Dual wielding volcanoes, killing through the west

Ren Chong and Zhang Renfeng nodded slightly, then pounded on the doorframe with their fists. "We've run into some trouble here. The man who was with you, Frank Shannett, was found dead at 3 a.m. last night, impaled through the heart. We're not identifying you as the murderer; everyone in this house is a suspect. Come out of the room, and we'll sort things out together..."

"boom!"

Reed paused for a moment, then interrupted Ren with a more forceful voice.

A bullet emerged from the top of the door panel with a loud bang.

"I'm warning you one more time, don't come in! I have a gun!" Reed shouted almost desperately. "I'm sitting right across from the door. Anyone who dares to open it, get the hell out of here!"

……

Renhe and Zhang Renfeng exchanged a glance, their thumbs already pushing the hilts aside. "I'll go in from the side room and make some noise to attract his attention, then you two can break in through the front door. That's safer."

"Do you need my help?" Silver Frost tilted her head, seemingly quite intrigued by the scene. Her right hand was already gripping the hilt of the iron sword behind her back, and she gave a dashing smile. "After being frozen for so long, consider this a workout to warm up."

Zhang Renfeng then noticed that the silver-haired girl's protective gear—chainmail and leather armor—wasn't very warm. The only thing that offered any protection against the wind was her large cloak. It was hard to imagine a normal person wearing that and walking in the freezing snow.

“No, there’s no need for that…” Zhang Renfeng walked quietly to the door, glanced at the size and shape of the lock, and it was probably a classic rotary lock. It was round, embedded in the door, and required a special key to open after being closed.

He recalled Reed's height in his mind; he was a big guy, probably around 1.78 meters tall.

He had just mentioned that he was "sitting" directly opposite the door. Based on this detail, Zhang Renfeng made some adjustments. Then, he took a deep breath, assumed a horse stance, and slowly raised his right hand, as if preparing to spar with someone. He changed his fist into a palm, then his palm into fingers. His thumb, middle finger, and ring finger were positioned directly opposite the door lock.

A light touch.

Just like the moment before a magician performs a transformation, everyone falls silent, sensing that something is about to happen, holding their breath and waiting quietly.

"Boom————!!!"

Within a small space, Zhang Renfeng shifted his power, instantly concentrating the muscles in his shoulder, neck, elbow, and wrist—all aligned—into his three fingers. With a powerful thrust, he pierced the door lock through the door panel. The force sent the lock flying like a projectile, tracing a straight line through the air, and, as if guided by eyes, struck Reed squarely in the chest.

"Woo..."

Reed's eyes were wide open, fixed on the door, but he never expected the lock to fly towards him. Before he could react, a large iron weight struck him hard in the chest, causing his blood to surge and his vision to blur. He instinctively tried to stand up.

With the lock gone, Zhang Renfeng kicked the wooden door open. Without a word, he rushed in and headed straight for Reed. Before Reed could recover from his shock, Zhang Renfeng slapped the gun out of his hand. By the time Reed reacted, a cold samurai blade was pressed against his neck.

Ren rushed into the door in the second instant and brought the source of instability under control.

“I already told you, calm down. We didn’t say you were definitely…” Zhang Renfeng stopped mid-sentence.

He saw blood, bits of flesh, and... on the floor.

A heart that has been frozen.

Reed's face still bore traces of blood, which, compared to his terrified expression, created an eerie sense of horror. On the ground lay a stone sculpture; upon closer inspection, it was indeed the statue of the Goddess of Justice, a size smaller than the one he had seen in the carriage. It was exactly the same size as the large hole in Frank's chest.

More importantly, on its blindfolded head, there was a layer of blood that had turned black.

Chapter 424: Some Unintentional Remarks

"It's really crispy..."

Zhang Renfeng picked up the heart, squeezed it a couple of times, and was filled with emotion.

He had read in Water Margin that the human heart is inherently warm, but if you pour some cold water on it before cutting it out, it will become brittle and taste better.

