Chapter 1: The Uncatchable Serial Killer

When I got off work and came home, I found my seven-year-old daughter was not at the door to greet me; instead, a strange man was sitting on the sofa.

He quickly stood up, held a knife to my neck, claimed to be a kidnapper, and told me to guess where he had hidden my lovely daughter.

Driven by panic, I quickly ran toward the bedroom wardrobe, the only hiding place in the house.

The kidnapper smiled and congratulated me on guessing correctly.

I opened it and saw my daughter's head.

Only at that moment did I understand—no matter where I guessed she was, it would be the correct answer.

Every room had a part of my daughter.

………………

"This is the fifth case this month! A mother and daughter died in a residential building in the bustling city! If we don't catch the killer, the people will point their fingers and curse us!"

"Captain Li, once might be a surveillance malfunction, but five times in a row with nothing captured... could the killer be using some special equipment to interfere with the surveillance?"

Inside the major case squad meeting room, Captain Li Guoqiang gritted his teeth, his bloodshot eyes wide open, looking like an angry golden vajra that no one dared to look directly at.

Hearing his subordinate's speculation, he glared at him with the frustration of a master disappointed in his student, roaring, "Don't others think of this? The key is exactly what method was used to interfere with the surveillance! Tell me, what equipment can disable the surveillance for the killer without disrupting its normal operation?"

Upon hearing this, the room fell silent.

Because this was truly too unbelievable.

All five cases were exactly like this—

Checking the surveillance showed the footage and timeline were running smoothly, proving no one had tampered with it; it had been operating normally the whole time, and no one had entered the victims' homes, yet the people just inexplicably met their doom!

Even the home of the mother and daughter involved in last night's incident had surveillance; when retrieved, it showed the mother returning from work and disappearing inexplicably the moment she entered the house.

It was a full hour later before the mother's figure reappeared.

But by then, she was just like her daughter, scattered throughout every room.

Her head hung before the living room surveillance camera, dripping viscous blood; her hollow, despairing eyes and the expression forcibly pried into a smile seemed like the killer's arrogant provocation to the police.

Vanishing into thin air and suddenly reappearing.

It was simply like a ghostly wall from a strange tale or various supernatural events.

Even the members of the major case squad couldn't help but let their minds wander toward strange, supernatural directions.

But they dared not reveal such thoughts in front of Captain Li Guoqiang.

Otherwise, they would surely be screamed at and scolded head to toe.

"Sigh! Forget it, that's all for today. Everyone, think about any leads after you get home, and be safe on your way."

After sighing heavily, Li Guoqiang waved his hand, dismissing the team to go home and rest.

After all, since the case was discovered last night, no one had rested much, and it was already one o'clock in the morning of the second day.

"Captain Li, you should get some rest too."

"Yes, please don't fall ill before the killer is caught."

"..."

Before leaving the meeting room, the team members one by one offered their concern to Li Guoqiang; they actually respected this captain quite a bit, after all, he had led them to solve many difficult cases, big and small.

After everyone had left, Li Guoqiang also packed up the case files, bound them, and prepared to go home.

The wind on the street at one in the morning in summer was not cold; in fact, it was a bit stifling and hot.

Li Guoqiang frowned, feeling his body send out an unhappy warning of hunger.

His gaze unconsciously turned toward a barbecue stall in a rarely visited alley that currently had no customers.

He was too hungry.

Both physically and mentally, he was starving and couldn't wait to eat and relax properly.

Driven by bodily instinct, Li Guoqiang walked toward the barbecue stall without the slightest hesitation.

But just before entering the shop door, he still forced himself to hold back the hunger, frowned, took a palm-sized spirit tablet stained with sticky, wet mud from his pocket, and placed it upright at the entrance of the barbecue stall.

"Boss, grill something."

"I want a serving of brain, one heart, and a serving of kidneys; remember to wash them clean, I'll grill them myself."

"Hmm? I'm not joking; these things must be grilled by me personally, after all, how can the ingredients themselves be the chef?"

………………

One hour later, Li Guoqiang left the shop.

The gloomy expression from before was swept away, replaced by a slightly crazy and cruel smile that lingered on his face for a long time without fading.

He wiped the specks of blood from the corner of his mouth.

Bending down to pick up the spirit tablet stained with sticky, wet mud and tucking it back into his pocket, he hummed a cheerful little tune and walked away, his steps growing distant.

Yes...

What equipment could make a person disappear from surveillance without affecting its operation?

That would naturally be equipment, or rather, power, beyond human understanding.

That spirit tablet could do all of this!

After placing it at the door of a house, everything done inside could not be observed, and even the traces of oneself having entered the place would be silently erased, leaving not a single clue!

