Chapter 169 The Victim is Missing
Xia Lili could already imagine the bloody scene just by hearing these words, and she felt that her appetite had decreased a lot.
"You went to university in Yangcheng, so you should have heard of this case."
Li Qihan had already opened his phone and pushed it towards him. The headline read, "Bloody Rain Appears at Bus Stop; Head Hidden for Half a Month Unnoticed."
Xia Lili was so shocked that she almost dropped her chopsticks. "Damn! This is the shadow of my freshman year!"
One morning four years ago, a sanitation worker found a headless male corpse in a green belt on the outskirts of the city and immediately called the police.
After investigating the scene, the police found that the body had a neat cut on the neck, no head or murder weapon was found at the scene, and the surrounding surveillance cameras were unable to provide any effective clues due to their remote location.
When the investigation of the case reached a stalemate, a rainstorm suddenly hit in the evening a week later.
A woman was waiting for a bus at a bus stop in the city center when she suddenly felt liquid dripping on her face. At first she thought it was rain, but it felt sticky and had a rusty smell.
When I looked up, I was shocked to see blood seeping from the cracks in the ceiling.
After receiving the report, the police cordoned off the scene and found a rotten head in the mezzanine of the platform ceiling. DNA comparison confirmed that it was the missing part of the deceased.
This case shocked the whole city. Xia Lili suffered from psychological trauma during that period. When waiting for the bus at the bus stop, she would subconsciously look up at the ceiling of the bus stop.
The murderer, also known as the "Devil Butcher", has not yet been arrested.
Li Qihan paused and said, “After he kills someone, he will use the body in various forms to provoke the police.
But strangely, in a later case, a female victim disappeared, her body was never found, and her fate remains unknown to this day."
Xia Lili felt that this female victim might have something special that set her apart from the other victims: "Do the police know the identity of this female victim?"
Li Qihan pulled up the information for Xia Lili to see. "The victim's name is Li Cheng, a female, 26 years old at the time of her disappearance. She was married and had been suffering from long-term domestic violence from her husband."
"When she disappeared near her home, the police suspected her husband was the murderer."
"As a result, her husband's body was found shortly afterwards in a septic tank near her home."
Xia Lili looked at Li Cheng's photo. It was a wedding photo. The girl was a little plump and had a bright smile.
Li Qihan explained the origin of a photo: "This photo was provided by her mother. However, Li Cheng began to lose weight rapidly after getting married. However, her mother said that she could not see her daughter at all and only took photos of her daughter's back from a distance."
After saying that, he showed Xia Lili a photo of Li Cheng's back. He looked thin and as if all his energy had been sucked out. There were faint scars on his arms.
Xia Lili felt a mixture of emotions. "He's a pitiful person, too."
She was already full and now had no appetite.
Xia Lili handed the evidence bag contained in a small transparent bag to Li Qihan.
"Have you finished eating?"
Li Qihan took the evidence bag and said, "You've worked hard today. Go to bed early."
*
Xia Lili returned to the small hotel, where the old air conditioner made a buzzing noise.
Xia Lili regretted booking a room in the hotel at the end of the alley, but this was indeed the closest accommodation to the laundry and convenient for going to work.
She fell asleep in a daze.
At 3:02 in the morning, Xia Lili suddenly woke up from a nightmare, with cold sweat soaking her back.
In the darkness, the mottled wall cast a strange shadow in the moonlight, and the sound of branches scratching against the glass outside the window sounded like approaching footsteps.
She took out her cell phone tremblingly, her fingertips hovered over the address book for a long time, and finally dialed the number that was pinned to the top.
The call was connected quickly.
As soon as the call was connected, Xia Lili couldn't wait to ask, "Captain Li, are you still working?"
Her voice was as light as a feather.
There was the rustling of papers on the other end of the line, followed by his low response: "Yeah."
"What's wrong?"
He asked briefly, but he keenly sensed something in the three seconds of her silence. "Calling at this hour, could it be that you woke up from a nightmare?"
Xia Lili clutched the corner of the quilt, her throat tight, and she made up an excuse: "That's not the case. I just woke up and suddenly wanted to check on the police's current progress on the case."
Li Qihan said, "Oh," "So it turns out that the leader is concerned about the progress of the case."
"I thought the incident at the convenience store was so horrific that it gave someone a nightmare."
He spoke in a low voice and at a slow pace, which gave people an inexplicable sense of security.
"The stains and debris you scraped from the carpet have been sent to the biological laboratory. They've already detected blood components, but more specific results will take time to come out."
"Fengyuan Community, Unit 3, Room 704, we checked, and the resident is indeed Cui Fuyi. He lives in this two-bedroom, one-living-room apartment with his wife and son."
"He had no criminal record before and worked as a junior supervisor in a manufacturing company. He led a stable life."
"To investigate the specific circumstances, the police will need to visit his home tomorrow morning, interview his neighbors, and call his workplace."
Li Qihan said a lot, his voice mechanical and cold, like a report at a meeting, very hypnotic.
"What else does the leader want to hear from me?"
Xia Lili's eyelids twitched as she listened to him chanting, and she yawned.
"Go to sleep." Li Qihan's voice suddenly softened. "Don't hang up the phone."
The sound of keyboard tapping echoed regularly in the background. "I'm probably going to be working all night tonight."
"And by the way, I can stand guard for the leader remotely."
Xia Lili's lips curled up, and she replied in a vague voice, "It's a waste of talent for the captain of the criminal investigation team to be a security guard."
She placed her phone against her pillow, listening to the occasional sound of pages turning, the scratching of the pen across paper, and his even breathing.
Xia Lili fell asleep again, and this time she slept very deeply.
By the time daybreak arrived, Xia Lili's breathing had already become long and steady. On the other end of the line, Li Qihan gently closed the case file, listening to her steady breathing until the morning light filled the office, then he silently hung up.
7:20 in the morning.
Xia Lili was awakened by the vibration of her cell phone next to her pillow.
She dazedly grabbed the phone, and Li Qihan's cold voice came from the receiver: "Comrade Undercover, it's 7:20, time to go to the laundry."
"Remember to eat breakfast."
Xia Lili responded in a daze.
She sat up and rubbed her eyes, then looked at the call log and found two recent calls.
The last call showed that it ended 30 minutes ago.
This call was from Li Qihan, asking her to wake up.
The morning light was dim outside the window, and she rubbed her eyes and walked into the small bathroom.
As the cold tap water hit my face, there was a sudden knock on the door.
"Hello, the takeaway is hanging on your door handle!"
Xia Lili stood there in a daze, with wet drops of water dripping down her chin.
Didn’t she order takeout?
Xia Lili wiped her face and opened the door. In the plastic bag hanging on the door handle, there was a cup of hot soy milk with white steam coming out. Next to it was a rice ball wrapped in oil paper - the filling was her favorite salted egg yolk and pork floss.
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