Chapter 51

Chapter 51 4. The Game-06

The nearest residential area to the discovery site of the two bodies was a village within the city.

This area had already been included in a redevelopment plan, to be rebuilt after the New Year into a municipal office district, with a large affiliated hospital of a university to be constructed. At this point, most of the nearby residential buildings had already been vacated; the remaining tenants’ leases would expire before the Lunar New Year. Within a month, the buildings would be completely emptied.

During this time, not only had the population density drastically decreased, but even the nearby green spaces had been left unattended. In the dim, wintry pre-dawn, walking through the empty, old streets in the cold wind gave an indescribable sense of desolation.

The male and female victims’ bodies had been packed into body bags, loaded into the vehicle, and were awaiting forensic examination of the surrounding scene before being taken back to the lab for autopsy.

Liu Yi, with Jiang Xiaoyuan, began surveying the area around the discovery site.

Although sunrise was less than an hour away, the temperature hadn’t risen—in fact, it was getting colder. Liu Yi felt increasingly that his clothing was inadequate. The cold wind against his face cut like blades, making his skin sting. He tightened the front of his white coat, cursing the thin material that provided no warmth and flapped while he walked.

Qi Shanyu watched as Liu Yi shivered and adjusted his coat several times. Looking at Jiang Xiaoyuan mirroring every move, Qi Shanyu hesitated, then, unwilling to watch him freeze, removed his own thick coat and hurriedly caught up with Liu Yi, draping the still-warm coat over him.

Liu Yi felt the weight and touch of the coat, froze for a moment, then looked sideways at Qi Shanyu.

“Wear it, you’re shivering.” He said nonchalantly.

Liu Yi glanced down at the coat on his shoulders.

It was a plain winter police coat, dark in color, thick, with high shoulder pads, rough to the touch, and a full size larger than Liu Yi’s own. It fully covered his white coat.

Liu Yi looked up at Qi Shanyu, smiling slightly, and nodded. “Thanks.”

Then he put it on without further hesitation.

Jiang Xiaoyuan beside them was dumbfounded, eyes wide in shock.

—No, no, this can’t be what I think! This must just be the legendary socialist brotherhood!

Jiang Xiaoyuan’s mind roared silently with chaos, and he barely restrained himself from dropping the heavy test kit he was carrying.

“What are you standing there for?”

Liu Yi turned to his student, who looked like Edvard Munch’s The Scream, staring at him. “Hurry up, finish quickly and get back!”

“Y-Yeah!”

Jiang Xiaoyuan snapped back to attention, propping his almost-dislocated jaw back into place with one hand, and hurried to catch up with his boss.

The three quickly discovered traces of the victims’ movements.

“Looks like the female victim was indeed a resident of this complex.”

Liu Yi pointed to a patch of dug-up sand at the village exit, explaining to the others.

With redevelopment imminent, nearby areas had already begun construction. At the village exit, a stretch of street tiles had been removed, exposing sand and gravel underneath. After a night of winter rain, the sand had become loose and muddy.

“Look here.”

Liu Yi gestured for Jiang Xiaoyuan to photograph while continuing:

“There are two sets of footprints in the sand, heading from the village toward the greenbelt. The smaller set belongs to the woman. She was wearing a slipper on one foot and slipped while running.”

He pointed to a patch half a meter from the edge of the sand, showing two shallow, circular indentations where her knees hit the ground, and a full handprint in front—made when she braced herself while falling.

“…Strange…”

Liu Yi muttered softly, observing the traces left by the woman when she fell.

Jiang Xiaoyuan, placing a scale next to the handprint, didn’t hear clearly and turned to Liu Yi: “What?”

“Nothing, keep working!”

Liu Yi lightly tapped the back of Jiang Xiaoyuan’s head, signaling him not to get distracted.

“The set of footprints with shoes belongs to the male victim, size 43, and the sole pattern matches.”

He continued, “The male’s footprints partially overlap the female’s… proving he was following her.”

“Oh! No third set of footprints, meaning the man chased the girl all the way?”

