Chapter 614: Chapter 614: The Bloody Warehouse
"Secondly, I believe the person who called you to report the crime and the person who placed fragments of newspaper in the body’s pocket is the same individual."
Oh?
This speculation had crossed Qin Yong’s mind, as well as many others,
but there was no evidence to support this possibility.
Lu Chuan was obviously aware of this: "There are two reasons."
"Firstly, the individual was able to place the newspaper inside the body one or two years ago, actually for today."
"Because after turning the soil over one or two years in advance, now when we dig it up, we won’t find any traces of fresh movement at all."
"This sufficiently indicates that the individual had premeditated this."
"Secondly, the choice to call today... was definitely intentional."
"Because today is the time of Zhang Manyu’s disappearance, the individual chose to call today, and he certainly knew we would find the body today and discover the newspaper he had hidden inside a long time ago."
Lu Chuan pointed to the road outside the window: "Even the Bolida Warehouse was a place the individual had planned long ago."
Taking at least one or two years to plan and execute today’s alert...
If the person who made the call and hid the newspaper weren’t the same individual, it would be unbelievable.
"Do you think this person is the murderer?"
Lu Chuan shook his head.
"Absolutely not!"
"So sure?"
"There are still two reasons: if the individual were the murderer, there would be no need to expose where Zhang Manyu was buried."
"There would be no need to hide any newspaper on her a year or two ago."
"And the second reason is the individual’s age, the time of the crime was 15 years ago, the individual could strangle Zhang Manyu at that time, whether or not this person is related to Zhang Manyu, physically speaking, the individual was at least an adult."
"Fifteen years have passed, how old would the individual be now?"
"At least forty or so, right?"
"At forty or so, a hacker... I don’t think it’s possible."
Lu Chuan’s analysis...
made Qin Yong nod continuously.
In fact, Lu Chuan’s deductions reflected thoughts Qin Yong had long considered, and not just a little.
He saw things Lu Chuan hadn’t noticed.
For example, the relationship between the murderer and Zhang Manyu.
Although, there was a possibility of a crime of passion.
But Qin Yong leaned more toward it being a crime by someone familiar.
The primary reason was the location of Zhang Manyu’s murder.
Even now, the North Mountain Park sees relatively few visitors, being quite distant from the city center.
And 15 years ago, North Mountain Park was even more desolate.
Fifteen years ago, North Mountain Park had only been reforested for a few years.
It wasn’t a scenic spot, and public transit wasn’t developed, why would Zhang Manyu have gone to North Mountain Park back then?
So her sudden visit to North Mountain Park, suddenly being killed for robbery or similar reasons.
The possibility of going there with an acquaintance and being killed is higher.
Plus, the individual very likely owned a car.
Fifteen years ago, owning a car...
The person must have had some status, standing, and economic power, right?
Investigating from this angle, eliminating one by one, Qin Yong believed they would certainly find some clues.
As the two spoke, the convoy arrived at the West Mountain Bolida Warehouse.
The warehouses here had been out of use for three years.
Before coming over, Action Team Four extracted all the data about this warehouse.
It was built ten years ago, originally serving as Haizhou City’s express operation center.
But later, due to the construction company’s bankruptcy, the place gradually fell into disuse.
It had been deserted ever since three years ago.
Upon pushing open the courtyard gate, the inside was overgrown with weeds.
"Everyone, split up and search each warehouse in groups."
After giving instructions, Qin Yong proceeded inside with Lu Chuan.
Nightfall hadn’t settled entirely, but the sun was about to set as well.
The sunset glow left quite a nice scenery.
"Captain Qin!"
However, Qin Yong wasn’t in the mood to enjoy the sunset view.
Just as the action group dispersed, there came a significant discovery.
The warehouse directly opposite the main gate wasn’t locked.
The one responsible for checking opened the door and witnessed a scene he would never forget for the rest of his life.
Ugh!
Several young detectives couldn’t hold back and vomited on the spot.
Understandably, any normal person would find it unbearable.
When Qin Yong and Lu Chuan arrived, they were also stunned by what they saw.
The warehouse doors wide open, directly on the wall facing the doors, a body flayed human was displayed!
"Everyone, don’t move!"
"Don’t go inside!"
Although Lu Chuan was shocked by the bloody scene, his professionalism as a crime scene officer quickly overcame the shock and fear.
Bringing his crime scene tools was a good habit of Lu Chuan.
After equipping himself, Lu Chuan nodded to Qin Yong, entering the scene first to investigate.
The warehouse wasn’t large, less than ten meters deep.
Lu Chuan first observed the floor, finding it very clean with no leftover footprints.
There was a mop nearby; Lu Chuan touched it and found it still fairly damp.
There were quite a few bloodstains on it; the murderer must have used this to clean the site’s traces.
Now Lu Chuan could only hope that the individual was a bit careless, missing some footprints in certain corners, for just a half-footprint could yield a lot of information.
But contrary to his hopes, from the doorway to near the body, left, right, front, and back, there were no residual footprints.
Getting closer to the body, Lu Chuan could see more clearly.
The entire body was nailed to the wall, with the limbs and hands firmly fixed with nails.
The individual likely used a nail gun or something similar.
No clothes were left on the body, curled into a ball beside it.
From the neck down to the perineum.
The skin was cut with a sharp tool and laid open on either side.
Nailed in place with the nail gun.
Both thighs too, from the front, the skin was peeled and nailed onto the wall.
And both arms, the person’s entire skin had been flayed.
Furthermore, judging by the blood spray patterns on the wall, and the shrinkage of the skin, it was determined that the murderer did the skinning while the victim was still alive.
Lu Chuan first carefully observed, while reporting his findings back to Qin Yong.
"The time of death is within a day, no more than 24 hours."
"Male, approximately forty-five years old, height around 1.73 meters..."
"The murderer was extremely cruel, skinning the victim while they were still alive..."
"Cause of death... excessive blood loss..."
Such a gruesome crime scene was Lu Chuan’s first encounter.
Generally speaking, with such a bloody crime, there was bound to be deep hatred between the killer and the victim.
Additionally, the murderer might have serious psychological issues.
Yet, the murderer was also very calm.
As this method of murder was a significant psychological challenge for the killer, meanwhile, the killer was highly confident in his arrangement.
