Chapter 139: The Corpse-Stealing Fiend

After casting a few more glances at Fatty Lu, I continued speaking.

"Based on this deduction, as far as I currently know, there are two individuals who fit the profile. One is Hu Yufang's adoptive father. He is a very important person to her and was seen acting furtively around the identification center, making him highly suspicious. The other person is Qiu Xiao's older brother. I heard that he opposed Qiu Xiao's relationship and even went to the medical university to threaten Hu Yufang, demanding that she stay away from Qiu Xiao. He is also suspicious and ought to be investigated," I told Fatty Lu.

Fatty Lu had already wiped the smile off his face. His venomous, snake-like gaze suddenly fixed upon me. Frowning, I asked him what he was staring at. Fatty Lu asked me with an eerie undertone, "How did you know Qiu Xiao had an older brother? It seems you've already investigated."

I had already prepared a ready-made excuse: "Since I dared to stand before the King of Crime Solving and claim I could help you, naturally I had to do some investigating beforehand."

Fatty Lu remained half-convinced, half-doubtful, but ultimately said nothing more. He summoned two officers and ordered them to bring Qiu Xiao's older brother into the police station. The two officers immediately went to carry out the order. I continued telling Fatty Lu that besides these two suspicious individuals, the person who had led me to Qiu Xiao's hiding place also needed to be tracked down as soon as possible.

Fatty Lu burst into loud laughter, showering me with compliments—though on the surface he was praising me, in reality he was praising himself. He remarked that I was like the roundworm in his belly, thinking the exact same way he did. I had long since grown accustomed to this behavior from Fatty Lu, so I just offered a slight smile and said nothing further.

We waited for a while, but none of the families of the missing corpses came to look for us. Unable to wait any longer, Fatty Lu simply took me straight to the identification center. By the time we arrived, the bodies had already been identified, and two elderly peasant women were brought before Fatty Lu and me. Their faces were pale from crying, and according to the police, they had also vomited violently.

After the two of them calmed down a little, they told us that the two corpses were indeed their relatives. The circumstances surrounding both bodies bore striking similarities. The corpses had been stolen from remote townships. According to folk customs, after someone passes away, the body must be kept for a few days to hold memorial rites. Both bodies had been stolen during the night.

At night, the people guarding the corpses had grown tired and closed their eyes to rest for a moment; to their surprise, when they opened their eyes, the corpses were gone. The villagers were inevitably superstitious, and at first everyone thought it was a case of a corpse returning to life. None of them had imagined that anyone would actually steal dead bodies. The culprit seemed to have targeted households with fewer family members, otherwise stealing the bodies wouldn't have been so easy.

At first, they hadn't thought of calling the police, but the sudden disappearance of the bodies filled them with dread. It was only when grassroots police officers made inquiries that they realized the bodies had been stolen. Heartbroken with grief, the two women begged us to catch the culprit, and Fatty Lu patted his chest, promising that the perpetrator would definitely be brought to justice.

With great difficulty, we managed to comfort and send away the two women, after which the other people who had come to identify bodies crowded around Fatty Lu and me. Hailing from various townships around Yu City, they were even more terrified after seeing the mutilated and hair-raising condition of those two bodies. Although the corpses did not belong to their own families, they were afraid their own relatives' bodies might be desecrated as well.

Fatty Lu asked them when the bodies had gone missing and when the deceased had died. With these questions, the situation grew more complicated. Excluding the two bodies that had already been identified, three bodies remained missing. Among these three missing corpses, two had been gone for two days, and the deceased had died over four days ago.

The remaining one had died the day before yesterday, and the time of disappearance was as recent as yesterday. In other words, after the police discovered the crime scene and recovered the two bodies, the culprit had struck again. This completely aligned with my deduction that the culprit would commit another crime. Fatty Lu's expression turned grave. When we returned to the police station, it was already a boiling cauldron of activity.

Everyone was talking about the psycho killer, not only as a corpse-stealing maniac, but also as someone who committed such sickening acts.

