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墨書 Inktalez
The residents of the single-story houses did not have direct access to the sewer system; instead, the toilets were simple pits dug out by the construction workers in the yards, commonly referred to as latrines. Because of this, even though Lu Zhengye had been dead for nearly three months, his remains remained in the pit, not washed away elsewhere.
However, as Wei Lingyong had pointed out, Lu Zhengye's body was destined to be soaked in filth even after death. Perhaps the happiest moments for Wei Lingyong were when he squatted over Lu Zhengye's remains while relieving himself.
Yet, despite Lu Zhengye being right there, retrieving his bones was no easy task. First, a sewage truck needed to suck out all the waste from the latrine before they could slowly pick out the bones inside. This was a time-consuming job, and it was still about eight hours until ten o'clock at night.
Old Shao appeared unhurried as he stood in the yard, directing everyone to calmly collect all the bones.
Yuan Jun covered his nose with the back of his hand and said, "My goodness, this smell is overwhelming. I feel like I've fallen into a pit of excrement."
Jiang He had already changed his gloves three times. He pointed at Xu Yiman and said, "Look, Xu Yiman also has to piece together the bones into a complete skeleton."
Yuan Jun sighed helplessly. "Yeah, what else can we do? Wei Lingyong really has patience; it's not an exaggeration to say he could dismember someone into pieces. Let's keep searching."
With that, Yuan Jun held his breath and plunged his hands back into the waste barrel, feeling for bones inside.
Lu Zhengye had been dead for about three months, and due to the decay in the pit and the gnawing of maggots, there was no flesh left on his body. All they could retrieve were fragments of bones. Moreover, these bones were not whole; for instance, what should have been a complete femur had been cut into three pieces by Wei Lingyong, illustrating both Lu Zhengye's suffering and Wei Lingyong's cruelty.
Guan Deng couldn't help but glance at Wei Lingyong. The man with graying hair who spoke little and seemed somewhat dull did not appear to be capable of such brutal acts of murder and dismemberment.
Wei Lingyong was handcuffed by Old Shao in the yard; however, Guan Deng thought that even without handcuffs, Wei Lingyong would not attempt to escape.
A person who had lost their sense of direction would have nowhere to run.
Xu Yiman worked diligently on assembling the pile of bones. After about an hour and a half, they finally managed to extract all the bones from the waste. Xu Yiman then completed piecing them together.
Standing up and stretching her back, Xu Yiman announced, "There are fifty-one pieces of trunk bones, twenty-three cranial pieces, sixty-four upper limb bones, sixty-two lower limb bones, and six auditory ossicles. An adult human has a total of two hundred and six bones; aside from some that were cut too finely to find, we can now assemble a complete skeleton."
Old Shao nodded and said, "The rest of the bones might not be found. Wei Lingyong, he has been cutting up Lu Zhengye's body for fun. Well, since we have two hundred and six pieces of bones, even if some are just fragments, it can still be considered that Lu Zhengye has a complete corpse."
Then Old Shao looked at Wei Lingyong and asked, "Wei Lingyong, what do you think your sister would say if she knew you killed Lu Zhengye?"
Wei Lingyong laughed and shook his head. "I don't care about that. All I know is that as long as Lu Zhengye is dead, it doesn't matter if my sister hates me for life or even wants to kill me. That's no longer my concern. As long as she is free from Lu Zhengye, she can live a better life. This is the best thing I can do for my sister, and it's the best way for a father to take revenge for his daughter."
There was no sign of regret on his face. In front of the police, Wei Lingyong showed no fear; perhaps from the moment he killed Lu Zhengye, he had already anticipated the worst outcome.
"Let's go," said Shao the Elder. "Come with us to the police station."
Wei Lingyong nodded but suddenly knelt on the ground before Shao the Elder. "I know that killing someone means paying with my life, so I've already thought it through. Just please don't tell my daughter or my wife about my death. They have started a new life, and I don't want to disturb them."
Everyone looked at Wei Lingyong, this poor guy who still didn't know that his sister had just been rescued. He also didn't know that his wife, Wang Ziyi, was already dead, nor did he realize that his daughter was currently missing.
Wei Lingyong bowed his head repeatedly and pleaded, "I'm begging you."
Old Shao rubbed his eyes and said, "Understood."
Wei Lingyong smiled again. "Earlier I asked you to pass on a message for me; did you deliver it?"
Old Shao nodded and unlocked the handcuffs while leading Wei Lingyong toward the police car. "You love her, right? Don't worry; I've already conveyed your message to her."
