Chapter 736: The Birth of Urban Legends

Chen Shi rushed outside and witnessed a scene that shattered common sense.

A headless figure, stark naked except for red underwear, was rampaging on the sidewalk. Pedestrians screamed and scattered, cars screeched to a halt, causing a chain of rear-end collisions. The figure staggered like a drunkard, its right hand dangling, left leg moving forward while dragging the right, completely disoriented in its erratic path.

A woman, petrified, fell to the ground, a yellow liquid seeping from under her skirt. As the headless figure approached, she scrambled backward, screaming in terror.

Around it, a vacuum seemed to form as bystanders, shocked, hastily pulled out their phones.

Police officers, stationed at the precinct entrance, stood frozen. Pence Jue exclaimed, “Don’t just stand there! Get that body back.”

“Is… Is that even a body?” someone stuttered.

“Whatever it is, just get it back!”

Finally reacting, the police rushed forward. A young officer drew his gun, shouting at the headless figure, “Don’t move!”

“No use shouting, it can’t hear,” Chen Shi remarked.

Attempting to grab its arm, Chen Shi felt the figure panic as he touched its cold, slippery skin. It forcefully shook off his hand, limping toward the road. Stumbling on the curb, it briefly steadied itself with its left hand on the warm concrete, seeming confused for a moment, then paused.

Seizing the opportunity, police surrounded it. Any attempt to touch it prompted wild flailing, knocking aside officers until it crashed into a lamppost across the street, rebounding to the ground.

Like a fish out of water, it struggled, seemingly expending its last bit of strength. Its left hand traced something on the ground.

Police closed in, but none dared touch it, some even holding guns.

“One from the autopsy room, right?” a policeman asked.

After sketching for a while, the headless figure finally ceased moving. Chen Shi turned it over, checking for a pulse. It was warm to the touch, proving its heart had been beating moments before.

Surrounded by citizens filming with their phones, Chen Shi knew this situation was beyond control, a new urban legend born right here and now.

Pence Jue ordered a body bag, which they used to carry away the headless figure. Weeks later, in a forum, it was described as: “Expressionless, well-trained men in white coats swiftly arrived, packing the headless figure into a zippered, black waterproof bag labeled with cryptic numbers. Astonishingly, local police made no attempt to intervene, suggesting prior instructions from higher-ups.”

Upon receiving the news, Lin Qiupu rushed back. Nearly all of the Second Team’s officers were gathered in the autopsy room, staring at the reclaimed body, confirmed to be Zhang Xiao.

“How many witnesses were there?” Lin Qiupu asked.

“At least a few hundred…” Chen Shi took out his phone, scrolling through Weibo. “Weibo is exploding; this news is unstoppable.”

Lin Qiupu sighed. “How could this happen? Who was on duty at the reception? A ‘corpse’ just walked out, and no one stopped it? Did it walk out on its own?”

“We checked the surveillance; it did walk out on its own,” Lao Zhang said. “The officer on duty said there was an elderly woman who mistook this place for the police station, came in to handle household registration, and he escorted her out, pointing the way. He was standing at the door when the ‘corpse’ ran out, but it was too late.”

“Could the resurrection be related to that elderly woman?” Xu Xiaodong said anxiously.

Everyone looked at him, then ignored his speculation. Pence Jue said, “I’ll perform the autopsy later to find out the reason for this ‘resurrection.'”

“The biggest problem caused by this incident is that the murderer may already know, thinking Zhang Xiao didn’t die,” Chen Shi said.

“So what if Zhang Xiao didn’t die? Is the murderer going to come back and kill him again?” Lin Qiupu asked.

“Of course not, but to the murderer, the ‘resurrected’ Zhang Xiao might provide some clues, exposing his identity. He might take some drastic measures. For the murderer, the most terrifying thing would be a resurrected dead person, resurrected in front of the police.”

“But this ‘resurrection’ didn’t provide any clues.”

“No, it did!” Chen Shi held up his phone. “This is a video of what he wrote and drew on the ground before he died. Let’s see what he wrote.”

Everyone gathered in the conference room, projecting the video onto a white screen. They watched it several times, utterly perplexed, unable to decipher any meaning.

Lao Zhang said, “Given how fiercely he resisted before, why would he write and draw just before death, leaving us clues?”

“I guess he ‘woke up,’ thinking he was still at the crime scene, still in front of the killer, so his first instinct was to escape. Unable to see or hear, when I touched him, he thought the killer was trying to catch him and fought back desperately. But when his hand touched the road, he hesitated for a moment, probably realizing he wasn’t at the crime scene anymore, surrounded by other people, so he wanted to leave clues.”

“Old Chen, your words don’t make sense,” Lin Dongxue pointed at his head, “he doesn’t even have a head, how can he ‘think’ and ‘realize’?”

This question indeed stumped Chen Shi, unable to provide a reasonable explanation, waiting for Pence Jue’s answer.

“Hey, everyone, he didn’t write any words!” Lin Qiupu played the video again, “Look at the circles he drew on the ground, not words but radicals, he was drawing!”

So everyone took out a piece of paper and watched the video to restore the dead person’s strokes, and finally integrate everyone’s observation results, and found that the dead person painted three little people.

“What clue is this!” A policeman complained, “why didn’t he write words, he must know the name of the murderer.”

“Three people, there are indeed three people at the scene, this clue is meaningless.” Lin Qiupu said.

“The deceased was also the third victim, is this what it means?” Lin Dongxue guessed.

“Could the prostitute be an accomplice?” Xu Xiaodong said.

Chen Shi meditated in silence, the clues themselves were too vague, but the number three reminded him of one thing. Just as he was about to speak, there was a noisy sound outside, only to hear someone shouting, “You can’t go in!”

Lin Qiupu got up and took a look, closing the door immediately, his face turned pale, “Oh, the reporter came!”