Chapter 52: Cat Paw Prints (2/2)

Huang Xiaotao was taken aback. “You mean he was hypnotized?”

“Not exactly,” I replied. “I think it’s a kind of magic or curse that can control the body, so that the victims couldn’t help but act out certain movements.” I then pulled up the white sheets covering the victims’ bodies. “Didn’t you see the expressions of the dead? Weren’t they full of pain and sorrow?”

Luo Weiwei got up to her feet and came over and said, “It’s true, their expressions looked like they suffered a lot.”

Huang Xiaotao glanced at the door. After the shocking scene, many police officers were scared away. Only four or five people remained in the room.

“Should we check the crime scene again for some evidence?” she asked.

“There’s no rush,” I answered. “Besides, I still have one thing left to test.” I then asked Luo Weiwei, “Did you check for fingerprints at the scene?”

Luo Weiwei nodded. “The forensics team did that, but they only found the victims’ own fingerprints on the bodies and their clothes, no outsiders.”

“Then let’s check it again. Go get me an alcohol burner,” I ordered.

Luo Weiwei nodded and left. Huang Xiaotao smiled and said, “Song Yang, you must’ve scared her a lot. That woman is so obedient to you now.”

“She got what she deserved, considering how arrogant she used to be.”

I took out the olive oil, midnight horror and the pot from the bag, then poured a lot of oil into the pot and added the midnight horror into the oil.

“You’re doing it wrong, dude!” said Dali. “You should wait until the oil is hot before you fry the vegetables.”

“Shut up, idiot! Come and lend me a hand,” I said.

“What do you want me to do?”

“Watch the pot and keep stirring.”

Luo Weiwei soon came back with an alcohol burner. I put it underneath the pot to heat the oil. Soon the oil burned hot, and the midnight horror inside began to fry and sizzle. Smoke came out constantly, blackening the insides of the pot.

After about five or six minutes, I noticed that Dali was getting tired, so I told him that it was good enough and extinguished the burner.

I pulled out a penknife and scraped the soot on the insides of the pot, yielding about 100 grams of the substance.

Huang Xiaotao commented, “It’s such a pleasure to watch you perform your autopsies, Song Yang. Every step looks so interesting!”

“Of course it’s a pleasure to just stand there and watch,” I teased.

“That’s mean! It’s not like I never helped you!”

“Really? How have you helped, exactly?”

“I… Didn’t I hand you something a while ago?”

“That’s what you call helping?” I couldn’t help but laugh.

Huang Xiaotao glared at me.

I asked Wang Yuanchao to carry the husband’s body back to the metal table, and then gently applied the soot on his chest. Dali asked, “What’s that for, dude?”

“Midnight horror and olive oil are very light substances,” I explained. “The ashes that they produce are therefore very light too, much lighter than the aluminum powder used by the police. Hence, it can detect something that is not easily detectable.”

Because of their very lightweight nature, I didn’t even dare to breathe during the whole process, for fear that the soot would be blown away.

After the husband’s chest was covered with a layer of soot, I gently blew it off and found nothing.

Then I did the same thing on the chest and the abdomen of the wife’s body. This time, when I gently blew the soot away, a line of small footprints appeared—yes, tiny footprints!

“These are…” Huang Xiaotao said with amazement. “Cat paw prints?!”

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