Chapter 474: Officially Opening a Case
Chapter 474: Officially Opening a Case
Translator: Azza
Editor: Conspiracing
The forensics squad bought some plastic buckets and scooped out all the blood in the bathtub. The rest of what was left in the bathtub was all internal organs of a human. Peng Sijue put on his gloves and began to sift through it. He calmly arranged the internal organs down on the tarp they laid down by the door of the bathroom.
Peng Sijue told Lin Qiupu that judging from the composition of the internal organs, it should only belong to one person.
Lin Qiupu glanced at the meat grinder. "The meat is here and the internal organs are in the bathtub. What about the bones?"
Old Zhang came in with a kitchen knife and said, "Captain Lin, we found this in the kitchen cabinet. There’s also a large chopping board which seems to have some broken pieces of bone on it."
Peng Sijue picked up the kitchen knife which was really heavy. It was the kind of knife that butchers used to chop up big bones. The knife’s edge was dented in many areas.
Then, they found other knives both large and small with greasy stains on them. After testing them with certain reagents, it showed that they all had human protein ingredients on them. It seemed that the murderer used these knives to mince the corpse and threw the bones elsewhere.
In this quiet community of a bustling urban area, such a murderous workshop was hidden within, causing people to shiver in horror.
At the same time, Chen Shi and Lin Dongxue went to a nearby scrap buying station and asked if anyone had bought a large amount of scrapped newspapers from them. The bosses of several buying stations didn’t know of anyone that did.
When they got to the last station, a man had his head lowered as he was bundling newspapers up. Lin Dongxue said, "Sorry to disturb you. We are the police."
The man looked up and faced Lin Dongxue's eyes. Both of them froze for a moment. The man said, "Officer Lin? I'm Wu Xu!"
"Oh, it's you!" Lin Dongxue said in surprise. "You’re doing this now?"
"No, I'm here to sell some scrap. I’m ashamed to say that I don't have a job. I can only rely on this to survive. I drive around my broken car to collect waste products every day!” He pointed to a van parked outside with the words “Collect waste, electrical appliances, and furniture” on it.
"It’s better to support yourself through self-reliance than anything else. Is your mother all right?"
"Very good. This is..." Wu Xu's eyes fell on Chen Shi.
"My boyfriend as well as a colleague." Lin Dongxue introduced generously.
"Oh, you two are well-suited..." Wu Xu glanced at Chen Shi and his eyes averted a little.
The two of them exchanged a few casual words, and then the owner of the scrap buying station came back. He didn't know anything either. Chen Shi's eyes fell on Wu Xu. "Young man, do you also buy scrap newspapers?"
"I don’t specialize in it, but if someone wants to sell them to me, I would."
"Did anyone buy a lot of waste newspapers from you recently?"
"No, who would buy them from me?"
"Okay, thank you."
Leaving the station, Chen Shi asked Lin Dongxue, "Who is this person? How do you two know each other?"
"Take a guess!"
"I remember how you once told me that the son of the landlord who rented you your house before was a prisoner who was released from prison. It shouldn’t be him, right?"
"Haha, you guessed right on your first try. Yes, it's him. He helped me move things when I moved. I guess it's not easy to find a job with his background. It's good to be self-reliant now."
Chen Shi said, "Isn't it a coincidence to meet him here? I'll go back and ask your brother to check what he’s done recently."
Lin Dongxue threw him a punch. "Even you’re discriminating against him? He became self-reliant, so how has he become an object of suspicion?"
"Okay, I won't discriminate against him... How do you write his name? Wu as in ‘crow’?”
Listening to this, Lin Dongxue knew that Chen Shi would still investigate him. Sure enough, in the face of a prisoner who had been released from prison, most people couldn’t let go of their prejudices. Even Chen Shi was no exception.
Afterwards, the topic between the two returned to the case. Chen Shi said, "The source of the newspapers is either from another scrap buying station or from other channels... It’s a little difficult to handle."
"What’s your initial judgment on this case?"
"The probability of them seeking money is high."
"It’s just this?"
"I can only see this right now. We don't even know the identity of the dead yet!"
At this time, Lin Qiupu called them and asked them to hurry back. Lin Dongxue thought that there was an emergency. It turned out that the police planned to enter the sewers to salvage the remains. However, there were too many people around atching, and even paparazzi were around, causing a headache for the police. The masses wouldn’t leave regardless of them asking politely or threateningly.
This continued until 9:00 in the evening, when the local police also came to help. The masses gradually dispersed. The police were all burned out and exhausted.
The sewer was pried open, and Peng Sijue and a forensic apprentice put on waterproof suits to prepare to go down. Before going, Peng Sijue said, "There’s still one waterproof suit left. Who wants to go with me?"
Everyone looked at each other with reluctance written on their faces. Peng Sijue looked at Chen Shi, "Old Chen?"
Chen Shi waved his hand in rejection. "I’m not going. I haven't eaten any food yet. I'm afraid it will affect my appetite."
"You’re a little weak today!" Lin Qiupu said.
"Don't always expect things from me with a policeman's standards. Are there no officers braver than me? I’m a driver. Is there anything wrong with being afraid upon seeing a corpse? You’re the captain. Why don't you go in?"
Seeing Chen Shi throw the pot[1] back to him, Lin Qiupu frowned. "I have to stay here and command. What if the media comes back again?"
"Dongxue and I can handle that for you. Let this be a heroic example from you, Captain Lin."
Lin Qiupu coughed and figured out what to say. "Everyone has their own parts to do. What I should and shouldn’t do is not up to you."
"I will also return this sentence to you." Chen Shi smiled.
"Okay, okay." Peng Sijue couldn’t watch them any longer. "I finally know that you’re both heroes[2]. You guys should just stay up here!"
"Old Peng!" Chen Shi stopped him.
Peng Sijue thought that this guy had repented, but Chen Shi said, "Be careful down there!"
It took half an hour for Peng Sijue to come up. They were extremely tired and their whole bodies were covered in sweat. With the help of the police, they quickly took off their hot, waterproof suits.
They scraped three large bags of human tissue from the sewer. All of it was minced up. Aside from this, there were also some hairs found. However, not a single bone was found.
That night, Lin Qiupu reported the situation of the case to the chief and set up a task force for the case. Early next morning, everyone gathered in the office. Lin Qiupu explained the current situation.
"...The identity, sex, and age of the deceased are still unknown. At present, there should only be only one victim. The murderer dismembered the body, shaved the meat off, and minced it before washing it away in the sewer. If it wasn’t raining heavily, causing a blockage, it may not have been found. A large bag of coarse salt was found in the house and a lot of it was mixed in with the meat. It should have been used to delay the rotting of the meat. In addition, we have the information obtained from the real estate agent, who claimed that the tenant was called 'Mr. Shen'. He only negotiated with the real estate agent via the phone and made the payment. The lease contract has been dragged out without signing. It has already been rented for a month. The agent has tried to get the tenant to sign the contract several times, but he was never there. They changed the lock though. As for the phone number, it was a ruyitong card[3] where no ID is required... Based off of this information, the murder has been premeditated for a long time and they should have some criminal experience!"
1. Pots and woks are used to describe problems, mess, etc.
2. Peng Sijue is mocking them for not being brave enough.
3. A brand of prepaid sim card.