Lin Dongxue followed Lin Qiupu into the room and saw the person who reported the case, Mr. Li, sitting on the sofa holding his head, silent as a sculpture. Sitting next to him, an aunt dressed as a nanny was wiping her tears away.

This was a very exquisite apartment. It can be seen that the homeowner not only had good economic conditions, but also had a good taste in life. Peng Sijue’s team was currently searching the deceased's bedroom and packing the deceased's belongings into boxes.

Lin Qiupu sat down opposite Mr. Li and took out his notebook. "When was it found?"

It was too cruel to ask "when was your daughter's head found" in front of the father, so Lin Qiupu omitted it. Last night, Li Mengran, the daughter of Mr. Li was killed. Her head was cut off and hung in a black bag on the family’s door handle. The bag was a rubbish bag that could be found anywhere.

Other than the head, the body hadn’t been found. Because there was only a head available, the time of death was a bit vague.

"Around 1:00AM..." Mr. Li said in a muffled voice, as if he had been sitting in this position all night. The ashtray on the coffee table next to him was full of cigarette butts.

"Why did she run away from home?"

"She didn't do well in the entrance examination. I asked her to repeat another year. After some disputes, she ran away... My daughter has always been very good. It was my fault. I shouldn't have been so angry and slapped her. It's all my fault!" Mr. Li struck his head with his fist and wept.

"Mr. Li, don't be agitated!"

"Ranran is gone. What's the point of me being alive? Her mother and I divorced when she was young. I’ve raised her ever since. She has always been very obedient and sensible. She was my hopes and dreams. Ranran... Ranran..." Mr. Li cried uncontrollably again.

It was almost impossible to continue questioning him. Lin Qiupu asked Lin Dongxue to comfort him for a while and called the nanny to another room to question her.

Aunty Wu told them everything again. After Li Mengran ran away at around 3:00PM yesterday, they called relatives, Li Mengran’s classmates, and teachers. The surrounding bookstores and tea shops were also asked. Li Mengran never went to Internet cafes, but they even went to Internet cafes to try and find her.

Because Li Mengran turned her phone off, Aunty Wu would try to find her and then go back home once in a while to see if she came back. Then at 1:00AM, this had happened.

"I’ve watched Ranran grow up. She’s just like my daughter. I lost my soul today when this kind of thing happened." Aunty Wu wiped her tears away.

"Why didn't you contact the child's biological mother?"

"Mrs. Li and Mr. Li divorced when she was very young. She basically has no impressions of her biological mother. Later, Mrs. Li created a new family for herself and has had almost no contact with Mr. Li."

Just in case, Lin Qiupu still asked, "Do you know her contact information?"

"I'll find it for you."

Aunty Wu went out as Lin Dongxue came in holding a piece of paper in her hand. "This child’s estimated score was 630. The father actually thought that she didn't do well in the exam. I just asked and the father wanted her to get into Peking University no matter what. The daughter was unwilling to repeat her studying for a year. This is when there was a conflict... He said that he hadn’t hit her for ten years, but yesterday, he was so angry that he slapped her."

Lin Qiupu was also surprised that they were so strict on her. He said, "This is not the point. Don't ask any more and poke people when they’re already hurting."

"I didn't ask, it was Mr. Li who volunteered this information."

After the questioning, the other policemen went back first. Lin Qiupu and Lin Dongxue checked for surveillance footage nearby. From the entrance of the house, the surveillance of a convenience store captured Li Mengran at 2:30 in the afternoon buying drinks and ice cream. The clerk said that the girl sat in the store for a while and played on her phone before leaving.

Lin Dongxue said, "The deceased ran out without changing her clothes and did not bring her ID card. It is unlikely she’d go to an Internet cafe or the like. I’m guessing she went to see her classmates."

"The deceased's mobile phone must have communication records!" Lin Qiupu took out his mobile phone and dialed it. "Her phone is indeed turned off and can’t be located via GPS." He called the information department and asked them to check the deceased's text communication records, WeChat, and qq chat history.

Today was really hot. When they walked into an air-conditioned convenience store, they didn’t want to leave. Lin Qiupu bought two bottles of cold mineral water and two Xiaoxuesheng ice popsicles[1], paid for them, and handed them to Lin Dongxue. Lin Dongxue said, “Is eating a popsicle while we investigate okay?"

"What if I did it first?" Lin Qiupu ripped the packaging open.

"Thank you, Captain." Lin Dongxue opened hers. It was a nostalgic taste, but it didn’t seem as delicious as it was when she was young.

The surveillance footage showed that Li Mengran went south after leaving. The two followed that direction and investigated all the footage available to them. The monitoring of a parking lot showed that a man came out of the parking lot around 9:00 last night and chased after Li Mengran. The two left side by side.

Lin Qiupu stared at the screen and said, "Enlarge the picture!"

The parking lot security guard was bewildered. Lin Qiupu remembered that it was not the equipment in the bureau and it could only pause. Lin Dongxue leaned over to look at it and her face almost touched her brother’s. Lin Qiupu analyzed, "He seems about 1.8 meters tall and of medium build."

"This person has a car and is unlikely to be a student." Lin Dongxue said.

"Go back and see which car it was."

A Mercedes-Benz drove in a minute ago and the number was captured very clearly. Lin Qiupu exclaimed, "Note it down!"

"Brother!" Lin Dongxue usually didn’t address him as "Brother" during working hours. "Why is this license plate so familiar?"

"Saxxx... Xu Xiaodong's car!"

The two couldn't believe it. When they watched the video again, they felt like the person they were looking at became more and more like Xu Xiaodong. At this time, the office called and told Lin Qiupu, "At about 8:00 last night, the deceased chatted with a person and said that she ran away from home. The information shows that it was Xu Xiaodong!"

"The last person she contacted was him?!" Lin Qiupu did not want this to be true.

"It's him, and she hasn't contacted anyone else since."

"Call Xu Xiaodong back to the team for investigation! No, our second team should avoid suspicion and let the first team investigate him."

Lin Qiupu put down the phone and his gaze was indescribable. Lin Dongxue grabbed his arm and said, "Brother, it’s impossible for Xiaodong to kill anyone."

"Let's talk when we finish investigating!"

Although Lin Dongxue wanted to run back and ask Xu Xiaodong what was going on, the way to help him now was to continue the investigation. She said, "Let’s continue to check the surveillance footage!"

"Okay, let’s keep checking."

At 2:00PM, the two people found another video that gave them a lead. The footage still showed that Xu Xiaodong and Li Mengran were walking side by side at 10:00PM, but Xu Xiaodong's jacket was put on Li Mengran.

This footage meant that suspicion towards Xu Xiaodong had increased even more. The two had no energy to investigate further as they felt like they were about to get heatstroke.

Back in Lin Qiupu's car, although the air-conditioning was very comfortable, Lin Dongxue was panicked. She said, "Xiaodong wouldn’t kill anyone."

Lin Qiupu shook his head. "Dongxue, I also believe that he wouldn’t kill, but we are police and have to work according to the regulations. We need to operate according to evidence!"

Lin Dongxue gritted her teeth and pulled out her mobile phone. "I'm looking for Chen Shi to help!"

1. They actually look pretty cute it seems. https://img11.360buyimg.com/n1/jfs/t1/31672/18/3899/380449/5c7918b3Ebf25685b/919d07a260d27886.jpg