"After all, his driver knows more than I do." Mrs. Zhu remained silent for a long time before looking at Qin Feng. "I have nothing more to say."
"Do you know about your husband's sexual orientation?"
She froze, her gaze becoming dark. "I don't know what you're talking about."
Qin Feng stood up. "If you have any clues, please contact the police. Thank you for your cooperation."
She also stood up, looking haggard, her lips moving but saying nothing more.
The identity of Zhu Mao, and his whereabouts, were hard to conceal, yet it took a week for anyone to discover his murder, which clearly didn't make sense. Zhu Mao's driver was highly suspicious.
After searching the building, no clues were found. This wasn't the scene of the crime. Exiting the villa, Qin Feng flipped through the files. "Where did Zhu Mao's driver go? Have they been found?"
"We'll go look for him immediately."
Zhu Mao's driver was named Xu Yi, thirty-five years old, and had been with Zhu Mao for ten years, considered Zhu Mao's right-hand man. Qin Feng walked quickly to the parking lot. "Arrest Xu Yi."
According to surveillance footage, Zhu Mao went to Chunhui Garden on the 7th afternoon and didn't come out again. Qin Feng immediately led the team to Chunhui Garden, a high-end residential area in the eastern district.
The house was registered under the name of Su Changqing, a resident of City B. Qin Feng took out his gun, knocked on the door, but no one answered. He signaled the others to block the exits, and forcibly entered the house. The two-story villa was empty, with the smell of blood in the air.
Possibly the primary crime scene, Qin Feng headed upstairs.
"No one here!"
A voice from downstairs shouted, and Qin Feng opened the bedroom door. Cold air rushed out. There was no one there, but the room was messy, with drawers and safes thrown around, showing signs of being ransacked. As Qin Feng moved to the next room downstairs, Xiao Wang shouted, "Captain Qin, we found something on the first floor."
Qin Feng put away his gun and went downstairs. The house was empty.
"Damn, this is big." Xiao Wang exclaimed.
Qin Feng walked in and stopped abruptly, the empty room containing ropes and chains, with a mirror on the north wall. Qin Feng frowned, feeling disgusted. The room reeked of blood, mixed with a foul odor.
He put on gloves and shoe covers. There were splatters of blood on the innermost rope, and faint traces on the floor, not completely cleaned up.
In the corner, there was a discarded chainsaw. Qin Feng picked it up and saw bloodstains in the crevices. The marks of the dismembered body indicated the use of a saw or similar tool, matching the evidence. The murder, dismemberment, and disposal likely occurred here.
There was residual bloodwater in the kitchen fridge, confirmed through DNA to belong to the deceased, Zhu Mao. Investigation of surveillance footage showed that on the 13th, Zhu Mao's black Mercedes returned to retrieve something before leaving again, driven by a person wearing a hat and mask, suspected to be Xu Yi. Surveillance near several dumping sites showed this car. Afterward, the car left Jiangcheng and didn't return.
---
Lin Fan looked at the two apparitions in front of her, blood covering their faces, the white fluorescent light blending with their features. She swallowed her instant noodles, took a sip of water, and met their gaze.
"Why are you staring at me? Should I buy some incense to burn for you? Or eat candles?"
This uncle hadn't left, and now another one came.
One of the uncles said, "We don't want to leave, why can't we leave?"
Lin Fan shook her head. "I don't know either. Maybe the case hasn't been solved yet."
They fell silent, and Lin Fan finished her noodles, tidying up the dishes.
"How did he die?"
No response. Lin Fan turned around to find the house empty, nothing there. She touched her forehead, shrugged, and gave up. After washing the dishes, she heard the sound of the door opening outside. She peeked out from the kitchen and saw Qin Feng entering, tossing his coat at the entrance and heading straight for the bedroom.
The words on Lin Fan's lips froze as he entered the bedroom and closed the door. He didn't come out again. Lin Fan didn't see the two middle-aged apparitions either, so she went back to her room to sleep.
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
She had to go to work tomorrow.
The next morning when Lin Fan got up, Qin Feng's room was empty. He must have gone to work.
Lin Fan took the subway, pondered for a moment, and decided to call Qin Feng on her phone. Qin Feng answered after a long time, "What's up?"
"Another spirit has appeared."
"We found another body," Qin Feng said, "burned to death."
Lin Fan thought for a moment. "No wonder there's a smell of burning."
Qin Feng: "..."
"Have you found the killer?"
"It's been locked down, we're tracking it."
"Then it's okay."
"That little ghost hasn't appeared yet?"
"No."
He fell silent for a moment. "Be careful."
This morning, in the suburbs of Xing County, a burnt car was found, with Zhu Mao's license plate. When the police arrived to inspect the car, they found a charred body in the back seat. The body was severely charred, and there were combustibles nearby, indicating deliberate murder.
Was the deceased Su Changqing or Xu Yi?
The person living in that house was Su Changqing. According to the neighborhood surveillance, Su Changqing never came out after entering. Zhu Mao's death was obviously manipulated. But what about Su Changqing? Was the deceased really Su Changqing? What role did Xu Yi play in this whole affair?
Su Changqing was a mysterious figure, with very limited information available. It was known that he was from City B, Zhu Mao's secret lover, rarely seen in public, perhaps kept by Zhu Mao. His family background was a blank slate, very clean.
