Chapter 240: Crime Scene Restoration (1/2)

Xiaotao snapped her fingers and said, ”Nanjiang City has three slaughterhouses. This guy is muscular and has such noticeable tattoos that even Dali would be able to locate him.”

”Hey Xiaotao-jiejie, could you not use me as an antithesis?!” complained Dali.

It was already 11 pm so Xiaotao ordered everyone to go home. The plan for tomorrow morning was to visit the three slaughterhouses so we could be certain that The Strongest Mantis Shrimp was at work.

Although Xiaotao urged us to go home, none of us wanted to leave. After all, the more videos we watched, the more clues we could analyze.

When the next video played, The Strongest Mantis Shrimp was standing in the second victim’s home. There was a sack on the bed behind him that seemed to contain the corpse. With a mask covering part of his face, he excitedly shouted at the camera, ”Buddies, let's have some fun today! I have prepared a human body explosion! Hurry up, click on those rewards! When we reach a thousand, I’ll blow up the body!”

”From his accent, he sounds like a Northerner!” commented Wang Yuanchao.

”Buddy, are you ok?!” Dali chimed in.

I stared at him in frustration. This idiot could crack a joke regardless of the occasion. Was this really a suitable time?

We fast-forwarded the segment where The Strongest Mantis Shrimp began fixing the bombs. At last, the streamer untied the sack and carried out the corpse. I told Lao Yao to pause the video so I could carefully examine the body, then told him to continue.

The events that followed were almost the same as we speculated, that is, the body was blown up with the entire house.

The video featured him exploding a car. Because it was late at night, the surroundings were relatively dark. The Strongest Mantis Shrimp sounded exhilarated, almost incoherent this time. I doubted we would find any important clues so I said, ”Lao Yao, let’s move on to Storm Punisher’s video.”

Like the previous two, it was dark at the beginning. Storm Punisher recited the same presumptuous lines as if he were some high-ranking judge. But this time, there were no pleas of mercy from the victim, only loud whining.

The scene lit up and everyone drew a sharp breath.

There was a long-haired woman wearing a straitjacket with a hook pierced through her tongue. A chain connected the hook to a disc-shaped mechanism.

A faint hissing sound that signalled a gas leak filled the room. In order to survive, the woman had to pull the mechanism with her tongue to close the gas valve.

The structure of the mechanism was exactly the same as the designs the old man had drawn. I grew more and more certain that he was related to the case.

I called for a pause again and stared at the picture. ”That straitjacket!” I exclaimed.

”The number on the straitjacket has worn off.” remarked Xiaotao.

”That’s a clue in itself,” I clarified. “Don’t you see? There isn’t any wear and tear throughout the entire straitjacket, suggesting that the murderer might have worn it off himself. If he had simply stolen it, why would he have to remove the numbers? That’s because it would reveal personal information about him!”

”Song Yang, do you mean to say that the murderer lived in a mental hospital for some time?” Xiaotao raised an eyebrow in question.

”Judging from his character and manner of speaking, it’s very likely that he has stayed in a mental hospital for quite a long time,” I conjectured. “I think we should investigate the major mental hospitals.”

Xiaotao nodded and jotted the clue down.

As the video continued to play, the woman made strange noises from her throat. In fact, the gurgling sound was her choking on the gas and coughing with her tongue stuck out. It was a strange combination of gagging and coughing.

Soon, her cheeks turned red and her feet shook–signs of mild poisoning–as she slowly retreated.

To survive, she had to persist in moving backwards, the metal hook in her tongue dragging in a downward motion as her tongue was ripped out inch by inch!

Many officers were afraid to continue watching because of how unnerving the video was. Although the first two were just as cruel, the moment when the first victim’s arms were chopped off happened in an instant while the second victim was trapped in the armor, painting a far less disturbing visual impact.

”I'm going crazy!” blurted Xiaotao with her head bowed.

”Let’s take a break,” I suggested. “If we continue watching, no one’s going to get any sleep tonight.”