Chapter 475: Three Rabbit Holes[1]

The police reported their various findings. Neighbors said that the tenant might be a man or two men, but the neighbors didn’t see them enter the unit with their own eyes because the stairs were dimly lit and their faces couldn’t be seen clearly.

Some takeaway boxes, empty cup noodles, and other garbage was found at the scene. After tracing them back to the source, the business and the delivery staff were found. They said that this family always sent a note telling them to only leave everything downstairs when ordering food. It would often be around 7:00 or 8:00 in the evening. The food-delivery person was a middle-aged man with slightly sparse hair. His body was average leaning towards being overweight. As for other characteristics, the descriptions they got from other delivery staff were all different from each other.

The surveillance cameras in the community had been copied. The flow of people in and out of the community was quite large yesterday. It would take time and effort to verify everyone, and they wouldn’t be able to find references for the suspect from within the people in a short time.”

Then, Peng Sijue submitted his autopsy report. He said, "The corpse has already been minced like this, so many routine tests couldn’t be carried out. We weighed the blood, organs and minced meat brought back from the scene and determined that it belongs to a single person. The deceased is a woman who is about 25 years old with a lot of fat accumulated in the inner walls of the small intestine. This indicates that her figure leaned towards being overweight and she had a hobby of smoking and drinking. I found that her stomach was almost empty and the blood sugar in the blood was low. She may not have eaten for a long period of time before her death. In addition, the abnormally high number of acidoglycoproteins and white blood cells in her blood indicate that she had been under intense stress for a long time prior to her death."

Lin Qiupu said, "That means she was abused and imprisoned?"

Peng Sijue didn’t accept nor deny this claim. Then, Chen Shi said, "You haven't said the time of death."

"This is difficult to judge. The corpse has already become like that. The murderer also added salt to the body which has affected the reproduction of bacteria. The preliminary conclusion is that the time of death is about three to five days ago."

"Three to five days? The range is really big." Chen Shi pondered.

Peng Sijue went on to say, "By the way, treponema pallidum, that is, syphilis, was also found on the deceased. It should have been in an early incubation state."

Lin Qiupu nodded and asked Chen Shi, "What’s your opinion on this?"

Chen Shi said, "I was thinking about a question. Where is the murderer right now? The murderer quickly moved away after the incident was revealed, indicating that they were already prepared. Also, everyone here has visited the house. There was no bed or decent furniture, and it didn’t look like a place that people stayed at at all. I think the murderer may be elsewhere. It’s likely that they have another hiding place within the same community."

Lin Qiupu said, "I thought you’d come up with more shocking opinions!"

Chen Shi shrugged. "We can only see the corpse right now. Who is she? How did she die? Where did she come from? It’s all unknown. We’ll have to investigate slowly. But, I have a feeling that the murderer's technique is professional and the mental quality is extremely high. This is unlikely the first time that they’ve committed a crime. We should investigate some old cases!”

Right now was the ice-breaking stage of the case. Lin Qiupu didn’t assign anyone tasks and allowed everyone to investigate for clues however they wanted.

Everyone went out one after another. Only Chen Shi sat back without moving. Lin Dongxue went over and urged him. "Let’s investigate!"

Chen Shi replied, "You should go by yourself. Or, come and check a number with me. The number the murderer used in renting the house."

"Isn't that number not bound to an ID card? How do we check it?"

"Yeah, without the ID card binding it, the police can't trace his true identity. He shouldn’t use such a convenient number just once."

"You mean…"

"Go and call the real estate agent."

The two of them turned on their phones and called each agency according to a rental website. This work was very boring. As soon as the other party heard that they were police, six out of ten of them suspected them to be scammers. They said two or three words before hanging up, causing anger to well up in Lin Dongxue’s stomach.

While recording down the phone numbers of these agents, Chen Shi said, "Since they’re treating us as scammers, we’ll go over there and humiliate them in person.”

"I’ve made so many calls that I’m about to vomit. It’s as if I were a telemarketer."

"Haha, our investigation is much more difficult than making telephone sales. In telemarketing, as long as we come across people who are willing to buy, it’s fine. For us, we need to find the correct one when investigating."

"So when you find the right one, the pleasure is greater than selling things, right?"

"That's right." Chen Shi dialed another number again. They repeated the same words countless times. "Hello, I'm from the Long'an City Public Security Bureau. We are investigating a case and want to find some information from you..."

After hearing this, the other party asked, "You want to check a number? Read it out to me. I’ll look it up on the computer."

Chen Shi reported the number and waited calmly while continuing to play Lianliankan on the computer. At this time, the other party said, "This number has rented a house here with us before."

Chen Shi and Lin Dongxue almost jumped with excitement. Chen Shi asked, "What is the name of the tenant?"

"The logs say ‘Mr. Shen’."

"Is the contract signed?"

"No, but the rent for a quarter of the year had been paid. My colleague has tried contacting him numerous times, wanting the contract to be signed, but he kept dragging it out. Later, the owner found a tenant and signed the contract with them. They prepared to move in and we thought that it would be a big problem where both sides would have a big dispute. We didn’t think that this Mr. Shen would move away quietly by himself without contacting us or asking for a refund. I thought it was weird at the time. This person was either particularly rich, or doing something illegal that they didn’t want others to see."

"What about that house now?"

"Someone lives there now. It's a family of three."

"This Mr. Shen. Have you or your colleagues seen him before?"

"My colleague said he saw him once."

Chen Shi was relieved and said, "We’re coming over now. It’s almost noon. I’ll invite you two to have a meal to understand the situation a bit better, okay?"

Of course, Chen Shi wasn’t going to treat them for nothing. He went to Peng Sijue to borrow something, took a laptop, and then drove to the real estate agency with Lin Dongxue. The agents who received them were surnamed Wang and Liu. After exchanging some pleasantries, they followed Chen Shi to the nearest little restaurant and said that it was their honor to assist the police in handling the case. When the two were talking, they peeked at Lin Dongxue.

Chen Shi asked, "Excuse me, which one of you has seen that Mr. Shen?"

Agent Liu said, "It's me. I’ve only seen him once."

"What does he look like?"

"Uh, a little taller than me. A bit fat and a little bald."

Chen Shi and Lin Dongxue exchanged glances with each other subtlety. These features were the same as the person that the neighbors had witnessed. Chen Shi opened the laptop and placed it in front of agent Liu. He said, "Could you please use this to restore the face you saw?"

The laptop was equipped with portrait creation software. Agent Liu’s brows were knitted as he slowly pieced together a face from what he remembered. His stomach was already making sounds and he said with a smile, "How come the dishes haven't come up yet? Should I rush them?"

"No, I just talked to the boss and told them to make the dishes later, so just piece together the face first! I also ordered double cooked pork and sweet and sour pork ribs. When we’re done, we can drink beer and eat a good meal, alright?" Chen Shi smiled.

The two agents were shocked and stared at the fried dishes on the other tables while salivating. They thought that the policeman in front of them wasn’t someone to be underestimated and could only continue to piece together the face.

1. An expression used to describe sly and cunning people who don’t just stay in one place. Rabbits usually create many entrances and exits for themselves.