My Iyashikei Game

“There is no modern device in the cave, at least none that requires internet connection. It is the perfect hideout. The ice cellar contains an altar for Meng Si so that proves that the owner of this place is deeply connected to her. Overall, the chance of the owner of this place is Meng Changxi is very high.” Li Xue’s analysis sent a tremor of excitement through her colleagues. Now the entire police force was searching for Meng Changxi but they had zero clue. But this was a giant breakthrough. Putting on the gloves, Li Xue plucked down Han Fei’s picture. “This photograph was taken only a few days ago, see if the CSU can get any prints from it. Then try to analyse the buildings in the picture as well as the camera angles. After that, pull out the surveillance footage from the related areas.”

“Wait a minute.” It was not until the picture was removed from the wall that Han Fei noticed there was something written on the back of it---The Last Prospect. “I am Meng Changxi’s last prospect? What does he mean by that?”

Li Xue pulled down He Shouye and Meng Changan’s pictures to see if anything was written on the back of them as well. The back of He Shouye’s picture was covered in bloody smudges while a date and time was written down on the back of Meng Changan’s picture.

“Wait, isn’t that today?” Li Xue was the first to notice the problem. She looked through the stack of documents and noticed something unusual. “A fake Identity card model? The structural layout of Immortal Pharma’s Xin Lu Branch? The map of Xin Lu’s international business centre?” When Li Xue found these things, she researched them on the internet. “Today at 1.30 pm, there will be a big gaming convention at Xin Lu’s international business centre. Immortal Pharma and Deep Space Tech have been advertising it for weeks. The event is to unveil the world’s newest and biggest space gaming hub.”

“Assuming the owner of this cave is Meng Changxi, the reason he familiarized himself with the map of the convention is because he will be there in person? But the business centre is in the intelligent city, there will be a surveillance camera every few steps. The moment he appears on the camera, he’ll be discovered!”

“Meng Changxi is not going to take such a huge risk for a mere game. He has his own reason to show up there.” Han Fei took out his phone to conduct his own research and he soon found something, “The latest gaming hub is a joint project between Deep Space Tech and immortal Pharma. Some higher ups from Immortal Pharma will be present at the venue.” He turned his phone screen over to show the police. “One of them is Meng Changan!”

“Meng Changxi is going there to murder Meng Changan?!” The two officers were shocked. They were going to call in this update immediately. If an important personnel from Immortal Pharma was murdered in broad daylight, it would cause great public distress.

“Calm down!” Li Xue scanned the documents in the cave. “Initially I didn’t quite believe what Han Fei said either, various evidence suggests that Meng Changxi is the murderer but now that we’re here, I think the case is not that simple. Why would a murderer spend years to investigate a case he committed? Only someone who was framed would do that.”

“Other than that, Meng Changxi is a very clever person. He is also extremely patient so why did he choose this particular timing to make such a risky move? He has already waited for a decade so why now? From what I gathered about the man, he is not one to do anything drastic unless he has no choice. ” Han Fei turned to the two other officers.

“Yesterday midnight, the station received an anonymous tip. The person handed over solid evidence that confirms Meng Changxi as the killer of the frozen body case.” One of the officers looked at Li Xue and then at Han Fei before he began hesitantly.

“We have new evidence?” Li Xue was shocked. “How come I’ve not heard about this?”

“You’ve been insisting that we should focus more on Meng Changan and use kiddy gloves around Meng Changxi, that goes against the vein of our investigation.” The officer shook his head. “The evidence we received is a series of recordings. They record a young Meng Changxi burying different animal carcasses. There were mutilated birds, stray cats and dogs. That is firm evidence of the man’s twisted mind. Of course, that was not all. The last video was a stealth recording of Meng Changxi carrying a dead body.”

Li Xue’s other colleague spoke, “Sister Li, I’m sorry but evidence speaks louder than subjective opinions. After the station received the evidence, the captain ordered to heighten the search for Meng Changxi. We have employed the latest technology to locate him. He probably sensed the danger and knew he’d be found sooner or later so he had to take this risk.”

