Book Synopsis
Book Tags
Donation Rankings
Comment
0 Comments
You May Also Like
墨書 Inktalez
Xu Yiman's identification brought new progress to the case. Indeed, another type of blood was detected in Zhu Liang's body, which was expected by everyone. They all saw the Blood Bag hanging from the tree and the blood within it. However, the problem was that blood of different types could not be transfused; otherwise, it would only have the opposite effect and accelerate the person's death.
Old Shao rubbed his eyes and said, "This is common knowledge even for ordinary people. If the murderer is indeed a doctor, then he absolutely would not be unaware of this. Analyzing this point, it is clear that the murderer works in a hospital, but he is not a doctor and may not even be a nurse."
"In a hospital, who else might come into contact with medical waste besides doctors and professional medical waste disposal personnel?" Old Shao gently lowered his hand.
"Security guards, Cleaners," Jiang He stated firmly.
Old Shao slapped the table and said, "Exactly! We need to immediately check the security guards and Cleaners at various hospitals who have resigned or been dismissed in the past month. All the female corpses in the morgue had their Entrails completely removed; this is not something that can be done in a short time. There must have been a long process from disemboweling to murder."
"But the question is, what exactly does he want to do?" Xu Yiman placed the report on the table and said, "Where did the Entrails that the murderer removed go? With ten or so corpses, that's a lot of Entrails. What could he possibly use them for? Even if he were an organ trafficker, what would he do with already non-viable Entrails?"
Old Shao sighed lightly and said, "There’s one more thing—don’t you find it strange? The murderer is no longer satisfied with just disemboweling; he has progressed to murder. Yet four days have passed, and we still haven’t received any emergency calls. Where is the next corpse? Has the murderer killed again? We have no way of knowing."
The bodies with their Entrails removed, the ones that vanished after being hit, the girl in the dark night, Old Wei's ramblings, and Li Dabiao's escape—all these uncertainties loomed over everyone like a thick fog, concealing the truth within.
Jiang He, dragging his thick dark circles under his eyes, addressed everyone: "We still need to start from Zhu Liang himself. According to Yang Zhi Kui, Zhu Liang's life was quite monotonous; aside from going to work on time, his only entertainment was walking behind Sponge Factory and looking at his phone."
"His phone!" Old Shao suddenly became alert. He spoke up: "Why did Zhu Liang go out? Yang Zhi Kui arrived almost at Zhu Liang's off-duty time, and by then Zhu Liang had already disappeared. This means Zhu Liang left Sponge Factory directly after work; it indicates he left voluntarily and had an appointment with someone."
Old Shao seemed to have discovered something. Sitting in his chair, he said: "Sponge Factory... hospital!"
"Medical Sponge!" The three people present exclaimed in unison as if they had discovered a new continent.
Dragon City’s Sponge Factory had orders from many places in the city, and hospitals were known for using sponges extensively. It was entirely normal for hospitals to have orders with Sponge Factory.
"I need to contact Director Wang immediately to see which hospital they have orders with," Old Shao said.
When Old Shao's call reached Director Wang's phone, he was still nestled in the warmth of his blankets.
"Hello? Who is this?" Director Wang's voice was groggy and intermittent.
"This is Shaoshilin," Old Shao replied. "I’m sorry to disturb you at this hour, but it's a matter of life and death. I need to know the orders your factory has with the hospitals in the city; this is very important."
Hearing the gravity in Old Shao's tone, Director Wang responded, "Please hold on a moment; I'll check right away."
About half an hour later, Director Wang called back. "I just checked the list. The hospitals that have orders with our factory are First People's Hospital, Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital, and City Dental Hospital. There are also some scattered clinics, but there are too many to list. Do you want me to send you that as well?"
"I need it all," Old Shao insisted. "I need the complete list."
A picture of the list was sent to Old Shao's phone. As he scrolled through it, he noticed there were over a dozen clinics listed.
"It looks like we have our work cut out for us," Old Shao said, pointing at the list. "I'll contact those three public hospitals shortly and ask their HR departments to check for recently departed personnel. The rest will require us to visit each one individually."
With that, Old Shao let out a big yawn. The relentless pace of recent days was starting to take its toll on him; after all, he was already sixty years old. Even if he had energy, it couldn't compare to that of younger individuals like Xu Yiman or Jiang He.
"It's four-thirty in the morning now. Get some sleep for a couple of hours; I'll wake you up at six-thirty," Old Shao said sincerely as he looked at the two of them. "Thank you for your hard work."
Jiang He and Xu Yiman shook their heads in unison.
