Pristine Darkness

Chapter 114

2020 is rapidly turning into a year no one wants to remember. I hope you are safe and well, wherever you are. Let's treat our fellow humans with respect and kindness (anyone remembers 'Try a Little Kindness' by Glen Campbell?), and a big 'thank you' as always to those who work so hard to keep us safe.

Bo Jinyan thinks back to the beginnings of the 'Masked Killer' (and reminds us all of Fu Ziyu, sob) as he and Jian Yao relook their assumptions on the Masked Killer's identity and modus operandi. They draw some new conclusions and ponder a key question. Just who is this Masked Killer?

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Translator: shl

Editor/ Proofreader: Anks

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The evening breeze blew gently. In the twilight, Bo Jinyan's face had become hazy. Jian Yao looked into his eyes and her heart jumped silently. However, when he spoke his voice was as low and as firm as before.

"Once, the FBI ascertained the identity of a person suspected to be the masked killer. His name was Jam, 26 years old, blonde, blue eyes, born and raised in America. He had started to commit crimes due to his wife's death in a medical incident, which caused him to have a deep hatred for medical personnel. The masked killer was dubbed so because he always wore a mask when killing people. His commonly used murder tool was an axe, which corresponded with Jam's having grown up on a farm . . ."

Jian Yao thought back to several years ago. At that time, she had also read the information on the masked killer.

That was quite a number of years ago.

The masked killer had kidnapped quite a few hostages at the same time and had imprisoned them in a deserted house by the sea. The hostages were all family members of medical personnel, and among them was Fu Ziyu's childhood sweetheart and fiance, Han Yumeng.

He killed one person a day, right in front of the trapped girls. Incomparable cruelty, incomparable anger, incomparable pain.

Until one day, university student Bo Jinyan took the initiative to offer his assistance to the police, and drew up an accurate profile of the masked killer.

The masked killer probably knew that the end was near. Unbelievably, he posed the girls a difficult problem - he only wanted one person, a volunteer, to accompany him as he set off to sea, towards life or death. Then, he would release everyone else. Otherwise, all of them would die.

Han Yumeng stepped forward.

The two of them sailed out to sea. After that, the police launched a full-scale pursuit and finally found a shipwreck. They thereby concluded that the pair had run into a storm at sea, from which there was virtually no chance of survival. Case closed.

From that time, Fu Ziyu had lived a kind of weary half-life.

Until Han Yumeng and the masked killer returned together.

......

Jian Yao looked up at Bo Jinyan in fear, but heard his voice, like clear river water, saying, "Right now, we can overturn all the conclusions we have drawn on the masked killer."

The night air was tinged with cold, and only the two of them were along the long river bank. Jian Yao held his hand tightly; both of their hands were cold. She pulled at his hand so that they both sat down on the pebble-strewn river bank. No one could overhear their conversation, only the river murmured as it flowed past.

"When he returned last year, he brought a helper. This is contrary to what the FBI have all along maintained about him committing crimes alone. This can also explain how he and Han Yumeng were able to be rescued when they encountered the big storm at sea and their boat sank -- because, from the very beginning, it wasn't him committing the crimes by himself, but a good number of people.