Chapter 372: Bad Eyesight

When Lin Qiupu, Peng Sijue, Lin Dongxue, and the others arrived, they saw Chen Shi sitting on the stairs, greeting them, “Hey, it’s that door over there. Here’s the key.”

He tossed the key over, and Lin Qiupu asked suspiciously, “What brought you here?”

“I’ll explain later.”

The group entered the apartment and saw the chaotic living room, old bloodstains on the floor, and knife marks on the overturned coffee table. The detectives’ instincts told them there was a case here. Lin Qiupu asked, “Where’s the body?”

“In the fridge. You’re in for a surprise!” Chen Shi replied, following them inside.

They opened the fridge and gasped at the sight. The body was crammed inside like a contortionist, with a frozen look of shock on its face. The lower shelf of the fridge had been removed to fit the body. The man’s joints had been severed, bending his legs over his shoulders and his arms twisted behind his legs. His blood-stained white shirt was frozen stiff.

Peng Sijue, wearing gloves, touched the body and said, “He’s been dead for a while. It’s frozen solid. Turn off the power first.”

Chen Shi remarked, “The killer was quite practical. After killing him, they didn’t flaunt it. They stuffed the body in the fridge so it wouldn’t rot or smell, and it could go unnoticed for weeks.”

“How did you find this?” Lin Qiupu demanded.

Chen Shi showed him a text message. Lin Qiupu grew more puzzled, “Detective Chen, you’re getting famous. People report crimes to you directly instead of us?”

“It was a thief who reported it.” Chen Shi took out a flyer from a beauty salon. “I found these on several doors. I called the number, but it was fake. This is a common trick among thieves. They leave a bunch of fake flyers to scout houses. If the flyer isn’t removed for days, it means no one is home. The thief probably broke in, found something wrong, and contacted me.”

At this point, Chen Shi guessed who the “concerned citizen” was, but to avoid more questions from Lin Qiupu, he raised his voice, “Can you guys stop giving out my number? It’s affecting my life!”

“Who gave out your number?” Lin Qiupu asked.

“It must have been someone here, unintentionally… Never mind, the important thing is how this man died.”

Lin Qiupu indeed thought it was their fault and instructed the officers, “Don’t share internal numbers with outsiders.”

Peng Sijue emerged from the bathroom, saying, “There’s something here.”

In the cramped bathroom, they saw the tub filled with blood-stained water, the scent of blood faint. Peng Sijue used a hanger to fish out a cloth. “The killer probably cleaned the body here and filled the tub to dilute the blood smell, leaving the water to avoid neighbors noticing.”

“Very clever.” Chen Shi lifted the toilet lid, sniffing the strong bleach scent from an empty bottle of disinfectant nearby. “Seems like they cleaned something here too.”

The body had been dead for a while, possibly over seven days. The apartment complex’s surveillance footage was likely overwritten, but Lin Qiupu and Lin Dongxue still went to check it.

While waiting for the body to thaw, the forensic team began examining the scene. They found smaller handprints on the coffee table, sofa, and door, but no fingerprints. Peng Sijue hypothesized, “The killer used glue to cover their prints. They planned this from the start.”

“These handprints look like they belong to a woman.” Chen Shi compared his hand to the prints. “It’s strange, though. She touched everything upon entering.”

In the bedroom, they found the victim’s ID and driver’s license in a nightstand. The victim was Wang Dong, a 33-year-old bachelor and mid-level manager at a company.

They also found his phone, dead under the bed. When charged, it showed numerous missed calls and messages from his workplace, wondering why he hadn’t shown up for three days.

This date gave Chen Shi some hope. He asked Peng Sijue, “Could the time of death be three days ago?”

“You’re asking me?”

“I’m not great at estimating time of death for frozen bodies.”

“Judging by the blood degradation, he’s been dead for over seven days. Check with the precinct for any missing person reports,” Peng Sijue instructed an officer.

In the kitchen, rotting hawthorn berries soaked in the sink, and the garbage reeked of decay, already attracting maggots.

After about half an hour, the body thawed enough to be examined. Peng Sijue noted, “The cuts to the cartilage were post-mortem. He has a fatal stab wound to the chest… Flip him over.”

Chen Shi helped turn the body, revealing a brutally slashed back. Peng Sijue cut open the stiff shirt, placing it in an evidence bag. Chen Shi observed, “These wounds don’t seem like they came from one person.”

“But there’s no sign of a third person here.”

Among the deep stab wounds were several superficial cuts. Chen Shi speculated, “The weapon! The weapon!”

He went to the kitchen, where the knives had already been tested for blood. He brought all the knives to the living room, comparing them to the wounds, finally picking a fruit knife that matched.

He mimicked the killer’s actions, saying, “This doesn’t look like an outburst. It’s like the killer was drunk, swinging wildly like this.”

“The weapon has two edges, otherwise, some of these wounds would require awkward wrist angles,” Peng Sijue added.

Chen Shi pondered, then proposed, “What if the killer had poor eyesight?”

“How so?” Peng Sijue asked.

“She touched everything upon entering. When stabbing the victim, she seemed to struggle with spatial awareness. Vision impairment could explain it.”

“That’s plausible, but I disagree with the term ‘finishing blows.’ The back wounds might have come first, with the fatal chest wound last… We’ll know more after the autopsy.”

As they were bagging the body, Chen Shi noticed the victim’s mouth was open. He reached in and pulled out a hawthorn berry, preserved perfectly in the fridge.