When He Comes, Close Your Eyes [Ding Mo]

74

“Tonk…Tonk…Tonk…” The sound of turning on light switches.  Suddenly, Jian Yao is overwhelmed by hundreds of lights bulbs shining their light onto her.  Her pupils can’t adjust to the sharpness of the light.  She closes her eyes.  

Xie Han is standing not far away from where she is.  He laughs like a mischievous boy.  

After a while, she is able to open her eyes. 

Xie Han looks at her beautiful face, her nice skin complexion, and her dark bright eyes.  There is a stillness and quietness about her.  He walks closer to her cage, and looks at her with interest.   

“Such an exciting moment…. Jenny, I was hoping to see your sweet smile.”  He says softly.

Jian Yao remains quiet, as if she didn’t hear his words.  She takes a look at her surroundings.  

It’s the size of a big warehouse.  There are containers everywhere.  The space in the middle is about the size of a basketball court.  The ceiling is installed with rows of spotlights shining down like a stage.  And her cage is in the middle of the ‘stage’.

About 30 metres in front of her, there’s a set of sofas, a bar cabinet, a book shelf, a TV and a bed.  There are only 2 tones - black and white.  The place is chic, clean and tidy.   On a coffee table, there’s half a glass of unfinished red wine.  A suit jacket lies casually on the sofa.  

This is obviously where he is staying, right next to her cage.

—————

The place is quiet and empty.  There’s only the two of them there. In an unknown place.  

Jian Yao tries to avoid eye contact with him.  But eventually, their eyes meet.  These eyes, are very different from all of the psychopaths she has met before.   

“Killing machine” Sun Yong has a pair of hollow and mocking eyes.  Even when he was arrested, there was no guilt or nervousness in him.  Zhang Cheng, who killed two families under the illusion that they were spies, had a dazed and stubborn look in his eyes. Even Tommy, his gaze is cold and dark… All of them looked like they have no regards or feelings for other people.  

But this man, who is labelled as the cruelest serial killer in this century, the godfather for the Flower Cannibal, looks like a warm and charming young man. 

That is why, when he came face to face with Bo Jinyan and Jian Yao, playing the most unnoticeable roles, was never discovered by Bo Jinyan.  

“You remember me?”  He asks gently.

Jian Yao stares at him.  She keeps silent.  

He was the community police that first arrived at Sun Yong’s house.  He even stood in front of Bo Jinyan to brief him of his findings.

“Like the briefing report Jian Yao sent us, we found a killing machine in the bedroom.”

Xie Han starts to repeats the words he said that day, as if to help her recall their first encounter.

“Professor Bo, I found some words written in blood underneath the bed.”

“We need to examine the whole house.”

…….

Was that it?  Was there a second encounter?  

Jian Yao looks up, and notices that his smile deepens.  

Yes.  More than twice.

Pedestrians that walks past time, a security guard that guards the suburb, the courier man, a community officer some of the cases they were involved in…. it’s so easy for him to pretend to be one of ‘them’.