TW: Description of r*pe and violence!
In the flow of vivid images, Yi Jiayi unexpectedly saw that familiar dilapidated house—dirty, chaotic, and dark, as if permeated with the smell of blood, echoing the cries of the people within.
The images induced by the severed limbs showed cardboard replaced by stacks of old books, cleaned up after being discarded and then picked up again.
A few casually strewn large snakeskin bags were filled to the brim with plastic bottles, with a few oranges that had rolled to the side, silently witnessing the slaughter.
The woman was dressed flamboyantly, but her eyeshadow was smeared from crying, paired with messy lipstick, making her face look like a painted mask, obscuring her original appearance.
Her tank top was torn, and her skirt was pushed up to her waist, her legs covered in bruises and even bite marks.
Sitting collapsed on a pile of rotten cardboard, the dying woman was repeatedly whipped by the murderer with a belt, able only to whimper weakly.
Her ribs seemed to be broken, slightly caved in, her eyes lifeless and drooping, breathing out more than she could breathe in. The victim’s listless appearance completely infuriated the murderer, who suddenly mounted her, fiercely gripping her neck, squeezing until she convulsed and lay motionless.
After the victim’s death, the murderer maintained his grip for a long while before suddenly coming to his senses, jumping up as if startled, and muttering curses:
“Damn you, it’s all your fault, if you hadn’t looked down on me…”
He cursed for a while and then suddenly started laughing, circling the corpse as if a king inspecting his domain, gradually straightening his chest that had been curled up.
Then, he suddenly pounced on the corpse again, brutally beating it before raping it.
He stood up and continued pacing, stretching his arms to the sky and tilting his head back, performing some strange gestures, then pounced on the corpse again to beat it…
As the murderer gradually derived a perverse satisfaction from killing the victim, a hunched, staggering figure appeared in the scene.
An old lady picked up an orange and put it in her bag, then grabbed a bag of plastic bottles and dragged them away.
During this, she glanced at the murderer and the corpse. The old lady’s eyes were murky, with no ripple or wave, as if what she saw was not a human brutalizing another human, but as ordinary as a cat eating a mouse or a dog eating excrement.
Gradually, the old lady pulled the big bag out of the frame, and Yi Jiayi also returned to reality from the vivid images.
“Jiayi?” Officer Xu waved his hand in front of her.
Yi Jiayi numbly took the stack of documents handed over by Officer Xu, took a deep breath, composed herself, and eagerly said:
“Officer Xu, could you check the deceased’s nails or something for lime? And… and that mold.”
“What?” Xu Junhao was a bit confused. Weren’t these substances detected in the Ferry Street dismemberment case?
But now, lying on the autopsy table was the victim from the Team A Lok Kwan Street Park body dumping case.
Yi Jiayi bit her lip and said, “I’m going to find Big Brother Guanming.”
She then rushed out of the forensic lab, heading straight for the Forensic Science Department.
Five minutes later, Yi Jiayi clearly presented her request to Chen Guangyao.
She hoped the Forensic Science Department could perform a second round of inspections and tests on the victim of the body dumping case at Lok Kwan Street Park, but Chen Guangyao immediately refused Yi Jiayi.
First of all, if a case from Team A needed re-examination, it should be applied for by You Zhaohua, and even if someone else wanted to review the case, it should be someone at least at the rank of inspector to make such a request possible.
Yi Jiayi, this young woman, was simply making a fuss, and Chen Guangyao didn’t plan to pay her any heed.
Moreover, the Forensic Science Department had already conducted a very thorough investigation of the body and scene of the dumping at Lok Kwan Street Park, performing countless tests within the month. There was no possibility of anything being overlooked.
Chen Guangyao would not re-examine the body just because of a single remark from Yi Jiayi.
Yi Jiayi, anxious to clarify things with Chen Guangyao, realized that he was not familiar with her and completely distrustful, not even patiently listening to her.
Convinced that she was indulging in wild fantasies, he just kept giving her awkward smiles and handling her casually.
