CH 86

Translated by: Dust Bunny

Edited by: Crooked 

As soon as Gu Xizhou parked the car, he saw the security guard at the door come over. He spoke to Gu Xizhou very politely: “Hello, sir.”

Before they got out of the car, the security guard outside had already opened the car door for them and made a gesture of invitation.

This manner of service was really good, worthy of the most expensive nightclub in Ningqing city… Gu Xizhou looked up in silence at Jinfen Shijia’s gorgeous doors, as well as the well mannered staff.

He got off the back of the car, and had just walked through the door when the security guard immediately blocked his path. The security personnel reminded him in a low voice, “Please show your membership card.” 

Gu Xizhou turned his head to look at Xiang Yuan and Fang Zhi and they all exchanged a look.

“Membership card? Do you have one?”

“No… I am a small forensic investigator, can I go to a place like this? One little evening and half my salary for a year would be gone just like that.”

“Gu Ge doesn’t have one either. I am a poor little police officer, I’m even less likely to have one, la!”

Gu Xizhou, who originally wanted to go in as a civilian in plain clothes, showed him his badge directly and said: “I am a police officer. I’m here to investigate a case. I’ll trouble you to let us in.”

Gu Xizhou finished speaking, and the staff member stared at him blankly, the smile on his face slowly disappearing. “Police comrade, we are not open yet.”

The two parties were in a deadlock. In order to prevent Gu Xizhou from going in, he directly held on to Gu Xizhou’s feet, refusing to let him go. 

“Is this absolutely necessary? Xiongdi?” Gu Xizhou had no choice but to ask. He couldn’t beat up innocent people!

Security guard: “It’s absolutely necessary. If I let you in, I’ll be fired immediately.”

Gu Xizhou:”…Listen, you are obstructing official business.”

Gu Xizhou said: “One of your clients was killed yesterday upon returning home. We are now here on routine police business. If you continue like this, it will affect my speed of progress on the case!” 

This young security guard seemed fooled by Gu Xizhou’s words. He showed a thoughtful expression and asked: “How about this, ba. I’ll bring my manager to talk to you. I can’t make this decision. Is that okay?”

“Okay ba,” Gu Xizhou said and didn’t continue to make things difficult for him. The security guard sat on the ground and fished out his walkie-talkie.

“Can you come over here? There are several police officer comrades over at this entrance. Yes, police officers! They are investigating a homicide.”

“Police? Oh, okay, okay, okay. I got it. I’ll come over right away. Ask the police officer comrades to wait two minutes for me.” 

“Okay!”

The security guard put down the walkie-talkie and looked up and smiled at Gu Xizhou.

Gu Xizhou: “…Can you release my legs?”

“Oh, sorry!” The security guard apologized. 

Gu Xizhou lifted his wrist to check the time on his watch. These two minutes… were really a little long.

Xiang Yuan began to grumble: “Two minutes, we’ve already been here half an hour. I bet they are cleaning up everything that’s not fit to be seen.”

Immediately after Xiang Yuan finished speaking, he turned his head to catch sight of a middle-aged, forty year old man in a suit with a walkie-talkie.

The man should have heard what Xiang Yuan said, as his facial expression was somewhat stiff, his forehead was filled with sweat, and he looked apologetic, saying in a rough voice: “Sorry! Sorry! I made the police wait so long!” 

“Hi, I’m the manager on duty for the Jinfen Shijia today, Feng Chaozhang,” the manager said giddily, “If you have any questions, you can ask me.”

Gu Xizhou took out a photograph of the deceased Tang Xiao, “Have you seen this woman before?”

Feng Chaozhang studied the photograph for a moment and shook his head: “I seem to have seen her, I don’t seem to have seen her.”

Gu Xizhou raised an eyebrow: “Don’t make fun of me. I didn’t come here to investigate pornography, gambling, or drugs. The last place this woman went before she died was your Jinfen Shijia club.” 

“No officer, you misunderstand.” Feng Chaozhang waved his hands frantically and revealed an honest smile and explained: “I think this woman had plastic surgery done on her face. I really don’t know, ah. There are too many people who look like her inside the club! if there aren’t one thousand, there’s at least eight hundred!”

