Chapter 149: Doctor or Medical Student

The police officers were going door-to-door making inquiries. After Fatty Lu and I arrived, they immediately shared what they had found. Even after narrowing down the scope, there were still over twenty names on the list. These individuals were the villagers who had the closest ties to Qiu Lei and Qiu Xia.

The police had interrogated these twenty-plus people in turns. Every interrogation technique in the book had been used, yet nothing of substance came out. Refusing to let it go, Fatty Lu insisted on questioning the twenty individuals himself. He asked if I wanted to tag along, but I shook my head, saying I wanted to visit Qiu Lei's parents instead.

And so, Fatty Lu and I parted ways. When I reached Qiu Lei's house, both of his parents were lying in bed, looking sickly and unable to even stand. They were crying. Both of them had mobility issues, and when I stepped inside, they didn't even react.

The accompanying police officer told me that the elderly couple's health had deteriorated rapidly after learning of Qiu Lei's disappearance, and there was no one to take care of them. If kind-hearted villagers hadn't occasionally dropped by over the past couple of days to feed them, they might have already starved to death. I sat down in front of them and called out to them several times, but they gave no response.

"Actually, neither Qiu Xia nor Qiu Lei is a murderer," I said to them after a moment of thought when they remained silent.

Sure enough, my words finally elicited a reaction, especially from Qiu Xia's father. After struggling for a bit, he managed to sit up. He grabbed my hand and asked if what I said was true. I nodded and told him I was certain that neither Qiu Xia nor Qiu Lei had ever killed anyone.

I urged Qiu Xia's father to answer my questions honestly so that Qiu Xia wouldn't have to shoulder the crime of murder. Desecration of a corpse would only carry a sentence of a few years before he could get out. Moreover, Qiu Xia had already been evaluated as mentally ill, and whether he would bear criminal responsibility would depend on the trial.

"And as for Qiu Lei, if you want him to avoid fleeing and living on the run, his name needs to be cleared as well," I continued.

Qiu Xia's father finally perked up. Seeing that he was willing to speak, the officer accompanying me immediately whipped out a pen and paper. After pondering for a moment, I asked Qiu Xia's father, "Tell me, did all of you object to Qiu Xia being with Hu Yufang?"

Qiu Xia's father nodded. He told us that Qiu Xia was the family's only hope, and they were all counting on him to land a good job and make something of himself. Naturally, they didn't want a woman to derail his studies. I found this family to be exceptionally rigid. Qiu Xia's father remarked that once Qiu Xia secured a good job, finding a woman would be the least of his worries.

He also mentioned that when they first discovered Qiu Xia was in a relationship at school, the entire family scolded him, and Qiu Lei even resorted to physical violence. At the time, the family was having a meal when Qiu Xia announced he had found a girlfriend. Believing that romance had nothing to do with academics, he had confessed it straight out.

Upon hearing this, Qiu Lei smashed his bowl and slapped Qiu Xia across the face. Enraged, Qiu Xia walked straight back to school and didn't come home for several weeks. Eventually, unable to bear it any longer, Qiu Lei tracked down Hu Yufang and caused a massive scene at the Medical University. However, after bringing Qiu Xia back home, seeing him mope around all day without eating or drinking, Qiu Lei's heart softened, and so did his parents'.

In the end, Qiu Lei made studying his bottom line and compromised, allowing Qiu Xia to return to school on the condition that it wouldn't affect his grades. After that, they never went back to the university to look for Hu Yufang. As he spoke, Qiu Xia's father grew somewhat emotional. "Everything I'm saying is true. He wouldn't kill Hu Yufang; we had already accepted it."

I patted Qiu Xia's father on the shoulder. "I know. Now tell me, did Qiu Xia or Qiu Lei ever bring anyone home? Or perhaps among your relatives and friends, was there anyone who was exceptionally close to them?"

Prompted by this, Qiu Xia's father thought deeply. He said their family was extremely poor, and they had very few relatives and friends to begin with, let alone anyone close. The ones closest to Qiu Lei and Qiu Xia were simply the people in their village.

