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Jiang He was certain that a body had been buried here, yet now it was indeed missing. After a person dies for a period of time, the blood within the body ceases to flow; due to gravity, it settles in the lower parts of the body, forming livor mortis. Blood will no longer flow from the wounds, so any subsequent movement of the body would not leave traces of blood along the way.
The body certainly wouldn't crawl out of the ground on its own, leaving only two possibilities.
First, the person might not have died at all; they could have merely fallen into a coma. Li Dabiao might have thought he was dead and gently buried him here, planning to return later to deal with the body. However, Li Dabiao did not expect him to crawl out from the shallow grave and leave on his own.
Second, the person was indeed dead. When Li Dabiao returned with his delivery, he might have felt that burying the body there was unsafe and decided to dig it up and move it elsewhere.
These were the two most likely scenarios in Jiang He's mind, with the first possibility accounting for thirty percent and the second fifty percent.
The others were still recovering from Old Wei's cryptic words.
Yuan Jun looked in the direction Old Wei had left and couldn't help but say, "I think there's something off about Old Wei. Just look at how he was rambling; he's definitely not a good person."
Yuan Jun's words received Jiang He's agreement. He replied, "I think so too. Old Wei is hiding something; we just don't know what it is yet."
Old Shao addressed everyone, "Let's search."
The group began looking for that tree, the one that might have had the Blood Bag hanging from it. But everyone knew this wouldn't be an easy task. The murderer likely took the Blood Bag when they left, and even if there were bloodstains on the ground, it would be difficult to find anything in such a dark night.
Jiang He felt that the probability of finding this Blood Bag was only ten percent, even though Zhai Qiang had given everyone detailed directions to the specific location of the tree.
What Jiang He did not expect was that moments later Xu Yiman exclaimed, "I found it!"
The beams of several flashlights illuminated a patch of bark protruding from a tree trunk where a Blood Bag was hanging. From its sheen, it appeared to be made of polypropylene, and there were markings on the outside indicating its volume. Below the Blood Bag were two tubes: one long and one short. The long tube had a drip rate regulator with a needle at its end.
The Blood Bag still contained a quarter of its blood, but the regulator was jammed, and no more blood would flow out.
"Are we just going to leave it here?" Yuan Jun looked at the Blood Bag and asked, "Aren't you afraid someone will find it?"
Jiang He was also puzzled. The Blood Bag was not large; it could easily fit into the bag containing the Entrails. Why would the murderer do this? How did the murderer choose their victim? Why did they decide to act here?
"Did you detect any narcotic substances in Zhu Liang's body?" Jiang He asked Xu Yiman.
Xu Yiman, who was currently wearing gloves and examining the Blood Bag, nodded in response to Jiang He's question. "There are narcotic components, injectable ones. I suspect the murderer injected Zhu Liang in the neck with a syringe, then brought him here to extract his Entrails while simultaneously transfusing blood into him."
With that, Xu Yiman took down the Blood Bag. Since the gear regulator was jammed, no blood would spill out. Holding the Blood Bag, she said, "This is a professional medical Blood Bag. Given the murderer's familiarity with human organs and syringes, it's very likely that this person is a doctor."
"A doctor?" Yuan Jun asked.
Xu Yiman carefully put away the needle and replied to Yuan Jun, "That's right. Even if they aren't a doctor, they must have access to medical waste. If they are a doctor or work in a hospital, they could easily obtain such items. If this isn't new, then it qualifies as medical waste."
"Most hospital waste is contaminated with bacteria or viruses, and improper handling could lead to the spread of viruses or even plagues. For this reason, medical waste generated by hospitals is handled by specialized agencies," Xu Yiman explained. "If this person works in medical waste disposal, these items might have come from there."
"However, we need to take this back for thorough testing," Xu Yiman added as she placed the item into her Forensic Toolbox.
"A doctor." Jiang He closed his eyes, thinking about the nearest hospital: "Long City Specialized Hospital; that's probably the closest one."
Old Shao nodded and said to Guan Deng, "Guan Deng, have Captain Liu look into it."
Guan Deng nodded in agreement.
