Who are you

The shoulder-length haired girl ran while draping the badge around her neck. Her breath hitched as she was at the end of the road. She never expected that dhe would have to run to work. Although tired, the sparkle of enthusiasm and cheerful laughter never disappeared from her beautiful face.

Click ... click ... click ...

Camera shots without lenses repeatedly hit the girl. However, the target is not aware. She even ran back to his workplace which was still some distance away.

Slowly the figure taking the picture lowered the camera. A faint smile tugged on his face. It's so easy to get targets to conquer.

***

The detective office located on the highway was busy. The girl before was barging in. She quickly sat down at her desk. She closed her eyes and took a moment to catch her breath.

The sound of a thud on the table startled her.

"Detective Song Yifei, how did you catch the killer when you're always late every day? Even your comrades have already left to investigate cases, and you've only just arrived here!"

The girl immediately stood up and saluted.

"Then I'm leaving now, Mr. Han!" she said then hurried to leave.

The middle-aged man with thin gray hair in front of her before widened his eyes and shouted again,

"Stop right there, Yifei. You're not going anywhere until you finish the punishment for your tardiness!"

Yifei who was already at the doorstep immediately returned. However she must obey the man because he is the leader.

***

The young man was in a dark room. Some photos hanging there. His face then returned to a smile as he hung several Yifei photos there.

Soon he rushed out of the room and locked it. The ringing of the phone made him pick up the phone immediately.

"Have you done it?" asked the voice on the other end.

"You take it easy. I'm still watching her. When the time is right, I'll take action."

"I hope you're not wasting your time, Leo."

"Of course not, but I still have to be careful. The target this time is very different. She's a detective. You don't want things to fall apart and she knows everything, right?"

"Fine, I trust you, but I hope you don't waste too much time and fail to finish this."

Leo immediately agreed. He then hung up the phone. Staring at the large mirror in front of him, he still smiled faintly.

***

The girl in the simple white dress lay stiffly. Her eyes widened with a deep fear. The wound in the form of a circular wound was clearly visible on her neck. Her hands and feet were tied with a red ribbon.

Several people rushed over to observe and then shook their heads. The girl had lost her life in such a sadistic way.

"How? Did you guys get anything?" asked the crouching man. His gaze did not leave the girl's corpse.

"Her name is Feiyang. She's a college student," replied the younger man standing not far from him.

"Then Detective Cheng, go to that girl's college now. Find out anything about her!"

The very young detective remained stunned in his place. The man who was with him turned and looked annoyed.

"What are you waiting for? Why are you still standing here? This investigation won't work if you don't hurry up and are still daydreaming in this garden. The culprit is probably preparing to flee!"

The rookie detective was still standing stunned. Slowly he responded to his senior's reprimand,

"But Senior, isn't this the same as the previous case? Maybe it's a serial murder case."

"So you want to stay put? All right, you stay here. No need to investigate!"

Detective Cheng immediately apologized and hurried off. He didn't want to listen to his senior's anger anymore because they hadn't been able to catch the killer from the previous case that had similarities to this case.

***

"What's the matter, Detective Huang? You sound so annoyed. Was it because I wasn't there?" Yifei asked. The girl was clutching the cellphone around her neck while organizing the messy files.

"You can still joke?" said the voice on the other end, sounding still annoyed.

"Things are really messed up here and that new kid even dares to disobey my orders. He's acting smart!"

Yifei chuckled. Detective Huang and Detective Cheng did not get along. Detective Huang, who is the most senior, has the right to give orders or decide something, while Detective Cheng, who is still new, tries to stand out in the team by giving his opinion.

All this time Yifei had always tried to mediate with them. Even though they are fighting, neither of the two detectives was hostile towards Yifei.

"So what? Do I need to go there? But what about my punishment? Mr. Han won't just let me go."

"All right, all right, you just stay there. Don't worry, I can handle that smart-ass brat."

Yifei laughed. She guessed that by now Detective Huang must be waving his hands and lighting a cigarette as was his habit when he was upset. Yifei's laughter then disappeared, she remembered that now they were in the middle of a serious case.

