Chapter 20 Another Serial Murder Case

Chapter 20 Another Serial Murder Case

Guan Xia rubbed her ear and reminded Pang Le, "Lower your voice."

Pang Le immediately lowered his voice, puzzled as he asked, "Are you sure that person was suspicious? What did you tell Captain Xu?"

Guan Xia repeated what she had said earlier.

Pang Le fell silent, and after a moment, he spoke with difficulty, "Is the difference between people really this big? I was standing right next to you, but I didn’t notice anything at all. I bet it wasn’t just me—Shi Guangbo and Dong Yuncheng definitely didn’t notice anything either."

Guan Xia didn’t respond. Truthfully, she hadn’t noticed anything either, but she had a cheat code in her head.

Pang Le sighed in admiration, "Your skills are legit amazing."

Guan Xia thought to herself that it wasn’t her who was impressive—it was the cheat code in her head.

Pang Le continued, "But speaking of which, our luck is seriously weird. We went hiking for half a day and encountered two perps, one of them up close. I’m thinking we really should visit that temple. The frequency is just too high."

Guan Xia agreed, "Why not go tomorrow? Get it done early."

Pang Le thought for a moment and said, "Let’s wait a bit longer. I asked around with friends, but I haven’t figured out which temple is more legit. There is one in Yongquan City, but my friends don’t recommend it. The others are in different cities. Let me do some more research."

Guan Xia nodded, "Alright, let’s lay low for now. A chopped-up body case—just hearing about it tells me the criminal this time is much more brutal than the last one. I’m really afraid our luck might have us bump into him if we go out. Better to wait until Captain Xu and the others solve the case before we go."

Pang Le agreed, "Then it’s settled. You saw the license plate number of the criminal. With the current surveillance coverage, as long as that criminal has been in Yongquan City, they’ll definitely find a trail on him. It probably won’t take long to solve the case."

Guan Xia felt a sense of déjà vu, and an inexplicable premonition rose in her heart—this case might not be so simple either.

...

Captain Xu hung up as the car reached its destination.

Qi Bai parked the car and, without even unbuckling his seatbelt, immediately turned to ask Captain Xu, "Captain Xu, did Guan Xia actually spot something again?"

Captain Xu had already made two calls, instructing the techs at the station to track the license plate number. He put away his phone and replied, "She did, but this time she didn’t see his face—only the license plate number."

Qi Bai’s eyes lit up, "A plate’s still a lead! As long as we can find that car, we’ll eventually track down the criminal’s traces."

Captain Xu’s tense expression finally relaxed into a slight smile, "That license plate number is probably fake, but if it was used to transport body parts, even if it was carefully cleaned, there would still be biological traces left. No matter how well the criminal hides, we’ve finally nailed down a lead."

Qi Bai looked excited, "Thank Guan Xia for us. Such a tough case, and she provided such a crucial clue. Once this case is solved, I’ll treat her to a big meal."

Captain Xu got out of the car and snorted dismissively, "I think your intentions aren’t entirely pure. Are you so sure Guan Xia will agree? Be careful not to annoy her—she’s our team’s good-luck charm now."

Qi Bai quickly unbuckled his seatbelt and followed Captain Xu, chuckling, "Don’t worry, Captain Xu. I’ll treat her like royalty and make sure she’s happy. I won’t let her get angry."

Captain Xu ignored him and quickened his pace toward the site where the dismembered bodies were being excavated.

Qi Bai jogged to catch up, "But speaking of which, Captain Xu, doesn’t Guan Xia have some kind of weird radar? This is the second time in half a month—both times she encountered criminals up close and noticed something. Wait, we should also include that wanted criminal from the other night. He was so in disguise, yet Guan Xia recognized him after just a few glances. How does her brain work? How can someone’s memory be that good? It’s like her mind is hardwired—she remembers even the tiniest details."

Captain Xu was silent for a few seconds before replying, "Maybe it’s photographic memory? I’ve only heard of it—never seen it."

