Chapter 224 154: Madwoman! Bitch! Identity

In this world, aside from logic itself, almost nothing is absolute.

Especially after the double-slit experiment, and Schrödinger's damn cat!

Humanity's vision only grew more clouded.

Apply Murphy's Law to the mix,

and you never know if the very thing you dread might manifest simply because you gave it your attention.

And the New Year was no exception.

Wang Tao was wrong.

He felt he had been terribly, terribly wrong!

He had thought the Special Fifth Bureau would be a relatively quiet post. After all, the police and National Security were the nation's elite. Even if a case popped up, they'd be the ones doing the heavy lifting.

But Wang Tao never expected...

Since September of '03, cases had been hounding him like vengeful spirits, constantly on his tail!

Damn. The Jiangsan City incident in September alone had given him a splitting headache.

He'd thought that was the worst of it.

Who knew it was only the beginning...

Then a case popped up in Linlan City.

After Linlan City, a case broke out in Zhaozhou.

He'd barely finished dealing with that when another one cropped up in Linlan City...

Thankfully, the next two weeks were quiet, giving him some breathing room. But he never, ever expected...

The trouble had followed him to the Capital City.

But now that it was here, he had to see it through for his own peace of mind. Wang Tao wasn't the type to fool himself. Since a case had broken out...

It had to be solved!

He was paying extremely close attention to this case, and his stance was severe.

"The New Year is less than six days away."

"Six days!"

"There are only six days left! If you want to have a decent New Year, you'll solve this case within those six days!"

"I'm giving you the authority and the resources. Use whoever you want, investigate whoever you want. You have personal command over every member of the Special Fifth Bureau!"

"And if you can't..."

「The 25th. 7:30 in the morning.」

The image of Wang Tao—composure shattered, face flushed with anger yet still deadly serious—flashed through Zhang Liang's mind as he arrived at the police station, his head buzzing.

"So, what did your boss say?"

Wang Chao, who had been hanging around the station bored, sidled up and asked curiously.

"Scram!" Zhang Liang snapped out of it, his expression turning cold.

Wang Chao scurried away with his tail between his legs.

Watching him go, Zhang Liang looked exasperated.

Wang Tao was furious.

The timing, the nature, the sheer severity—everything about this case demanded his utmost personal attention.

And now, all these disastrous elements had piled up at once...

"Any progress on the case?"

Zhang Liang looked up at Xu Huo.

"Progress?"

Xu Huo walked into the makeshift office, a file in his hand.

Ever since the case was officially opened last night,

the police and the Special Fifth Bureau had immediately launched a joint operation, establishing three task forces.

One team was composed solely of police, another solely of Special Fifth Bureau agents, and a third, joint team was made up of members from both.

All three teams were on the case.

Zhang Liang had assigned someone to lead the Special Fifth Bureau's dedicated task force, while the third, joint task force was put under the charge of the Bureau's consultant.

Namely, Xu Huo.

"Based on our initial theory,"

"The task force believes the starting point of the madwoman's trail could be the body disposal site, or even the murder scene itself."

"We should be able to backtrack her path to find the murder scene."

Xu Huo sighed, his expression tinged with regret.

"But unfortunately..."

"The exhibition hall has internal surveillance, but nothing covering the exterior."

"The severe weather has buried any scents or footprints. We sent out several police dogs to search through the night and canvassed the area, but we came up with no useful information."

They'd spent a great deal of time trying to trace the madwoman's movements.

But they'd found no leads, and two of the police dogs had even caught colds.

There was nothing to be done. The lack of surveillance was a critical weakness. It was also dark, and with few people walking about outside, there were hardly any potential witnesses.

"This is a tough one..."

A wave of weariness washed over Zhang Liang.

Every investigator dreads natural disasters.

Of course, a case like this would normally fall under the police department's jurisdiction. And it would have, if its nature hadn't been so severe.

But after Wang Tao saw two familiar names on the file,

he had laughed with glee and contacted the police. The police were baffled, but there was no reason to turn down an offer of assistance.

And that's how the three-task-force situation came to be.

"What's your plan?"

Zhang Liang asked, looking at Xu Huo.

"We have very little information. Not enough to form any useful theories yet."

"I'm going to see the madwoman."

Xu Huo stated.

Zhang Liang paused, the image of the madwoman flashing in his mind.

A world of ice and snow, sub-zero temperatures. She was naked, a suit of human skin stitched to her body with blood-soaked black thread, wandering barefoot through the white drifts, a soulless phantom in the swirling blizzard...

'That woman...'

'She had to be insane.'

"Let's go. We'll see her together."

Zhang Liang nodded and followed him.

The madwoman was being held alone in a temporary holding room.

The reason they were only going to see her now was...

First, they had been busy trying to track the scent trail; the more time passed, the harder that would be.

And second... she was unconscious.

CREAK~

The door to the holding room swung open.

Xu Huo and the others filed into the room. There were five of them in total: the two of them, plus three Police Officers.

"After we administered the Truth Serum, the drug took effect and she fell into a deep sleep."

"She's been asleep ever since. We estimate she'll wake up in another two hours."

A nearby Police Officer explained.

Xu Huo fixed his gaze on the woman.