Two cars sped along the highway.
You Mingxu, Yin Feng, and the others had descended the mountain overnight and were driving back to Hunan. When they entered Xiangcheng, the eastern sky was just beginning to show the belly of the fish white.
You Mingxu dozed off and suddenly woke with a start, realizing her hand was still being held.
Yin Feng, who had been sleeping lightly, also opened his eyes. "Where are we?"
"We're in Xiangcheng," You Mingxu replied.
He gave her hand another squeeze. "Don't worry. We won't know what happened until we get there."
"I understand."
But how could she not be anxious? You Mingxu had shared meals with Xu Mengshan's parents several times. They were just a pair of very honest, shy elderly people, exceedingly polite to Xu Mengshan's colleagues, eagerly looking forward to holding a grandchild soon...
Seeing her face as cold as frost, Yin Feng suddenly felt a bit agitated too. He reached out, pulled her into his embrace, and pressed her head against his chest. You Mingxu tried to struggle, but he held her firmly. After a while, she calmed down, closed her eyes, and leaned against him without moving.
"You always make my heart ache," he whispered softly.
They arrived.
Several police cars were parked downstairs, cordoned off with caution tape. Yin Feng had Tuya and the others return first while he followed You Mingxu upstairs.
The two put on the shoe covers and other protective gear handed to them by their colleagues and entered the crime scene.
The first thing they noticed, again, was blood.
Most of the bloodstains were concentrated on the walls. Some were large splashes, as if thrown against the wall, then dripped vertically downward, leaving long streaks of blood. Small pools of blood had collected in the corners. Others were strings of blood droplets, which immediately reminded You Mingxu of severed blood vessels and the splatter patterns they'd create. But there was too much of it, everywhere.
The blood had long since dried completely.
There were no obvious signs of a struggle inside the room.
Xu Mengshan's parents were missing, their phones left behind in the house.
Several dishes were on the table, long gone cold. Only one set of bowls and chopsticks was on the table, with a few grains of rice remaining, and the chopsticks stained with grease.
You Mingxu and Yin Feng exchanged a glance.
In the blood pools on the floor, clear third-party shoe prints were visible. Size 43.
You Mingxu asked a colleague, "Where's Mengshan?"
The colleague replied, "He's in the residential complex's surveillance room."
You Mingxu and Yin Feng walked to the security office and saw a familiar figure squatting by the entrance, smoking.
As You Mingxu approached, she could see that in just one night, Xu Mengshan looked utterly terrible. He lifted his red, bloodshot eyes to look at them.
You Mingxu asked, "Why are you out here?"
Xu Mengshan's voice was hoarse. "I was checking the surveillance footage earlier. My eyes were getting blurry, so I'm taking a break."
You Mingxu's heart ached.
Yin Feng spoke up. "That's not your parents' blood."
Xu Mengshan's eyes were like two deep wells. "I know. I could tell at first glance. The blood distribution pattern is very peculiar. Human blood doesn't splatter like that, and it wouldn't reach that high. That blood was poured on in streams, and some was sprayed on with tools, creating those string-like patterns."
You Mingxu crouched down and patted his shoulder. "Uncle and Auntie will definitely be okay."
Xu Mengshan gave an ugly smile, nodded, and said, "The blood test results are already in. The blood had anti-coagulants added to it, so it had been taken from a human body some time ago." His gaze fixed on their faces as he said, word by word, "The DNA match shows that it's Xing Jifu's blood."
Both You Mingxu and Yin Feng looked stunned.
On their way here, both of them had mentally prepared for the possibility that this matter was related to Yin Chen."What does he want to do?" Xu Mengshan roared in suppressed fury.
Just then, the door beside them was pulled open with a whoosh as a police officer rushed out: "We've found the suspect!"
Xu Mengshan had last spoken with his parents around 2 PM yesterday. At that time, his parents had already bought groceries and were at home. They had arranged for Xu Mengshan to come over for dinner that evening.
Xu Mengshan arrived home at 6:55.
There were four surveillance footage segments from two cameras.
The first camera was at the residential complex's garage entrance. The suspect vehicle entered at 3:20 PM. It was an extremely ordinary van with clearly visible license plates. The van appeared clean, with no marks on the body and clear wheel patterns. Under the bright sunlight, the vehicle's windows glinted. This footage didn't capture the driver.
The second footage was timestamped 3:28 PM, from a camera inside an elevator in the complex. The image quality was somewhat blurry. In the underground garage on B1 level, a mother-daughter pair entered first - the mother in her thirties, the daughter about 3-4 years old. Then a man entered. The mother and daughter quickly stepped back because the man was carrying in a very large cardboard box, approximately 1 cubic meter in volume.
The man stood beside the box and pressed the button for the floor where the Xu family lived.
The man was dressed in black clothes and pants, with a tall and sturdy build, wearing a baseball cap and keeping his head lowered throughout. The surveillance only captured a glimpse of his facial outline.
But this glimpse of the outline looked familiar to You Mingxu and the others.
The man carried the box out.
The next footage was about 20 minutes later, at 3:50 PM.
The elevator stopped on that floor, and a cardboard box was slowly pushed inside. The same man walked in.
There was no one else in the elevator. He pressed the button for B1 level.
He stood quietly.
He tilted his head slightly, inserted a finger into his ear and rubbed it, as if scratching an itch, then resumed his stance.
When the elevator doors opened, he bent down and slowly, steadily pushed the box out.
Then without looking back, he suddenly raised his hand and flipped off the camera on the elevator ceiling with his middle finger.
Watching this, Xu Mengshan's eyes burned like fire, his fists clenched tightly, trembling slightly, his nails nearly digging into his palms.
The fourth footage, at 4:12 PM, returned to the residential complex's garage exit.
The van drove out.
This time, most of the driver's face under the cap brim was clearly captured - unmistakably Yin Chen. He paid the fee at the guard booth, then his face twitched as if stung by something. He tilted his head again, raised his hand to rub his ear, then turned forward and drove away.
The police officer at the computer froze the frame, zoomed in, and zoomed in further. The cursor didn't stay on Yin Chen but on the van's interior behind him, where the top of a cardboard box was faintly visible.
The situation was now very clear.
At this moment, the small monitoring room was filled entirely with police personnel, all comrades most familiar to You Mingxu and Xu Mengshan. After watching these recordings, everyone fell silent simultaneously. The silence was like a volcano covered in ice and snow, weighing heavily on every detective's shoulders.
Some pressed hands on Xu Mengshan's shoulders, wanting to comfort him but not knowing how to begin; others gripped the table edges forcefully, as if trying to tear off a corner. Because today, Yin Chen had taken Xu Mengshan's parents - tomorrow, it could be their own relatives. What police officer could tolerate such arrogant, brutal, despicable criminal provocation?
"What does Yin Chen want to do?" someone finally exclaimed angrily. "Is he retaliating against us?"Xu Mengshan lowered his head, the veins on his neck beginning to bulge.
You Mingxu remained silent and cold.
"It's revenge," Yin Feng answered for them, drawing everyone's gaze. He stood there, impeccably dressed, his face pale and his eyes clear and cold. He said, "Because now, he has nothing left."
OpenNovel