Chapter 129

Jun Zishu put the pajama pants on the bed and opened the closet to look for underwear.

Jiang Yinsheng's expression froze when Jun Zishu walked out of the bath. Then, when she saw Jun Zishu bending down and exposing her long white legs and hips, she blinked a few times before she admired them in silence.

"Turn away," Jun Zishu said without even turning to look at Jiang Yinsheng. Then, after finding her underwear, she took it out and put it on.

Meanwhile, Jiang Yinsheng obediently turned her head away, a longing gaze in her eyes. Of course, her head wasn't filled with any obscene thoughts. She simply felt that the person in front of her looked really beautiful, and she couldn't help but want to take a few more looks.

After getting dressed, Jun Zishu lay on the bed and picked up her phone.

What reason was there for a person to eat another human?

They weren't in a famine era, so there shouldn't be any reason for someone to resort to cannibalism.

Mental illness was one possibility, but other than that, what other reasons could there be for someone to eat their own kind?

Also, the murderer had chosen a young man as his "food." What was the reason for the murderer to do so? Could it be because a young man's flesh was more fresh and tender? But in that case, wouldn't children be a better ingredient? Children also made for easier targets, especially if the murderer was an adult.

Right now, Jun Zishu was more inclined to believe that the murderer was an adult male since it would take a lot of strength to carry the victim's body to the alleyway.

The evidence at the crime scene was too limited. The corpse had evidently been dumped there for more than a day, so the snow had most likely covered up any possible traces.

Jun Zishu also judged that the criminal had dumped the body at night or after midnight. Her assumption was due to the fact that the alleyway was located between a commercial street and a residential building. Although foot traffic around the area wasn't high, there was still a constant flow of people.

The first time Jun Zishu visited the crime scene was at 10.10 PM. At that time, the stores in the commercial street had already turned off their lights. Moreover, according to the informant's statement, it was typically lights out at ten o'clock for the commercial street during winter. So, the murderer had most likely dumped the body there after that time.

Meanwhile, the fact that the killer had chosen to dump the body in that deserted alleyway showed that he should be familiar with the situation of the surrounding area. Hence, it was likely that the killer was either a resident of the neighborhood or someone who used to live in the neighborhood.

Kim Zoshi caressed the edge of her phone with her finger, her phone displaying a picture she had taken at the crime scene.

Why was the corpse placed in such a sitting posture? Was there any meaning to it?

Or did the killer set the corpse that way because the cramped space only allowed him to leave the corpse in such a state?

No, there was another possibility.

Perhaps the victim had been bound to a chair and maintained this posture even after death. Thus, the victim's corpse became rigid and could only maintain that kind of form?

"Jiang Yinsheng, can you see other ghosts?"

"No. I suspect that I am the only ghost around these parts. Even if there are others, I haven't seen any thus far," Jiang Yinsheng said, shaking her head. Then, she continued, "Also, just Yinsheng is fine, Miss Officer."

"Mhm."

"Can I lie down on your bed, Miss Officer? Don't worry, I am very clean," Jiang Yinsheng said as she stretched out her arms and twirled in front of Jun Zishu.

Jun Zishu narrowed her eyes, a pondering look appearing on her face for a moment before she asked, "From the TV shows and movies I've watched, ghosts should retain the wounds they received before they died, right? Do you have any wounds on you?"

If there was such a wound, they would know the cause of death.

"There is, but I don't want to let you see it," Jiang Yinsheng said, biting her thumb with a sullen expression. Then, in a small voice, she added, "It's too ugly. I'm worried it'll scare you."

Jiang Yinsheng wanted to present her best appearance to this person in front of her, so she preferred to avoid showing her ugly side to Jun Zishu.

"Describe it for me, then."

"I have a wound on the back of my head. I probably died from a blow to the head. There aren't any other wounds on my body," Jiang Yinsheng described the cause of her death with a serious expression, to which Jun Zishu nodded to express her understanding. Then, Jiang Yinsheng tentatively asked, "Can I… Can I lie down with you?"

"Do as you wish. Just make sure not to touch me."

"Okay. I'll keep that in mind."

"I'm not disgusted by you. It's just that your body is too cold, and it's currently winter," Jun Zishu added before dropping her eyes to look at her phone.

Jiang Yinsheng's eyes widened a little, her heart filled with joy as she thought to herself, How can Miss Officer be so kind and gentle? Isn't she a little too cute?

Jun Zishu was unaware of what the little ghost beside her was thinking. She was currently scouring the internet for similar cases. However, the internet was often filled with information that was a mix of truth and lies. Most media also liked to exaggerate things. So, Jun Zishu didn't place much hope in finding any useful information.

Sure enough, her search results were basically horror stories with no real reference value.

Even after changing the keywords of her search, all she got were a bunch of literary works and their related reviews.

However, this wasn't a surprising outcome. If Jun Zishu couldn't figure out the killer's thought process, normal people naturally couldn't figure it out.

If a person's thoughts could be synchronized with that of a vicious criminal, this person was either a criminal or someone not far from becoming one.

