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- The Devil's Dozen: Izvestia publishes a fragment of the bestseller "Asian Hitchcock" by Ning Hanyi
The Devil's Dozen: Izvestia publishes a fragment of the bestseller "Asian Hitchcock" by Ning Hanyi
The international bestseller by Chinese writer Ning Hanyi has already sold over 3 million copies. Critics call him the "Asian Hitchcock" and note the ability to build a tense plot at the junction of a detective story and a psychological thriller. The new book focuses on a series of mysterious murders in an elite apartment complex, where the struggle for a sudden inheritance turns neighbors into suspects. The novel will send readers into the atmosphere of the movie hits "Get Knives" and "Murders in the same Building." The book is published by the ABC publishing house in translation by Natalia Vlasova. On the eve of the premiere, Izvestia publishes an exclusive fragment of the book.
Ning Hanyi, "The Mystery of floor number 12" (fragment)
Soon they got tired. I caught sight of a lawn overlooking the shore of Lake Yuehai. It had a stunning view, with seagulls circling over the water. Gu Lei suggested taking a break, and Su Xiaotong readily agreed. They parked their bike and settled down on a wooden bench, disappearing into the landscape as if it had come down from a watercolor.
But after a few minutes, their phones buzzed at the same time— it must have been a notification from the general chat. The peace dissipated when they saw the voice message from Fan Lin. Su Xiaotong pressed play, and a harsh voice shattered the idyll.:
—Who the fuck did this?"
Su Xiaotong and Gu Lei shuddered, immediately stood up and moved away so that Gu Xiaoliang would not hear the rudeness. At the same time, they were surprised by Fan Lin's behavior: although she was blunt, she rarely swore and certainly never screamed like a market vendor. What could have infuriated her so much?
Before they could reply, Li Xueli had already texted: "Fan Lin, who are you swearing at?"
Han Lei also reacted: "What happened?"
Fan Lin sent a voice message again:
— Come down and see for yourself!
"Come down?" So she's at the entrance now? Su Xiaotong frowned.
"It looks like it." Then we will...
Su Xiaotong sighed heavily and said reluctantly:
— Let's go back and see what happened there.
Gu Lei just nodded. In such circumstances, it was impossible to continue walking with a calm mind.
They explained to their son that there had been a minor incident in the apartment complex and they needed to go home urgently. Frustrated, Gu Xiaoliang pouted, but eventually agreed when he was promised to buy a new toy. The family returned by bike to the rental location, rented a transport and immediately caught a taxi to Yuehaiwan.
A bunch of people gathered at the third entrance. In addition to Fan Lin and members of the "Extended Family," there were housing and communal Services employees, other residents, and even police officers — Tan Yun and Li Bin.
At the sight of such a crowd of people, Su Xiaotong's heart sank again. Did someone die again? To prevent the child from suddenly witnessing a frightening sight, she asked Gu Xiaolian to wait on the sidelines, and she and her husband made their way through the crowd.
"What happened?"
— Did you go for a walk or something? Fan Lin asked.
- yes. Xiaoliang begged us to take him for a bike ride in the morning. As soon as we saw your message, we came right back.
"So it's definitely not you."
"What happened?"
— Take a look for yourself. Fan Lin pointed at the ground.
Su Xiaotong and Gu Lei looked down and saw dozens of steel balls with a diameter of about a centimeter at her feet. The balls hit the stone tile with such force that it cracked. Obviously, they were thrown from the upper floors.
Su Xiaotong and Gu Lei exchanged glances, they instantly realized what had happened: someone had waited for Fan Lin to pass under the windows and dropped a handful of steel balls from above to kill her!
Tan Yun and Li Bin tilted their heads back and studied the windows. The trajectory of the fall indicated that the balls could only have been dropped from the third or fourth apartment.
"The balls were definitely thrown from either the third or fourth apartment," Tan Yun addressed the Housing Department representative, "and given that they broke through the stone floor, they were thrown from at least the third floor.
Collect a list of tenants and give it to me.
—Okay,— the housing department representative replied and added, "We will put up warning signs in the elevator halls and at the entrance forbidding throwing anything out of the windows."
-no need! Fan Lin exclaimed angrily. — No one just threw anything away. This is a planned assassination attempt! Dropping steel balls on a person from a height of more than ten meters is like firing a shot at him. And a whole handful is literally buckshot! It's good that I'm lucky. The killer was in a hurry and threw them away a little before I got there. Otherwise, I'd be lying here right now, covered in holes like a sieve!
