Chapter 305 - 302: Shutting Down in 30 Seconds

Chapter 305: Chapter 302: Shutting Down in 30 Seconds

Shen Yi was a bit listless with only ten percent battery left. After the landlady and her daughter went to sleep, her eyes darted around mischievously as she trotted up to the second floor. Before long, she came back down wearing men’s pajamas. As she sprawled on the sofa, she could faintly smell a certain someone’s scent on the pajamas, which brought her a bit of comfort.

"Ah~~~ comfortable. Not coming back? Don’t come back then. You don’t come, this home is my kingdom! Wahahaha!" Shen Yi laughed, amusing herself with her self-talk.

After all, the company’s issues now had a clue and a solution. Wen Nanqing’s elder brother had already reached out to connections to start dealing with Xu Feng’s company. All she had to do was wait for good news.

The main problem was that her connections accumulated over the years were all in the capital. Having only been in Jiang City for just over six months, she indeed felt a bit out of her element. Faced with such matters, she could only lay back and cling to her company’s major shareholder’s thigh.

Since someone had agreed to take over this matter, she naturally could eat and sleep as usual, just keeping an eye on the flow of goods from Xu Feng’s company and explaining her predicament to other collaborators.

Luckily, Wen Jingqi stood as her guarantor, otherwise, she wouldn’t have been able to hold back the unease among the collaborators.

Business is like that. When they hear you’re in trouble, they first worry about whether it will affect their interests, then talk about relationships.

However, after laughing for a while, Shen Yi’s face suddenly flushed as if she thought of something, then she spat out, "Peh~~ Pervert! No, too sleazy!"

She was about to undo the buttons of her pajamas, but after some thought, she restrained her sense of shame and slowly walked towards the second floor. As she walked, she deliberately looked back at the door, and for safety’s sake, she ran to the window and looked outside. Not seeing any familiar silhouettes, she entered the second-floor bedroom happily.

The next day, Shen Yi looked somewhat better. Feeling a bit guilty of being a thief, she got up and restored the room to its original state, afraid of any difference from before. After completing everything, she went downstairs to the company satisfied.

On the other hand, learning from yesterday’s experience, Su Qing dared not laze in bed. He had breakfast before Li Zijun arrived, then found Huang’Er, who was sound asleep in the corner of the living room, and gave its belly a nudge.

"Hey, get up. Time for work!"

Huang’Er: "Woof woof" [Get lost, don’t bother me!]

"Hey, still dare to curse at me. Get up and go make money. Wake up, wake up!" Su Qing yelled as he ruffled Huang’Er’s dog head.

But Huang’Er was indifferent, letting Su Qing ruffle him, determined to keep its eyes closed.

Finally, with no other choice, Su Qing lifted Huang’Er’s ear and whispered, "Huang’Er, stop sleeping, there’s a black stocking!"

The next second, Huang’Er’s eyes widened: "Woof woof!" [Where? Where?]

Su Qing: ...

Peh, naughty dog! He promptly grabbed Huang’Er’s hind leg and dragged it out the door.

Although he could skip work, Huang’Er could not. If it didn’t work, who would earn money to support the family?

As for him? No way. Whether it’s the profits from short videos or the huge sums from stock trading, that money is for buying a house, a car, and getting married, so it can’t be used for daily expenses.

In short, all his money has its uses, so don’t expect him to subsidize the household. As for Huang’Er’s money, that’s up for grabs—food, drink, rent, utilities, video subscriptions, sea cucumbers, lobsters, and of course, Huang’Er’s black stockings.

All these expenses would come out of Huang’Er’s earnings. Not even gods are moochers in this house, let alone a dog. Didn’t you see the Buddha statue and crucifix returned to the cabinet the next day?

With Huang’Er in tow, they took a cab straight to the company. On the first floor, Huang’Er cozied up to the receptionist girl and, with satisfaction, went upstairs after nibbling a hole in her stocking.

As they climbed the stairs, a voiceover flickered in Su Qing’s mind.

"Only fifteen percent battery remaining, please charge soon!"

Su Qing: ???

No battery? Instinctively, he checked his phone and found it fully charged, a bit confused. Then he let Huang’Er into the company and messaged old Wang that he’d brought Huang’Er, but since he had errands, Wang should find Huang’Er himself.

Having done all this, he exited downstairs, heading straight to the police station to participate in the case investigation.

At the police station, work proceeded with unusual difficulty due to the scarce clues. Just like that, another two days passed, and it was Wednesday.

That day finally brought good news—bloodstains were detected on the lighter Du Qiang had brought back last time, which matched the victim’s blood, though still no fingerprints were found on the lighter.

Nonetheless, the discovery excited everyone because it narrowed down the suspect pool by half.

The lighter was found upstream of the corpse, so the downstream personnel could now focus their efforts upstream for a more thorough investigation.

