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ITTMB 163

Masked Person’s Lover

The person who fell was the makeup artist from the crew.

The ambulance was still on the way, Director Chen was on the phone.

Ning Ning heard what he claimed in the call, “A little accident.”


“It’s not a mere accident.” Ning Ning folded her arms, telling Chen Shuang He in a low voice, “You saw it too, right?”

“Yes.” Chen Shuang He had a terrible expression on his face.

The two of them looked up at the attic together.

The makeup artist had fallen from the attic. Because there was no one around her, Director Chen was sure that it was an accident.

But both of them had seen it. When the makeup artist fell, a figure flashed by in the attic.

Although it was just a glimpse, both of them saw that the person had a mask on their face—a rabbit mask.


“I asked the others.” Chen Shuang He scanned the surrounding people. “Besides the two of us, the rest of the people said that they didn’t see anything, including the ones at the scene.”

A person whom only two of them could see…

The identity of that person was almost certain.

“A masked person…” Ning Ning murmured.


At this moment a staff member walked over and said to Ning Ning, “Miss Ning, there’s someone outside asking for you, he said he knows you, his name is Wen Yu.”

He came at the right time, Ning Ning had something to talk to him about.

Ning Ning had the staff member bring Wen Yu to the rest area, then gave Director Chen a heads up before she went to look for Wen Yu.

With a knock on the door. “Wen Yu, I’m here.”

“…Come in.”


At the instant she opened the door, a hand suddenly reached from in front of her.

Ning Ning was pulled into the room, the door was closed and locked with a bang.

…If the person standing in front of her was not Wen Yu but another man, Ning Ning probably would have shouted for help; but it was Wen Yu, so she frowned and asked, “What’s wrong?”

“Apologies,” Wen Yu looked back, he said apologetically, “conditioned reflex.”

…What kind of conditioned reflex was that? Ning Ning looked at him speechlessly, she thought that he was looking at her with a very strange expression.


He looked at her like a person looking at a stranger. From her eyebrows to her nose, from her nose to the mole on her cheek, then from the mole on her cheek to her lips, recognising her bit by bit. After confirming her identity, he breathed a sigh of relief then reached out to hug her.

Ning Ning felt a little confused by his sudden hug. She asked after a long while, “What’s the matter with you today?”

“…Nothing.”

“But the way you were looking at me just now…it made me feel a little creeped out.” Ning Ning faked a laugh. “It feels like…you have not seen me in decades.”


“Madam Qin is dead.” Wen Yu said suddenly after a moment of silence.

Ning Ning was stunned, “Who?”

“My customer.” Wen Yu loosened his hand, restraint returned to his frame and face. He turned back to the Wen Yu Ning Ning knew. He told her calmly, “Do you remember? We went to her house together, she opened the door while covered in blood. Later on, the police suspected that she was the culprit who murdered her boyfriend.”

WIth his reminder, Ning Ning remembered the person. “I remember her, how is she? Was the real culprit…caught?”

She did not hold out much hope, because how could an invisible person be caught?

As expected, Wen Yu shook his head and said, “She could not endure the criticism of people, so she committed suicide.”

Ning Ning fell silent.


The Wen Yu today felt a little unfamiliar to her.

Although he and Madam Qin were just at doctor-and-patient relationship level, he was acting too cold, it even made her heart shudder. The tone akin to reporting news, that indifferent attitude…

After she calmed down, Ning Ning was asked, “Come to think of it, you mentioned to me that Madam Qin’s ex-husband is a masked person with a rabbit mask, right?”

A piece of drawing paper was laid out on the table, Wen Yu provided both the pen and paper. That was not strange, even if he pursued the profession of being a doctor, he could not change the habit of bringing drawing supplies around with him.


“It looks something like this…” Ning Ning drew on the piece of paper as she said.

“Let me take a look.” Wen Yu stood behind Ning Ning, his eyes stared at the drawing paper on the table.

On the table was a masked person.

He was neither fat nor slim, his physique was very ordinary, on his face was a rabbit mask. The combination of that physique and the mask made him look harmless.

When he looked at the drawing paper, Ning Ning was looking at him. Like how he was observing her earlier, Ning Ning also observed his expressions and movements…

“Take another look.” Wen Yu put down the brush, added a few strokes on the drawing then asked, “Did the person you see on the attic look like this?”

