Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
“Alright, just nice since all of you are here,” Zhao Yu said to the many criminal detectives that were in the cremation room. “I’ll ask you something. Is there a boat that can be lifted like an elevator high up into the air?
“I feel like I’ve seen this on TV!”
“Uhm… that…” The police officers couldn’t keep up with Zhao Yu’s thoughts, and only after a long pause did someone understand what he meant and said, “Leader, I know a kind of modified ship with functionality just as you described! This ship comes with a lift and a mechanical arm, which is used to construct or erect a bridge!”
“Oh? That’s exactly what I meant!” Zhao Yu said, clapping. “What are you still doing? Quickly go check on that!” he instructed.
“Understood!” The police officer quickly unlocked his phone and looked it up.
“Oh, oh!” Xiong Wendong finally realized what Zhao Yu meant and hurriedly said, “Leader Zhao, do you mean that the criminals might have used these boats to put the bodies in the hanging coffins?
“No wonder we couldn’t find any traces on the cliff!”
“I’ve been wondering…” Zhao Yu said. “The criminal opened all seven hanging coffins without any mistake and put in the seven corpses. It was all in the dark of night. He must have used a method that was both safe and fast. This is probably it!”
“But…” Xiong Wendong frowned suddenly. “The highest hanging coffin is 40 meters up. What kind of elevator can be raised that high?”
“It can definitely be reached!” At that moment, the police officer responsible for checking the information said with his phone in hand, “Leader, look! Hypothetically, with a lift boat, they can reach a maximum height of 60 meters!”
Zhao Yu took a quick look at the phone, but when he saw the picture, he couldn’t help but shake his head.
“No, this isn’t it…” Zhao Yu said, pointing to the picture. “This kind of boat is too big, right?”
It was true. That type of professional lifting boat was not usually equipped with collapsible stairs, but with large lifting towers that had four columns.
“Yes!” Xiong Wendong said. “Check it once again. This is obviously a ship for the sea! How wide is the Bai Sha River? Such a big ship can’t enter!”
“Leader!” At that moment, the former Captain Fang Kaiyu suddenly came over and reported to Zhao Yu. “The official from the Civil Affairs Bureau has already explained. He said that he did indeed receive Bai Lang’s money before agreeing to let him work at the funeral parlor!
“But he did not know anything about Bai Lang’s past!
“He said, because of the inherent nature of the funeral parlor, they will always have a shortage of staff. And since this young man didn’t mind the low pay and still brought gifts, he was hired!”
“What the f*ck. That’s too irresponsible, right? But…” Xiong Wendong began scratching his head. “I guess he’s right. It’s very easy to burn out in this kind of job, and few people are really willing to do it. And… who would have expected someone would harbor such intentions to the dead!”
“That is not the key of the issue!” Zhao Yu said, breaking up the conversation. “The fact that Bai Lang applied for the job means he had already planned to do this!
“Don’t forget, he came over here two years ago! So…” Zhao Yu frowned deeply. “This whole Seven Stars Hanging Coffin conspiracy was probably planned two years ago!
“One man, for the sake of getting his hand on the corpses, worked in a funeral parlor for two years…” Zhao Yu grinned. “I guess the returns from stealing the corpse is definitely pretty big!”
“That’s probably true…” Xiong Wendong said. “The last two corpses are proof that to achieve their goals, they would even dare to commit murder!”
“Yup, so I can draw two conclusions from this,” Zhao Yu said, holding up two fingers. “First, Bai Lang was one of the members of the organization that operated the Seven Stars Hanging Coffin and not a temporary worker paid by the criminal syndicate!
“And second, Bai Lang is not a trafficker who sells corpses! From the beginning, his purpose was clear. He was always targeting the bodies of the young girls who died. He could rely on those corpses to make huge profits!
“I think the general idea is clear,” Zhao Yu said, feeling egotistic. “A super-rich person who is seriously ill and is about to die, but he doesn’t want to just go like that and wants to defy the will of God!
“At this point, a team of scammers got the news and under the pretense of geomancy, made use of the Seven Stars Hanging Coffin to draw his attention, claiming it would help him attain his wish!
“In order to make the performance look grand, they also made up the idea of the female corpses. This is the perfect conspiracy designed to make use of the crematorium to obtain the corpses, and then putting them in the Seven Stars Hanging Coffins.
“However, by the end of this fiasco, the condition of the super-rich person had deteriorated, and they were no longer able to wait!
“Thus, the team of scammers changed their tactics and used homicide to obtain the corpses and complete their show,” Zhao Yu said, suddenly opening his eyes wide. “So, in addition to Bai Lang, we have to find this team of scammers and that super-rich person!”
After Zhao Yu finished talking, the scene fell quiet and everyone was beginning to digest what Zhao Yu had said.
“Hmm…” After listening to Zhao Yu’s guess, Fang Kaiyu, who was usually straight-headed, couldn’t help but say, “Leader, what you said doesn’t seem to be wrong at all!
“But there is one important question I think you missed!” he said, spreading his hands. “If the team of scammers really were out to cheat this rich person, it would mean that the rich man’s life would ultimately not be saved, right?
“If he can’t be saved, then he would not pay them, so… how can this group of people still make money? At that point, isn’t it using a wicker basket to scoop water? They will receive nothing in the end!”
“That…” That sentence had Zhao Yu at a loss for words. Up to then, he had concentrated all his energy on the cause of this case. He had forgotten the most basic of questions.
“Yeah…” Xiong Wendong echoed. “There are contradictions in this assumption! Shouldn’t it be them making a profit from the selling of the corpses? If one corpse is worth two million dollars, then they could at least make 14 million from the sales?
“Or, uhm…” Xiong Wendong said, pinching his nose. “Can the practice of the Seven Stars Hanging Coffin really prolong the life of the rich person?”
“No, no…”
Suddenly, Zhao Yu remembered the experience of Master Zhang’s act the night before. He recalled that those people had used a broken fire pit to deceive the trust of a family of four.
Also, Master Zhang had told him that some people had hired up to 300 mass actors just for fraud.
More than 300 mass actors…
Could it be…
Keeping that in mind, Zhao Yu held his breath and said seriously, “It seems that there might be another possibility!
“There is no doubt that the people who designed the Seven Stars Hanging Coffin are the most advanced of con artists.
“So, they might have provided this super-rich person with a fake diagnosis!” Zhao Yu said, his eyes widened. “Since they dare to set up such a big plan, then buying over doctors, nurses, and even the hospital is not out of the question!”
“Ah, I see!” Xiong Wendong said, suddenly realizing what Zhao Yu was suggesting. “What you mean is that this super-rich person’s terminal illness was probably fake from the get-go! In such a scenario, when all seven female corpses are put into the hanging coffins, then the rich person’s illness will also naturally be cured! That way, they would make a lot of money!”
“Tsch!” When Zhao Yu heard that, he pouted and shook his head, rejecting his own hypothesis. “Isn’t there still something wrong?”
“Uhm, officer Zhao, what else is wrong?” Xiong Wendong asked quickly.
“If the corpses had indeed been gathered up, and the money is already in their hands, then Bai Lang would have slipped away, right?” Zhao Yu said with doubt in his voice. “Why wait until three days ago? Are we still missing something?”
“That…” The police officers were also suspicious and confused.
“It seems…” Zhao Yu said, returning the mobile phone with the picture of the liftboat to the police officer, “That we should solve the criminal’s method of moving the bodies before we consider this!
“I have a hunch that as long as we understand how they did it, the key to unraveling the mystery won’t be far behind!!”
