Chapter 71

Chapter 71 6. The Silence of the Lambs-0

This was a male corpse.

The body was of average height and not particularly muscular. His hair was light brown, almost shoulder-length, slightly curled at the ends, with a streak of gold in his bangs, clearly styled in a carefully groomed “pretty boy” East Asian fashion. But now, his hair had been hacked into a mess, clumps scattered around his head, stuck with blood and clumped into strands of dark brown.

His face had been similarly mangled.

Both eyeballs had been pierced and removed; the fragmented remnants lay on the floor. Large sections of soft tissue, including the nose, ears, and lips, had been nearly shaved off at the roots, with bits of flesh scattered around the left side of the face.

His originally fair skin had been slashed about twenty to thirty times, completely shredding his face. Blood flowed from the wounds over his head and face, making it impossible for Liu Yi to reconstruct the victim’s original appearance.

“How deep must the hatred be to destroy a face like this…”

Liu Yi couldn’t help but let out a low sigh.

The upper body clothing was still relatively intact—a beige striped slim-fit mandarin-collar shirt, with an orange-and-black spotted tie around the neck. But the flashy, stylish tie was now embedded deep into the neck skin, likely the cause of death.

Aside from the bloodstains, Liu Yi saw no obvious damage to the upper clothing.

However, below the waist, the body was bare.

A pair of tight leather pants, along with black briefs, lay in disarray less than a meter from the corpse. Judging from the way the victim’s legs bent outward, it suggested he may have suffered some form of sexual assault.

But even this was not the most shocking aspect of the scene.

Besides the destroyed face, the victim’s hands were symmetrically placed on his chest. All ten fingers had been cleanly severed, and blood from the stumps had soaked the shirt.

The exposed lower body was similarly bloodied—the male genitalia and surrounding parts had also been severed at the base.

“The murderer didn’t take the victim’s ‘equipment.’”

Feng Ling noticed Liu Yi staring at the lower wounds and pointed to a circle of blood about half a meter away, marked in chalk.

“It was just left on the floor. I collected it into an evidence bag.”

Liu Yi frowned.

He recalled Feng Ling telling him over the phone that none of the ten severed fingers had been found at the scene.

“Interesting…”

Liu Yi pondered. “They didn’t take the male genitalia but took all ten fingers—what does that mean?”

From a criminal psychology perspective, in many abnormal murder cases throughout history, destroying the victim’s secondary sexual characteristics is not uncommon, often indicating the killer’s personal deviant desires influencing the choice of victim and the manner of the crime.

For instance, the infamous Jack the Ripper mutilated the breasts of female victims; an Australian pair of brothers who imprisoned, tortured, and killed multiple women similarly mutilated their victims’ lower bodies before abandoning the corpses.

In general, the symbolic meaning of the victim’s physiological traits is far more significant than seemingly ordinary “parts” like fingers.

Given that this scene clearly shows signs of sexual violence, why would the killer take the victim’s fingers instead of the genitalia?

“How long has this person been dead?”

Liu Yi thought for a moment, looking back at Feng Ling.

“The livor mortis has fixed.”

Feng Ling squatted and pressed on a livor spot on the victim’s bare thigh. “No blanching under pressure.”

Livor mortis fixation refers to the stage where bruising does not fade when pressed or repositioned, and new bruises do not form on lower areas. It typically sets in after 8–10 hours at the fastest, usually around 12 hours.

She then pointed to the floor near the victim’s head, where two shattered eyeballs remained. “Corneas are cloudy, but pupils are still barely distinguishable.”

Feng Ling paused, then continued: “The body is fully rigor mortis. I measured the rectal temperature when I arrived—it was around 24°C. It’s been about an hour since then… so I estimate death occurred roughly 13–15 hours ago.”

“Hmm, so the murder happened last night?”

Liu Yi looked at his watch and calculated backward. “Around 8–9 PM, it should have been fairly busy, right?”

He looked around. “The soundproofing of this old house can’t be great. Did none of the neighbors hear anything?”

