Chapter 243 157: An Accident! Silencing! A Way Out of a Dead End!

An officer already at the scene reported with a grim expression:

"After a police search, five bodies were discovered washed up on the shore under the bridge."

"And after an on-site investigation, the police found that…"

"These five people are the very five killers the police have been hunting day and night for this case!"

The five killers…

Were dead!?

Zhang Liang's face turned ashen as he whipped his head around.

There, lying on the riverbank, were five bodies—no more, no less.

The five corpses were ice-cold and soaked through. Having been in the water all night, they were now slightly swollen.

Touching one felt like touching a piece of iron, hard and cold.

They hadn't died well. Their faces were contorted, their eyes bulging.

Each of the five had clear strangulation marks on their necks. That, combined with the fact they were all found in the river, ruled out the possibility of infighting.

In other words…

'They were silenced!'

'Damn it…'

Zhang Liang immediately burst out cursing.

He stood with his hands on his hips, staring at the bodies, his face a mask of fury.

"Fucking bastards!"

The five killers were dead.

Considering their crimes, their deaths were a good thing.

It would have been unbearable to see them live out their lives in peace.

But…

'They were supposed to die after a court handed down a sentence!'

The police had been relying on this group to find the mastermind!

With them dead, the only lead had gone cold…

Although the Special Fifth Bureau was investigating methodically, vicious, small-scale cases like this were difficult to trace back to a single individual.

It was even possible the mastermind didn't know the Chen Family existed and had been using a middleman as a cutout the entire time.

Zhang Liang had been catching criminals like this his whole life.

He knew their M.O. all too well!

These five men held the answers to where the human skins went.

To the buyer's identity.

To how far the police could take this investigation!

"Silenced…"

"So quickly?"

Xu Huo touched one of the bodies, a piercing cold spreading from his fingertips.

He murmured to himself.

Zhang Liang said nothing, his gaze dangerously dark as his hands unconsciously clenched into fists.

'The mastermind silenced them…'

'He made no move to hide the Chen Family, nor did he have any intention of helping these guys escape.'

'Instead, he just killed them, silenced them, and dumped them in the river!'

'Why not dismember the bodies?'

"What is he trying to say?"

"Is this a warning for the police to back off?"

The chief of the special task force couldn't contain his anger. Looking at the scene before him, fury smoldering in his eyes, he squeezed out a few words through gritted teeth.

"He's throwing the bodies right in our faces?"

"Is he threatening us!?"

Was it a threat or a taunt?

It no longer mattered. What mattered was…

"Heh. A hit dog will holler."

"He's in such a rush…"

Xu Huo sneered, silently observing the five bodies. He felt no sympathy for them.

"It looks like the police's actions yesterday really got to him!"

Imagine you stole ten thousand dollars.

Then you run into a hospital director on the street. Do you panic?

No.

But, what if you were a department head who had just misplaced a vial of morphine, and then you ran into the director? Would you panic?

Damn right you would!

And when people panic, they make a move.

And when they make a move, they leave clues behind.

"Looks like this is the work of another parasite from among those aggressively expanding businessmen," Li Jianye, who had been silent until now, finally spoke.

"With no clues, this will be hard to investigate…"

"The original plan was to arrest the Chen Family and use them as a stepping stone to get to the mastermind, but now…"

Li Jianye's voice trailed off as he fell into silence.

It wasn't just him.

Everyone else felt the same.

The leads…

Everyone who knew where the Thangkas went, everyone involved in the Capital City's human skin profit chain—they've all vanished!

How were they supposed to investigate now?

Go through suspects one by one?

But even to do that, you need information to create a list of suspects in the first place!

You can't just assign a psychologist to every person of interest and interrogate them three times to ensure accuracy.

That's neither ideal nor realistic.

But, in reality…

All the leads had gone completely cold.

"Lin Miao has gone insane, and his neighbors don't have any leads."

"The Baihan Clubhouse has little to do with the case, and the homeless boy only has a vague memory of the suspect's appearance—so vague he can't even properly describe it…"

Zhang Liang muttered to himself, the images of the five bodies and the sound of the rushing river swirling in his mind.

It was like a vortex, dragging him down into an abyss.

Until…

"Get ready to make an arrest."

A voice cut through the haze.

Everyone froze, their eyes instinctively turning to Xu Huo.

"Make an arrest? All the leads are dead…" Li Jianye grumbled.

"Dead?"

Xu Huo paused.

"They're not."

"Not dead?"

Zhang Liang frowned. "All the information died with those five men, and now they're all gone!"

"There's not enough new information to build a case on. How are we supposed to investigate?"

"Are they all dead?"

"Not necessarily."

Xu Huo's sudden counter-question took everyone by surprise.

"What do you mean!?"

"There's one more person."

"There's one person still alive. Perhaps… he knows who the mastermind behind the Capital City incident is."

Staring at the bodies before him, Xu Huo narrowed his eyes.

"I'm guessing even the mastermind… doesn't remember this person even exists!"

"Yes. And you know them."

'One more person…'

'Someone else knows about the Capital City incident!?'

'No, wait. The files on all the killers are right here. They're as dead as can be…'

'Then this person…'

At these words, Zhang Liang no longer cared if it was true or not. A sliver of hope began to pull his sinking heart from the depths of despair, and a glint of expectation flashed in his eyes.

'Someone who knows about the Capital City, and maybe even the mastermind behind the incident!?'

'And we supposedly know them?'

'If we knew, would we be standing around looking this dejected!?'

At that thought, Zhang Liang's brow furrowed, and he asked in a low, heavy voice,

"This person…"

"Who is it!?"

...

...

PS: Please vote with your monthly tickets! The next two days are super, super, super important, so please send a monthly ticket my way QAQ!

I'll be announcing a small bonus event in a little while that anyone who votes can participate in.

Votes from yesterday, the first of the month, will also count. I'll be raffling off a few cash prizes, though the amounts aren't huge QAQ.

Please show your support.

On that note, I'm going to create a group chat and see if anyone joins…