novelraw Chapter 86: I Know It Was You
Chapter 86: I Know It Was You
The envelope was quite thick; it clearly held more than a single sheet of paper. For a fleeting moment, Lu Li found himself wishing it was a love letter from Mrs. Slav. That would have been an inconvenience, certainly, but at least it would have spared him from the grim and bizarre possibilities already forming in his mind.
But as is often the case, when you hope an impending event isn't something bad, that's exactly what it turns out to be.
Inside, there were no overwrought phrases from a third-rate writer, but a stack of four-panel comic strips. In the first panel of the first comic, Lu Li recognized the little figure—it was him, distinguished by his unique, dark-ringed eyes.
In the first image, the figure was squatting on the street, its back to the viewer. Behind it stood another figure, representing Lu Li, with deep, spiraling black eyes that sent an inexplicable shiver down one's spine.
In the next image, "Lu Li" reached out his hands and gripped the head of the squatting figure.
In the third image, the squatting figure's head was twisted ninety degrees, its mouth agape as if in a silent scream.
In the final image, the head was turned completely backward, and the neck was covered in scrawled lines that looked like twisted rope. What’s more, the figure representing Lu Li had also turned its head, as if both figures were now staring at the real Lu Li, on the other side of the paper.
Without considering the hidden meaning, the comic was more strange than frightening. Lu Li’s gaze lingered on the final panel for a few seconds before he pulled out the first sheet and looked at the next.
On this one, a figure lay on a crudely drawn bed. Two pigtails arcing from the head indicated it was a woman... or a man with pigtails. The Lu Li figure was absent from the drawing.
In the second panel, the figure on the bed remained in the same position, but a silhouette symbolizing death appeared in the corner, outside its field of view. The chaotic lines depicting black eyes made a powerful impression.In the third panel, "Lu Li" stood by the bed, and the figure lying down finally changed its position. It looked at the "Lu Li" by the bedside, and a few strokes on its round face depicted fear and horror. Lu Li noticed that "Lu Li" was holding a pistol.
Without pausing, Lu Li looked at the next panel.
In the final panel, "Lu Li" raised his hand, aiming the pistol at the figure on the bed. The figure lay still, its eyes drawn as X.X, a common comic book symbol for death. On the wall behind it, or rather, in the empty space of the drawing, a large, blood-red stain was spreading.
It was the first time a color other than black had appeared in the comic, and the effect was surprisingly good, surprisingly... potent.
Bang.
The comic was silent, but the image irresistibly conjured the sound. Just like in the first comic, after completing his deed, "Lu Li" lifted his head and looked at the Lu Li on the other side of the drawing. His black eyes were cold, malicious, devoid of any emotion.
Lu Li stared silently at the eyes on the paper, then, pulling out the next sheet, he remarked, "Not badly drawn."
It was unclear whether he was referring to the comic’s composition or those memorable eyes.
In the first panel of the third comic, the setting changed: it was a restroom. A toilet and a stall door were easily recognizable. A stout figure in a tie was washing its hands at the sink, its form reflected in an empty mirror. Lu Li could already predict what would happen next.
In the second panel, the silhouette of "Lu Li" appeared at the edge of the image, while his face was fully reflected in the mirror opposite.
In the third panel, "Lu Li" walked straight to the toilet on the right, dragging the stout man by his tie. This surprised Lu Li somewhat; he had expected the comic-book "Lu Li" to pull out a flintlock pistol and fire, filling the white space with red...
The fourth panel, as usual, was the denouement. The stout man lay before the toilet, his head shoved inside it. Wavy black lines depicted the water level, and the man's head was completely submerged, his eyes, like in the previous comic, turned into X.X. Lu Li remembered this scene. In the Michelle case, some newspapers had written about the strange deaths of the victims. Although most publications expressed sympathy, a few gloated. The papers had described one victim's death from suffocation and a fatal wound—his head had been shoved completely into the toilet drain.
As the meaning became clearer, the comics in the envelope transformed from incomprehensible, strange pictures into a message addressed to Lu Li.
As before, "Lu Li" turned his head and looked outward, but Lu Li no longer paid it much attention. The same image grows tiresome.
The fourth comic took place outdoors; uneven lines suggested ruins or mountainous terrain. The unique feature of this comic was its top-down perspective. Ovals represented heads. The fourth victim stood in the center of the first panel, and since they had no distinguishing features, Lu Li could only call them a victim for now.
In the second panel, "Lu Li" appeared, also depicted as an oval. To prevent Lu Li from getting confused, an arrow was drawn next to the oval with the word: ←You
"Lu Li" shoved the frightened victim into a carriage, and in the third panel, pushed the carriage with the victim off a cliff, which looked very realistic from the top-down perspective.
"The horse was innocent," Lu Li whispered, frowning slightly.
The fourth panel apparently depicted the bottom of the cliff: a smashed carriage, bloody arms and legs sticking out from the wreckage, while "Lu Li" and the horse stood unharmed in the corner of the picture. Lu Li didn't understand how Michelle had managed to push the carriage off the cliff without harming the horse, but his frown faded.
As in the previous comics, "Lu Li" raised his head and looked at Lu Li.
Each of the four panels in the comics that followed showed a different method of murder: "Lu Li" ripped out a man's heart and stuffed it in his mouth; "Lu Li" forced a woman's long hair down her own throat, suffocating her; "Lu Li" pushed a girl off a roof, and she was impaled on a spike, sliding down it.
There were still twenty-three more comics just like these. Thirty-one comics in total, exactly matching the number of people Michelle had killed when she became a vengeful spirit: 31 people. And every method of murder depicted was a perfect match for the crime scenes.
The only difference was that Michelle had done all of it, not Lu Li.
Lu Li glanced at the thirty-first sheet and thought it was the end, but he found one more page. The last sheet had no comic, only two lines of text:
[I know it was you]
[I await your reply]