"What did she say?" Wei Lingyong clenched his fists, his mouth slightly open in anxious anticipation of Old Shao's reply.
Old Shao glanced at the large tree outside the yard and pushed Wei Lingyong into the car. "She... she has already forgiven you."
"That's great," Wei Lingyong said with a smile like a child.
Is there reincarnation in this world? Is there an afterlife? Is there a hell?
Old Shao did not know the answers to these questions. He did not know if Wei Lingyong would meet Wang Ziyi underground after death, but he knew that at this moment, Wei Lingyong had found redemption within himself. Wei Lingyong was not a good person, nor a good husband, nor a good father; he was nothing but a fleeting passerby in this world.
On the way back to the police station, Old Shao received a call from the Technical Room. After repeated confirmations from the technicians, they delivered an exhilarating piece of news: they had determined that the banknote contained traces of fine pollen, and this particular flower only grew in Baixing District and Dewang District in Dragon City.
In other words, they had significantly narrowed down the search area.
This was a major breakthrough. Old Shao said to Yuan Jun, "Yuan Jun, once we return to the police station, you will be responsible for investigating Baixing District. Notify Captain Liu to investigate Dewang District."
"Understood," Yuan Jun nodded.
"There are still about seven hours left," Shao the Elder said. "Even if we have to dig three feet into the ground, we must find that restaurant that once clogged the sewer."
When the task force returned to the City Bureau, Yuan Jun and Captain Liu each led their teams out.
Old Shao turned to Jiang He and said, "I’ve been waiting for the right moment, and now it has come. I’ll take Wei Lingyong to the interrogation room; you find Wei Linghui. Xu Yiman will conduct a DNA test to confirm that the body is Lu Zhengye's. Bring the results to the interrogation room shortly."
The others nodded in agreement.
Jiang He ran to Wei Linghui's dormitory and knocked on the door.
Wei Linghui came out of her room and asked, "What happened?"
"Come with me," Jiang He replied without looking back as he walked away. "We found Lu Zhengye."
"We found my husband?" Wei Linghui's eyes widened in shock. She didn’t even close the door as she hurried after Jiang He down the stairs.
When Wei Linghui saw Wei Lingyong in the interrogation room, she was taken aback and asked, "Brother? What are you doing here? What on earth happened?"
Old Shao looked at Wei Linghui, nodded, and then turned to Wei Lingyong, saying, "Are you going to speak, or should I?"
"How could she be here?" Wei Lingyong wondered aloud.
"How could you be here?" Wei Linghui countered.
"Then I'll go," Old Shao said, preparing to explain.
But Wei Lingyong slapped his own face with a loud smack. "I'll do it. Sister, I need to tell you something. You may never understand this, but I have to do it. Mom's dying wish was to take Lu Zhengye down to hell with her, but she couldn't. Now that I've fulfilled that wish for her, even if I die, I can face her."
"What do you mean?" Wei Linghui looked at her brother, sensing that something was terribly wrong despite not knowing the details.
"I killed Lu Zhengye," Wei Lingyong said, looking directly at his sister, enunciating each word carefully.
"What?" Wei Linghui couldn't believe her ears.
"I killed Lu Zhengye. In fact, I killed him three months ago," Wei Lingyong stated.
"You killed Lu Zhengye?" Wei Linghui shook her head, trembling all over. "That's impossible! It can't be true! There must be some mistake; he... this can't be!"
"It's true," Wei Lingyong insisted. "I killed him. He will never bother you again."
Wei Linghui rushed forward and grabbed her brother by the collar. In response, a sharp slap echoed across Wei Lingyong's face as she struck him repeatedly. "You don't understand anything! What do you know? I've been searching for him—always searching! You don't understand anything!"
Jiang He stepped in to hold Wei Linghui back as she cried out, "I can't believe this! It must be a lie! Lu Zhengye must have just gone somewhere else!"
Hearing this, Old Shao and Jiang He frowned simultaneously.
At that moment, Xu Yiman entered the interrogation room and said, "The DNA found on the remains matches Lu Zhengye's DNA. We can confirm that the deceased is Lu Zhengye. Here is the report."
Xu Yiman slammed the report down on the table.
Wei Linghui picked up the report. After reading it in detail, she suddenly burst into tears and ran out of the interrogation room.
Old Shao looked at Jiang He and said, "Sometimes, solving a case requires reasoning, but it also needs something else. It's time for that now, do you understand?"
Jiang He nodded and also left the interrogation room.
Wei Lingyong wiped her tears and said, "This is enough; I've done enough."
Old Shao sighed and glanced at his watch; there were still six hours left.
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