Although Jiang Yinsheng saw the frown on Jun Zishu's face, she didn't know how to help. So, she said, "It's getting late already, Miss Officer. You should sleep soon."

"What exactly is the reason…" Jun Zishu muttered to herself, seemingly failing to hear Jiang Yinsheng's words.

There were several species of animals that would eat their own kind. Some did so because of their nature, some did so after winning a fight to show their superiority, and some did so to avoid wasting useful sustenance.

"There are many possibilities," Jiang Yinsheng picked up the conversation, successfully catching Jun Zishu's attention.

"The killer might have done so because he grew bored after eating a lot of delicious food, so they decided to try human meat for a change.

"The killer could also be sick in the head, such as the case you read earlier.

"There is also the possibility that the killer had done it out of hatred. He might've hated the victim to the point where he wanted to eat the victim's meat and drink the victim's blood as a means of torture."

Realization dawned upon Jun Zishu when she heard Jiang Yinsheng's last example, the blockage in her mind becoming unclogged.

Could it be that we've all assumed wrongly before? Maybe this isn't a case of cannibalism? Maybe the killer had fed the victim's flesh and organs to some animal such as dogs?

Jun Zishu felt that she was too biased in her previous judgment. Because of the precedence she knew of, she had instantly assumed this case to be the same after seeing the state of the corpse.

Jun Zishu felt a little vexed with herself. She came to realize that she shouldn't insist on only one possibility unless there was overwhelming evidence to prove her point.

Currently, there were two possible scenarios in Jun Zishu's mind.

The first scenario was that this was indeed a cannibalism case, and the killer would continue committing crimes in the future.

The second scenario was that this was a case of revenge. With the victim's identity, he had most likely offended many people and attracted a lot of hatred or trouble to himself. Thus, someone had decided to implement an act of vicious revenge on him. Meanwhile, removing the thigh flesh could be understood as a form of torture.

There was also a third possibility: a delusional warrior of justice carrying out "justice" against people he thought had sinned in life.

However, regardless of the actual reason, she would still have to wait for further investigation before coming to any conclusions. Or, more specifically, she needed to wait for the appearance of the next body.

Jun Zishu massaged her eyebrows after concluding her thoughts. She hoped that it was the second scenario. That way, the loss of life could be minimized.

After putting her phone to charge, Jun Zishu turned off the lights and got ready to sleep.

"Goodnight, Miss Officer."

"Goodnight."

…

The snow fell intermittently. Even though it had stopped snowing last night, it had started snowing again in the morning.

However, as the crime investigation team still needed to do their work, everyone had no choice but to put on a few more layers of clothes as they went out in this hellish weather.

When Jun Zishu left her house, a thick layer of snow had already covered the ground. Fortunately, her car didn't care about the snow, and she drove it out of the sheltered car park without any trouble. After having breakfast, Jun Zishu gave Yang Tianxiao a call and said to meet her at the crime scene.

When Jun Zishu arrived at the crime scene, she was greeted by the sight of yellow tape cordoning off the area. Even if there was nothing left to check at the crime scene, it was still a necessary procedure.

Due to the weather, there were no pedestrians whatsoever on the street.

Spotting the coffee shop where yesterday's informant worked, Jun Zishu approached it and entered the shop.

When Liao Ying heard the chime signaling the arrival of a customer, she listlessly looked up from the counter. However, her expression immediately grew spirited when she noticed that it was Jun Zishu.

"What do you want to drink, Officer?"

"Do you have anything other than coffee?"

"We have milk, orange juice, black tea, green tea, milk tea. Here's the menu; take a look."

After looking through the menu, Jun Zishu eventually ordered a cup of green tea. Then, she took a seat by the window.

There was a layer of fog clouding up the window, so it wasn't possible to get a clear look outside.

Besides Jun Zishu, Liao Ying was the only other person in the shop. After preparing the drink, Liao Ying brought it to Jun Zishu's table.

"Sit," Jun Zishu said.

Liao Ying sat across from Jun Zishu in a formal posture, her hands placed on her lap.

"Are you the only person in the shop?"

"Mhm. I typically come the earliest since I live nearby. The others will only come at nine o'clock."

It was currently eight twenty-five.

"And you are also the last to leave work?"

"Yes. It should've been a rotating shift, but I live nearby, so… But I do get higher pay for it."

"You must've been scared out of your wits yesterday, right? Did you manage to get any sleep?"

"A little bit. I had a nightmare."

"How is business in the shop?"

"Not bad. The flow of customers here is average. We mainly serve repeat customers."

There were two small shopping malls and a residential district adjacent to this commercial street.

"Do you often see new faces here?"

"Sometimes, but there aren't many guests that I remember. Aside from frequent visitors and a few customers with distinctive feathers, I hardly remember anyone else."

"Do the shopping malls nearby close their doors at ten as well?"

"Around nine-thirty, I think. The new shopping plaza that opened up nearby has attracted a lot of traffic, so the malls aren't doing as well as before. They get almost no customers late at night. With the recent weather, they decided to close their doors early."