Chapter 519 - Notebook (1/2)

Zhang Heng did not know where Holmes had disappeared again. On the other hand, he managed to find a few prost.i.tutes who were relatively close to the three victims, and through them, found out about their daily routines.

In the end, Zhang Heng set his sights on a man called Mark Cohen, a Jewish doctor active around the Whitechapel area. He wasn’t a qualified doctor registered by the Central Medical Commission, but it was also rare that prost.i.tutes were offered the luxury of getting a qualified doctor to treat them.

During that era, a physician held a high and mighty social position, belonging to a social cla.s.s called the gentries. However, with the rise of surgeons and pharmacists, physicians gradually lost their high standing, especially after pharmacists gradually transformed into general pract.i.tioners, working hand in hand with surgeons to actively promote the British medical system’s reform and strive for better rights. But even when it came general pract.i.tioners, few were stationed at the East End. None of them were willing to provide any services the prost.i.tutes working around this area.

It was the reason why people like Mark Cohen existed. In a sense, his role was somewhat similar to that of a general pract.i.tioner, where he would do his best to treat various illnesses. Other than that, he also doubled up as a midwife and an obstetrician. This made Zhang Heng pay special attention to him.

The prost.i.tutes had mixed comments on him. On the one hand, his services were cheap, and although he wasn’t a qualified doctor, he had managed to do his job reasonably well. On the other, a large number of prost.i.tutes had also voiced their discomfort when they were examined, where his stare seemed to follow their every movement, very much like a slithering snake.

Zhang Heng then enquired about Mark Cohen’s residence, arriving at the place before sundown.

A stench so intoxicating and revolting overwhelmed the senses, not to mention the pigsty not far away. Chicken manure was everywhere on the road, and Zhang Heng spotted a few women doing their laundry by the ripe sewage while a couple of men with blackened faces walked towards him. They looked to be stokers that worked in the nearby factories.

It did not take long before Zhang Heng found the doctor’s apartment. After a few knocks on the door, there was no answer. He then took a look at the lock on the door and found it to have a basic mechanism, one that was only effective against ordinary men. Battling the nauseating odor, Zhang Heng’s eyes darted around like a wildcat, ensuring that there weren’t prying eyes before he gently picked the lock with a knife.

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The smell inside the apartment was worse than outside, bearing the strange but putrid mixture of sweat and decay. With a deep frown, Zhang Heng and pulled out the revolver strapped to his waist. As he explored the apartment further, he saw a pool of blood on the ground. The unit itself was relatively empty, spa.r.s.ely furnished with only a bed, wardrobe, and dining table. Socks and filthy garments were strewn everywhere, and as Zhang Heng followed the bloodstains to the curtain, a pair of boots could be seen under it.

Instead of drawing the curtains open, he slashed it with his knife, the blade tearing through it as if it were b.u.t.ter. Unfortunately, he did found no monsters concealed behind. A false alarm? The boots were still on the ground, probably placed there by their owner.

Zhang Heng quickly drew the rest of the curtains with his other hands.

He saw a spot that looked like a simple consultation room. With only two stools and a small workbench in the middle, the thing most noticeable was a very b.l.o.o.d.y lump of flesh on the workbench.

This was the origin of bloodstains on the floor and putrid odor, where a ma.s.sive swarm of black flies noisily devoured the decaying body part. Zhang Heng’s first reaction was finding the third victim, Bernice’s missing uterus and abdominal flesh. With that, he could lock on to the serial killer. When Zhang Heng walked towards the table and observed the organ, however, he found that the object didn’t resemble a woman’s womb in shape or size but rather looked like it belonged to some kind of animal.