Old Shao smiled and walked towards the distant dormitory.
For some reason, Jiang He recalled what Old Shao looked like when he was younger. It was when Jiang He was six years old, during Old Shao's thirties, the year he was most energetic. At that moment, Old Shao's silhouette merged with the image of him in Jiang He's mind. Jiang He finally realized that Shaoshilin had indeed aged; he needed rest.
Jiang He also began to understand why Old Shao had said those things to him before.
He had indeed grown old.
Lying in bed, Jiang He stared at the dark ceiling. He didn't turn on the light or make a sound. Countless faces flashed through his mind—his parents, the director of the orphanage, his great-aunt, and the deceased Wang Chao. Each face spun in his mind, keeping Jiang He awake throughout the night.
At six-thirty, Old Shao called everyone up on time.
Seeing Jiang He's bloodshot eyes, Old Shao asked, "Did you not sleep last night?"
"I couldn't sleep," Jiang He replied honestly.
Old Shao addressed the few who were still half-asleep: "Let's go. Last night I contacted three major hospitals; soon we will receive the personnel transfer list. But for now, we need to check out each clinic. We'll split into three groups: Captain Liu and Yuan Jun will go one way, Guan Deng and I will take another, and Xu Yiman, you and Jiang He will go together."
Old Shao looked at Guan Deng and said, "Guan Deng will send the list to your phones. If you find any leads, call us."
"Understood."
Xu Yiman drove while Jiang He sat in the passenger seat.
"Jiang He," Xu Yiman said to Jiang He, "You've been troubled lately; I can sense it. Ever since Wang Chao's unfortunate sacrifice, you seem like a different person."
"Is that so?" Jiang He turned to look at Xu Yiman.
Xu Yiman nodded. "That's right. When I first met you, you were incredibly confident, as if nothing could escape your gaze. But now, it's like a thick fog has gathered in your chest; you're somewhat lost. I don't know if this is good or bad, but you're starting to think like an ordinary person, and you've become melancholic."
"Melancholic." Jiang He patted his chest. "Yes, indeed melancholic. I always have this ethereal feeling, a vague sense of something. I don't know what to call it; I just feel that something hidden in my heart seems to be coming out."
"You’re just too lonely," Xu Yiman said. "Hyperthymesia may be a tormenting condition, but it doesn’t strip away a person's emotions. You've trapped yourself in a cage of your own making; to get out, you need to rely on yourself. Hyperthymesia is currently a tricky problem; no one knows how it develops or when it might recover."
"I have a feeling that when I possess emotions, that will be when I recover," Jiang He said seriously.
By around noon, the three bystanders still had no leads. After investigation, it was found that all the clinics could almost be ruled out as suspects. According to Zhai Qiang's description, there were no individuals matching the killer's characteristics found in these clinics. Everyone returned empty-handed, but at least they had eliminated these clinics from suspicion.
After regrouping, Old Shao addressed everyone: "It seems the killer is undoubtedly from a large hospital. This aligns with my deductions; the killer was able to obtain Medical Sponge and steal Blood Bag. A large hospital has many people and is more convenient for carrying out such actions compared to clinics."
"So what do we do now?" Yuan Jun asked.
"We wait," Old Shao said, looking into the distance.
Around four o'clock in the afternoon, a phone call came into the criminal police team: "Hello, this is Jinxiu Road Police Station. We’ve caught a shifty-looking middle-aged man. He ran upon seeing the police; there must be something suspicious about him. After a brief inquiry, he claimed he accidentally killed someone. Now this matter has become a criminal case; please send someone over for handover."
Captain Liu's eyes lit up as he answered the phone. "What’s this person's name?"
“Li Dabiao,” the other party said.
“Li Dabiao!” Captain Liu confirmed.
“That's right, Li Dabiao!” the other party replied.
“I'll send someone to bring him over right away.”
Captain Liu hung up the phone and hurried to the conference room, where the project team members were gathered.
“Li Dabiao has been caught!” Captain Liu announced to everyone.
Less than an hour later, Li Dabiao was sitting in the interrogation room. A few people stood outside the glass window, watching him. In just a few days of fleeing, Li Dabiao seemed like a completely different person. They had seen pictures of him at his home before; he had appeared clean and tidy.
But now, Li Dabiao looked filthy, with matted hair sticking together. His eyes were bloodshot and filled with veins. He trembled all over, constantly glancing around the interrogation room, resembling a beggar with mental issues.
Old Shao pushed open the door and asked immediately, “How long has it been since you last slept?”
Comment 0 Comment Count