Chapter 11: The Ritual of the Thumb

The faint light of dawn struggled to penetrate the thick clouds, casting a bleak halo over Ashen Town. Irene stepped into the abandoned factory once again, where the air was thick with the stench of death. The body of the third victim lay here, and the scene was eerily similar to the previous two cases. The rust - stained butterfly tattoo on the chest and the missing left thumb gave the entire scene an otherworldly and icy atmosphere.

Irene crouched down and carefully examined the body, her brows knitted tightly. Her gaze was fixed on the severed finger placed meticulously beside it. The blood at the tip of the finger had long since dried, leaving a dull mark on the cold ground. The severed finger was placed in an exquisite box, the body of which was engraved with strange symbols. These symbols were like mysterious runes of an ancient language or the curse marks left by a demon.

She gently picked up the box and turned it over, trying to decipher the killer's intentions from these symbols. The police officers around her were bustling about, taking pictures and collecting evidence, but their busyness couldn't break the oppressive silence. The scenes of the previous two cases kept flashing through Irene's mind. The killer's familiarity with the criminal investigation process made her uneasy. Every detail was handled so perfectly that almost no flaws were left.

"This is a carefully planned ritual," Irene thought to herself. "The killer is sending some kind of message, but what exactly is it?" Her gaze shifted to the forensic doctor beside her, who also had a frown on his face. "Any new findings?" she asked. The forensic doctor shook his head and said helplessly, "Same as before. The time of death was between ten and twelve last night. Besides this strange tattoo and the severed finger, there are no other obvious external injuries, and no drug residues were found either."

Irene stood up and looked at the gloomy sky outside the factory. Her suspicion of her adoptive father, Carl, grew stronger. She recalled every conversation she had with Carl before. Those seemingly inadvertent dodging eyes and those ambiguous answers all seemed to hide something unseemly. She decided to investigate Carl again, from his whereabouts to his interpersonal relationships. She was going to get to the bottom of everything about Carl.