“Shutt” a whispering voice, amidst the darkness of the night where all that could be seen was a faint light from the chandelier in the center of the room, a small room filled with various heavy equipment such as spears and fishing hooks.
"Umm"
There was a muttering voice, holding back tears, a mouth tightly gagged with a dark cloth, maybe red. A pair of eyes staring in fear, a woman's eyes, still complete with eye ornaments that were faded by her tears
"Hu hu .." her crying voice was muffled and sounded trembling. A tall, large figure, dressed in black resembling a raincoat approached, carrying a horrible tool which still drenched with blood dripping to the floor.
"Ummm! Ummm!!”
Heartbreaking screams, even with gagged mouths still sound terrible.
The floor floated as if on a boat, the lights above the hanging ceiling made the light sway, and no matter how loud the screams. No one could hear them, the place was quiet on the edge of the pier, dark, without other signs of life.
....
Every passing moment holds immense significance as the Earth spins rapidly, and your progress might seem inadequate in keeping pace.
Consider this: How much time do you spend waking up and getting ready each morning—perhaps twenty minutes? And how long does it take you to eat—a mere fifteen minutes? Now, contemplate the frequency of your daily meals.
Reflect on the time you spend engaging in various activities throughout the day, be it joking around, working at your desk, or pursuing what truly matters to you. Is it an hour, two hours, or even eight hours?
When you return home, picture the minutes slipping away as you wait for a bus or taxi by the roadside—fifteen minutes or maybe half an hour. Even a quick stop at the convenience store to enjoy a snack or make some noodles and sit for a while can consume around twenty minutes.
Have you ever wondered how all these moments add up over time?
Contemplate, if you will, the duration it takes for a person to live out their entire life. Yet, the more pertinent and sobering question remains—how long does it take for one individual to extinguish another person's life? Tragically, the answer may be as swift as a mere few seconds.
..................
Sam reluctantly lowered his body, embarking on his first case for the week—Monday had barely seen the sunrise, and he was abruptly roused from his cozy slumber and thrust into action.
With a yawn and groggy eyes, he clutched the hot coffee cup he had acquired earlier from the drive-thru. The steam still billowed from the coffee's surface, and he hadn't even taken a bite of his doughnut yet.
As it turned out, someone had been diligently doing their job long before he could even emerge from his dreams. A cold, lifeless body awaited him at one of the floating storage units near the industrial dock port. The small room, measuring around four by four meters, held another corpse in a grisly state, with several parts mutilated and some still missing.
Emma, the young and astute forensic expert, stood up from her crouched position. She had just finished examining the deceased woman, whose bulging eyes seemed to plead for a merciful death.
"The victim was a secretary at a trading company. I found her company ID tag in her bag. She was thirty-two years old, single, and had a pet Pomeranian in her apartment," Emma reported.
Sam looked up, surprised that the doctor knew so much about the victim, even down to the presence of her pet.
"Did she mention her pet to you? Did you know her personally?" the young detective inquired, straightening his posture.
In response, Emma pursed her lips, a faint smirk forming. The clever woman with big eyes behind her glasses stared at Sam, slightly annoyed by his tendency to underestimate her, as he always did.
"Well, based on the wallpaper on her cellphone and the dog food slip in her bag, I guess that she had a dog. No, I didn't know her personally," Emma explained.
Sam playfully teased her, feeling that the smart-ass doctor was trying to take over his job.
"That was my part; you just need to check on the body, and that's it. What if I lose my job because of you?" he joked.
Emma restrained herself from hitting the young man, accustomed to his sarcastic nature.
"This guy, really..."
Sam shifted his focus to the cold body lying intentionally on the floor. A pool of blood had dried up, spreading like a small, unpleasant-smelling puddle.
"There's a lot of blood," he observed.
Emma removed her rubber gloves, taking a moment to share her insight.
