Chapter 1

There was a fool in my village who was always muttering:

“Rock, scissors, paper…”

You had to say them in the right order. If anyone got it wrong, he’d fly into a rage.

One day, a body turned up in the ruined mud-brick house beside mine.

And I became a suspect.

When the police carried the body out, it was still wrapped tightly in burlap.

But after the fool saw it, the words he kept muttering changed to:

“Paper! Paper! Paper…”

I think I finally understood why he insisted that the order of rock, scissors, paper could never be wrong.

…

While I was helping with the investigation at the police station, I learned some preliminary details about the body.

The victim was a woman, but for now they couldn’t determine her age or identity.

Her face had been smashed to pieces with a rock.

It was horrifying—like half a watermelon dropped onto the ground and shattered.

The body was completely naked.

In other words, the killer had left her with nothing at all.

Even the clothes she had originally been wearing had been stripped off.

Then the killer had wrapped her tightly in a roll of burlap.

Only then had he hidden her in the ruined mud-brick house next to mine.

The house was only a hundred meters from my home.

When I was a child, people still lived there. Later, it was abandoned.

After more than a decade of sun and rain, its roof had long since collapsed.

The body, wrapped in burlap, had simply been tossed into the rubble.

In such terrible conditions, the police couldn’t find a single useful clue.

They couldn’t even determine where the original crime scene was.

Our village didn’t have surveillance cameras, either.

As usual, Officer Li asked whether I had any clues to offer.

I thought it over, then decided to tell him about the fool.

“What? Rock, scissors, paper?” Officer Li looked baffled.

I asked him in return, “Was the victim’s head smashed with a rock?”

Officer Li froze and didn’t answer.

In truth, that was as good as confirmation.

“Then the killer cut her clothes to pieces with scissors, and wrapped her in burlap afterward… Rock, scissors, paper. That’s the order in which he killed the victim. That’s why the order can’t be changed.”

Officer Li finally caught on.

“That fool saw the killer commit the crime!”

The fool’s name was Hoang Viet, but hardly anyone knew it.

There was only one fool in our village.

So “the fool” had become his name.

The police summoned him soon afterward.

The problem was that he was extremely difficult to communicate with, so Officer Li came back to ask me about it.

“He can’t explain anything coherently. Could you try talking to him?”

I thought for a moment, then nodded.

I wanted to clear myself of suspicion completely, too.

Officer Li looked as if he wanted to tell me something, but hesitated and finally kept it to himself.

I noticed.

Not long afterward, the fool was brought in.

But I couldn’t manage more than a few useful exchanges with him.

I asked where he’d seen “Rock, Scissors, Paper”…

He only gave a foolish little grin and chuckled.

I asked whether he knew what had happened in the ruined house beside mine…

He not only chuckled again but pointed a finger at the middle of his forehead.

At the time, we all thought it was a meaningless gesture.

Actually, it was just like “Rock, Scissors, Paper.” We simply didn’t understand it.

In the end, I couldn’t take it anymore. Almost deliberately provoking him, I said, “It’s not rock, scissors, paper. It’s scissors, rock, paper!”

The fool got angry at once. He glared at me and roared, “Rock, scissors, paper! Rock, scissors… paper! Rock! Rock!”

Officer Li frowned, apparently displeased with how I was handling him.

But I had my reasons.

“Where did you see rock, scissors, paper? Tell me where, and I’ll agree to your order.”

The fool made an agitated gesture, but I had no idea what he was trying to say.

Then I thought of a way.

“Officer Li! Paper and a pen! Have him draw it!”

The fool was furious. He wanted to prove that he was right.

So he drew with great concentration.

Still, he was a fool, and he’d never gone to school.

No matter how seriously he tried, all he could manage was a jumble of lines.

“What on earth is that supposed to be?” Officer Li murmured beside me.

But I recognized it.

“It looks like… a house.”

I pointed to the top of the scribbled shape.

“There’s a round stone ornament, like a pearl, on the roof. This is the old temple.”

Officer Li caught on, too.

“The derelict temple on the north slope of your village?”

I nodded.

Officer Li hurriedly whispered something to the colleague beside him.

I caught a little of it: he was telling them to send people to search the temple right away.

He also told them to bring equipment and, if necessary, dig three meters down.

I realized then…

This case wasn’t nearly as simple as I’d thought.

The fool hadn’t only been muttering “Rock, Scissors, Paper” over the past few days.

I couldn’t remember exactly how long he’d been doing it, but it had definitely been years.

Officer Li had to have noticed that, too.

So when he told his colleagues to investigate the ruined temple, it wasn’t only to find out whether it had been the original crime scene in this case.

