Hua Chong took off his latex gloves, his eyes were half-squinted because he was facing the sun, and the light that leaked out from the corners of his eyes was a little bit elusive and cold, which made his whole person look unruffled and authoritative.
“Hello, my, my name is Qiu Dakui.” The middle-aged man seemed uneasy, constantly raising his hand to wipe the sweat on his forehead. His voice sounded a bit timid, which was inconsistent with his physique. “I just finished selling youtiao and I still have to prepare lunch boxes later. Is there something you want with me?”
Hua Chong showed his ID and raised his chin toward the nearest single-story house: “Is that your home?”
“Yes. It’s my old man’s house. We’ve been living here for decades.”
Hua Chong glanced at the apron Qiu Dakui hadn’t taken off yet and asked as if he was making small talk: “Which intersection do you usually sell baozi and youtiao at?”
Qiu Dakui was stunned for a moment and then eased up a bit, “Hey,” he said, “if I’m lucky, I can get a good spot near the subway station or bus stop. If not, I have to settle for selling in Erli Alley.”
“You have to wake up very early to prepare breakfast, right? You’ve worked hard.”
“Yes, yes, we have to knead the dough and grind the meat.” Qiu Dakui thought for a moment and added: “But it can’t compare to you police comrades. You worked harder.”
Hua Chong smiled: “If you wake up early, do you also go to bed early?”
Qiu Dakui bit his dry lips and scratched his calloused hands: “Uh, en, I go to bed quite early.”
Hua Chong stared into his eyes: “Go to bed early and get up early, why you still don’t have enough sleep?”
“Ah?” Qiu Dakui looked up, feeling uneasy again, with an inexplicable and timid look on his face.
“You look very tired.” Hua Chong pointed to Qu Zhi beside him. “Look, both of you have quite heavy bags under your eyes, and your eyes lack vitality. This is what happens when you don’t get enough sleep for a long time.”
Qu Zhi, who usually stayed up all night playing games when there were no cases: “…”
Qiu Dakui gulped, not daring to meet Hua Chong’s eyes: “I like to play cards at night.”
“Oh? Where do you play?”
“Right across the street at Old Zhao’s house.” Qiu Dakui became more and more nervous as he spoke, “We play small, just ten or so yuan for wins and losses. It doesn’t… it doesn’t count as illegal gambling, right?”
Hua Chong didn’t respond, instead he asked: “What time do you usually come home after playing cards?”
“Just, just around eleven or twelve. I don’t dare to stay out too late. I have to get up around three in the middle of the night to prepare breakfast.”
Hua Chong changed the topic: “Then recently, when you came home after playing cards, did you hear anything?”
“No! Really, I haven’t.” Qiu Dakui hurriedly explained, “In my house, it’s just me, my daughter, and my old man. My old man and my daughter go to bed early. When I came home, I washed my face and soaked my feet before going to sleep. I didn’t hear anything unusual.”
“You told the detective at the precinct yesterday that you went up to the wasteland behind the house because you smelled an odd smell?”
“Yes. I wanted to come over and see what it was, but I didn’t expect it to be a corpse!”
Hua Chong’s eyebrows twitched slightly: “You didn’t expect it to be a corpse? Then, what did you think it was?”
Qiu Dakui was sweating nervously, “I-I-I just said it casually. I didn’t think it was anything. Who would have thought there would be a dead body thrown behind my house! Officer, this case has nothing to do with me. Also, I really didn’t take random photos, and I didn’t call those who destroyed the scene.”
Hua Chong nodded: “Yeah, don’t be nervous. You casually mentioned it and I casually asked. Since you discovered the victim, we’ll need your cooperation in our investigation in the future.”
Qiu Dakui rubbed his hands, “Of course, of course. Officer, if there’s nothing else, I’ll head back. My old man is waiting for me to prepare lunch boxes. He has a bad temper, so if I go back late, I’ll be scolded by him again.”
Hua Chong signaled that he could leave. As Qiu Dakui took a few steps away, Hua Chong suddenly called out: “Qiu Dakui.”
Qiu Dakui nearly stumbled at the sound of his voice, and said impatiently, “Officer, is there anything else?”
“You were the first to discover the victim, why didn’t you call the police immediately?”
