Chapter 406: Piecing Together the Remains

Lin Dongxue said, “Your deduction skills are amazing! Teach me!”

“There’s no need. Your investigative skills have improved a lot.”

“Still can’t compare to you,” Lin Dongxue said sweetly.

“Alright, I’ll teach you…” Chen Shi looked around. “See that blue house over there?”

“Yes, what about it?”

“That house caught fire three years ago,” Chen Shi said profoundly.

“How do you know that?”

Chen Shi laughed. “I was passing by at the time and called the fire department.”

“You call that deduction? You’re teasing me!” Lin Dongxue playfully punched him.

“Okay, okay, stop hitting me. Let’s head to the next vantage point.”

Lin Dongxue pointed to a distant building. “That one? Oh my god, it’s so far. Can’t we drive?”

“Let’s walk. We might discover something on the way.”

“Why doesn’t Long’an have a superhero to handle all this exhausting work?”

“It’s better not to have superheroes.”

“Why?”

“If there are superheroes, there will be supervillains. Everything in the world is balanced. Let’s go!”

“So, if we police were dumber, would the bad guys be dumber too?”

“Haha, you can stick to your philosophy.”

“Are you calling me dumb?” Lin Dongxue kicked him from behind.

As they walked towards the building, they saw a group of children playing with a balloon that was badly deflated but hadn’t burst. Chen Shi immediately stopped them. “Kids, where did you get that balloon?”

The children, scared by Chen Shi, were about to run away when he grabbed one by the arm, causing the child to cry loudly.

Lin Dongxue gently said, “Tell big sister where you found the balloon, and I’ll give you some candy.” She took out a piece of chewing gum.

The child didn’t take it but pointed ahead. “Over there!”

“Can you give the balloon to big sister?”

“No, I found it first.”

“Big sister will buy it. How about five yuan?”

Lin Dongxue didn’t have any small change, so Chen Shi took out five coins and gave them to the child, who happily ran off with his friends.

They walked in the direction the child had pointed, through an alley to a courtyard surrounded by buildings, filled with garbage and graffiti on the walls. A lone black bag lay on the ground.

Chen Shi put on gloves and opened it. The stench of a decomposing body wafted out. He said, “No doubt about it, we found another one!”

“Let’s take it back quickly.”

At the station, a press conference was underway. Lin Qiupu was answering questions from the media, mostly giving official responses.

Back at the station, Old Zhang was waiting for them at the door. “Come in quickly, don’t let the reporters see you or they’ll start asking questions.”

“Is Captain Lin still with the reporters?” Lin Dongxue asked.

“Yes, the questions are getting trickier. This case has become a huge sensation. The chief has ordered it solved within seven days. Captain Lin told the reporters the same. If we don’t solve it, our team will lose face.”

Chen Shi said, “Seven days is enough!”

Old Zhang smiled. “If Little Chen says so, I’m reassured.”

“I suspect the murder happened last night. Most hotel surveillance gets overwritten after seven days. If we don’t solve it in time, we might lose the evidence.”

“Hotel?”

“I’ll explain later, Old Zhang.”

By now, four bags of body parts had been found. Including the two from the morning, most of the body had been pieced together, except for the most crucial part—the head.

As Chen Shi predicted, the first breakthrough in the case was the source of the balloon. Lin Qiupu had already sent people to investigate.

Chen Shi wanted to see the body and went to the forensic lab. On the autopsy table lay the dismembered corpse of a woman, cut into dozens of pieces. He picked up a section and examined the cut surface. “A saw?”

“Not sure what kind of saw. I’ve asked someone to get a pig for testing,” Peng Siqiao said.

“When you’re done, I’ll take a pound of pork belly home!”

Peng Siqiao rolled her eyes. “Look at the palm of the hand.”

He opened the palm to find it completely charred, as if it had been burned. On closer inspection, he saw the killer had first cut it and then burned it, completely destroying the fingerprints and palm prints.

Chen Shi held the severed hand up to the light and said, “The burn is very concentrated. The edges of the palm are barely damaged. It must have been a torch, like those used in Western restaurants.”

“The killer didn’t want us to identify the victim.”

“Maybe we’ll never find the head.”

Both of them looked at the missing head for a moment in silence. Chen Shi asked, “Any other findings?”

“There are about a dozen pre-mortem injuries, concentrated on the legs, ribs, and buttocks. They’re mostly cuts from a sharp object, but none are fatal. I suspect she was bled to death. There are ligature marks on her wrists and ankles. One nipple was cut off, and there are signs of sexual assault, both vaginal and anal.”

“Any…”

“No semen. The killer was careful. Also, the victim was injected with a large amount of methamphetamine. There were needle marks around the collarbone.”

Even the usually composed Chen Shi frowned. “It was a sadistic frenzy… We’ve never had a case like this, at least not in Long’an.”

“With the body so dismembered, it’s hard to determine the exact time of death. Roughly twenty hours ago, between 8 PM and midnight last night.”

“Any stomach contents?”

Peng Siqiao smirked. “The killer turned the stomach inside out and washed it clean. He knew the victim’s last meal could reveal his identity. My team is analyzing the intestinal contents and stomach residue.”

Chen Shi walked around the body, thinking if there was anything he missed. He picked up the victim’s hand, gestured, and Peng Siqiao handed him a magnifying glass.

Chen Shi examined the victim’s nails under the magnifying glass. “Two layers of nail polish. The top layer is newly applied…”

He sniffed the body. Besides the smell of decomposition, there was also a faint perfume. “She wore perfume.”

Then he checked the victim’s feet. “She wore high heels… Judging by her legs, she didn’t usually wear high heels. It must have been a sudden date, possibly a first meeting. The victim was trying hard to impress the killer, maybe a crush or idol.”

Chen Shi closed his eyes and imagined. In a luxury hotel, a meticulously dressed ordinary girl was nervous yet excited to have dinner with her idol. In his mind, both faces were blurred.

After dinner, the idol showed the girl his “treasure.” The girl was scared because it was drugs, but the idol insisted or forced her to try.

Under the influence of drugs, they let go of their inhibitions and did crazy things. Gradually, the girl realized the extent of the craziness. He was hurting her…

“Oral sex!” Chen Shi said sharply. “It was oral sex!”