In a small meeting room, Lin Chengcai, Zhao Minghui, Du Qiang, Li Zijun, and Su Qing were resting while reviewing the clues on the whiteboard.

"This is unbelievable. Even after three months and a washout by heavy rain, to be able to dig it from the mud and still detect blood?" marveled Su Qing, feeling the method somewhat beyond his comprehension.

Upon hearing this, Li Zijun chimed in, "Look at you; such a provincial attitude. Our crime investigation unit is full of talent and diverse methods for solving cases—some rely on technology, others on deduction, and naturally, some on physical and chemical techniques."

"Physical and chemical? Sorry, even though I studied science, I’ve forgotten the periodic table, only recalling water as H2O," Su Qing spread his hands wide.

He was quite the failing student. Through high school, he was either in the class’s last row or flanking the protectors. That he got into a bachelor’s program was beyond him, with his mother offering extra incense to Manjushri Bodhisattva later.

"It’s a common forensics technique using luminescent ammonia to detect traces of blood," Lin Chengcai explained.

"Luminous ammonia? Like the kind in glow-in-the-dark watches?"

Lin Chengcai nodded, "Something like that. Luminous ammonia is originally called Luminol. It’s a mixed reagent of Luminol and hydrogen peroxide that can detect blood. The ferrous ions in hemoglobin can catalyze an oxidation reaction, causing it to emit a blue glow. Of course, it needs to be observed in a dark environment, and it’ll be more obvious under a UV light. Even if blood stains have been left for decades, they can still be detected."

Hearing this, Su Qing was dumbfounded. Although Captain Lin rattled off a lot, he didn’t really understand much, except that bloodstains could be made to glow even after being left for decades.

"Master, why are you telling him all this? You can tell by looking at him that he didn’t get it," Li Zijun said helplessly.

In fact, if you really delve into the principles behind it, none of the people present comprehended it, only professionals could explain it properly. But since they were detectives, they didn’t have to worry about the technical aspects since there were experts for that.

Meanwhile, Zhao Minghui took a deep breath and removed half of the notes and photos on the whiteboard.

"In that case, let’s focus our investigation upstream of the body.

Considering the terrain and the limited physical strength of the human body, we’ll confine our search to Ning County and a small part of the surrounding villages.

These past few days, despite our team’s visits, no one has reported any clues, so we’ll set that aside for now.

Regarding the Bone-Carving Knife, including livestock slaughter, selling meat at markets, and running pig farms, there are 19 people. Based on the age profile of the victim, I’ve narrowed down the suspect range: those under 45 or having sons aged between 20 and 35, leaving only fourteen. Further excluding those whose sons are studying or working outside, only seven remain,"

Zhao Minghui marked seven names on the whiteboard. These were the details they had gathered over the past few days.

At this moment, Su Qing was staring at the third marked name on the whiteboard, Zhang Guoxin.

Next to the name was his background, a 53-year-old resident of Nankou Village in Ning County, he had been buying and selling livestock in several nearby villages for years. It was small-scale business, and sometimes he even lost money, dealing in cattle, horses, sheep, and pigs.

Since he often dealt with livestock, it was natural that he killed them too, and he had the necessary tools at home. Logically, he shouldn’t be a suspect at his age, but he had a 30-year-old son, so he was included in the investigation.

Among the seven left, six were in similar situations: having a son who still lived locally. Only one person was under forty-five and still doing work involving frequent use of the Bone-Carving Knife.

It was evident that young people were no longer willing to do such jobs.

However, what really caught Su Qing’s attention was the narration in his mind, which was simple, just one sentence.

[Unknowing Old Father]

Though it didn’t explicitly point to who the murderer was, he knew who it was. Otherwise, the narration wouldn’t give such a hint without reason.

What puzzled him was why it wasn’t in Fen Dong Village. Was there another story?

Just as he was deep in thought, Zhao Minghui’s voice came from the side:

"Alright, let’s stop here for now. This case won’t be wrapped up quickly. You’re off early today!"

"Let’s go! What are you staring at? Aren’t you eager to get off work?" Du Qiang shouted at him, prompting him to quickly follow outside.

As soon as he stepped out of the police station, his phone rang. When he checked, he was surprised to see it was the landlady.

"Hello Wen Jie!"

"Xiao Su, where are you?" The landlady’s voice came through the line, sounding urgent, making his heart sink. Had something happened again?

"I just got off work, just left the police station!"

"Hurry back, quickly!"

"What happened, Wen Jie, what’s going on?"

"It’s not about me, it’s Xiao Yi."

"What about Auntie Shen?"

"She... she... she..."

"Just say it!" Su Qing was about to panic.

"No power! Haha!"

Su Qing: ...

"Stop joking, Wen Jie, you scared me!"

"Who’s kidding? She’s really about to run out of power. There’s thirty seconds to automatic shutdown, do what you see fit!"

...