“I…” Qiu Dakui stood in place, looking completely lost. After stammering ‘I’ for a while, he finally said: “It was the first time I saw a dead person, and her appearance was so horrifying. She had no feet, and her eyes…only two bloody holes, staring straight at me. I was scared, completely scared at that moment. I was in shock and just kept shouting. Reporting to the police didn’t even cross my mind. The local police officers told me yesterday that it was all because of my screaming that so many people came. Ah, I… I really regret it!”
Hua Chong looked at him in a seemingly amicable manner for a moment, then suddenly pulled out a polite smile: “Alright, I have a good understanding now. You can go back to your business, ba.”
Qiu Dakui didn’t dare to stay any longer and quickly turned around to leave.
Hua Chong stood in place and watched, feeling that he was running away more desperately than Monkey just now.
But Monkey was still a child and he ran away because he had done the wrong thing of ‘playing in the wasteland’ and was worried about being scolded by his parents, but why would Qiu Dakui, a big old man, run away so fast with his tail between his legs?1夹着尾巴 (jiā zhe wěi ba) (lit. run away with one’s tail between one’s legs): It is often used metaphorically to describe someone who is behaving in a submissive or cautious manner. In this context, it implies that the person is acting timidly or nervously, possibly due to guilt or fear of reprimand.
Could it be that he had done something wrong too?
Was it because he failed to protect the scene? Or not immediately reporting it?
Hua Chong touched his chin, felt that both were very far-fetched, so he put it aside for the time being and turned to Qu Zhi: “How’s the progress with the questioning?”
Qu Zhi shook his head: “These are all households that have been here for decades. The rich and well-connected people have all moved away. There are basically no new residents in the empty houses, and there are usually no outsiders. My team and I went door-to-door, asking everyone, but they all said they hadn’t seen Xu Yujiao before.”
Xu Yujiao was the name of the deceased.
Hua Chong lowered his gaze, and the color of his pupils deepened. At this moment, the ringtone of his phone shattered the eerie silence, as if a slender opening had been made in the lingering stench of a corpse.
Hua Chong answered the phone. Then, he said in a low voice, “I’ll be back shortly.”
•
“Xu Yujiao, female, 28 years old, customer manager at the Shangke Road branch of Xinluo Bank in Luo’an District. After the autopsy, it can be tentatively deduced that the time of death was three days ago——specifically, between 10:30 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. on the night of March 13th. From the bloodstains and plant indentations at the scene, the place where the body was found should be the primary crime scene.”
The windows of Meeting Room 2 in the Criminal Investigation Detachment of the Municipal Bureau were tightly shut. Forensic pathologist Xu Kan, dressed in a white lab coat, stood in front of the projection screen, facing the eerie light of the projector. Behind him were photos of the bloody scene and autopsy records. The dim light slid over the gold-rimmed edges of his glasses, casting a smooth shadow.
The criminal police officers of the Serious Crimes Unit sat in a circle around the conference table, except Hua Chong, who stood by the window, pensive and pacing at a very light pace. He had one hand tucked in the pocket of his uniform pants, while the other toyed with a lighter. The cuffs of his shirt were rolled up, and the skin of his forearm was shrouded in the cold shadow of the curtain.
From Xu Kan’s perspective, the lines of his chin and nose appeared meticulously crafted. The dividing line between his forehead and hair was straight with just the right amount of roundness. His thin lips were slightly pursed, and there was a subtle, natural downward curve at the corners of his eyes. His face was pale from the light of the projector, and the light and shadows in his eyes overlapped, creating a dense and probing gaze.
No one knew what he was thinking.
Xu Kan withdrew his gaze, cleared his throat, and then turned on the infrared indicator light. He circled the deceased’s head, his deep voice carrying a certain texture: “Xu Yujiao had 14 violent injuries all over her body, with the head being the most severe——both of her eyes were gouged out, both ears cut off at the roots, and both cochleae on either side were crushed by a sharp instrument. However, these injuries showed no signs of vital reactions; they were done after the death. The fatal injury is located at the back of the head, where the victim’s skull is sunken, indicating a blunt object was used as the weapon. The murderer struck her multiple times in the back of the head. Judging from the extent of the damage and the morphology, the murder weapon is a household hammer.”
