During the time Dingsheng International Company was confronting the wind, the task force responsible for investigating the death of Gao Yize also made a significant breakthrough.

They had screened out more than one hundred students from thousands of student files, on the basis of geographical location and distribution, as well as further investigation. The students who had been identified lived either near Zhao Kai's or Mao Xiaoming's homes, and might have potentially intersected with them in their day-to-day lives.

Although this kind of investigation wasn't as comparably difficult as finding a needle in a haystack was, it still came pretty close to it. After all, the information details required were from many years ago, and everyone's memory had become blurred with time.

After four or five continuous days of investigating without any success, the team had almost given up. It was in this midst of hopelessness that Zhuang Zhen seemed to encounter some good fortune when he questioned one of the former students.

"Do you remember if there were any other students from your school who lived around here?"

The man thought for a moment, then clapped his forehead and said, "I remember a junior sister who came here several times. One time, the chain of her bicycle had broken and I ended up helping her in fixing it. It was at that time that she said that she had come to visit her grandma who lived near our community."

Zhuang Zhen's eyes sharpened. "What is her name?"

"Ruan Meizi."

Zhuang Zhen: "..."

He asked again, but that person still couldn't recall the real name of that female student. After all, many years had passed since that encounter. They were just students in the same school, not the same class, and not even in the same year. Who would remember such things so clearly?

Zhuang Zhen had the man accompany him back to school to look over all the photos present in the student files, and finally managed to dig out the identity of this 'Ruan Meizi'.

Her real name was Ruan Ye. Her acquaintances would call her Yezi, while some others called her Ruan Yezi, and so after these versions passed from mouth to mouth, her name came to be known as Ruan Meizi.

Her academic performance was exceptional and she was later admitted to the one of the top three universities in China. She even graduated one year ahead of schedule after obtaining all of her necessary credits. With such an impressive background, she was now working in a multinational enterprise while simultaneously studying for an MBA.

Her ability to work was outstanding and her interpersonal skills were also very strong. It was expected that it wouldn't be long before she received a promotion and a raise in salary. In short, she had a very promising future ahead of her.

A person with such a shining resume would typically have nothing to do with Zhao Kai and Mao Xiaoming, who were mice-in-a-gutter kind of people. But after some careful investigation, the task force discovered that Ruan Ye's grandma and Zhao Kai used to live in the same community.

In a word, she and Zhao Kai could be considered to be semi-neighbors, and it wasn't unlikely for them to know each other. Furthermore, Mao Xiaoming, who often went over to play at Zhao Kai's place, naturally also had the opportunity to become acquainted with her.

The student files only recorded the home address of the students, and not that of their collateral relatives. If these facts and events had not been coincidentally uncovered after they were offhandedly mentioned by the people being investigated, then the task force would have had no way of knowing this information at all. Ruan Ye's grandmother had already passed many years ago, and the house she had owned in the community had already been sold; adding to this, most of the people in the community were tenants with great mobility.

No one knew any detailed information. Even if they were asked by the police, they couldn't remember what kind of person Ruan Ye was.

Nonetheless, it had to be said that Zhuang Zhen's luck was very good -to be able to discover this one lead out of thousands of different clues was not an easy task...

The task immediately refocused their efforts into investigating Ruan Ye, and were shocked to find out she has been missing for five days now. If it wasn't for the police who had suddenly turned up to inquire after her whereabouts, Ruan Ye's boyfriend would still have thought that she was away on a business trip. Everything appeared to be normal; her WeChat also displayed their usual daily contact, with an occasional message being sent to her friends too.

The task force then concluded that Ruan Ye was the murderer's fifth target, and that the murderer might have already succeeded in killing her.

That night, the task force checked all the recordings of the surveillance cameras that dotted the route from Ruan Ye's company to her home to try to find a trace of when she was last seen. They had initially thought that the murderer would be as careful as they had been with the previous four murders, but they didn't expect to discover a clip where the other side had suddenly looked directly into the surveillance camera. It was done during the process of abducting Ruan Ye-and thus they had left a clear image of their face.

"It's him! It's the sound technician from Flying Studio!" Xiao Li was shocked. He didn't expect the murderer they had been looking for so long to have hidden right under their eye.

This person had even been investigated and interrogated multiple times by the team. Despite all their efforts, the other side had never shown even the slightest hint of a flaw. He had been calmer than an innocent person would be, and coupling that with a surveillance video that corroborated as his alibi, he had managed to fool everyone in a logical manner.

"Arrest him!" Zhuang Zhen instructed, immediately coming to a firm decision.

