Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Ominous Joy (02)

An even more horrifying scene appeared the moment Hai Shu stopped the men and squatted down beside the smoking barrel.

Below the smoking barrel was a square door for people to add dry branches as firewood and hang cured meats and sausages. At the bottom of the barrel lay a pile of accumulated ashes, and clustered within those ashes was a massive object, like a madly climbing vine greedily absorbing nutrients. Hai Shu’s gaze moved upward inch by inch, her pupils reflecting a field of blood-red. She finally saw clearly what was wrapped and carried by the ashes.

It was a human torso!

No limbs—perhaps the ones swaying on the branches were precisely his limbs—and no head. The blood had already congealed in the ashes, giving off a smell extremely similar to smoked meat.

Hai Shu stood up, turned her back to the smoking barrel, and took a deep breath. The cold, sharp air rushed into her lungs, diluting somewhat the chaos brought by the intense visual impact. She opened her eyes again and saw Guang Jun and the others standing more than ten meters away, watching her in panic and tension.

“Is… is there something inside?”

Hai Shu showed her credentials, ordering the men to immediately notify the police station, and as a criminal police officer temporarily took control of the scene, forbidding anyone from approaching.

The news of a body being discovered in the woods spread rapidly throughout Zhou Ping Town, instantly shattering the festive wedding atmosphere. The men who had been drinking sobered up completely, clamoring to go into the woods to see what had happened. The women playing mahjong stopped as well. Some were worried, while others made sarcastic remarks about the Yin and Guang families’ wedding.

“That girl from the Yin family doesn’t look like someone who can live a good life. To have something like this happen on her wedding day—what kind of omen is that?”

“Weren’t they saying this morning that Yu-zi was missing? Could the dead one be Yu-zi?”

“Possible! Speaking of Yu-zi, why was he so enthusiastic when someone else was getting married!”

…

Yin Canxi kicked off her high heels, ran over stumbling in her sneakers, her carefully styled hair already in disarray with several strands loose. She stood outside the police cordon Hai Shu had hastily set up with plastic rope, shouting anxiously, “Shu-shu! Is it Yu-zi?”

Hai Shu shook her head. Lacking proper forensic tools at the moment, she had only conducted a rough examination of the scene earlier. The ground was covered with dry branches and rotten wood, making footprints hard to preserve. There were bloodstains both outside and inside the smoking barrel.

The victim’s head was missing, so it was temporarily impossible to identify the victim from the torso alone. Although the limbs hanging on the branches were very likely those of the victim in the barrel, the possibility of it being a deliberate misdirection could not be ruled out.

Such a thing happening on a joyous day, with her brother still missing, Guang Jun had already fainted and been carried home. The elders of both the Yin and Guang families were in complete disarray. The calmest was Yin Canxi—though her face was also full of worry, she stubbornly stayed by the edge of the woods, helping Hai Shu maintain order.

While waiting for the police station officers to arrive, Hai Shu gazed at the hanging torso. After some consideration, she decided to call the Gray Surge City Municipal Bureau.

From her experience, such bizarre and cruel scenes ultimately required the municipal bureau to step in.

Municipal Bureau, Criminal Investigation Branch building. Even before Hai Shu arrived, legends about her had already spread.

Gray Surge City was a big city with crimes emerging endlessly. The police had long been locked in a tug-of-war with criminals, and the mid-level teams in several sub-bureaus as well as the branch teams in the municipal bureau were all elite units. Among them, Criminal Investigation Team 1 stood out the most. Its predecessor was the Gray Surge City Major Cases Unit, specializing in major and difficult cases. In recent years, as crime patterns constantly changed, the Major Cases Unit’s cases became even more complex. To integrate as many resources as possible, it was reorganized into Criminal Investigation Team 1.

Two months earlier, there had been a personnel adjustment in Team 1, leaving the captain position vacant for a time. Many in the sub-bureaus were eyeing that spot, and transferring anyone from within the city would be hard to convince the masses.

Rumors had long circulated that bureau leaders had requested a “heavyweight” figure from higher-ups to hold the position down. When the transfer notice finally came, everyone was stunned.

The newcomer was a beautiful woman not even 30 years old!

“Captain Hai, the police flower of Bincong City.” Forensic pathologist Wen Xu had been idle these past couple of days and loved hanging around Team 1’s territory. “I have a classmate in Bincong City who says this sister’s specialty isn’t solving cases.”