Gu Xizhou immediately looked at the photo again and furrowed his brows, looking at the woman’s appearance attentively. She had European double eyelids, big eyes, a high nose bridge, a small pointed chin—a standard internet celebrity face.

Gu Xizhou waved his hand, realizing that Feng Chaozhang was not talking nonsense. “Okay, do you have security cameras, ba? I want to see the surveillance footage of the day the deceased died.”

“But there aren’t any security cameras inside the private boxes. You can only see the surveillance footage for the evening show and the hallway to the elevator,” Feng Chaozhang explained. 

Fang Zhi took up the thread of the conversation, “Then let’s look at the areas we can see.”

Feng Chaozhang took out his cell phone and called his superiors for instructions. After a moment he returned and said, “You can follow me.”

According to the record on Tang Xiao’s phone, Gu Xizhou was certain that she arrived at the club at roughly nine in the evening, so he directly chose the footage from that time.

“Gu ge, Tang Xiao’s clothes and bag are the same!” Fang Zhi burst out unexpectedly after watching the surveillance footage closely. 

Gu Xizhou immediately sat down, marking all of the places where Tang Xiao appeared in the surveillance. In one evening, Tang Xiao contacted many people. She also spent the majority of her time in the downstairs dance floor of the Jinfen Shijia club. Occasionally someone would come over to her, and she would follow them upstairs hurriedly right away.

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By the time they finished watching the footage, it was already noon. Gu Xizhou took Xiang Yuan and Fang Zhi to try and find something to eat.

Xiang Yuan and Fang Zhi ordered. Gu Xizhou immediately took out his phone to call Wang Ao to let him know what they had just discovered.

“Okay, I will inform the narcotics department.” Wang Ao massaged the space between his eyebrows. 

After everyone had eaten, the phone rang. Gu Xizhou picked it up. The sound of a soft female voice came from the phone.

“Hello, excuse me, but is this the captain of the Jinluo police department?”

“En, that’s me.”

“We have already hacked into the deceased’s phone and confirmed the identity of the deceased. Hu Shanshan, twenty-seven, Ningqing native. Other information has already been sent to you. Her call records have been found, but the data from her WeChat and her Mobile QQ have already been deleted and will take some time to recover. 

“How long?”

“We’ll have it before afternoon.”

“Okay, thank you.”

Gu Xizhou hung up the phone and looked over the deceased’s files. Hu Shanshan’s address was 20 kilometers away from Golden Garden, and she had no fixed job. It seemed as though there was no connection between her and Tang Xiao. 

Gu Xizhou’s heart sank. Then he looked over Tang Xiao’s phone records prior to her death. The last five calls all had names that sounded like women’s names.

“What the fuck,” Xiang Yuan said, glancing over, “If it was a serial killer, it’s certainly going to be hard to figure out who did it.”

“There’s nothing we can do about it. Let’s go to her house first to ask around,” Gu Xizhou said, turning to Xiang Yuan. “I’ll drop you off at the police station first.”

“Okay ah, I don’t want to go with you anyway. My body is in poor health. It’s not fit for running from east to west.” Xiang Yuan made a feeble expression. 

Gu Xizhou: “……” Drama queen.

Gu Xizhou dropped off Xiang Yuan and happened to catch sight of several police officers holding down a guy at the door, who was arguing noisily: “I didn’t start a rumor! I just posted a video!”

“Why should you detain me? No reason, ah! I’ll sue you!”

Gu Xizhou looked closer. The handcuffed man was the guy who posted the video online yesterday to blackmail them, “Aiyo, isn’t this the new internet celebrity that became popular yesterday? Reporting to the police station today?” 

“I-I didn’t start a rumor. I only posted a video!” the man said, reluctant to admit his mistake.

When Gu Xizhou glanced at him and saw his stubborn little expression, he was happy and burst into laughter: “Okay ba, the duck is dead and his mouth is hard.”

After dropping Xiang Yuan off, Gu Xizhou and Fang Zhi went straight to the deceased Hu Shanshan’s house. When Hu Shanshan’s household received the news of her death, her mother began weeping on the spot and fainted. If not for Fang Zhi’s quick reflexes, she would have certainly hit the floor.