Yi Jiayi clenched her teeth, turned, and ran; she wanted to go home to find her mother, no, to go back to the office of Team B to find Detective Fang Dad!
…
…
Today’s search did not go as smoothly as yesterday’s.
Fang Zhenyue and his team, along with their police dogs, searched all morning but came up empty-handed and had to return disappointed.
Upon splitting ways back at the police station, Fang Zhenyue handed a few large bills to the dog handler, “Get some extra meat for the German Shepherds and have some afternoon tea on me, thanks for the hard work.”
“No need, Sir Fang,” the dog handler tried to refuse, but Fang Zhenyue was already staggering into the police station, overwhelmed by the heat.
After showering and changing into casual clothes in the locker room, they returned to the office listlessly, guzzling water before heading off to a small alley to eat.
Just as they were about to finish eating, Fang Zhenyue suddenly remembered something, ordered an extra chicken leg and a barbecued pork rib, and took it to go.
Gary and the others thought it was for Uncle Jiu and Eleven, but as soon as Fang Zhenyue entered the station, he took a different turn.
Upon reaching the detention area, the food in Fang Zhenyue’s hand was still warm. Just as a police officer came to deliver meals to the detainees, Fang Zhenyue watched Sun Xin silently accepting his meal box and beckoned, “Come here.”
Sun Xin paused, then realizing he was being called, lowered his head and walked slowly to the bars as if he had made a mistake.
“Here.” Fang Zhenyue extended his hand and passed the takeout food through the bars.
“?” Sun Xin finally looked up in confusion.
“Take this.”
The pale young man reached out to accept it, feeling the steaming warmth as he brought it close, inhaling the rich aroma of food.
“Officer, I don’t have any money…”
“The police station has funds, go ahead and eat, no need to pay.” Fang Zhenyue nodded to him, indicating he could go and have his meal.
“…” Sun Xin opened the takeaway box in his hand, revealing a large chicken leg and a thick slice of char siu pork ribs. In his other hand, the boxed meal also included one meat and two vegetables paired with rice, a combination so lavish that he pursed his lips, lost in thought.
“Stop thinking, prison food isn’t that good. After these few meals, when you get out, you better stand on your own two feet again.” Fang Zhenyue thought he might be getting ideas about ‘eating this free meal forever.’
“…” Sun Xin glanced at Fang Zhenyue out of the corner of his eye, then quickly lowered his gaze, hesitating as if he wanted to say thanks, but struggled to find the right words.
Fang Zhenyue didn’t have the patience to wait for him to gather his thoughts and muster the courage, waving his hand and walking away.
It was only then that Sun Xin slowly turned around, sniffing the meat, then suddenly quickened his pace, walking to the hard bunk bed, sitting down before bowing his head and gobbling up the rice and chewing the meat vigorously.
…
It wasn’t long after Fang Zhenyue left that he unexpectedly ran into Guo Yongyao, greeted him, then suddenly paused and turned back:
“Reimburse me for Sun Xin’s chicken leg and char siu.”
“What?” Guo Yongyao, holding a stack of documents, looked up at Fang Zhenyue, his face a picture of confusion.
“I just asked the officers to add a chicken leg and ribs to each of Sun Xin’s meals. He looks so miserable, like he’s half dead, all because of the chaos caused by the press. You condone the media, so you share the responsibility. You’ll have to reimburse these meats.” No escape.
“…” Guo Yongyao tilted his head and glared, realizing Fang Zhenyue was unaffected by his stare, he reluctantly shook his head, “Alright, alright, I’ll bring the money to the officers later.”
Fang Zhenyue then nodded, gave Guo Yongyao a thumbs up, and strode away.
“Sigh.” Guo Yongyao stood still, sighing in resignation.
He prayed that in the future, all cases received by Major Crime Team B would have absolutely no cooperation with the Public Relations Department. He hoped even more that none of their cases would ever spark public outrage.
