chapter 4

My friend took a taxi, heading to the police station near the elder’s house.

In the car, my friend was very happy, as if the shadows of childhood were finally about to clear away today.

Seeing him so cheerful, I actually felt a bit at a loss, because there were some things I really couldn’t bear to tell him myself.

In fact, there was a very pessimistic part of my earlier reasoning that I hadn’t shared.

I had roughly deduced some information about the victim, such as their approximate age and gender.

But I didn’t dare say it, because the victim was likely already dead, and I didn’t want him to hear such news from me.

The photo of the light bulb he sent me had the year of manufacture marked on the side.

It said 2015.

That is to say, this light bulb was produced in 2015.

And the dates written on those two drawings were March 11, 2015. Now it’s 2024, a gap of nine years.

Is the victim from nine years ago really still alive today?

…

Additionally, regarding the perpetrator’s motive.

This is how I deduced it.

My friend discovered two light bulbs and two drawings; the victim couldn’t have broken two bulbs at the same time, as this would arouse the perpetrator’s suspicion.

So these two drawings must have been sent out at different times.

This means the victim survived for at least several months.

The fact that the victim was able to use the light bulbs twice to transmit information also indicates that the perpetrator wasn’t constantly monitoring the victim. The perpetrator likely had a regular job, so when they weren’t home, the victim could move freely within the room where they were confined.

Combining these two points, we can start to consider the perpetrator’s motive.

The four most common motives for confinement crimes are:

Kidnapping, revenge, protection, and sexual assault.

Kidnapping confinement is a short-term abduction carried out by kidnappers to demand ransom.

Victims are usually bound hand and foot, gagged, and completely deprived of freedom.

Revenge confinement is abduction carried out by the perpetrator to vent their anger.

The vast majority of perpetrators motivated by revenge do not let the victim survive for more than a month. Even if the victim survives longer, they are already tortured beyond recognition, with almost no chance of carrying out any plan.

This clearly contradicts the previous two conclusions.

That leaves only protection confinement and sexual assault confinement as possibilities.

Here, protection confinement can be ruled out.

Usually, those subjected to protection confinement are people with mental illness from poor families, because they can’t afford to send them to a psychiatric hospital and fear they might hurt others if allowed to roam freely, so the family locks them up.

But a person with a mental illness couldn’t carry out such a meticulous plan.

Therefore, sexual assault confinement is the most likely possibility.

The perpetrator, driven by their perverse sexual desires, kidnapped and confined the victim, who is most likely a woman in her twenties or thirties.

She is suffering both physically and mentally in some dark corner of the world.

The drawings sent out in 2015 were only discovered in 2024.

This victim is in grave danger…

I looked at my friend, hoping that when he learns the truth, he won’t be too sad. At least he tried his best, and not being able to save her isn’t his fault.

I hope that when the police tell him the outcome, he can think this way.

…

Things didn’t develop quite as I had expected.

I should say that most of my conclusions were correct, except for one thing I got wrong.

The victim did not die.

The perpetrator died.

…