Fang Zhi carried Hu Shanshan’s mother to the sofa. Gu Xizhou looked to the side at Hu Shanshan’s father and saw that his eyes were very red. 

“It’s noon, and Hu Shanshan still hasn’t returned, aren’t you worried?” Gu Xizhou asked.

“Wh-when did she get home on time? …This dead girl liked to hang out with people outside. This time…” The man was very emotional and spoke with tears in his eyes, “we didn’t care. We thought it was the same as usual… That she just didn’t come home and spent the night outside again, that’s all!”

Gu Xizhou fell silent for a moment before asking: “Did she have a job?”

The man shook his head: “She didn’t. She still had a little money at home. Her mom and I thought she didn’t want to work. Even if she didn’t, we could still afford it anyway.” 

She frequently spent the night outside?” Gu Xizhou asked directly, “Was she with a boyfriend? Do you have her boyfriend’s contact details?”

Hu Shanshan’s father fell silent for a long time and didn’t speak.

Gu Xizhou: “We need your cooperation. I don’t think you want your daughter to die this kind of shady death, ba?”

The man opened his mouth with difficulty and said in a very weak voice: “She didn’t have a boyfriend… I don’t know what to say. This dead girl, her relationship with the outside was a little chaotic.” 

“Relationship troubles?”

Hu Shanshan’s father en-ed and said, “Right, there is a word to say, but don’t tell others. I didn’t teach my daughter well. She had relationship troubles outside. Different men frequently sent her messages and things and whatnot…”

Gu Xizhou: “En, can we take a look at her room?”

“You can follow me.” The man led them into Hu Shanshan’s room. 

Inside Hu Shanshan’s room was a table covered in cosmetics, bags, jewelry, and clothes. They could tell she had a good life despite not having a job.

“Do you know which night club she frequented?” Gu Xizhou asked.

Hu Shanshan’s father shook his head: “I don’t know.”

Gu Xizhou: “Did she ask you to keep it a secret? This…” 

He hadn’t finished speaking when the man interrupted and said, “I don’t know. We already stopped speaking to each other over a year ago.”

When Gu Xizhou and Fang Zhi heard this, they looked surprised. Fang Zhi hesitated but still asked: “You lived under the same roof, and you didn’t speak to each other for over a year?”

The man nodded tearfully: “I couldn’t control her. I got angry, so I disowned her. We didn’t speak after that.”

As he spoke, the man’s mood spiraled out of control. He crouched on the floor, crying silently, and talking to himself: “If I had only known it would be like this, If I had only known, I would have locked her at home and wouldn’t have let her go fooling around. Then, she wouldn’t be dead now. If I was harder on her…” 

Inside the room, Gu Xizhou and Fang Zhi exchanged a look. After a brief moment of silence, they shook their heads. It seemed they could only wait for Hu Shanshan’s mother to wake up to find out more about the situation.

After a while, Hu Shanshan’s mother finally woke up. Once she saw Gu Xizhou and Fang Zhi, her face became dazed again. Gu Xizhou quickly said: “Family member, we need to ask you some questions to help us solve the case!”

The woman heard this and began to weep inconsolably. With difficulty, she leaned against her husband, looking as if she might faint at any moment and said weakly, “Ask, ba. If I know, I will answer.”

Soothing their emotions, Gu Xizhou asked: “Just now we learned from the deceased’s father that she often went out at night. I wanted to ask: do you know where she went?” 

“Aiya, I think… Let me think.” The woman had to constantly suppress her emotion and she once again began to cry. After a while she was able to give several names.

Gu Xizhou raised an eyebrow, out of all these names, none were Jinfen Shijia. Gu Xizhou tried to sound it out and asked: “Did she ever mention Jinfen Shijia?”

“Yes, Jinfen Shijia is a membership system. Shanshan has only been there once or twice. She wasn’t a regular.”

“Oh.” Gu Xizhou nodded and went into Hu Shanshan’s room again. After looking for a while, he didn’t find anything useful. 

Gu Xizhou said a few words of comfort. Before Fang Zhi left, he heard him say: “Thank you for your help. We will definitely solve this case.”

