“How many this month?”
“This is the third.”
“Three people dead in one month…”
Looking at the dismembered corpse, everyone felt their stomachs turn. Some onlookers had, using the arms of others as support, already staggered over to a trash can to vomit.
“Xiao Yun, report the situation,” Chen Kun put out his cigarette, sticking his hands in his pockets. He’d been a policeman for almost ten years. He’d seen all kinds of murderers, but the “ghost” this time had caused complete chaos for the police of North City.
Three dead in one month, each more tragic than the last. The murder had even wantonly left a note at the scene signed with their own name.
“Fog-Slicing Jack1”
The name sounded like something thought up by a kid going through their chuunibyou phase.
“The deceased, Chen Xiaoyun, female, age twenty one, was a student in North City University’s Information Engineering Department. On November 27th, she requested a leave from school and did not return. The person who reported the body is Li Huiqin, female, age forty-eight, who said that she was passing by on the way to the morning market to buy cake glaze.”
Xue Yunxin, his old comrade-in-arms’ daughter. She’d be turning twenty-seven this year, and she’d already been a policewoman for five years, solving more cases than her peers. Her eyes were bright and piercing, like her father’s from back in the day.
“The corpse’s four limbs were severed. A careful examination shows that they were hacked off by a sharp weapon all at once, as indicated by the neat wound. At present, we’ve discovered a pool of a red, viscous substance about fifty meters away from the body. It’s already been sent for comparison. Uncle Chen, this murderer is, without a doubt, the same one as last time.”
Xue Yunxin took out a small plastic bag. Inside was a slip of paper.
“Für meine liebste”
Signed by that person ⸻ Jack
Chen Kun carefully read through the contents of the note. Since it’s not English, then could it be French? What the hell kind of language was it!
“Uncle Chen, this information needs further investigation. The deceased’s family has already been notified.” Xue Yunxin lowered her head, feeling sad in her heart. The best years of Chen Xiaoyun’s life had only just begun…
Chen Kun patted Xue Yunxin’s shoulder: “Xiao Yun, I know you feel bad. It’s like I told you before. Once we become police officers, we must remain indifferent to death. Our duty is to protect the living.”
Chen Kun squeezed her shoulder, wanting to end the heavy topic here. To do this job, you can’t be sentimental!
“There’s a lady over there who’s been looking at you for a while. Go ask her if she needs any help.” Chen Kun pointed at a woman in a cyan windbreaker.
Xue Yunxin looked in the direction he was pointing to, bringing that woman into her line of sight.
“I’ll go have a look.”
Xue Yunxin put down the item in her hand, jogging over to the woman.
“Hello, I’m Xue Yunxin, from the city’s criminal investigation unit. Is there anything we can help you with?”
“Thank you for your hard work, Officer Xue.”
“Ah…You’re, you’re welcome…” The woman in front of her suddenly threw out this sentence, making Xue Yunxin feel momentarily at a loss, not knowing how to continue the conversation.
“You’re a police officer now?”
The woman smiled lightly to herself. She was quite beautiful, with delicate facial features. This smile made Xue Yunxin think of a saying: “A smile from a beautiful woman charms many”2
No, no, no! Now’s not the time for some starry-eyed infatuation!
“Excuse me miss, but do we…know each other?”
With these words, the person in front of her let out a laugh. She suddenly drew close, letting out a soft breath: “I was born in the night, eating my fill of blood and rotten flesh. Now, those things can no longer satisfy me. Those people’s blood and flesh reek of decay. In my eyes, only you can satisfy me.”
When Xue Yunxin heard these words, she immediately put some distance between them.
Actually, by the time the woman was halfway done speaking, she’d already known who she was.
“Jiang Qinglan…is it you?” Xue Yunxin’s voice shook slightly. She’d never anticipated that she’d meet this person here.
The woman’s eyes crinkled as she smiled: “See, you did remember.”
Xue Yunxin put her cap back on. Her mind was already in chaos. She’d never expected to meet her again in North City, this person who’d made her feel guilty for almost ten years.
“I-I’ll go speak with our captain.”
Xue Yunxin ran to Chen Kun.
“Uncle Chen, I-I…I have something I need to take care of for a bit.”
Chen Kun stretched out his neck to take a look at Jiang Qinglan: “Running off? That was quick enough! Let me tell you, you’re an officer of the people, you can’t fool around!”
“What are you thinking?! That’s my classmate! I haven’t seen her in a while…”
Chen Kun stared at her for a time: “I’ll give you twenty minutes. That’s already being generous.”
“I know, thank you Uncle Chen.”
Xue Yunxin went over to the security line: “I’m very sorry, I’ve made you wait. Let me treat you to some milk tea!”
Jiang Qinglan grinned and nodded. The two of them walked to the closest milk tea shop and found a place to sit. This kind of feeling made Xue Yunxin feel nostalgic. When was the last time she’d gone out to chat with Jiang Qinglan…
“What are you thinking about?”
Jiang Qinglan walked over holding two cups of milk tea, sitting down in front of Xue Yunxin. Then, Jiang Qinglan laughed, passing over a milk tea. Each drank their own cup, not knowing what to talk about. The atmosphere was a bit awkward.
“I didn’t expect you to remember the words you said just now.” Xue Yunxin opened her mouth, not wanting to sit in silence for twenty minutes.
“Of course, that’s my favorite manhua. I remember every line in it.”