Jiang Xiaoyuan exclaimed: “Looks like you guessed right, boss. The killer who murdered the girl is likely that drug addict!”

The sandy patch was roughly seventy meters in a straight line from the discovery site, but divided by greenery and trees, making it hard for an average woman to run straight through; she would have had to go around, and from their current position, it was hard to see the grass where the body was found.

Following the footprints a short distance, they found the woman’s other slipper, apparently she had stumbled again here, leaving a muddy left-hand palm print on the roadside.

“No blood, and judging by the footprints, she ran quite a distance. She probably wasn’t seriously injured yet.”

Liu Yi said while moving a few steps forward.

After shaking off most of the mud from the sand, the footprints were no longer visible.

The disappearance point was about thirty to forty meters from the grass where the body was found. At this point, the female victim’s escape path was clear. What remained was for the police to visit the village after daylight to investigate and determine her connection to the drug addict killer, clarifying the details of the murder case.

“Boss, I’ve finished taking all the photos.”

Jiang Xiaoyuan checked the camera and told Liu Yi.

But Liu Yi remained in place, motionless.

“What’s wrong?” Qi Shanyu asked.

Liu Yi’s fingers unconsciously brushed the police coat on Qi Shanyu’s shoulders. His brows furrowed as he gazed into the distance, muttering: “…Something seems off…”

Qi Shanyu frowned too: “Off?”

“Look.”

Liu Yi raised his hand, pointing to the left: “Over there, see clearly from this angle, right?”

Qi Shanyu followed the direction, spotting what Liu Yi wanted him to notice. “You mean that 24-hour convenience store?”

“Yes.”

Liu Yi stared at the red-and-green neon sign partially hidden by trees, frowning deeper. “The female victim was chased by a knife-wielding attacker late at night, running all the way here. Suppose it were you…”

He first pointed to the left, toward the convenience store: “Would you run toward the station visible from the store?”

Then to the right, toward the grass where the body was found: “Or deeper into the deserted greenbelt?”

“Yes.”

Qi Shanyu nodded. “Especially if she really lived in the village, she should know the terrain well. If she sought help, she’d run toward populated areas…”

“Maybe she ran the wrong way in panic?”

Jiang Xiaoyuan interjected.

Liu Yi and Qi Shanyu turned to him.

Under the gaze of their boss and his rumored boyfriend, Jiang Xiaoyuan shrank his neck and added, “Or… maybe something prevented her from running toward the station…”

“Yes… but what reason?”

Liu Yi’s left hand reflexively braced on the ground, right hand crossed his chest, moving up and down twice.

After a moment of silence, he suddenly snatched the camera from Jiang Xiaoyuan, switched to preview mode, and flipped back to the female victim’s photos.

Whenever Liu Yi entered this mode, his usual flamboyant playboy charm was instantly replaced by an intimidating aura, silencing both Jiang Xiaoyuan and Qi Shanyu from interrupting.

His gaze fixed on the small screen. About ten seconds later, he muttered “Damn it!” and shoved the camera into Jiang Xiaoyuan’s arms. Without a word, he sprinted at full speed toward the body discovery site, thirty meters away.

Qi Shanyu, empty-handed but athletic, immediately gave chase.

Jiang Xiaoyuan, carrying the heavy test kit, lagged far behind, shouting Liu Yi’s name as he struggled to catch up.

Ignoring their calls, Liu Yi ran straight to the coroner’s vehicle, climbed into the back, and pulled out the packed body bags. With a swift motion, he unzipped one to reveal the female victim, stabbed multiple times and covered in blood.

“What’s wrong?”

Qi Shanyu climbed in behind him, squatting next to Liu Yi, seeing the bloody body and asked in confusion, “Is there something wrong with this body?”

Gasping and exhausted, Jiang Xiaoyuan finally arrived, but was blocked at the entrance to the vehicle. He stood on tiptoe, peering in to see what his boss was doing.

“You’ll know soon enough if there’s a problem!”

Liu Yi bowed briefly to the female corpse, muttering “sorry,” then swiftly lifted the hem of her nightgown.