Chapter 324: Red High Heels

Xiao Yu couldn’t figure it out. How had the perpetrator managed to avoid the city’s surveillance system? And how had he abducted his victims before committing the crimes?

All three victims had disappeared from areas with active surveillance cameras. They had all been seen on camera, yet at some point—they vanished.

That raised a critical question.

Surveillance cameras had blind spots, but those weren’t unlimited. Most were only a few meters wide, at most a dozen meters—the small gaps between overlapping camera angles.

Even if the victims had been taken within these blind spots, the perpetrator had to come out eventually. No one could stay hidden in a blind spot forever. Yet, the attacker had brutalized and permanently injured the victims, even subjected them to repeated assaults—which suggested a man as the perpetrator.

With that assumption, police had combed through surveillance footage, investigating all men who had emerged from blind spots at the time of the disappearances.

But every single suspect was cleared.

So what the hell was going on?

Could a woman have assaulted another woman?

That was impossible. The forensic reports confirmed that the attacker was male. Though no DNA evidence had been left behind, the signs of male assault were undeniable.

What about a man disguising himself as a woman?

That had been considered too. Police had already investigated anyone who might have cross-dressed to commit the crimes.

Again, no leads.

There was one more key point.

The victims had likely been abducted in a way that left them completely incapacitated—unable to resist.

But here was the real mystery.

A full-grown adult. A living, breathing person was not exactly a small target.

So how had the perpetrator managed to remove them from a surveillance blind spot without leaving a single trace?

The cameras outside the blind spots showed nothing.

How was that possible?

If it had happened once, maybe the crime occurred entirely within the blind spot. But this had happened three times, in three different locations, with victims vanishing into thin air—only to reappear days later, abandoned in another part of the city.

It was as if they had been teleported like they had stepped through a portal.

Then there was another major clue.

Five years ago, all three victims had been wearing red shoes. If that wasn’t a coincidence, then the perpetrator likely had a fixation.

A fetish.

The moment that thought crossed Xiao Yu’s mind, another connection snapped into place—the story female inmate Niu Xin had told.

In her story, the woman was wearing red high heels.

If that was intentional, then Feng Xiuyun must have also realized this.

She had worn red shoes deliberately to bait the perpetrator. And then…

***

Criminal Investigation Brigade, Interrogation Room

“Tell me, what exactly did you do back then?” Xiao Yu’s expression was unreadable.

“Three years ago…”

Feng Xiuyun no longer hid the truth. She confessed everything. Because she knew that the young officer in front of her wouldn’t stop until he uncovered the truth. And he was too smart. Smart to the point of being unnatural.

Maybe… just maybe, he really could find the real answer.

“I spent two whole years hunting that bastard, tracking every possible lead from the other two victims. But he was too careful. Every time he attacked, he blindfolded them. He never gave them a chance to see his face. He never spoke. He only… violated them. Tortured them. Broke them.

“There was no way to trace him from that alone. Even the victims said they blacked out suddenly and only woke up in an unknown location. Days of suffering. Then, another blackout… and when they woke again, they had been found and rescued.

“There wasn’t enough evidence. No trail to follow. No way to find him. Then I thought… he liked red shoes, didn’t he? For six months, I walked the streets at night, always wearing red shoes. Different styles, different kinds. Late at night, past midnight, even into the early morning. Until one night… he appeared. A middle-aged man. Hunched back. Cold. Cruel. Savage.”

Feng Xiuyun’s expression twisted with pain.

“Just like in the story I made up, I pretended to be scared. I pretended to follow him. He took me to an apartment complex. It was a residential building. Then, he told me to take off my clothes. I cooperated. I was waiting for my moment, I had a plan.”

Xiao Yu’s voice was ice-cold. “Did you kill him?”

Feng Xiuyun suddenly laughed and shook her head.

“No. Things went far worse than I expected. I underestimated the difference in strength between men and women… I failed.”

Xiao Yu froze. “What happened?”

“I tried to kill him,” Feng Xiuyun said, shutting her eyes in pain. “And… he knocked me out.”

Xiao Yu, “…”

‘Wait. This isn’t how your story was supposed to go. Hold on.’

He thought back to the so-called horror story that female inmate Niu Xin had told.

From the start, Xiao Yu had noticed too many inconsistencies in that story. And yet, some parts had felt strangely real.

The realistic parts? The beginning.

The flawed parts? The moment the woman killed the man.

His gaze darkened as he looked at Feng Xiuyun.

“You… he…” Xiao Yu hesitated, his voice laced with unease. “Did he—?”

“No!” Feng Xiuyun shook her head firmly.

“What?”

Xiao Yu frowned, questioning his own hearing.

How was that possible?

She had been knocked unconscious. If that middle-aged man was the perpetrator—why hadn’t he touched her?

“He was gone when I woke up,” Feng Xiuyun said, her tone unshakably certain.

Her expression, however, was anything but.

It was odd. Deeply unsettling.

“I saw a video.”

Xiao Yu’s confusion deepened. “…What?”

“A video,” she repeated.

This story was veering completely off course.

“Where?”

“A tablet,” Feng Xiuyun said, nodding as if to convince herself. “A brand-new tablet, plugged in, charging. Right next to me. There was a paused video on the screen.”

Xiao Yu felt a strange chill creeping up his spine.

“What was in the video?” he asked, his voice low.

Feng Xiuyun swallowed, her face going ashen.

“I pressed play…” she whispered. “And I saw a murder.”

Her hands trembled slightly as she continued, her voice thick with something between fear and disbelief.

“In the video… that middle-aged man was being killed. Brutally. Torn apart. And the one who killed him…”

She slowly lifted her head, eyes locking onto Xiao Yu’s.

“Was a woman. A woman in a red dress. A woman wearing red high heels.”

The hairs on Xiao Yu’s arms stood on end.

Was this another ghost story?!