Chapter 837 - Killing Textbook

Chapter 837: Killing Textbook

Zhao Yu did just as he said he would. In the afternoon, he turned the Golden Police Station upside down. Since he had been a debt collector In his previous life, exerting pressure on people was like second nature to him.

He first called Bureau Chief Liu Chongmin at the Golden Police Station, scolding him directly over the phone. After being scolded, the minute that Bureau Chief Liu hung up the phone, he hurried over to Zhao Yu’s present location within the station.

But, before he could even say anything in his defense, Zhao Yu vividly rehashed all of the details of the station’s bad performance both within Han Kuan’s case and the serial murder case. Zhao Yu then threatened to inform the Criminal Division of the station’s negligence.

In order to show how serious he was, Zhao Yu even called the Criminal Division in front of Bureau Chief Liu and all of the other leaders. This made Bureau Chief Liu and the other leaders so frightened that they hastened to try to calm Zhao Yu down.

Then, Zhao Yu signaled to Miao Ying, who made a big show of coming and enacting a charade to dissuade Zhao Yu from calling the division leaders, while pleading on the Golden City station’s behalf.

Upon seeing her words, all of the Golden City Police Station leaders echoed what Miao YIng had just said. Then, Zhao Yu pretended to calm down, while taking the opportunity to shift the focus of the conversation back to the case.

He then proceeded to criticize the police station’s inefficiency and reluctance to cooperate with him and his team. He then pointed out several of their faults, warning them that, if he was kept from solving the case as a result of their incompetence, they would be severely punished!

After hearing this threat, Bureau Chief Liu apologized profusely and swore that he would tighten his reins on the station’s police detectives, mobilize all of the available police forces, and give everything they had to accomplish the task with the highest quality performance, and all within the deadline window.

Zhao Yu knew that, at this critical moment, he couldn’t really afford to have a falling out with them, as that wouldn’t be conducive for solving the case. Therefore, he began to employ the stick and carrot approach.

That is to say, he spoke softly to the policemen, his tone filled with reason and compassion. He told them that, as long as they could find important clues for the case, not only could they make up for the demerits that they had previously been given, but that they could also receive acclaim for making valuable contributions toward solving the case.

Such a stellar speech thoroughly convinced the leaders of the Golden City Police Station. In order to show their determination, Bureau Chief Liu immediately convened a meeting, where he gave official orders to all of the policemen.

He also urged them to obey the orders of the Special Investigation Group strictly, while emphasizing that mistakes would simply not be tolerated. Otherwise, they would all be dismissed. As a result, the Golden City Police Station changed dramatically.

After the policemen became aware of just how important the two cases were, they all worked very hard to solve them. In order to obtain information, they visited each household to inquire about all of the necessary details, including the victims’ family trees, as well as their usual routines.

Before long, all kinds of information had been gathered by the police officers’ investigation, all of which had been gathered at the office of the Special Investigation Group. Undoubtedly, with such an impressive influx of detailed information, Zhao Yu and the others could make great progress!

In order to make the most efficient use of his team’s time, Zhao Yu declined Bureau Chief Liu’s offer to host them at a luxury restaurant that night. Instead, he decided that his team would use this time to analyze the case.

That night, he added four more white boards for all of the new information. After they had transferred all of the data onto the white boards, Miao Ying pointed to one of the white boards and said, “If the killer really was doing everything according to the novel’s plot, then that means that Zhan Jiankang was the first victim, and it is highly probable that he was murdered.”

After hearing her words, Zhao Yu looked at Zhan Jiankang’s information. He was a 21-year-old delivery man, who pedaled an electric tricycle to deliver goods. He worked in the building materials market.

According to the information, this man was young and strong, and he not only was capable of delivering goods, but he was also highly skilled at many other things. Hence, his business had always been better than his colleagues, which often resulted in a lot of jealousy.

At the end of July last year, his colleagues noticed that Zhan Jiankang hadn’t shown up for work. Nevertheless, because this man was also short-tempered and often confronted people, they preferred not seeing him.

