Chamber of Secrets

Liao Leader introduced the male police officer: "His name is Bai Yidao. He is Director Bai's son in our bureau..."

Bai Yidao frowned, "Old Liao, just introduce me. Why bring up my dad? Do you see me as just a useless second generation official every day?"

Liao Leader smiled, "No no, I was just saying it in passing."

Bai Yidao looked me up and down and laughed, "The special advisor specially sent by the Director, quite young huh? Nice to meet you!" After speaking, he reached out a hand.

I instinctively reached out to shake his hand, but Bai Yidao suddenly grabbed it firmly with immense strength, almost crushing my hand bones. I tried hard to pull my hand out, my face must have looked pretty bad.

Seeing this scene, Luo Weiwei chuckled softly. Liao Leader frowned, and quickly smoothed things over, "Yidao, how can you make such a joke!"

"Just testing Consultant Song's strength, no offense!" Bai Yidao smiled smugly, with no intention of apologizing at all.

I was furious inside, involuntarily gritting my teeth and thinking: Kid, just you wait!

Liao Leader said, "Come in and sit down, everyone. Now that everyone is here, let me briefly introduce the case. Come, pour some coffee over."

We sat down around the round table. The other police looked at us with an attitude of not taking us seriously, especially Bai Yidao, who kept whispering with Luo Weiwei, glancing at us from time to time, probably making up stories about us again.

"Damn, simply arrogant. Watch me teach that kid a lesson later!" Huang Xiaotao said in a low voice, "Song Yang, is your hand okay?"

"It's fine, I'm not that delicate," I said. But I was still rubbing my aching palm underneath.

Wang Dali looked at Luo Weiwei with disgust, "Tsk, arrogant. Director Bai is so handsome, completely unlike Sister Xiaotao's down-to-earth attitude."

Huang Xiaotao said, "Don't compare me with that kind of woman!"

"Right, she's not even fit to shine Sister Xiaotao's shoes," Wang Dali nodded repeatedly.

Liao Leader closed the curtains, turned on the projector, and started explaining the case details. The criminal investigation team of Wuqu City Police Department was quite well-equipped. No wonder Director Cheng was promoted from here. This could be considered his 'hometown', so no wonder he took special care of it.

The victims this time were a family of three, a couple and the husband's mother. The husband was a wholesale merchant who had always been very filial to his mother. His mother was already eighty years old with leg problems and spent most of her time in a wheelchair. The couple had a very harmonious relationship. Forget about fights, they had never even quarreled before. They had a twelve-year-old daughter studying abroad, hence she luckily escaped this catastrophe.

This family of three lived in an old house. Three days ago at night, a neighbor heard the sound of intense arguing from their home, followed by the sound of things being smashed.

This neighbor was the old lady's mahjong friend. She was about to go over to advise them when no one answered the door despite her knocking for a long time. Suddenly, she saw the old lady in her wheelchair fall down from the second floor window and die instantly. Her body was covered in pieces of broken glass, with a pair of red chopsticks plugged into her eye sockets.

Realizing something was wrong, the neighbor quickly called security to break down the door. Everyone saw that the house was covered in blood once they entered, 'It was simply as if the entire house was painted with blood,' in the neighbor's own words.

The wife was lying on the floor, her whole body drenched in blood, hacked beyond recognition. Half her face had been sliced off, with the flesh and skin still hanging around her neck. Next to her was a meat cleaver.

The husband had died even more horrifically. His head and body had been severed. His head had fallen into the wash basin, eyes wide open, with blood flowing everywhere...

Like the case three months ago, the scene was a locked room with no possibility of an outsider breaking in at the time. The police preliminarily concluded that the couple had suddenly lost their minds. The wife stabbed chopsticks into the old lady's eyes and pushed her down from upstairs, then the couple hacked each other with knives. The husband thought his wife was dead and went to the kitchen to wash his wounds, but was ambushed from behind by his wife who sliced his head off, before she also died from excessive blood loss after walking a few steps and sitting on the ground.

The task force thoroughly questioned the residential area's security guards, especially the neighbor who discovered the corpses, but found no doubts.

The forensics team also tested the food they ate that night, again finding nothing suspicious.

The whole case was currently in a frustrating standstill with no progress.

After listening, I asked, "How was the order of death determined?"

Luo Weiwei crossed her slender white legs arrogantly, "It's obvious isn't it? I was the one who determined it. The husband was always filial to his mother, he wouldn't possibly be the one who stabbed chopsticks into his mother's eyes right? Moreover, the chopsticks had the wife's fingerprints. Also, the husband wouldn't have killed his wife then chopped off his own head right? Having no common sense yet wanting to be an advisor." She sneered as she said this.

Liao Leader asked, "Consultant Song, did you notice anything?"

"Leader Liao, just call me Song Yang. I feel the sequence of events needs to be reconstructed. You've gone down the wrong direction," I said.

"Insolent!" Luo Weiwei slammed the table, "I've been a medical examiner for five to six years. Would I make such a low level mistake? Hmph, let's see if Mister Great Detective Song can make the dead speak later on."

"Sure, I'll make you see it!" I retorted strongly, the other police looked on with interest, even slight mockery.

As the saying goes, a strong dragon does not suppress local snakes. Humans and animals alike have a sense of territoriality. I had vaguely felt ever since entering this room that these police officers did not welcome us 'outside monks'.

I asked again, "Were autopsies done on the victims?"

"No!" Luo Weiwei dragged out her voice lazily, "Just about to do the autopsies when Director Cheng suddenly called and told me not to touch the corpses, leaving them for his specially dispatched advisors."

Huang Xiaotao asked, "Does the daughter know about this matter?"

Liao Leader shook his head, "Relatives and friends are keeping it from her. She's still studying outside and completely unaware. This poor girl lost her parents and grandmother all at once, sigh!"

Liao Leader heaved a long sigh. Judging by his age, he probably also had children and could empathize to some extent.

Huang Xiaotao asked again, "Were the victims' interpersonal relationships investigated? Did they have any feuds with anyone?"

"Investigated, nothing noteworthy. I'll give you the detailed statements to look over later," Liao Leader said.

We had no more questions either. Liao Leader then announced the meeting was over. Our special team would carry out investigations in our own way, with full assistance from the others. He laughed, "From now on, I as the leader will step aside. This case is fully handed over to Inspector Huang!"

"Inspector Huang?" Wang Dali looked at Huang Xiaotao in surprise, "Aren't you a Police Superintendent?"

Huang Xiaotao proudly stuck out her chest, "Solving two major cases in a row, I've been promoted to Chief Inspector. Of course the official documents from the bureau haven't come down yet." After speaking, she patted me smilingly, "Detective Song, pray for me to get promoted a few more levels!"

"Burn more incense, make more offerings, be sincere and the deity will be efficacious," I played along laughing.

"No problem, I'll treat you to the most famous Biman Building roasted duck in Wuqu City for lunch!" said Huang Xiaotao.

Although jumping from Police Superintendent 1st Class to Chief Inspector 3rd Class was only a one rank promotion, it sounded much more impressive. Back then, Grandpa had promoted his protege Superintendent Sun from an ordinary criminal police squadron leader to bureau chief within just a few years. It seemed not an unimaginable feat.

I suddenly had an ambition - why not do a project to groom Huang Xiaotao into becoming an Inspector General step-by-step. With at least a department chief level position, I could casually go out for tea or meals with the Inspector General in the future. That would be quite impressive!