I nudged Gu Chen on his shoulder and he quickly slipped the half newspaper into his coat pocket. We then stopped to wait for the others to catch up. I relaxed sowhat seeing Lee Danan had stayed in his own ho. When he accosted in the toilet earlier, that was quite suspicious. The group huddled together and Guan Zhenglin asked, "Why are you guys walking so fast?"
I cleared my throat and said, "We should head over to the fields over there first. We're standing too conspicuously in the open."
When we arrived at the edge of the village, I said, "I just think there shouldn't be any reason for us to involve soone who doesn't know too much about the case lest we put them in danger. When the village head summoned you guys, he must have told you sothing about the reason why we're here already. But I'm going to officially explain it again. We're here to capture the killer."
"Capture the killer?" Er Xiao was still the chatterbox. "That's good! But please don't assign a job like the one before. You told to be on the lookout for suspects but there was no one who passed by the place at all. My eyes are already dry from all the staring. I didn't have a good night's sleep either because I was afraid that soone might pass by when I was sleeping, so I kept waking up to look"
I quickly stopped him before he continued to drown us with his story, "Based on 3 days of observations, we noticed that the killer would pick the ti when it's snowing heavily to dump the body. Coincidentally, it has been snowing heavily for the past few nights and the darkness has provided the perfect natural cover for them."
The village head added, "Therefore, after so discussion between the officers and myself, we feel like we should lay an ambush. Once the killer cos out to dump the body, we'll capture them red-handed. But based on the clouds in the sky, I don't think it'll snow today. We'll start this operation tomorrow." The two nodded.
Gu Chen glanced towards the village. "This village only has 1 main road. , Wu ng, Chief Zhou, Ol' Xia and Er Xiao, each of us will hide on the rooftops of the houses along the main road. Pay attention to the environnt around us. If there's anyone roaming around the village late at night, then that's our killer." Everyone nodded.
At that mont, Guan Zhenglin cut in, "Hey, why aren't I part of the lookout? I can help too."
I tapped her head lightly. "It's too dangerous for a female, what if we have to accost the killer. By the way, if you get too tired, you can rest when it is almost dawn. It will take ti for the snow to cover a person's footprint so I believe the killer will not make any move after 3 am. And due to the lifestyle of the villagers here, most people would be up by 5 am already."
The village head added, "We'll be on the lookout if it snows; if it doesn't, we'll stay at ho. Bring extra comforters with you, so you wouldn't be too cold when you're on the lookout." After everything was arranged, it was decided that Er Xiao would stay with Ol' Xia for these few days.
After the sky darkened, I almost fainted from hunger. The village head's wife cooked another table of food for us. She promised that she cooked everything herself this ti and everything was ho grown. We wolfed down the food, the hunger winning over the fear of the human dumpling. Gu Chen shook his head and said between bites. "If you ask , we'll eat anything if you're hungry enough. When there's no other option, you'll even eat human dumplings. Look at , did it affect my appetite this afternoon? After vomiting, I still managed to finish my lunch."
I had no idea why Gu Chen would be proud of that but I was too busy eating to care. After we finished the al, we bade the village head and his wife goodbye before we returned to our temporary ho to rest. Walking on the country path, we kept burping.
At that mont, suddenly there was a ringtone. It was from Chief Zhou's phone, we imdiately stopped moving and turned back to look at him. Chief Zhou's phone was more like decoration, other than the few scam ssages, his phone rarely rang. But soone had sent Chief Zhou a ssage. He took out his phone and glanced at the na. Under the yellow streetlight, we saw his expression took on imnse fear before turning to confusion and sadness. The 3 busybodies went over and noticed the sender was Luo Sui.
Luo Sui was Xiao i, or Chief Zhou's girlfriend. Why would the girlfriend who had ignored Chief Zhou for a week suddenly send him a ssage? We wondered if the ssage was one to ask for a breakup or for them to get back together.
The 3 of us understandably turned our heads away and slowly walked away to give Chief Zhou so privacy. After about 10 tres, Chief Zhou suddenly called us, "Wu ng, Gu Chen, wait, there's sothing wrong with this ssage!" We turned around and saw that Chief Zhou's brows were deeply furrowed. Sothing bad must have happened.
