《crime-free murder》


 Zombies in surveillance (1)

    March 12th, late at night. 911 in Pingjiang City received a 911 call.


    The informant, who claimed to be a vegetable farmer delivering food to the city, witnessed a terrible murder while passing through a provincial highway near the highway toll station. He was driving at the time of the crime when he heard a young woman screaming hoarse in the bushes by the side of the road. He didn''t know what was going on at the time, and the scream was even more creepy. The vegetable farmer stopped the car, but did not dare to get out of the car immediately. He hesitated for five or six minutes, and the woman''s cry lasted for five or six minutes.


    Finally, the vegetable farmer plucked up his courage and picked up a spade and got out of the car. The cry came to an abrupt end at this moment.


    He walked trembling into the woods with a shovel in his hand. Through the moonlight through the treetops, he suddenly saw a woman lying motionless in the grass, half of her trousers off, patches of blood flying on the ground, her face resting on the side of the ground, her long hair covering her face. The vegetable farmer did not know if she was still alive, but he used a spade to remove the hair that covered her face, and he was scared out of his wits. The woman''s face was torn to pieces, leaving only a red pile of flesh and blood, and a scratched eye with a little bits of meat hanging outside the eye sockets. The vegetable farmer sat paralyzed on the ground in fear, then got up with a grunt, threw away the spade, fled back to the car, picked up his cell phone and called the police. Unfortunately, when the killer committed the crime, the vegetable farmer was so far away that he didn''t see what the killer looked like. He didn''t even see the killer with his own eyes.


    When the police arrived, they searched the whole forest and found only one electric car, but no murder weapon or other traces. Subsequently, while investigating the road monitoring of the incident, the police found a video recording the incident. At that time, the victim rode an electric car along the road from west to east, in front of Pingjiang city. As she passed through the bushes where the crime occurred, the woman stopped her car and pushed her electric cart off the road toward the woods. This move puzzled many police officers.


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    Suddenly a policewoman responded and said that maybe she suddenly wanted to go to the toilet and wanted to go to the forest for convenience. Women know women best, and her explanation is reasonable.


    But then, a weird figure appeared in the video. The man was dressed in a tattered trench coat and rode an old electric car, about 20 meters away from the woman who pushed the cart. The woman never found out that he existed. The woman pushed the electric bike into the woods, and the man got out of the car and followed her. This person''s walking posture is very strange, especially in the video, it is very real. His legs were stiff, as if he couldn''t bend, and dragged along on the ground. The two arms also hang hard under the shoulders, giving people the feeling that it is like a piece of wood moving on the ground.


    But he walked not slowly, quickly shortened the distance from the woman in front of him, followed her into the woods and disappeared into the video. The woman in front did not realize that the danger was approaching. She hurried into the woods and began to unbutton her trousers, and she was vaguely seen crouching behind a tree in the video. But just then, she turned around unexpectedly and seemed to see something. Suddenly, the weirdo flashed from behind a tree and threw the woman to the ground.


    Because there is a tree in the way, it is not clear what happened in the video, only to see the woman is pressed to the ground, hands and feet have been struggling. The weirdo seemed to bend over her and attack her. There was no sound in the surveillance video, and from the image, the whole attack lasted about five minutes, and the woman''s fierce struggle made her feel as if she had suffered unimaginable suffering. The screams heard by vegetable farmers should have been made by women at that time.


    The attack was over soon. The woman lay motionless on the ground. The attacker dragged the strange posture out of the woods, found the electric car parked on the road, rode the electric car, and disappeared into the night... ...

 Zombies in surveillance (2)

    The subsequent investigation brought unprecedented difficulties to the police. First of all, the surveillance cameras are so far away that the faces of the victim and the attacker cannot be seen clearly, and the surveillance cameras on other sections of the road did not capture the two people. What is even more troublesome for the police is that they did not find any identity-related documents on the victim, not even a cell phone. Unable to delineate the identity of the murderer and the victim, coupled with the relatively remote scene of the incident, the criminal police visited and investigated hundreds of people in three months, but there was no result. This case has become a cold case.


