CH 41

“Captain, so what do we do next?”

Jiang Chengyan thought for a while, “you saw the interrogation just now, Wu Zheng has always been calm. Even when you mocked him, he didn’t respond. Only when I asked about his physical condition, there was a flash of fear in his eyes. I have been more concerned about this. I think it is better to investigate it and find out his wife’s situation too.”

“His wife? Are you suspecting that his wife knows about the relationship between Shen Xin and Wu Zheng?”

“After all, Shen Xin’s death looks like revenge. Wu Zheng’s wife has a motive for this murder.”

While the two were talking, Li Tong suddenly came over and said, “Captain, a female corpse was found in Mount Xihua.”

“Female corpse?”

Jiang Chengyan looked at Yao Min and said, “Yao Min, you do not need to go out to the scene. Let the district’s police assist you according to what I just said to investigate, understand?”

Yao Min nodded and said, “Yes, Captain.”

“Li Tong, notify the colleagues of the forensic department and the trace examination department and call those who have not been out in the field to come with me.”

The siren sounded, and the police car roared in the direction of Xihua Mountain. After half an hour, they arrived at the foot of Xihua Mountain.

The people were led up the mountain by the police they went up the mountain and stopped at a sinkhole on the east side.

“Captain Jiang, you are here. “A police officer came over.

Jiang Chengyan nodded and said, “Li Suo, it’s hard work.”

“It’s not hard, we work together. It’s not like you are not busy all day.”

Jiang Chengyan smiled and went straight to the point, “Li Suo, who is the person who reported the case? How was the body found?”

Li Su pointed at a man and a woman standing not far away, “It was the young couple who found the body, the man’s name is Ma Jun, and the woman’s name is Wang Jing. The two came to climb the mountain. They found the body after accidentally tripping over the clothes of the deceased.”

Jiang Chengyan nodded, “Li Suo, there are not enough people on the team, so I have to trouble you to help out. I will trouble you with the two of them for their statement.”

Li Su said with a smile, “No problem, it just happened that we have two new recruits. They’re students from Police University. Let them run along and exercise.”

Jiang Chengyan put on gloves and foot covers, walked to the corpse, and squatted down to examine it carefully. The woman was wearing a light yellow maternity dress, her belly was cut open and her intestines flowed outside. Although it was winter, the body had begun to decompose and looked like she had been dead for a long time.

“How is the situation?”

Jiang Chengyan was examining intently when someone suddenly spoke in his ear, making him startled. Turning his head to look at Su Ke, he snapped, “Are you walking without a sound?”

Su Ke squatted down to check on the body and said, “you’re the one who’s too focused and you still blame me?”

“The death of this female corpse is similar to that of Shen Xin. I suspect this is the work of the same murderer.”

“One body was thrown in the water, the other was thrown on the mountain. One in the west of the city and one in the east of the city, it’s across the entire city of Huacheng. If it was the same murderer, what do you think about his motive?”

“Yeah, East Lake and Xihua Mountain are both tourist attractions. If they throw the body like this, it will be easy to find. Why on earth tho?”

“If this is really a serial murder case, I always think that there was another person who got killed too. But we just haven’t found it yet.” Su Ke roughly inspected the body. “The eyeballs are protruding, the lips are enlarged and turned out, the tip of the tongue is sticking out, and the whole body is swollen which is a common phenomenon for bloated cadavers. The deceased had been dead at least 15 days or more.”

“More than fifteen days… It means that this woman died before Shen Xin.”

“En, the exact time of death still needs to wait for the autopsy report, but I think your suspicion is right.” Su Ke looked up at Zhang Xiaolan and Hu Yang and said, “Put the body in a body bag and load it into the car.”

Su Ke stood up then took off his gloves, “you are busy, I will go back first.”

“En. Let me know if you find anything.”

Jiang Chengyan walked toward Qin An and asked, “Mr. Qin, how? Did you find any clues?”

Looking at the death of the deceased, this is certainly not the first crime scene. Also, this is a tourist area, and it has rained before. It is difficult to find useful clues, but we will try our best.

Jiang Chengyan observed the surrounding of the mountain before looking down, “Mr. Qin, although this place is not high, it is also halfway up the mountain. If a person carries a body to went up, it was a very difficult task. This ‘deadweight’ is no joke. It was located on the back of a mountain and there was no other way up. Most tourists come from the west, which is the shortest way up. I think the murderer must not be able to do this, so…”

“So he will definitely choose to go up from the east side.” Qin An said with a bitter smile, “Although you have a point, this scope is a little too wide.”

Jiang Chengyan patted Qin An on the shoulder, and said sympathetically, “Let’s do hard work, Mr. Qin!”

“Yes. In order to solve the case, we have to work hard.”

It was already night when they came back from the mountain. Everyone toiled to climb and descend the mountain. Coupled with the continuous overtime work, they had already exhausted their physical strength. This time it was even more tiring.

Jiang Chengyan glanced at the people who were slumped in their seats, “Okay, let’s get off work, go back home and have a good rest. Also, go to work on time tomorrow.”

Everyone weakly responded and left the office one after another.

Yao Min came to Jiang Chengyan, pouted in the direction of the interrogation room, and asked, “Captain, what about that one?”

“How about Chen Miao and Guo Hai’s side?”