"So how did it go? Is there anything in common with the case we're working on?" she asked, after clearing her throat for a moment. Now their team is devoted to handling the 'Red Ribbon' murder case. Of course those who reported also found similarities with their team's previously unsolved cases.

"That's true, but we also have to investigate other possibilities. That's why I sent that idiot to the victim's campus."

Yifei fell silent. Just five days ago, another girl's body was found with her hands and feet tied with red ribbons in an abandoned park that had never been visited and now another body was found. People will be more and more anxious and doubt their ability to catch the serial killer.

"Could this be a serial murder?" Yifei asked in a low voice.

"Don't jump to conclusions too quickly. We still have to investigate other possibilities."

Yifei agreed, even so she still felt bad.

'This case, could it be a serial murder case?' She muttered to herself.

***

Leo was alone in a dark room. He smiled as he took one of the photos which was none other than Yifei's.

"Calm down, we will meet soon. At this time, sooner or later the path we take will bring us together. Everything will be fun then," he said, looking at the photo of the detective girl with sparkling eyes.

The cell phone rang loudly in the room. Leo immediately picked up.

"What did you do until she is found die?" said the voice on the other side. In the background of the person who called, the sound of the television was heard reporting the death of the girl victim of 'Red Ribbon'.

A smile tugged at Leo's lips.

"Relax, everything will be fine. Nothing will go wrong."

Detective Cheng walked into the office. He has conducted an investigation on campus and is now ready to report what he finds. He still felt annoyed at detective Huang's treatment of him. Just because he was a rookie, he was treated like an ignorant person.

'I'll prove that I'm a great detective too,' he said to himself.

Yifei who was standing in the doorway saw her junior coming and rushed over.

"Are you still upset?" asked her. Detective Cheng shook his head. Yifei had always been friendly to him. Unlike the others, especially detective Huang who sometimes treats him like an errand boy.

"I just don't like him looking down on me."

Yifei smiled as he patted the young man's shoulder.

"Be patient. Just so you know he used to be like that to me too, but because of you, he took out his annoyance at you now."

"Is that true?"

"Of course, that's in his nature."

The two then chuckled softly. However, they immediately stopped when they saw Detective Huang striding towards them.

"What the hell you are doing? You guys can still laugh and joke when we're in the middle of a murder case? Or are you guys really busy talking behind my back? Come on, said in front of me!"

Yifei shook her head while smoothing her bangs.

"Just a little," she said, putting some distance between her thumb and forefinger.

"You are really...." Detective Huang exclaimed annoyed, but Yifei stuck her tongue out and winked at Detective Cheng.

"I told you, didn't I? He's a easy to annoyed," she whispered.

"What? What else are you guys talking about?" reprimanded detective Huang who did not accept that. He felt that two agreed to vilify him.

"Nothing, Mr. Detective. Don't be so suspicious. We're your subordinates, not a criminal. We'd better get in right away. Isn't there a real criminal to be caught?"

***

"So what was the result of your investigation?" Yifei asked detective Cheng when they were now in the office. Irregular chairs were around the square table which was also littered with papers strewn on it. All were search results from previous assassinations.

Detective Cheng, who was standing in front of his two seniors, cleared his throat for a moment.

"I've looked into his campus and where she does part-time work. Nobody really knows her," he said.

"I also investigated where she lived and asked the people there. No one is really close to her. She seems to be a quiet and reserved girl," Detective Huang replied.

"Poor girl. She has no family anymore. No one will care about her fate."

They were all silent for a moment.

"But I think it's for the best," Detective Huang said suddenly.

"Maybe even though it's painful, at least now she can meet her family."

Yifei was silent. Is it because of the victim of an orphan, her death is considered a fortune?

"Is that all you found? Nothing else of use?" asked detective Huang, looking at detective Cheng.

"Of course I found something else. I was just about to tell you. That girl have boyfriends and they're not on good terms."

"So you're saying maybe her lover was the killer?" Yifei asked. Detective Cheng just nodded. Yifei was silent as she stared at the 'Red Ribbon' case file in front of her. If true, perhaps these two cases are not related.

***

Leo was busy putting cliches on camera. He quickly grabbed the camera and walked out of the house. The black jacket he wore made him even more handsome.