As he spoke, Xu Kan clicked the mouse, zooming in on the details of the crime scene photos taken by the Fukang Precinct criminal police yesterday. The cruel scene of abuse and murder stimulated everyone’s nerves. Hu Qianqian, the newly arrived female officer from the Technical Investigation team, sat in the corner and shrank her neck slightly.
Xu Kan paused for a moment, shifting the infrared indicator to the lower half of the body, and continued, “The murderer engaged in sexual assault on the victim, but was extremely careful not to leave any evidences such as semen, hair, skin tissue, or anything that could be tested for DNA. We detected the lubricant from a condom in Xu Yujiao’s genital area, indicating that he used protection during the assault.”
“Oral, anal, thighs, chest— all checked?” Hua Chong suddenly inquired.
“Checked them all,” Xu Kan shrugged, “but found nothing.”
Hua Chong squinted, switching the lighter to the other hand, “Continue.”
Xu Kan nodded, “Xu Yujiao’s ankle bone was smashed with a blunt instrument, and her feet and legs were separated. One of the murder weapons was a household hammer that caused fatal injuries to the skull and the other is a knife used to gouge the eyes and stab the ears. Similar to the facial injuries, there was no vital response at the severed limbs, indicating it was caused after death. Xu Yujiao’s clothing has been taken for forensic analysis, and residues of sesame oil and opium poppy were found.”
“Poppy?” Qu Zhi leaned forward.
“Two hours before the incident, Xu Yujiao had eaten food like hot pots and skewers.” Xu Zhi said.
Hua Chong turned to the leader of the Technical Investigation Team, Yuan Hao: “Immediately retrieve the surveillance footage from around Daoqiao Road between 8 PM on the 13th and early morning on the next day.”
Yuan Hao was a few years younger than Hua Chong, with a rough physique resembling a middle-aged man. However, despite his rough appearance, this man had a bit of the coyness typical of a young girl when he spoke. He said in a low voice: “Daoqiao Road is the most chaotic street in Fukang District. I took someone to check the surveillance this morning, guess what?”
“There aren’t many working cameras?” Hua Chong seemed unsurprised.
“Yes!” Yuan Hao raised his eyebrows. “They don’t report when they’re broken, and some of them are still using old cameras that were phased out a few years ago.”
Hua Chong pulled back a chair and sat down: “Let’s check first.”
Yuan Hao grinned: “Alright.”
Xu Kan added: “When the victim was found, a wooden board was pressing on her body, and her ID card and bank card were under her right leg. The Trace Inspection Department has already checked; the murderer did not leave fingerprints or DNA on these items.”
Hua Chong paused, his gaze drifting towards Xu Kan: “The scene was severely damaged, and the deceased did not leave any information on his body that could point to the murderer, so it is currently impossible to characterize the murderer for the time being, correct?”
Xu Kan turned off the infrared indicator light and said with a slightly solemn expression, “That’s correct.”
“The Technical Investigation Team will work an extra shift to go through any video that can be accessed after 8:00 pm on the 13th.” The lighter in Hua Chong’s hand made a loud sound on the table. “Qu Zhi, you divide everyone into groups. One group continue to visit Daoqiao Road, focusing on areas not captured by the cameras; just because cameras don’t see it doesn’t mean people didn’t. Another group to investigate Xu Yujiao’s social connections. Since the murderer is very cunning and left no clues whatsoever, we’ll just have to work harder and start with Xu Yujiao.”
“Also,” he turned to Yuan Hao, “Haozi2Basically his name+子. 子(zi) here is used to indicates familiarity, you personally go to the Shangke Road branch. Retrieve the surveillance footage from the bank and the surrounding public cameras around the time of the 13th after work hours.”
Everyone stood up quickly and Xu Kan put away the projection screen. Once he pulled the curtains, the lazy spring sunlight illuminated the entire conference room.
Hua Chong did not leave immediately. He propped up his chin with one hand and fiddled with his lighter for a moment.
“What are you thinking?” Xu Kan stretched and leaned his back against the edge of the table.
Hua Chong closed his eyes in the pouring sunlight, a light crease rising between his eyebrows.
“The murderer’s behavior was very contradictory,” he said.
