501 Her Pleads (1/2)
This was the fifth case related to the ”zombie drug”, which Serious Crime Division One handled after they took over the case in its entirety.
Bai Muchuan made Tang Yuanchu stop the car outside the street and walked over to the crime scene.
Xiang Wan exited the car as well.
The winds outside felt piercing cold.
Xiang Wan adjusted her muffler as she walked with them. She furrowed her eyebrows as she inspected the place before her.
If she had not set foot on this place personally, Xiang Wan would have never known that there would be such slums in the prosperous and well-developed Capital.
The dilapidated houses there seemed like the legacies of the 1980s and 1990s. There were even older buildings before liberation. Basically, they were single-story houses as well as those informal squatters unguided by urban planning. Even if there are two-or-three-story buildings, after being exposed to the wind and rain, their outer walls revealed the bricks that belonged to the last century. In this overly crowded, narrow street where piles of garbage and old things line along both sides of the path, it was a sharp contrast against the rows of high-rise buildings they saw during their journey here.
There was a foul smell in the air.
In this small street, the rays of the sun could hardly reach them.
There were very few people living there. As they walked into the street, they were very uncomfortable at what they saw.
”I can't imagine…”
”And here I thought the Capital is filled with millionaires. As long as anyone could own a house here, they are definitely wealthy folks…”
”It also depends on whether the developer could afford the land,” said Bai Muchuan.
The few of them walked to an old single-story housing.
The police had cordoned off the area.
Bai Muchuan walked into the cordoned area by lifting the barricade tape.
He was right; this was a piece of land that developers couldn't afford to tear down. The wealthy ones in that area had already moved to another area to stay and asked for exorbitant prices if anyone wanted to buy the land. The remaining people were mostly poverty-ridden citizens—the elderly, the disabled, and the ill. They were the ones who looked forward to receiving offers from the developers or government on redevelopment works in the area…
Xiang Wan went inside the cordoned area as well, and she adjusted her coat.
The weather was freezing.
Somehow, it felt colder suddenly.
”Captain Bai.”
Ding Yifan had arrived earlier than them. When he saw Bai Muchuan, he hurried over to them.
”How's the situation?”
”It's like this…”
Ding Yifan gave an account to them as they walked.
Bai Muchuan followed him and entered the house.
Since he was very tall, in this low single-story house, he would be unable to enter if he straightened his back.
The room seemed rather dark with only a dim yellow light.
Hence, Ding Yifan was using a flashlight with high wattage.
The light from the flashlight was very strong. When Ding Yifan showed them what was on the floor, Xiang Wan saw a long, ragged trail of blood that ran towards a room…
”This is the first scene.”
Ding Yifan talked about the situation again.
Bai Muchuan nodded. ”Where's Cheng Zheng?”
Ding Yifan pointed at the room where the trail of bloodstains end. ”Captain Cheng is inside there!”
Bai Muchuan took the shoe covers and gloves that Tang Yuanchu gave without saying a word. After he wore them, he walked into the room slowly.
The door was short and narrow, as well as old and worn out.
He furrowed his eyebrows for a moment before arching himself to enter the room.
The light inside was dimmer than in the living room. Cheng Zheng and Mei Xin were crouching on the floor. He was talking seriously as Mei Xin noted down what he said diligently. There were two police officers guarding a pair of mother and son who suffered a bad fright—they were the suspect, Wang Xinggui and her son.
Xiang Wan also took the shoe covers from Tang Yuanchu, but she stood outside the room instead.
This was because the room was already rather small. It was already cramped before they went inside the room.