It was a busy afternoon in the park. Leo was busy snapping his camera at the people who were there. His movement then stopped at a long-haired girl who was laughing cheerfully with her friends.

'There she is. I think she is fits. Hopefully this time it won't be like before,' she mumbled to herself before snapping the camera back at the girl who didn't realize someone was taking a photo of her.

***

Yifei and detective Huang rushed over. They headed to the residence of Jason Lee who was none other than Feiyang's lover. From the information obtained by Detective Cheng, Jason and Feiyang got into a big fight in the campus yard in the afternoon before the girl was found dead late at night on the same day. The quarrel eventually caught the attention of other students.

Jason, who is also a student at the campus, left Feiyang just like that, even though the girl was crying and begging the young man not to leave her.

Detective Cheng didn't come with them because he is go to get the forensic results.

The house looks ordinary, but a little unkempt. Weeds can be seen bushing in the yard. The wall paint is also starting to fade. The courtyard of the house was also filled with dust.

'How can that girl be in a relationship with someone like this?' Yifei muttered inwardly. From the results of the investigations carried out by other detective colleagues, Feiyang's house was so clean and orderly.

Yifei and detective Huang were no longer wasting time. They immediately knocked on the door. After being knocked repeatedly, a voice came from inside. The door opened and a thin young man with a dragon tattoo on his right arm appeared, looking at Yifei and Detective Huang in turn.

"Who are you guys?" he asked. Before they could answer, a woman's voice came from inside the house.

"Who are they, honey?" asked the girl with long curly hair who walked out of one of the rooms, straightening her clothes and disheveled hair.

***

"So nothing is found?" Detective Cheng asked the middle-aged man beside him. The man was the forensic expert who autopsied Feiyang's body.

"Who said there wasn't? There were a few punches, but it was days or weeks before she died," said the gray-haired man.

Detective Cheng nodded.

"Then anything else?"

"The other thing is that the girl doesn't seem to give any resistance to the killer. Everything is so clean it's as if she resigned herself to her fate without fighting back."

The young detective just silently heard the explanation. The forensic doctor immediately continued,

"Unless she was suddenly attacked by someone she knew or was given medication, there's no way someone would just stand still when her life was threatened, but no traces of medicine were found. Neither were the marks of a blow that might have rendered her unconscious."

The man of medium stature was then silent as if he was contemplating something. He then took a deep breath.

"It's going to be a complicated case because neither fingerprints nor DNA of the culprit have been found. This killer is really smart."

"Haven't we talked about this before?" asked detective Cheng. The man beside him nodded.

"Right, the 'Red Ribbon' murder, maybe this was done by the same person. This might be a serial murder case. If the killer isn't caught, then...."

The man stopped talking. Detective Cheng has got his point, if it's not stopped, the killings might happen again soon.

Detective Huang is checking the state of the house as well as the yard. He also approached the neighbors to ask a few things.

While in the house, Yifei was questioning Jason.

"Do you know Miss Yang Feiyang?" Yifei asked after a while.

"You're not on good terms with her, are you?"

"What's this? Did Feiyang get into trouble again and now he's making a complaint to the police?" said Jason. The look in his eyes seemed to mock Yifei.

"So you really have a problem?"

"Of course. Who can stand a paranoid girl like her? Tell her, she better not get into trouble by lying anymore."

"I won't be able to tell her, but what do you mean by she was lying?"

Jason snorted loudly while laughing.

"Our relationship didn't go well. She always hurt herself when I said I was going to end our love relationship. So I told her that I love Liuye, so now she must have doing something weird again to involve the police, so you are come here. I don't know what she did, but I'm tired and annoyed with her."

"You and Feiyang mad because you being in a relationship with her?"

"That's right. How can I keep in touch with her after that?"

"You must be so mad at her so you killed her."

The laughter on Jason's face disappeared, even the girl named Liuye who sitting beside him widened her eyes in disbelief.

"W-wha... what do you mean? What happened to Feiyang?" that girl asked in a trembling voice.

"So you know her too? That's right, Feiyang is passed away."

Liuye looked incredulous. She covered her mouth to hold back tears as she fell to the ground.

"Th-this is impossible. Feiyang couldn't possibly have died," she sobbed.

Jason immediately acted to help that girl up, but Liuye shook that young man's hand violently.