“About that…”

Qi Shanyu’s expression was hard to describe. “The victim’s… occupation was unusual, and he had a bad reputation among neighbors. Even if there were noises, few would intervene.”

“Oh?”

Liu Yi showed mild interest. “The victim’s identity has been confirmed? Are we sure he was the homeowner?”

“Not completely certain. His face is destroyed, impossible to identify visually.”

Qi Shanyu glanced at the mangled, bloodied face with sunken eye sockets and exposed teeth. “But based on evidence so far, it’s highly likely to be him.”

He opened his phone, selecting a photo from the album and held it up to Liu Yi.

Liu Yi focused on the image: a frontal, bareheaded photo. Unlike a typical ID, the young man’s expression was playful.

His hair color was the same light brown as the corpse. He posed at a 45-degree angle, his smooth, airbrushed face with one eye half-closed, lips curved mischievously as if winking at the camera. His right hand near his face formed a heart with thumb and forefinger.

Below the photo, golden calligraphy read “Franco,” likely a stage name.

“So, what exactly was his occupation?”

Liu Yi had a guess but waited for Qi Shanyu’s explanation.

“The man’s real name is Huang Zixiang, 22 years old, orphaned. This property was inherited from his parents.”

Qi Shanyu replied: “After dropping out of college two years ago, he worked at a nightclub on the bar street two kilometers away, using the stage name Franco. Nominally a host, but actually working as a companion and escort.”

“So, he was essentially a male escort?”

Liu Yi stated directly.

Qi Shanyu nodded awkwardly. “According to coworkers, Huang Zixiang’s clients were mainly wealthy and idle women. If he liked someone, he would accept male clients too.”

He paused briefly, then added: “We asked neighbors. Several reported they could roughly guess his ‘line of work’ and often saw him bringing partners home. Sometimes it got noisy until late, which annoyed neighbors, so his reputation was poor, and they rarely interacted with him.”

Liu Yi clasped his hands, tapping his right index finger on the back of his left hand rhythmically. “I see. Since neighbors knew he brought patrons home, they wouldn’t intervene regardless of the noise. Is that the idea?”

“Not exactly.”

Qi Shanyu shook his head. “We questioned the two adjacent households carefully. They said that although sometimes there were loud, discordant noises, last night they didn’t hear anything from his apartment.”

“That’s a bit interesting.”

Liu Yi glanced at Feng Ling, pointing at the bright orange tie on the victim’s neck. “Are we certain the cause of death was strangulation?”

Feng Ling answered firmly: “No other lethal injuries found. Considering the neck skin and hemorrhages in the eyes, mechanical asphyxia seems to be the cause.”

“So, could it be that the fingers were severed because the victim scratched the killer while being strangled, and the killer, knowing forensic countermeasures, cut off the fingers to avoid leaving skin or blood evidence?”

“Yes, that’s possible.”

Feng Ling agreed. “I did a quick test. Although the victim was assaulted, no semen was found in the rectum. Either the killer didn’t ejaculate, or used a condom and took it away.”

“I initially thought this might be a copycat case…”

Liu Yi’s gaze swept inch by inch over the corpse, examining every gruesome wound carefully.

“But now, perhaps, it’s just a coincidence?”

“Copycat case?”

Qi Shanyu caught the keyword in Liu Yi’s words. “You mean the nameless skeleton from the Xin Changyuan film base?”

Liu Yi nodded. “Yes, that one.”

“But the details of that case were never reported, nor leaked through other media.”

Qi Shanyu disagreed.

When the skeleton was unearthed, it made headlines briefly, but the workers reporting it had no forensic knowledge. They couldn’t have known the skeleton was missing arms or legs, or that all ten fingers were severed.

So that case was only sensationalized as “nameless skeleton found in Xin Changyuan.” The detailed facts were known only internally, making accurate imitation extremely difficult.

Author’s note: After reminders from readers, a small detail was added~⊙▽⊙

It’s late today; the next update will reply to comments on the previous three chapters. Love you all!