frightfiction Chapter 1068 An Unexpected Discovery, Hiking Enthusiasts
Chapter 1068 An Unexpected Discovery, Hiking Enthusiasts
The clothes in the closet were neatly folded, and on the top shelf was a metal box filled with small gifts from colleagues—from thermos cups won at the annual party to hand-woven keychains, each with a note indicating the giver.
“He was like a patriarch to us.” A programmer on the same floor choked up while holding his computer. “When my dad was hospitalized, it was Brother Ren who helped me get an appointment with a specialist. He always said, ‘When you’re away from home, it’s only right to look after each other.’” Corridor surveillance footage showed that Ren Tao was last seen in the dormitory on the evening of October 14, carrying a late-night snack for his colleagues, with his usual smile on his face.
A deeper investigation into Ren Tao's project team revealed subtle anomalies. When asked about the technical details of a certain bridge project, the three engineers gave conflicting answers. Xiao Zhou noticed that the project manager swallowed three times unnaturally when mentioning "pile foundation testing." However, when asked to see the relevant documents, the manager quickly produced a complete acceptance report, with Ren Tao's neat signature on every document.
At the staff canteen, the cafeteria lady's words unexpectedly provided a new perspective. "Every Wednesday, Mr. Ren comes to buy five steamed buns, saying they're for the workers on the construction site," she said, wiping the window. "But last Wednesday, he didn't come. I was puzzled at the time, but later I found out..." Following this clue, the construction workers confirmed that they hadn't received Ren Tao's breakfast on October 15th, whereas he usually delivered it personally and also checked on construction safety.
As the investigation deepened, more contradictions surfaced. On Ren Tao's office computer, modification records of engineering drawings showed that he had repeatedly reviewed foundation data for an abandoned warehouse three days before his murder, yet no information about the project could be found in the company archives. Deep within his desk drawer lay a faded photograph—a young Ren Tao standing among a group of children, with a dilapidated school building behind him.
“Ren rarely talks about the past.” Sister Li, a long-time employee, suddenly leaned closer mysteriously. “But I heard that there was a school building collapse in his hometown, and he was there at the time.” She lowered her voice. “Do you think it might be related to the information he’s been looking at recently?” This sentence was like a stone thrown into a deep pool, stirring up ripples beneath the seemingly calm surface.
After two weeks of interviews, Xiao Zhou's notebook was filled with countless trivial details: the computer models Ren Tao had repaired for his colleagues, remittance records for sponsoring impoverished students, and even the family situation of the breakfast shop owner he frequented. These warm fragments pieced together an almost perfect image, but also made the case increasingly perplexing—why would such a harmless and kind person be murdered? As the setting sun once again painted the glass curtain wall of the office building red, Xiao Zhou looked at the endless stream of people outside the window and realized that the murderer might be hiding in the shadows of these trivial daily routines, waiting for some overlooked detail to tear open the gap in the truth.
On the whiteboard in the conference room, Ren Tao's photo was surrounded by a dense layer of sticky notes, yet the complete truth remained elusive. Just as the investigation reached a stalemate, Xiao Wang rushed into the office clutching a phone log, the edges of the paper wrinkled with sweat: "Captain Li! A fellow hiker just provided a clue; before Ren Tao disappeared, he mentioned going to Eagle's Beak Cliff with a hiker from out of town!"
The hiker on the other end of the phone trembled: "On the evening of October 14th, Brother Ren asked in the club group if anyone was interested in forming a temporary team. I replied that I had to work overtime, and he messaged me privately saying that he had a 'particularly reliable new friend' who had come all the way from a neighboring city, and that this person 'knew the trails of Eagle's Beak Cliff better than the locals.'" When asked if he knew the other person's identity, the hiker hesitated for a moment: "Brother Ren only said that the person's surname was Wang, his WeChat profile picture was a photo of a snow-capped mountain, and his online name... was 'Cloud Peak Walker'."
The keyboards in the technical department suddenly clicked loudly. Through data screening on social media, an account nicknamed "Cloud Peak Walker" quickly surfaced: the registered mobile phone number belonged to a neighboring city, and the linked ID information showed the user's name as Wang Bingchen, 41 years old, with "outdoor equipment dealer" listed as his occupation. More importantly, the account had not been logged in since October 15th, and its last post on WeChat Moments was a photo located at Eagle's Beak Cliff with the caption "Conquering the next peak," posted at 6:03 AM on the very morning Ren Tao was murdered.
"Check his movements!" After Li Ming gave the order, the surveillance footage quickly switched on the large screen. The high-speed rail ticketing system showed that Wang Bingchen arrived in the city at 2:27 PM on October 14th, and after exiting the station, took a taxi directly to the residential complex where Ren Tao lived. The complex's surveillance cameras clearly recorded: at 6:17 PM, a man wearing a baseball cap and carrying a hiking backpack walked out of the building alongside Ren Tao. The two chatted as they walked, and Ren Tao even patted the man on the shoulder.
"Zoom in on the face!" As the image resolution improved, the man's profile became clearer. Although the brim of his hat obscured most of his eyebrows and eyes, the curve of his jawline perfectly matched Wang Bingchen's ID photo. Even more alarming, the taxi's dashcam footage showed that the two went to an outdoor equipment store that night, where Wang Bingchen swiped his card to buy two brand-new rolls of climbing rope—the brand and model of which were identical to those found next to Ren Tao's body.
When the search warrant was issued, Wang Bingchen's residence in a neighboring city was already deserted. But deep within the bedroom closet lay a dusty notebook. Between the yellowed pages, more than twenty hiking routes were densely recorded. The page for Eagle's Beak Cliff was repeatedly marked in red pen, with annotations filling the margins: "The eastern cliff is the easiest to slip on," "90% fatality rate in wet weather." On the penultimate page, the hastily written handwriting revealed a strange excitement: "The prey has taken the bait, time to reel it in..."
While investigating Wang Bingchen's social circle, a startling secret gradually surfaced. Three years ago, a mountaineering accident occurred in a neighboring city: two hikers fell to their deaths during an expedition, one of whom was the sole survivor of the collapsed school building in Ren Tao's hometown. Even more coincidentally, the guide leading the expedition at that time was none other than Wang Bingchen.
“He changed, he became terrifying.” Wang Bingchen’s ex-wife sobbed uncontrollably at the police station. “Six months before the divorce, he spent all his time researching accidental death cases on his computer, saying that ‘the perfect murder should be as flawless as a natural disaster.’ I thought he was just writing novels until I saw the murder weapons he collected…” She pointed tremblingly to a carabiner in the evidence photo, “This is exactly the same one he used when he killed my golden retriever.”
Under the cold lights of the interrogation room, Wang Bingchen remained unusually calm. He stroked the climbing rope bracelet on his wrist, a strange smile playing on his lips: "Ren Tao wasn't the first, and he won't be the last." When asked about his motive for the murder, he suddenly burst into laughter, the sound echoing in the small space.