"It's all because of you. If you hadn't continued to approach and seduce me, this wouldn't have happened. I wouldn't have lost my best friend. Feiyang probably felt so depressed at being abandoned by you so she acted recklessly!"

Jason was silent. Yifei rushed over and helped that girl up.

"So you're her friend?" Yifei asked Liuye once more. In her heart, Yifei doesn't want to believe it, it turns out that the closest people can even hurt us. Feiyang and Liuye's close friendship was crushed just because of a man like Jason.

"That's right," Liuye replied with a nod.

"I shouldn't have done this. What kind of friend am I even when Feiyang is depressed, I instead...."

The girl glanced sharply at Jason then looked away the other way.

"Hey, you're blaming me? Have you forgotten that we are indeed attracted to each other?" said Jason as he rushed over.

"If we can hold back and don't ignore Feiyang, she won't end her life!"

"That girl was crazy from the beginning. Everything that happened wasn't our fault!"

A hard slap flew across Jason's cheek leaving a red welt there. The young man didn't accept it, he was about to hit back at Liuye who was still emotional. Yifei immediately intervened between the two people.

"I don't know what drama you guys are playing, but Feiyang didn't die by suicide."

The two of them were stunned silent at Yifei's words.

"Feiyang died from being killed."

Yifei then turned to Jason.

"We are currently conducting an investigation and you are the prime suspect. It seems that you also have a strong motive for killing Feiyang."

"I... I didn't do it," Jason said in a weak voice. He looked scared.

"I did feel angry to her, but I didn't kill her."

"Then what were you doing at eleven last night?"

"I... I was with her," Jason replied as he pointed at Liuye.

"Is it really like that?" Yifei asked as she turned her gaze to Liuye. That girl just nodded silently. Jason looked relieved.

Yifei couldn't help but endure seeing them. Wouldn't it be outrageous, after betraying a closed one, that even the traitor wasn't hurt? It's true, the person closest to you could be the person who hurt your heart.

"Maybe he was the culprit," Jason said suddenly.

. "What do you mean?" Yifei asked, refocusing on her duties as a detective.

"Feiyang once said that someone was stalking him. That person even took her photo without permission. At that time, I couldn't believe it and thought she was just lying to attract attention or hallucinating, but now I think that person really exists."

"Feiyang also told me about it," Liuye continued.

"But I don't believe her either. When she said she was going to wipe

or the police, I actually forbid. I also felt she was lying at the time. Her lie would have been exposed if she had reported it to the police."

'The killer had apparently been stalking her victims a few days earlier. This case may indeed be a serial murder,' Yifei muttered to herself.

***

"Photo?" asked detective Huang as he glanced over at Yifei.

"You mean the killer stalked and took photos of his victims?"

Yifei nodded slowly. Detective Huang smacked the wheel in annoyance.

"They should have reported it. If they did, the killer would probably be in prison by now and a girl's life would not be lost."

"They didn't take Feiyang's words seriously, thinking that the girl was lying like she used to."

"Still, they really went out of their way. Betrayed those closest to make happy for themselves."

Yifei nodded.

"The betrayal of the closest person is indeed the most painful. Therefore, we should not trust people too easily," he said.

Detective Huang was silent for a moment.

"Then we have to find someone who likes to take photos secretly. It won't be easy. So many people have cameras."

"How's the forensics?"

Detective Huang shook his head.

"Nothing. As before, according to detective Cheng, forensic experts also suspect the killer is the same person as before because of the similarities in the two cases."

"If so, then we must act quickly, because perhaps the perpetrator is now targeting the next victim."

***

Eternal. That's right, everyone in the photo is immortal. It was the best performance. Their laughter will not go away. Their faces will remain the same even if time passes and they are no longer around.

Leo smiled and again pinned the photo he had just printed.

"It would be nice if immortality could be preserved," he said, staring at the photo. He then looked at the results of his photos so far, some of them had indeed been in immortality.

He then reached out and looked at Yifei's photo.

"I hope we meet soon. I can't wait any longer, but I'm sure you're on your way to finding me. After that, we'll see if you can beat me."

Leo smiled smugly and hung up that girl's photo again. He then rushed out of the room.