“Are those recordings true?”

“Yes, the tech has checked for their authenticity.”

With that, Li Xue turned to Han Fei. She only insisted on Meng Changxi’s innocence due to Han Fei’s words but now with this new evidence, her conviction also started to shake.

“Something’s wrong!” Han Fei claimed confidently, “The videos only show Meng Changxi burying the animal carcasses, right? Did they show him torturing and killing them?”

“No, but that is not the point. One of the videos caught Meng Changxi on the camera trying to drag away a dead body, that is more than enough to convict him!” That silenced Han Fei. However, Han Fei knew the truth deep down. Meng Si told him personally that, as Meng Changan’s actions got more demented, his elder brothers started to intervene. Meng Changshou helped Meng Changan register in counselling sessions while Meng Changxi helped Meng Changan deal with his horrible mess. In other words, the animal carcasses buried by Meng Changxi were Meng Changan’s hapless victims. Meng Changan did not appreciate none of the things his elder brothers had done for him. If anything, he turned their kindness against them by silently recording the videos of Meng Changxi burying the animals. When he was so young, he already knew how to make use of his brother’s love to his own advantage.

The damning evidence of the dead man was probably taken the night Meng Si encountered the siblings at the abandoned bungalow. Meng Changxi was carrying a secret video camera on him that night. While he was being lectured by Meng Si, the camera recorded his brothers moving the dead drifter whom Meng Changan killed.

Meng Changan had a handsome appearance that inspired confidence and trust while Meng Changxi who was born with a facial birthmark would give others a bad first impression. Probably since the moment Meng Changan started his search for that butterfly, he already decided to use his brother as his scapegoat.

At this point, something cleared in Han Fei’s mind. Meng Si was the person who knew the 3 siblings the best, she was the only person who could absolve Meng Changxi’s suspicion so she would have to die.

‘The evidence that the police found at Meng Changxi’s home is definitely planted by Meng Changan. This devil has planned everything. He has been keeping this ‘smoking gun’ on Meng Changxi. Once his position is threatened, he’d push Meng Changxi out to take his fall.’ But to the devil’s credit, none of the evidence was technically tempered. They were merely framed a certain way. Meng Changxi was guilty but the real sinner was Meng Changan.

“Take a look at this!” The officer found a hand-painted map at the corner. It marked out the camera locations at the centre, and used that to plan a relatively safe route through it. “The fake id is prepared for the disabled. Citizens with facial disfigurement or blindness can skip the facial recognition registration. We have no idea where Meng Changxi got that Id but the system will not be fooled for more than 5 minutes. The alarm will ring after that! In other words, he only has 5 minutes to commit the murder after he enters the centre. According to the route he mapped out, 5 minutes is more than enough to do that and escape without being seen. His plan is perfect.”

After knowing the murderer’s plan, the two officers launched into action. Han Fei did not follow them, instead he stayed to study the killer’s supposed route. He placed himself in Meng Changxi’s shoes. If he was going to do something like this, he’d memorize the route and then burn away the evidence. Why leave it behind to be discovered?

“It feels like Meng Changxi purposely left these behind for us to find. He probably knew we’re onto him. If that is the case, this route has to be false.

“On the other hand, the fact that Meng Changan will be present at the convention is suspiciously easy to find. He could have easily hidden away his names like some of the other higher ups, so why didn’t he? After sending the videos to the police, he knew it would place a great pressure on his brother so why make an obvious target out of himself? Unless of course, he has something else planned... This whole thing smells like a trap.

“Neither of the two siblings is dumb. They would have been able to guess the other’s plan. But the pressure is on Meng Changxi. If Meng Changxi does not go after Meng Changan now, he’d lose his chance and eventually be captured by the police. He’d be condemned due to the overwhelming evidence against him. So in this situation, what can Meng Changxi do?”

At this point, Han Fei turned to his own picture. “Why am I the last prospect for Meng Changxi? How do I figure into his plan?”