It was already midnight. The lights were all far away, and this was merely a remote, shadowy path. The Yuelu Mountain Range lay beside it. The area around the road was overgrown with weeds, nearly as tall as a person. At this moment, the grass blades were splattered with bloodstains.
From a distance, You Mingxu could smell the metallic scent of blood, making her feel suffocated. Yin Feng, walking beside her, however, looked as serene as a wildflower by the roadside.
You Mingxu suddenly thought, maybe it wasn’t so bad for him to be like this—ignorant and fearless, even in the face of blood, his world remained innocent and carefree. He had been so certain that his former self had been unhappy. Perhaps he truly was happier now? What harm was there in letting him stay this way?
So, You Mingxu waved her hand and said, "Stay close to me." At a crime scene, she couldn’t afford to let him wander off.
He nodded quickly, taking a step forward until he was almost pressed against her back, practically clinging to her like a human accessory. "Like this... is this close enough?"
You Mingxu’s temple twitched, and her earlier sympathy vanished without a trace. "Step back! I didn’t tell you to stick to me like glue!"
The body had been discovered by a worker taking a shortcut to his night shift. The man was still shaken and giving his statement. Xu Mengshan and Fan Jia had arrived earlier. When they saw You Mingxu bringing Yin Feng along, they were both taken aback. However, You Mingxu had no intention of explaining. She put on her gloves and headed straight for the body.
Yin Feng, on the other hand, smiled at Xu Mengshan and the others. The police officers glanced at the glaring provincial bureau expert badge hanging on his bright yellow Superman T-shirt but said nothing. In truth, they had no time to bother with an idle person like him.
The victim lay face down on the ground, with multiple stab wounds on his back. Judging by his build and appearance, he was a young man. Blood covered the ground, and the stab wounds were chaotic, making the scene look even more gruesome and horrific. He was almost an unrecognizable mass of blood.
Even more brutal was the victim’s face, which had been slashed multiple times. It no longer looked human but resembled a lump of mangled flesh.
You Mingxu crouched in front of the body, studying it for a long while, suppressing the nauseating and suffocating feeling in her chest. She said, "The attacker ambushed him from behind. The first stab was deep, instantly incapacitating the victim. Then the attacker struck several more times. The victim didn’t even have a chance to turn around—there are no wounds on the front. He fell face-first to the ground."
Her gaze shifted to the men’s wallet lying beside the body. It was slightly worn, stained with blood, and made of cheap imitation leather mimicking a luxury brand. Opening it, she found it empty, with a few bloodstains inside.
"The attacker took everything from the wallet," You Mingxu said. "No phone was found at the scene, so it must have been taken too. He also slashed the victim’s face multiple times, disfiguring him, before fleeing."
After speaking almost to herself, she glanced at Yin Feng, who was crouched on the other side of the body. What am I doing? she wondered. Am I unconsciously sharing my thoughts with him? Have I really started treating him like a partner? Where the hell is Xu Mengshan?
Yin Feng, however, listened intently and nodded. Then, right beside the bloodied corpse, he beamed brightly and said, "A Xu, you said exactly what I was thinking."
You Mingxu turned her head, unwilling to share any more mental connections with him.
But then he added, "However, I have one more thought than you."
"What?"
"Disfiguring the victim’s face could either be to delay the identification of the body or to strip the victim of his identity and personhood. My guess is it’s the latter."
You Mingxu glanced at the victim’s face again but said nothing.
The victim’s identity was soon confirmed.Because there was an employee ID card in his shirt pocket. Based on the information on the ID, the police had called in relevant personnel from the factory for identification, and it was almost certain that the deceased was a technician at that factory. The precise DNA and fingerprint results would be available in a few hours.
According to the information on the ID, his name was Xu Jiayuan, 25 years old, from Yuanling County, Hunan Province. He had been working at this factory for over two years. Information from the factory indicated that he wasn’t on the night shift that evening, and he had been seen playing cards with several coworkers in a dormitory. He didn’t live in the factory but rented a place in a nearby town with a few other workers for the convenience of daily life. This small path connected the factory to his rented rural residence—it was a shortcut.
