The weapon by the pillow

Chapter 15 Wrench! Tear!

An anonymous user suddenly posted on the forum.

The title is "I know some things about Zhao Jianguo".

The post was very brief.

"Zhao Jianguo was my father's coworker. Before my father passed away last year, he mentioned him once when he was drunk. He said that after Zhao Jianguo was laid off, he became mentally unstable and always felt that someone in the factory wanted to harm him. About two months after Li Wan's case, Zhao Jianguo suddenly came to my father, handed him an envelope, and said that if anything happened to him, he should give the envelope to the police. My father didn't take it seriously at the time and put the envelope in his toolbox. It wasn't until I was sorting through his belongings last year that I found that envelope, and inside was..."

The post ends here.

This immediately prompted netizens to ask follow-up questions below:

"What's inside?!"

"Don't stop here, OP!"

"What's in the envelope?!"

"Is this evidence?!"

"Is the original poster still there? Hurry up and tell me!"

There was no response... The anonymous user never replied again.

It's like a novel that was abruptly cut short by the author, just as it was getting to the crucial point...

Meanwhile, in another niche group of local Jiangzhou history enthusiasts, someone shared a blurry old photo.

It's a group photo.

It appears to be a group photo of factory workers in front of machine tools, with the date marked "1999".

The person who posted the photo circled a tall, thin man in the back row:

"This person is Zhao Jianguo. Notice what he's holding in his hand."

Enlarging the image reveals that Zhao Jianguo is casually holding a medium-sized wrench.

It was a wrench!

This discovery sent chills down everyone's spine.

The wrench is the weapon of Cheng Tan's third nightmare! And Zhao Jianguo is also holding a wrench in the photo!

Wait a minute—if Zhao Jianguo corresponds to an ice pick, why does he have a picture of a wrench?

unless……

"Unless these tools weren't exclusive to any one person," analyzed a forum user with the ID "Logic Cat," "they were 'shared tools' in that room back then. Different people might have used different tools, or the same person might have used multiple tools. Zhao Jianguo might have used an ice pick, but he might also have handled a wrench."

This analysis makes the situation even more complicated.

However, even more explosive information followed.

A netizen claiming to have worked as a community volunteer in a shantytown in the north of the city posted:

"I've met Wang Bin a few times. He has a very obvious old scar on his right arm, a laceration that was stitched up. Once, when he was drunk, he bragged that he got into a fight when he was young and got scratched by a 'thing.' I asked him what kind of thing, and he vaguely said 'something used for work.' Now that I think about it... could it have been a wrench? Or something like that?"

The wrench has reappeared! This time it's linked to Wang Bin!

Could it be that the wrench doesn't correspond to the third "perpetrator," but rather to the second tool used by Wang Bin?

Or was Wang Bin injured by someone hitting him with a wrench?

The clues began to become tangled and confusing, like a mess of knots.

The live stream reached a stalemate; the standoff continued inside apartment 403 of the haunted house.

Li Kai pressed Cheng Tan for every detail about the nightmare, trying to find a pattern or flaw in it.

Cheng Tan was on the verge of a mental breakdown. He squatted on the ground, holding his head, repeatedly muttering:

"I don't know... I really don't know... Please let me go..."

Lin Qian stood aside, observing coldly, but her fingers unconsciously rubbed the edge of her phone.

The cell phone still has no signal.

"Your third dream," Li Kai crouched down to be at Cheng Tan's eye level, "waist. Think carefully, what did it feel like in the dream? Where did the wrench strike? What did it sound like? Did the other person... make a sound?"

Cheng Tan shuddered, as if struck by an electric current.

He closed his eyes, cold sweat beading on his forehead.

"Head...it's the head..." his voice was hoarse, "a dull...thud...like hitting...hitting a melon...and then there was the sound of bones cracking...a very soft sound...but very clear..."

The more detailed his description became, the paler the faces of the others in the room grew.

This is so specific, it doesn't seem fabricated.

"Where is the other person? The one you... the one who was hit with the wrench, did he make a sound?" Li Kai pressed.

Cheng Tan tried hard to recall, his brows furrowed: "It seemed like... there was a muffled groan... very short... and then there was no sound..."

"Was that a man's or a woman's voice?" Lin Qian suddenly interjected.

Cheng Tan was stunned.

He had never thought about this question.

In his nightmares, his attention seemed to be entirely focused on the actions and sensations of the "violation," while details about the "victim" were blurred.

"I...I don't know..." he said blankly, "The voice is very muffled...I can't tell..."

Li Kai's eyes darkened, clearly dissatisfied with the answer.

He stood up, walked to the pile of scattered weapons, and his gaze fell on the rusty wrench.

"A wrench..." he murmured. "Who would need a wrench? A plumber? A mechanic? Or... anyone who has a toolbox at home?"

His gaze slowly swept over every man in the room.

Lynx, the research addict, A Zhe, Xiao Fei, Shadow, and Cheng Tan himself.

"Among you, who has ever worked in a job that requires the use of a wrench? Or do you have a toolbox at home and know how to fix things yourself?" Li Kai's voice was calm, but his questions were as sharp as knives.

Lynx was the first to shake his head: "I'm in sales, I can't even change a light bulb."

The meticulous scholar adjusted his glasses: "I...I'm a middle school history teacher, I'm practically incapable of even killing a chicken."

Ah Zhe and Xiao Fei waved their hands repeatedly: "We're just ordinary office workers, at most we'll just change the bottled water."

Shadow's answer was concise and clear: "A veteran, he knows how to use tools, but he doesn't live in this area. He was still in the army thirteen years ago."

Cheng Tan smiled wryly: "I'm a coder, and the only 'fix' I know how to do is restart a computer."

It seems that no one fits the typical profile of a "wrench user".

But Li Kai didn't give up. He turned to Lin Qian and asked, "And you, ma'am, do you know anyone who's good with tools, especially wrenches?"

Lin Qian was silent for a few seconds before slowly saying, "My father was a fitter. He had a complete toolbox, including wrenches of all sizes. But he passed away five years ago."

Another case of the dead having no way to prove anything.

The trail seems to have gone cold.

But just then, the research enthusiast suddenly seemed to remember something and abruptly raised his head:

"Wait! A wrench... a wrench isn't necessarily something only professionals can use! If it's just for... for hitting people, anyone can pick it up and use it!"

He stood up excitedly, his eyes gleaming behind his glasses: "The key point is, why a wrench? Why not a hammer? Not a stick? A wrench has a special feature—one end is open, which can hold a nut. If used to hit someone, that open end will cause a unique wound! A laceration!"

Tear!

"Wang Bin's injury!" Cheng Tan blurted out, "He said he got it from a fight and was scratched by 'something'... If it was scratched by the open end of a wrench..."

"Then Wang Bin might not be the one who used the wrench," Shadow calmly analyzed, "but rather the one who was injured by the wrench. If that's the case, the wrench might belong to someone else—the person who injured Wang Bin."

Li Kai's eyes lit up: "So, the wrench might represent a third person who injured Wang Bin with it. And Wang Bin's injury is a 'mark' or 'punishment' for his involvement in the incident back then?"

This deduction reversed the situation once again.

But the questions remain: Who is this person? Where is he now? Is he still alive?