And now, this heart, frozen all night, is indeed crisp and tender, feeling like a peeled frozen pear when squeezed. It's hard to imagine what kind of life experience the author of Water Margin had to be able to write words so indistinguishable from reality.

"Caught red-handed, what else is there to say?" Ren asked coldly.

"I...I don't know, I really don't know!" Not everyone can remain unmoved by seeing a living person's heart fall to the ground. Li De's expression was filled with terror. "I stayed in this room all night and didn't go out. When I woke up, I found...something on my face. When I saw it, I almost scared myself to death..."

"Are you saying you've been sleeping the whole time?" Silver Frost didn't draw a conclusion, but instead half-closed her eyes, looking at each crack in the wall and floor. "Regarding this murder case, you, like us, know nothing, is that right?"

Perhaps knowing that the murderer had been caught, the two rickshaw drivers also emboldened themselves and ran over to see what was going on. In no time, the doorway to Li De's room was filled with people.

The most unbearable torment in the world is knowing that no one believes you, yet having to explain your actions again and again.

Moreover, with bloodstains on his face and hands, practically branding him with the words "murderer" on his forehead, it seemed rather futile to try and persuade others with words.

“Is that even a question? Didn’t everyone hear it last night? I’m not well-educated, but I can figure out what happened.” One of the drivers said, “This guy stole his wife, and he held a grudge. He couldn’t stand it in the middle of the night, so he sneaked in and killed him.”

“Brother, are you stupid?” Another driver cast a slightly pitying look at him. “Why did you have to kill him like this? You could have provoked him first and then dueled with him. Killing someone in a duel is not illegal. If you kill him like this, you’ll go to jail, and you might even get hanged. What a waste.”

"I said...no! I didn't kill him!"

Li De's tone was almost collapsing. He gripped his hair tightly, his eyes were glazed, and he gritted his teeth as he said, "I hate him, but... not to the point of wanting to kill him. And this, this is too strange, isn't it? He just had a fight with me yesterday, and he died this morning... Before you told me, I didn't even know that it was him who died!"

"And this sculpture, it's definitely from my body, but last night, I only carved it for a little while and then put it aside. When I woke up, I found it covered in these things..."

"Please, don't send me to Dover Hill! I'm innocent! I have no way of explaining myself, they... they'll hang me!"

He immediately lost control, grabbing Zhang Renfeng's leg and bursting into tears. Ren pressed down on his shoulders and forcibly separated them.

Ask him more questions, like where he was last night in the early hours of the morning, and he keeps asking the same things over and over. Judging from his attitude, you won't get anything useful out of him.

Ren cut the curtain in half and made it into a rope.

Regardless, it's always the right thing to do to take this suspect, whose hands are covered in blood, into custody.

Zhang Renfeng's brows furrowed slightly.

Watching the two drivers volunteer to tie Li De's hands and feet, their faces lighting up with excitement, a hint of anticipation in their expressions. Once the dust settled, even the most timid person seemed to become brave.

"What's wrong? Why that expression?" Ren noticed his unusual expression. "The murderer has been found. You should be happy."

“Ren, this might hurt your feelings, but…” Zhang Renfeng couldn’t help but ask, “How often do you solve problems using your brain?”

“I grew up in a dojo. From a young age, my master told me to try not to think about complicated problems. Use the energy you would have spent taking shortcuts on the right path. Even if it's just to swing your sword one more time, it's still good,” Ren replied seriously. “If I had to say, I’ve smashed a coconut open with my head.”

Zhang Renfeng didn't know how to respond to this lame joke, so he could only force a smile and continue, "I always feel like it's too much of a coincidence..."

"The murder weapon was his sculpture, the time of the murder was after the argument last night, and the motive was that he stole his wife... Isn't it too strange that the plot is so perfectly aligned? After killing him, he even ripped out his heart. Didn't Li De consider that the case would be completely exposed the next day?"

