Chapter 226 154: Madwoman! Bitch! Identity

Cameroon Helin. A madman with a long history of offenses who would race through the city at a hundred miles per hour, and had even been clocked at 160 mph before the incident!

He was arrested and tried for hitting and killing a mother and her crying, helpless baby while driving at a hundred miles per hour in the city.

Looked at this way, it seemed like a normal traffic accident case, right?

The kind you wouldn't even need to investigate!

But then, things got absurd.

After the case was exposed, a whole bunch of people showed up online to plead for him, causing a huge uproar!

Why would anyone plead for an incorrigible street-racing criminal?

Because he was handsome.

That's right. Because he was good-looking, countless people pleaded his case!

Their original words were, "He's so good-looking, he shouldn't be in jail!" and "Does robbing a young man of his future solve anything!?"

"Mom, I'm in love... with a criminal!"

"He's just a kid! A 24-year sentence is too much for him!"

So, even if you kill someone, as long as you're good-looking, there will always be people to defend you.

By the same token, even if you've never so much as killed a chicken, if you're ugly, there will always be people secretly wondering why you don't just go and die.

"From her facial features, the deceased was, at the very least, a stunningly beautiful girl—the kind you rarely see."

"The killer took her away, didn't beat her, didn't rape her, but instead skinned her face?"

Xu Huo observed the surface of the human skin, frowning in thought.

'Or did this woman do something terribly wrong?'

'That's possible... but then what's the deal with the madwoman?'

Zhang Liang fell silent.

He pondered for a moment, then reached out, intending to touch the human skin that had been crudely sewn onto the woman's face.

But before his hand could touch it...

HSS—

The madwoman's eyebrow twitched slightly.

Everyone froze.

Xu Huo raised his hand, made a gesture, and the group headed out.

They quietly closed the door.

Then they walked to the nearby surveillance room.

Before long, an image appeared on the monitor.

In the holding cell, the madwoman was waking from her unconscious state.

She sat dazedly on the bed for a moment, then, as if remembering something, she suddenly touched her face.

At that moment, she seemed to lose her mind, screaming and shouting. She stood on the floor, her whole body trembling, her hands frantically patting all over herself, even clawing until she drew blood.

This continued until she saw the mirror the police had left outside the window.

She froze, walked silently to the mirror, and stared at her reflection, her hand reaching up to touch her face.

She wasn't crazed anymore. She was still—so still it was as if the screen had frozen.

"There's no way we can remove the face mask while her mental state is so unstable."

Seeing this, the Police Chief looked at Xu Huo, his face full of resignation.

"Let's not do anything rash for now. Just focus on the necessary cleaning and disinfection of her wounds."

Xu Huo shook his head, his mind flashing back to the image of her standing by the rearview mirror when the case was first opened.

'The face mask has now been used to reconstruct the victim's pre-mortem features, but there are no obvious clues.'

'Whether we remove it or not isn't the top priority. It's mainly for the madwoman's health, but since we can't... we'll leave it for now.'

"We'll leave things as they are for now."

"If the two task forces next door have any news, tell me directly."

"Of course, if I find any new clues, you can make a copy for them as well."

Xu Huo shook his head and walked out.

He and Zhang Liang went to the office and sat down, clicking their tongues as they tried to reason through the case.

It was a temporary office, and many other personnel from the Special Fifth Bureau were inside, all searching for clues.

It was very quiet. Even when people spoke, their voices were low.

But it wasn't long before...

CREAK—

"Damn it, I'm dead tired."

"It's freezing and exhausting out there. You can barely walk two steps without slipping, and after a whole night, we've found nothing."

Xu Huo looked up at the sound and saw Li Jianye walking in from outside.

He was grumbling under his breath, the tip of his nose red from the cold.

"Still no leads?" Zhang Liang asked with a frown.

"None. Based on a nearby witness, we only have a general direction—west of the location. But the trail goes cold after that."

Li Jianye sighed.

'The suspect came from the west... but which road did they take? Did they make any turns? Was it a roundabout route or a straight line?'

'None of those leads panned out. All we have is that one word: "west".'

"The police dogs caught a cold. This god-awful weather is torture even for them."

Li Jianye said, shaking his head.

The temperature outside was below zero Celsius, and he'd been out investigating all night, shivering from the cold.

The experience couldn't help but remind him of pulling all-nighters in Linlan City.

'Compared to this, life in Linlan City seems... not so bad, actually?'

After a moment's thought, Li Jianye took out a file and tossed it onto the table.

"Oh, right. The medical examiner's office just tossed this lab report over."

"Something about a nucleic acid report? They asked me to bring it over."

Li Jianye straightened up and looked at Xu Huo, a hint of confusion on his face.

"The nucleic acid results are in?"

Xu Huo paused, took the file from him, and hurriedly tore it open.

Beside him, Zhang Liang also stood up and came closer to look.

Earlier, when Xu Huo was with the madwoman, he had ordered a nucleic acid test.

But no one knew why...

But now they did.

RRRIP!

With that crisp sound, the document pouch was torn open.

Xu Huo pulled out a few sheets of paper with clear writing on them.

There wasn't much written on the papers—just test data and a sentence that anyone could understand.

*Neisseria gonorrhoeae nucleic acid detected: "Neisseria gonorrhoeae nucleic acid test positive."*

This was...

"Gonorrhea!?"

Li Jianye looked at Xu Huo in astonishment.

"The deceased had an STD?"