    Later, the case was dug up by the well-informed Pingjiang Evening News reporter, wrote an article published, but also came up with an eye-catching name-zombie night attack woman. For the first time, the article named the killer with "Zombie", a popular element in European and American horror blockbusters. It also focused on the strange walking posture of the attackers and the strange injuries suffered by the victims, and wrote a crime news like a horror novel. To make the citizens suspicious. The police did not clarify the matter. But no one expected that this horrible scene would happen again three months later.


    Three months later...


    Ding Qian walked into the classroom of the School of Psychology of Donghua University with books in his arms. He teaches psychiatry in clinical medicine. It is not a hot subject, but there are many students who take his courses, because Ding Qian''s lessons are better, and his lectures are not rigid in textbooks,  just like a storyteller. However, Ding Qian met a girl who gave him a headache today.


    She asked Ding Qian, "teacher, do you believe there are zombies in this world?"


    "Zombies?"


    "those monsters in horror movies that walk around and scratch and bite when they see people."


    ¡°first of all, I have to tell you what a zombie is," Ding Qian said with a smile. "zombies are living people whose brain nerves are killed by a virus or radiation, leaving only a dead body with primitive behavioral abilities, commonly known as the living dead. In other words, they are moving dead people who eventually perish as the body gradually decays. if you ask me if there is such a thing as zombies. I''m sorry, I''m a psychology major, so you should ask the biology teacher. "


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    All the other students laughed at this.The girl still persevered, "there has just been a zombie attack in the United States, a naked zombie grabbed a homeless man and bit him covered in blood." This girl is pure and lovely, with short hair, a small V-face and big eyes that rotate flexibly like black grapes. She is a standard beauty. It''s just that the hobby is a little scary, which scares the girl sitting next to her to the side.


    "I heard about that case. Although the killer is called a ''zombie'' in the media, strictly speaking, he is not the kind of zombie we think he is. But a drug addict who was deranged by taking a large amount of hallucinogens before the crime. " Ding Qian said: "A kind of narcotic drug has a very strong psychedelic effect." Taking this drug can lead to a rise in body temperature, loss of mind, and become very aggressive. To outsiders, irrational drug users do behave like zombies in movies. But in itself, he is still human. "


    "apart from taking drugs, is there no other way to turn into a zombie?" The little girl is not satisfied, continue to ask questions.


    "this. I suggest you watch those horror movies and you''ll get the answer. "


    "teacher, I''m serious."


    "I''m serious, too." No matter how good Ding Qian''s temper is, he is a little angry. This girl is obviously here to make trouble. Such strange students are still rare. After class, he left the classroom with his books and heard someone calling him behind him. Ding Qian turned around and saw the girl who made trouble in class coming up.


    "do you have any more questions?" Ding Qian asked.


    "Mr. Ding didn''t answer my question just now. I just want to know if there is any other way to turn a person into a zombie besides taking drugs or drugs. Or to put it simply, are zombies a physical change or a psychological change? "


    Looking at the girl''s serious appearance, Ding Qian did not know whether he should get angry, thought about it and asked, "do you still have a boyfriend?"


    The girl was stunned for a moment. "No."


    "I suggest you find a boyfriend as soon as possible, so you don''t have to think about these boring questions." Just as Ding Qian was about to leave, the girl sank her face, took out her certificate from her pocket and said, "first introduce myself. My name is Guo Rongrong. I am a policeman of the special case investigation team."


    ¡°Special case investigation team?!¡±Ding Qian has never heard of this department. Guo Rongrong doesn''t seem to be a liar.


    Seeing Ding Qian in a daze, Guo Rongrong smiled, "I heard that Mr. Ding is also a famous psychiatrist. I thought you could see my identity."


    "I''m a psychiatrist, not a fortune teller."


    "......"


    "I don''t know you. Why did you find me?" Ding Qian asked.


    "it was Officer Song Yulin Song who introduced me. You should know him."

 Zombies in surveillance (3)

    Hearing the name, Ding Qian''s face changed. But it soon returned to normal. "he didn''t ask you to come to me to discuss how to become a zombie."


    "how to say, this case does have something to do with zombies."


    "do the police believe in zombies?" Ding Qian asked with teasing.


