With a clanging sound, the chain with the cut lock was removed, and the iron gate was slowly pushed open.
Mr. Zhao, carrying a box, waved his hand behind him.
"Let’s get to work, let’s first check if there are any signs of use in this area. Doctor Bai, when did this place start being idle, according to your father?"
Fully equipped, Bai Hua approached from behind, covering her mouth with a mask, her voice sounding sowhat muffled.
"In 1991, my father had the archives checked. Haichanglong moved to the Hai Chang Long Building in March 1991, and then this place beca idle. Of course, the complete move should have been around June or July of that year. They ca here for surveying; they had to call soone specifically to open the door, not even a security guard was left behind."
Mr. Zhao nodded his head, while Mr. Yang, carrying a powerful flashlight, had already walked in.
"I’ll go take a look. If this hasn’t been used, I wonder if the lighting system here can still function normally since the residential area behind has already had the water and electricity cut off."
Mr. Zhao waved his hand, and Zhu Xingxing stomped her feet to the side. Although it was already March, it was indeed a bit cold at night, and Mr. Zhao glared at her.
"Go put on a police coat. Just follow and take a look."
Zhu Xingxing shook her head, glancing at Bai Hua. After all, Bai Hua wasn’t wearing much either, just a thin down jacket over an isolation suit.
"No, I want to learn from Doctor Bai and try to make myself more versatile. I haven’t seen many cri scene investigations; maybe I am a lucky charm!"
Mr. Zhao was speechless, but just then the lights at the main entrance lit up.
Everyone looked up as Yang Xuetong ca out quickly, shaking off the spider webs and dust from his body. He took off his goggles, wiped them clean, and then put them back on.
"Don’t judge by its age, the building here is very sound, and the directional signs are all there. Behind the guard room, there’s a dedicated power distribution room. The main switch was turned on, and now we have electricity. It seems like the electric bill hasn’t been unpaid, and sobody has been maintaining and cleaning this place regularly, or else the ground would have been ruined by weeds long ago."
Mr. Zhao nodded in agreent, appreciating Yang Xuetong’s assessnt.
"As expected from soone in real estate, although this place is in an old district, it’s perfectly located along with the Hongqi Road Community, forming an integral square block. If this were to be developed together, the property value would be quite substantial."
As they spoke, the group stepped into the courtyard. Yang Xuetong went to the guard room, turned on all the switches, and most of the yard was illuminated, although there were a few lights that did not co on.
The courtyard was spacious, with a three-story concave-shaped building, both the front and back yards were not small, and at the center was a large flower bed. Although the weeds in the flower bed were withered, they still retained a look of once being lush.
The ground was also free of excrent or debris like broken bricks and glass, so the place did not look as desolate as expected.
"The area is not small. Let’s divide into teams and start searching. Zhu Xingxing and I will take the middle part, Mr. Sun and Mr. Yang will take the left side, and the two of you will follow Doctor Bai to take the right side.
If you find anything suspicious or special, just shout. I think it’s quicker than making a call, especially since this place is spacious and now that Mr. Yang has switched on the main power, we can use the lights to inspect. Let’s start."
No one objected, and they quickly dispersed. Each person’s phone had the floor plans distributed by Bai Hua, which were annexed to the property deeds, marked fairly clearly.
Mr. Zhao and Zhu Xingxing entered the middle of the main building one after the other. Right away, there were stairs on the left and right, and in the middle, a cultural stone that looked like a landscape painting, which would definitely be valuable nowadays, but here it was just collecting dust.
Mr. Zhao looked around and shook his head, then turned on the lights on the wall.
"Tell , do you want to check left or right, or shall we check together?"
Zhu Xingxing shook her head.
"Upstairs, let’s start from the third floor and work our way down. Do you think if soone wanted to hide sothing or hoped for it to be more concealed and not found, they would do it on the first floor?"
Mr. Zhao blinked, feeling there was so truth to what Zhu Xingxing said, though there was also an issue with that idea.
"That may be so, but moving a body down from the upper floors wouldn’t be easy, right?"
Zhu Xingxing tilted her head and widened her eyes, pointing upstairs:
"Trust a woman’s intuition. Let’s go to the third floor. It’s not that tiring to check each floor one by one as we go down, right?"
Without further objection, Mr. Zhao followed her up to the third floor. They turned on all the lights along the way, and the creepy feeling inside the building diminished considerably. Just as they were two steps from the top, Mr. Zhao stopped, leaving Zhu Xingxing puzzled.
"What’s wrong now?"
Mr. Zhao crouched down, drawing several circles with white chalk and setting up a few numbered evidence markers.
"Did you find sothing?"
"You, girl, even if you’re not good at everything, your mouth certainly works well; there are bloodstains here. We’ll collect samples in a mont. I’ll take photos first to record."
After taking photos, they reached the middle of the third floor. Looking left and right, no further blood drops were found in the corridor. Mr. Zhao figured that soone had probably carried the body up to this point, paused at the railing, and touched it, causing blood to drip.
"Co on, let your lucky star shine again. Which way should we go?"
Zhu Xingxing looked around and pointed to the left.
"Lead on. The boss’s office is always in number one, and our numbering system is the sa. I think we should go to the left and take a look. Wouldn’t the big boss’s office have places like a rest room or a bathroom?"