Ning Ning looked at the drawing paper then shuddered.


It was clearly still the harmless rabbit mask, but for some reason, staring at the drawing for a period of time would make a person’s hair stand on its end. That mask seemed to be smiling, it looked like it would draw out a bloodied knife from behind its back at the next second.

Wen Yu’s few strokes inserted the soul of a murderer into the rabbit mask in the drawing.

Looking at the drawing, Ning Ning could not help but ask, “Did Madam Qin really commit suicide?”

Wen Yu shook his head, “No.”

Ning Ning’s heart thumped.


“She could not endure the criticism of people, so she committed suicide…that was what was told to outsiders.” Wen Yu laughed. “After all, there is no other more scientific way to explain it.”

“But what actually happened?” Ning Ning asked.

“In truth…” Wen Yu gazed at her deeply. “Do you believe a person could choke themselves to death?”


Madam Qin was the number one suspect in a murder case, she was immediately taken into custody.

There was no second suspect.

The “man in a rabbit mask” she was talking about did not exist at all.

Madam Qin’s family started to go all over the place to look for proof that she had a mental illness. But in reality, in the eyes of her cellmates in prison, she definitely had some issues.

No matter day or night, she would fight with the air, she would even punch or kick the air.


“Three nights ago, Madam Qin fought with the air again.” Wen Yu said, “Due to the fact that she had been doing that frequently, all her cellmates were already used to it, they would at most shout at her a few times, then tossed about and continued to sleep. Someone heard her cry for help in the middle of the night, but no one paid any heed, they only scolded her for being overdramatic in their hearts.” Wen Yu slowly said, “The next day, they discovered that she laid on her bed with her eyes wide open, her corpse had already gone cold.”

Forensics certified that she was strangled to death.

Who strangled her to death?

A group of people watched the CCTV recording, they felt more chills as they watched.


Within the recording, Madam Qin first scolded the air loudly.

As she was scolding the air, she started to use her hands and legs, repeatedly reaching out to grab the other party, her ferocious look was no different from a shrew in the market.

“If there was really a person standing in front of her, then it must be a really nice person,” someone said as they watched, “they didn’t retaliate even if they were getting beaten up and scolded.”


In the end, at the next instant, Madam Qin looked like she was ferociously slapped, spinning halfway around like a top.

She used her hand to cover her face, then shouted out again. A person who could lip read interpreted what she said in that moment, “I would rather die to be together with him than to be together with a bastard like you!”

Afterwards, something that made the audience feel chills down their spines happened.

Madam Qin suddenly started to move backward.

There was clearly not a soul in front of her, but it looked like someone had pushed her, she retreated all the way back to the wall from where she was originally standing 。

Then, her feet suddenly left the ground.


“Help…help me…” Madam Qin—with her back to the wall—had both her hands firmly in front of her neck, her feet that were off the ground kicked in front of her in a disorderly manner.

A cellmate seemed to have been woken up by the noise, turning around on the bed. Madam Qin looked at her with a pair of bloodshot eyes, full of hope.

Yet, as the cellmate turned around, she pressed a pillow on her head. Not long later, snores rang out.

Madam Qin’s head drooped down.

Her hands were no longer struggling, her legs were no longer kicking.

She was like a painting, hanging on the wall silently…strangled and nailed to the wall by a pair of invisible hands.


Ning Ning could feel chills just from listening to the story, let alone those who had actually watched the footage.

“Her ex-husband did it?” Ning Ning folded her arms and rubbed the goosebumps on them. “Why did he do that?”

“It might be a moment of impulse, it might also be because he had reached the limits of his patience.” Wen Yu said, “No matter what, you are in serious danger now.”

“Me?” Ning Ning said in surprise. How did she get dragged into this?

“Killing his own wife had caused a huge change in his mental state,” Wen Yu said, “simply put, he has completed the process of turning from an ordinary person into a serial killer.”

“Serial…killer??” Hearing this phrase in reality—not from a show or a novel—Ning Ning simply felt that it was unimaginable. It felt so distant that it was a little surreal for her.