Old Shao continued, "I have a question. Zhai Qiang saw the murderer. If the murderer exposed themselves and fled, then it would explain why they didn't have time to clean up the Blood Bag in the tree. But if they couldn't even take the Blood Bag, then there would be even less time to move the body. If the murderer didn't hide the body, then who put Zhu Liang's body in the funeral home?"
No one could answer this question.
This was also Jiang He's concern: who moved the body, and why was it hidden in the crematorium? Previously, Jiang He thought it was the murderer who sent it there, but after hearing Zhai Qiang's words, Jiang He felt that it shouldn't be the murderer hiding the body in the crematorium; someone else must be involved.
"Old Wei?" Jiang He suggested.
"Impossible," Yuan Jun interjected decisively. "Look at how Old Wei walks; he can barely stand straight. How could he carry a body away?"
"No," Jiang He shook his head. "Did you notice a detail earlier? When Old Wei didn't see us, he walked with his back straight. That fireball came floating quickly, but when he left, he was hunched over and moving slowly."
Hearing Jiang He's words, everyone snapped back to attention and realized that he was indeed correct.
Old Shao leaned against the tree and said slowly, "Before we clarify this matter, we shouldn't act rashly. Even if Old Wei did something, he doesn't look like someone who would run away. The clues we've found are still too few; our priority is to gather more information."
Just then, Old Shao's phone rang.
It was around ten o'clock at night—not too late. Old Shao answered the call and discovered it was Director Wang. "We're nearby; just wait for us. We'll head to Sponge Factory right away."
Yuan Jun drove several people toward Sponge Factory.
In the car, Yuan Jun asked, "What did Director Wang call you about?"
"About Zhu Liang's case..."
In just a few minutes, the car drove into the Sponge Factory. At this hour, the factory was no longer in operation; most of the lights were off, leaving only a few on in the dormitory building. Although working at the Sponge Factory was relatively easy, it still required physical labor, and most of the female workers were already asleep after a long day.
Director Wang was waiting at the back door to greet them.
"What happened?" Old Shao asked as he got out of the car, looking at Director Wang.
Director Wang pointed to one of the lit rooms in the dormitory. "Let's go inside and take a look. Sister Ma has found something regarding Zhu Liang."
The group followed Director Wang into the dormitory and soon reached the second floor, arriving at the room where Zhu Liang had stayed. Each room housed four people, but with Zhu Liang's unfortunate demise, only three remained. The three occupants were awake: besides Sister Ma, there were two women in their forties.
"What’s going on?" Old Shao asked directly as he entered.
Sister Ma replied, "This is no ordinary matter. Since Zhu Liang was murdered, we need to sort through her belongings so that her family can take them away. While doing that, we found a stack of love letters under her bed. It seems someone was pursuing this girl."
Old Shao nodded, somewhat puzzled. "Isn't that normal? She's only in her twenties; it's expected for someone her age to be dating. Isn't it normal for someone to be interested in her?"
Sister Ma shook her head. "You have a point, but this situation is more complicated than it seems. If you don't believe me, just take a look at these letters."
With that, Sister Ma handed Old Shao a pile of papers.
As Old Shao took them, he noticed they had been torn from a notebook, with ragged edges showing where they had been ripped out. Some of the papers had already yellowed with age; it seemed they had been written some time ago. In this day and age, it was indeed somewhat old-fashioned for someone to write love letters on paper.
"I've organized them by date," Sister Ma said. "Just read them in this order."
Old Shao nodded and began reading while passing the letters to the others after he finished each one.
"Zhu Liang, I never expected to meet you in Dragon City. Do you remember me? I'm Yang Zhi Kui. I've liked you since middle school. Will you be my girlfriend?"
"Zhu Liang, why haven't you replied to me? I remember how you used to think the most romantic thing was receiving a letter, one by one. Haha, I wonder if you still remember those days. Zhu Liang, I like you, I really like you."
"Zhu Liang..."
These letters were mostly normal, with Yang Zhi Kui sharing what had happened recently or expressing how much he loved Zhu Liang.
But the next letter felt off.
"Today was really bad. I got distracted while fixing a car and accidentally pinched my hand. I bled a lot while writing this letter to you. Did you see it? I used my blood to draw a picture for you."
The paper was stained with numerous drops of blood, shaped into several red flowers.
When Old Shao saw the last letter, his expression changed.
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