Chapter 222: Hitting the Grass and Alerting the Snake[1]

Everyone hurried to catch up to Peng Sijue. Even Xu Xiaodong couldn't catch up with Peng Sijue, who usually didn’t exercise much.

Peng Sijue ran to the second pit they previously dug up and started to dig up the ground without a word. The others followed as Lin Dongxue asked, “Captain Peng, what's the matter? What's up?”

Peng Sijue picked up the pile of dirt and looked closely at it. Then, he stood up to go inspect the third pit.

Everyone kept silent and just tried to keep up with him. Peng Sijue ran too fast and fell down. Chen Shi laughed. “He looks so happy, as if he’s a child that just got his New Year’s red envelope.”

“You’re a guy without conscience!” Lin Dongxue scolded.

Peng Sijue stopped at the third pit and checked it carefully. The crowd finally caught up and Lin Dongxue said, “Captain Peng, don't act so mysterious. What did you find out?”

“Yeah, don't act alone anymore. Share it with us,” Chen Shi agreed.

“I also want to experience acting mysterious for once!” Peng Sijue said pointedly at Chen Shi.

“Haii!” Chen Shi squatted down. “Old Peng is the smartest. He’s the city’s... No, the province’s best forensic doctor. No clue can escape your keen eyes...”

Peng Sijue felt very pleased getting complimented like that. He finally said, “Did you all notice it? It’s the fur! No fur was found in the soil!”

“Wouldn’t it have rotten away?” Xu Xiaodong guessed.

Chen Shi said, “Although hair is organic, there are very few types of bacteria that break down hair. It normally takes around 50 years to completely rot away.”

Peng SIjue continued, “From the color of the surrounding vegetation and soil, these bones have been buried for only a few years. Why there’s no fur... There is only one possibility. When they were buried, they had no fur to begin with.”

“I see! This was done by a psycho. They shaved the dog’s fur and then buried them alive!”

Everyone ignored Xu Xiaodong again. Chen Shi declared, “The dog has been skinned!”

“Skinned?!” Lin Dongxue was surprised. “Why did they skin them?”

“Is this related to the disappearance of the bodies?”

Lin Dongxue thought, “The dogs were skinned and buried here. The skins and the bodies are gone…”

“I see!” Xu Xiaodong shouted. “The dog's skin was put on the bodies and sold as a Tibetan mastiffs so nobody could find the bodies.”

“How do you even think of these things?!” Lin Dongxue complained.

“Aren’t there some people in the past who disguised themselves as dogs? So I thought...”

Xu Xiaodong's “blind talk” caused Chen Shi's to think in a different angle. The dog skin and the missing bodies may actually be directly related.

At this time, a bright light came towards them as a car drove up. The person in the car came out. From the shadow cast by the lights, he held a stick-like object in his hand.

“Who is it?!” Lin Dongxue subconsciously reached for her gun before remembering that she didn’t bring it.

“We have five people. We shouldn’t be afraid of him! Let’s check it out!” Chen Shi encouraged.

So the five stood up and walked towards the person. The two parties were far apart. When they reached about one hundred meters from them, the man suddenly turned around, ran away, and quickly started the car to flee.

“So suspicious!” Chen Shi ran over, took out his mobile phone, and took a picture of the tire print on the ground.

The professor looked at his watch. “Everyone, it’s a rare experience to accompany you all to investigate the case, but it’s already 1:00 AM. Shall we head back?”

Chen Shi said, “Thank you for your trouble tonight. I'll invite you to dinner another day!”

“No, no. It wasn’t trouble at all. I hope you can solve the case soon!”

Chen Shi didn't sleep well that night and thought about it over and over again as he rolled around in his bed. He even dreamed of a big dog who suddenly stood up and became a person. It was quite frightening and scared him awake.

When he opened his eyes, it was already beginning to brighten. The two girls and the cat in the apartment were still sleeping.

He decided to get up to make breakfast. He made fried omelette as the sun rose into the sky. His mood was fairly good today.

At 8:00 in the morning, Lin Dongxue lazily went to the living room and saw a plate of chicken on the table. When she sat down, she tasted a piece of it. “A little bit plain. Why are we eating chicken in the morning?”