“I called them before, the surveillance video from 2nd to 3rd was transferred. Wu Zheng really didn’t lie. He had an operation at 8 o’clock in the evening on the 2nd, and it didn’t end until 12 o’clock. Later, he invited the overtime nurses to have a late-night snack and didn’t return to the hospital office until the 7th morning of the 3rd.”

“En. Bring the surveillance video and let him go.”

“Just let him go?” Yao Min was obviously a little unwilling.

“Another female corpse was found on the mountain with the same technique, I suspect that it was done by the same person. We have no evidence now, it’s useless to keep him. So for now, it’s better to let him go.”

“Another pregnant woman?” Yao Min frowned, “This murderer is too mad. They targeted pregnant women, why is this ah?

“Okay, you’ve been tired for a day too. Go back after letting him go. In order to avoid more people being killed, we have to seize the time to solve the case as soon as possible.”

Yao Min nodded, sighed heavily, and turned to go to the interrogation room.

Jiang Chengyan came to the window and looked at the grocery store opposite. Under the bright light, there was a clear figure. Whenever he saw him, Jiang Chengyan’s mood would become calm no matter how bad it was. Now he realized that he had been deeply trapped for a long time ago.

Inside the grocery store, Ling Hua’an was scanning the code to check out, the bell at the door rang followed by the store door being pushed open. What followed was not the cold wind of winter, but a gloomy coolness. Ling Hua’an frowned slightly, although he could not see who was entering the door, he could sense the resentment that was wrapped around him.

Seeing Jiang Chengyan coming in, Sun Ming greeted him with a smile, “Captain Jiang, you are here.”

A mechanical female voice rang out, “The total is 105 yuan.”

The customer took out his phone to scan the payment code, and Sun Ming quickly handed over the items. The store door opened and closed with a bell that rang all along again.

“Hua’an, are you busy today?” Jiang Chengyan casually creates a topic.

Instead of answering, Ling Hua’an asked, “Where did Captain Jiang go today?”

Jiang Chengyan was startled and replied subconsciously, “I went to Xihua Mountain.”

“Is there another murder happened in Xihua Mountain?”

Jiang Chengyan said with some difficulty, “Hua’an, you know our rules…”

“Do you think I’m a murderer?”

“How is that possible! Hua’an, you know that’s not what I meant.”

“Then why can’t you tell me? Maybe I can help.”

“Hua’an, this is the regulation of our police station. I cannot violate it.”

Ling Hua’an frowned slightly, he quietly took out a paper talisman from his pocket. He folded it into a triangle shape then handed it to Jiang Chengyan, “This is a peace talisman I asked from the temple. Put it close to your body. Unless you take a shower, don’t ever take it off, do you understand?”

Jiang Chengyan took the paper talisman, looked at Ling Hua’an in delight, “Hua’an, did you ask for this specifically for me?”

Ling Hua’an nodded, “En. So you have to wear it close to your body, okay?”

Although Jiang Chengyan never believed in this, this was specially requested by Ling Hua’an for him, also it was the first gift Ling Hua’an gave him. “Okay,  I will definitely wear it close to my body!”

Seeing the resentment on Jiang Chengyan’s slowly dissipating, Ling Hua’an couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief.

Wang Lei whispered in his ear, “Laoban, he has been staring at you and giggling, does he think that you gave him a token of love?”

Ling Hua’an didn’t answer, he took out the thermos bucket from under the cashier and said, “I made braised pork rice today, you can eat some.”

Jiang Chengyan carefully put the paper talisman away before taking the thermos bucket, and asked with expectation, “Hua’an, there is no one in the store now, can you sit with me?”

Ling Hua’an raised his eyebrows at his words, not expecting that this person with a ridiculously low emotional intelligence would actually be enlightened. He nodded his head and said, “Sun Ming, come over here to collect the cash.”

Sun Ming responded then blinked at Jiang Chengyan. His face heated up and he glanced away, feeling uncomfortable. After struggling for a moment, he still grabbed Ling Hua’an’s wrist and said, “Hua’an, I will help you over.”

A smile flashed in Ling Hua’an’s eyes, and he replied softly, letting Jiang Chengyan hold his wrist. The two sat down in front of the glass window, but Jiang Chengyan had no intention of letting go.

Ling Hua’an moved his wrist and said, “Captain Jiang, isn’t it time for you to let go?”

“Hua’an, are you still mad at me? Why haven’t you changed your mind?” Jiang Chengyan’s voice was not loud, with a coquettish tone that he hadn’t even noticed himself.

The smile in Ling Hua’an’s eyes deepened, “Captain Jiang, two big men are pulling each other, aren’t you afraid of being misunderstood?”

Jiang Chengyan looked at Sun Ming subconsciously. Seeing that he was not looking at this side, he could not help but breathe a sigh of relief. “Hua’an, there is something I want to tell you, but I haven’t had the courage…”

Seeing that Jiang Chengyan stopped his word, Ling Hua’an felt helpless. “What is it? Let go of me then talk about it, can’t you?”

“Hua’an… I…”

At this moment, the door of the store was suddenly pushed open, and the bell hanging at the door rang sharply. Ling Hua’an broke away from Jiang Chengyan’s hand, turned his head to look at the door. 

What greeted him was a hideous female ghost with disheveled hair, blood and tears in her eyes, and maggots crawling on her body. There was a bloody hole in her abdomen. Her intestines, which were half-eaten by the maggots, flowed out of the body…