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墨書 Inktalez
Old Shao stood by the window, the heavy rain pounding against the glass, creating a cacophony of sound. Aside from the storage room illuminated by bright lights, the entire campus of Fourth Middle School was shrouded in darkness. In that unknown corner of shadows, Old Shao knew that perhaps the murderer was hiding there, revealing their claws, waiting for the next victim to arrive.
Captain Li spoke up, "It's only been a few hours since we left Zhang Jiapeng's house. Even if others don't know that Song You and Zhuang Ziming are dead, nothing much should happen, right? After all, we don't know why the murderer killed them or if they even knew Zhuang Ziming and Song You. This body hasn't been examined yet; it might not even be Zhuang Ziming..."
Old Shao turned his head back, his eyes filled with determination. He said, "Right now, we can't be sure whether the murderer will act within these few hours. However, our job is to minimize risks as much as possible. So what we need to do now is first take the body back for an autopsy to confirm the identity of the deceased and also monitor Song You's phone."
Captain Li nodded and immediately instructed the detectives below to proceed.
"One last thing," Old Shao glanced at the school officials. "I can almost confirm that this is Zhuang Ziming's body. Since Zhuang Ziming and Song You are in the same class, if there is another victim, it is likely someone from that class as well. Notify all students in Class 8 immediately; I want to know they are safe."
The principal nodded and said, "When we were looking for people earlier, we already called several students. Those who were reached are still at home, but some have not been contacted yet."
Old Shao shook his head. "Call them again and let them know to stay alert for now. We will inform them once we catch the murderer."
Upon hearing this, the principal immediately went to make calls.
Now the task was to figure out how to get the body out.
Extracting a decomposing corpse was no easy feat; a body filled with foul-smelling gases was like a balloon that could explode at any moment. If it did explode, then all its entrails would spill out, making a mess of the entire place.
Xu Yiman looked at the locker and pondered for a moment before saying, "The body is firmly stuck inside the locker now. If we force it out, it could easily lead to an explosion. The best solution is to move the entire locker to the Autopsy Room and let me handle the dissection there."
This was practically the best option available.
Captain Li stepped forward and closed the locker door before saying, "You all come over and help move the locker down; I'll bring the car to the entrance."
The detectives exchanged glances; they all knew that inside that locker was a severely decomposed body emitting a terrible stench. Moreover, the locker wasn't very well sealed; otherwise, flies wouldn't have been able to get in. It was likely that maggots could crawl out from inside as well—just thinking about that image was enough to make anyone feel nauseous.
Captain Li noticed their concerns and said, "Moving a locker isn't like performing an autopsy. The special investigation team is here to help us solve this case. If we can't crack this case, will you have any pride left? We can't let an elderly person or a young girl..."
After pondering for a moment, Captain Li looked at Jiang He and said, "A frail police officer like you should get moving quickly."
Only then did everyone begin to act.
Several detectives lifted the Locker, which appeared to be quite heavy.
Old Shao reminded them, "Be careful; the Lock on the Locker is a live buckle and can easily come undone during jostling."
Inside the storage room, there were no useful clues left. After a brief discussion with the principal, the task force and the detective team left. Four or five detectives carried the Locker downstairs, while Captain Li had already arrived in a special police vehicle. The trunk was open, ready to load the Locker inside.
"On three," one detective said. "Let's do this together."
Everyone nodded in agreement.
However, just as they were about to lift the Locker onto the vehicle, an accident occurred.
It was pouring rain outside, and the marble floor of the hall was already slick with water. As one detective slipped while holding a corner of the Locker, he lost his balance and fell sideways. The detective at the front had already gotten into the vehicle and was holding on unevenly; as a result, the Locker bumped against the edge of the car.
The live buckle of the Locker snapped open from the impact, causing the cabinet door to spring open.
"Damn it," Xu Yiman exclaimed in shock.
The collision sent shockwaves through the corpse inside. The violent impact caused gases within to burst forth, and finally, the pressure became too much for the flesh to bear. With a loud pop, the body exploded spectacularly. Although the air outside improved somewhat, in that instant, a powerful stench wafted out.
Those who were walking behind were not affected much, but those lifting the cabinet bore the brunt of it.
The corpse's abdomen burst open instantly, spewing various entrails everywhere. Intestines dangled out, and pieces of entrails flew in all directions. In an instant, these fragments were washed away by the heavy rain. The detectives standing next to the cabinet were covered in bits of entrails and blood from the corpse's tissue fluid, looking utterly disgusting.
