Bureau of Demon Affairs CH12
Chapter 12: Happy Birthday
Zhou Xun switched on her flashlight, the beam cutting into the damp depths of the bridge underpass.
What greeted her were tents, bedding, pots, pans, and piles of domestic trash. A faint, sharp smell of urine hung in the air. It was clearly a place where a vagrant had made a home.
Earlier that day, Zhu Zhu from the tech department had helped them pull the records of every car owner who had gone up the mountain in the past two weeks. After contacting them one by one, they finally struck gold. On the afternoon of March 9th, a young couple on a picnic had encountered a man covered in blood. He claimed he’d been attacked by a wild animal. They had driven him toward the city hospital, but in a moment of distraction, the man had vanished—taking a navy blue hoodie with him. When Captain Du showed them Zhang Guangjun’s photo, the couple confirmed it with a nod.
Zhou Xun and Du Xingwang had immediately led a search near the area where the suspect disappeared. He was skilled at avoiding cameras, but a living being always leaves a trail. They checked convenience stores for shoplifting and local residences for break-ins, but their initial sweep had yielded nothing.
His counter-surveillance is too high, Zhou Xun thought. If the cameras never caught "Zhang Guangjun’s" face, the only possibility was that he had already changed it.
Finally, she and Tang Na tracked the trail to the bridge.
As they drew closer, Zhou Xun shone her light into a dark green tent. A figure in a worn-out windbreaker was lying on its side, head turned inward. It remained motionless, offering no reaction to their approach or the blinding light.
Tang Na called out to him. No response. Zhou Xun flipped him over and the moment she touched him, she knew. The skin beneath the clothes was as hard as a board.
When the body rolled over, both women recoiled.
The victim’s face had been removed. Without eyelids or lips, the unfocused blue tint of the eyeballs stared back at them, framed by protruding gums and two rows of yellowed teeth.
It was him.
Tang Na knelt to perform a preliminary check. Aside from the missing face, the victim had ligature marks and fractures in the neck. The fingernails were a dark reddish-black, accompanied by signs of incontinence—classic markers of death by mechanical asphyxiation. She keyed her radio and reported the find to Du Xingwang.
Zhou Xun drew her weapon and searched the rest of the underpass, but found nothing but more trash. She circled back to wait for the team with Tang Na.
She let out a long sigh. In less than a week, they had found three bodies. The discovery of the first had been live-streamed to the world; even though the video was taken down, the public outcry was deafening. The pressure on the Bureau was becoming a crushing weight.
"He was strangled," Tang Na noted.
Zhou Xun focused, kneeling beside her. Unlike the serial killer’s usual ritualistic gore, this vagrant had been killed by brute force—strangulation so efficient it was almost merciful. He hadn't been made to suffer.
Seeing Tang Na’s furrowed brow, Zhou Xun decided to test the rookie. "How do you see the connection between this victim and Zhang Guangjun?"
Tang Na looked up, realizing this was an evaluation. She thought carefully before speaking. "This victim was a vagrant. Like Zhang Guangjun, he was a human male, but he didn't suffer excessive violence beyond the act of killing. The killer clearly didn't have a specific grudge against him, he just wanted his face."
"But with Zhang Guangjun," Tang Na continued, "the MO was exactly like the cases from thirteen years ago. He was a father. He had a family."
"And you think that specific trait triggered the killer's bloodlust?" Zhou Xun prodded.
Over the last few days, Tang Na had devoured every file related to "The Leather Face". Though the Bureau knew little about him, his pattern was always premeditated. He selected victims, observed their families, and then moved. Zhang Guangjun’s appearance on the mountain was an accident—he was there to dump a body—but the killer still reverted to the brutal dismemberment style.
Why? What provoked him?
Tang Na analyzed it, encouraged by Zhou Xun’s nod. "The killer is a Demon. And Zhang Guangjun was someone who harmed demons."
"Exactly!"
The profile was sharpening: Male, Demon, hostile toward humans who harmed other demons, and harboring a deep-seated hatred for failed or abusive fathers. Furthermore, the killer tended to approach the children of his victims, showing kindness, perhaps even a twisted sense of apology or compensation. He was obsessed with replacing the dead man to play the role of a "good father".
"What did the killer go through?" Tang Na asked. "Did he have a terrible father? Is this all some sort of overcompensation?"
