Chapter 212: Serial Number
This translation was originally posted on https://love4baihe.blogspot.com please read it there. and check out other stories too.
“XFH2508...” Xi Mo muttered this combination of letters and numbers, seemingly lost in thought.
She always felt like she had seen a similar combination somewhere before, but couldn't quite place it.
“This number was carved directly into the flesh.” Ruan Yesheng’s face was somewhat pale. “When I saw it back then, the skin was already torn open and scabbed over. Moreover, I don’t know what tool was used to carve it. It didn’t look like a knife, but rather some kind of extremely sharp object. Even the edges of the flesh were curled.”
After that, she spoke of an even more horrifying fact, trembling as she said, “Also... on my father’s corpse, back then, a number was also carved in the same way. It was just a bit different. His was XFH25086789.”
Xi Mo felt increasingly uncomfortable, and her face darkened. “But in the files I saw, there was no record of this.”
“The information you got from your father wasn’t 100% complete, but he certainly didn’t deliberately hide anything from you,” Ruan Yesheng said. “He also needed to use some special channels to obtain these things, but the police kept this case very well hidden, so it’s normal that he missed some things. For example, you probably didn’t see the photo of that hand, right? Otherwise, you would have mentioned it to me, but you didn’t.”
Xi Mo said, "I didn't see it, but I remember you told me before that you saw a photo in the landfill, a photo of someone's hand, but you felt it didn't look like a human hand, could it be..."
She roughly guessed what it was.
Suppressing her inner pain, Ruan Yesheng continued analyzing with her, “...Yes. That photo was found by me that day when I went to Xiao Hui Ling Landfill, from the clothes pocket of my father’s... corpse. Later after I decided to call the police, I knew this photo would become a clue and be kept by the police, so I kept a copy myself. That photo is also inside the file box now.”
Xi Mo lowered her head and searched through the file box Ruan Yesheng pointed at. Very quickly, she found the photo.
They were three bloodstained photos stacked together.
Xi Mo picked up the three photos and looked at them, only to discover that the three photos were exactly the same. The image was all of the hand Ruan Yesheng described. The lighting, shooting angle, and everything else had no difference at all.
Only the material details were different. This should have been caused by different replications.
“...This is?” Xi Mo was confused and looked at Ruan Yesheng.
She felt these should not have been three copies replicated by Ruan Yesheng at the same time, but rather three identical photos obtained by Ruan Yesheng through three different channels.
But if that was the case, then it became even stranger.
“One of these three photos of the hand was found on my father’s corpse. Another one was the one I just mentioned, found inside the pocket of that suspected guide. The last one was found on that team leader from Guizhou. It was also a replicated copy. Her older sister gave it to me, while the original version was archived by the police.”
Xi Mo finally understood why the bloodstains were distributed differently in the three photos.
Because whether it was Yan Biechun, that suspected guide, or that team leader, when they were discovered, they were all covered in blood, so the photos definitely got stained with blood too. And when replicated, those bloodstains could not be removed.
Ruan Yesheng’s eyes darkened as she said, “On that team leader too, a group of letters and numbers was cruelly carved. Hers was XFH25083707.”
Xi Mo immediately grabbed a piece of white paper and wrote down the three numbers on the desk, saying, "XFH25081459, XFH25086789, XFH25083707. The first four digits of XFH2508 are consistent; only the last four digits change. Generally, if a number is used, it's either to distinguish goods, data, software versions, etc., or it's... an experiment number. All three of them are related to the scientific expedition team that went to Guizhou, so the most likely explanation is that it's an experiment number."
Ruan Yesheng slowly nodded. “Back then I also thought the same. Maybe during that Guizhou scientific expedition, this kind of experiment number was used.”
Her tone shifted again as she said, “But later I still felt something was very wrong, and there was a strong feeling of discomfort. First, although that hand looked like it belonged to a human, it was a bit twisted. So who exactly was its owner? Second was the way the photos were placed.”
Ruan Yesheng's words grew increasingly chilling: "The person behind this not only deliberately lured the desperately searching families into discovering the horribly mutilated corpses, but also placed photos of this hand inside the pockets. These photos appeared in an extremely brazen and blatant manner, showing no fear that the hand would become a clue in the investigation. If there had only been one photo, maybe it was evidence the victim desperately tried to leave behind. But these were three photos appearing at the same time...”
Xi Mo said in a low voice, "You think this hand belongs to the murderer, and that the murderer deliberately placed photos in their pockets as a provocation."
“…Yes.” Ruan Yesheng said, “If this direction holds true, then the three bloody numbers could also be a provocation, deliberately carved by the murderer. Then the credibility of the clues pointed to by these numbers is not that high anymore.”
As she said this, she pointed to the three numbers that Xi Mo had written down and said, "Especially the last four digits of these three numbers. If 1459 looks normal and 3707 is also acceptable, then what is this 6789?"
Xi Mo's expression grew even more somber.
"Are they... really real serial numbers?" Ruan Yesheng's lips moved, but then she suddenly said, "XFH25084608, XFH25081998."
Xi Mo stared at Ruan Yesheng, looking at her carefully.