"Or maybe she has a sharp intuition for people who are different, like criminals," Qi Bai thought for a moment and said, "After all, what she notices first are very subtle details. Normal people encounter countless others every day—they usually just glance unconsciously without paying close attention. But the clues Guan Xia provides us are things like tiny bloodstain-like smudges on a criminal’s sleeve, bloodstain-like marks on a car trunk, or even something as abstract as a faint smell of blood. I think she must sense that something is off about the person first, and then she notices these details. Maybe we should test it next time—see if she observes other people just as closely."

Captain Xu glared at him, "Test what? She’s not a suspect. We have no right or reason to dig into her business like that."

Qi Bai quickly explained, "I’m not probing—I’m just curious. Captain Xu, don’t you think she has a talent? If our team could have someone like her, we might make breakthroughs in some of our cold cases."

Captain Xu paused for a moment. Though his expression remained neutral, he was clearly tempted by the idea. But after a few seconds, he continued walking and said calmly, "Talent is just talent. In our line of work, besides talent, you need guts. If she only has talent, dragging her into this would only harm her. She’s just an ordinary person. Until she expresses interest herself, we can’t coax or push her in any way."

Captain Xu glanced at Qi Bai with concern and said seriously, "I know which case you’re talking about, but no. We’re professionally trained—we can handle things she can’t. If I find out you’ve leaked even a word about Guan Xia to Lu Tingfeng, you’re out of the team."

Qi Bai lowered his head and didn’t respond. Captain Xu’s eyebrows twitched, "You already told him?"

Qi Bai shook his head hurriedly, "No, no, I didn’t leak anything. It’s just... I was chatting with Brother Lu the other day and mentioned that I met two interesting chicks."

Captain Xu’s face darkened, "Did you tell him about Guan Xia’s weird skill?"

Qi Bai hung his head even lower, "How else could I explain why they’re interesting?"

Captain Xu was furious. He smacked Qi Bai on the back of the head and took off.

Qi Bai chased after him. Captain Xu said through gritted teeth, "Delete all of Lu Tingfeng’s contact information. If you dare leak even one more word, I’ll really kick you out of the team."

Qi Bai quickly took out his phone, "I’ll delete it right now. Captain Xu, I’m sorry. Don’t be angry."

Captain Xu ignored him and hurried into the woods.

After walking for over an hour, Captain Xu finally saw the busy crowd in the distance.

Wang Yu noticed them and immediately came over, "Captain Xu, Brother Qi, you’re here."

Qi Bai nodded in greeting. Captain Xu asked directly, "How many bags have been found?"

Wang Yu replied, "We’ve only searched within 200 meters so far. Three bags have been found. They weren’t buried too far apart—not too deep, but not too shallow either. It might be because of the rain the night before last—the compacted ground was softened by the rain, so wild animals in the mountains picked up the scent of blood and dug them up."

As he spoke, Captain Xu walked to the spot where the first bag was discovered. Wang Yu quickly handed him a pair of gloves.

Captain Xu put them on, crouched down, and used his fingers to sift through a piece of human bone in the black plastic bag. After examining it carefully for a moment, he said, "It’s a human forearm. The bone is slimmer than the one found in Harmony Community—probably not from the same body."

Captain Xu stood up and looked around but didn’t see the person he was looking for. He turned to Wang Yu and asked, "Where’s Doc He?"

Wang Yu replied, "He’s examining the third bag. This way."

Wang Yu led the way, climbing over a gentle slope to another group of people.

The compact and tough forensic expert, He Jin, stood out among the tall police officers. Captain Xu walked over and asked, "Any findings?"

He Jin’s eyes were still fixed on the third bag as he spoke rapidly, "So far, the three bags we’ve found belong to the same body. They include the left and right arms, left and right legs, and some internal organs. The skull for identification and the pelvis for age estimation haven’t been found yet."

"Traveling this far to dump the body, but only this much?" Qi Bai asked, "That can’t be, right?"

"Maybe," Wang Yu said, "If he took the trouble to chop the body up so fine, it’s possible he went through all that effort just to dump this much."