“This Mr. Rabbit—let’s call him Mr. Rabbit for the time being,” Wen Yu looked at the drawing on the table from the corner of his eye, “in Madam Qin’s eyes—in the eyes of the world—he is already dead, but he doesn’t admit that he is dead. He thinks that he had only been away for a long time, coming back to discover that his wife was together with another man. He killed her lover in a fit of rage, but he did not kill Madam Qin. He thought Madam Qin would feel guilty and thankful to him, but it was not what he had imagined in the end.”

There seemed to be a bit of a commotion outside, what happened?

“‘I would rather die to be together with him than to be together with a bastard like you.’ This sentence was the straw that broke the camel’s back, he finally couldn’t take it anymore and killed Madam Qin. Moreover, he does not think he is in the wrong.“ Wen Yu said, “He thinks Madam Qin was the one who was wrong—along with those similar to Madam Qin.”


“Ning Ning, are you in there?” Chen Shuang He’s voice rang out outside along with frantic knockings at the door.

Ning Ning could not help but sit up from the sofa. She had rarely seen him that agitated, did something happen outside?

“Ning Ning? Ning Ning!” No one had answered so Chen Shuang He knocked even louder. At the same time, Ning Ning’s phone rang.

She first walked over in a hurry to open the door that Wen Yu had locked.

Chen Shuang He’s frantic face appeared in front of her, sizing her up before breathing a sigh of relief. “Good to see that you’re fine.”


There was chaos outside, Ning Ning could not help but ask, “What happened?”

Chen Shuang He hesitated and looked into the room.

“He’s on our side, you can say it.” Ning Ning said.

“…The makeup artist who fell,” Chen Shuang He lowered his voice and said to her, “she’s dead…she was strangled to death.”

Ning Ning quickly looked towards Wen Yu.

Wen Yu remained seated on the sofa, the tea in front of him had already gone cold.

For some reason, he seemed overly cautious today. He did not eat anything that he did not know the origins of, he did not even take a sip of the tea that had been served to him.

Seeing Ning Ning look at him, he smiled faintly, a smile that even felt a little grim.


“The characteristic of a serial killer is a set pattern,” he said with a smile, “a set pattern of motives, a set pattern of a murder methods, or a set pattern of murder targets.”

Ning Ning swallowed her saliva.

“Mr. Rabbit belongs to the last type, he picks victims of a similar type.” Wen Yu told Ning Ning, “Madam Qin and the makeup artist from your set, what do you think they have in common?”

Ning Ning stared at him for a while before she slowly said, “…We are all a masked person’s lover.”


Lover.

That was such a gentle term, such a beautiful term, it was even a term that many people pursue for their whole lives.

But now it had become a life threatening term.


“…What are you two talking about?” Chen Shuang He looked at Ning Ning then at Wen Yu, “Who’s a…serial killer?”

“This.” Wen Yu handed the drawing over to him, then he gave him a simplified explanation.

The knot on Chen Shuang He’s forehead got tighter and tighter. He finally crushed the drawing and stuffed it in his pocket, turned around and told Ning Ning, “I’ll go tell my father, you should go back for the day, it’s not safe here.”

“It’s no use,” Wen Yu objected, “it’s even more dangerous alone. Why not look for him while the matter has not blown up? Catch him, the sooner the better.”


“Just with the few of us?” Chen Shuang He looked at him with surprise.

“No,” Wen Yu said with a smile, “just me.”

Chen Shuang He became speechless for a moment. “Forget it, count me in.”

“Sure.” Wen Yu said immediately, “I suspect Mr. Rabbit is still at the crime scene, you should go take a look, but only take a look. We’ll go over the details after you get back, remember not to expose yourself.”

…I was just being courteous and now you are starting to give me orders? Chen Shuang He looked at him, dumbstruck, before he said in a muffled voice, “…Alright, I’ll go over and take a look.”


After he left, the rest area was left with just Ning Ning and Wen Yu again.

“Why?” Ning Ning suddenly asked.

Wen Yu turned to look at her.

“Why can you be so sure…” Ning Ning also slowly looked around, “that both of us had seen the masked person, the same masked person.”

Previously when Wen Yu got her to draw the masked person, she had not realised it yet.

Afterward, when Wen Yu was editing the drawing for her, she felt that something was off, but she could not point it out at that moment.

Now she had finally realised it…


“Wen Yu,” Ning Ning stared straight at the other party’s face, asking word by word, “since when…have you been able to see masked people?”

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