"Perhaps." Zhou Xun thought of Fang Nan. "But look at the pattern: he took the first victim's child swimming, wrote to the second's daughter about the zoo, and wanted to take the third's child to an amusement park."
"It’s like he’s trying to coax a small child," Tang Na realized.
"Correct."
He plays the father, compensating a child who is still quite young.
Tang Na asked, "Did the killer lose a child of his own?"
Zhou Xun shook her head. "The target of his hatred is specifically human, and specifically middle-aged men."
Tang Na sucked in a breath. "The killer is the child!"
Zhou Xun nodded. "The killer likely suffered at the hands of a human father when he was young. Since his hatred is directed at humans, it's highly probable the killer is a half-human, half-demon hybrid."
* * *
By the time the scene was processed and the paperwork filed, it was 8:30 PM. Zhou Xun suddenly realized with a jolt that she’d forgotten to go home for dinner—and she hadn’t even called her parents. She jumped into her car and floored the accelerator. As she pulled up to their building and took a deep breath to rehearse her apology, she caught a glimpse of the backseat in the rearview mirror. Shen Gongbao was sitting there.
How did I forget him?!
"Venerable Lord..."
"Yes?"
It was their first dialogue of the day. Despite being a nuisance, he had actually been quiet while she was working, following her like an invisible shadow. Zhou Xun thought that even if he did like to scare her with his detached head, he’d been so well-behaved today that she couldn't bring herself to hold a grudge.
"I forgot to drop you off." Zhou Xun was exhausted and starving. "This is my parents' home," she said, nodding toward the building.
"Oh?" Shen Gongbao leaned forward, sounding genuinely interested—and a bit surprised. It seemed his Divine Envoy had finally grown some sense and brought him home to be worshipped by her kin.
"So," Zhou Xun said, "I’ll call you a taxi. Can you head back on your own?"
"Hmph! What is the meaning of this?!" Shen Gongbao snapped, offended. He was a deity! Was he not even worthy of entering her home?
Zhou Xun saw his anger. She realized this ancient god had no concept of modern social boundaries. "Venerable Lord, it’s like this: in the human world, coworkers or bosses don't just drop by someone's house for dinner unannounced."
Shen Gongbao’s eyes flickered. He thought he understood—Oh! She was embarrassed that her "humble abode" was too small for a god of his stature.
"It is of no consequence. Do not be constrained by etiquette," he said magnanimously. "I have not required you to bow in public, so your parents need not kowtow to me inside!"
Zhou Xun was speechless. He was impossible to shake. But if she brought him in, her parents would definitely misunderstand! She was about to ask if he could transform into a cat or a dog, but he had already stepped out of the car.
He laughed. "Worry not! Ben zuo shall speak highly of you to your parents and give you some 'face'!"
Zhou Xun buried her face in her hands. Give me face? You're the biggest embarrassment I have!
Fine. I'll just say he's a colleague here for a free meal.
The complex was old—six floors, no elevator—but it was in a good school district and had recently been repainted. Zhou Xun’s home was a three-bedroom on the fourth floor. As she opened the door, the familiar scent of home rushed out.
The living room was empty, the TV playing a music program. The dining table was covered in food, with a cake sitting in the center. Zhou Xun froze. It was her birthday. She had forgotten entirely. No wonder her parents had been so insistent.
Warmth flooded her heart. Just then, a cream-colored Chihuahua in a knit sweater came charging out of her parents' bedroom, its tail wagging like a propeller.
"Ji Xiang!" Zhou Xun knelt to pet it.
The Chihuahua suddenly stopped. Its bulging eyes locked onto Shen Gongbao standing in the doorway. It froze for exactly one second before launching into a frantic alarm.
"Woof! Woof! Woof!"
It bared its teeth, looking ready to duel the Immortal Lord to the death.
"What is this creature?" Shen Gongbao stared, having never seen such a thing. Zhou Xun couldn't calm the dog down; Ji Xiang was usually mellow and laidback but today it had gone completely ballistic.
"Who is it?!"
Zhou Xun’s parents ran out of their bedroom in their pajamas. Her father was clutching a badminton racket, likely thinking the dog had caught a burglar.
The three humans and one god stood in a silent standoff, staring at each other while the dog continued its frantic barking.
Zhou Xun’s mother was the first to react. Her face lit up with a massive grin.
"Zhou Xun! You brought a boyfriend home!"
Chapter Notes:
Zhou Xun switched on her flashlight, the beam cutting into the damp depths of the bridge underpass.
