Meow, meow~
As the first light of dawn broke, the sky gradually turned a pale gray, and the sharp cries of a cat intermittently echoed from next door.
At first, the sound seemed to resemble a baby crying desperately.
Meow, meow~
The cries grew more piercing and sorrowful.
Could it be that the bothersome pregnant woman next door was abusing a cat? But she didn't even own one!
Mu Mian got out of bed and walked next door. She was about to knock on the door when she realized it was slightly ajar.
"Ms. Li, please stop making noise. Could you please make your cat quiet as well?"
No response came, only the cat's continued cries, mingled with the faint sound of claws scraping something. In the silence of the early morning, the sound felt eerily unsettling.
A familiar scent lingered in the air.
The stench of fresh blood.
"Is anyone there?"
Her voice echoed through the hallway.
In the soft light filtering through the beige lace curtains, she saw the pregnant woman lying on the wooden floor.
The floor was stained a deep red-black.
Her face was contorted in agony, her body twisted unnaturally. Her mouth was tightly sealed with black plastic, and her hands were bound behind her with rope.
Meow, meow~
The pitiful cat's cries came from her round, slightly trembling belly.
The pale, rosy skin of her belly was pulsating, as though something was about to break through.
—
Woooo~ woooo~
The wail of a siren shattered the morning calm of Ziweili, an old neighborhood in Jiangzhou.
Ziweili was a middle-class district in the old part of the city, with expensive housing but poor infrastructure. Some buildings didn't even have elevators, let alone security cameras.
The layout of the complex was a building with four units, two households per unit. The murder took place in Unit 3, Room 541, Building 8.
The construction of the complex was rather enclosed, and there were no crowds gathered at the scene of the crime. It was eerily quiet.
Several police officers pushed the door open, and the first thing they saw was the woman lying in a pool of blood. Her face was contorted, her bloodshot eyes bulging. It was clear she had endured immense torture before her death.
Her shirt was lifted, revealing her bloodied abdomen, which had been gruesomely sliced open. Her insides were exposed, resembling the aftermath of a wild animal's savage attack. Her skin and flesh were torn and inverted, marked with claw marks.
The furniture and items in the room were neatly arranged, with no signs of a struggle.
On the fabric sofa curled a figure, small and tightly huddled. She wore a white plush onesie decorated with SpongeBob SquarePants, stained with blood, and cradled a bloodied kitten in her arms.
Meow~
Hearing the noise, the cat, missing part of its ear, weakly struggled and mewed.
"Didn't the caller say there was only one victim?"
Officer Zhang approached the sofa, intending to examine the "corpse." In an instant, he locked eyes with a pair of dark, wide eyes.
Zhang recoiled in shock, "Ah, it's a zombie!"
The other officers shot him an exasperated glance. "Zhang Xiaoqiang, what are you shouting about? Can't you see that's a living person?"
Zhang stared in disbelief as the "corpse" slowly sat up. Every movement was slow, with pauses between each action, as though she needed to gather strength for the next.
Zhang, puzzled, asked, "Who are you?"
She glanced at them before quickly averting her gaze, looking down at the kitten in her arms. "Hello, I'm the one who called the police. My name is Mu Mian."
The officers stood in stunned silence.
She appeared to be a high school student, with shoulder-length hair, small in stature, with pale skin and no expression. The bloodstains on her white pajamas made her resemble a murderer from a horror movie—someone mentally unhinged.
"Miss Mu, you're incredibly calm. How can you sleep at the crime scene?"
Zhang, still dumbfounded, added, "What if the murderer comes back? This is unsafe." Although, she looked more like the killer herself.
Mu Mian didn't respond to him, lowering her head as she began recounting the events with mechanical precision.
"At 4:21 AM, I was woken up by the sound of my neighbor's cat. At 4:35, I went next door to knock on my neighbor's door—the victim's door—but it was slightly open. I looked inside and saw my neighbor lying on the floor…"
Her voice was flat, devoid of emotion, as if spoken by an AI.
