It was just after five in the morning, and winter was fast approaching, so there were hardly any pedestrians on the road, just a few scattered sanitation workers cleaning the streets.
Su Chen had been driving for less than thirty minutes before he arrived near the cri scene located on the southeastern edge of Jianghai City.
This place was even beyond the suburbs, surrounded by farmland and fish ponds, with no residents for miles around, truly a place where even birds wouldn't bother to defecate.
By the ti Su Chen and Xu Xinran arrived, the area was already cordoned off with police tape.
In a small grove next to the fish pond, several police officers had gathered, and all turned their heads at the sound of the approaching vehicle.
"It's Xu coming."
A police officer casually remarked to his companion.
"She sure arrived quickly, probably got woken up by the noise."
"Hey, why has Xu brought a man with her?"
"Yeah, I bet it's her boyfriend, who ca to drop her off, right?"
"I never heard Xu ntion she had a boyfriend."
"Does she have to announce everything? This early in the morning, the two of them showing up together, doesn't that say it all?"
"You an, they're living together already?"
"Obviously, what else?"
......
While a few police officers were chatting idly, Jiang Lixing nearby also saw Xu Xinran walking over with a man.
When he got a clear view of the man's face, he was taken aback and hurried over in a fluster, nearly falling over on the uneven road.
The other officers, seeing the superintendent's reaction, were a bit confused but imdiately followed suit.
"Greetings, sir!"
Jiang Lixing ran up to Su Chen and saluted him with proper military respect.
The officers who had followed were startled by the scene. Why was the superintendent saluting this young man and addressing him as "sir"? Who exactly was this boyfriend of Xu Xinran?
"All right, I'm just here to have a look,"
Su Chen waved his hand and said,
"I've heard Xinran ntion this case—there have been several dozen young won murdered, right?"
"Yes, sir, the case is indeed perplexing and terrifyingly bizarre,"
Jiang Lixing dropped his hand and sighed,
"The case has already attracted the attention of the provincial office, and even the ministry, ordering to solve it and apprehend the culprit quickly. But up to now, we still don't have any leads—what are we supposed to use to crack the case?"
As Jiang Lixing reported, he glanced over at Xu Xinran standing beside Su Chen, wondering to himself if the two had already moved in together.
Otherwise, why would they have co together this early in the morning?
Xu Xinran, seeing the odd look Jiang Lixing gave her, naturally understood what he was thinking, and her pretty face instantly flushed with color.
"Let's take a look at the body first,"
Su Chen said nonchalantly.
"Yes!"
Jiang Lixing imdiately responded,
"The body is in that small grove over there. I'll take you to see it."
Having said this, Jiang Lixing led Su Chen towards the direction of the grove.
The officers who had co along, however, were all surrounding Xu Xinran, their faces full of curiosity.
"Xinran, who exactly is your boyfriend? Why does the superintendent call him 'sir'?"
One of the officers, who was quite close with Xu Xinran, asked.
He really couldn't believe it: how could a young man just over twenty years old possibly be so kind of high-ranking officer?
"I'm just an ordinary friend of his, and I don't even know who he is?"
Xu Xinran answered embarrassingly, her face flushed with sha.
"Co on, Xinran, what's the point in keeping secrets from us?"
Another police officer sneered:
"Living together and still claiming to be just friends, are you 'just friends' who share the sa bed?"
At these words, the rest of the police all chuckled, and Xu Xinran's pretty face turned almost as red as a monkey's butt.
"It's not what you think, we just stayed at the sa place last night and didn't sleep in the sa room."
Xu Xinran still tried her best to explain because her reputation was at stake.
"Xinran, do you think we would believe that?"
The officer who had previously been on good terms with her spoke up again:
"We're all police officers, not so three-year-old kids. Do any of you believe that?"
The others all shook their heads vigorously, clearly thinking that Xu Xinran was lying.
Xu Xinran felt like she was going to faint; how could no one believe her when she told the truth?
"Xu, we're in the 21st century now; there's nothing wrong with cohabiting, no need to hide it."
At this point, an older police officer also said sothing aningful.
"Alright, you're all right, okay?"
Knowing that no matter what she said they wouldn't believe her, Xu Xinran simply went along with what they were saying to stop them from annoying her further.
After she finished talking, Xu Xinran walked towards the grove.
"So what exactly is the status of this boyfriend of yours?"
A few police officers followed Xu Xinran, persistently asking.
These officers had not participated in the operations at Dragon Ascend Building and Tianfu Hotel reunions, so they didn't recognize Su Chen.
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If a different group of officers who had participated in those two operations were here, they would certainly have recognized Su Chen.
After all, a high-ranking officer in his twenties is too morable!
"I really don't know?"
Xu Xinran spread her hands as she kept walking forward.
"How can that be? He's supposed to be your boyfriend. How could you not even know his status?"
The police were still sowhat reluctant to let it go.
This ti, Xu Xinran found it impossible to brush them off because she truly didn't know!
As they were talking, Su Chen had already followed Jiang Lixing into the woods.
After advancing a little further, they ca upon a forensic pathologist, clad in a white lab coat, busy at work, conducting a preliminary autopsy.
"How is it, Dr. Tong, have you determined the cause of death?"
Jiang Lixing approached the pathologist and asked.
"Yes, it has been determined; like the dozens of other young female victims before her, she died of excessive blood loss."
Dr. Tong, the middle-aged and slightly overweight pathologist, replied promptly upon hearing Jiang Lixing's question.
Su Chen, upon seeing this corpse, imdiately narrowed his eyes, a sharp gleam bursting forth!
The body was indeed just as Xu Xinran had described to him before: pale and bloodless, the skin akin to that of a withered old woman, nothing like that of a 21-year-old in the pri of youth.
By this ti, Xu Xinran and several other police officers had also arrived at the scene. Although Xu Xinran had seen this sight many tis, she still couldn't help feeling queasy.
She quickly reached into her pocket, took out a bag of preserved plums, and popped one into her mouth.
anwhile, the other officers tried their best to avoid looking at the body, as the sight was simply too disturbing...
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