The task force quickly drove to catch the murderer. However, when they reached their destination, the sound technician, who they expected to be trying to escape, was actually sitting calmly in his study and operating a computer-he seemed to be in no hurry of any kind at all.

"Ruan Ye is in the utility room." He pointed to the east.

More than a dozen black barrels were aimed at him, yet he could actually smile in a mild manner, displaying no panic.

"Go save her!" As he ordered this, Zhuang Zhen didn't slacken the grip on his gun, which was firmly aimed at the sound technician's head, but his heart sank. If the murderer was this calm, the victim was definitely in a bad condition.

Liu Tao also thought the same, but when he kicked open the door of the utility room, he found that Ruan Ye was still alive. She was firmly bound to a single small bed, her head affixed to the headboard with a metal bracket-she was completely unable to move.

Her eyes were taped shut with two pieces of adhesive tape and her mouth was sealed with another piece of it. A blood vessel in her right hand had been punctured with an IV needle, and was attached to a solution bag filled with an unknown liquid.

Even before Liu Tao could move any closer, he almost vomited from the thick stench that permeated the utility room. The team members behind him also felt suffocated for a brief moment, but then swiftly rushed in to help her. All of them thought that Ruan Ye must have suffered inhuman torture even if she was not dead, but after turning on the wall lamp, the sight of the situation in the room only puzzled them even more.

Ruan Ye was just tied up, she hadn't been beaten. The dripping solution bag only contained glucose, which replenished energy, and not poison; the tape covering her mouth also had a small hole cut into it, to make it easier to feed her. She ate, drank, peed and shit on this bed. Although it was smelly, her life was guaranteed, and there was not a single scar marring the surface of her body.

"Vice-captain, she's fine!" called out Liao Fang, after roughly examining Ruan Ye's physical condition.

"Good, untie her! Remember to tear the tape carefully, don't hurt her eyelids. Cover her eyes with translucent gauze before we go out, so as to not stimulate them under strong light. I'll call for an ambulance." Liu Tao quickly took out his mobile phone to contact the paramedics.

At the same time, Liao Fang and several other members of the task force untied Ruan Ye's shackles.

Ruan Ye's whole body was wooden. She was clearly awake, but she had lost her ability to respond to the outside world. Her pupils were narrower than the tip of a needle. She seemed like a person who had completely lost their soul.

"Ruan Ye, Ruan Ye, can you hear me? We're the police. We're here to save you, Ruan Ye..." Liao Fang continued to call out to her.

"Ah, it's strange. Is this room leaking?" When the police officer in-charge of removing the metal bracket touched Ruan Ye's wet hair, they couldn't help but glance upward. They saw that above the small bed, aimed directly at Ruan Ye's head, was a tin bucket that hung from the ceiling of the room. A small hole had been created at the bottom of the bucket, which was filled with water, and it was this water that was steadily dripping down.

At that moment, the police officer didn't understand what the bucket was for, and he didn't have time to think about it any deeper, since he had to focus his full attention on rescuing Ruan Ye.

It took them a long time to remove the various ropes, ties and metal brackets that bound Ruan Ye and then lift her out of the smelly utility room.

After a while, Ruan Ye gradually showed some signs of rousing from her immobile state, and she began to struggle in Liao Fang's arms. The tape that covered her mouth had been removed, but she couldn't manage to say even a complete word. She could only whine like a wild animal, with a frantic expression on her face.

Liao Fang hugged her tightly and repeatedly consoled her with soothing words.

Upon seeing this scene, the sound technician was so happy that he began to laugh. As soon as she heard his laughter, Ruan Ye began to tremble, and before long, she was foaming at the mouth, after which she started convulsing, before finally fainting.

"Send her to the hospital first." Zhuang Zhen took out his handcuffs and walked to the sound technician.

The sound technician stood up, raised his hands, smiled and said, "Don't be nervous, I won't resist. In fact, I've been waiting for you for a long time."

"Show some remorse!" Zhuang Zhen seized his hands, twisted them behind his back, and snapped, "We suspect that you are involved in several murders. You are under arrest!" With a click, handcuffs secured the sound technician's wrists.

-

The sound technician's house was clean and empty, with almost no furniture except for a table and chair set, and a computer. It seemed that he directly slept on the floor, not even needing a bed or a quilt. His life was as simple as that of an ascetic monk.

Even after the forensic team conducted a thorough search of his house, they couldn't find any evidence to prove that he was involved in the first four murders.

His computer had been completely formatted a few minutes before the task force arrived, and the hard disk had been wiped clean by a virus, so no data could be recovered. He was proficient in all kinds of anti-forensic techniques and was clearly a criminal with high intelligence.

