Chapter 166 - 164: Saw the Murderer’s Home

Chapter 166: Chapter 164: Saw the Murderer’s Home

On the way back to the Municipal Bureau.

Zhuang Yanzheng received a call from Yan Cheng.

Yan Cheng had taken his team to Luo Min’s apartment, but no one was there.

They checked the elevator’s security footage.

Luo Min had left nine days ago and never returned.

They also checked her apartment’s electricity usage, which had indeed decreased starting nine days ago.

Her current whereabouts were unknown.

No clues were found at her place.

They contacted her parents.

Her parents said they hadn’t heard from her in about two weeks.

They usually only spoke once every couple of weeks or so, so they hadn’t thought much of it.

Zhuang Yanzheng told them to head back to the Municipal Bureau first. Yan Cheng needed to examine the body parts recovered from the river.

Lu Zhishen was driving.

Zhuang Yanzheng hung up and looked at Su Miaoyi.

Su Miaoyi’s hair was almost air-dried, but her clothes were still damp.

"Drop me off at the entrance to the Municipal Bureau, then take her home."

"Alright," Lu Zhishen replied.

Su Miaoyi wiped her nose with a tissue. "There are spare clothes in the break room. I don’t need to go home."

"You..." Zhuang Yanzheng started to say.

Su Miaoyi cut him off. "I’m not going home. We’re going to the Municipal Bureau."

Zhuang Yanzheng didn’t say anything else and turned to look ahead.

Su Miaoyi sniffled again.

’This doesn’t feel good. I think one of my nostrils is getting blocked.’

Zhuang Yanzheng dozed in the car for ten minutes.

Su Miaoyi hadn’t slept all night and should have been exhausted, but she felt a chill and didn’t dare to sleep, worried she might develop a fever.

They arrived at the Municipal Bureau.

The black plastic bag was first taken to the autopsy room.

Su Miaoyi went to the break room to change.

When she came out after changing, she overheard Chu Xingrou telling Zhuang Yanzheng, "Captain Zhuang, aside from Luo Min, we’ve contacted everyone else found through the chat app and have coordinated with their local police departments."

Zhuang Yanzheng nodded. "Body parts were recovered from the Evergreen River. Officers from the West River Branch are on site. Qi Feng, you two head over there."

"Okay," Qi Feng and Chu Xingrou replied.

Su Miaoyi listened for a moment before heading to the autopsy room.

She put on her mask, gloves, and shoe covers just as Yan Cheng returned.

Yan Cheng looked her over. "Are you okay? Zhuang Yanzheng said you dove to the bottom of the river to feed the fish."

Su Miaoyi paused. "...I was starving. I thought I’d catch a couple of fish to eat, but I ended up pulling out a bag of body parts instead."

Yan Cheng also put on his mask, gloves, and shoe covers and entered the autopsy room.

The temperature in the autopsy room was very low. The first thing that hit you upon entering was the smell of a rotting corpse.

Yan Cheng opened the bag and took a look, the stench stinging his eyes. "This chopped up?"

Su Miaoyi nodded.

Yan Cheng dragged the plastic bag near the floor drain, then tore a hole in it. The water inside streamed out and flowed across the floor into the drain.

Su Miaoyi helped.

The two of them first took out the more easily accessible pieces.

Identifying, cleaning, arranging.

The internal organs were also in pieces, and on top of that, they were decomposed and discolored.

They worked until dawn.

They had pieced all the body parts together.

Su Miaoyi felt completely shut down.

She was past the point of feeling sick.

"Are you holding up?" Yan Cheng asked.

Su Miaoyi nodded. "I’m fine. We can still identify the body as female. There’s no head or hands."

"Captain Zhuang said the branch office has a case with just a head and a pair of hands," Yan Cheng said.

"We’ll need to run a DNA test to confirm if they’re from the same person," Su Miaoyi said.

"We also need to confirm the identity." Yan Cheng looked at the body parts. "The case at the branch office has been stalled; they haven’t found a matching missing person."

Su Miaoyi stood beside the autopsy table without speaking.

Yan Cheng used a scalpel to examine the piece of flesh from the left side of the chest.

