Chapter 56 [VIP] The Man-Eating Flower (15)

Chapter 56 [VIP] The Man-Eating Flower (15)

What Meng Siqi saw was the photography studio collapsing with a loud crash, disintegrating like building blocks, and Song Xinran, standing inside the door, instantly vanished.

However, after this scene vanished in an instant, a new image emerged from the shattered tiles.

At the bottom of the photography studio, which should have been the basement, Song Xinran held a scalpel, intently carving a skinned human body, the bright red muscles resembling the remnants spat out by countless man-eating flowers...

The image faded like a fleeting light, turning everything that had just happened into shadows. The original scene became clear again, and Song Xinran had already turned to walk inside the door, her graceful figure disappearing into the photography studio.

Meng Siqi suddenly felt as if she had just woken from a deep sleep. She seemed to be lacking oxygen, taking several desperate breaths, and her whole body felt unsteady.

Her arm was suddenly steadied by someone, and Zhao Leiting's voice echoed in her ears, magnified infinitely, "Siqi, Siqi..."

It was like the time she walked out of the nightclub; her ears seemed to have gone deaf.

She looked at Zhao Leiting's worried face, trying desperately to reach out to him. Her efforts were not in vain, as if breaking through the surface of the sea, she finally heard his clear voice.

"What's wrong? Meng Siqi..."

"I'm fine, Zhao Leiting." Meng Siqi slowly regained her composure. Perhaps the images had come too quickly, causing her physical discomfort, but she felt much better now.

Tang Xiaochuan asked anxiously, "Have you been too tired these past few days?"

Zhao Leiting said with concern, "She just recovered from a cold, and she had a fever over forty degrees the day before yesterday."

"Let's not talk about it. We should go to the hospital first," Tang Xiaochuan urged.

Meng Siqi stood steadily without needing Zhao Leiting's support. She hurriedly said, "No, no, let's go back to the police station. I want to say a few words to Captain Han."

"Is it that urgent?" Zhao Leiting asked.

"Urgent as can be. Let's go back now," Meng Siqi said seriously.

Seeing her determination, both men nodded.

In the car, Zhao Leiting and Meng Siqi sat in the back seat. He asked, "Siqi, did you discover something?"

"I'm not sure. Let me think about it."

She needed to think about how to explain this, as everything had happened so suddenly, and without a proper explanation, Captain Han would not believe her.

The car sped back to the police station.

At that moment, Han Changlin was still setting up the venue for the commendation ceremony, which was to be held there in three days. He didn't want to do it, but Commissioner Liu had specifically asked him to organize it.

He and a few logistics staff were busy, finally making some progress. The bureau required the setup to be simple but not shabby, so he didn't overdo it but aimed for excellence.

They set up two ladders, and he and a colleague held the ends of a banner to hang it above the front of the meeting room.

A female colleague below looked left and right and called out, "Captain Han, your side is too high, lower it a bit, a bit more."

Han Changlin said, "Can Xiao Jiang raise his side a bit?"

The female colleague looked around again and shook her head, "No good, your side needs to come down."

"This is really troublesome. Is Chief Liu trying to keep me busy, using power lines as chopsticks..."

Han Changlin wasn't complaining; he was lowering the banner while joking, which made the two female colleagues laugh uncontrollably.

Xiao Jiang, the colleague, said, "Captain Han, stop complaining. Do you know what Captain Lu is doing now?"

"What is he doing?"

"He's moving fruit. Commissioner Liu said the fruit in the county is cheaper, insisting on saving money and using him as labor. It's the end of the year, and everyone is short-handed."

Han Changlin smiled, feeling increasingly cheerful, "His build is perfect for the job."

The two female colleagues laughed again. Suddenly, they heard hurried footsteps at the door. There was nothing urgent going on at the bureau, and these footsteps seemed to herald a storm. The female colleagues stopped laughing and looked toward the door.

Three people rushed into the meeting room, gasping for breath. One of them was a girl with a ponytail, delicate features, and a striking appearance. They were curious; when did such a pretty girl join the bureau? Could she be in a clerical position?

The girl was panting heavily, having run very fast. The other two were familiar; one was Zhao Leiting, a particularly active young man in the bureau, and the other was Tang Xiaochuan, both from the second team and Han Changlin's subordinates. So, it must be an urgent matter from a subordinate.

Han Changlin stopped on the ladder and turned around. Seeing Meng Siqi, Zhao Leiting, and Tang Xiaochuan, their expressions seemed very anxious. Had something serious happened? With the complex social interactions at the end of the year, he really didn't want any trouble, but it was beyond his control.

"Take your time, no need to rush," Han Changlin comforted them.

"Captain Han," Meng Siqi's tone steadied somewhat, "We found evidence of Song Xinran's murders."

"I suspect she is the murderer of Hu Dingxiang, Fu Songan, and Sun Beizhe!" Meng Siqi spoke each word with force.

When Han Changlin heard the name "Sun Beizhe," his mind buzzed. That was the name that had kept him awake at night, nearly derailing his career.

