Chapter 727: Retired Veteran
Translator: Azza
Editor: Conspiracing
Lin Dongxue frowned, obviously not comfortable with this kind of conversation. Chen Shi brought the topic back on the right track. "Then who received Duan Lin's head?"
Little Four spread out his hands. "I don't know!"
"Who told you about the identity of the corpse?"
"He was anonymous!" The answer was the same as what Chen Shi expected. Little Four said, "When everyone all received the corpse parts, the group erupted into a commotion. The anonymous person said it was Duan Lin and that someone was taking revenge against him. He was very afraid and hoped that us buddies could do him a favor."
"What favor?"
"Disposing of the body... Later, he told us that if the police ask who had received each part, we should not tell you."
"Tell me all the information you know about who received which part." Chen Shi changed his train of thought and used the elimination method instead.
"Little Wei received a leg. I received the right hand, and Big Ox's bag was soft. They were probably internal organs."
"Can you be more specific?"
"I don't know the details. I really only know this much. We each carried a big black plastic bag on the day the body was abandoned, so nothing could be seen."
"Okay!" Chen Shi sighed helplessly. "Show me your group chat."
Little Four took out his mobile phone and Chen Shi saw that the group was really called "Mushroom Cultivation Skills Exchange Group" and that there was nothing in it. Little Four shrugged. "Brother Xiao deleted everything to guard against police investigation."
"What do you have to guard yourself against?"
"We have guilty consciences!" Little Four said with a mischievous smirk.
At this time, Zhang Xiao posted a message in the group. "This is not a drill! This is not a drill! This is not a drill! Little Wei was killed by a psychopath. The police have just sought me out. Don't hide and cover things up. Actively cooperate with the police in solving the case. Life is precious!"
There was one more message attached below. "Just don’t disclose everything. Don't help them so much that you end up putting yourself in jail!"
The others started discussing fervently in an instant. The discussion moved so quickly that Chen Shi was dizzy just from looking at it. He thought to himself that this group of people may all have engaged in shady business like scamming money and sex. Of course, they were only investigating the murder case. They’ll deal with this matter afterward!
Chen Shi handed the phone back to Little Four. "Tell them to say which body parts they had received."
Little Four sent out a message according to his wish and stated that it was a police request. As soon as the message was sent out, an anonymous message appeared, "Please don't tell them! The police are using the exclusion method! I'll be exposed if you guys tell them!"
Everyone condemned him saying, "Bastard, who are you? You killed Little Wei!", "You didn’t reveal your identity from start to finish. You’re not a man!"
Chen Shi counted, and all seven people except Little Four had criticized the anonymous person. That is to say, the anonymous person himself was pretending to denounce himself as well.
What was the meaning of this? Werewolves Kill?[1]
Big Ox made an amazing discovery. "Why isn't Little Four talking? Little Four is the bastard!"
Little Four got angry and spoke into the phone via voice message, "I'll X you XX. I'm talking to the police right now! That bastard should step out by himself. I’ll be the first to declare that I received the right arm!"
Spurred by him, No. 2 spoke: "What I received is... cunt!"
No. 3 stated: "Intestines!"
No. 4 stated: "Chest!"
Zhang Xiao said: "Head."
Everyone had spoken and the anonymous person disappeared without a trace like a ghost under the sun, never to be seen again. Little Four said excitedly, "Are these clues enough?"
Chen Shi said, "Can you ask if the head Zhang Xiao received had been disfigured?"
Little Four relayed this message and Zhang Xiao replied, "I’m not sure what was poured on the face, but anyway, it was a total mess."
Chen Shi was dumbfounded and said to Little Four, "Okay, we’ll head off first."
Little Four stared at the phone in a daze. Chen Shi spoke twice before he reacted and said, "Oh, then I’ll get back to work."
Leaving the art studio, both Chen Shi and Lin Dongxue were puzzled. Lin Dongxue couldn't wait to speak. "This is too strange. The purpose of the corpse dismemberment was a test. Why would the head sent out be disfigured?"
"One possibility is that Zhang Xiao is lying. Duan Lin was his girlfriend. Think about what he did at the gathering. He was the one who took the initiative to announce that everyone should go back, which would have made it convenient for him to leave and attend to the aftermath."
"The other possibility is that Duan Lin had something like a birthmark on a special part of her body as I proposed!"
"This is also easy to check. The body is in the morgue. Let Old Peng examine it again."
"Wait, should we reorganize the information again? It's just our speculation that the motive for the dismemberment was to test them."
Chen Shi shook his head. "Remember what the anonymous person just said? He actually figured out that we wanted to use the method of elimination. This shows that he knew that the part he received would reveal that he was Duan Lin's boyfriend. It was correct to test this theory!"
Chen Shi immediately called Peng Sijue and he felt it was necessary to visit Zhang Xiao again.
It turned out that Zhang Xiao was still at work, saying that it wasn’t very convenient for him at the moment. Lin Dongxue suggested, "Let’s go and see Duan Lin's father!"
"Sounds good!"
On the way, Xu Xiaodong sent the information he had found to Chen Shi. Duan Lin's father was formerly a soldier. Besides farming in the countryside, he also worked part-time slaughtering pigs and sheep because he had obtained a butcher’s permit.
In addition, his ID card usage information clearly revealed that he had arrived in Long'an by train on March 23rd.
Duan Lin’s father was still living in her rented apartment. For the past few days, he had been waiting for the police as if he was wishing for the stars and the moon. He was very happy to see the two of them there. He poured tea and handed out cigarettes. He asked: "Are the results for my daughter’s case out?"
"Not yet. We came to verify some information." Chen Shi said.
"Oh..." The uncle's mood clearly dipped somewhat. "Go ahead and ask!"
"On what date did you arrive in Long'an to visit your daughter?"
"March 24th!"
"Why did you come to see her so suddenly?"
"She had a mild illness and I was worried about her." The uncle put a smile on his face, as if he was hiding something.
"You didn’t see her when you came?"
"Yes."
"Did you have the key to this place?"
The uncle's forehead was already sweating, and he continued to nod. "Yes!"
"But the housing district’s surveillance footage shows that you had come here on the 23rd. Duan Lin helped you to carry your bags and you two chatted all the way." Chen Shi tried his best not to sound as if he was interrogating him.
The uncle’s hand trembled and the cigarette ash fell on his pants.
"Duan Lin died on the 23rd, and you were also here that day. Did you witness any suspicious people?"
"I... I..."
"We aren’t suspecting you, but we have to find out every detail! There’s one thing I’ve always wanted to ask. Is that her phone in your hands? Can we have a look?"
The uncle covered up his phone in a panic. "No, no, no, this phone belongs to me."
"Okay, we won't force you, but can you give us a clear explanation? What did you do when you came here on the 23rd?"
The uncle looked very nervous. When this nervousness reached a critical point, he suddenly put down the phone and covered his face. "I’m a bastard! I was the one who killed Linlin!"
1. This is a game where there are a group of werewolves and a group of villagers and their aim is to kill the other party. Every night, the werewolves eat a villager and during the day, they disguise themselves and act as normal villagers. During the day, the villagers discuss amongst themselves who they believe is a werewolf, and “kill” them. Ideally, it would be the werewolves who are eliminated. A more modern version would be “Among Us”.
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