The Murderer Is Him

The last time the woman appeared on surveillance footage, she was not far from the residential complex.

At that time, it was rush hour, and the streets were packed with people. It was unlikely that she was kidnapped or murdered on the street—no one would dare commit such a crime in broad daylight.

If someone had, the perpetrator would have been caught long ago, and the case wouldn’t have dragged on until now.

Eliminating the possibility of her being harmed on the street, only one conclusion remained:

The missing woman was either killed or abducted after returning home.

Han Fei glanced at the man standing nearby and noticed that he was also looking at them. Their eyes met briefly.

“Do you suspect he’s the killer?” Han Fei asked Xu Mo in a low voice.

“Yes,” Xu Mo nodded.

Although the man’s behavior had seemed normal so far, Xu Mo couldn’t shake the feeling of suspicion.

It was intuition.

“Let’s go to Mingyue Residential Complex and see if we can find anything,” Xu Mo suggested.

Suspicion aside, Xu Mo couldn’t yet confirm whether this man was involved. They needed to investigate on-site to find out.

Han Fei nodded in agreement.

…

Mingyue Residential Complex.

Led by the three individuals who had reported the case, the police officers arrived at the complex.

The complex wasn’t particularly large, and its facilities were modest, but its location was prime—right in the bustling city center, with sky-high property prices.

Those who could afford to buy a home here were considered successful.

It was worth noting that the man, who had seemed perfectly normal until now, began acting strangely as soon as they entered the complex.

He appeared visibly nervous.

The experienced police officers also noticed his unusual behavior.

Following the three individuals, the officers arrived at the residence of the missing woman.

Apartment 1502, Building 7.

“This is it. My daughter and son-in-law live here,” the elderly couple pointed to the entrance door.

A notice about an overdue water bill was stuck in the door handle.

Xu Mo casually picked up the notice and glanced at it, his eyes narrowing slightly as if he had noticed something.

Han Fei also noticed Xu Mo’s subtle expression and leaned over to look at the water bill.

The bill showed that the household’s water usage for the month amounted to over two thousand yuan.

Water fees were calculated on a tiered system, and a bill of over two thousand yuan suggested a water usage of around three hundred tons.

After reading the bill, the two instinctively exchanged a glance.

A normal household’s water usage would typically be around thirty to fifty tons, sometimes even less than ten tons. Using three hundred tons in a month was almost impossible.

“Two thousand yuan for water? What have you been doing?” Xu Mo asked the man beside him, his tone filled with suspicion.

The man, visibly flustered, quickly took the water bill from Xu Mo’s hand, crumpled it up without looking, and stuffed it into his pocket.

“Nothing. The water meter must be broken. I’ll ask the property management about it later,” he said.

With that, he took out his keys, opened the door, and walked inside.

The police officers followed him into the apartment.

As soon as they entered, they were hit by a strong, pungent smell of perfume. Some of the more sensitive officers even sneezed from the overpowering scent.

“Why is there so much perfume sprayed in here? It’s suffocating!” The elderly couple who had reported the case also sneezed repeatedly from the strong odor.

It was worth noting that Xu Mo, amidst the overwhelming perfume, detected a faint trace of blood. The smell was so subtle that, masked by the heavy perfume, it would have been nearly impossible for an ordinary person to notice.

Xu Mo’s ability to detect the scent of blood amidst the perfume was thanks to his enhanced senses—his system had heightened all his sensory abilities, including his sense of smell.

At this point, Xu Mo was almost certain that the missing woman had been murdered, and the crime had taken place right here in her own home.

The strong perfume was used to mask the smell of blood, and the unusually high water bill likely indicated that a significant portion of the water had been used to dispose of the body.

Xu Mo could also guess the method used to dispose of the body: dismemberment, with the remains flushed down the drain.

Shortly after entering, the man began urging the officers to leave.

“You’ve seen everything, right? She’s not here. Shouldn’t you be out looking for her instead of wasting time in my house?”

Xu Mo ignored him and walked into the master bedroom.

There was no noticeable smell of blood in the bedroom, but Xu Mo detected a faint foul odor.

After a moment of concentration, he realized the smell was coming from the bed.

The bedsheets and pillowcases had been recently replaced, with almost no signs of use.

Without hesitation, Xu Mo pulled back the sheets, revealing the mattress beneath.

As he had suspected, there were traces of excrement on the mattress. When a person dies, their sphincter muscles relax completely, causing bodily fluids to leak out.

Seeing Xu Mo uncover the mattress, the man immediately rushed over. “What are you doing?”

Xu Mo glanced at him and then gestured to the officers.

“Take him into custody.”

In an instant, the officers swarmed in and restrained the man. Though they didn’t know why Xu Mo had suddenly ordered the arrest, they followed his command without question.

The sudden turn of events caught both the man and his in-laws off guard.

“What are you doing? Let me go!” the man shouted, struggling against the officers’ grip.

The elderly couple who had reported the case looked on in confusion.

“Officers, why are you arresting our son-in-law?”

Facing the couple, Xu Mo sighed, preparing to deliver the grim news.

“Your daughter has been murdered, and the person who killed her is him.”

As soon as the words left his mouth, the man, still restrained by the officers, began struggling even more violently, shouting, “That’s a lie! Don’t listen to him!”

“Mom, Dad, don’t believe them! Help me!”

The elderly couple looked at Xu Mo, struggling to process the shocking revelation.

How could their son-in-law be a murderer?

“You know the truth deep down,” Xu Mo said coldly. “Explain the water usage this month. Don’t tell me it’s normal—no one uses three hundred tons of water in a month.”

Before the man could respond, Xu Mo continued.

“And the perfume in the room—did you really think it could mask the smell of blood?”

The man swallowed hard, his eyes darting around as he insisted, “I didn’t kill anyone. The high water bill is because the meter’s broken.”

“Is that so?” Xu Mo sneered. “Should we check the drains to see if there’s any evidence left behind?”

“There are traces of excrement on the mattress but no blood. I suspect you smothered or strangled her to death in bed. When a person dies, their sphincter relaxes, and bodily fluids leak out. That’s why there are traces of excrement on the mattress, and you couldn’t clean it all up… Am I right?”

Xu Mo, well-versed in forensic techniques, could reconstruct the crime scene based on the smallest clues.