He couldn't face Sun Beizhe, nor could he face Sun Beizhe's parents, nor could he face the bureau.

At the beginning of the year, Sun Beizhe was kidnapped, and the ransom was placed in a trash bin at the designated location. He led the entire team to the ambush site. When a person in a raincoat approached the trash bin and picked up the contents, he was so excited that he ordered the team to move in.

The suspect was captured, and he thought he had succeeded, solving another major kidnapping case that had shocked Jinyang City. But in the rain, his gaze caught sight of a woman in a raincoat far away. The heavy rain prevented him from seeing her face clearly.

Sure enough, the "suspect" he captured was just a scavenger, and the real culprit had escaped.

That was his darkest period. Sun Beizhe's family and friends stormed the bureau countless times, demanding an apology, calling him incompetent and a disgrace to the police force.

What was he? He had only made one wrong command, but the sky had fallen.

It really had fallen. As a man, he wanted to kneel at the bureau's entrance and beg for forgiveness.

The bureau, due to his frequent mistakes, demanded the dissolution of the second team. The document was almost stamped, and at that time, he had only one thought: he couldn't let down his brothers who followed him. He bravely entered Commissioner Liu's office, his eyes red and pitiful, "Commissioner Liu, give me one more chance. I, Han Changlin, am not a coward. I will sign a military order. Give me time, and if I don't achieve anything, you can cut me into pieces."

Perhaps Commissioner Liu was moved by him, or perhaps he had always cared for him; in the end, he got that opportunity.

He once rushed into the rain and wept bitterly. They say a man does not shed tears easily, but who could truly understand his pain?

He suddenly found snot and tears streaming down his face. He wiped them away with his hand, only to slip and fall.

The banner pulled, and the other end's Xiao Jiang was also dragged down, causing two thuds on the wooden platform of the meeting room.

"Captain Han... Xiao Jiang..."

Everyone rushed over.

A few seconds later, Han Changlin, looking somewhat disheveled, got up and brushed off the dust from his clothes, "Was this ladder greased or something?"

The atmosphere lightened considerably. He rallied his spirits and asked Meng Siqi, "Meng, how did you figure it out?"

Meng Siqi saw the immense excitement in Han Changlin's eyes and quickly said, "I once visited Song Xinran and Jin Yaming's hometown. When they were ten, they loved to climb the mountain because it belonged to them. It was there that they planned the murder, their secret hideout. In the city, they also had a hideout. Song Xinran has an obsession with the photo studio; she likes it because it reminds her of the mountain from her childhood. The body wasn't thrown into the Shu River; it was hidden in the photo studio..."

Han Changlin nodded heavily, giving Meng Siqi a very affirming look. He turned around and gave a serious order, "Tang Xiaochuan, apply for a search warrant immediately and head to the photo studio."

"Captain Han, bring the police dogs," Meng Siqi reminded him. Song Xinran was so cunning; only the police dogs could detect the body first.

"Right, get two police dogs." Han Changlin clapped his hands, "Gear up and move out now!"

More than twenty minutes later, four police cars with sirens wailing sped toward the photo studio.

The photo studio remained unchanged as before, but Song Xinran's expression had changed. She was a confident person with a plan. When she saw the police surround the photo studio, she knew something was wrong. In such a situation, the police must have obtained crucial evidence. What could it be?

She had some doubts, but she still harbored a glimmer of hope. She had hidden the body very well; if she could just wait a bit longer, she could dispose of it.

As long as the police couldn't find the body, none of her plans would go awry. This was a plan she had calculated countless times. Just like when she was a child, drawing plans to kill her adoptive father in her notebook, choosing the most secure and meticulous one among many options. In fact, she succeeded.

Over the years, she had relied on this meticulous thinking to execute one perfect kill after another.

Life cannot depend on luck; every step she took was cautious, preparing for the worst at every turn.

No one in this world could guess that the body was in the photo studio. It was impossible, and a smile involuntarily crept onto her lips.

Zhao Leiting entered the photo studio with the search warrant and saw Song Xinran's smile again. The smile was stunningly beautiful, but knowing its true nature, Zhao Leiting found it terrifying. It didn't seem like a normal person's smile but more like the whisper of a demon.

When Meng Siqi followed Han Changlin into the photo studio, Zhao Leiting had already shown the search warrant. She noticed that Song Xinran showed no signs of panic. She sat calmly in a chair, feeding porridge to Cai Chunmei, her demeanor serene and her movements slow, as if none of this concerned her.

The police conducted a thorough search of every corner of the photo studio, except where Song Xinran was. Not a single inch was left unchecked.

Han Changlin observed Song Xinran's expression. Soon, everyone came out, their voices unusually consistent: "Captain Han, we found nothing."

Han Changlin's eyelids drooped, his pupils narrowing, his eyes filled with confusion and bewilderment.

The place wasn't large. The front of the photo studio was divided into a front room and a back room, with only a bedroom, kitchen, bathroom, and storage room in the back. There were no other places. Even the pictures on the walls and the lights on the ceiling had been checked.