After they left, the two old people could no longer restrain their emotions. They hugged each other and cried bitterly. They could hear the sound of crying from outside the door.

Fang Zhi gave the door a solemn look.

“Let’s go, ba,” Gu Xizhou said quietly, “Let’s go back to the Qingyang police station.” 

“Okay.”

Gu Xizhou patted Fang Zhi, “You can’t do anything about it. Everyone chooses their own path.”

“I know.” Fang Zhi said, nodding.

The two went straight to the Qingyang police station where the police officers in charge of Hu Shanshan’s case caught Gu Xizhou up. 

“The identification results have come out. Just like the murder case you discovered yesterday, the murderer used drugs to knock the deceased unconcious before cutting off the deceased’s chest, the technique is the same! Only this woman didn’t leave Jinfen Shijia, rather she went to another night club.”

“We initially thought this was a serial murder. The Jinluo police department has already inspected the interpersonal relationship of the deceased. The victims don’t have any mutual friends. There is no connection.”

“If someone is killing at random, it will be difficult to investigate. Moreover, there is likely to be another person dead by tomorrow morning.” The criminal police officer turned pale.

Gu Xizhou said: “Can I look at the deceased’s things?” 

“This is her photograph.” The criminal police officer took out a photograph and handed it to Gu Xizhou.

Gu Xizhou took the photo silently. At this time Fang Zhi suddenly passed a photo to Gu Xizhou: “Gu ge, look at this.”

A paper printed with english letters.

“The letters look like an abbreviation for Jinfen Shijia,” Gu Xizhou said, taking his phone out of his pocket to call the Jinluo police department. When the call connected, he said in a low voice, “Tang Xiao’s bag has this thing inside, Jinfen Shijia is a membership system, everyone will wear this kind of wristband after going in. Every wristband from the same day will have the same number on the back. 

Gu Xizhou immediately asked someone to take the wristband out and look at it carefully. The date on the wristband was approximately a month from the death of the deceased. This meant that Hu Shanshan went to Jinfen Shijia once a month.

This ruled out the possibility of random killings and everyone let out a breath.

Gu Xizhou put a hand to his chin, “Let’s go to Jinfen Shijia ourselves this evening.”

“Jinfen Shijia?” the Qingyang police heard this, “to investigate the case?” 

Gu Xizhou: “No, investigating the case would only beat the grass and scare the snake. We will go in plain clothes.”

“Let’s not even talk about whether we can afford it, the membership alone is keeping us out…” several people said in unison.

Gu Xizhou heard this and fell silent. They were right.

Fang Zhi’s head drooped, “If we directly go in to investigate the case, won’t it alert the murderer?” 

“Let me see,” Gu Xizhou said, massaging his forehead. He walked out and opened a window. Feeling the wind, his mind didn’t seem so chaotic.

He took out his phone and made a call. After a while, he went back inside the Qingyang police station and called for Fang Zhi to leave.

Fang Zhi said: “Gu Ge, what do we do now? Stake out outside the club?”

Gu Xizhou laughed, “Isn’t staking outside the club too miserable, ba? We’ll go in of course.” 

Fang Zhi: “But… how will we get in?”

“Don’t worry, you’ll understand this evening, got it? Aren’t you a member?” Gu Xizhou said contemptuously, “who doesn’t?”

Until seven in the evening, Fang Zhi sat in a small restaurant eating noodles, silently looking at the man sitting with them.

“Gu Xizhou, you asked for my help, just to ask me to eat noodles?” The man raised an eyebrow, very dissatisfied. 

Gu Xizhou heard him and displayed a pitiful expression, saying: “President Si, please bear with it!”

Si Yu glared at him and lowered his head to eat noodles. How was he supposed to get over it? He actually agreed to take this bastard to a club!

“President Si really is a good person. The deceased and her parents will definitely remember your help to the police.” Gu Xizhou added, “I will too!”

Fang Zhi thought it over and realized that Jinfeng Shijia was the best club in Ningqing. As the local tyrant, Si Ge must have a membership card. Realizing this, the look in Fang Zhi’s eyes changed. 

Sure enough, men really do get worse when they have more money!

