Xiaotao showed the photo on her cell phone to the delivery boy, "Do you recognize him?"

After staring puzzledly at the photo for a long time, the boy shook his head. But when Xiaotao covered the man's face with her fingers and revealed only his eyes, the boy suddenly exclaimed, "Yes, that's him! That’s the man who came to pick up the food!"

"Thanks again!" nodded Xiaotao.

After the delivery boy left in his battery car, I asked Xiaotao about the photo. "Wang Yuanchao just found out from the State Administration for Industry and Commerce that the owner of this breeding site is Huang Xusheng."

"It seemed that Huang Xusheng knew the murderers and might even be closely connected to them,” I speculated. “I didn't think we’d find a clue so quickly!"

Xiaotao waved her hands, "What are you waiting for? Let’s go speak to him!"

Unfortunately, we had rejoiced too soon. When we arrived at Huang Xusheng's residence, the man had long disappeared, having sold the apartment. After inquiring at the neighborhood committee, we learned of Huang Xusheng’s current address and hightailed it to the location. Upon reaching his apartment, we were greeted by red paint splashed all over the door. The walls were painted with huge, eye-catching words: Repay your debts! An eye for an eye, a life for a life!”

"I really don't understand these debt collectors,” Bingxin spat. “Why do you have to write ‘An eye for an eye, a life for a life?’ Isn’t the first part enough?"

"This is more visually impactful,” I chuckled. “Just the three words would look pathetic!"

I knocked on the door but got no reply. So I grabbed my lock pick tools and unlocked the door. Upon entering the apartment, we were greeted by a terrible mess. Besides the space accommodating the mattress on the ground, the rest of the place was littered with all sorts of garbage.

Pinching her nose, Xiaotao scowled, "This man really doesn’t care at all!"

There was a laptop on the desk which I asked Bingxin to examine. Meanwhile, I headed to the kitchen and found a metal pot sitting on the stove. When I removed the lid, I realized the pot was full of water vapor on the inside of the lid, indicating that it was boiling water.

Huang Xusheng seemed to have left in a hurry.

"This man’s computer is full of porn!” spat Bingxin. “I didn’t find any clues and his QQ is full of dubious people."

I swept his computer and found no important clues as well. Since this was private property, we had no right to remove any evidence.

Xiaotao went knocking on the neighbor's door to inquire more about our suspect. According to the neighbor, the man living next door was a bachelor who seemed to owe a lot of usury. People often came looking to collect debts, which seriously affected the rest of the community.

The neighbors didn't even know Huang Xusheng's name.

When we left his apartment, Xiaotao sighed, "Looks like we hit another dead end."

Something on the walls suddenly caught my attention. "There are some advertisements for a money lender. Let’s call and ask!"

I dialed the number and immediately a soft female voice answered the call. Careful not to reveal my identity, I explained I was short of money and wanted to borrow some. Then, I asked if we could talk face to face and was given an address.

Thus, the three of us headed to a company called Zhengxing Credit. When we arrived, the receptionist invited me to take a seat and wait for a moment to meet the manager inside.

The manager of this money-lending company was a middle-aged man with a stocky build who wore a big gold chain around his tattooed neck. As soon as we entered the room, he blew a wolf whistle at Xiaotao. Despite Xiaotao’s irate glare, the manager leisurely sat in his chair with a cigar in his hand. "Young man, how much money would you like to borrow?!" he asked.

"How much can I borrow?"

The manager smiled, "As long as you pay it back, you can borrow as much as you want."

"Fine then, let’s go with a hundred thousand first!" I declared.

"Alright,” nodded the manager. “Show me your ID please... I can tell you’re a big boss, especially since you’ve got two beautiful women with you. Which one is your girlfriend?"

Right then, Xiaotao grabbed her badge and threw it on the desk. The man’s shrill screams filled the room. "You’re cops?" He stood up as if preparing to flee. Then all of a sudden, he sat back down and scratched his head. "My apologies, that was a conditioned reflex," he cried.

Two years ago, the state first announced the legalization of private loans. It seemed the man often had run-ins with the law in the past.

Putting away his frightened expression, he squeezed out a smile, "Officer, I am operating legally. I can assure you I’ve never broken the law."

"We’re not here to investigate your company,” Xiaotao folded her arms. “We’d like to ask you about someone–Huang Xusheng!"

Without a second thought, the manager answered, "He’s borrowed money from me."

In truth, I didn’t expect our interview to go so well. The manager explained Huang Xusheng had borrowed a large sum of money to run a Tibetan Mastiff breeding site in Nanjiang City without much thought or planning. As a result, there was no market for these expensive dogs at all so the business failed miserably.

With usury, the debt ended up snowballing as time passed. Eventually, Huang Xusheng was forced to sell his house, though the money was barely enough to return a small part of his debt. Every so often, the company sent people to urge him to settle up, but the sneaky bastard managed to hide himself. It was like fighting guerilla warfare.

Huang Xusheng was single—his wife and children left him a long time ago. Afraid of getting into trouble, the guarantor who signed at the beginning also ran away. Hence, they were forced to splash paint outside his apartment. However, Huang Xusheng seemed to come into a lot of money lately, perhaps winning the lottery or something of the sort. All of a sudden, he brought a large sum of money and came to pay off his debts.

"Looks like his money is dirty. If we knew that, we would never have accepted it!" the manager assured us.

"Please, it’s no use pretending,” sneered Xiaotao. “Do you think I don't know what you’re really like?"

Having obtained some answers, we left the moneylender. "Huang Xusheng must have used the money given to him by the four rich kids to pay off his debts,” I thought out loud. “Perhaps the breeding compound has privately changed hands though it hasn’t been officially registered."

"The compound is located in such a remote area. It would be easy to hide a crime,” snorted Xiaotao. “They specifically purchased the property to commit murder! These rich kids really know how to mess around!"

From Huang Xusheng’s sudden disappearance, the murderers might have realized their exposure and told him to flee.

The clues we had on hand required time and effort to follow up, but as the whole, the case was progressing smoothly. As long as we found a breakthrough in one of the clues, arresting these murderers would be inevitable.

Xiaotao and Bingxin returned to the station while I visited the store. They promised to contact me if there were any new developments in the case.

When I returned, I found a thick pharmaceutical encyclopedia to try and match the molecular formula of the capsule found in the male victim’s stomach. After three hours of continuous perusing, I finally identified it. As it turned out, the contents of the capsule weren’t some sort of medicine but a health supplement called Rhodiola Rosea extract.

Few people consumed this health supplement so the victim either purchased it from a pharmacy or ordered it online.

Since this might very well be a random murder, the victim’s identity wasn’t a vital clue so I planned to work on this alone. I searched for stores selling Rhodiola Rosea Extract online, browsed the comments and evaluations section, and jotted down each store located in Nanjiang City.

Then, I sent the list with the victim’s photo to Lao Yao on QQ, urging him to find information on the victim.