Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
“The murderer should have prepared a comprehensive plan ahead of time!” The captain of criminal police, Li Luoyun, said. “Ever since the very first case, we have surveyed the surveillance camera from the park nearby, yet still couldn’t find one suspect. It happened at eight at night. The deceased victim had a daily jogging routine. When he ran into an empty alley, he was attacked by the murderer.”
He continued. “The weapon had yet to be confirmed. According to the shape of the wound, it appeared to have been a huge hammer!”
Following Li Luoyun’s introduction, the related images were displayed on the screen. The image was bloody, revealing that it was indeed a tragic death.
“The forensic scientist certified that the back of the deceased’s head was crushed, having been hit heavily at least six times. Every hit was extremely brutal, so it was obvious that the murderer aimed to kill him!”
Looking at such a bloody scene, everyone present was stirred. The police detectives whispered to each other softly.
“The second arson attack case was pre-planned, too,” Li Luoyun continued. “It was during a lunch break, when one of the pharmaceutical factory apartments suddenly caught on fire. A female chemist was burnt to death in one of the apartments.”
He went on to explain further. “Just like the first case, there was nothing found on the surveillance camera. The speed that the fire in the apartment spread was very fast. Although it was discovered very early, it was still too late when the fire fighters arrived! We found out that the deceased was a single female, who had only transferred to the headquarters from another province that year. Due to the fact that she had no housing in the area, she had been allowed to stay in the apartments of the pharmaceutical factory.”
Li Luoyun summed it up then. “And, the deceased victim was on the night shift. Every time after her night shift ended, she had a habit of taking nap. So, we suspect that the murderer knew her routine very well.”
The image for the second case was even worse. The burnt room was bearable to glance at, but the dead body that was burnt to a crisp was not a scene that newbie criminal police could deal with.
“The third victim was a quality control inspector,” Li Luoyun said, as he opened the images for the third case. He then said, “We just received the latest information regarding the barreled water in the quality control department office. There really was a high dosage of Nitroamine present, which is a kind of colorless and odorless ingredient that can cause severe damage to the liver and kidneys. The amount that was contained in the water was definitely sufficient to kill someone!”
He continued. “It was reported that the deceased had a batch of medicine that required his checking urgently that morning, so he was the first one to arrive in the office. We saw him taking water from the barreled water in the surveillance video. After he drank the water, he showed symptoms almost immediately…”
“Aiyo, luckily he was working overtime in the early morning,” Ran Tao spoke softly, while standing next to Zhao Yu. “If it were to have happened during normal working hours, it wouldn’t have been just be one death.”
“From what we derived from the video, we realized that the barreled water only had one-third of the contents left, which means that the day before, there were many people that drank some of the water. So, that means that there shouldn’t be any problem with the water! More specifically, it means that the poison must have been added later on! However, unfortunately,” Li Luoyun said regretfully, “As the surveillance camera in the office was quite old, after the lights were shut off, no image was captured.”
As Li Luoyun spoke, another criminal police officer ran over quickly, then passed a stack of documents to Li Luoyun and muttered something softly to him. Then, he lowered his head and left.
“Everyone, the autopsy report of the third victim is out!” Li Luoyun turned around to tell everyone. “The poison that the deceased was killed with is identical to the one found in the barreled water! It was certified that he drank the water and got poisoned!”
Li Luoyun continued to explain. “We think that the one murderer killed all three pharmaceutical staff members. Although the location was different and the method was different, the murderer was familiar with the deceased victims’ routines, and he was also very familiar with the work regulations in the pharmaceutical factory! So, we have reason to believe that the Hasty Murder Case might have been carried out by a current or former staff member of the pharmaceutical factory!”
“This person had some sort of conflict with the pharmaceutical factory, which then led to him seeking revenge through murder!” Li Luoyun said.
Then, the person in charge of the Jin’an municipal department spoke up, saying that the Changxin Tailong Pharmaceutical Factory was the financial pillar of the entire province, even the entire nation. As such, this massacre case would bring about serious repercussions. If it wasn’t such a high stakes situation, the higher ups wouldn’t have sent the special investigation team over to lead the investigation!
He also said that the board of directors from the pharmaceutical factory already had been looking for him. Although they tried their best to cover it up, the Hasty Murder Case had already triggered a certain level of terror, affecting the emotions of the staff at the factory greatly.
Everyone was worried that they would be the next victim! Hence, they pleaded for the police station to arrest the murderer as soon as possible. They couldn’t let the situation worsen!
Then, another higher up said that it placed great pressure on the police station, too! If such a huge incident wasn’t solved quickly, not only would the Jinpin Police Station be embarrassed, but the entire police league in Jin’an would be shamed nationwide! Hence, no matter how huge the price was, they had to solve the case in lightning speed!
Through the speeches given by the higher ups, they realized that the case had reached its peak of severity, and that extreme pressure was being placed on the Jinping police. Zhao Yu also felt the suffocating pressure! He never thought that, just as he became a special investigator, he would come across such a thorny and strange case!
Dealing with such a case was obviously different from investigating other pending cases or murder cases. In the past, he had sufficient time to investigate and think…
But now, this murderer was killing one person a day! Such a killing speed really drove people to the edge of terror and anxiousness!
The pharmaceutical factory had more than ten thousand staff members. It was impossible to safeguard all of them! If they couldn’t lock away this killer, there would be more murder cases, one after another!
What should I do?
Although Zhao Yu had never dealt with such an emergency case, he was certain that the more urgent it was, the more he couldn’t afford to panic. Actually, like the previous murder case, the more crimes the murderer committed, the more evidence and careless mistakes he left behind.
In fact, it was very likely that information regarding the murderer was already hidden among the information that they found! As long as he could sort it out patiently, the question would be solved naturally.
After the higher ups gave their speeches, they left the meeting. Although there wasn’t a written rule, the special investigation team that Zhao Yu led was no doubt the highest ranking one at the scene. As the captain of criminal police, Li Luoyun naturally had to ask for Zhao Yu’s opinion first.
“Team Lead Zhao,” Li Luoyun spoke politely, “We have transferred all of the police force, and the three murder cases have respective task forces investigating each. Besides, we have another two groups of people stationed at the pharmaceutical factory. One is tasked with looking for clues, and another is there to follow up with the board of directors of the pharmaceutical factory. Is there anything else that we left out?”
“Nothing else!” Zhao Yu said calmly. “You just need to give us live updates of the investigation, as it unfolds!”
“Oh, okay!” Captain Li Luoyun never thought that Zhao Yu would be so direct. He was shocked, and he looked like he wanted to say something, but he merely nodded and turned around to leave.
“Captain!” Zhao Yu smiled and held his hand over his other fist. He then said politely, “Thank you for your efforts!”
“Mm… Sure, I was just doing my duty!” Li Luoyun said, as sweat beads were forming on his forehead. Somehow, although the young man was ten years younger than himself, Zhao Yu had an indescribable imposing aura.
Li Luoyun quickly saluted Zhao Yu, then turned around the second time to leave. Just then, another criminal police officer ran over.
He said in a hurry, “I’ve an update for you, Captain, mm… Special Investigator!” The criminal police quickly saluted Zhao Yu, then said, “One of the board of directors of the pharmaceutical factory just received a WeChat message. Someone called himself the murderer of the Hasty Murder Case and started asking for a ransom!”