He couldn’t handle this Fang Zhenyue any longer; if this kept up, he, Inspector Guo, might have to change his name to ‘Inspector Pot.’
The blame, the pot!
…
…
Fang Zhenyue had just sat down in his relatively soft office chair when he suddenly heard the sound of rushing footsteps in the corridor.
In the next moment, Yi Jiayi burst in through the door, her eyes lighting up as if she had seen a family member upon spotting him.
She ran up to him, gasping for air, her eyes fixed on him, filled with anticipation.
Fang Zhenyue unconsciously straightened his posture, his heart tightening.
Her stance suggested that she might hug him fiercely the next moment, or perhaps suddenly kneel on one knee as if to propose. He felt inexplicably nervous, and his complexion turned slightly unnatural.
“Brother Yue, could you please talk to Brother Da Guangming for me? The victim in the body-dumping case at Lok Kwan Street Park from Team A might have been killed by the same person who did our dismembered body case,” Yi Jiayi said urgently. Her logic was somewhat flawed, but Fang Zhenyue still vaguely understood.
So, it was official business…
Fang Zhenyue couldn’t help but feel a mix of laughter and tears. He pointed to the chair next to him, “Take it slow.”
Yi Jiayi immediately pulled over a chair, turned around to get some water, and after taking a big gulp, she sat down facing Fang Zhenyue. Her voice was a bit shrill due to her heightened emotions:
“Any serial killer isn’t adept at hiding their tracks right after their first murder. The culprit in the dismemberment case must have been a novice back then. Initially, he wouldn’t know how to dismember a body or hide the head properly, trying to dispose of the body parts in different areas to obscure the victim’s identity.”
“So, the first time the murderer killed, he likely didn’t dismember the body.”
“If I were the murderer, not knowing how to deal with the body after killing, I might simply clean up the body and then hastily discard it.”
“This was the murderer’s first murder, leaving the most traces and exposing the most information, giving us the biggest chance to solve the case.”
“We haven’t been able to determine which of these body parts belonged to the murderer’s first crime in the dismemberment case. In my view, none of them did.”
“The female corpse from the Lok Kwan Street Park body-dumping case, that’s the one.”
“The victims in both cases were women; the murderer targeted young females. Both involved assault, with the women being abused both before and after death, and both were strangled to death. The bodies were dumped in areas between Sham Shui Po and Yau Ma Tei.”
“And another thing—”
Yi Jiayi took a breath, then continued:
“After the murderer’s first kill, he must have been terrified of being discovered by the police. So, he suppressed his dark desires, until a month had passed and the police hadn’t solved the case, and two months later, they still hadn’t.”
“He gradually overcame the initial fear, panic, and fatigue, and finally, no emotion could hinder his blade anymore. Thus, he began killing again. Having had two months to reflect on the immaturity and carelessness of his first murder, he had learned his lesson. This time he knew how to dismember the body, to scramble the remains, not to dispose of the bodies in order of the victims’ time of death, and to hide identifiable parts like the heads…”
“Brother Yue, there are too many possibilities in the Lok Kwan Street park corpse-dumping case. It was the dismemberment killer’s first crime scene.”
“I asked Brother Da Guangming to examine the body again to see if we could find lime and mold, but he refused. Could you—”
Fang Zhenyue took a deep breath, his eyes deep and penetrating, gazing long at Yi Jiayi.
After a while, he smiled reassuringly, nodded at Yi Jiayi, seemed about to say something, then swallowed his words.
Standing up, he patted the young policewoman on the shoulder, “Let’s go, Brother Yue will take care of them for you.”
Yi Jiayi immediately regained her energetic demeanor, following Fang Zhenyue back to the forensic department…
Fang Zhenyue first dragged You Zhaohua into the fray, “You owe me for the King’s Park case.”
Hearing this, You Zhaohua was silenced, and could only follow Fang Zhenyue to confront Brother Da Guangming.
Faced with these two formidable figures, Chen Guangyao had no choice but to bring two technicians, fully equipped, back to the autopsy room.
