On the eve of Qingming, Mingyue Community in Yunzhou City held a special "Memory Excavation" event. Ten years ago, to celebrate the community's 20th anniversary, the residents had buried a "time capsule" containing a memento from each household, a wish note, and a group photo from that year. Now, the capsule was being unearthed. What was initially expected to be a heartwarming trip down memory lane unexpectedly unearthed a terrifying discovery.
When the excavator removed the last layer of wet soil and the capsule lid was opened, a nauseating odor of decay filled the air. In addition to the familiar old items, there was a shriveled corpse, curled in a corner, brutally wrapped in a plastic bag and old fabric.
Someone screamed and fainted on the spot, and the atmosphere instantly spiraled out of control. The police arrived quickly and cordoned off the area. Su Wanqing and Lu Chenzhou received notifications and rushed to the scene.
The capsule had been lifted from the ground, and the body was placed inside a mobile examination vehicle. Su Wanqing donned her protective gear, unzipped the bag, and began her first round of visual inspection.
"The pelvis is not fully closed, and the third molars have not yet erupted," she frowned. "The age should be between 12 and 14."
The body had decayed significantly, but some tendons were still intact, suggesting the body had been well-sealed with limited air infiltration. Based on the temperature, humidity, and preservation conditions, Su Wanqing initially concluded, "The time of death was probably around eight to ten years ago, which coincides with the time the capsule was buried."
The deceased was a boy, dressed in a complete but severely damaged outfit. Inside the inner pocket, a torn student ID card was found, with a few letters still visible: "Z.L."
Lu Chenzhou checked the missing persons records from the community. Indeed, nine years ago, a 13-year-old boy named Zhao Lei had been reported missing. He was a resident of Mingyue Community, attended the nearby Second Middle School, and had an introverted personality and an average family background. That year, he disappeared after school and was never found, with the case being hastily closed as "possibly a runaway."
"It's a pity that the surveillance equipment back then wasn't complete, and his father later died from a heart attack," Lu Chenzhou remarked gravely while looking at the aging files. "No one ever mentioned him again."
Su Wanqing continued searching the body for clues. She noticed a significant fracture in the boy's cervical spine, with clear signs of damage to the tracheal bones.
"It was strangulation," she concluded. "The method was violent, likely using a rope or similar tool. There was clear struggle before death, and the little finger on his right hand was bent backward."
The case immediately rattled the entire community. Former residents who had grown up with Zhao Lei were filled with questions: Who could be so cruel as to kill a child and hide the body in a time capsule, burying it among everyone's shared memories?
The investigation team began visiting old residents from that time. Just as the investigation was hitting a dead end, an elderly woman provided a crucial lead.
"I remember there was an administrator who was a bit odd," she said. "His name was... Li Bingquan? In his forties, he always hung around the community warehouse. He said he was on duty, but he spent most of the day watching the children play."
"Do you suspect him?"
"I can't be sure, but after Zhao Lei went missing, I saw him several times in the early morning still wandering around the square. Later, I heard he was transferred to another street."
Lu Chenzhou immediately retrieved Li Bingquan's old file and discovered that he had resigned six months after Zhao Lei's disappearance. He had then worked temporary jobs at several other streets and had been reported for "harassing children" once, though the case had been dismissed.
Su Wanqing and Lu Chenzhou quickly went to a remote suburban rental house where Li Bingquan was now living. When they knocked and entered, they found the house in disarray, with walls covered in children's photos. Among them was a picture of Zhao Lei with his classmates at the community playground. The photo had been cut to leave only Zhao Lei.
On top of the refrigerator was an old iron box, containing several broken ropes, a rusted pair of scissors, and a few yellowed notes—these were the "wish cards" from the time capsule residents. Zhao Lei's card was among them, and it read: "I hope to become a painter when I grow up."
Su Wanqing stood quietly in the room, feeling a suffocatingly twisted emotion in the air.
"He chose the purest target and hid his cruelty in the most beautiful thing," she whispered.
Li Bingquan was soon arrested. At first, he refused to confess, but when Su Wanqing presented the skeletal trauma report and the capsule evidence found at his residence, he slowly broke down.
"He drew every day in that square. I just... I just wanted him to stay forever," Li Bingquan spoke with a pathological satisfaction in his tone. "He was so quiet, so pure… unlike those children who would curse and mock me."
Outside the interrogation room, Lu Chenzhou softly said, "He wasn't incapable of distinguishing right from wrong; he never saw that child as a person."
After the case was resolved, Zhao Lei's body was finally properly buried. His mother was devastated when she learned the truth. Holding the sketchbook her son had drawn in, she repeatedly muttered, "He just wanted to draw…"
The "time capsule" buried that year was originally meant to preserve the community's beautiful memories, but it also sealed away the end of a child's life.
Now, the memory had been unearthed, and the truth finally surfaced.