Chapter 176: Human Noodles
Chapter 176: Human Noodles
Translator: Azza
Editor: Conspiracing
Peng Sijue took the knife in his hand to examine it. It wasn’t clear whether it was the knife that the murderer had used to kill the two victims. He handed it over to a technician to take back for further testing.
The forensic investigator noted, "Something seems to have been cooked and left in the pot?"
Everyone moved to the kitchen and opened the lid. There was a pot of leftover noodles with a layer of frozen oil floating on it. Lin Qiupu swirled the contents of the pot with some chopsticks a few times and fished something out. "Cooked noodles with pork and preserved vegetables."
Peng Sijue seemed to suddenly think of something. He picked up the chopping board, wiped it with a cotton swab moistened with alcohol, and put it in the testing kit.
Staring at the chemical reaction in the kit, Peng Sijue informed the others, "There is some human blood in it. This pot of noodles is probably made from human flesh. It’s most likely the piece that was missing from one of the victims."
Everyone looked at the pot and immediately shuddered. After the killer had killed them, he was hungry. He actually cut off a piece from the victim to cook and eat.
Lin Qiupu had only encountered a few of these extremely inhumane killers since he had become a police officer. "Bring this back for testing."
Someone outside said, "Brother Chen is here!" There was excitement that could be detected in their voice.
Lin Qiupu thought, Who is the captain right now? As he went out, he was thinking of how to greet him when he suddenly found that Chen Shi was bringing along a little girl. Lin Qiupu was shocked and said, "Children are not allowed in! Get out!"
Chen Shi said, "Yueyue doesn’t have any material to write about for her winter vacation report. I just took her here for a visit.”
"Do you think this is an aquarium or something? Get out! Get out!"
Chen Shi poked his tongue out at Tao Yueyue and Lin Dongxue offered, "Yueyue, let me take you out for a walk."
Lin Qiupu instructed, "On your way, get a copy of the surveillance footage."
While Tao Yueyue was pulled away, she turned around to Lin Qiupu and pulled a face at him. Lin Qiupu wondered whether this girl was Chen Shi’s daughter.
Lin Qiupu said to Chen Shi, "I know you are very capable..."
"Captain Lin, I didn't come to show off. Let’s hurry and take care of this matter. I still have to go home and cook.”
"And that isn't called showing off? That aside, did you flag down an old lady yesterday?”
"What about it?"
"The old lady was looking for a relative named Wang Xifeng, right?"
When he got to this Red House community again, Chen Shi didn’t think it could be so coincidental. He looked at the corpse on the ground and said, "Is that her?"
"Precisely!"
Peng Sijue said, "There were many fingerprints of an old person here among other things that also held a few sets of fingerprints.” While he was explaining this, an investigator took out a bag from the kitchen cabinet that contained dried bamboo shoots, pickled vegetables, and edible fungus. Many people at the scene almost vomited at the thought of the pickled vegetables being a side dish to the human flesh.
Chen Shi picked up the contents and smelled them. Lin Qiupu asked, "Did you find anything?"
"This is..." Chen Shi was shocked.
"What?"
"These bamboo shoots are pretty good. It’s smoked, natural, and pollution-free. It’s a lot better than the ones they sell at supermarkets. Can I take them if you’re not taking them in as evidence?”
Lin Qiupu showed a helpless expression. "Yes, you can take it all away, especially the preserved vegetables. It must be particularly delicious." The thought of Chen Shi knowing what was cooked in the pot later and depleting his appetite made Lin Qiupu feel a gleeful joy well up in his heart.
Chen Shi saw that the people around him looked a bit odd, so he thought there might be a hidden secret among the ingredients. He didn’t mention this matter again. Instead, he stood up and clapped his hands. "The old lady did bring this bag along with her, and she also mentioned these three things to me."
"When did the old lady get here?"
"At around 3:00 in the afternoon. Her grandson was hungry along the way. I guess they should have had food here." Chen Shi told them everything he knew.
"How old was the child?"
"Maybe not in school yet. Around five or six years old!"
"The child's bloody fingerprints were found here," Lin Qiupu said. "He was either connected to the killer or he was a witness."
"Did the killer leave anything behind?"
"Sperm, fingerprints, shoe prints, murder weapons... a full set of evidence."
"The killer this time was quite generous. Let me see!"
Peng Sijue took Chen Shi to look around at the scene again. When he saw the "food" in the pot, Chen Shi actually smelled the food and said, "The meat strips have been fried beforehand with ginger and cooking wine. When the murderer made this bowl of noodles, they were particularly calm. This is a completely inhumane person. They probably don’t have the hobby of eating people, but since there was a young, healthy, and fresh corpse lying around without any meat in the refrigerator, he took a piece to eat. In their mind, this is probably no different from chicken or beef.”
"Don't state the obvious." Lin Qiupu said.
"The murderer is more than 175 centimeters tall, weighs more than 80 kilograms, has smooth skin, and no beard. His eyes are small and are far apart... He is a fugitive!"
"How do you know that!?"
Chen Shi tilted his head. "Simple reasoning plus a little knowledge of psychological portraits... I usually cook as well. From the amount of garlic and ginger he used and this big pot he used to cook for a single meal, it can be assumed that he’s probably a bit larger, since he could eat such a large pot of noodles. The two victims wore simple and even exposing clothes. They greeted the murderer late at night, proving that the murderer and the victims were at least friends. Perhaps one of them was his mistress. There are no signs of fighting in the house. The fruit knife is the easiest weapon to get in the house. The killing was spontaneous as he still had intercourse before he had the intention to kill. It can be said that he had a lot of suppressed urges and sexual frustration due to not being able to approach women too often. Plus, he doesn't care about leaving his DNA and fingerprints, so I’m guessing this is a wanted man. "
With admiration in the eyes of everyone around Chen Shi, Lin Qiupu queried, "He has a murder case on him, so he doesn't care about adding two more? Little Wang, who is the owner of the house?"
"Wang Xifeng!" Police officer Little Wang replied. "And there is no mention of a husband in her information."
"Does she have any siblings?"
"No. Her mother divorced twice and is already dead. Her biological father isn’t around either. She has a stepfather.”
Chen Shi said, "Wang Xifeng doesn't seem to have a serious job. It’s probably her partner who bought the house. It seems this is a safe haven for the fugitive. The key to this case is why the fugitive suddenly killed his mistress.”
"If Wang Xifeng is his mistress, what about Qiuping?"
"Maybe both of them are!" Chen Shi left the kitchen and went to the bathroom, opening the lid to the toilet.
The inside of the toilet was really dark. It seemed like someone had burned something there. This detail was actually missed by all the police officers. Chen Shi took the rubber gloves handed to him by Peng Sijue and pulled out the fragments from the toilet.
"Rubber products? The scent is fragrant... Cosmetics... Is this lipstick? Branded too!"
"I see!" Lin Qiupu slammed his fist into an open palm. "This man killed his mistress, but he was still angry, so he burned all these cosmetics that he bought for her... What are you laughing about? Am I wrong?"
Chen Shi smiled. "Don't jump to conclusions. I'll go to the bedroom to have a look."