Zhang couldn't help but murmur to Officer Wang, who was crouching down extracting footprints:
"Wang, do you think she's lying? Consultant Lin once said that when witnesses or suspects recall events, they usually do so emotionally, starting with the most important parts. But she's recounting everything in chronological order, and so precisely—seems like it's rehearsed."
Wang nodded in agreement, whispering, "Her mental state is off too. Look, she won't even make eye contact with us. She's definitely guilty—let's take her back to the station for questioning."
Mu Mian seemed not to hear their whispers and continued recounting the events with mechanical accuracy.
"I heard the cat crying from inside her stomach. At that time, the body still had warmth—about 34.5°C.
A body cools by 1°C every hour within 10 hours of death. Though it's early spring, we're experiencing a cold snap, and there was no air conditioning, so we need to use winter data. The coefficient is around 0.7, so I estimate her time of death to be between 3:30 and 4:00 AM…"
Zhang pointed at the victim's belly, his mouth agape. "Wait, what? The cat cried from where?"
The officers shuddered, looking at the mangled abdomen of the victim, all thinking of something terrifying.
"At 4:37 AM, I called the police. At 4:39, I used scissors to cut open the victim's stomach, rescuing this poor little cat. I recorded the entire process. If you need it, I can send you the video."
Having finished speaking, Mu Mian sighed in relief.
These people were so rude, constantly interrupting her. Thankfully, she was good at blocking out distractions and had clearly and smoothly explained the incident.
Meow~ The filthy little cat meowed loudly, seemingly agreeing with her.
Zhang repeated in disbelief, "You're saying the murderer shoved a cat into the victim's stomach?"
"Did the murderer kill the victim and then shove a cat into her to desecrate the corpse?"
The officers were stunned, then began discussing the motive for the crime.
"It wasn't to desecrate the body," Mu Mian corrected, glancing at the victim. "The cat was put inside when she was still alive."
"So the victim was scratched to death by the cat?"
"She's right," said Forensic Officer Qin, who had already examined the body.
He explained, "The victim was about eight months pregnant. The murderer forcibly opened her abdomen, removed the fetus and placenta, and then shoved a live animal into her uterus before stitching her up."
Qin looked at Mu Mian and the cat in her arms, using tweezers to pull a cat hair from the victim's abdominal cavity.
"It's probably a cat. After being startled, it went berserk, clawing at the victim's abdomen. That's why there are so many scratch marks inside. Most of the wounds still show signs of life, which proves the victim suffered tremendous torture while alive."
Mu Mian glanced at Qin, then quickly turned her gaze away, muttering, "Cause of death was hypovolemic shock."
"Correct." Officer Qin suddenly thought Mu Mian looked familiar. He felt as though he had seen her somewhere.
Zhang gasped, "Good God, the murderer is so brutal!"
Mu Mian nodded. "Yes, but their method of murder is quite creative."
Creative... Zhang shuddered. How insane must the murderer be to shove a live cat into a pregnant woman's abdomen?
Zhang looked at Mu Mian, confused. "What about the victim's child? Didn't you find the child in the victim's womb when you cut her open?"
"The murderer took it," Mu Mian lowered her eyelids, fighting off sleep. "Maybe they ate it, kept it as a trophy, or discarded it. You should ask the murderer about that."
"Is it really that twisted?"
"I've told you everything I know," Mu Mian placed the cat into Zhang's arms. "I need to go to work now; it's my first day, I can't be late."
Zhang hesitated, "But you can't leave now, you need to come with us to the station to make a statement."
"Is it to the city station?"
"Yes."
Mu Mian thought for a moment, then sighed. "Fine."
Zhang had expected to "coerce" her into cooperating, but she agreed without a fuss.
"It's on the way," Mu Mian flashed a stiff smile, her tone oddly cheerful.
Zhang shuddered.
This girl was quite cute, but why did her smile seem so strange, like a puppet in a horror movie forcing a grin?
And why was she so happy to hear she was going to the station?