Chapter 164: The Talking Pig (1/2)

Old Zhang pulled the taser out of his bag and showed it to us. We were surprised by how cleanly it was cut in half—even the battery was cut clean through! Even lasers wouldn’t have the ability to do this. This proved how extraordinarily skillful the swordsman was.

A thought suddenly came to me—could it be that this mysterious swordsman was the same person who helped me last time with Cao Mou?

Old Zhang then showed us the button that was cut off his shirt and exclaimed, “This button was made of copper, but look at how cleanly it was cut in half! Thank heavens that man didn’t try to cut my throat, or else my head would’ve rolled off my neck while I was still standing!”

“I think he was sending a message here,” I stated. “Which would’ve been easier—cutting a tiny button in half, or slitting your throat and killing you in one move? This could be a silent threat.”

“That’s bold!” Xiaotao slammed the table. “Threatening the police! We must catch this man!”

Old Zhang seemed shaken by my deductions. I asked him, “Did you notice anything missing at the scene?”

He shook his head and replied, “I checked the place after the man was gone. Every valuable item in the house was untouched.”

I wondered if the man was looking for something else when Dali interjected, “Do you think that man is somehow related to this case?”

“Probably,” I nodded. “By the way, Old Zhang, what is the missing woman’s name?”

“Xu Xiaohui,” replied Old Zhang.

Xiaotao asked him if he still remembered what the man looked like. He answered that if he could see the man again, he might be able to recognize him. Xiaotao asked an officer to take him to the sketch artist. Once he was gone, we turned our attention to the taser again. We studied it closely and couldn’t stop marvelling at how skillfully it was cut in half.

I didn’t tell Xiaotao what happened that morning with the cut ear, because I had a hunch that the man who sliced this taser had something to do with me. He showed mercy to the underlings, and later to Old Zhang. I believed that he was not a bad person.

“Huang-jie!” shouted Xiaozhou from outside the room. “You should come and see this! I think you know this person!”

We went to the sketch artist. At first glance, everyone could tell exactly who it was from the face sketch.

“That’s Zhang Yixing!” exclaimed Dali. “So he’s a badass warrior both on and off screen!”

“I’m pretty sure the man looked like this…” stated Old Zhang.

Although the swordsman looked somewhat like Zhang Yixing, I was very skeptical that he was indeed the actor. It was more likely that Old Zhang didn’t quite remember what the swordsman looked like and just gave the sketch artist a vague description based on a familiar face.

This matter was then put on hold for the time being. Xiaotao still had other cases to deal with and saw no point in spending time and energy on hunting down this lone ranger who might not turn out to have any connection to the missing woman after all.

At that point, we all assumed that there was nothing extraordinary in the disappearance of Xu Xiaohui. Unbeknownst to us, it would turn out to be one of the most baffling cases that I had ever worked on.

Early morning a few days later, a sharp scream broke through the tranquility of the Ronghua Meat Factory in Nanjiang City. Xiaotao rushed there immediately after receiving the report. Dali and I went with her too.

As soon as we entered the meat factory’s courtyard, the heavy stench of blood and internal organs filled our nostrils. We were greeted by a butcher about forty years old wearing a leather apron. He informed us that he was the one who lodged the report. He introduced himself as Old Li. The incident happened at around five in the morning, and it was so horrifying that one of his co-workers was literally scared out of his wits.

When I asked him to specify what happened, he gulped and answered, “There was a pig that… talked!”