He suddenly noticed that Su Miaoyi was standing perfectly still.

He looked up.

He saw Su Miaoyi’s gaze lowered, her eyes unblinking.

’It was always obvious when she was seeing one of her visions.’

’Her whole body would look as if someone had hit a pause button.’

’Especially her eyes—they wouldn’t move at all. Even her eyelashes would be still.’

Just as Yan Cheng moved to Su Miaoyi’s side, she snapped out of it.

He once again gripped her wrist.

Su Miaoyi felt a pain in her chest. She glanced at Yan Cheng, then back at the corpse’s chest.

Yan Cheng followed her gaze. "There is indeed a wound over the heart."

Su Miaoyi swallowed. "This has to be Luo Min’s body."

Yan Cheng was surprised.

Luo Min had been missing for nine days, and the degree of decomposition of the body parts was consistent with a time of death of over a week to about ten days ago.

"Then the killer?" Yan Cheng asked.

Su Miaoyi closed her eyes and thought for a moment. "I saw the killer’s apartment in the vision..."

She had found the name of the residential complex in the vision.

Su Miaoyi opened her eyes. "I’m going to find Captain Zhuang."

With that, she rushed out of the autopsy room.

She kicked off her shoe covers and ran.

"Captain Zhuang." Su Miaoyi grabbed Zhuang Yanzheng.

Zhuang Yanzheng had his back to her, talking to another officer.

She spun him halfway around to face her.

The sudden movement made Zhuang Yanzheng lose his balance, and he staggered before steadying himself.

He stared at her.

Su Miaoyi immediately rattled off a very detailed address, right down to the apartment number. "Zhu Xuan. The killer’s name is Zhu Xuan. This is the address. We need to go now."

Zhuang Yanzheng reacted instantly, immediately ordering a team to be dispatched.

On the way there, Su Miaoyi described Zhu Xuan’s appearance to Lu Zhishen.

Lu Zhishen began sketching a composite.

Meanwhile, the bureau was running a background check on Zhu Xuan.

There were many people with the same name, but no one matching was found in the Jinghai household registry, so they had to expand the search to other cities.

So, Lu Zhishen’s sketch and the bureau’s search were happening simultaneously.

Su Miaoyi had just seen the vision in the autopsy room.

The killer, Zhu Xuan, and the victim, Luo Min, knew each other.

Zhu Xuan’s murder of Luo Min seemed to be premeditated. However, Luo Min’s appearance was a coincidence, so it seems Zhu Xuan didn’t follow her original plan.

She had seen the vision from the victim’s perspective.

As for why she was so certain the victim was Luo Min...

...it was because Zhu Xuan had called her by that name.

Luo Min had just gotten off the subway and was still inside the station when someone tapped her on the back. "Luo Min."

She turned around. Seeing the person in front of her, she took a moment to recognize them before saying in pleasant surprise, "Zhu Xuan. You’re in Jinghai?"

Zhu Xuan smiled. "Yeah, I didn’t expect to run into you here. You came to Jinghai to make a career for yourself, too?"

"I’m just here to work odd jobs," Luo Min said with a smile.

The two chatted as they walked out of the subway station.

It was a subway station Su Miaoyi knew very well.

It was the station where her old phone had died.

"Do you live nearby, too?" Zhu Xuan asked.

"I live pretty far from here. Things are cheaper in this area, so I came over to buy a few things," Luo Min said.

"It’s true, the same stuff is cheaper here." Zhu Xuan paused for a moment. "Come on over to my place. It’s just across the street, really close."

Luo Min was about to refuse, but before she could get the words out...

Zhu Xuan added, "Actually, I could use your help with something."

"My help?" Luo Min asked, confused.

"My computer’s acting up. Could you take a look at it for me?" Zhu Xuan said. "The files on it are really important, so I don’t feel comfortable taking it to a repair shop. I was just stressing about it, and then I ran into you today."

"You really need me to fix it?" Luo Min chuckled.

"Please take a look. I’m really at my wit’s end," Zhu Xuan said.

"Alright then," Luo Min agreed.