“Then what is it?”

Wen Xu mimed two punches in the air. “Fighting!”

Several male officers pretended to cower.

Sui Xing, currently the only female member of Team 1, smacked them on the head. “What are you being sarcastic about? Instead of gossiping about our future boss, why don’t you look at the cases? If we don’t solve this university student serial disappearance case soon, it’ll rot in our hands!”

Everyone wailed in protest. Wen Xu, enjoying the drama and unafraid of trouble, waved his right hand through the air. “Look at how cowardly you all are! Stars hits you and you don’t know how to hit back?”

Just as everyone was about to scatter like birds and beasts, the internal line phone suddenly rang. Everyone froze—this line ringing meant nothing good; it was probably a major case.

Sui Xing picked up. “Criminal Investigation Team 1, Sui Xing… Ah, Captain Qiao, what’s up…”

Wen Xu and the others crowded around, trying to eavesdrop on what Branch Captain Qiao Heng was assigning.

Sui Xing listened while logging into the internal network, frowning. “Zhou Ping Town hasn’t transferred the case to us yet—are we really heading out immediately?”

Wen Xu crossed his arms. “Oh! Our captain hasn’t even arrived yet! Wait till the captain gets here before taking the mission!”

Qiao Heng heard Wen Xu’s voice and said, “Your captain is already at the scene. Guess why Zhou Ping Town hasn’t reported it to the internal network yet, but I already got the news?”

Wen Xu: “She’s already at the scene? The new captain is this dedicated?”

Team 1 exploded with excitement. The new leader who hadn’t even reported in had arrived at the scene first, igniting everyone’s curiosity and competitive spirit. Sui Xing hung up, immediately started packing equipment. “What are you all standing around for? Don’t embarrass the Gray Surge Municipal Bureau in front of the new captain!”

The officers from Zhou Ping Town Police Station arrived at the scene. As Hai Shu expected, not even one forensic pathologist was among them. The field officers were a mix of old and young, and just maintaining scene order and doing basic排查 was already good enough.

“This… this Captain Hai…” Old Xin, the person in charge among the officers, broke into a cold sweat the moment he saw the situation inside and outside the smoking barrel. “Our Zhou Ping Town has always had good public security. I never imagined something like this would happen!”

Hai Shu comforted him with a few words and instructed Old Xin to immediately arrange two groups: one to search centered on the woods for the missing head, the other to conduct simple inquiries among the crowd outside the woods. Old Xin carried out the orders right away.

By now the rumor that “the dead one is Yu-zi” had spread like wildfire. After sending people out, Old Xin hurried back and asked awkwardly, “Captain Hai, should I go check on Yu-zi’s house?”

Hai Shu had just been wanting to inquire about Yu-zi’s situation. Not long ago she had found some scraps of clothing in the barrel—scorched by smoke, unrecognizable in original appearance, but the texture somewhat resembled the T-shirt Yu-zi wore yesterday. Judging from the torso’s proportions, it was also roughly Yu-zi’s build.

Old Xin said Yu-zi’s full name was Wan Zeyu, 30 years old, and somewhat of a celebrity in Zhou Ping Town in his own way. Hai Shu recalled what she had heard from the smoked-meat auntie yesterday and asked, “Because he often helps others?”

Old Xin nodded and added that it wasn’t just him—Wan Zeyu’s previous generation had also been quite well-known.

Most people living in Zhou Ping Town were workers from the Gray Surge Glass Factory. The reason it wasn’t called Zhou Ping Glass Factory was that more than thirty years ago it had been built in Gray Surge City proper. Later, as large numbers of factories moved out of the urban area, it relocated here.

The Wan family were not glass factory workers. They made their money running transportation business for the factory, richer than many workers. When Wan Zeyu was in his teens he was already a “troublemaker”—involved in nine out of ten incidents. Everyone avoided him like the plague and warned their children not to play with him.

But in the year Wan Zeyu came of age, disaster struck the Wan family. On a haul, the men in the family had a car accident. His father and uncle died horribly, bodies pierced by glass shards, corpses grotesquely mangled.

From then on, Wan Zeyu grew up overnight and became the pillar of the Wan family. Because of the horrific accident, the family no longer ran large-scale transport. Wan Zeyu sold the trucks, opened a convenience store serving the community, and also found a logistics job at the glass factory.