What greeted her were tents, bedding, pots, pans, and piles of domestic trash. A faint, sharp smell of urine hung in the air. It was clearly a place where a vagrant had made a home.
Earlier that day, Zhu Zhu from the tech department had helped them pull the records of every car owner who had gone up the mountain in the past two weeks. After contacting them one by one, they finally struck gold. On the afternoon of March 9th, a young couple on a picnic had encountered a man covered in blood. He claimed he’d been attacked by a wild animal. They had driven him toward the city hospital, but in a moment of distraction, the man had vanished—taking a navy blue hoodie with him. When Captain Du showed them Zhang Guangjun’s photo, the couple confirmed it with a nod.
Zhou Xun and Du Xingwang had immediately led a search near the area where the suspect disappeared. He was skilled at avoiding cameras, but a living being always leaves a trail. They checked convenience stores for shoplifting and local residences for break-ins, but their initial sweep had yielded nothing.
His counter-surveillance is too high, Zhou Xun thought. If the cameras never caught "Zhang Guangjun’s" face, the only possibility was that he had already changed it.
Finally, she and Tang Na tracked the trail to the bridge.
As they drew closer, Zhou Xun shone her light into a dark green tent. A figure in a worn-out windbreaker was lying on its side, head turned inward. It remained motionless, offering no reaction to their approach or the blinding light.
Tang Na called out to him. No response. Zhou Xun flipped him over and the moment she touched him, she knew. The skin beneath the clothes was as hard as a board.
When the body rolled over, both women recoiled.
The victim’s face had been removed. Without eyelids or lips, the unfocused blue tint of the eyeballs stared back at them, framed by protruding gums and two rows of yellowed teeth.
It was him.
Tang Na knelt to perform a preliminary check. Aside from the missing face, the victim had ligature marks and fractures in the neck. The fingernails were a dark reddish-black, accompanied by signs of incontinence—classic markers of death by mechanical asphyxiation. She keyed her radio and reported the find to Du Xingwang.
Zhou Xun drew her weapon and searched the rest of the underpass, but found nothing but more trash. She circled back to wait for the team with Tang Na.
She let out a long sigh. In less than a week, they had found three bodies. The discovery of the first had been live-streamed to the world; even though the video was taken down, the public outcry was deafening. The pressure on the Bureau was becoming a crushing weight.
"He was strangled," Tang Na noted.
Zhou Xun focused, kneeling beside her. Unlike the serial killer’s usual ritualistic gore, this vagrant had been killed by brute force—strangulation so efficient it was almost merciful. He hadn't been made to suffer.
Seeing Tang Na’s furrowed brow, Zhou Xun decided to test the rookie. "How do you see the connection between this victim and Zhang Guangjun?"
Tang Na looked up, realizing this was an evaluation. She thought carefully before speaking. "This victim was a vagrant. Like Zhang Guangjun, he was a human male, but he didn't suffer excessive violence beyond the act of killing. The killer clearly didn't have a specific grudge against him, he just wanted his face."
"But with Zhang Guangjun," Tang Na continued, "the MO was exactly like the cases from thirteen years ago. He was a father. He had a family."
"And you think that specific trait triggered the killer's bloodlust?" Zhou Xun prodded.
Over the last few days, Tang Na had devoured every file related to "The Leather Face". Though the Bureau knew little about him, his pattern was always premeditated. He selected victims, observed their families, and then moved. Zhang Guangjun’s appearance on the mountain was an accident—he was there to dump a body—but the killer still reverted to the brutal dismemberment style.
Why? What provoked him?
Tang Na analyzed it, encouraged by Zhou Xun’s nod. "The killer is a Demon. And Zhang Guangjun was someone who harmed demons."
"Exactly!"
The profile was sharpening: Male, Demon, hostile toward humans who harmed other demons, and harboring a deep-seated hatred for failed or abusive fathers. Furthermore, the killer tended to approach the children of his victims, showing kindness, perhaps even a twisted sense of apology or compensation. He was obsessed with replacing the dead man to play the role of a "good father".
"What did the killer go through?" Tang Na asked. "Did he have a terrible father? Is this all some sort of overcompensation?"
"Perhaps." Zhou Xun thought of Fang Nan. "But look at the pattern: he took the first victim's child swimming, wrote to the second's daughter about the zoo, and wanted to take the third's child to an amusement park."
"It’s like he’s trying to coax a small child," Tang Na realized.
"Correct."