Ruan Yesheng said in a low voice, "Look, I just mentioned two more numbers. At first glance, they seem to follow this format, but... these two are just things I made up. I randomly made up four last digits. Looking at them like this, don't they look a bit like the style of the last digits 6789? At least I used 1998, but that 6789 didn't even bother to hide it. It just feels like a reckless mockery.”
Xi Mo didn't speak. She seemed to remember something, and she lowered her head, trying hard to recall it and make the memory clearer.
Perhaps thinking of Yan Biechun's tragic death, Ruan Yesheng's heart was filled with hatred, and she gritted her teeth slightly and said, "I think... the murderer who carved these numbers did not treat the dead as human beings at all, but rather as objects, no... as experimental subjects. These numbers seem to be some kind of deliberate revenge. Later, as the investigation progressed, I discovered the existence of a person, and this person made me more and more certain of this idea."
"Who is it?" Xi Mo asked hurriedly.
Ruan Yesheng said, "It's a person with a tattoo on their arm, and what this person has tattooed is not just any tattoo, but a similar number. This number is XFH25081637."
Xi Mo pondered: "This is a new number, so there are now four groups."
Ruan Yesheng nodded and said, "This number was indeed tattooed. Tattoos are often a subjective choice, done out of one's own will, but those numbers carved on corpses are purely malicious torture. I don't know why that person would choose the number 1637 as a tattoo, but it must have some meaning for that person. Compared to the numbers on corpses, it's a completely different feeling. Tinghuan and I both think this person is suspicious, so Tinghuan asked some people to investigate to see if anyone has seen this person again."
As Ruan Yesheng spoke, her voice trembled slightly as she said, "Finally, we got some clues. When I was on the Sui Ting set before, I took a leave of absence once, and when I came back, we even ate braised pork knuckle together. That time, I was actually going to meet Tinghuan, and she asked Cui Jiashu to bring back a person wearing a baseball cap. That person in the baseball cap said that he had seen a person with the number 1637 tattooed on their arm at a hospital in Changsha."
She described in detail everything that happened that day, including some details about Cui Jiashu. After listening, Xi Mo realized that Yan Tinghuan's connections were indeed quite extensive; perhaps even Cui Jiayu didn't know that Yan Tinghuan and Cui Jiashu were so familiar with each other.
“More importantly, there was someone else with the person who had the number tattooed on their arm.” Ruan Yesheng’s hand, resting on the desk, trembled slightly. She said, “That person might be my mother.”
"Your mother?" Xi Mo found this even more unbelievable: "If she's your mother, why doesn't she come looking for you?"
“…I don’t know either.” Ruan Yesheng’s eyes were slightly red as she said, “Over the years, Tinghuan has been using her network to help me find clues about my mother. So that guy in the baseball cap had seen a picture of my mother. When he saw it at the hospital, he said the person looked a lot like my mother, and he also said that the person had a scar on their hand. My mother does have a scar on her hand.”
“No wonder… you were so downcast when you came back that day.” Xi Mo understood everything and became even more gloomy.
This translation was originally posted on https://love4baihe.blogspot.com please read it there. and check out other stories too.
Ruan Yesheng lowered her head: "I think my mother has some kind of trouble, which is why she doesn't come to see me, or perhaps she has some health problems and has forgotten about her family. That's also possible. Tinghuan thinks there are still some doubts. I know she's afraid that I'll get too deeply involved and become too obsessed."
“No matter what, I don’t think it’s a bad thing to have hope in your heart,” Xi Mo said. “However, the person with the number tattooed on their arm is indeed very suspicious. They might be related to the mastermind behind the murder, or maybe they are the murderer themselves? Otherwise, why were everyone else cruelly treated and toyed with through these numbers, while this person only had a tattoo?”
“Since that incident, we have never found any trace of the tattooed man again, as if he had vanished from the world,” Ruan Yesheng said regretfully.
The study fell silent. Xi Mo's gaze fell once again on the white paper with the number written on it. She pondered for a while, then suddenly looked up.
“I remember now.” Xi Mo stood up from the chair and said, “…Uncle.”
"What?" Ruan Yesheng was somewhat confused.
“I’ve seen a similar number at my uncle’s place before. I’m pretty sure the first part is the same, but I don’t know what the last few digits are.”
"When did you see it?" Ruan Yesheng immediately tensed up, feeling a chill run down her spine.
Xi Mo hurriedly said, "It happened several years ago. It was during the Spring Festival, and I went with Sister Jian Hui to visit my uncle. I told you before, my uncle's name is Jian Sun. He is my mother's younger brother. He has a somewhat aloof personality, but he controls the Jian family's business. Everyone respects and fears him. After giving gifts during the Spring Festival, everyone ran away. Only Sister Jian Hui and I stayed there for dinner. Jian Hui is a relative from my mother’s side, and she has always treated us especially well.”
She tried hard to recall the scene: "Sister Jian Hui had prepared the meal and asked me to call my uncle for dinner. So I went to my uncle's study to call him. The study door was half open, and there was a whiteboard inside. I knew that my uncle had been investigating something, and that whiteboard was what he used to analyze it. When I went there, I saw a number written on the whiteboard. He was standing next to it, staring at the number on the whiteboard and pondering over it."
“And when I knocked on the door, my uncle erased the number,” Xi Mo continued.
Author’s Note:
The tattoo number was in Chapters 71 and 72. This number is different from the number from the beginning in Chapter 15.