In recent years express delivery and group buying had developed rapidly in the townships. Wan Zeyu’s convenience store handled these. The Wan family’s life got back on track, and the store became Zhou Ping Town’s largest group-buy transfer hub.

Wan Zeyu remembered how the workers had helped him after the accident—the store’s initial success was thanks to everyone’s sympathy and enthusiastic orders. Now that Wan Zeyu had hired several helpers and wasn’t as busy, whenever anyone needed help, he rushed over like the wind.

Guang Jun called Yu-zi his brother, but that wasn’t entirely accurate. Wan Zeyu was on brotherly terms with most of the young people in town.

Hai Shu couldn’t help wondering—if the victim really was Wan Zeyu, who exactly would want to kill him in such a terrifying way?

Shouts and crying came from beyond the cordon. Hai Shu immediately looked over and saw a white-haired woman collapsing in grief, supported by people. Yin Canxi was pulling her up while saying something.

“That’s Wan Zeyu’s mom,” Old Xin sighed. “How can she bear this?”

The officers failed to find the head but discovered a large amount of bloodstains in the northeast direction of the woods. There were trampling marks on the ground, but the footprints were destroyed and hard to extract. Hai Shu went to the area with the heaviest blood, squatted down, and examined it closely. The soil there had slightly sunk, leaves and grass crushed, all covered in blood.

This was very likely the crime scene—the killer not only murdered here but also dismembered the body here.

Hai Shu checked the time. If her future teammates moved quickly, they should arrive soon.

Sure enough, five minutes later, two police cars with municipal plates stopped on the rural road outside the woods. The first person to step out was a female officer. Behind her, team members carrying forensic equipment quickly followed.

From a distance, Hai Shu met the female officer’s gaze and murmured to herself, “Sui Xing.”

Before coming to Gray Surge City, she had already reviewed the files of everyone in Criminal Investigation Team 1. Beautiful women drew attention everywhere, and Hai Shu was no exception. Sui Xing was a genuine academy graduate, skilled in cyber and technical investigation, sharp and bold, with the weakness of not being great at physical combat.

In the blink of an eye, Sui Xing was in front of Hai Shu. Their sharp gazes met in a probing clash.

If this weren’t a crime scene, it would have been quite a stunning sight: two female officers, one with long hair flowing over her shoulders in private clothes worn for a wedding, the other with hair pinned in a high bun and gold-rimmed glasses—both strikingly beautiful, yet with distinctly different temperaments.

Sui Xing was like a cold star, as her name suggested. Hai Shu’s makeup had not yet been fully removed, still vivid and intense.

“Captain Hai, we’re late,” Sui Xing said, the chill at the corners of her eyes softening when she smiled. She extended her hand to Hai Shu. “Gray Surge Municipal Bureau Criminal Investigation Team 1, Sui Xing.”

Hai Shu took the hand that bore quite a few calluses. “Not late. Perfect timing.”

This sudden meeting disrupted the rhythm of the new captain’s arrival. Greeting everyone one by one was unrealistic at the moment. Hai Shu directly recounted how the body was discovered. The forensic pathologist and trace examiner were carefully transferring the torso out of the smoking barrel.

Their reaction was the same as Hai Shu’s earlier— even the seasoned Criminal Investigation Team 1, accustomed to all kinds of homicide scenes, drew in a sharp breath at this case.

Hai Shu leaned in and asked, “I checked the footprints—probably can’t collect them. Can we find fingerprints on the smoking barrel?”

The trace examiner, Cheng Wei—younger than Wen Xu and often bossed around by him—had a mild temperament. He turned back, looked into Hai Shu’s eyes, and said, “None found. The killer was very cautious—wore shoe covers during the crime. There’s half a shoe-cover footprint on the upper part of the barrel.”

Such footprints were useless. Hai Shu looked toward the branches. The hanging limbs had already been taken down. To get up there, the killer would have had to step on the smoking barrel—just as Wan Zeyu had done yesterday.

The examination continued. Wen Xu took the torso and limbs to the crematorium for autopsy. Cheng Wei extracted bloodstains at the northeast corner. Samples were immediately sent back to the municipal bureau for DNA comparison.

A short while later, the comparison results came in. The headless victim was indeed Wan Zeyu. The bloodstains in the northeast corner also belonged to him. However, the limbs hanging from the branches did not belong to Wan Zeyu.