Chapter 242 157: Surprise! Silenced! A Breakthrough from a Dead End

"Alright."

"We really do have to thank those two guys..."

"This time, we owe them a huge favor!"

Wang Tao said with grave sincerity.

Were the consequences of this incident severe?

Honestly, considering the nation's scale and the number of victims, it wasn't overly so. Severity is typically judged by the standards of criminal sentencing.

But...

Sometimes, you can't just look at the numbers.

Face!

That was important, too.

In the Capital City, in the East Country Central District, to pull something like this in plain sight...

It was an insult, a blatant insult!

Especially during the New Year holiday, investigating a case like this during what should be a festive time left a bad taste in one's mouth.

However, the fact that the case broke when it did offered a sliver of hope that it could be solved before the New Year.

So, Wang Tao was genuinely grateful.

But...

"First, the case!"

"I'd like to see just which bastard has the gall to do something like this!"

...

...

「5:30 PM.」

At the crime scene.

"The autopsy report had nothing useful."

"We're on our own."

At the slaughterhouse, the scene of the murders.

Standing in the biting wind, Zhang Liang lit a cigarette, letting the nicotine fill his lungs.

He slowly exhaled, and the wisps of white smoke were torn apart by the snowy gusts and swept into the distance.

'The snow is letting up again. It should stop soon.'

"All the ME can really give us is the murder weapon and manner of death. But since we already have the killer's file, that information doesn't matter much anymore."

Xu Huo glanced at the pack of cigarettes in Zhang Liang's hand.

He then casually took it, pulled one out, and lit it.

"PHEW~"

The distinctive flavor of the tobacco gradually suppressed his inner anxiety.

Xu Huo discreetly slipped the remaining half-pack into his own pocket.

"But the problem is," Zhang Liang began with a sigh, "we don't have a single clue about their whereabouts right now."

Information from the ME is typically used to identify the victim and the killer.

Now that they had the files on both, the forensic data wasn't as critical.

'We can't catch them!'

'They were too fast and didn't leave a single clue behind!'

"Do you have any ideas?" Zhang Liang asked, looking at Xu Huo.

"If you do, just say the word. I'll go apply for the resources."

"Impressive!" Xu Huo gave him a thumbs-up but didn't offer any solutions.

"I've got nothing."

"All deduction must be built upon a foundation of facts."

"But I don't even know which direction they fled."

"There's nothing to go on."

Xu Huo paused, smacking his lips before continuing,

"But..."

"We'll definitely catch them."

Zhang Liang didn't argue that point.

Patrol officers were everywhere outside.

The police were about to launch a massive, door-to-door search.

The only way out would be by plane.

But that presented another problem.

A few days ago, when Wang Chao and Xu Huo had tried to go home, they had gone to the airport.

It was completely shut down. No flights were getting out.

"Any leads on the human traffickers?"

"We caught two of them."

Zhang Liang smiled. That, at least, was some good news.

"You get some rest. I'm going to head back and do some digging."

With that, he turned into the snow and walked toward the car.

Xu Huo didn't follow.

'At this point, the case was basically in the hands of the Special Fifth Bureau.'

'A city-wide dragnet is the most resource-intensive method, but it's also the most effective!'

'And, just as planned, they'd already caught a couple of the traffickers...'

'Barring any surprises, a trail should turn up soon.'

And reality did indeed unfold just as Xu Huo had expected.

However...

...

...

「December 27th.」

「8:30 AM.」

The police had deployed personnel around the clock, sparing no expense.

Officers were patrolling nearly every corner of the Capital City.

The businessmen had also been subjected to a massive sweep on the afternoon of the 26th.

And through these methods, finally...

At 8:30 AM on the 27th.

The police received two pieces of news.

One good, and one bad.

The good news was...

They had found the killers!

The police had tracked them down, and it wasn't just a lead—they had arrested them on the spot!

Furthermore, the main suspect wasn't alone; he had several accomplices.

It was just as Xu Huo had predicted.

Alongside the factory director from the Chen Family were three butchers and a veterinarian. Including the director himself, it was a group of five.

All five were arrested on the spot!

But then came the bad news.

In fact...

The bad news was a direct result of their capture.

What was it?

The killer... was dead.

...

...

「December 27th.」

「8:22 AM.」

"WEE-WOO~"

A piercing siren shattered the silence of the frost-covered morning, its sound traveling from the police station all the way to the target destination.

Tire tracks stretched out from the city center, leading outward.

A countless convoy of vehicles drove in a line toward the site.

They didn't stop, even as they neared the city's edge.

Until...

The vehicles came to a halt below a reservoir, at a large bridge spanning a river.

On this frosty, bone-chilling morning, a crowd had already gathered at the head of the bridge.

"Are those bodies!?"

"Whoa, five of them! Is that five people!?"

"This is nuts! Is there some kind of water demon in the river?"

"My money's on some hardcore anglers..."

The unsuppressed chatter of the crowd drifted over to them.

Zhang Liang and Xu Huo paid them no mind.

"Make way, make way!"

The two of them led their team out of the cars and pushed their way through the onlookers.

After getting through the crowd, they immediately descended a set of stairs to the riverbank at the base of the bridge.

"What's going on!?" Zhang Liang demanded, his face as cold as the morning frost.

"An officer found a beggar sleeping on the road. He asked him why he didn't find a warmer place to sleep. The beggar said the warmer places had dead bodies in them."