SFTD -Chapter 199 A Severed Thumb (Final)

After saying that, Xu Biao stood up and left the interrogation room with Zhou Hai. Pang Chuanhai remained silent for a long time before letting out a deep sigh and glancing at Wang Man standing beside him.

“Can I have a cigarette?”

Wang Man and Xiao Zeng loosened one of Pang Chuanhai’s handcuffs. He sat back down in the interrogation chair and greedily smoked the Zhongnanhai cigarette Wang Man handed him. He kept holding it until the burning butt scorched his fingers. Quietly staring at the cigarette stub and ashes in his hand, he finally began to speak.

Mu Ya and Pang Chuanhai met by pure chance. The two had been drowning their sorrows at the same bar, found each other pleasing to the eye, and later went to a hotel to satisfy their physical desires. But the next morning, Mu Ya left immediately, leaving behind only a phone number.

That behavior surprised Pang Chuanhai and instantly sparked his interest. Tracking phone locations and stalking people—those were tricks he had learned online. After some digging, he discovered that the girl named Mu Ya was actually a senior student at Agricultural University.

The two had their own tacit understanding. Whenever they met on campus, they pretended not to know each other. Both of them were the type who barely attracted attention. But once outside campus, Mu Ya seemed like a completely different person—passionate as fire, capable of igniting Pang Chuanhai’s desires at any moment. He truly fell for her.

weAfter the fall semester of 2014 began, Pang Chuanhai suggested renting a small apartment off campus so it would be more convenient for them to meet. Mu Ya had no objections. However, both knew the other was far from faithful, so neither tried to restrict the other’s relationships or private life. Whenever they wanted to see each other, they would simply meet at the apartment and spend a few days indulging themselves.

Pang Chuanhai usually went there late at night and left around noon, so neither the landlord nor neighbors had ever really seen him. They only knew that a young married couple lived there and worked very busy jobs. In a city like this, everyone was exhausted just trying to survive, so nobody found it strange.

Except for one person—Wang Yanming.

One day after returning from the night shift, Wang Yanming happened to run into Pang Chuanhai leaving. Casually, he remarked: “You’re Xiao Mu’s husband, right? Heading to work?”

Pang Chuanhai nodded and left, paying little attention to the encounter.

But before New Year’s Day, through one of his father’s coworkers, Pang Chuanhai learned news about his father. To his shock, his father—who was overseas—had already remarried and even had a three- or four-month-old son. All of this had happened less than a year after his mother’s death. What explanation could there possibly be?

Pang Chuanhai’s mood darkened completely. He wanted to rush to his father and kill that woman and child. But he didn’t want to let them off so easily. Instead, he began demanding money from his father, and through their exchanges he gradually learned some information about his stepmother.

Coincidentally, that woman’s surname was also Mu, and her hometown was Liupanshui.

Instantly, he thought of Mu Ya. Pang Chuanhai was stunned. Could the world really be this small?

As it happened, Mu Ya was also depressed at the time. Her father and sister had their own lives, leaving her feeling like an unnecessary burden no one cared about.

After getting drunk, and under Pang Chuanhai’s repeated questioning, she finally revealed that her older sister Mu Fang was actually his new stepmother.

Such absurd melodrama had actually happened in real life.

That night, drunk and enraged, Pang Chuanhai nearly strangled Mu Ya to death. Afterward, he fled the apartment, feeling as though he had gone insane.

Several days later, when he finally calmed down and returned, he discovered Mu Ya had already moved out. Everything in the room was gone. Looking at the empty apartment, the anger that had barely subsided instantly surged back up again.

It was already winter break. A girl who hadn’t returned to Liupanshui—where could she possibly be living?

Like a madman, Pang Chuanhai bought tracking software and began searching for Mu Ya. He discovered that her phone signal was still inside Xiguozhuang Residential Complex, just not in the original apartment anymore.

Confused, Pang Chuanhai disguised himself and began staking out the area. Eventually, he uncovered the secret relationship between Mu Ya and Zhu Mingtao.

In that instant, the image of his unseen stepmother merged with Mu Ya in his mind.

He felt exhilarated.

At last, he had found someone he could take revenge on.

Both sisters were equally promiscuous. Pang Chuanhai had personally witnessed Mu Ya touching male classmates’ crotches at school before. Originally, he had dismissed it as mere games. But after seeing her with Zhu Mingtao, he realized it was different. The marks of lovemaking on Mu Ya’s neck felt like blades piercing through the last shreds of his sanity.

After that, he began investigating Zhu Mingtao.

Since Zhu Mingtao had “stolen” his woman, then he would drag him down into destruction as well.

Like some twisted spy game, Pang Chuanhai reveled in it.

Most of the residents in the complex were renters, so during Spring Festival the entire building became nearly empty. Pang Chuanhai hid inside that apartment.

He installed high-powered surveillance equipment to watch the two lovers’ sweet interactions, and he carefully finished arranging the partitioned room inside the apartment living room.