"Well, I'm guessing that the victim was sedated first. Then, while she was still alive, they cut off her limbs, followed by her hands, and finally, her head."
Sam would have been sickened by the sight if he hadn't become accustomed to such scenes over the years. As a rookie, it had been difficult, but time had seemingly numbed him to the point of feeling heartless when faced with such horrifying conditions of lifeless bodies.
"Where is the arm? Is it like the others? This time, the right arm, right?" Sam asked. Emma nodded in confirmation.
Ron, the chief of the special crimes unit, approached from the door of the room where the body was.
"Is it similar to the previous cases?" he inquired.
Sam nodded again, expressing the similarities.
"Well, judging from the equipment and patterns, it seems like this person is really cunning," Ron remarked.
"This is already the third victim, and if this gets out, there will be chaos. The public will be restless. Sam, do whatever it takes to find the culprit," Ron instructed.
Sam assured him, saying,
"Yes, sir, that's what we're working on right now."
Ron studied Sam's face for a moment. Despite being a young detective, Sam had achieved a lot and was dependable.
Ron patted Sam's shoulder and suggested,
"Bring Dakota here. It's time you asked him for help. Don't be stubborn."
Sam scratched his head, feeling uncomfortable hearing the name. His last encounter with the young professor hadn't been pleasant—it was rather embarrassing.
"Yes, boss!" Sam replied.
#######
"Clang!" The sound of the metal door grinding against the frigid floor echoed through the confined space. In the dimly lit and chilly room, measuring three by three with barely any visible light, only a faint glow seeped in through the barred holes near the ceiling. This was one of the isolation cells in a highly secure prison, designed to keep the most dangerous individuals away from society. The warden pushed open the door and stepped inside. There sat the prisoner, handcuffed in a corner. Despite the maximum security, this person was kept secluded from the lights and commotion, still bound by handcuffs. A sly smirk could be sensed from the person seated within the feeble illumination as two officers pulled them, still in handcuffs, out of the room. "Let's go!" the officers commanded. The prison was meticulously designed to thwart any escape attempts, featuring multiple layers of security guards and ubiquitous CCTV surveillance. That afternoon, Dakota was joined by Thomas, a
Shortly thereafter, at the imposing entrance of the high-level prison, Dakota and Thomas were accompanied by Warden Carlos, who guided them through the gates. Curiosity got the better of Thomas, and he inquired about the reason for the mad man's confinement in solitary. "What did he do to end up in solitary? He seems to relish it," Thomas asked Carlos, who held a supervisory position a few levels below the chief. Carlos explained, "He challenged a fellow inmate who's serving a life sentence here. Rather than merely defending himself, this guy went berserk. With just a plastic fork, he fearlessly stabbed the much larger prisoner, almost as if it was effortless. If no one had intervened, he might have finished the man off without breaking a sweat." Thomas couldn't help but smirk at the thought of Dakota's audacity. "He's a real madman, isn't he? Does anyone else dare to confront him?" he inquired. With a sinister smile, Carlos responded, "Hehe, I doubt anyone will dare to even cr
The sun has just sparked at the huge metal beam at the building construction site. The camera shutter dominates the scene. Sam approached Emma who was first arriving, as usual. A charred body was found by the construction foreman as he started his shift that morning, hanging from the end of the crane with the big chain, still with a slight smoke billowing from its black body. Several officers from the police had to use special security equipment to retrieve the body. Even after getting close, they were still struggling because the chains binding the body were still hot from the burning residue. Sam shook his head. "Heh they are so innovative huh, doing the killing in such a spectacular way, amazing, what is this some kind of competition?" Emma took a deep breath, she'd been wearing her latex gloves a while now, but the poor body was still hanging there. "You think this is some kind of competition?" "Well if it's not, then what? Once a week there are strange and saddest killin