I asked him to think harder. He furrowed his brows and racked his brain for a long while. Just as I was about to give up, Qiu Xia's father suddenly recalled something. He told me that two years prior, Qiu Xia had indeed brought a man home. It was a man whom Qiu Lei also seemed to know, and the three of them had eaten and laughed together.

I froze slightly and immediately asked, "What was his name?"

With his heavy Chongqing accent, Qiu Xia's father shook his head. "I forgot. Whether it was Qiu Xia who brought him home or Qiu Lei, I've forgotten." He gave Qiu Xia's mother a nudge, asking if she could remember, but she had even less recollection.

Qiu Xia's father said he vaguely remembered the visitor being very polite. After the three of them finished eating, Qiu Xia and Qiu Lei even took him up into the mountains to show him around.

That was the extent of Qiu Xia father's memory, and no further details could be squeezed out. I stepped out of Qiu Xia's house. When I reunited with Fatty Lu, he wore a triumphant look and asked if I had uncovered anything. I nodded. He declared that he had made breakthroughs as well and asked me to share mine to see if they matched his.

Having just tested Fatty Lu earlier, I decided to keep probing.

"Deputy Captain Lu, why don't you go first this time?" I insisted on holding back. Fatty Lu tried to persuade me otherwise, appearing somewhat put on the spot. Just then, his cell phone rang. After answering it, he burst into loud laughter, announcing that the killer might be a doctor or a medical student.

I was slightly taken aback, which only made Fatty Lu smugger. He explained that he had just questioned people around the village and found that their relationships with the Qiu brothers were quite ordinary, nothing special. If a villager were the killer, Qiu Xia would surely have exposed them, and moreover, a local wouldn't have been able to easily convince Qiu Lei to flee and hide on a whim.

More importantly, there was not a single person in the entire village who was emaciated to the point of not even being able to afford a cooking pot or knives.

I nodded at Fatty Lu and gestured for him to continue.

Fatty Lu went on to tell me that the final autopsy report from the forensic center had come out. The chronic poison that caused the deaths of the five female victims had been identified as industrial sodium nitrite. He noted that it would be extremely difficult for an ordinary person to precisely gauge the dosage so that all five individuals died within a very close timeframe—unless the perpetrator was a chemistry or medical professional who specialized in sodium nitrite.

Fatty Lu reasoned that Qiu Lei was idle and wouldn't normally associate with such people. Therefore, the killer likely befriended Qiu Xia first and, over time, grew close to both brothers. Since Qiu Xia was an exceptional medical student, he had far more opportunities to cross paths with intellectuals of this caliber.

Because of his academic background, Qiu Xia was much more likely to come into contact with medical professionals—individuals who were inevitably doctors, medical students, or instructors at the medical university.

Having received that phone call, Fatty Lu's analysis was airtight and systematic. The police officers following us looked stunned, seemingly seeing Fatty Lu shine in the field for the first time. After a moment of thought, I asked Fatty Lu whose call he had just taken. He pulled out his cell phone to show me, pointing out the number belonging to the forensic center.

Fatty Lu then asked what I had managed to dig up. I told him about the time Qiu Xia and Qiu Lei had brought someone back home for a meal. Hearing this, Fatty Lu smiled faintly. "That could very well be the killer. It looks like we need to make another trip to the medical university. I'm confident we can pinpoint the suspect's identity very soon."

Just as Fatty Lu was riding high on his success, his cell phone rang again. This time, the call caused his expression to drain of color.

Fatty Lu cursed angrily into the phone, "Didn't I tell you to notify everyone already?"

Without a word more to us after hanging up, he herded all of us into the police cruiser. As he slammed his foot on the gas and tore down the road in a frantic rush, Fatty Lu finally revealed the truth: despite guarding against every possible angle, they had failed to prevent it—the killer had struck again.

Unlike the previous two incidents, this time, the killer's target was a living person.

With a grim expression, Fatty Lu stated, "And what's more, the victim volunteered to be eaten."