A plan so exquisite it could almost be called art gradually took shape.

Pang Chuanhai was ecstatic.

On February 24th, Pang Chuanhai voluntarily called Mu Ya and asked her to come to the apartment. He said he wanted them to have one final wild night before parting ways forever.

Mu Ya agreed without hesitation.

Taking advantage of Zhu Mingtao’s absence, she carried her small suitcase back to the old apartment. And Pang Chuanhai truly prepared an extraordinarily wild “feast” for her.

But during her final climax, he pressed a cushion over her mouth and held it there until Mu Ya stopped moving.

Only then did Pang Chuanhai let go.

But in his excessive excitement, he failed to notice the scratches left on his back.

He tied Mu Ya’s feet together and hung her upside down inside the partitioned living room, draining all of her blood. He even added anticoagulants and coated her body with preservative grease.

He paid attention to every detail.

Everything had to match Zhu Mingtao’s profile perfectly.

That afternoon, Wang Yanming returned home. After being busy all night and morning, he had also drunk heavily outside and staggered back home. He fumbled around for quite a while before finally opening the door.

Pang Chuanhai remembered that Wang Yanming had seen him before. He didn’t bother hiding. But Wang Yanming was far too drunk. The moment he entered, he collapsed onto the bed.

Pang Chuanhai sealed his mouth shut, bound his hands, and dragged him straight into the kitchen. While Wang Yanming was still half-drunk, Pang Chuanhai cut off one of his fingers.

Watching Wang Yanming’s eyes bulge in agony while being unable to scream filled Pang Chuanhai with immense excitement. He then directly used a cutting machine to dismember Wang Yanming’s feet and calves while he was still alive.

This was completely different from killing Mu Ya.

Dragging Wang Yanming back into the room by his collar, Pang Chuanhai then took down the blood-drained Mu Ya and tossed her into the kitchen, hanging Wang Yanming upside down in her place and using the same large basin to collect the blood.

As he dismembered him, Pang Chuanhai narrated his own story to Wang Yanming.

Meanwhile, he peeled the scalp from Mu Ya’s head.

Whether from terror or blood loss, Wang Yanming died quickly.

It felt, to Pang Chuanhai, like reaching the edge of the most exhilarating climax imaginable—only for someone to suddenly announce that the game was over. All the excitement froze in place.

Then he began to think.

Originally, framing Zhu Mingtao as the murderer had already thrilled him. But guiding the police through the game themselves seemed even more exciting.

Pang Chuanhai deliberately used a stainless-steel spoon to clean Mu Ya’s vagina—which originally contained no evidence at all—specifically to arouse police suspicion. How could a woman who had just left Zhu Mingtao’s side not carry traces of him?

From that point onward, Pang Chuanhai followed his plan meticulously: dismembering the corpses, packaging and freezing the remains, cleaning the scene, burning all clothes and belongings, partially concealing his appearance while deliberately exposing his unique gait.

Everything was ready.

In the early morning of March 1st, Pang Chuanhai began dumping the body parts. Afraid the driver might overlook it, he intentionally left a finger in a conspicuous location. Then, under cover of darkness, he transported all the body parts into Zhu Mingtao’s home.

As for Zhu Mingtao’s boyfriend, Pang Chuanhai completely manipulated him using nothing more than a few WeChat red envelopes and instructions. Convincing him to keep Zhu Mingtao occupied for another two or three days was far too easy.

It wasn’t until March 3rd that the police located the apartment.

At the time, Pang Chuanhai was actually standing inside Zhu Mingtao’s home, watching the police search everywhere.

And when the female officer left while clutching her wrist, Pang Chuanhai nearly burst out laughing.

It was too exciting.

The following day, Pang Chuanhai used the separate phone he had used to contact Mu Ya to send instructions to his regular phone.

After placing the large basin at the market and seeing the reporters arrive, he left. The fact that the police managed to trace the apartment from a single finger made his heart race with excitement.

But he hadn’t waited there afterward.

That was where Zhou Hai had guessed wrong.

Because the true climax he had designed would take place on Agricultural University’s campus.

After hiding the yellow handcart and destroying the phone he used to contact Mu Ya—throwing it into a rainwater pipe—he patiently waited.

The moment he saw police cars enter the campus, Pang Chuanhai became so excited he almost screamed.

He quickly dropped off three boxes. Then, while dragging the fourth cardboard box, he deliberately paused and made a startled expression while looking downstairs. Only afterward did he remove the blue lab coat, gloves, and hat, tossing them into the grass on the western side before closing the rooftop door and calmly returning to class.

Then he leisurely deleted the WeChat messages.

As for what happened afterward, the police already knew.

After finishing everything, Pang Chuanhai raised his head to look at Wang Man.

“I know I’m dead anyway. But can you tell me this—how did you figure out that I was the real killer?”

“……”