Setting aside the fact that the eerie power of the spirit tablet would make it impossible for anyone to find evidence.

Still, no one could imagine that the captain of the major case squad in charge of this case was a maniac with an extreme inner craving for killing and blood.

No one could catch him!

Ever since obtaining this spirit tablet, this city, like a spicy, passionate woman, had had its glamorous exterior completely torn off by him, revealing the drool-worthy body beneath.

He could unrestrainedly vent his wild and cruel desires in the city's night.

In Li Guoqiang's view, this city had clearly become his own personal playground!

Killing had also become a perverted craving to please him, a game to satisfy his inner desires!

"The more I think about it, the hungrier I get... How about I break the rules and have a second meal today?" Li Guoqiang felt the barbecue stall's delicacies had not filled his spiritual world.

He now wanted a game of pure slaughter, not the barbaric act he had just committed merely to fill his stomach.

Thinking of this, Li Guoqiang looked around the alley to see if there were any other targets.

After all, it was already one o'clock in the morning.

Finding a secluded shop with its door still open so he could enter was still somewhat difficult.

Although the existence of the Spirit Tablet meant he could break into any random house, that would be a complete waste of effort.

Moreover, it did not align with his enjoyment of slaughter.

"Oh? This place is nice... an escape room? Hehe, let's see if you can really escape."

Li Guoqiang found a horror-themed escape room shop that was open, cleaning up, and preparing to close for the day.

There was no one around the shop.

He skillfully placed the Spirit Tablet and walked inside.

At this moment, only one male remained in the shop, wearing an expression of utter hopelessness on his face; those dead-fish eyes showed not a shred of motivation, and he looked to be in his early twenties, sweeping the floor and wiping tables.

Hearing him walk in, the other party didn't even turn around, speaking weakly with his back turned: "I clocked off a minute ago. I'm not very welcoming of your visit; please come again tomorrow."

"Sorry, I didn't mean to affect your clocking off; I just wanted to ask, roughly how long does it take to play an escape room game?" Li Guoqiang asked with a smile, polite and gentlemanly, but the excitement in his eyes had already made his breathing slightly rapid.

"About two hours. Please lift your foot; the area by the door hasn't been swept yet. Thanks."

The boy bent over, sweeping on his own, completely unaware of Li Guoqiang's increasingly cruel expression and the telescopic baton and small knife he was slowly taking out of his pocket.

Obviously, this was a worker completely drained of vitality by work.

And judging by the other party's age, he probably hadn't even attended university; he must have just finished the college entrance exam...

No, perhaps he hadn't even finished school and dropped out to work.

His tone revealed a sense of lazy impatience; his emotional intelligence wasn't very high either; where is the logic in telling a guest they aren't welcome?

Someone like this, even if just doing odd jobs, probably wouldn't be liked by colleagues, right?

Li Guoqiang liked observing the mental state of his prey.

Now he was very satisfied with the other party's state: someone who might at any moment blame heaven and complain about others, might vent their dissatisfaction with life to anyone, and might even shout self-comforting phrases like "born at the wrong time," indicating that living was no better than dying.

Humans are always saying one thing and meaning another.

Although he looked like someone with no hope left in life, how intense would his desire to survive be when he discovered he was truly facing death?

Looking at those frail, weak, thin arms and legs, how much strength would he unleash to struggle when the knife pierced his limbs?

When Li Guoqiang killed that mother and daughter, he became addicted to this feeling: giving the other party a little hope first, then extinguishing it; this feeling of controlling another's fate made him unable to extricate himself!

"Two hours? I'm looking forward to it."

He truly hoped this boy could properly enjoy the escape game for the next two hours!

The Spirit Tablet had another ability: inside the affected house, no one except himself could leave!

Even if they managed to run out the main door, the victim would only burst out from another window or door like a ghost blocking the path and return to this room.

This is a true escape room!

Li Guoqiang curled his lips into a perverted smile, raised the small knife, and stabbed fiercely into the boy's back!

………………

Ten minutes later.

Pfft—

Wu Wang pulled his hand out from the chest of the strange man who had just barged into the shop and inexplicably attacked him; the chest no longer rose and fell.

Feeling the heart in his hand, which had stopped beating but was still warm, he casually tossed it into the trash can, making a plop sound; blood water dripped drop by drop from the edge of the trash can onto the floor.

His face still wore that expression of utter hopelessness, as if drained of all vitality by work.

Those dead-fish eyes first looked at the middle-aged man's corpse, then surveyed the bloodstains on the floor.

He sighed.

The easiest thing of tonight was solved.

Now the only problem was—the floor he had just finished sweeping was dirty again.