—Okay, Fan Lin, let's discuss the details inside,— Tan Yun said, dispersing the assembled residents.
Li Bin put on gloves and collected all the balls for fingerprinting.
Looking around at the people present, Tan Yun noticed that of all the members of the "Big Family", only Wang Xingxing was missing.
—Where's Wang Xingxing?"
"He lives with me,— Fan Lin replied. — He plays games every night, probably still sleeping.
"Then let's go to your place." The others too. We need to understand the situation.
Everyone nodded and took the elevator up to the fourteenth floor to apartment 1401, where Fan Lin lived. Before that, Gu Lei took Gu Xiaoliang home. While everyone was sitting in the living room, Tan Yun knocked on the door of the second bedroom:
—Wang Xingxing!
There was no response. Tan Yun knocked harder and called out louder. Finally, a sleepy voice rang out:
"Who's there?"
"It's me, Tan Yun. Open up!
A few seconds later, the door opened. Wang Xingxing stood barefoot, wearing only his underpants, rubbing his eyes:
— Lao Tan, how did you end up here?.. Without finishing, he noticed the rest of the "Extended Family" in the living room and started. "Wait a minute, I'll get dressed."
Wang Xingxing pulled on his clothes and, slapping his slippers, came out with a sleepy face and tousled hair.
He immediately realized that something had happened and asked anxiously:
"What's going on?" Really... Has someone died again?
— I almost died just now! Fan Lin shouted in exasperation.
- what? How is it?
"I took Wenjing to school, had breakfast, and took a short walk down the street. I come back — and a whole handful of steel balls are raining down from the sky! It's a miracle they didn't hit me! If only I had a few more centimeters, I would have been dead! Fan Lin's voice trembled, and tears began to flow down her cheeks.
Wang Xingxing was dumbfounded:
— Who could do such a thing?
"You don't know?" Tan Yun asked.
— Why should I be aware? I fell asleep as usual — at five in the morning. I just woke up, you saw for yourself!
— Have you looked at Wichat?
"I'm sleeping like the dead." Wang Xingxing shook his head. — I don't even hear notifications.
Tan Yun stopped the interrogation and called the management company. He asked if the list of tenants was ready. They replied that they would send it in a few minutes. Soon, an image with clear markings came to the policeman's phone — all the owners of the third and fourth apartments, indicating the floors.
—Han Lei, sixth floor, apartment six hundred and four; Shen Fengxia, eighth floor, eight hundred and three; Li Xueli, twelfth floor, twelve hundred and three; Wang Xingxing, fifteenth floor, fifteen hundred and three," Tan Yun read out.
Fan Lin snorted and looked around at everyone present:
"So the killer is one of the four of you.
—Hey, wait a minute! Wang Xingxing was indignant. — I'm staying with you now! I'm not on the fifteenth floor!
Fan Lin remained silent, but Shen Fengxia noticed:
— Not a fact. What if you ran home, dropped the balloons, and then pretended to be asleep?
— Hey, don't talk about me! Wang Xingxing flared up. "Why on earth would I take such a risk?" If something had happened to Fan Lin, I would have been the first to be suspected.
— Logic is lame. Su Xiaotong couldn't help but grimace. — You would be considered the main suspect if something had happened to Fan Lin here in the apartment. And if it's on the street, what do you have to do with it?
Fan Lin fixed Wang Xingxing with an incredulous look.
"Sister Fan, you know I play every night!" "It's morning for you, but it's the middle of the night for me, sleep time!" I have a completely different regime!
Fan Lin remained silent. Obviously, in her eyes, the circle of possible culprits has expanded.
Tan Yun switched to others:
— Han Lei, Li Xueli, Shen Fengxia, where were you at that time?
"I just got up and washed in the bathroom,— Han Lei said.
"I was making breakfast for Ma Qian,— Li Xueli explained. — After he left, I washed the dishes. That's when I saw the message from Fan Lin.
— Lao Tan, why these questions? Shen Fengxia shook her head. — We all live alone, and even if there was someone else in the apartment, it would not be difficult to drop the balloons without attracting other people's attention.
Tan Yun understood this himself, but he had to check it out. Dropping steel balls is a truly insidious way of killing. The surveillance cameras in the courtyard did not cover the upper floors. The chance that someone from the next house could see what was happening was negligible: the buildings were too far apart. A criminal could easily attack in broad daylight and remain unnoticed.
This incident was an alarming discovery — the killer was ready to use the most sophisticated methods. Now everything had to be taken into account in order to prevent new crimes. Fan Lin, fortunately, remained alive, but luck may not be able to avoid the next victim.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