"That's how it is with crimes of passion," Tito said calmly, waving his hand as if he were used to it. "When anger gets the better of you, you can't control yourself. He didn't even think about what to do after he killed the person; he only had one thought in his mind. This crude way of killing is the mainstream of murder cases."

"Speaking of which, this has nothing to do with you. This isn't your territory, and you're not a sheriff. The guy who was killed was pointing fingers at you when he came in... Knowing you as I do, you probably wanted to kill him too, you could have done it, but you held back."

"Now that someone else has done this for you, just let it go."

……

After saying these words, Tito's expression remained calm, as if she had long been accustomed to people being killed around her.

Also.

In the Wild West, where everyone had a gun, people died every day, and cowboys would pull out their guns and shoot at the slightest provocation.

Now, all that's left in this vast snowfield is another mute dead body; from a macro perspective, it doesn't seem like a big deal.

Li De was utterly despondent, his eyes numb, letting them put a bridle on him like a donkey. It's not hard to imagine that when he was sent to the town, he would undergo a series of trials, because the chain of evidence was too complete. He would end up like today, shackled and bound, finally hanged on some gallows, ending his life.

Thinking of the statue of the goddess of justice stained with blood and flesh, Zhang Renfeng felt a pang in his heart. He could sense something was wrong, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

……

"Clap!"

A crisp sound shattered the oppressive atmosphere in the room.

"Are you okay?"

"Ah, it's alright! It's alright! Don't come any closer, I'll do it myself!" Vivian reacted unusually strongly to Silver Frost's approach, even taking a step back to stop Silver Frost from helping, and said with a forced smile, "I... maybe it's because of Frank, I'm a little out of sorts..."

She picked up the palette that had fallen to the ground, saying with some regret, "It's a pity that all the paint I just mixed has been squeezed out."

The paint mixed together, making the color muddy and leaving a faint mark on the floor.

Zhang Renfeng stared blankly at the stains left by the paint.

“It’s a stroke of luck… My personal habit is to fill every nook and cranny of the palette very full.” Vivian picked up the palette, smiling somewhat apologetically like a clumsy little girl. “If this had happened last night, the paint would have sprayed out and made a complete mess of the palette.”

……

Zhang Renfeng's expression suddenly changed. He stood up abruptly and walked towards the door without wasting a second.

Chapter 425: On Why Detective Novels Can't Have Easterners Who Know Martial Arts

Outside.

An old man, a cigarette dangling from his hand, leaned against a pillar in front of the door, his back hunched, puffing out smoke. The smoke swirled and rose into the air, outlining strange shapes.

"The momentum has weakened considerably compared to before." The old man moved his arm and said casually, "In my experience, it will stop soon."

"Once the snowstorm stops, we should hurry and get him to town. Thinking about it now, it's a bit scary. For the past few days, that young man and I have been riding in the same carriage. If I had said something he didn't like, I might be the one lying here now."

……

Amidst the howling wind and snow, a deathly silence hung between the two.

Silence is a discordant note in human society; everyone instinctively dislikes it, as it signifies a social awkwardness and implies that something bad is about to happen. The wind seemed particularly jarring. Zhang Renfeng stared intently at the old man's profile, saying nothing, yet it was as if he had said everything.

In reality, perhaps only a few dozen seconds had passed, but the physical duration of the standoff felt like several minutes. So long that the old man tossed away his cigarette butt, slowly straightened his back, and half-opened his mouth, revealing an incredibly eerie smile. Only then did Zhang Renfeng fully see his face—on his left profile, where it met his jaw, there was a large burn scar, the kind that could kill someone with trypophobia on the spot.

Both sides knew the truth, so there was no need to hide it anymore.

"Why?" He casually asked, stomping out and crushing the still-sparkling cigarette butt with his toe. "From an ordinary person's perspective, the murder weapon, evidence, and motive are all there. There shouldn't be any flaws, right?"

"Dover Ripper...you are?" Zhang Renfeng didn't follow his line of reasoning, but after a brief silence, threw another question at him.

"Exactly."

"Have you really disemboweled someone?"