Autopsy room. Emma pulled off the cover, the poor body so charred that it wasn't clear whether it was a woman or a man. The bones were almost visible with blackened flesh like overcooked steak. A preliminary check showed it was female. Her whole body was blackened, some bones were even visible between the flesh that had almost turned to charcoal. Her eyes widened as if they were about to fall from the socket. The eyelids were burnt out, the poor eye screamed as if it witnessed the second her life ripped from her body. Her hands were still in the initial position, both in a tied position over her head. That's what Emma and other coroners were trying to fix at least to make its position back to normal before the follow-up autopsy was carried out. Smoke was still slightly rising from between the bones as if it was overcooked meat. Sam entered with Dakota. Emma approached with her note sheet with the data she had collected. "This is the report result about the body from Rina before
"Erm well, that's what I thought too Dax," said Sam. Dakota looked at the board carefully, every picture in front of him might give them a very important clue. "Heh, the actor wants to show how he can put on such a big show and how they managed to end it perfectly, they are even willing to do dangerous things to show how high their confidence level is, the thing is, in this world, there is no such as a perfect crime" " I know! It's like one of the titles of your lectures, that is very famous, right? I've watched the video over and over again, it's really cool, Prof, eh Dakota" exclaimed Rina. Sam turned to Rina, frowning asking what the young woman meant. "Which video?" "That' one, the title is 'no crime is perfect' so in lecture Dakota gave examples of some tough murder cases that were almost unsolvable, but even though no culprit was found, the crime was still imperfect, because some evidence was left, only it will take time for the real culprit to be caught, and as time goes o
Sam was still sitting in his office. It's eight o'clock in the evening and his eyeball hasn't moved yet from staring at the whiteboard ever since, lifting his head when he sees Dakota appear at the door. "Dax, why don't you just go home?" Dakota approached and looked at some of the photos that Sam and the team had arranged on the board. He just keeps being calm and quiet, as he used to be, just observing carefully with forehead furrowed deeply, sometimes Sam has a little doubt does this young man heard him or not. Sam came out of his desk with a plastic bag filled with a piece of a letter in the package that Dakota had received. "Do you recognize this handwriting? This letter was really addressed to you, I'm afraid that person might still be following your every step, you should be careful Dax, I haven't sent it to the lab because I want to know what you think about this" Dakota glanced at the clear plastic in Sam's hand, the letter with a paper in light pink base colour, the wo
"Eckkh" his neck was pressed tightly, the two big hands were choking him as hard as he could, making him hard to breathe. Dakota tried to break off the hand but he couldn't, his strength was nothing compared to the big figure who sat on his chest and strangled him with both of his big hands. He was short of breath, no matter how hard he tried to draw his breath was running out, soon he might die, he thought. But... He opened his eyes wide and could only see the darkness around him, his breath was heavy, but at least he could breathe again, that was just a dream, it was his bed, his room. A dream, it was the same repeated dream that keeps stuck in his mind all this time, as if it was real, he could die from it, some kind of trauma, which is too much for him. As a psychiatrist, he could read the deepest thoughts of every first-class criminal's brain he had worked with but he missed the most important thing, once he even opened some free consultation sections at the social institutio
Rina handed a piece of report paper in front of Sam. "Then, what was the result?" Sam frowned after reading the test results on the paper which caused Dakota's hand to almost get burned. "Sulfur? Again?" Rina nodded. "Yes, the substance was neatly folded in a piece of paper and spread when Dakota read it, we've been keeping it in plastic so there's very little physical contact" Sam straightened up in his seat. "Well also because Dakota has a severe allergic reaction to some chemicals like this, so for him it will be more severe, I touched it too and didn't feel anything, the package sender seems to know Dakota so well, that he knows such details, this is very worrying" Rina pointed at Dakota's desk. "Is the wound really serious? Does he need someone to take care of him at home? Oh It's a pity he's alone in the apartment, he can't definitely cook with a hand like that, it seems like I have to go there and take care of him" Sam looked at Rina sharply. "Don't mess around, you'r