Mr. Zhao nodded, finding Zhu Xingxing’s analysis reasonable, and followed her toward the left corridor. As they proceeded, there were only three doors, all double doors, and the north side had windows that offered a view of the backyard.
Walking to the easternmost side, there was no connection to the third floor on the opposite side; instead, a cultural stone was placed directly. However, the space here wasn’t large, and the stone placed looked sowhat cramped.
Mr. Zhao glanced at the door lock, collected fingerprints, then pressed down hard. With a few rattles, the door didn’t budge an inch—it was indeed locked.
Zhu Xingxing imdiately checked the other two rooms, which, like this one, were also locked. Mr. Zhao took out his mobile phone, and Zhu Xingxing kicked him.
"Are you looking for a locksmith?"
"Yeah, how else are we going to get through this door?"
"Did you lift the fingerprints from the door?"
Mr. Zhao nodded.
"I lifted them; there’s quite a bit of dust up there. Found two fingerprints, but the clarity isn’t great."
Zhu Xingxing waved her hand, signaling Mr. Zhao to step aside. He looked puzzled but didn’t say much more, moving aside to clear the doorway. Zhu Xingxing coughed, stepped back two paces then accelerated and kicked the door with two steps forward.
With a loud bang, the door flung open, its other half still trembling. The latch was gouged open, and with a snap, wood chips fell off, dumbfounding Mr. Zhao.
"I an, you’re a girl; can’t you be a bit more gentle? Leave this kind of brute force work to , okay?"
Zhu Xingxing smiled, her eyes curved, and she tilted her head slightly.
"Cut it out. I’m a forensic doctor. I do things every day that the gents wouldn’t dare to. Flipping a body weighing 150 to 160 pounds over is a breeze for . No offense, but you’re just flabby. You might not even be as strong as ."
Mr. Zhao was left speechless, sighing and looking skyward. Zhu Xingxing was not pleased.
"What’s that supposed to an? Are you up to it or not? Hurry up and go in to see if any traces are left. Do you think we’re here for a tour this late at night?"
Mr. Zhao drew a line on the floor with his foot, quickly saying:
"Stay right here and wait; I’ll just take a peek and co back. Don’t go in and muddle it up; otherwise, I won’t be able to differentiate the footprints, got it?"
"I got it. Hurry up and go."
Only then did Mr. Zhao step briskly into the room. The light was on by the entrance and revealed a sizable office—that was surprisingly bare. There were no bookcases or desks, just flooring, with a row of three windows on the south side, and two doors on the west side.
Glancing at the floor, although it was reddish-brown, a black spot was very conspicuous. Mr. Zhao quickly crouched down, circled it, set up a marker, took photos, then got up and moved towards the two doors, only opening them after collecting the fingerprints.
The one nearest the door was a bathroom, with just a toilet and a washbasin, very small, with nothing of note discovered there.
Mr. Zhao stepped back out, headed to the door beside the window. Already suspecting sothing when he had collected the fingerprints, he found an object protruding under the doormat, which seed to be a key.
Lifting the mat, his guess was confird. Picking up the key and opening the door, he spotted several black dots on the floor. Excitent nearly leaped out of Mr. Zhao’s chest. Zhu Xingxing shouted from behind:
"Did you fall in there? Is there any problem? Do I need to call soone?"
"Shut up and just wait there!"
Mr. Zhao exhaled and looked into the room. It could be said to be quite luxurious, about half the size of the office space, with a two-ter-four wide bed in the center, draped with white cloth.
Behind the curtain on the wall hung many tools: whips, chains, ropes, balls with holes and leather straps, and many others he couldn’t na but had seen in Sapporo instructional films.
The variety was beyond imagination. The adjacent open cabinet held various won’s garnts, though the materials were so scant, they wouldn’t even suffice for a sleeve for Mr. Zhao.
There were two mats thrown on the floor. Mr. Zhao quickly approached the door next to the bathroom. Greeting his eyes was a surf bathtub, and a strong, fishy sll hit him squarely—the sll was all too familiar to Mr. Zhao.
It was the scent of large amounts of blood left in the drain, then decomposing and emitting an odor after being broken down by bugs. It seed he had found the right place.
"Zhu Xingxing, call people over!"
Upon hearing this, Zhu Xingxing dashed to the window and hollered out into the night. Yang Xuetong and Bai Hua quickly responded. Zhu Xingxing stood at the doorway, seeing the markers on the floor, she dared not enter.
"Is this the primary cri scene?"
Mr. Zhao nodded and looked around as he spoke.
"You go out and wait. When they arrive, Mr. Yang and I will conduct a detailed inspection. I’ve taken a quick look, and there are plenty of residual items. But, is this place a morial hall or sothing?"
Zhu Xingxing pursed her lips and glanced at the objects on the wall with disdain.
"Indeed, there’s no shortage of things, but the decor doesn’t seem to fit sothing built before ’92. Could it be that soone took advantage of the move-out, renovated this place, and appropriated it for their own use?"
Mr. Zhao paused, his eyes widening as he stared at Zhu Xingxing, making her a bit uneasy.
"Why are you looking at like that?"
"The tiline fits. Perhaps this is the secret base. Even though Hai Chang Long moved out, the place appeared to be vacant but was exploited by soone. I rember that Zhu Kelin’s son died in ’91."
User Comments
0 comments from readers