After a short rest, I received a reply from Lao Yao, "Xiao Song-song, I found what you wanted. How are you going to thank me? Why not send a 520[1] red envelope!" He even included a smirking emoji at the end of the text.

If he didn't try to take advantage of me, he wouldn't be Lao Yao. In retaliation, I sent him a red envelope of 500 yuan that required the password, "I am gay!" repeated three times.

As I browsed the information, I immediately noticed the victim’s place of residence.

I phoned Xiaotao, "Hey, I got Lao Yao to find the victim’s address. I’m going over to investigate right now."

"Should I go as well?" asked Xiaotao.

"If you’re busy, I can go myself!"

"No,” refuted Xiaotao. “I'll send someone to go with you."

I waited at the store, assuming Xiaotao would send an officer over but it turned out to be Bingxin.

Xiaotao sent a text message, teasing, "Is my sister very democratic?"

My reply was a thank-you expression.

Bingxin and I took a cab to the victim’s apartment. When we arrived, I knocked on the door first to ensure no one was home, then checked the lock. Finding no traces of jimmying, I proceeded to pick the lock.

Upon opening the door, we were greeted by a mess as if someone had forcibly entered the apartment. The shoe rack by the door suggested a man and a woman lived here–it was the home of both our victims.

Bingxin and I made use of the automatic shoe cover dispenser on the shoe rack, covering our shoes before entering the room.

Pointing to the wall in the entryway, Bingxin said, "There are traces of some sprayed substance."

As I glanced at the wall, Bingxin pulled out a reagent to test the substance. Instead, I leaned in and sniffed, "It's ether mixed with ethanol. Come and stand in this position!"

Bingxin was similar in height to the female victim and the spray marks matched the position of her face. The murderers must have stood at the door and sprayed ether at the female victim, splashing it on the wall.

So the murderers broke in without warning. Looking down, I noticed a slipper that had been kicked underneath the shoe rack, with a clear footprint on the top. I immediately snapped a photo.

The area where the female victim stood showed no traces that would suggest a fall. Obviously, when the victim fell unconscious, she was held by the murderers.

The living room showed apparent signs of a tussle. There were glass fragments scattered on the floor, and a large coffee stain on the wall parallel to the door. In one corner lay a broken mug.

When the male victim noticed the break-in, he must have thrown the coffee mug in his hand which ended up hitting the wall.

From the male victim’s initial position, he was probably using the computer when a bunch of men suddenly broke into his home. I proceeded to the computer desk, where I noticed a bottle of Rhodiola Rosea extract. The computer was on standby, the red dot still flashing.

"The attack must have happened during the day,” speculated Bingxin. “The computer was on and the lights in the apartment were turned off, indicating there was no artificial lighting being used at the time."

Upon scanning the room, I disagreed, "No, it happened in the evening, just after work!"

"Because of the bra on the couch?” Bingxin pointed out. “The first thing any girl usually does upon coming home is remove their bra."

"That's just one of the reasons.” I observed, “There's half a glass of water on the table, and the instructions on the bottle say the supplement is meant to be taken once in the morning and evening after meals. The heater in the bathroom is still on and the takeout boxes thrown in the trash can are evident of greasy food that’s generally not consumed in the morning."

"My goodness, your powers of observation are amazing!" Bingxin applauded.

As my gaze circled around the apartment, I noticed indentations on the couch and the backrest that had fallen to the ground, suggesting two people had previously lain here. Did the murderers rape the victim on the couch? My intuition told me no.

The apartment building was rather tall with no other buildings of similar height around. Why did the murderers turn off all the lights but leave the other appliances alone?

The answer to that was the presence of someone in the corridor at the time. Afraid of being discovered, the murderers turned off the lights in a hurry, pinned the victim to the couch and blocked their mouths. The female victim lay on the couch while the male victim was pinned to the floor. The broken glasses under the coffee table and the tablecloth that lay torn on the floor suggested the victim struggled hard.

I was more concerned about how the murderers entered the victims’ home.

There were several guides to postgraduate study and leisure reading materials on the bookshelf that had rental receipts. From my observations, the victims were most likely from out of town–the woman here for education while the man here for work–a loving couple who ended up being targeted by four animals!

Bingxin moved a chair next to mine and sat down while I turned on the computer.

The victim was still logged into QQ. The last message sent was at seven in the evening when he texted a group of friends to gush about winning a prize.

I switched to the web to see the victim’s recent browser history. There was a forum that he often visited and the last post he sent was a photo of him and his girlfriend accompanied by the words, "This is my lovely girlfriend who is still studying. Isn’t she beautiful?" Below the post were dozens of comments praising the girl for her beauty and the original poster for his good fortune.

"The murderers must have obtained information from here! Should we ask Lao Yao to investigate?" suggested Bingxin.

I waved my hand, "Don't worry about that. Let’s keep looking."

I clicked on the victim’s private messages on the forum. An account called "Forum Lottery Center" had sent him a link. When I clicked on it, I was taken to a lottery turntable. Not surprisingly, every time I clicked on the turntable, I “won” first prize. Anyone with a little programming skills could design such a simple trick.

Hooked by the prize, the victim asked how he would receive the award and was told to leave his home address and contact information.

My heart sank with a heavy sigh. The victim never expected to have a disaster knocking on his door instead! No one should ever disclose their full address and details to strangers without a good reason, especially if they were living alone.

As I browsed through the forum, I realized the users were basically Nanjiang City locals. The post and photo sparked wicked intentions in the hearts of these strangers. So they made up an excuse to obtain the victims’ address.

Before leaving the apartment, I phoned Lao Yao and asked him to check the IP address of that account.

"Shall I call the technical team to come collect the evidence?" asked Bingxin.

"Alright!" I nodded.

As soon as we were downstairs, I went directly to the security room and instructed the security guard to bring up the surveillance videos on the day of the crime. A black SUV appeared and stayed in the community for about half an hour before leaving.

After copying the surveillance video to my phone, I thanked the security guard.

The subsequent investigation process was tedious and mundane. Lao Yao traced the IP address back to a fast-food restaurant. Since the murderers were surfing the Internet through wifi, we had no leads on their true identity.

The plates on the SUV that entered the community were found to be fake, which was very common. Locating the vehicle seemed unlikely for the time being.

The police searched all of Huang Xusheng's social connections but found no one matching the characteristics of the murderers and no clues in his contact information.

Just when every clue seemed to hit a dead-end, the second murder occurred...

[1] Slang for I love you.