    Guo Rongrong ignored his reaction and suddenly asked, "have you read the latest issue of Pingjiang Evening News?" Guo Rongrong took out a folded newspaper from his pocket, unfolded it and handed it to Ding Qian. As soon as Ding Qian took a look at the newspaper, the blood-red headline on the first page of the newspaper read, "the zombies appear again, and the victim is lucky to escape!" Guo Rongrong said on one side: "three months ago, the Pingjiang Evening News reported a similar news called ''zombies attacking women at night''."


    "I saw the news that there was a suspected zombie attack on the outskirts of the city, and a woman riding an electric bike was attacked to death by an unidentified person. However, reading this news seems to have a lot of water, the killer''s physical features, behavior description is too exaggerated, the whole process of the crime is described like subjective speculation. Then it came to an end. There was no more. "


    "actually. What was written in the news was basically consistent with what was recorded in the criminal police file, and there was not much adulteration. Just because the case has not been solved, the police have not clarified the case to the public. "


    "I see, but. If you are bent on finding a zombie to close the case, I don''t think you will ever solve the case. "


    "I know you don''t believe in such things as zombies, and neither do we. Even after seeing the video of the assailant, many people were skeptical. But no one thought there would be a second case. "


    Ding Qian glanced at the newspaper. "how can you be sure that these two cases were zombie attacks?"


    Guo Rongrong looked around and saw someone passing by. He said to Ding Qian mysteriously, "come with me."


    Without waiting for Ding Qian to react, she took Ding Qian''s hand and walked around a secluded place. Ding Qian inadvertently saw the two boys in his class looking at them in surprise. This is not good, he thought, and he may soon be regarded as a male teacher for female students with hidden rules. Guo Rongrong pulled him into the woods behind the teaching building and stood down at the place where many students had dated, then he reached out and took another thing out of his pocket. This time it''s a lollipop and a bloody picture of the body. She handed the picture to Ding Qian and put the lollipop in her mouth. Ding Qian took the picture and frowned only after a glance. That photo is a close-up of a woman''s face. in fact, he only judged it by the length of his hair. The woman''s facial features completely turned into a pool of rotten meat, as if her face had been spoiled by a machine. There is also an eyeball outside the eye socket, unspeakably disgusting. Guo Rongrong tilted his head to observe his expression and was slightly surprised to see that he did not panic. Even a professional criminal policeman like her dared not look at such a disgusting photo and it was a bit humiliating to say it, but Ding Qian''s reaction was almost the same as that of the medical examiner in their group. Well, a pair of emotionless dead fish eyes. This is the most appropriate evaluation that Guo Rongrong can think of.


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    "She was the victim of the first zombie reported in the newspaper, and the victim of the second case was similarly attacked. The criminal police force of Pingjiang City was the first to take over the case. They investigated for nearly three months, but there was no result. Now there is a second zombie case, and they feel that the problem is serious, so they report the case to the province. Our special case investigation team specializes in dealing with this kind of mystery. You just asked me, how can I conclude that these two cases are zombies? in fact, we didn''t believe in zombies at first. Do you know how the killer hurt her face like this? "


    Guo Rongrong suddenly asked, leaving Ding Qian in a daze. "bitten by teeth. This is the result of the forensic examination. " Until now, Ding Qian''s insipid expression flashed a trace of panic and uneasiness.


    "the second victim was also attacked by the attacker with his teeth. It''s scary just to think about it, isn''t it? The surveillance head of the road section of the crime even took an even weirder picture. Although we didn''t see the killer''s appearance clearly, we photographed his walking posture, which is completely different from that of us normal people. When the C city criminal police team arrived at the scene of the crime, they found that the female victim had taken off her trousers. They once suspected that the killer was a robbery / sex crime. If it was a rape and murder case, it would be easier to understand. However, the autopsy found that the victim''s lower body was intact, and further investigation found that the victim took off the pants herself and she was urinating at that time. That is to say, the killer was not interested in her body at all and did not take her money. This is not a case that we usually understand. We don''t understand why the killer did this, or how he became like this. "

 Zombies in surveillance (4)

    "so that''s what you came to me to ask me?"


    Officer Song said that you know a lot about people''s psychological problems. I don''t know what you think of such strange people. "


    "to be honest, I''ve been exposed to libido, mental illness, autism, but I''ve never been in contact with zombies."


    "do you think there is such a thing as zombies?"