Thus, nobody from his workplace had reported his disappearance. However, when Zhan Jiankang’s family couldn’t contact him, they reported it to the police.

The Golden City Police took the matter seriously, immediately dispatching a large number of policemen to find Zhan Jiankang. Finally, his body was found in an abandoned building near his workplace.

Zhan Jiankang had died in a corner of the building, which explained why his body had not been discovered by passersby. The autopsy revealed that he had been dead for more than half a month when he was finally found. In addition, because it had been very hot, the corpse had already decayed quite a bit.

Although the police suspected that there was a great possibility that this was a murder, neither autopsy that they conducted nor the crime scene indicated any obvious signs that a murder had occurred. Thus, the police ended up closing the case by pronouncing it a suicide. Although the families objected to this conclusion, they had no power to contest it.

“I read the autopsy report!” Miao Ying said as she pointed to the photograph of the victim. “Because the corpse had already decayed quite a bit, the autopsy results were unsatisfactory. This explains why the forensics team did not find any obvious signs of it being a homicide!”

Zhao Yu nodded, then said, “Well… If someone wanted to make a murder look like a suicide, at least he would need to render the victim unconscious first! Didn’t you find anything that would indicate that in the blood test?”

Wu Xiumin shook her head, then said, “No. But… Han Kuan’s book did mention that all of the victims were rendered unconscious by the murderer via ether.”

“Ether!” Zhao Yu repeated in shock.

Miao Ying said, “Well… If they inhaled the ether, it wouldn’t have been detected after such a long time. But… It would certainly be capable of killing someone!”

Zhao Yu nodded, then said, “At first, I thought that it was the result of an electric shock! The first case that I handled was a rape, where the victim was knocked out by an electric prod.”

Miao Ying then pointed to the white board and said, “Also, Zhan Jiankang’s crime scene was exactly the same as the first victim’s in 11 Kills! The first victim in the book also died in a corner of an abandoned building! So, we can confidently confirm that Zhan Jiankang is the first victim of the serial killer case!”

Zhao Yu thought this over as he repeated the words, “Abandoned building! Abandoned building…”

With that, he took a step to the side, while pointing to the picture of Hao Lili, the second victim, and said, “The second victim was in the corridor of an unfinished building!”

Wu Xiumin immediately said, “Yes The second victim in the book also died in the same place as the book! But… The victim in the book is a man!”

Zhao Yu then came before the third victim’s information on the white boards and asked, “What’s the third crime scene like?”

Wu Xiumin answered, “It’s a very ordinary neighborhood! The buildings were built two years ago… But, because of their low quality and the disputes over heating, the occupancy rate is not very high. Also, since the project was not ever properly finished, the surveillance cameras were installed but never activated! After all, most of the people who had previously bought apartments there had never moved in at all!”

Miao Ying then chimed in and explained further, “As such, ninety percent of the people who live there are tenants, onlying renting, as the rent is extraordinarily cheap! As numerous thefts and fights occur, over time, people began to move away. Now, very few people live there!”

Ran Tao then said, “Still… You would think that renters would even care about a dead body being there for such a long time! I’m amazed that no one knew about it all that time!”

“So… What does the book have to say about the third victim? Zhao Yu asked Wu Xiumin.

“Well… It’s a little different in the book!” Wu Xiumin said. “The third victim died in an roughcast room in an older community in the book.”

Ran Tao nodded, then said, “Well, I think that’s understandable. After all, where could the killer find the exact same place as the one in the book, especially in a city that is as small as the Golden City? Besides, novels are fiction!”

Zhao Yu nodded, then said, “Regardless, the scene is nearly the same! At least, it’s close enough for us to confirm that this is the scene of the third murder.”

Zhao Yu then smacked his lips and added, “It seems that I have underestimated the killer. That fuckin* Han Kuan said that there are loads of loopholes in his book, but the killer used his book like a killing textbook!”