The weapon by the pillow

Chapter 20 Does Pain Need Shape?

The first bag contained a stack of photos, about a dozen in total.

Li Wan's solo photos, photos of her with others—with a kind-faced old woman, with several young girls who look like colleagues, and even one…a photo of her with a man.

The man had his back to the camera, only half of his face was visible, so his features were not clear. Li Wan leaned on his shoulder and smiled happily.

The second bag contained several letters.

The envelopes were yellowed, and the recipient was always "Li Wan," while the sender's signature was just one character: "Kai."

It was a letter written by Li Kai.

The content consisted of casual greetings and encouragement, revealing the brother's love for his sister.

In the third bag was a faded red velvet jewelry box.

When you open it, inside isn't jewelry, but a few small items: a faded cartoon badge, a small, rusty key, and... a strand of hair tied with a red string.

Black, long, woman's hair.

"These..." Lin Qian looked at the items, her brows furrowed. "These are all Li Wan's personal belongings. Why are they hidden here? Who hid them?"

Just then, Li Kai was pulled up.

He was also holding a square object wrapped in an old bed sheet.

He gently placed the object on the ground and untied the sheets.

An old camphor wood chest appeared before everyone.

The box is approximately 60 centimeters long, 40 centimeters wide, and 30 centimeters high.

The dark brown camphor wood has natural wood grain and fine scratches left by time on its surface.

The copper hinges on the box lid had oxidized and turned black, and the rusty brass padlock that had been there earlier was now open and placed aside.

"Is this the box below?" Cheng Tan asked.

Li Kai nodded, his eyes red and swollen, but his gaze was unusually sharp. He gently opened the lid of the box.

The box is divided into two layers, top and bottom.

On the upper shelf, more of Li Wan's belongings were neatly stacked: several notebooks, a sewing box, several neatly folded old clothes, a sweater, a scarf, and a tin biscuit box.

The lower level is what truly takes everyone's breath away.

tool.

Instead of being scattered haphazardly, they were arranged in categories, like a professional toolbox:

On the left is a row of wrenches of different sizes, from the smallest six millimeters to the largest twenty-four millimeters, a total of eight wrenches, each polished to a shine without a trace of rust.

On the right are several rolls of wires of different specifications, including black rubber-coated wires and patterned plastic-coated wires, all neatly wound.

In the middle were some miscellaneous tools: two screwdrivers of different sizes, a pair of pliers, a hammer, a utility knife, and even... an ice pick.

It wasn't the slender icicle Cheng Tan dreamed of; it looked like an icicle used for ice sculpting or breaking ice, its tip gleaming coldly.

On top of these tools was a brown paper envelope, with no writing on it.

"This..." Lynx's voice changed tone, "This is simply... a 'murder weapon kit'! Every tool that appeared in Cheng Tan's dream is here! And it's even more complete!"

Cheng Tan stared intently at the ice pick, the hammer, the utility knife… Yes, these were the “weapons” from his dreams. But the tools here were so neat and clean, a stark contrast to the rusty “weapons” scattered on the ground.

It's different from the weapon in my dream!

"These tools are new," Shadow said, picking up the ice pick and examining it closely. "At least, they're very well preserved. No signs of use, no bloodstains, not even dust. It's like someone specially collected and maintained them, and then placed them here."

"And who is it again?" Li Kai's voice trembled with anger. "Who put my sister's things with these... these damned things?! Who?!"

Lin Qian squatted down and carefully examined the items in the box.

She first flipped through the notebook on the top shelf, quickly browsing through a few pages, and then opened the tin biscuit box.

The cookie box contained no cookies, but some odds and ends: a few expired grain coupons, a few coins that were no longer in circulation, a few stamps, and... a folded, brittle piece of paper.

Lin Qian carefully unfolded it.

A hand-drawn floor plan. It's rough, but you can make out the layout of a room—a bed, a table, a wardrobe, and a bathroom. Several points are marked on the plan in red.

"This is..." Lin Qian handed the map to Li Kai, "The floor plan of this room. Room 403."

Li Kai took the diagram, and under the flashlight, he could clearly see the points marked in red: one by the bed (corresponding to the location of the scattered wires on the floor), one next to the table (corresponding to the location of the wrench), one in the center of the room (corresponding to the location of the paper cutter, paperweight, and pliers), and another... at the bathroom door.

"What do these labels mean?" The research enthusiast leaned over to look. "Crime scene reconstruction?"

"No," Shadow's voice turned cold, "it's more like... a 'layout diagram.' A diagram indicating where tools should be placed."

These words sent a chill down everyone's spine.

If the "murder weapons" on the ground were arranged according to this diagram, it means that everything tonight, including these scattered tools, was carefully arranged according to this diagram!

"Look at the back," Lin Qian reminded her.

Li Kai turned the paper over.

On the back, written in the same red pen, is a line of text, the handwriting messy yet forceful:

"Memory needs anchors. Pain needs shapes."

This line is more obscure than "What's meant to come will come," but it's also more...morbid.

"Memory needs anchors..." Cheng Tan murmured repeatedly, "What does that mean?"

"Perhaps it refers to these tools," the shadow analysis said. "They act as 'anchors' to awaken or fix certain memories. Perhaps the murderer's memories, perhaps the victim's... or perhaps those of a bystander."

“Pain needs shape…” Lin Qian continued. “Pain is invisible, but through these concrete tools—ice picks, wires, wrenches—pain is given shape, becomes concrete, becomes tangible, becomes… can be experienced repeatedly.”

Her analysis sent chills down everyone's spine.

Collecting Li Wan's belongings, gathering tools similar to the murder weapon, drawing room layout diagrams, writing these obscure sentences... the person who did all this was clearly in a mentally unstable state.

"This person..." Li Kai couldn't contain his anger. "This person not only knew about my sister's case, not only collected her belongings, but also... is using this method to 'relive' or 'commemorate' that crime. He's a pervert! A complete and utter pervert!"

"This person might be among us," the shadow suddenly said.

"This box was clearly not there thirteen years ago," Shadow continued to analyze. "Although the camphor wood box is old, the tools inside are new, and Li Wan's belongings are too well preserved. Someone must have put it in the secret room later. And the location of the secret room is so well hidden, the person who knows about it is likely someone involved in the case back then, or... the person closest to the case."

His gaze slowly swept over everyone in the room: "Of the eight of us, who could possibly know about this secret room? Who could possibly have obtained Li Wan's belongings? Who could possibly be... psychologically twisted enough to do something like this?"

silence.

Then, a voice rang out, which surprised everyone.

It's a research obsession.

He adjusted his glasses, his face pale.

He looked at the camphor wood box, at the tools and relics inside, and slowly began to speak:

"I think I know... whose box this is."