The Woman in the Elevator

  "Is there anyone... help me... is there anyone... save me..."

  Autumn in Lincheng is particularly cold. Pedestrians walking on the road can't help but shrink their necks into their collars, lower their heads, and listen to the sound of autumn wind sweeping fallen leaves as they hurry home. Autumn, a desolate scene.

  "Don't you feel that this winter is particularly cold?" Wu Hui poured a cup of hot coffee, bowed his head to blow on it, and the heat quickly fogged up his glasses with a layer of white mist.

  Zhang Qiang lowered his head and tapped on the keyboard, saying somewhat casually: "Isn't it like this every winter? Is it very cold?"

  Wu Hui looked at Zhang Qiang frowning and staring at the computer screen, walked over and followed suit, "Another case?" Looking at the words on the webpage, Wu Hui sighed, wondering when this small third-tier city of Lincheng would have a string of homicides, no wonder he felt that today's autumn was very cold.

  "Yes, it's the third one now. The police still seem to be clueless. You say this killer is really twisted, not only did he kill them, but also peeled off their skin bit by bit. What's even more terrifying is that before they died, he cut off their lower bodies...this is just too twisted." Zhang Qiang caught the aroma of coffee in Wu Hui's hand and finally moved his eyes away from the computer screen, snatching the coffee from Wu Hui and taking a sip. Just as Wu Hui was about to remind him, Zhang Qiang suddenly shouted out, "Ah...hot...it's burning me..."

  Two people have been working together for so many years, Zhang Qiang has become accustomed to this action, as if it were an inertia, as long as he smells the aroma of coffee, his hand will unconsciously stretch out towards Wu Hui's hand. Wu Hui saw Zhang Qiang's comical appearance and couldn't help but burst out laughing, "Serves you right! The murderer should be someone who is impotent or has a fear of sex, in one aspect what you said was correct, the murderer must be a psychologically abnormal person."

  Wu Hui pulled out a few tissues from the tissue box on the table and handed them to Zhang Qiang, who wiped his coffee-stained mouth. "Shall we go take a look?"

  "No way!" Wu Hui knew what Zhang Qiang was referring to and refused without hesitation. He didn't want to get involved in criminal cases again.

  When Wu Hui refused, Zhang Qiang also stopped talking. The two had been together for so many years, and Zhang Qiang could be considered the person who understood Wu Hui best in this world. In the end, he couldn't escape the shadow of those years.

  Wu Hui left with a glance at the computer screen, leaving the room alone. Perhaps he felt a bit stifled earlier and wanted to go out for a walk. He picked up his windbreaker hanging on the door and put it on, then wrapped a scarf around his neck twice before pushing open the door and walking out. Wu Hui and Zhang Qiang co-rented a house with three bedrooms and two living rooms, over 150 square meters, decorated in a modern minimalist style that didn't feel like home at all, especially since two men lived there.

  Wu Hui stood at the elevator entrance, watching as the elevator came down from the 30th floor. It stopped for a moment on the 26th floor before continuing to descend, stopping again on the 24th floor, which was Wu Hui's floor. The elevator doors opened and Wu Hui saw a girl who looked like a student standing inside, wearing a black high-necked sweater, a red Korean-style long coat, and a milky white small slant bag slung over her shoulder from left to right. Her lower body wore a pair of black tight-fitting pants, and she had on the same black short boots on her feet. She held a mobile phone in her hand, lowering her head to scroll through WeChat moments.

  The girl was holding the latest iPhone 6s Plus Rose Gold model, with a transparent phone case that had a white rabbit on it. The girl lowered her head to browse her phone and didn't look up at Wu Hui, so her face was blocked by her long black straight hair, making it impossible for Wu Hui to see what she looked like.

  It was just a glance when entering the elevator, Wu Hui saw so many things, perhaps it was a habit cultivated over the years, always unconsciously remembering what he saw.

  "Ding..." No one got on the elevator halfway, and soon it arrived at the first floor. The girl looked up and took a glance, continuing to play with her phone as she walked out of the elevator. Perhaps due to someone opening the door in the lobby, a gust of cold wind blew in, causing the girl's long hair to flutter. It was then that Wu Hui got a clear look at what the girl looked like - around 20 years old, with delicate makeup on her face, Korean-style straight eyebrows, and orange lip gloss, the most popular makeup style at the moment.

  The girl hailed a taxi and left. Wu Hui looked at the taxi's license plate, which read "Lin AT1608". As he watched the taxi disappear into the distance, Wu Hui couldn't help but smile wryly to himself. This habit of hers was something that would never change.

  A few days later, Wu Hui was watching TV when he heard someone knocking on the door. Wu Hui didn't pay attention to it, thinking it was Zhang Qiang's takeout delivery. When he opened the door and took a look, two men were standing at the entrance, wearing casual clothes, but Wu Hui knew they were detectives at first glance.

  At the door, two people saw Wu Hui open the door and show their credentials. They were indeed Lin Cheng criminal police officers, one named Guo Yining and the other named Fang You. Wu Hui invited them into the house, thinking to himself, had another case occurred?