    "it depends on how to say it. I have just said in class that, in a narrow sense, that kind of brain has died and completely turned into a festering, mindless walking corpse. I personally think it is impossible. This kind of thing can only exist in movies and novels. after all, the human body is an extremely complex structure, and the brain is the only center that can control behavior. if the brain dies, people will die completely."


    "is there no exception?"


    "broadly speaking, if a person''s brain tissue is not dead, but degenerated, it may also reflect some of the characteristics of zombies. This is the case with the zombie case in the United States that you mentioned, and the killer is also called face gnawing. His method of murder is very similar to the case you described, the reason is that this person has been taking drugs / drugs for a long time, which induces insanity, so that he hallucinates and violates people. In the eyes of people who don''t know the truth, he is demonized and becomes a scary zombie. "


    "then why did he gnaw on the face? Do drug addicts like to gnaw their faces when attacking people? "


    "this. Although taking drugs can make people violent, there is no clinical evidence to show that drug addicts have the desire to attack and bite people''s faces. I personally think that the case of zombies gnawing on the face in the United States was accidental. If it had been in a different location, the attacker might have attacked somewhere else. "


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    "what about this case? it was also an accident?" Guo Rongrong pointed to the photo in Ding Qian''s hand.


    "Why is it impossible? South Korea and the United States are so far apart that there is certainly no connection between the two cases. The occasional similar situation is not an exception. You police can''t encounter the victim''s face hurt, just say it was attacked by a zombie. "


    Ding Qian''s words were more or less contemptuous. He felt that the police were so whimsical that they could believe that there were zombies. Maybe they are in a hurry to solve the case and don''t know where to find the truth, otherwise they don''t even need to find a psychiatrist. Guo Rongrong recognized the smell of the words and said to Ding Qian, "I forgot to tell you that the victim did not die in this recent case. Do you want to come with me to the hospital to see her?"


    Ding Qian frowned slightly and thought that since the victim was alive, he should remember the murderer. Then what do you want me to analyze? However, Ding shallow is also the first time to encounter such a strange case, can not help but a little curious.


    Pingjiang first people''s Hospital. Intensive care unit.


    Guo Rongrong pushed open the ward door and walked lightly into the ward, followed by Ding Qian. There is only one patient in such a large ward. It can be seen from the figure that it is a woman, but there is no way to see her appearance. But this woman is thin, only skin and bones, through the clothes can see her thin scary bone shelf, loose hospital gown on her body like a kite.


    Her whole face was wrapped in a circle of white gauze, looking like a big-headed doll, showing only two eyes and a small half of her face, most of which were hidden in the gauze. It seems that the woman is not too old. Her eyes are closed and she is sleeping. There are several comic books at the head of the bed. But as soon as Guo Rongrong approached the bed, she suddenly woke up with a cry of "ho-ho" in her mouth and hid in horror to the corner of the bed.


    "it''s me. Don''t be afraid. I was here the first two days ago. I''m a policeman. You forgot." Guo Rongrong pointed to her face and let the woman have a good look. The woman stared at her with hesitation, seemed to be trying to recall, and turned her eyes to Ding Qian''s face. She was obviously on guard against Ding Qian.


    Post-traumatic stress disorder.


    Ding Qian immediately came to this conclusion based on her manner and expression.

 survivor (1)

    Such patients usually experience or witness extremely frightening events, or after severe trauma, they may show emotional numbness and slow response, and they will be in panic for a long time. Uncontrollable constant recall of trauma-related situations and content. Serious cases can lead to depression and even suicidal tendencies.


    Ding Qian was suddenly a little curious about what a terrible thing this woman had experienced before she became like this. "is she the second victim?" Ding Qian asked. Guo Rongrong did not elaborate on the survivor, just driving Ding Qian to the hospital first.


    "yes."


    "and her face?"


    "you can probably guess. You can see for yourself when the nurse changes the gauze." The woman looked at them with dull eyes, unaware that they were talking about her.


    What a terrible thing happened to this woman?  Ding Qian sat in the ward with doubts. Guo Rongrong took a handbag from the car before she came to the ward. She didn''t know what was in it.


    Now she poured out the contents of her handbag on the bed, which turned out to be a pile of snacks, dried tofu, chicken collarbone, duck neck, and a gossip magazine by Lee Min-ho. When the woman on the bed saw these things, her eyes widened immediately. She had so many bandages on her head that it was difficult to eat, but she still couldn''t wait to take the duck neck handed over by Guo Rongrong and take a piece out of the bag and gnaw it.