He plays the father, compensating a child who is still quite young.
Tang Na asked, "Did the killer lose a child of his own?"
Zhou Xun shook her head. "The target of his hatred is specifically human, and specifically middle-aged men."
Tang Na sucked in a breath. "The killer is the child!"
Zhou Xun nodded. "The killer likely suffered at the hands of a human father when he was young. Since his hatred is directed at humans, it's highly probable the killer is a half-human, half-demon hybrid."
* * *
By the time the scene was processed and the paperwork filed, it was 8:30 PM. Zhou Xun suddenly realized with a jolt that she’d forgotten to go home for dinner—and she hadn’t even called her parents. She jumped into her car and floored the accelerator. As she pulled up to their building and took a deep breath to rehearse her apology, she caught a glimpse of the backseat in the rearview mirror. Shen Gongbao was sitting there.
How did I forget him?!
"Venerable Lord..."
"Yes?"
It was their first dialogue of the day. Despite being a nuisance, he had actually been quiet while she was working, following her like an invisible shadow. Zhou Xun thought that even if he did like to scare her with his detached head, he’d been so well-behaved today that she couldn't bring herself to hold a grudge.
"I forgot to drop you off." Zhou Xun was exhausted and starving. "This is my parents' home," she said, nodding toward the building.
"Oh?" Shen Gongbao leaned forward, sounding genuinely interested—and a bit surprised. It seemed his Divine Envoy had finally grown some sense and brought him home to be worshipped by her kin.
"So," Zhou Xun said, "I’ll call you a taxi. Can you head back on your own?"
"Hmph! What is the meaning of this?!" Shen Gongbao snapped, offended. He was a deity! Was he not even worthy of entering her home?
Zhou Xun saw his anger. She realized this ancient god had no concept of modern social boundaries. "Venerable Lord, it’s like this: in the human world, coworkers or bosses don't just drop by someone's house for dinner unannounced."
Shen Gongbao’s eyes flickered. He thought he understood—Oh! She was embarrassed that her "humble abode" was too small for a god of his stature.
"It is of no consequence. Do not be constrained by etiquette," he said magnanimously. "I have not required you to bow in public, so your parents need not kowtow to me inside!"
Zhou Xun was speechless. He was impossible to shake. But if she brought him in, her parents would definitely misunderstand! She was about to ask if he could transform into a cat or a dog, but he had already stepped out of the car.
He laughed. "Worry not! Ben zuo shall speak highly of you to your parents and give you some 'face'!"
Zhou Xun buried her face in her hands. Give me face? You're the biggest embarrassment I have!
Fine. I'll just say he's a colleague here for a free meal.
The complex was old—six floors, no elevator—but it was in a good school district and had recently been repainted. Zhou Xun’s home was a three-bedroom on the fourth floor. As she opened the door, the familiar scent of home rushed out.
The living room was empty, the TV playing a music program. The dining table was covered in food, with a cake sitting in the center. Zhou Xun froze. It was her birthday. She had forgotten entirely. No wonder her parents had been so insistent.
Warmth flooded her heart. Just then, a cream-colored Chihuahua in a knit sweater came charging out of her parents' bedroom, its tail wagging like a propeller.
"Ji Xiang!" Zhou Xun knelt to pet it.
The Chihuahua suddenly stopped. Its bulging eyes locked onto Shen Gongbao standing in the doorway. It froze for exactly one second before launching into a frantic alarm.
"Woof! Woof! Woof!"
It bared its teeth, looking ready to duel the Immortal Lord to the death.
"What is this creature?" Shen Gongbao stared, having never seen such a thing. Zhou Xun couldn't calm the dog down; Ji Xiang was usually mellow and laidback but today it had gone completely ballistic.
"Who is it?!"
Zhou Xun’s parents ran out of their bedroom in their pajamas. Her father was clutching a badminton racket, likely thinking the dog had caught a burglar.
The three humans and one god stood in a silent standoff, staring at each other while the dog continued its frantic barking.
Zhou Xun’s mother was the first to react. Her face lit up with a massive grin.
"Zhou Xun! You brought a boyfriend home!"
Chapter Notes:
- Mechanical Asphyxiation: A forensic term for death by strangulation or suffocation.
- 007: A Chinese slang term for a work schedule that runs from midnight to midnight, seven days a week
- Ji Xiang (吉祥): The dog’s name means "Auspicious" or "Good Luck."
Comments
Post a Comment