Old Shao shook his head helplessly and remarked, "Well, I guess there's no need to worry now."
Xu Yiman walked over and saw the scene before her. "Well, it exploded after all."
The body after the explosion had clearly shrunk significantly; it was no longer the bloated figure it once was.
Xu Yiman said to several detectives, "Since you’re all in that state anyway, pull the body out and put it in a body bag."
The detectives suppressed their nausea as they placed the body into the bag.
"Let’s step out into the rain for a bit; the smell is overwhelming," Captain Li suggested.
At that moment, Jiang He walked over to a spot, crouched down, and picked something up. It was a small card. If it weren't for Jiang He's keen observation skills, this item might have been overlooked by everyone else. However, with his sharp eyes, he spotted a white object flash by in the darkness. Based on its parabolic trajectory in the air, he successfully retrieved it.
It was a stark white card. When Jiang He picked it up, he realized it was a SIM card.
This SIM card also had an unpleasant odor and was covered in some unknown sticky substance. After rinsing it off in the rainwater, he spoke up, "A SIM card flew out from the body’s abdomen during the explosion."
"What is it?" Old Shao asked as he stepped closer upon hearing Jiang He’s words.
"A SIM card," Jiang He replied.
Old Shao examined the SIM card closely. It appeared to be mostly intact, but he couldn't tell if the chip was still functional.
Shao the Elder said, "Zhuang Ziming's phone last emitted a signal from here. This SIM card likely belongs to him. We need to hurry back and check whose phone number this is."
The Task Force Criminal Investigation Team wasted no time and rushed back to the City Public Security Bureau.
By this time, it was already two in the morning.
Xu Yiman went to the Autopsy Room to perform an autopsy on the body while the others waited for the Forensic Science Division to analyze the SIM card.
Soon, due to the real-name registration system for SIM cards, it was easy to find out who had applied for the SIM card by checking the information on it. The identity was confirmed to be Zhuang Ziming, and indeed, this was Zhuang Ziming's phone number. However, the SIM card had been soaked in gastric fluid for too long and was no longer usable. The Forensic Science Division had already communicated with the carrier, and a new SIM card would be sent over. If the murderer called this number, they would be able to trace it back to its source.
However, the call records were quickly retrieved. In the past few hours, Zhuang Ziming's phone had only been in contact with one person—Song You. Their communication was frequent, almost every short while there was a call, but the content of those calls remained unknown.
"Song You's phone is on!" someone suddenly shouted. "Song You's phone is on."
"Locate it!" Old Shao quickly responded. "Get the address; this person is most likely the murderer!"
"Understood," the technical staff replied.
"Song You's phone is on a call!" that person added.
Shao the Elder asked, "Can we know the content of the call?"
"We're still following up; we didn't have surveillance before, so it will take some time now..." the person said.
"How long?" Old Shao pressed.
"A few minutes..." came the uncertain reply.
"I'm afraid by then, the call will already be over," Old Shao thought to himself.
Just then, all the computers of the Technical Crime Investigator team went black. For a moment, everyone thought there had been a power outage, but the lights were still brightly lit. While everyone was puzzled, a segment of audio began to play on all the black-screened computers simultaneously, creating an ethereal atmosphere.
"What happened?" Jiang He asked, confused.
"There might be a hacker!" one of the detectives replied.
"At this moment?" Old Shao slammed the table.
"No, listen carefully!" Jiang He detected something in the audio.
"Shut down all the computers, leave only the one in front of me," Old Shao commanded decisively.
The sound became clearer. Everyone listened; it seemed to be the sound of rain pouring down. At that moment, a voice spoke up, "Song You? Where are you? I've been waiting for you here for a while. It's pitch black and it's scaring me. Did Zhuang Ziming give you the things? Hey, Song You?"
This person was on the phone with Song You, who was already dead. Therefore, the person holding Song You's phone was the murderer!
The individual continued to call out Song You's name, but the murderer did not respond.
Suddenly, the person screamed, followed by the sound of the phone dropping to the ground. Everything became chaotic; the sound of rain was overwhelming, and the background noise turned into a blur. However, one could faintly hear a person's fragmented cries:
"You, you... that matter has nothing to do with us... don't come over, oh God, don't come over! I didn't... get away, get away! Help! Help!"
Then there was another wave of noise.
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