Chapter 143: Arguing and Keeping Vigil

Back at the time, the affair between Hu Yufang and Qiu Xiao was an open secret throughout the medical university. Their instructors had initially worried that the two adult students might accidentally end up with a child, but upon further reflection, realizing they were both medical students, the faculty felt reassured and let the matter rest.

I paused for a moment before posing a question: "Do you know why Hu Yufang and Qiu Xiao had a falling out?"

They exchanged glances, unable to offer any explanation. In their impression, the first few months of Qiu Xiao and Hu Yufang's relationship had indeed been inseparable, but a year prior, the two of them had suddenly fallen into frequent disputes. It was said that even Qiu Xiao's and Hu Yufang's roommates had stepped in to mediate and patch things up between them.

Back then, both Hu Yufang and Qiu Xiao were top-tier students, so their instructors had heard whispers of the drama but hadn't paid it much mind. Now, those same instructors were fully convinced that Qiu Xiao was the murderer of Hu Yufang. Remorse etched across their faces, one of them sighed, "Young couples arguing is the most normal thing in the world. If we had only known Qiu Xiao would do something so foolish, we would have stopped them back then."

Another instructor immediately spat on the floor and retorted, "Stopping them from arguing wouldn't have stopped what was in Qiu Xiao's heart. For him to commit such a heinous act—thank goodness he never became a doctor, or who knows how many corpses would have suffered at his hands!"

Opinions on Qiu Xiao ranged from pity to vehement condemnation. Unable to glean any further information, we left the office and headed down to the medical university's morgue. In the wake of the corpse theft from a year ago and the recent string of cases, security and control over morgues citywide had grown considerably tighter.

The morgue doors were secured with multiple locks, the windows fitted with burglar bars, and the school no longer dared to use student volunteers for night duty, assigning professional administrators instead. We located the person who had been in charge of the morgue back then, and he led us inside. When Qiu Xiao's name was brought up, his impression remained remarkably vivid.

In those days, the medical university still utilized student volunteers for overnight shifts, and Qiu Xiao had been one of those student administrators. Mentioning Qiu Xiao, the man recalled how particularly enthusiastic he had seemed back then. On bitter winter nights, Qiu Xiao would urge the other students on night duty to go back and rest while he stayed behind to keep watch alone.

Yet, as the man thought back on this now, he instinctively reached up to scratch his head, a chill running down his spine.

This medical university was the only institution of higher learning for medicine in the entire city. Corpses were either sent to the forensic identification center at the university of political science and law for autopsies or brought here. Compared to hospitals, the nearby police bureau much preferred sending bodies to the university. Additionally, the medical university frequently accepted unclaimed bodies or those donated by grieving families for use in medical anatomy instruction.

Consequently, there were quite a few corpses stored in the morgue. As soon as we stepped inside, we were greeted by the pungent, heavy scent of formalin, with body after body resting on the stainless-steel autopsy tables. The administrator remarked that a year or two ago, the number of bodies housed here hadn't been quite this high, though it had still been substantial.

The male and female corpses were kept in separate areas, each housed on opposite sides of the room. The morgue administrator shuddered as he spoke: "I vaguely remember that last year, whenever I came in to inspect the morgue every other day, it always felt as though the female corpses' holding room had been disturbed. I wonder if Qiu Xiao desecrated those women's bodies as well."

The administrator's memory of Qiu Xiao had become entirely inseparable from the corpses. He declared that when Qiu Xiao sent those students away, his sole intention must have been to secure uninterrupted time alone in the morgue to commit depraved acts upon the dead. The accompanying police officers listened intently, pens and notebooks in hand, recording every single word.

I weighed this matter in my mind, finding certain aspects rather peculiar. There was no doubt that Qiu Xiao had deeply loved Hu Yufang. A man like that, regardless of any abnormal fetishes, would hardly cross the line with the corpses of other women; doing so would represent the ultimate betrayal. Given how obsessively, almost fanatically, Qiu Xiao had loved Hu Yufang, I simply could not believe he would touch the bodies of other women.

Upon leaving the morgue, I shared these doubts with the accompanying police officers. After listening, they conceded that it made a certain amount of sense. One of them hypothesized that the morgue administrator's impression of Qiu Xiao had soured to such an extreme that, when recalling past events now, his unconscious bias inevitably cast everything in a negative light.

