Red Spider I - The Final Confessions of Ten Women

Author: Mingyu
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-08-01
Features:
1 The morning air was particularly fresh, and the vast railway track seemed unusually quiet. A train heading south broke the silence, whistling past. Here, the pedestrians passing by every day and the trains coming and going, like the extending tracks, always had a direction to go or return to. On such a morning, by such a quiet railway, a disheveled man with a broken sack on his back was slowly picking up trash along the railway. Another freight train "rumble-rumble" passed through the tracks. The cans and broken plastic bags by the roadside were blown away by the gust of wind from the train. The man's face showed displeasure as the train's wind blew away his livelihood, "food." He cursed fiercely and continued walking forward. Just a few steps forward, he froze, standing there blankly. On the distant tracks lay a woman in white, especially conspicuous against the black railway. He looked around and found no one nearby. So, he held his breath and walked slowly toward her. He bent down to examine her closely and saw that the woman's eyes were wide open, her long hair scattered. He looked down further and saw that the woman's waist had been crushed by the train wheels, with dry blood scattered all over the ground, indicating she had been dead for some time. The trash picker dropped his sack, his legs weak, and ran desperately forward, still making frantic "Oh, oh" sounds.
2 Officer Zhang Chao was riding his bicycle with a lunchbox, preparing to go get food, when he reached the entrance of the police station and saw a trash picker arguing fiercely with the guard. Zhang Chao approached and asked, "What's the matter, Old Liu?" Old Liu glanced at Zhang Chao and waved his hand, saying, "This trash picker came to the door early in the morning, making a ruckus, but I don't know what he wants?" Zhang Chao asked the man, "What do you need?" The man was shouting and gesturing wildly with his hands. It turned out he was mute. Zhang Chao asked him, "Can you write?" The man nodded. "Old Liu, do you have paper and a pen?" "I'll go get it," Old Liu said and went back to get the paper and pen. Zhang Chao patiently said to the man, "Don't hurry, write down what's wrong." Old Liu brought out the pen and paper. The man trembled and wrote on the paper, "There's a dead body on the 'O' train." He wrote the character for "road" as an "O," but Zhang Chao still understood. Zhang Chao was startled, "Did you see clearly?" The man nodded. Zhang Chao dropped his bicycle, "Where?" The man made a "wah-wah" sound, indicating he could take him there. Zhang Chao turned back and said, "Old Liu, I'll take him to the scene on my motorcycle. You stay by the phone, and I'll call you if there's any news." Old Liu replied, "Understood." Zhang Chao rode his police motorcycle, carrying the trash picker, toward the railway crossing. The man used sign language the entire way to guide Zhang Chao. And so, the morning panic unveiled the mystery behind the woman's body by the railway. P1-3