It was also because—

The fool’s “Rock, Scissors, Paper” murder was definitely not the case involving the woman whose body had just been found.

In other words, the killer had murdered someone years ago.

That body might never have been discovered, so no case had ever been opened.

For a while afterward, I was kept in the interrogation room, continuing to try to communicate with the fool.

It went badly. He had nothing more to tell us.

Near dusk, Officer Li opened the door and let me out.

I had barely stepped outside when I heard him say:

“We found a body in the ruined temple.”

Just as I’d thought.

But his next words surprised me.

“Don’t go home tonight.”

Something felt wrong. I hurried to ask, “Why? Are you detaining me? Do you still think I’m the killer?”

Officer Li patiently explained.

“No. There’s nothing linking you to the case for now. You have no criminal record, and you’ve cooperated with the investigation. We can basically rule you out as a suspect.”

“Keeping you here is just my personal advice.”

“The body found in the ruined temple is being brought in for examination. The forensic team at the scene estimates that the victim has been dead for at least ten years.”

“And, like the woman found in the recent case, her face was completely smashed…”

“Based on that and the fool’s statement, our initial assessment is that the same person was responsible. In other words, we may have a serial killer whose crimes were separated by more than a decade.”

“But that raises another question.”

“The ruined temple was an excellent place to hide a body. It went undiscovered for more than ten years. So why didn’t the killer keep burying bodies there?”

“Why take the risk of dumping this one in a ruined house near yours, where it could easily be found?”

Only then did I fully understand.

“The killer’s trying to frame me? Is he targeting me, too?”

Officer Li shook his head before continuing.

“We can’t be sure. Clearly, this wouldn’t be enough to frame you, but he must have had a reason for doing it…”

“As for what that reason might be, it’s hard to say. We also can’t tell whether you’re in danger.”

“That’s why I’m advising you to stay here. There’s an extra room at the station. You could stay for a few nights. What do you think?”

At that point, all I could do was nod.

“Could I go home and pack some clothes first?”

He nodded.

“Sure. Let’s go now. I’ll come with you.”

I already sensed something was off.

He was in charge of the case, and the investigation was at a critical stage.

Why would he have time to accompany someone unrelated to the case home to pack a few things?

Clearly, he had another reason.

And that reason became obvious as soon as we stepped inside my house.

Or rather, he wasn’t trying to hide it.

He knew I lived alone.

So when I went to my room to pack, he said:

“I’m going to look around.”

It was obvious enough. He didn’t have a search warrant.

But he wanted to see whether he could find any clues in my house.

That was why he’d brought me home.

I didn’t stop him. I really had nothing to do with the case.

I had nothing to hide.

But after I’d packed my clothes, I noticed a piece of paper on my desk.

I always kept my desk tidy, so the paper stood out.

It definitely wasn’t mine.

I went over and saw four words printed on it:

“First to two wins.”

I froze.

That was the classic way to play rock, scissors, paper: first to win two rounds.

But I hadn’t played with anyone in more than ten years.

That was right. Those four words brought back the past.

My childhood. A childhood friend…

Could that be why the case involved me?

“Officer Li! Come in here—quick!”

I shouted toward the door.

Footsteps sounded outside at once. A few seconds later, Officer Li rushed in.

“What happened?”

I pointed at the paper on my desk.

“Look at this. I didn’t put it there.”

Officer Li hurried to the desk and took a pair of tweezers and a plastic evidence bag from his pocket.

“First to two wins? You haven’t touched it, have you?”

I shook my head.

“We’ll take it back and see if there are any clues, like fingerprints…”

He carefully picked up the paper with the tweezers, put it in the plastic bag, and sealed it.

“This also proves the serial killer isn’t only targeting you—he may have broken into your house…”

As he put the evidence away, he turned to ask me, “Are you finished packing?”

I nodded and picked up my backpack.

“Let’s go. Don’t come back here for the next couple of days.”

We hurried out.

Only after the car pulled away did Officer Li ask, “What does ‘first to two wins’ mean?”

The man was a real detective. He didn’t waste time asking pointless questions like whether I knew the phrase might have some hidden meaning.

If a murderer had left me a message, it must have been because it could remind me of something connected to the case.

Just then, we passed the ruined house where the body had been dumped, only a hundred meters from my home.

I pointed out the window and asked Officer Li, “Did you find out who owns that house?”

He frowned.

“We checked. It’s been abandoned for more than ten years. Back then, they never even completed the paperwork…”

He stopped and turned to look at me.

Then, gravely, he asked, “Did something happen to that family?”