The 3 of us quickly hurried back. Chief Zhou handed his phone. I glanced through the content and passed it to the others. Our faces were carved with anxiety and fear. I glanced at Chief Zhou from the corner of my eyes and saw that he was sweating despite the cold weather. He must be extrely worried to sweat in the snowy weather. This was the ssage:
Captain Zhou, tell , you haven't seen Xiao i for quite so ti already, haven't you? I don't get it, you two have been together for 2 years already, haven't you had sex yet? Shouldn't you know that there is a black mole on Luo Sui's left big toe?'
Guan Zhenglin mumbled, "I am the one who is the most familiar with the leg since I did the autopsy. There is indeed a mole on the big toe."
Gu Chen countered, "But that doesn't prove the victim is Luo Sui. The ssage could be fake. Chief Zhou, does her big toe have a mole?"
Chief Zhou stood there and appeared quite flustered. This man over 40 was quite at a loss, like a child who needed guidance. He stamred, "I, I never inspected that leg closely before, but, but Xiao i does have a mole on her foot. But that ans" Chief Zhou suddenly collapsed to the snowy ground. "The victim is Luo Sui, my girlfriend, but that couldn't be. It's impossible." Gu Chen and Zheng Guanlin hurried to help Chief Zhou. Seeing Chief Zhou on the floor, there was a strange feeling that bothered . I asked, "Chief Zhou, is this Luo Sui's phone number?"
"Yes." He nodded.
Holding Chief Zhou's phone in one hand, I sent a ssage to Mary on my own phone. I sent her Luo Sui's phone number and requested her to look into Luo Sui. I was about to put my phone away when I thought about sothing else and sent another ssage.
So the victim was Luo Sui, Chief Zhou's girlfriend. She hadn't contacted Chief Zhou for a week already, did that an she was detained throughout that whole ti? According to Guan Zhenglin's report, Luo Sui died around noon 3 days ago but we only confird her identity now. This was hard to believe. We were trying so hard to find out the victim's identity but it was Chief Zhou's girlfriend all along. It was normal that Chief Zhou wouldn't be able to make the identification with just a single leg and arm. However, it did an that Chief Zhou's objectivity to this case would be compromised. I probably would lose my mind if I was in his shoes now.
So what was the motive behind this murder? Did this killer have a grudge with Chief Zhou? That was possible. At Elm Town, Chief Zhou handled all the heavy cases. So he would naturally be assigned this case. What would be more heartbreaking from finding out the mysterious victim was your girlfriend all along in the middle of the case? Furthermore, the killer had no idea whether we had finished the dumplings or not. If we did, then Chief Zhou's girlfriend would be in our stomach now.
As that thought entered my mind, the vomit ca up my throat. Then Guan Zhenglin and Chief Zhou doubled over as well. They must have understood the killer's intention too. Only Gu Chen stood there dumbly, not understanding why we had suddenly vomited. Sotis, ignorance truly is bliss.
I looked from the corner of my eye. While Chief Zhou vomited, he also wiped away the tears from his face. Tonight would be a sleepless night for the man.
I turned my thoughts to the killer. Who would have such a deep resentnt towards Chief Zhou to take such a horrid revenge?!
According to Chinese history, there are 3 major reasons for taking revenge; collapse of a country, death of a father, stealing the wife. The killer didn't kill Chief Zhou but used a more brutal thod to co after Chief Zhou. So just how deep was the hatred? Did Chief Zhou kill soone's father or steal soone's wife? I believed only Chief Zhou would be able to answer that.
Gu Chen said, "It's too cold here. We can talk about it inside. Fuck, after we capture the killer, I will break their bones myself." Then the two helped walk Chief Zhou towards the Siheyuan. As they walked past, I saw the tears freeze on Chief Zhou's face. He must be heartbroken. I followed behind them as I pulled on my hair. The more we looked into this case, the more complicated it beca. Just what kind of unknown story and conspiracy could be behind it?
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