Chapter 144 - 144 I know it was you who did it

Words : 1323 Updated : Sep 17th, 2025

144: I know it was you who did it. 144: I know it was you who did it. The envelope had some thickness, no longer just a single flimsy piece of letter paper. At this moment, Lu Li wished it were a love letter from Mrs. Slav. Although it would bring some troubles, at least it wouldn’t plunge Lu Li into those terrifying and bizarre speculations. But often, when you hope that an upcoming event isn’t something bad, it usually turns out to be exactly that. Inside, there were no flowery prose from a third-rate writer, just a stack of four-panel comics. Lu Li recognized a character in the first panel—it was himself—marked by a pair of unique, ringed black eyes. In the first scene, a character crouched outdoors, facing away. The black-eyed character representing Lu Li stood behind him. The whirlpool-like black lines that made up the eyes were profound, inducing an inexplicable shudder. In the next panel, “Lu Li” reached out both hands, placing them on the sides of the head of the character facing away. In the third panel, the head of the character facing away was twisted at a ninety-degree angle, his mouth drawn as if screaming something. In the last panel, the head of the character facing away was completely turned backwards, with extra twisted lines like pretzels around the neck. Not only that, the character representing Lu Li also turned his head, as if both characters were staring at Lu Li beyond the paper. However, without understanding the deeper meaning of the drawing, one would at most feel that this four-panel comic was somewhat cultish rather than horrifying. Lu Li paused for a few seconds on the last panel, pulled out the first piece of paper, and looked at the next one. A character leaned against a simply drawn bed, with two ponytails extending in arcs from her head, indicating she was a woman—or a man with ponytails. Lu Li’s figure was not among them. In the second panel, the character on the bed maintained the same position as in the first panel, while in a corner she couldn’t see, the figure representing death appeared within the scene. The chaotic lines representing dark eyes were impressively memorable. In the third panel, the “Lu Li” character stood by the bed, and the character on the bed finally made a new move. She looked towards the “Lu Li character” by the window, her circular face outlined with simple lines that depicted fear and panic. Lu Li noticed that the “Lu Li” character was holding a gun in his hand. Without lingering, Lu Li looked at the next panel. In the last panel, the “Lu Li” character’s arm was raised, the gun in his hand aimed at the character on the bed. The character on the bed lay down on the cot, her eyes turning into the X.X that often represented death in comics, with a large area of blood-red diffusing into the wall—or rather, the blank space of the drawing—behind her. This was the first time a color other than black appeared in the comic, and the effect was unexpectedly good, unexpectedly impactful. Bang. Comics have no sound, but the images invariably compel one’s mind to fill in the blanks. Just like in the first segment of comics, the “Lu Li” character after completing everything lifted his head, looking towards Lu Li outside the drawing. Those black eyes were cold, evil, devoid of any emotion. Lu Li quietly stared at the eyes on the paper for a long time before he spoke and moved on to the next one. “Well drawn.” It was uncertain whether he meant the composition of the comic or those impressively haunting eyes. The first scene of the third comic unveiled a new setting: the bathroom. The toilet design and stall door were easily recognizable. A fat little man with a tied necktie was washing his hands at the sink, his reflection shown in the featureless mirror. Lu Li had already foreseen what would happen next. In the second picture, the back of “Lu Li’s little person” appeared at the edge of the frame, while the opposite mirror fully captured his face. In the third picture, “Lu Li’s little man” walked directly towards the toilet on the right side of the frame, dragging the fat man behind him by the necktie. This was somewhat unexpected for Lu Li; he had thought the version of himself in the comic would pull out a flintlock pistol and fire, then fill the blank space with blood red— In the fourth picture, the customary ending part. The fat man was face down in front of the toilet, his head shoved into the bowl. Wavy black lines represented the water level in the toilet, and the fat man’s head was submerged, his eyes turning into X’s just like in the previous paragraph. This scene finally left an impression on Lu Li. During the Mishelia incident, some newspapers had published parts about the victims’ bizarre deaths—although most publications took a sympathetic stance, there were still a few that gloated over the calamity. The newspaper content described one victim who died from suffocation and fatal injuries—his head was completely stuffed into the pipe beneath the toilet. As the answers unraveled, the comics in the envelope finally shifted from inscrutable cult works to targeting Lu Li. The customary “Lu Li’s little person” turned his head to look outside, and this time Lu Li didn’t notice much. Staring at the same picture for too long tends to lose its novelty. The fourth comic, this time not indoors, but outdoors, uneven lines indicating it was set in some ruins or rugged mountainous area. Somewhat different this time was the perspective switch to a bird’s eye view. Oval circles indicated heads. The fourth victim stood in the middle of the first picture, and since there was nothing particular about him, Lu Li could only temporarily refer to him as the victim. In the second picture, “Lu Li’s little person” appeared, also represented by an oval circle, even with an arrow and a word to help Lu Li differentiate, “[←YOU]” “Lu Li’s little person” pushed the panicked victim into a carriage and in the third picture drove the victim’s carriage off a cliff, perfectly recreated in the bird’s eye view. “The horses are innocent,” Lu Li murmured nearly to himself, frowning slightly. Looking at the fourth picture, it seemed to depict the bottom of the cliff, the carriage shattered, bloody limbs sticking out of the wreckage—”Lu Li’s little person” and the horses stood unharmed in the corner of the frame. Lu Li wasn’t sure how Mishelia managed to throw the carriage off the cliff without harming the horses, but his brow gradually relaxed. Just like the previous comics, “Lu Li’s little person” looked up, gazing at the outside Lu Li. One by one, the four comics revealed each manner of death: “Lu Li’s little person” dug out a man’s heart and stuffed it into his mouth; “Lu Li’s little person” stuffed a woman’s long hair down her throat, suffocating her to death; “Lu Li’s little person” pushed a rooftop girl down to let her slide to the ground, impaled by a pole. The same set of comics was still missing twenty-three. A total of thirty-one comics exactly matched the number of people slain by Mishelia when she turned into a vengeful spirit: 31 people. Moreover, each of these victims’ manners of death matched the results at the crime scenes exactly. The only difference was that it was Mishelia doing these things, not Lu Li. After Lu Li finished the thirty-first leather paper, he thought this was the final battle, but soon discovered there was one more. The last paper had no comic doodles, only two rows of text. “[I know it was you]” “[Waiting for your reply]”

Chapter 144 - 144 I know it was you who did it

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