Chapter 684: After the Fire

The moment the word "skin" floated to his mind, Chen Xiao felt an uncontrollable shiver in his heart.

This sensation was something Chen Xiao did not want to let slip away.

However, regarding skin, he didn’t have much thought, so he directly started asking Qin Fei.

"Captain Qin, how about we conduct an experiment?"

"Sure, how do you want to do it?" Qin Fei nodded straightforwardly.

Chen Xiao thought for a moment, then replied, "I’ll play the role of the deceased, you play the murderer. Once the experiment begins, I am already strangled by you, and your task is to flay my skin."

Qin Fei frowned slightly.

But he quickly understood what Chen Xiao meant, knowing that Chen Xiao wanted to interpret the murderer’s actions.

As instructed by Chen Xiao, Qin Fei began playing the murderer, while Chen Xiao brought over the first chair and closed his eyes, assuming the role of the deceased Yuan Keyu.

Soon, he could feel Qin Fei’s hands on top of his head.

Then Qin Fei’s palms moved downward, performing a tearing action.

Chen Xiao constantly felt Qin Fei’s movements, gradually immersing himself into the role of the deceased.

Yet, just as he entered the role, he immediately recalled the signs of kicking.

The deceased’s kicking was caused by the struggle while being strangled.

But there were traces of kicking on his feet, yet no scratches on the chair.

This indicated that before being strangled, the deceased’s hands might have been pulling on the rope around his neck.

Regardless of how the deceased struggled, he should have been completely unguarded before being strangled.

If he had been on guard, he wouldn’t have been sitting calmly in the chair.

In other words, either the deceased did not know someone was hiding in the room, or the deceased knew the murderer.

If they knew each other, then the deceased’s purpose in coming to Xiaozhuang South Town was to see him.

He chose a cheap rental house that was completely different from his usual living habits, and this rental house even had surveillance.

Such behavior shows that the deceased Yuan Keyu had a sense of defense when he came here.

But why did he, who had a defensive awareness, let down his guard after meeting the person he wanted to see?

Was it after some communication that the deceased lowered his guard?

Or did he originally have defenses because he was unsure of who he would meet, but after confirming the person’s identity, he let down his guard?

Suddenly, Chen Xiao had countless questions in his mind.

All those questions were unanswered!

Chen Xiao’s heart gradually became somewhat agitated, but when Qin Fei’s flaying action began again, Chen Xiao forced himself to calm down.

The deceased had not had his skin completely flayed.

The murderer stopped at the deceased’s neck.

This is the reason Chen Xiao paid special attention to the face.

However, Chen Xiao immediately thought of another issue.

This question caused him to open his eyes immediately and ask,

"Captain Qin, in the case file, there’s no description of evidence regarding hair, right?"

"No."

"But the deceased had all his hair shaved off before the skin was removed."

"I thought over this, but I can’t figure out why the murderer would take the deceased’s hair, nor why it would be useful to the murderer," Qin Fei said, then added with a bitter smile:

"Moreover, although Professor Yuan is not old, perhaps because of long-term research and frequent thinking, he showed signs of significant hair loss at a young age."

Chen Xiao nodded, "So he always wore a hat when appearing on surveillance footage."

"Yes, I think that’s also why there was suspicion that it was someone else coming and going from this building before."

"Indeed. In our line of work, any concealment the deceased had during their lifetime raises alarms. But now that I think about it, I feel there are big issues with the deceased wearing a hat and having his hair taken after death."

Qin Fei didn’t respond.

Like Chen Xiao, he could think of many questions.

But none of those questions led to answers.

After thinking it over, Chen Xiao spoke again: "Captain Qin, contact the landlord to come over so we can ask him some questions in person."

Qin Fei said okay and called the landlord, Sang Yupeng.

The latter agreed without hesitation and soon arrived at the scene.

"Captain Qin, Advisor Chen, hello." Sang Yupeng greeted them, and after Chen Xiao and Qin Fei nodded with smiles, they went straight to the point:

"Mr. Sang, we’ve looked inside and outside your building before. Your property has been renovated in recent years, right? If so, what was the reason for the renovation?"

Chen Xiao asked, and Sang Yupeng, somewhat surprised, replied:

"This question is rather novel; many officers have questioned me before, but no one has asked this."

Chen Xiao smiled faintly: "This question is not weird, and others probably asked it in a different way to get the desired answer."

Sang Yupeng sighed and said:

"This building caught fire five years ago, and I ended up locked up for a few years because of it. After coming out, I installed cameras for monitoring."

"I see! But where was the source of that fire? There wasn’t any major casualty at that time, was there?"

Sang Yupeng looked bitter:

"No one died. The fire happened during work hours, and it wasn’t a holiday, so most students and workers weren’t at home. Only a few people were burned at the time. But treating those people almost drained my fortune!"

"Sigh... once this matter is over, I won’t rent out this building anymore. Since it was built, I don’t know if it’s bad Feng Shui or what, but troubles keep arising!"

Sang Yupeng spoke with eyes full of exhaustion and helplessness.

Chen Xiao looked into his eyes, then asked, "And the source of the fire?"

"It was a resident on the third floor back then. He was lazy and skipped work, staying at home smoking and reading novels. According to his own confession, he tossed the lit cigarette into the ashtray and left without checking if it was fully extinguished."

"The most ridiculous part was that the ashtray was on the bed! If it wasn’t for him, the entire building wouldn’t have burned. It was his fault, yet I ended up paying and being jailed because of fire safety negligence as the landlord."

Though years had passed, recalling the event, Sang Yupeng’s eyes still burned with resentment and injustice.

Chen Xiao didn’t offer comfort to Sang Yupeng.

Digesting the information about the fire, residents, and casualties, Chen Xiao then continued,

"Mr. Sang, can you still provide a list of those who were injured back then?"

"I can; previous officers have asked me, didn’t they give it to you?" Sang Yupeng asked back, and Chen Xiao merely smiled without elaborating.

Seeing this, Sang Yupeng asked no further, writing down the list and handing it to Qin Fei.

After looking at the list, Chen Xiao finally asked:

"Mr. Sang, the police must have visited your child Sang Xiaoming yesterday? Is he still at school, or is he elsewhere?"