At present, the only beneficial lead they had in regard to the case was that the investigation into the social background of the sound technician had finally revealed a connection.

According to the task force, he had a younger sister who was enrolled in the Affiliated High School of Normal University. She was Ruan Ye's classmate and roommate, and had committed suicide three years ago. It could be inferred that this series of murders was linked to the death of this sister, but no one knew exactly what had happened.

Zhuang Zhen couldn't help but worry, because if the task force couldn't get a hold of all the evidence, they wouldn't be able to charge the sound technician with murder. After all, the difference between the lawful punishment meted out for murder and that for kidnapping was too large. If he was only charged with kidnapping, then maybe within ten years, the man could be released from prison, after which he could continue to harm society.

As Zhuang Zhen was thinking about all this, Song Rui said to him, "Your worry is superfluous. Judging from his actions during his arrest, he has no intention of not pleading guilty. Let's interrogate him first."

"Well, okay, let's try that first. After all, we don't have the time to investigate the truth of the sister's suicide case from that year right now."

Zhuang Zhen was slightly dissatisfied with the concern for bureaucracy his superiors displayed, but he also expressed his understanding. After all, the social impact caused by this case was much too great. If the case was not closed quickly, the Sub-Bureau wouldn't be able to explain it to the public.

While the two were sorting out the data related to the case, Liao Fang returned from the hospital with a physical examination report. She spoke directly, "Leader, the doctor says Ruan Ye is in good condition. She has suffered no skin trauma or internal injuries, nor she has been victimised. She only eats little and has a weak stomach. She can go home after a few days of observation."

"Good, she's luckier than the other four." Xiao Li was very happy.

Song Rui was carefully observing the photos of the scene of the crime. Hearing this, he took one of them out and sighed, "She is more lucky than Gao Yize and the other three? I don't think so. Do you know what this bed, this bucket, and this dripping hole is for?"

"What is it for?" Xiao Li asked curiously.

Zhuang Zhen stared at the picture, and spoke in a solemn voice, "Is it torture by water dripping?"

"Yes, it's water torture." Song Rui removed his glasses and squinted his eyes, as if he couldn't really bear to see the picture.

Xiao Li was still confused. "What is water torture?"

Zhuang Zhen slowly explained, "Water torture is a kind of torture that was invented by King Zhou of the Shang Dynasty. It involves fixing a person on a seat, keeping their head still, hanging a bucket full of water above the restrained person, and then letting water slowly drip onto their head. Does it sound very trifling? It might sound soft, but this kind of torture is more agonizing than death by a thousand cuts or even the fiery pillar.

"Once upon a time, a terrorist was caught by a hostile force; he endured flogging, cutting, and burning, but failed to endure water torture and chose to commit suicide by biting his tongue. It's said that in ancient times, some criminals on death penalty preferred to die rather than accept such torturous punishment."

"So exaggerated?" Xiao Li imagined the scene, but still couldn't comprehend why this dripping water torture was considered so horrible.

Song Rui put down the photo and sighed deeply as he continued explaining, "The water torture Ruan Ye suffered is different from the one in history. It's an upgraded version. King Zhou of the Shang Dynasty just dripped water on top of people's heads, while the murderer chose to let water drip precisely at the intersection of her eyebrows.

"The area in the middle of the two eyebrows is extremely sensitive. When someone points their finger at this area, even if they are not near, you will feel a very strong sense of resistance to it. Pointing here can make your scalp feel numb, cause your hair to rise, and like a threatened beast, you will start to be on alert.

"Take a moment to think about it. How long can you endure if there are drops of water invading this area every minute and every second? You can't see anything or hear anything; all you can feel is only a cold continuous stream of water droplets?

"It's no different from sticking a needle in your brain. In the process of being punished like this, you will be unable to sleep and unable to think. You will suffer endless anxiety and experience overwhelming frenzy during almost every moment of it. Within a day, you will collapse. The murderer was not tormenting Ruan Ye's body, but her spirit and soul. He killed the first four people in a very simple manner, leaving almost no clues on the scenes. But only when it was Ruan Ye's turn did he turn to such a level of cruelty..."

Song Rui put his glasses back on and said, "In conclusion, I have reason to suspect that Ruan Ye is the main cause for this series of murders, and the murderer's main target. Rather than kill her, the murderer was more willing to fundamentally destroy her. I think I know how to approach the murderer. Let's go."

...

Noks: Pack in for the ride, folks. It's only gonna get grittier from here on out.

Frozenmirage: Yep, it's better to prepare some warm or fluffy novels beforehand...