Xu Mengshan was responsible for liaising with the factory and soon confirmed the details: Xu Jiayuan had played cards with five others until a little past 10 p.m. that night. Having lost a few hundred yuan, he lost interest and left the factory to go home. This aligned with the medical examiner’s preliminary estimation of the time of death, confirming that he had been killed while taking the shortcut home.
You Mingxu, the leader of the team, summarized the situation and said, "The perpetrator was likely very familiar with the victim’s habits and knew he was playing cards at the factory tonight. They either followed him or lay in wait here, planning the murder in advance."
Everyone nodded. With years of experience under their belts, they understood such critical deductions immediately. They felt this case, like many they had handled before, was like a thin layer of paper waiting to be pierced—the perpetrator was right under their noses.
With a clear direction in mind, the team immediately split into two groups: one to investigate the people who had played cards with the victim, and the other to look into his three roommates.
You Mingxu took Yin Feng with her to question the card players first, as they were the last to have seen the victim alive.
The factory, anxious about the homicide, cooperated actively, providing an interrogation room overnight and summoning all the card players. However, when others noticed the cartoon pattern on Yin Feng’s clothes, they couldn’t help but glance at him a couple of times.
You Mingxu thought to herself that she would have to strip him of his beloved T-shirt tomorrow and make him wear something ordinary. Now that he was following her, she couldn’t let him embarrass her anymore.
Yin Feng was quite perceptive and noticed the stares. He smiled faintly and straightened his posture. He already knew he was handsome and that people liked looking at him, but he didn’t care about their attention.
While You Mingxu and Xu Mengshan conducted the interviews, Yin Feng sat quietly to the side, not saying a word the entire time, his gaze fixed intently on each person. You Mingxu worked with intense focus, only occasionally pausing to take a sip of water and noticing his silence. She thought that even in his current state, he was quite sensible and knew how to behave.
During a break, when Xu Mengshan stepped out to coordinate arrangements, only the two of them remained in the room. You Mingxu flipped through her notebook a couple of times and said, "You’ve been very well-behaved today."
Yin Feng replied, "I’m always well-behaved."
You Mingxu chuckled and said, "And who was it that kept throwing tantrums, sulking silently, and needing to be coaxed lately?"
His face slowly reddened as he defended himself, "But doesn’t A Xu always manage to coax me into behaving?"
You Mingxu glanced at him twice before lowering her head to continue reviewing the notes.
Xu Mengshan soon returned with others.That night, five people had participated in the card game. Their statements were consistent: Xu Jiayuan had played until a little past 10 p.m., losing over eight hundred yuan, with only a little over a hundred left—which was supposed to be his living expenses for the next few days. Feeling somewhat unhappy, he left early. At the time, one person had won over a thousand, another had won three hundred, and the other three had lost varying amounts. The remaining players continued until just now.
Although there were no cameras in the dormitory where they played cards, there were surveillance cameras on the floor and at the entrances and exits, along with several eyewitnesses. Their statements could soon be verified through evidence.
As Xu Mengshan led these people out, You Mingxu was organizing the interview records when she felt a warm presence leaning close to her face. Without even lifting an eyebrow, she continued with her work. Yin Feng spoke up: "This handsome one believes…"
You Mingxu nearly choked on her own breath.
Yet, despite saying such ridiculous words, his expression was clear and resolute: "This handsome one believes they are all telling the truth. I observed their micro-expressions and behavioral logic—everything was authentic and reasonable. Moreover, the details provided by each person matched up with one another."
You Mingxu didn’t respond.
In fact, that was indeed the case. Soon, Xu Mengshan brought the freshly retrieved surveillance footage from the factory security room, which corroborated their statements.
These five individuals were temporarily cleared of direct suspicion.
OpenNovel