Chapter 494: Temptation (1/2)

However, this was merely speculation, so I kept it to myself.

”Song Yang-gege, look at the victim’s skin!” blurted Bingxin.

There were tiny wounds all over the victim’s skin that had turned white. I also caught a whiff of bleach. Upon further examination, I said, ”The murderer scalded the victim with boiling water and scrubbed him clean with a steel mesh, making sure all his fingerprints were removed.”

”How can he do this to his own classmate! He must be the devil!” cursed Bingxin.

Like the previous victims, his face was disfigured by hydrochloric acid, and the fingerprints were sliced off. Picking up the victim’s hand, I noticed newly-healed wounds on the knuckles and calluses on the outer part of the fingers.

This man was either a boxer or fought frequently. He was definitely mixed up with the gangs.

With Bingxin’s help, I turned the body over. Upon removing the Futou, I found a depression in the back of the victim’s head as well as blood-clotting. The bone fragments were shaped in a radial pattern, suggesting the victim suffered a blow from a blunt instrument from behind.

Aside from that, there was no other obvious trauma. A fatal blow–the murderer's methods had matured from his previous murders!

What was used to pose the corpse was plywood fixed to the shoulder blade, firmly tied to the victim’s arm with metal wires. The knotted part of the metal wire was twisted together using pincer pliers.

Though the left side was carefully twisted, the right side seemed sloppy in comparison, as if made by a different person.

I picked up the plastic film wrapped around the body and examined it. There was an oil stain that smelled of food. ”The murderer had an extra helper this time, but the helper doesn’t seem professional,” I surmised.

”Is it an accomplice?” Xiaotao asked.

”No, just someone to deal with the body! The victim is physically strong and often fights. If the murderer didn’t sneak an attack from behind, I’m afraid even two people wouldn’t be his opponent.”

Right then, Captain Tang came running. ”The vehicle that sped off belongs to Ke Wenyuan, the Hanfu store owner.”

”It's this guy!” exclaimed Xiaotao. “So he’s the helper.”

”The murderer must have something on Ke Wenyuan, forcing him to help,” I deduced.

”We have investigated all of Ke Wenyuan's acquaintances and there are no teachers in his circle.”

”So perhaps this man isn’t his friend.”

However, the possibility of this was small at best. After all, these young victims were unlikely to have had serious illnesses.

After sending off the body, we returned to the hotel. On the way there, I purchased a map of Jiangling City and a marker pen.

”Are you going to use the Divination Technique again?” asked Xiaotao.

”I'm afraid I can't use it this time since the murderer disposes of the bodies with a purpose. But we can try other ways.”

Back to the hotel, I spread the map on the floor, marked the three dump sites, and circled each point, or the estimated radii of the murderer's activity. It was impossible to dump a body in the city on foot, so the murderer must have a car.

The intersection of the three circles coincided with the southeast section of Guangling District.

”Does the murderer live in this area?” queried Xiaotao.

I shook my head, ”My guess isn’t necessarily accurate. The first three bodies were dumped during public holidays. The murderer would have plenty of time and a larger range of activity.”

”I believe in your intuition,” Xiaotao smiled. “We can start from this area after the three-day holiday.”

By this point, it was already past eleven o'clock. I was just about to head back to my room to rest when Xiaotao offered, ”Won’t you stay the night?”

”But what if Bingxin comes back later?”