As soon as Wang Yu finished speaking, a cop searching for more bags further away shouted, "Captain Xu, we found something new!"

The group immediately rushed over. He Jin, though short, ran quickly and reached the new bag first. After just a few seconds, he confirmed, "It’s a pelvis. Based on its shape, it belongs to a male, young—around 15 or 16 years old."

A kid. The expressions on the officers’ faces grew even darker.

After a brief assessment, He Jin crouched down to examine it carefully. A moment later, he said in a low voice, "The victim’s junk was also sliced into three sections."

The already heavy atmosphere grew even more tense.

Everyone leaned in to look at the fourth bag. Wang Yu couldn’t help but wonder, "This victim’s genitals were also cut. Does the killer hate men? Or is this an isolated case?"

"Hard to say for now," Qi Bai said, "We need to identify the victim first and investigate his circle of friends before we can figure out why the killer did this."

"Then let’s find the skull," Captain Xu stepped up on a ridge and called out to Qi Bai, "Hey, take a few people and check out that way. Wang Yu, you take your team and search over there."

Xu Nian assigned the idle personnel and briskly walked in the chosen direction, brushing off bugs crawling up his pants legs.

They worked until late into the night, having combed through an area of almost five hundred meters in radius, before the main team began to head back.

Just as they came out of the woods, Xu Nian's phone rang.

Seeing who it was, he answered eagerly, "How's it going, Brother Jiang? Did you find the car?"

"Found it," Jiang Yingyao replied excitedly. "The tech team has already arrived. Although it's a stolen car, it hasn't been washed recently, so there are plenty of forensic evidence. We're going to have ample evidence this time."

Xu Nian couldn't help but feel thrilled. "Send me the pin. I'm heading over now."

Jiang Yingyao quickly sent the coordinates and then asked, "What about your side? Any findings?"

"We've found a second victim," Xu Nian said. "Only partial remains were found. The skull, torso, and some internal organs are still missing."

Jiang Yingyao immediately grasped the key point. "So you have the pelvis this time? That's a lead. At least we know the gender and age range of the victim. With that, we can start investigating and have a good chance of identifying the deceased."

"The victim is male, aged 15 to 16," Xu Nian stated. "We should be able to confirm his identity by checking against missing persons records in the city."

"Copy that," Jiang Yingyao understood. "I'll call the team right now and tell the guys to wake up and start digging."

An hour and a half later, Xu Nian met up with Jiang Yingyao at the given location. From afar, he could see the excited expression on Jiang Yingyao's face.

Qi Bai, exhausted and yawning repeatedly, brightened up when he spotted Jiang Yingyao in the distance. "Looks like there's good news."

Qi Bai said excitedly, "Our night wasn't wasted. I'm going to eat a couple extra baozi when we get back. Seems like we'll be busy during the day."

As soon as Xu Nian got out of the car, Jiang Yingyao rushed over and said excitedly, "Bloodstains, lots of the victim's blood. We also found what looks like the perp's hair in the driver's seat. There are so many clues, it's almost too much to handle."

Xu Nian took the gloves handed to him by Qi Bai and asked as he put them on, "Are all the bloodstains recent?"

Qi Bai jumped. "Captain Xu, what are you thinking?"

Xu Nian walked straight toward the car without answering. Jiang Yingyao explained on his behalf, "Captain Xu is probably thinking about the 1129 case from four years ago and the 725 case from seven years ago. You haven't been on the team long, so you might not know about these cases, but I remember them clearly. They also involved dismemberment cases involving males. The bureau used all its resources to solve these cases back then, but since the skulls were never found, the victims couldn't be identified, and the cases went cold. When I got the call on Friday night and rushed to the team, I thought of them, but without any leads, it was too early to consider linking the cases. Now that we have this car, we can combine the cases."

"Another serial murder case," Qi Bai couldn't help but say. "These killers really know how to hide. This time, we've finally got a lead on one of these rats."