The phone rang, and Qin Feng answered.
"Captain Qin, we've found something."
Qin Feng hung up the phone and headed straight to the forensic office.
"Burned post-mortem," Dr. Liu used a scalpel to cut open the victim's trachea. "Clean, no signs of smoke inhalation. There are signs of blunt force trauma to the skull, which may have been the fatal injury."
"The skull can also crack under high temperatures." Qin Feng put on gloves, and Dr. Liu stepped aside. "But these aren't cracks from high temperatures, they're from blunt force trauma."
The body appeared completely burnt on the outside, but the human body has a self-protection mechanism, making it difficult to burn completely, even with accelerants. There were no signs of explosion in the car; if the accelerants burned out, the fire would have extinguished inside, not causing severe internal damage.
"Based on the degree of internal decay, the time of death was about a week ago. Another homicide. So, was it Su Changqing or Xu Yi?" Dr. Liu continued dissecting the body.
"We'll know for sure once the DNA test results are out."
Back at the task force office, Qin Feng lit a cigarette and looked at the two photos in his hand. Su Changqing had a handsome face and had been seen in gay bars. But he had no close friends, was from City B, an orphan with no relatives, raised in an orphanage. After following Zhu Mao, he became even more reclusive, almost never interacting with the outside world, with no DNA record.
The other person, Xu Yi, had a son who was fourteen years old. His wife was a kindergarten teacher. Qin Feng saw this woman in the interrogation room, in her thirties, looking composed.
"On June 8th, did you see your husband?"
She nodded, her face pale. "Was my husband murdered?"
"It hasn't been confirmed yet," Qin Feng said. "What did you and your husband talk about that day?"
"He had breakfast at seven and received a call to pick up his boss. Then his phone was turned off, and I couldn't reach him."
"Why didn't you report it to the police?"
"He often went on business trips with Mr. Zhu, sometimes for half a month."
"He never called you before?"
She shook her head. "He used to call every few days. This time, I was also puzzled. He had been gone for so long without calling. I went to look for him, but I didn't know who to look for. Mr. Zhu was also gone, and I didn't dare to ask too much about their affairs."
"Why didn't you dare to ask?"
She fell silent, then spoke after a while. "My husband said not to inquire about Mr. Zhu's schedule, as it might invite trouble, and he would come back when he needed to. I heard... Mr. Zhu was fond of men."
"Fond of men?" Qin Feng raised his eyebrows, surprised. "Which men?"
"I dare not say," she said, staring at Qin Feng in disbelief. "You—" She stopped, not knowing what to say. "I don't know. My husband mentioned it once or twice. It's not my place to say."
"Your husband never contacted you? After Mr. Zhu was murdered, surveillance caught him entering and leaving Mr. Zhu's residence several times. He might be the killer. Do you know anything about this?"
"No way! He couldn't have killed anyone!" The woman became agitated. "My husband wouldn't kill anyone."
"Are you sure you didn't contact each other after June 8th?"
The woman shook her head desperately. "No, he didn't call."
"Okay, thank you for your cooperation."
Qin Feng stood up and left, instructing, "Release her."
In the evening, the DNA test results came out, identifying the deceased as Xu Yi, which surprised everyone.
The killer was Su Changqing. Su Changqing accidentally killed Mr. Zhu, dismembered and disposed of the body. Xu Yi came to see Mr. Zhu and probably discovered that Mr. Zhu had been killed. Su Changqing killed Xu Yi and threw him into the car. Their heights were similar, so Su Changqing disguised himself as Xu Yi several times to return to the villa and dispose of the body in batches.
"The reason he didn't dismember Xu Yi's body was to frame him, making people think that the dead person was Su Changqing."
Qin Feng tapped his knee, identifying any loopholes and remaining questions.
"The killer should have had enough common sense to know that DNA can't be tampered with."
"So he burned the bodies to prevent the police from finding DNA evidence."
Qin Feng remained silent. The Chief Inspector, who was listening in, concluded, "Arrest Su Changqing and issue a warrant immediately."
Members of the task force left the office, and it was already completely dark outside. Qin Feng checked the time; it was 9:00 in the evening. With several cases ongoing, including Su Ran's case unresolved and now two more deaths, the workload was piling up.
The culprit was Su Changqing, and everything seemed to fall into place logically.
Qin Feng walked out of the criminal investigation department towards the parking lot, lit a cigarette, organized his thoughts on the case. After finishing the cigarette, he suddenly stubbed it out and strode towards the forensic science department.
---
Lin Fan sat on the bus, with two ghosts emitting a chilling aura sitting next to him. They didn't speak, each lost in their own silence. The bus wasn't crowded, with only a few scattered passengers.
Lin Fan opened his phone and browsed Weibo. He saw a wanted notice posted by the Jiangcheng Public Security Bureau. He glanced at the two figures opposite him—oh no, the two ghosts.
"Aren't you supposed to be dead? How come you're now wanted for murder?"
Su Changqing's face turned pale, immediately leaning over to look at Lin Fan's phone, trying to grab it, but his hand passed through the phone.
"What are the police even doing? I'm dead and they're accusing me of killing someone!"