They finished eating noodles, and Gu Xizhou was about to get in his car when he saw Si Yu stop beside a cool sports car. Gu Xizhou stared at it for a long time before saying to the other person, “Today, I won’t drive my car, I will go with President Si.”

Si Yu saw both people catching up to him. One of them silently opened the door to the passenger seat, while the other silently opened the door to the backseat. He asked: “What, am I the chauffeur?”

“We can trade. I can drive the car, and you can take the passenger seat,” Gu Xizhou said and winked at Si Yu. 

Si Yu thought about it and shook his head. “Forget about it. I’d better drive, ba. I’m afraid you don’t know how.”

“I didn’t think you’d be so stuck up” Gu Xizhou despaired. “I drive my own car very well!”

Si Yu: “Ah.”

Sitting in the car, Gu Xizhou stroked the leather seat and said, “President Si, how much does your car cost?” 

“I forget. Tens of millions, ba.”

When Gu Xizhou heard this sentence, he choked on a mouthful of old blood. He had the feeling that this person had many cars like this in his garage collecting dust. In the back seat, Fang Zhi paid close attention to his feet, feeling that he couldn’t touch anything.

It could be seen in their eyes how much they hated Si Yu. This bastard—is inhumane.

The car was as fast as lightning, and they arrived at the entrance of Jinfen Shijia at eight o’clock. Before the valet at the entrance could react, they heard the manager Feng Chaozhang urge, “Are you still not going to greet them?” 

Feng Chaozhang hurried over. He bowed his head and helped the driver open the door.

At first glance, he was stunned.

At second glance, he didn’t dare to believe.

“It’s you…” 

Gu Xizhou said: “the manager doesn’t welcome me?”

Wasn’t he a police officer earlier?! Feng Chaozhang’s mouth twitched. He clearly recognized the driver. Si Yu, who couldn’t hold back Gu Xizhou anymore, eventually caved and opened the door for Gu Xizhou.

Feng Chaozhang was at his wits’ end and turned towards Gu Xizhou, his eyes full of questions.

“During the day I came to investigate, but now I want to experience the nightlife for myself,” Gu Xizhou said casually. 

Feng Chaozhang couldn’t help but remind Gu Xizhou that this place had a membership system, and that he needed a membership card to get in and said mockingly, “Even if you are rich, you can’t get in with money alone. You must have a membership card.”

Gu Xizhou turned to Si Yu and gave him a meaningful look.

Si Yu: “……”

Si Yu silently took out his membership card. 

“Okay, we have a membership card. Can we go in?”

“This card is the most exclusive one we have. You can follow this gentleman inside.” Feng Chaozhang grit his teeth and scolded the staff to one side, “Why are you still standing there looking stunned, get over here and give these guests wristbands.”

Gu Xizhou looked at Fang Zhi’s and his white wristbands. On top of the wristbands were several threads of color different from the rest of it. Gu Xizhou figured this should be a special symbol only people who had been here a long time would understand.

As for Si Yu’s wristband, his was different from the other two. It was black with a gold line. 

Gu Xizhou looked disdainfully at manager Feng Chaozhang and said: “This place uses wristbands to differentiate people? Damn.”

Si Yu grabbed him and said, “Let’s go. Do you still want to go in?”

“Go in!” This was the first time investigating was so annoying for Gu Xizhou!

When Si Yu took them in, Gu Xizhou wanted to take a look at the private rooms, but Si Yu said casually, “You don’t need to go to the private rooms. Let’s go downstairs to the dance floor.” 

Gu Xizhou turned to Si Yu and asked exasperatedly: “What for?”

Si Yu said mildly: “You said that the two victims were unable to go to the private rooms. Do you know how much a private room costs for one night?”

Gu Xizhou: “……”

Gu Xizhou: “No. Forget about it. I don’t want to know.” 

Si Yu was choked by Gu Xizhou’s words before continuing to say: “You said that the first victim was a drug dealer, and the second victim’s family circumstances can only be regarded as middle-class. In that case, if they book a private room, the drug dealer would be ruined, and she doesn’t make nearly enough to book a room here. So, if you are looking for a murderer in the Jinfen Shijia, they can’t possibly be in a private room and can only be at an evening show downstairs.”

The author has something to say: Am I rough today? _(:3∠)_