  "Excuse me, have you ever met this person?" Fang handed a photo to Wu Hui, who looked at it briefly before recognizing the woman in the picture as the same one he had seen in the elevator two days ago.

  "I've seen her!" Wu Hui returned the photo to Fang You, "Around 4 pm on November 9th, I saw her in the elevator, saw her leave and take a taxi."

  "Taxi? Did you see the license plate number?" Guo Yining asked Wu Hui.

  "Arrived at 16:08." Wu Hui replied without thinking.

  "Do you remember it so clearly?" Fang You's hand paused while taking notes, and Guo Yining also found it strange. Did Wu Hui know this woman?

  "Don't get me wrong, I don't know this woman at all, we just met in the elevator and remembering her license plate number is just a personal habit."

  Guo Yining looked at Wu Hui and felt that he didn't seem to be lying. "Where were you between 4 pm on November 9th and 5 am the next morning?"

  At 4 pm, I left home and walked along the road in front of me after seeing a woman get into a taxi from a photo. Around 5 o'clock, I arrived at a coffee shop not far away, ordered a cappuccino and chocolate muffin, and sat for almost an hour. At around 6 pm, I left the coffee shop, took bus No. 107 to the city center bookstore, bought a book in the store, which is the one I'm reading now. There was also a receipt inside the book with the time on it.

  Wu Hui handed over a book from his side to Guo Yining, and indeed saw the shopping receipt in his hand, with the time being November 9th, 18:53.

  Guo Yining nodded, "And then?"

  "When I came out, I missed the last general bus, so I took a taxi back from the entrance of the bookstore. This is the receipt." Wu Hui walked to the desk, took out his wallet, and handed the taxi receipt to Guo Yining. "After getting home, I had dinner with my roommate, watched TV for a while, and went back to my bedroom around 11 pm. I looked at the book I bought in the afternoon and then fell asleep until I got up at 6 am for a morning run."

  "Do you still have a roommate?" Guo Yining looked around at the room's decor and thought that his roommate should also be a man.

  "Just a minute, his name is Zhang Qiang, he should be sleeping now, I'll go wake him up." Wu Hui stood up and walked towards Zhang Qiang's room, knocked on the door, but no one answered. He thought to himself that Zhang Qiang must have been up all night again, then pushed open the door and went in. Before long, Zhang Qiang came out with Wu Hui, rubbing his sleepy eyes.

  "Officer, what's going on? So early in the morning." Zhang Qiang was clearly not pleased with Guo Yining and their arrival. He had only gone to bed after 5 o'clock last night.

  "Excuse me, there are some routine inquiries that need to be made, hope you can cooperate."

  "Are you here to ask about the woman who died last night?" Zhang Qiang poured a cup of coffee and sat down on the sofa.

  Guo Yining didn't say the woman in the photo was dead since entering the room, "Do you know?"

  "Of course I know, it was already announced online last night, and I also knew it was our building, a university student living on the 26th floor, right? What a pity, such a beautiful woman, died so miserably, this is already the 4th case, officer, when can you crack the case? I'm telling you, the internet is already boiling over, you'd better be prepared. I'm not trying to scare you."

  Here, Zhang Qiang hastily added: "Don't misunderstand me, I'm not one of them, I just came to watch the excitement, didn't say anything, I'm a good citizen, I don't participate in online violence."

  In recent years, online violence has been severe. Some netizens do not know the truth of the matter and spread rumors, exaggerating and distorting facts, which has caused a bad influence and indeed given these police some headaches.

  "Excuse me, yesterday afternoon..." Guo Yining's words were cut off by Zhang Qiang, who hastily said: "Between 3 and 5 am yesterday morning, I know, it's all over the internet, the victim was killed during that time period. What else can you do at that hour? Of course, I was online! I didn't sleep until after 5 am, when Wu Hui went for his morning run. If you don't believe me, you can go check with the network company, I'm a active member of the BBS...". Zhang Qiang suddenly stopped talking and said: "Uh, I'm not a cyber thug, I just posted a few posts to express my opinion, I'm a good citizen, absolutely a good citizen."

  "Alright, we will go verify these things, thank you for your cooperation. If you remember anything else, give me a call." Guo Yining handed his business card to Wu Hui and glanced back at him as he left, feeling somewhat puzzled.

  Wu Hui put his business card on the table, picked up his coffee, and seemed to be deep in thought. Zhang Qiang saw Wu Hui's expression and knew what he was thinking, so he sat down in front of him and asked, "I didn't expect that the recent incident happened in our building, did you see the deceased?"

  "Yeah, I saw you once when I was taking the elevator." Wu Hui held his coffee but didn't drink it. He wanted to avoid some things, but those things kept entangling him, making it impossible for him to escape.

  "What's wrong with people nowadays, how can they be so twisted? You know, when I saw the photos, I almost peed my pants. It was completely unrecognizable what she looked like before, not a single part of her body was intact. She must have suffered so much torture before she died." Zhang Qiang recalled the scene photos he saw last night and his skin crawled with goosebumps, breaking out in cold sweat.