    Ding Qian could not help feeling that sure enough, women are all the same creature, even if it is the end of the world, with these things, they can also spend the day happily.


    At this time, the ward door was pushed open, and two nurses pushed a cart into the ward to change the gauze and medicine for the patients. when they saw the scene in the room, they almost freaked out, and the fat nurse said in a fierce voice, "who are you? how can you give patients this kind of junk food!"


    The woman was sucking a chicken collarbone and was so frightened that she sat there with half of the bones in her mouth.


    Guo Rongrong hastened to explain that the two nurses were relieved and said nothing.


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    As the woman had too much gauze wrapped around her head, it took two people to finish it. The two nurses worked together, peeling the gauze off the woman''s face carefully with tweezers, and had to hold the woman''s hand from time to time to prevent her from scratching her face.


    When the gauze on the woman''s face was completely removed, Ding Qian and Guo Rongrong stopped breathing instantly.


    Is this still a human face?


    Except for the eyes and half of the face just exposed, the rest of the face could not be seen. It was just pieces of red meat glued to the bones, and there were scabs solidified by blood and potions on the minced meats. As the gauze was torn away, fresh blood was shed from the new wounds, and the other minced meat twitched violently, gathering together like living creatures, making people clearly feel the pain of women.


    There was a "ho-ho" sound in her throat again, which was the only way she could express it now.


    "how did she get the wound on her face?" Ding Qian asked.


    "like the first victim, he was bitten like this by his teeth."


    "this is the result of our forensic examination, and there can be no mistake. Judging from the bite marks, they are human teeth. And this is the only wound from head to toe and all over her body. Now, there are two cases of chewing on the face, both of which happened here. Do you still think it was an accident? "


    "..." Ding Qian was silent. It was really beyond his expectation. He has never encountered such a case. No wonder the police suspect zombies. Now even Ding Qian himself is a little confused.


    "she and the first victim were both single women, and the area where she was attacked was the face. There was a difference of three months before and after the two cases. you suspect it was the same attacker?"


    "Yes. It looks like a serial crime, but we can''t determine the identity and cause of the killer. Although there have been similar face-gnawing cases in the United States, we do not have the details of that case. You said that the killer took a large amount of drugs and led to madness. In fact, we are not sure whether this is the case. You are a psychiatrist. Are you familiar with this drug? "


    "pretty much, I''ve treated three patients with insanity caused by taking this drug."


    "really?" Guo Rongrong was slightly surprised.


    "the anesthetic ''bath salt'', also known as'' zombie bath salt'', does drive some people crazy, but as I said, there is no actual clinical manifestation to show that taking this drug is bound to bite someone''s face. Of the three patients I have come into contact with, the first one tried to jump off a building with his girlfriend in his arms when he got sick, the second one not only bit but also grabbed anything he caught and attacked the person around him, and the third one was the most like the face gnaver you described. He went crazy to bite people only with his teeth, but not his face, but like a mad dog.


    "you mean you suspect that the attacker went crazy after taking bath salt?"

 survivor (2)

    "Yes, but I can''t think of anything else to make people like this."


    "you are a psychiatrist, and you must know a lot of mental medicine. Is there any medicine that can make people like this? " Guo Rongrong asked expectantly. Consulting about this kind of medicine is one of the purposes of inviting Ding Qian here.


    Ding Qian shook his head.


    "is there a way to turn people into zombies without drugs? For example, psychological depression, depression to the extreme will be abnormal? "


    Ding Qian shook his head.


    "or, there is no zombie psychosis. People with this disease will become mentally retarded and aggressive, like zombies? "


    "you are so good!"


    "am I right?"


    "it''s better for you to write horror novels than to be a policeman."


    "you.."


    "now I finally understand what you want me to do. With all due respect, I have treated all kinds of people with psychological problems, and I have also seen all kinds of mental patients, including people with split personality and killing people. But I''ve never seen the kind of case you''re talking about. "


    "since nothing is possible, there is only one possibility. The killer is a unique zombie. "


    "." Ding Qian moved his mouth and said nothing.