"Let's go," Jiang Yingyao patted Qi Bai on the shoulder. "Time to work. This case is both current and unsolved. If we solve it, our branch will get a lot of credit. We might even earn a third-class merit by the end of the year, or at the very least, a commendation."

Qi Bai quickened his pace to catch up with Jiang Yingyao. "Really? Solving this case could get us a third-class merit?"

Jiang Yingyao laughed helplessly. "You deliberately missed the word 'commendation,' didn't you? I said it's possible, just possible. But it's not certain."

Jiang Yingyao leaned closer to Qi Bai and whispered, "Seven years ago, Director Ren was still the captain of the criminal investigation team at our branch. If we solve a cold case from his tenure, don't you think he'd be happy?"

Qi Bai understood immediately and felt a surge of motivation, quickly hurrying off.

…

After two busy days at home, Guan Xia finally finished organizing the boxes piled in the living room.

Since she wouldn’t be moving again, these boxes were no longer needed. Guan Xia couldn’t be bothered to find a place to sell them, so she simply packed them up and threw them all into the trash.

The weather was nice today, so Guan Xia made a point to wear a pair of sneakers and planned to take a walk to the nearby market. She had previously promised Pang Le that they would have a housewarming gathering. Since she hadn’t been going out much lately, she decided to invite Pang Le over to liven things up.

Guan Xia thought about it and felt she could also invite Shi-lü and Dong Yuncheng.

So far, Pang Le still seemed very interested in Shi-lü. From their two brief interactions, aside from being a bit serious, Shi-lü didn’t have any obvious flaws. As Pang Le’s friend, if it was convenient, she could help create some opportunities.

Dong Yuncheng also seemed like a good person. He had helped her diligently during their hike, so inviting him over for a meal would be a way to thank him.

After making her plans, Guan Xia leisurely walked toward the community entrance. As she passed Building 7, the sound of an argument caught her attention.

Guan Xia turned and saw a middle-aged woman standing in the open space near the building entrance, her face flushed red, holding bags full of groceries. Next to her was a young girl, about seven or eight years old.

A balding, short, and stout man, who looked considerably older than the woman, was yelling angrily, "What did I tell you? Xiao Yu isn’t bringing his wife and kids back until the weekend. Why did you buy so much food so early? You even bought shrimp and pork ribs. Who are you buying this for? For yourself or for her?"

The man glanced disdainfully at the little girl and said impatiently, "She’s just going to marry out someday anyway, and she’s not even my blood. Giving her food is already more than enough. What does she need shrimp and pork ribs for?"

As he spoke, the man snatched the plastic bags containing the shrimp and pork ribs. "Give them to me. I’ll take them to Xiao Yu. They’re trying for a second child lately, so it’s better to give it to them instead of wasting it."

The woman tried to grab the bags back, muttering weakly, "I... I earned this money myself to buy this for Yueyue. Her birthday is coming up, and I promised her I’d buy her shrimp."

"How much money can you even make washing dishes in a hole-in-the-wall restaurant?" the man said scornfully. "The money you make isn’t even enough compared to the rent I collect from my properties. I’m letting you live here for free, and you have the nerve to talk about money? From now on, you’ll hand over your salary to me. I’ll decide what you eat."

Before the woman could respond, the little girl spoke up defiantly, "Why should we?"

The girl said angrily, "That’s my mom’s money. Why can’t we spend it? And since Mom married you, you said this would be our home too. How can you say we’re living here for free? Mom cooks and washes clothes for you every day. How is that freeloading? She earned it. My mom’s money is not for you."

The man’s face turned red with anger, then quickly turned grim. He glared fiercely at the woman. "Is this how you usually teach her? I provide food and shelter for her, even though she’s not my own, and you teach her to talk back to me?"

The woman instinctively shielded the girl but didn’t have time to retort before the man stepped forward and slapped her. "You’re just a good-for-nothing. I took pity on you back then because you were struggling, working odd jobs every day with a child, unable to afford food even after paying rent. I helped you out, and this is how you repay me? If it weren’t for me, could you live in such a nice community and such a big house? I never should have been soft on you."