"A year has already passed, so memories are naturally hazy to begin with. Since his impression of Qiu Xiao is so utterly abyssal, it's entirely possible he's embellishing things," the officer told me.

Setting aside my inner misgivings, I followed them quietly toward the school gates. With daylight still lingering, we had a few more people to see—specifically, the former roommates of Qiu Xiao and Hu Yufang. The police had already notified them, and our meeting place was set just outside the university grounds. By the time we arrived, the group had already gathered.

They sat with their heads lowered, none of them speaking. It was evident their spirits were weighed down heavily; both Qiu Xiao and Hu Yufang had once lived alongside them, and seeing neither of them come to a good end naturally left them in no mood for cheer. Operating with brisk efficiency, the police wasted no time, cutting straight to the point to ask whether the couple had ever engaged in bitter disputes with anyone else back then.

After a moment of reflection, they all shook their heads, testifying that both Qiu Xiao and Hu Yufang had been good-natured people who had never provoked anyone.

The officers exchanged glances before shifting the topic to the incident when Qiu Lei had stormed the campus causing a scene. Hu Yufang's roommates immediately recalled the event, their memories of it exceptionally clear. According to them, Hu Yufang had been inside the dorm room when the door was forcefully kicked open with a single blow.

Completely disregarding the fact that it was a female dormitory, and ignoring the dorm supervisor's attempts to block him, Qiu Lei had smashed the door open just as some of the female students were in the middle of changing clothes, throwing the entire girls' dormitory area into instant turmoil. Charging straight inside, Qiu Lei grabbed Hu Yufang by the hair and dragged her out, reducing her to terrified tears.

She was dragged all the way to the stairwell. Though no one dared to approach closely out of fear, someone managed to call the police. Before the authorities arrived, Qiu Xiao had caught wind of the situation and rushed to the women's dormitory. After blocking Qiu Lei, the two brothers engaged in a violent brawl. According to Qiu Xiao's roommates, Qiu Lei had visited the medical university on a few prior occasions to see his brother.

Finding Qiu Lei's ruffian-like demeanor intimidating, everyone had kept their distance from him. However, Qiu Lei had actually treated Qiu Xiao's roommates rather well, even inviting them to share the food he brought for Qiu Xiao. They noted that Qiu Xiao had always been exceedingly polite to Qiu Lei; even when Qiu Lei scolded him harshly, Qiu Xiao never dared to talk back. It was painfully obvious how strict the older brother was.

That ferocious fight between the brothers was the very first time Qiu Xiao's roommates had ever witnessed such violence.

The two had fought savagely. It took a long time of persuasion from the university leadership and the arriving police before the authorities were convinced to leave without pressing charges, managing to sweep the matter under the rug. Afterward, Qiu Lei took Qiu Xiao back home for several days of forced leave. When Qiu Xiao finally returned to campus, his face bruised and swollen, anyone could tell he had taken a severe beating upon returning home.

Yet, Qiu Xiao acted as though nothing at all had happened and continued his relationship with Hu Yufang as before.

Everyone had assumed Qiu Lei would return to school to cause more trouble, but from that day forward, he never set foot on the campus again.

Not long after that, Hu Yufang died.

The officer nodded. "I've reviewed the case files. Back then, we did dispatch personnel to investigate Qiu Lei, but he possessed an airtight alibi. Furthermore, shortly afterward, Qiu Xiao fled with the body, which immediately cleared Qiu Lei of any criminal suspicion."

As the discussion continued, I pondered for a long moment before turning back to Qiu Xiao's roommates: "Did you ever notice any abnormal habits in Qiu Xiao? For instance, watching certain types of video discs or reading specific books?"

Understanding the implication behind my words, Qiu Xiao's roommates replied that his lifestyle had always been thoroughly wholesome and completely normal. It was precisely because of this that the revelations following the incident had left them utterly shocked.

"When Qiu Xiao returned from his night shifts, did he ever carry any unusual scent, or rush to take a shower the moment he walked in?" I pressed on.

After thinking it over for a moment, they explained that sometimes, upon finishing a night shift, Qiu Xiao would head straight to his classes. On days when he had no classes, he would simply fall fast asleep the moment he returned, without any obsessive routine of taking showers, nor did he ever carry any strange odors.

My brows knitted tightly together. Noticing my expression, the police asked if something had occurred to me, and I gave a slow nod.