“Jack from Foggy City3, I know. We read it together back then.” Speaking till now, Xue Yunxin involuntarily tightened her grip on the milk tea cup.
Jiang Qinglan lowered her head and chuckled: “That was my first manhua, of course I remember…did I interrupt your work just now?”
“No no no! Don’t overthink it! You know how the police are…”
“You said before that you didn’t want to be a police officer, but in the end you became one.” These words from Jiang Qinglan made Xue Yunxin blush a little. Not out of shyness, but because she felt like she’d been exposed for a lie.
“Kids don’t know anything…how about you, what do you do for work?”
Jiang Qinglan pointed behind her toward North City University: “I’m a German language professor at the university.”
“Woah! Not bad. You deserve it, considering that you learned a language this challenging. I remember you studied well as a kid.”
When Jiang Qinglan went to school, she’d studied quite well, succeeding in many subject areas despite none of the teachers paying her any attention. As for why, it was because of Jiang Hui.
Jiang Qinglan’s father was a gambling addict, going as far as selling his own daughter into prostitution. Jiang Qinglan, who was only eleven years old at the time, used these kinds of means to earn money in her father’s place. That father ran around free every day, what did his daughter’s life or death mean to him? It was fine if she just brought him back some money.
“You’re dirty, using your body to earn money!”
These words were what those two people heard the most back then. On her first day at school, Xue Yunxin heard from another female classmate that a girl in their class earned money by selling herself.
Jiang Qinglan always wore a ragged school uniform and backpack. Anything that had to do with Jiang Qinglan was dirty, torn, and worn-out.
Xue Yunxin saw that lonely girl, saw with her own eyes how other classmates made fun of her and beat her. At that time, Xue Yunxin didn’t know the source of their hatred, nor what exactly she had done wrong to receive this kind of treatment. These questions accumulated inside of her heart, tormenting her for a long time.
Everytime she laid on her bed, she thought of that girl’s stubborn gaze, how nice looking her bright eyes were…But in her eyes, there was also a veiled rancor. Did she hate those bullies? Right, if she was in her place, she would hate them too. Then…if she didn’t join the crowd of perpetrators and went to befriend her instead, would she accept?
But, if she didn’t accept, would she be dirty too?
Xue Yunxin looked at the manhua on her desk ⸻ “Foggy City”
Today, she saw her reading surreptitiously in the classroom. She must like it. Her copy was already ragged, with some pages already ripped out. Tomorrow…I’ll go buy her a new one. She’ll definitely like it.
The liveliness of children is uncontrollable. During the afternoon break, only Jiang Qinglan remained in the classroom. It was only during this time that she could sneakily take out the book that she “picked up” and read…
“Um…”
Jiang Qingyun turned around and saw Xue Yunxin standing in front of her. She retreated a step back subconsciously.
“Don’t be scared, I didn’t come to pick on you! I came to read manhua with you!” Xue Yunxin pulled out a copy of “Foggy City” and passed it over to Jiang Qinglan.
Jiang Qinglan looked at the book, then looked at Xue Yunxin.
“I really, really, really didn’t come over to pick on you! You see, I’m here by myself. Even if I wanted to hit you, I’d be no match for you.” Xue Yunxin kept walking towards Jiang Qinglan, stuffing the book into Jiang Qinglan’s arms: “I went out and bought you one this morning!”
“What…what do you want…” Jiang Qinglan watched Xue Yunxin vigilantly. She couldn’t trust the person in front of her rashly. She stared at Xue Yunxin, like she wanted to swallow her whole.
“I-I just wanted to read some manhua with you. I-I didn’t mean anything by it…please, you can trust me! I-I’ll give you some snacks!” Xue Yunxin pulled out two packs of crackers.
Seeing how she was on guard against her, Xue Yunxin put the snacks down and ran out of the classroom’s door.
Was I just rejected by her? No no no…she must be scared of being bullied, scared that I’m like the other bullies.
People often say, children have the purest hearts. Before, Xue Yunxin had believed this wholeheartedly. But, since that day after school, when she saw a group of pure-hearted bullies stopping a frail girl at the entrance of a small shop to humiliate her to their heart’s content, she couldn’t believe it anymore.
If she had remained a bystander at that moment, she would have been no different than the bullies.
Xue Yunxin’s father was a policeman. Since the time she was little, she had been taught to never remain an onlooker to evil. She absolutely would never let herself become one of those cold-blooded people. Especially when the victim was her own classmate, and the perpetrators as well.
“Yunxin, did you just give Jiang Qinglan a manhua?”
“Mhmm, I did.”
“You’re new here, so you don’t know. Let me give you some advice. It’s best that you don’t get close to Jiang Qinglan.”
Xue Yunxin looked at the classmate in front of her, her gaze seeming to pass right through her. The girl shivered, and Xue Yunxin felt that her stare had made the other girl uncomfortable. She immediately smiled, asking: “Why? What…bad thing did she do?”
“She…I heard that she sells herself every night after school. It’s too disgusting, and it’s hard to say how many diseases she has. You should stay away from her, she might be contagious.”
1 雾切杰克：May change this translation later, depending on how it fits into the story
2 回眸一笑百媚生: Hard to translate, I don’t know if there’s a go-to English equivalent. It’s a saying from a poem from the Tang Dynasty, 《长恨歌》 by Bai Juyi.
3 雾都杰克: Almost the same as the killer’s signature, only one character different. The change is 切, meaning cut or slice, to 都, meaning city.