Fatty Lu issued instructions, telling all grassroots officers to be vigilant within their respective jurisdictions, particularly reminding families who had recently suffered a death to properly guard their corpses to prevent further body-theft cases. After sitting down, Fatty Lu let out a sigh and said to me, "This corpse-stealing maniac has stolen three more bodies. By flouting judicial authority like this, he's bound to leave behind a new crime scene."

True to his word, before Fatty Lu even finished speaking, another person rushed in hurriedly. Fatty Lu immediately stood up and asked if a crime scene had been discovered, and the person nodded in panic. Fatty Lu cursed, "Speak of the devil."

Wang Yazhou and the little ghost were still waiting at the police station. By this time, dusk was falling. Fatty Lu headed out to the crime scene, and before leaving, he took me along directly. I followed behind Fatty Lu; the other officers wore strange expressions on their faces, but no one dared to say anything. This time, the crime scene was likewise located at the base of a very secluded mountain, and it had been reported by a passing pedestrian.

By the time we arrived at the crime scene, it had grown completely dark. All the way there, Fatty Lu had been complaining that he had to work overtime again. The person who reported the crime was already terrified, and several officers were currently questioning them at the scene. Fatty Lu, myself, and a few forensic doctors accompanying the detail entered a thatched hut.

The moment I laid eyes on this crude thatched hut, I immediately recognized that it, too, had been temporarily constructed by the culprit.

Inside the hut lay two bloody corpses, alongside some firewood and a pot that had not finished burning. Just like the previous instance, the heads of the two female corpses were completely intact, while everything below the neck—especially the chest and lower body—was a gruesome, horrifying sight. The police officers at the scene were filled with righteous indignation, cursing continuously.

Fatty Lu's expression shifted. "Instead of investigating, do you think cursing will catch the killer?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Fatty Lu turned to leave. I said I wanted to stay behind to examine the bodies, and Fatty Lu waved his hand, telling me I could do as I pleased, before going outside to smoke. Putting on my gloves, I squatted down beside the bodies while two forensic doctors, suppressing their nausea, carried out their on-site inspection.

Since I was brought by Fatty Lu and did not reach out to touch the bodies, the two forensic doctors raised no objections.

Beneath the bodies lay a pool of viscous, nearly dried blood. The most spine-chilling part was the pelvic region of the female corpses. The crotches of the bodies had been completely hollowed out, and the intestines and internal organs pulled out; however, those intestines and internal organs were incomplete, appearing to have been sliced apart.

Since nothing more could be gathered from the bodies themselves, I stood up and walked over to the police officers who were gathered around the pot and firewood. They seemed to be discussing something. As I drew closer, I heard them saying that this time, the meat left in the pot wasn't as thoroughly boiled down as it had been last time. These investigators were sharp and observant.

Shining a flashlight into the pot a few times, I saw that sure enough, the remaining meat in the pot could still be barely distinguished by the naked eye. The meat left inside appeared to be the chest and pelvic areas of the corpses, and a few strands of human hair floated on the surface of the broth. I searched the ground nearby and quickly spotted what looked like vomit.

Squatting down, I leaned in very close. One of the officers remarked, "He vomited again. The killer finds it sickening himself—why does he keep eating?"

"No," I immediately refuted.

The vomit found at the previous crime scene had been extremely pulverized, and forensic experts had detected stomach acid and other gastric components within it. However, the substance the killer had vomited this time was not finely comminuted, nor were there any suspected gastric secretions. I told the officer that this time, what the killer had thrown up probably hadn't even been swallowed yet.

The officer laughed and said the killer must have felt sick before he could even swallow it.

I did not rule out that possibility, but there was another alternative: the killer might no longer feel sick enough to vomit from disgust, and spitting out this mouthful was something he did intentionally.

The killer had undoubtedly been identified as a criminal suspect who challenged judicial authority. Perpetrators of this type frequently leave behind early-warning information at crime scenes. The so-called early-warning information consists of clues left behind by the killer for the police, meant to foreshadow their own identity or hint at their next crime.

The killer took pleasure in committing crimes and watching the police recognize the clues yet remain completely helpless.

Suddenly, a realization struck me, and I deduced several clues.