    "I know what you want to say, you want to refute me, saying that there are no zombies in the world, how can I, as a policeman, believe such nonsense. But you have to find out the reason to convince me. Can you find out? " Guo Rongrong glared at his big round eyes, crossed his waist, and asked confidently.


    "." Ding Qian was really asked by her that he didn''t know what to say. He turned to the injured woman in the hospital bed and asked Guo Rongrong, "she must have seen the murderer. What did she say?"


    "she didn''t see what the killer looked like."


    "she should have some impression of the physical features of the killer."


    Without waiting for Guo Rongrong to answer, a deep, slightly husky male voice came from behind the two men. "she was so badly stimulated that she couldn''t remember what the killer looked like."


    Ding Qian turned around and saw a cold-faced man in his thirties standing at the door. The man''s eyes are sharp, leaving a row of light stubble, which at a glance is a very resolute character. Ding Qian stayed for a moment and felt that the face seemed to have been seen somewhere before, but he couldn''t remember it for the moment.


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    At this time, I heard Guo Rongrong say, "here you are, the team leader." only then did Ding Qian know that this man was the leader of the special case team.


    "this is Mr. Ding." Guo Rongrong introduced to the special case team leader.


    "I know. Your name is Ding Qian. " The man nodded and extended his hand to Ding Qian. "I am the leader of the special case team, du Zhixun."


    "Oh, hello." Ding Qian also reached out and shook hands with him. But he found that although the man was polite, his eyes were cold, the muscles on his face did not move at all, and the handshake was only symbolically loosened at the slightest touch, which was an obvious rejection. He doesn''t seem to like himself. But I don''t even know this person at all, where does his dislike come from, which makes Ding Qian very puzzled.


    I''m just a psychology teacher, and I''m not good at solving crimes. If you came to me just to ask if there are any zombies, I have already told Officer Guo. " Ding Qian said to du Zhixun.


    "We don''t need you to solve the case. There''s one more thing about calling you here."


    "what?."


    "you are not only a college psychologist, but also a psychiatrist, aren''t you? It is said that you are still a famous hypnotist. I don''t know if it is true. "


    It turned out that the police officer did not believe that he had that ability. But du Zhixun is a very deep and sensitive man. When he found Ding Qian watching him, his expression changed slightly and he instantly regained his calm. Ding Qian thought, this is a very difficult guy to deal with, fortunately he is not his own patient.


    The woman in the hospital bed suddenly let out a cry of pain, as if the nurse had hurt her when she put medicine on her face. She waved her bony arms to keep the nurse away from her, and her mouth hissed a warning. The two nurses were at a loss and sweated with anxiety.


    "what happened to her? is there a brain injury, too? is there something wrong?" Guo Rongrong asked anxiously.


    Ding Qian said nothing and went to the hospital bed. the injured woman saw that she was more nervous and desperately shrank to the foot of the bed and screamed harshly towards Ding Qian. The sound almost pierced the eardrum. The two nurses were so scared that they hid by the window and tightly covered their ears.


    Guo Rongrong covered her ears and shouted to Ding, "you can''t see that she''s afraid of you, so don''t stimulate her." Du Zhixun remained motionless, looking coldly at Ding Qian.


    Ding Qian turned a deaf ear to the woman''s screams. He reached for his pocket and rummaged through it for a while. Others looked at him puzzled, especially Guo Rongrong, who had been full of curiosity and suspicion about this man''s so-called psychiatrist and wanted to see what means he had, whether he was a charlatan who sold plasters.


    I saw that Ding Qian carefully pulled out a transparent plastic bag, in which there were some black and round pills, and everyone did not see what kind of medicine it was from a long distance.


    Ding Qian opened the plastic bag, took out a pill in front of the woman, and smiled at her slowly putting the pill into her mouth, as if tasting something delicious. Then he put the bag of medicine on the hospital bed and took two steps back.


    The woman''s attention was completely attracted to the bag of pills, watching Ding Qian eat with relish, but also slowly reached out to hold the bag of medicine in his hand. Following his example, he also took out a pill and put it in his mouth.


    In an instant, her face was tangled, and half of her cheeked face twitched with it, looking terrible and funny. But she didn''t spit out the pills, and then something unexpected happened, and she calmed down, and there was no previous hostility in her expression.