“That's for the cat! I put it on the table to cool down!”

Beside her, Maoqiu was lying down and couldn’t wait to have breakfast. To alleviate her embarrassment, Lin Dongxue pretended to imitate the cat. “Meow~”

Chen Shi came out of the kitchen. “You’re so old, but you’re pretending to be cute? Isn’t it a bit late for that?”

“I’m younger than you though!”

“Eat. This is yours.”

“Haii, I get up early every morning and stay up late at night. I heard two girls the same age as me talking on the streets yesterday. I couldn't even understand what they were saying. I don’t do anything for entertainment at all.”

“When the case is over, I’ll invite you to watch a movie.”

“I don’t need you to invite me. Since I'm staying with you, I'll invite you instead!” The thought of having to move after the case was over made Lin Dongxue depressed again. However, she knew that she’d have to leave one day anyway. She couldn’t just barge into someone else’s house endlessly.

Their two phones rang in unison. It was a notification from the group chat. Xu Xiaodong said in the group, “In the morning, Liu Hong and Li Biao met at a beef noodle restaurant on Wuli Street.”

Chen Shi was holding his cell phone to check something while Lin Dongxue read the news again. Chen Shi said, “I see it.”

“What are you doing?”

“Checking something!”

Lin Dongxue leaned over curiously to take a look. Chen Shi was looking at the photos of the tires on the Internet. Suddenly, Chen Shi exclaimed, “I found it! This is the tire of a Mazda. It was the same as the one taken at the scene last night. Liu Hong was the one who came last night.”

“Going to the kennel in the middle of the night… I guess there would be no one who’d do that except him.”

“Liu Hong's response is really intriguing. He clearly realized that someone is investigating him, but his first reaction was to see Li Biao. What does this mean?”

“Li Biao knows his background?”

“That's a good assumption, but can you brush your teeth before you eat?”

Lin Dongxue pouted and ran to brush her teeth.

Chen Shi guessed that Liu Hong was now suspecting that Li Biao had betrayed him. If Liu Hong started to attack Li Biao, they would be able to make a breakthrough in the case.

Chen Shi felt conflicted. A part of him hoped that Liu Hong would slip up, but the other part of him didn’t want anyone to be killed again.

After much deliberation, he decided to take a risk. Today, he would go see Li Biao to amplify the suspicion between the two of them. Of course, if Li Biao felt that he was in danger and was willing to proactively tell them everything, that would be even better.

He texted Xu Xiaodong and told him to monitor Li Biao. He would head over with Lin Dongxue in a bit.

At 9:00, the unemployed Li Biao finished his breakfast and went to a theater to listen to a play. The three happened to block him at the door. Li Biao was fat and looked at the three of them with a pair of triangular eyes[2].

Lin Dongxue showed her badge. “We are criminal police officers and want to know something about Liu Hong.”

“Who’s Liu Hong? I don’t know anyone by that name!”

Chen Shi said, “You were business partners ten years ago. You ran a kennel together. Then, you transferred the equity to him. You don't know him?”

Li Biao was in a dilemma and said, “Standing to talk is very tiresome. Let’s sit in the theater!”

“It’s too noisy!”

“Then, let’s go to a cafe!”

The four went to a nearby cafe and Li Biao was very polite. As he ordered a few things, Chen Shi noticed the beads around his wrist, the big gold ring on his finger, the gold tooth in his mouth, and the antique carved-walnuts in his hand. Along with the silk gown worn on his body, Chen Shi thought that he really did resemble a wealthy idler.

Chen Shi announced, “I won't beat around the bush!” He spread a few photos on the table one by one. “These people are all friends of Liu Hong and you must know a few of them. They have disappeared in recent years.”

“I know. They were all killed by that kid, Liu Hong,” Li Biao said.

1. Alerting the other party.

2. I found this on Google: Triangle eyes are not a common shape. Typically the point that causes a person's eyes to appear triangular in shape is not truly the eye shape, but rather a drooping eyelid that has a slant which cuts off the true shape of the eye. The eyelid itself can create a sharp triangle or a soft triangle.