The man raised his hand to strike again, but the onlookers immediately intervened.

"Hey, why are you hitting her?" a young man grabbed the man’s arm. "Arguing is one thing, but violence is unacceptable. I think the little girl wasn’t wrong. Since you’re married, you’re family. You were the one who said you were family, and now you’re calculating everything so carefully. This wouldn’t be a sham marriage, would it?"

"Sham marriage? Don’t talk nonsense," the man shoved the young man forcefully. "I just felt sorry for her. I thought, one person living alone or two people living together—what’s the difference? Besides, two people can keep each other company. That’s why I married her. Since we’re married and family, what’s wrong with me managing the money? She used to spend money recklessly, and she doesn’t earn much. That’s why she ended up like this. Me managing the money is for the good of the family. At least I won’t let them starve or freeze."

"You’re lying," the little girl screamed furiously. "You never treated us as family. You treat my mom like a servant and hit her."

The crowd, which had calmed down slightly, became agitated again, and began chastising the man.

The man, enraged, threw the plastic bags he was holding in his left hand to the ground. "Isn’t it normal for couples to have disagreements? Look at her face—aside from that slap mark, there are no other bruises." He glared at the little girl. "If you keep talking nonsense, you and your mom can get out and find somewhere else to live."

The little girl wanted to say more, but the woman pulled her back, and she reluctantly lowered her head.

The woman didn’t say anything either. She silently picked up the bags the man had thrown on the ground and walked into the building entrance without looking back.

Guan Xia didn’t look away until the little girl followed the woman into the unit.

She couldn’t be bothered to glance at such a man. Although his words sounded righteous, everyone around knew what his real intentions were.

Sure enough, as soon as the man disappeared into the unit entrance, the murmurs among the crowd grew louder.

Guan Xia overheard snippets of conversation. The man and woman were indeed in a second marriage, but with a difference: the man had divorced his previous wife, while the woman’s husband had run off. It was said he ran off with another woman and had been missing for six or seven years without a trace. The woman had reported him missing, but he was never found. After presuming him dead and waiting a few more years, she remarried out of desperation.

The man’s previous wife had a fiery temper and had kept him under strict control since their marriage. The man had felt stifled for half his life until one night, he suddenly grabbed something and beat his wife. His wife, never one to back down, though not as strong, ran to the kitchen, grabbed a kitchen knife, and slashed him.

Despite being injured, the man had still wanted to make the marriage work, but his wife refused. She forced him to divorce. Since their child had already graduated from college and was working, custody wasn’t an issue. They quickly divided their assets, and she moved out.

The man remarried the following year. Compared to his previous wife, his current one was much more docile, so the man felt he could finally hold his head high and live like a king. He wanted to control everything and have a say in everything. While he appeared meek outside, at home, he ruled the roost.

Everyone in the community knew the woman was beaten at home. They had tried to persuade her and even helped call the police, but the woman was a pushover, never listening to anyone. Gradually, people in the community stopped intervening. As long as she wasn’t beaten in public, everyone pretended not to know.

After hearing the whole story, Guan Xia didn’t react much. She continued planning what ingredients to buy for the housewarming and walked toward the community entrance.

Before she reached the entrance, she spotted a three-wheeled cart from afar. A man of average height with a cheerful face was unloading produce, greeting everyone who approached him warmly.

Guan Xia was surprised. It seemed the vegetable seller had cut out the middleman and come directly to the community entrance to sell.

The man appeared familiar with many of the elderly ladies in the community, making small talk while weighing and bagging vegetables, busy but happy.

Guan Xia joined the crowd to take a look. The variety wasn’t extensive, mostly common vegetables, but they were indeed fresh, washed clean of dirt. They were also cheap, with a small discount for buying by the kilogram. No wonder so many people had gathered around as soon as the cart arrived.

Seeing the elderly ladies around her almost scrambling to buy, Guan Xia also bought some on a whim. She planned to go to the supermarket later to buy some tofu, meatballs, and other ingredients to make malatang.