Chapter 1

Sophia, a forensic pathologist, was urgently called back to the police station late one night.

“Sophia, this murder case is extremely brutal,” said the gruff man speaking. I recognized him as Chief Zhang from the police department. “The victim was killed and their remains scattered across the city. We’ve only found partial remains so far. We need you to try to identify the victim from the bones.”

Sophia nodded solemnly and opened the body bag.

As soon as it was unzipped, a strong smell of decay filled the examination room.

Inside were fragments of human bones.

My bones.

Seeing this, Chief Zhang frowned and cursed, “That bastard! Not only did he kill him, he dissolved the flesh too!”

He clenched his jaw, clearly struggling to contain his anger.

Sophia calmly nodded and began sorting through the bag.

She didn’t recognize me.

I suppose I can’t blame her - I was barely more than a pile of bones at that point.

Still, I couldn’t help but wonder how she would react if she knew those were my bones.

Would she cry?

Or laugh?

Probably the latter. After all, she hated me to my very core.

All because of my dead brother Michael, who had once been the love of her life.

Chief Zhang patted her shoulder. “I’ll leave you to it then, Sophia.”

Soon, my bones were laid out on the examination table.

Looking at my shattered remains, Sophia’s eyes reddened.

“This bastard! Not only are the bones in pieces, even the flesh was dissolved!”

After three years, this was the first time she had shed tears over me.

As time passed, a skeletal framework gradually took shape.

Chief Zhang pushed his glasses up his nose and said gravely, “I’m over 50 years old, but this is the first time I’ve seen such a cruel method of murder.”

Sophia placed the final bone, her voice filled with righteous anger: “Indeed! This method is absolutely vicious! We must bring the killer to justice and give the victim justice!”

As she spoke, she unconsciously clenched her fists.

Sophia took a deep breath to calm herself before continuing: “Not only that, I’ve discovered something else.”

“The victim’s flesh was dissolved while they were still alive, until they lost consciousness. Only then did the killer slowly dismember the bones.”

“Based on the wear on the bones, I can determine that…the victim was still alive when the killer began dismembering them.”

“I’ve also estimated the bone age - the victim was likely around 28 years old.”

“Most of the victim’s bones are here now, only the left hand is still missing.”

Chief Zhang inhaled sharply.

Despite his years of experience, he couldn’t help but widen his eyes in shock.

Gritting his teeth, he shouted, “That fucking animal! I’ll skin him alive when we catch him!”

Then he noticed something about the skull.

There was a small indentation.

It was an old injury I had sustained years ago.

He made a small sound of surprise.

“Sophia, doesn’t this skull look familiar? Like Jack’s?”

To my surprise, Sophia scoffed at his words.

“Ha, if only it really was him. That would be great.”

Chief Zhang pressed his lips together, seemingly at a loss for words.

Sophia continued her tirade: “That beast deserves to die for killing his own brother!”

Hearing those words, my heart felt like it was being stabbed by thousands of knives.

Even the acid that had dissolved my flesh couldn’t compare to a fraction of this pain.

I had hoped that, given our years of marriage, she might speak a little more kindly of me.

But no.

Instead, she wished for my death every single day.

“Sophia, you were married after all…” Chief Zhang started to speak, trying to defend me.

Sophia’s eyes widened as she shouted angrily: “Married? What good is being married?”

“If he hadn’t insisted on going drinking with his brother, how could Michael have died in that car accident?”

“If it weren’t for him, how could our happy family have lost someone!”