Lock the Killer

After a while, Huang Xiaotao knocked on the door from outside. Seeing her dressed neatly, I said in surprise: “You’re so fast. Isn’t it said that girls take half an hour to wash up and get dressed?”

“Silly, I was afraid you would have to wait, so I got up early and got dressed.” Huang Xiaotao said.

“Okay, give me five minutes!”

I hurriedly put on my clothes and pants. Wang Dali unplugged the room card and we went out. Wang Dali greeted, “Sister Xiaotao, you look so beautiful today.”

“Nonsense, when do I not look beautiful.” Huang Xiaotao said narcissistically. “Is your cold better?”

“Of course, my body is as strong as iron. How could a little cold knock me down?” Wang Dali replied.

Huang Xiaotao knocked on Wang Yuanchao's door. Wang Yuanchao opened the door wearing a sleeveless undershirt, his bulging muscles partially exposing the dark chest hair beneath his collar. He had a gun strapped to his body. One hand leaned against the doorframe while the other held a silver hip flask from which he drank, a cigarette dangling from his mouth. With that unshaven look, muscular build, and brooding expression, he looked just like an agent from the movies.

Huang Xiaotao scolded: “Smoking and drinking so early in the morning, no wonder your wife divorced you. Let’s go!”

Wang Yuanchao calmly took a puff of his cigarette, sipped some liquor, and closed the door. Five minutes later, he emerged at the door fully dressed.

Wang Dali said, “From our interactions these past two days, I discovered that Uncle Wang is actually quite cool.”

“Men who are too cool are unreliable. If you have time, look into his miserable romantic history. I guarantee it will change your impression of him.” Huang Xiaotao said.

Wang Dali asked obsequiously, “Sister Xiaotao, I’m the most genuine one. Do you think I’m reliable?”

Huang Xiaotao glanced at him. “Unreliable trash men are the least reliable.”

Wang Dali became dejected. He asked again, “Then what kind of guy do you think Song Yang is? Is he reliable?”

Huang Xiaotao gave me a deep look. My face grew hot. Then she answered coldly: “Don’t know!”

After leaving the hotel, I recounted what my youngest brother had found out. Wang Dali said in surprise, “Murder by curse? How do we crack this case?”

“However it can be cracked, that’s how we’ll crack it. The key is...” Huang Xiaotao pondered, “How do we convict the suspect?”

She had a point. Curses aren’t against the law, or else all the foul-mouthed folks on the street would be bursting the jails every day.

I said, “This curse has been proven to exist. We absolutely can’t let it harm anyone else. I think we should consult Director Cheng and handle this case specially.”

Huang Xiaotao nodded. “You’re right, but we personally experienced this curse and believe it. If the police hear about curses killing people, their morale will surely be shaken.”

I said not to worry. The ‘Wealth Cat Spirit’s method of murder could be simply summarized. First, the culprit had to place it in the victim’s home. Second, it only took effect at a specific time. Finally, the culprit removed it afterwards to cover up the truth.

Although it was a curse, it wasn’t as ethereal as people imagined for arbitrary murders. This curse had a fixed scope and scientific principles. Human factors still played a large role in this case, and there were still clues to investigate.

Also, I didn’t plan to fully publicize the curse to avoid shaking morale, like Huang Xiaotao said.

We arrived at the second floor conference room of the police station. The breakfast Huang Xiaotao ordered had been delivered. Everyone sat around the table eating breakfast. I noticed Team Leader Liao was also present. Seeing us come in, everyone became a little nervous. I waved my hand. “Don’t worry, let’s discuss while we eat.”

First, we summarized the clues. The two officers who were on duty at the hospital last night said the little girl was emotionally stable. Her aunt had picked her up early this morning.

Then, some people looked into the victim’s business dealings. The clues were rather messy, and nothing particularly noteworthy stood out.

Bai Yidao investigated some leads on Yu Jun. Yu Jun was a product manager at a company that mainly contracted the manufacturing of imported electronic products, which were then sold worldwide with import labels.

The male victim in this case was a long-term business partner of the company. Yu Jun himself said they had a batch of goods that hadn’t been settled because the deal went through an intermediary. Naturally, the money would end up in his hands after the victim's death.

I asked Bai Yidao, “Did you meet him in person?”

Bai Yidao nodded. “I did.”

“Did you verify everything he said?”

Bai Yidao lazily leaned back in his chair. “I rushed around investigating yesterday. Yu Jun is a busy manager. I waited outside his factory for half a day, swallowing dust before I could see him. It was night by the time I finished investigating. I didn’t have time to verify anything.”

I frowned slightly. Nevermind, I’d go find Yu Jun myself later.

While Bai Yidao was reporting, one of the officers had a shocked expression, as if he had something to say. I asked him if he had discovered anything. He said, “Consultant Song, didn’t you ask me to investigate the vacant house across from the victim yesterday?”

“What is it?” I asked.

“The person who rented the house is also called Yu Jun!” the officer replied.

“How long has he rented it?” My eyes lit up.

“The landlord said he rented it for a month. After the murder happened, he thought it was inauspicious so he moved out without taking back the 2000 yuan deposit,” the officer answered.

“Which day did he move out?” I asked eagerly.

“The day after the murder happened.” The officer replied.

There was an uproar at the scene. The case had finally gotten a breakthrough, although still a bit fuzzy. But it was a ray of light in the darkness. Everyone had an invigorated expression, but I noticed a flash of doubt on Bai Yidao’s face. Could it be this brat was hiding something from me?

Just then, Team Leader Liao raised his hand and said, “Song, I have something to say but I’m not sure if I should.”

“Go ahead and speak,” I nodded.

“The name Yu Jun sounded familiar when I first heard it. I just remembered, he was also connected to the victim in the previous murder case, but he was ruled out early on in the preliminary investigation because there was no way he could have committed the crime.” Team Leader Liao explained.

“What was their connection?” I asked.

“Yu Jun and the male victim in the last case were competitors at the same company vying for the product manager position. After the victim's family met with disaster, Yu Jun naturally took over that position. We verified Yu Jun’s whereabouts before and after the case happened, and he had an absolute alibi. So I determined it was just a coincidence.”

I asked, “So do you think two consecutive coincidences are still just coincidences?”

Team Leader Liao fell silent.

I said, “Both cases are very abnormal. The methods the killer used were neither guns nor poison, in fact completely exceeding our knowledge. I think...”

I paused and looked around at the surprised faces, then continued, “I think the murder weapon is some kind of organism that can drive people insane!”

Immediately there was an uproar. The police discussed animatedly before finally quieting down. I recounted my speculations about the case last night, as well as what I heard from the thief Zhang Liu about the mysterious sculpture.

All signs indicated that Yu Jun was clearly the murderer in this case. He had a mysterious sculpture that could greatly alter one's personality. Before and after the murders happened, Yu Jun had been living across from the victim's home to monitor things. From this it could be deduced that Yu Jun could not completely control the sculpture.

Later he sneaked into the victim’s home and took away the murder weapon when the neighbors were in chaos and rushing into the victim’s home. I speculated it was precisely after the murder happened that he took advantage of the confusion to do so.

After I finished laying out my reasoning, the atmosphere at the scene could be described as ‘seething’. The police excitedly discussed it, but Bai Yidao seemed restless and full of worry.

I suddenly asked, “Bai Yidao, what do you think?”

“No...nothing.” He scratched his nose and said evasively, “A mysterious sculpture, Consultant Song, isn’t that too mystical?”

I vaguely felt this brat was up to something fishy.