After an hour of meticulous examination, Chen Guangyao and his team recollected trace elements from under the corpse’s fingernails, inside the nostrils, the mouth, and the fingertips. Although he advised Fang Zhenyue not to get his hopes up upon leaving, they immediately returned to the lab to begin an urgent, detailed analysis.
You Zhaohua, having heard Yi Jiayi’s explanation, dismissed it as youthful fantasy and paid no heed. Once the forensic collection was over, he returned to Team A’s office to continue their mundane daily tasks.
The atmosphere in Team B’s office was no better.
The young policewoman, bringing life to the office, anxiously awaited the lab results, pacing the office like an ant on a hot pan.
Even as Fang Zhenyue led a meeting, she couldn’t help but fidget, shaking her leg or twirling her pen, visibly anxious.
Everyone was affected by her mood, feeling low, restless, and irritable.
The weather in Hong Kong seemed to sympathize with Yi Jiayi, oppressively hot all morning until it finally broke into a heavy downpour, shielding the sun with rainclouds. This respite from the heat was immediately followed by a violent storm.
The wind howled and the rain poured, the whole world roaring, stirring panic in people’s hearts.
On the Ghost Festival, this kind of weather, which aggrieved soul is venting their anger?
Lin Wangjiu couldn’t help but walk to the statue of Guan Yu, bowed, and muttered for a while before sighing and moving to the window.
“Well, no need to wash the car.” Lin Wangjiu stroked his sparse hair and sighed again, “Where can I go tonight to burn paper money for the elders at home?”
“It might stop soon,” Fang Zhenyue said just as footsteps suddenly echoed in the hallway.
Yi Jiayi sprang from her chair and ran to the door to look.
Finally!
An afternoon of anxious waiting was finally over with the arrival of Brother Da Guangming.
Huh?
Wait—
Is it really Brother Da Guangming himself delivering the lab results?
“Yi Jiayi…” Chen Guangyao looked at Yi Jiayi and couldn’t help but shake his head and cluck his tongue, as if there were a thousand words in that cluck, “In the fingers and nasal cavity of the victim in the body-dumping case at Lequn Street Park, traces of lime were found. The quantity is small, and its purity could not be determined, but compared with the lime used in the dismemberment case, there is an 80% chance it’s the same type of lime.”
“Additionally, the lime found at Sun Xin’s house has been tested; it is a high-purity food-grade lime, which does not match the impure lime found on the corpse.”
“Moreover, molds were detected in the rough dead skin on the elbows of the corpse, the calluses on the soles, and the skin flakes. The lab results are consistent with the molds found in the dismemberment case.”
This targeted inspection and testing, built on the foundation of many existing reports, have opened new directions and shed new light of hope.
Every corpse carries countless ineffective materials bearing ineffective information.
A body covered in mud could contain any substance—dog feces someone stepped on, sand, food residue, each containing countless materials, not to mention that the mud holds traces from more than just one person.
Apart from the sticky mud and sand, there might be anything contaminated by the body-dumping environment; if each of these were to be tested and every trace element analyzed, the forensic department really wouldn’t need to do anything else.
Thus, while forensic work must be absolutely meticulous and not overlook any clues, considering the feasibility and efficiency of the work, to serve the investigation more precisely rather than delaying with a series of lengthy, meaningless tasks, a crucial part of forensic work is actually to determine which evidence needs detailed testing and which does not; to discern which tests need to be elevated in priority and which can be reduced.
If it were not for someone’s suspicion, the forensic department probably would not specifically conduct such detailed tests for trace amounts of lime and mold.
Who could have thought… who could have imagined…
Chen Guangyao shook his head and clucked his tongue as he handed the lab results to Yi Jiayi, thinking about the recent newspaper descriptions of the young policewoman. For the first time, he began to believe that perhaps what was said in the newspapers was all true…
After all, the thing that nobody could have thought of, was precisely what this young lady had considered!