I See Murders Before They Happen

Chapter 20: Chapter 18: A Lead From the Public

Over the two-day weekend, Su Miaoyi took Cheng Jue to visit several institutions to learn more about them.

On Sunday afternoon, Su Miaoyi dropped Cheng Jue back off at school.

She gave him a week to consider which institution to choose, and she planned to use that same week to go home and talk with her aunt and uncle.

On Monday, a little after eight in the morning, Su Miaoyi went to pick up her phone.

After getting her phone, the first thing she did was transfer money to Zhuang Yanzheng.

She sent him the one thousand yuan for the cash, plus the extra one hundred he had spent on groceries.

Then, she planned to buy a few things and make a trip to the old district.

After buying two articles of clothing for Cheng Yong and Ge Yu, Su Miaoyi went to a fruit shop.

She bought some fruit, and as she was paying, the cashier told her about the store’s spend-and-save promotion.

Su Miaoyi said, ”No, thank you.”

”Alright then,” the cashier said. ”I’ll scan your code.”

Su Miaoyi unlocked her phone. Her finger hovered over the payment app, but before she could tap it, she suddenly froze.

Seeing her motionless, the cashier called out, ”Ma’am?”

Su Miaoyi didn’t respond.

”Ma’am?” The cashier waved a hand in front of her face.

Su Miaoyi’s eyes were half-lidded, still showing no reaction.

As the cashier called out to her for the third time, she turned and walked straight out.

”Your fruit!” the cashier shouted after her.

She gave no sign of hearing, simply leaving with the clothes she’d bought in one hand and her phone in the other.

She walked through an intersection with heavy traffic.

Forcing several cars to screech to a halt.

Horns blared from all directions.

A driver rolled down his window and yelled, ”Are you blind?! Don’t you see the red light?!”

Su Miaoyi showed no reaction at all, just continued walking straight ahead.

The sun gradually moved across the sky.

Finally, Su Miaoyi stopped in front of an abandoned amusement park.

Nearly a minute passed before Su Miaoyi’s eyes twitched.

She came to her senses and raised a hand to block the glaring sun.

Before she could even get a clear look at her surroundings...

...she suddenly saw another series of images.

She was in an alley. Thumping music echoed from not far away. The sky was dark, and she could only make out the face of the man in front of her by the dim light of a streetlamp.

”Brother Qiang, here’s the money for this time. Where’s the stuff?”

The man in front of her spoke. ”They’ve been cracking down hard lately. I think I might be under surveillance, so I need to lay low out of town for a couple of days. I’ll take you to meet my supplier. From now on, just contact them directly when you need more product.”

”Okay.”

Following the man out of the alley, they were soon met by a black car that pulled up in front of them.

A glance at the license plate.

Then she followed the man into the car.

But as soon as she got in, before she could see anything clearly, something struck the back of her head, and her world went black.

Su Miaoyi pulled back from the vision.

The dizziness from the images made her stagger back a step.

Steadying herself, Su Miaoyi looked around.

She took in the unfamiliar surroundings.

’Where am I?’

Su Miaoyi picked up her phone and glanced at it.

It was already past twelve noon.

When she was at the fruit shop, it had been a little after ten.

Su Miaoyi looked up at the abandoned amusement park in front of her, then turned to look at the ruins behind her.

Some building had been demolished. Judging by the area, it looked like it used to be a residential complex.

Now it was just rubble, covered by a net.

Besides her, there wasn’t another soul in sight.

Even though it was the middle of the day with the sun high in the sky, the place felt creepy.

Su Miaoyi opened her phone and checked her current location.

Given the distance, she could only have walked here in the last two hours.

She’d blacked out.

’Could it really be dissociative identity disorder?’

Just as she was thinking this, a gust of wind blew past, and she suddenly caught a whiff of a foul smell.

It was foul, but familiar.

She had smelled it once before, under an overpass. It was the smell of a decaying corpse.

Su Miaoyi looked in the direction the wind was coming from and walked briskly into the amusement park.

She finally found a large black plastic bag next to a swing ride.

There was a tear in the bag, as if it had been pecked open by a bird.

Su Miaoyi broke a branch off a nearby sapling, approached the bag, and pried open the tear.

The plastic bag ripped open, and its contents spilled out.

Startled, Su Miaoyi squeezed her eyes shut and stumbled back a few steps.

After collecting herself for a moment, she immediately called Zhuang Yanzheng.

The call went through, but no one answered.

Su Miaoyi didn’t try a second time, worried she might be interrupting him during a mission.

She dialed 110 directly.

”Hello, 110? I want to report a crime. I found dismembered body parts in the abandoned amusement park on Qingyang Road.”

「...」

City Bureau.

Conference Room.

”The deceased is He Kai, twenty-seven years old. A Jinghai local. He was the former driver for Shen Yanzhou, the owner of a residence at Huating Imperial Garden. He resigned three months ago. We haven’t found any information about his employment in the three months since. According to his parents, he was on vacation during this time.”

”We’ve searched He Kai’s apartment. We found a wristband from a bar at his place. We confirmed with the bar that he was a frequent customer recently. However, he always went alone, didn’t have any regular friends, and just partied with strangers.”

”We also found an ice pipe at his residence.”

An ice pipe is a device used for smoking methamphetamine.

”The hair toxicology report was positive,” Yan Cheng said. ”Dismemberment occurred post-mortem. There’s a depression on the back of his skull, an ante-mortem injury caused by a blunt object, something like a round hammer.”

”We’ve dredged the sewers near Huating Imperial Garden, but no human tissue was found. We’re expanding the search area.”

”In room 601 of Huating Imperial Garden and on the refrigerator, we only found the cleaning staff’s fingerprints. Nothing else.”

”The surveillance cameras and access control systems at Huating Imperial Garden didn’t pick up anyone suspicious.”

From the time the report was received yesterday afternoon until now, no one had rested.

They were searching for body parts near Huating Imperial Garden and dredging the sewers.

Teams had been sent to He Kai’s residence and his parents’ home.

Shen Yanzhou, the primary suspect, was still in the interrogation room.

”Send more men to the bar,” Zhuang Yanzheng ordered. ”Focus on finding out if anyone is using drugs. Especially the people who were in frequent contact with He Kai.”

”Yes, sir.”

Zhuang Yanzheng stared at the information displayed on the screen.

Shen Yanzhou claimed he didn’t kill him.

But why would the victim’s head appear in his residence?

Where were the rest of his body parts?

”Find out what properties are registered under Shen Yanzhou’s name and send teams to search all of them.” Zhuang Yanzheng continued, ”Not just properties, but his businesses too. Check them one by one. Prioritize places that would be suitable for disposing of a body.”

”What about the Shen family...” the police officer who spoke trailed off, looking at Zhuang Yanzheng. ”Will they cooperate?”

”They will be very cooperative,” Zhuang Yanzheng stated with certainty. ”Don’t be intimidated by anyone’s status. Investigate this as you should. Never forget who you are, and don’t disgrace the uniform you wear.”

”Yes, sir!” everyone responded in unison.

”Pay close attention to any tips from the public.” Just as Zhuang Yanzheng finished his sentence, there was a knock on the conference room door.

”Captain Zhuang, the command center just received a report. A citizen found dismembered body parts at the abandoned amusement park on Qingyang Road. The Qingyang Road sub-bureau is already on its way.”

Everyone looked at Zhuang Yanzheng.

Speak of the devil.

Zhuang Yanzheng stood up and headed out.

Yan Cheng and Qi Feng followed him.

The team quickly got into their vehicles and drove to Qingyang Road.

「...」