into the room through the window, casting eerie shadows of the furniture onto the walls. A strong stench of blood permeated the air. In this atmosphere, two policemen, armed and on high alert, slowly made their way into the bedroom.

Besides the largest living room, the house also has two bedrooms. The two police officers first went to one of the bedrooms and shone a flashlight inside. The bedroom was empty, with nothing found except a bed and two bedside tables.