The two police dogs worked diligently, almost sniffing every corner. If they had detected the smell of a body, they would have given a response.

Meng Siqi walked through the entire place with them, not searching for the hidden body but looking for the entrance to the basement. She had seen the photo studio's basement with her own eyes, so there must be an entrance inside. However, the actual search yielded nothing.

When she walked back to the front room, her gaze met Song Xinran's. Just like their first meeting, her eyes were sharp, as if telling Meng Siqi that she would remain invincible.

But Meng Siqi seemed to have an idea. Song Xinran was a person with peculiar thoughts. She had clearly kidnapped Sun Beizhe at the nightclub but insisted on staying there.

She could have closed the photo studio during this time to eliminate suspicion, but she chose to stay. This could only mean that the photo studio was a decoy.

She suddenly ran out the door, and Han Changlin quickly said, "Zhao, follow her."

This was a row of one-story storefronts, but they were slightly elevated above ground level because the developer had designed a basement higher than the ground. Song Xinran had utilized this basement.

She walked a few steps forward, and a passage appeared between the storefronts. She entered and smoothly made her way to the back of the buildings. Behind was a narrow road, squeezed between the buildings, overgrown with tall grass. Meng Siqi pushed aside the grass and continued forward.

Zhao Leiting followed behind with a stick, pushing aside the grass and calling out, "Meng Siqi, where are you going?"

Meng Siqi didn't answer because she noticed footprints in the grass, indicating that someone had walked here. Soon, she reached the back of the photo studio, where a small iron door, less than a meter high, finally came into view. It was locked, but the lock showed little wear, suggesting it was frequently used.

"I found it!" She shouted excitedly to Zhao Leiting.

Zhao Leiting ran over in a few quick steps and was shocked to see the iron door hidden in the dense grass.

Ten minutes later, the police cleared the area with shovels and broke the lock with a sledgehammer, opening the iron door.

Tang Xiaochuan, holding a flashlight, said, "Captain Han, I'll go down first to check."

Zhao Leiting said, "I'll go with you."

Tang Xiaochuan went in first, and Zhao Leiting followed, shining his light on Tang Xiaochuan's back.

Meng Siqi noticed a small staircase leading down to the basement, which Song Xinran had likely modified according to the basement structure.

Several people waited outside. Soon, a voice echoed from inside, reverberating in the enclosed space, "Captain Han, major discovery!"

"Let's go down and take a look," Han Changlin ordered, "Two of you come with me."

Meng Siqi and a police officer followed Han Changlin down the stairs.

The stairs were made of rough cement, with heavy gravel, indicating they were hastily built.

As they descended, a formaldehyde-like smell wafted up, similar to what Meng Siqi had smelled in Fu Songan's studio, though not as strong. When they reached the bottom, the combined light from their flashlights illuminated the basement fairly clearly.

Meng Siqi imagined a layout similar to Fu Songan's studio. Zhao Leiting called out, "This is a bit scary."

He shone his flashlight around.

Meng Siqi followed, expecting to find lights and a ventilation fan controlled from inside the photo studio.

Her flashlight flickered, casting an intersecting light on a human model, no, what she saw was not a model but a human specimen.

All the flashlights converged on the standing human specimen, his posture mimicking that of a baseball batter, yet only muscles and bones remained, a skinless figure. Perhaps due to some technique, he stood upright, his flesh and bones uncorrupted, and she easily thought of the plastination technique used in Fu Songan's studio.

At first glance, it was indeed somewhat chilling. It was a male corpse, and based on its height, she guessed it was Sun Beizhe, as Fu Songan was over 180 cm tall.

"Found something here too." Tang Xiaochuan's flashlight moved around there.

Meng Siqi looked over and shuddered violently. Inside a large glass dome filled with liquid, a naked female corpse lay curled up, her hair floating like seaweed growing upward. The entire body had a peculiar appearance from being soaked in formaldehyde, looking extremely eerie under the flashlight's beam.

Meng Siqi almost vomited; soaking an entire person in formaldehyde was something she had never seen before. It must be Hu Dingxiang.

Meng Siqi could not stay in the enclosed space any longer. The police officer on the other side also shone their light on something—a corpse or specimen wrapped in plastic bags.

Captain Han confirmed, "Could this height belong to Fu Songan?"

Meng Siqi felt uncomfortable and reported, "Captain Han, I need to go up for some fresh air."

"Alright."

Meng Siqi stepped onto the concrete stairs, ascending step by step, each one heavy. She was treading on the marks left by Song Xinran countless times, but it did nothing to crush her sins.

Outside, she finally caught her breath, taking deep breaths until she felt better.

But the lingering fear intensified. She had once been at risk of being killed by Jin Yaming, and if that had happened, she might have ended up like Hu Dingxiang's body.

Less than half an hour later, Han Changlin and the others came up. He loudly commanded, "Seal off the basement! Arrest Song Xinran!"