"Heh, interesting. You're the first person to ask that." The old man took two steps to the side, his fingers seeming to grasp something, and chuckled eerily. "That feeling, that warm touch... it's hard to forget, it's addictive."

"Then you must know how much blood comes out when someone is pierced through the chest, right? Especially near the heart, it 'squeezes' out of the body like a fountain."

Zhang Renfeng made a toothpaste-squeezing motion, like a butcher explaining the techniques of slaughtering, and said expressionlessly, "With this amount of bleeding, if the murderer were standing in front of him, it would be impossible for him to be unharmed. It's like a heavy rain."

"But there wasn't such an exaggerated amount of bleeding on him; it was more like a layer of bloodstains. I'm more inclined to believe that someone dug out a blood-stained heart and threw it on him, but the heart would freeze quickly, so only a little blood was smeared on it. This shows that, at least, he wasn't present when Frank was disemboweled."

"Interesting," the old man sneered. "Then, according to you, why did he resist so strongly when you knocked on the door?"

"Imagine a normal person waking up to find themselves covered in blood, a carved stone statue covered in blood, and a human heart next to them... Any normal person would react excessively to this combination of events."

"Especially when he knew for certain that the deceased was Frank, he was certain that because of last night's argument, he would be held responsible for this. His hysterical reaction is understandable."

"It's you instead."

"Me?" The old man smiled and pointed to himself. "So what if I am?"

“Don’t you think you’re being too nonchalant?” Zhang Renfeng laughed. “Knowing that someone died in the house, and in such a horrific way, you acted like an ant had died in your own house, not even glancing at it, just standing behind Ren. It’s like you were just waiting for that door to open so you could see how we would deal with him.”

……

The old man's laughter was full of provocation. "Ha... This is the first time I've heard such terrible reasoning. Apart from the amount of blood loss, there's not a single point that's plausible. At most, you can only prove that Frank wasn't killed by the stonemason. What makes you think you can say that I killed Frank?"

“I’m not a detective.” Zhang Renfeng wasn’t bothered by it. “My brain capacity only allows me to think this far. Maybe you left some other clues, like that piece of clothing that should be covered in blood. You must have disposed of it, but I’m too lazy to look for it. That’s for smart people.”

"I know it's you, and that's enough."

The old man shook his head, his expression one of utter disdain. "Ha, I see. You're the type who relies on intuition. I suppose you don't use your brain much usually?"

"Zheng——"

He drew a gleaming short dagger from his waist, its surface reflecting an eerie light under the white snowflakes. The dagger was exquisitely and ornately designed, about a finger's length longer than a typical short dagger, and had a blood groove engraved on it, slightly curved like a nimble snake.

"In that tiny head of yours, barely bigger than an almond, didn't you ever think... that after exposing all this, you'd be facing a monster who could lift a 70-kilogram adult with one hand, nail him to the wall, and then cut open his chest to remove his heart..."

Was he the 'real' Dovercho the Ripper?

"Now that we've come this far, I'm actually a little curious." Zhang Renfeng tilted his head, looking at him as if he were a rare and exotic animal.

“He has defiled this house, he has defiled my artwork,” the old man said menacingly. “No one can do this!”

“No, no, that’s not what I’m asking you. I’ve met guys like you before. To be honest, I have no interest in your motives whatsoever; it’s all just madness anyway. What I want to ask is…” Zhang Renfeng looked at the gleaming silver dagger in his hand, “How many people have you actually killed?”

"Including you, you're the eighth."

The Ripper sneered, "Perfect. I need more hearts now to complete my resurrection... You mortals are no different from pigs, dogs, and sheep in my eyes, just slightly more sophisticated sacrifices. If I eat you, you can live forever in my body. You should feel honored!"

"Offer your heart for my great cause!"

He laughed wildly, let out a shriek, and brandished his dagger, aiming for Zhang Renfeng's neck.

----

below.

The sound of wind coming from directly below made the Ripper realize for the first time that something was amiss.

"Thump—!!"