Chapter 60: The Case

Two weeks later, August had arrived in the blink of an eye.

After three straight days of torrential rain, the water levels at Shawan Dock had risen sharply. The barbecue and seafood stalls had shut down, and the hair salons and nail shops in the alleys had followed suit, closing their doors. The deserted dock looked especially desolate amid the dense curtain of rain.

The rain poured endlessly, kicking up mist that blurred the line between heaven and earth, surging into the seemingly bottomless alleys.

“Damn it, this crappy weather has me coming to the warehouse to pick up goods.”

Splash, splash—

A grumbling male voice echoed from the alley. Only when the figure drew closer could one make out a shadowy silhouette: a man in his early thirties, slightly plump, with an utterly ordinary face.

He was wrapped in an oversized black raincoat, towing a flatbed cart for hauling cargo behind him. He hurried through the rain, which had already risen to mid-calf.

The man walked briskly until he reached the door of the rundown Dock Warehouse, where he finally stopped.

Under the eaves, he pulled off his hat, stomping his feet in frustration as he wiped the rainwater from his face. He couldn’t help but curse again: “Those bastards—said they’d all come help move the goods, but when it was time to head out, every single one slept like a dead pig. Fuck…”

Soaked by the downpour, the man shivered uncontrollably. With trembling hands, he fished a keychain from his pocket and inserted a key into the lock. Before he could even turn it, the lock clicked open on its own with a snap.

The man froze. “The lock’s broken?”

He didn’t think much of it, muttering to himself as he pulled out the key and stepped inside: “Gotta get someone to fix it sometime.”

The warehouse was pitch black, reeking of fish and the sea. The man didn’t bat an eye—he’d lived on the docks for decades, working this job his whole life, so he was used to it.

He groped around for the light switch and flipped it on. The bulb flickered twice before dying completely.

“Power’s out again! Power’s out!”

His voice echoed through the warehouse, circling back in a way that sent chills down the spine.

Fuming, he hopped in place but had no choice. He turned on his flashlight and resignedly ventured deeper inside. In the vast space, only that single beam of light pierced the darkness, illuminating just a small patch directly ahead.

One hand on the flashlight, the other pulling the cart, the man headed toward the shelves in the back.

After just a few steps, his foot caught on something. Caught off guard by the obstacle in the middle of the path, he stumbled forward, crashing to the ground along with the flashlight.

“Ow! What the fuck? Who the hell left this crap here? Trying to kill me?”

Rubbing his sore arm from the fall, the man suddenly noticed a sticky sensation on his palm, like he’d touched something gooey.

Frowning in the dark, he reached for the flashlight that had skittered a short distance away. His hand brushed something slimy again. He snatched up the light and shone it on his palm.

A glaring red stood out starkly in the lone beam of light.

His heart sank. Only then did he realize the salty, fishy stench in the warehouse today was far thicker than usual—way beyond what seafood could account for.

A bad premonition rose in his chest. Gripping the flashlight, he shone it slowly onto the floor.

Blood everywhere, pooling and snaking into rivers.

His hand trembled on the flashlight. Swallowing hard, he mustered his courage and shifted the beam to the side.

A face ashen as death.

Blood streaks crawled across it, obscuring the features. Only the eyes remained, fixed in that horrifying visage, staring straight into the man’s pupils.

The man was stone dead.

The flashlight clattered to the ground. The deliveryman froze like a statue, his lips moving up and down, but no sound came out.

Boom—

Thunder crashed outside, and the rain hammered down like the sky itself had collapsed, forming waterfalls along the eaves.

A bolt of lightning split the sky, illuminating the dead man’s face once more.

“D-d-dead… a dead body… there’s a dead body…”

The man finally found his voice, unleashing a string of terrified screams from deep in his throat.

“Aaahhh—”

~~~

“Aaahhh—”

The scream echoed through the lobby of Datang Foot Spa. It came from a man in his early twenties with dyed yellow hair, looking like a street tough who’d been mixing with the wrong crowd since his teens—someone you didn’t want to mess with.

Right now, though, A-Zuo had him by the collar, hoisting him up. Without a word, A-Zuo slapped him hard across the face.

“Talk! Where is he? Did you hide him? Huh?!”

Yellow Hair’s vision swam with stars, blood trickling from his mouth, but he only cowered, clutching his face and begging: “Bro, bro, I really don’t know! I just dozed off for a bit, and he was gone! I swear, I don’t know, I really don’t…”

Furious, A-Zuo shoved Yellow Hair aside. “Fuck, can’t even watch one person? How the hell did I end up with a useless sack of shit like you?”

Splash—

The glass table shattered with a crash. Blood instantly poured from Yellow Hair’s forehead. He clutched his head and had just managed to scramble to his feet when A-Zuo yanked his collar again.

A-Zuo loomed over him, jabbing his index finger emphatically as he warned, “When Third Brother gets back, you’ll explain it to him yourself. If you can’t make things clear, just wait to be finished!”

At those words, Yellow Hair panicked completely. Terror flooded his face as he grabbed at A-Zuo with hands and feet alike. “Bro, save me! Save me! Don’t hand me over to Third Brother—please! I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die yet…”

“Let go!” A-Zuo irritably flung him off and snarled down at him, “You still have the nerve to ask me to save you? You only pipe up after losing the guy for a whole damn day. You really are…”

“A-Zuo.” A magnetic female voice drifted from the sofa.

A-Zuo whipped his head around. “Sister Yu?”

Yu Bai sat on the sofa, pinching the bridge of her nose with three fingers. She seemed irritated too but forced herself to be patient. “Don’t waste time on him. Go find the person first. Send people to comb every nearby spot. We have to find them before Third Brother returns.”

“Got it, Sister Yu.” A-Zuo shot a final warning glare at Yellow Hair on the floor and rushed out into the rain with his men.

Meanwhile, at the dock warehouse.

Red and blue police lights flashed in the rain-swept mist, forming a continuous swath. The warning tape snapped into place with a whoosh as several officers hustled in and out.

More than a dozen police cars were parked nearby. Zhou Hui stepped down from one, clipped on her badge, pulled on gloves and shoe covers, then ducked under the tape.

Han Wei and Meng Liansu followed right behind, splashing through puddles.

A local police station officer stood at the warehouse entrance. Spotting them, he straightened his cap and called out, “Captain Zhou, you’ve arrived.”

Zhou Hui glanced at the corpse from a distance—blood pooled and splattered everywhere—and frowned. “What’s the scene like? Any leads?”

The young officer shook his head, still looking shaken. “From the amount of blood, we can pretty much confirm this is the primary crime scene. No signs the body was moved. But the victim was hacked beyond recognition, and there’s no ID in his clothes. Can’t identify him yet. That’s the situation so far. Our station’s coroner is at another scene and hasn’t arrived. We’re waiting on the city bureau’s.”

Zhou Hui nodded to him. “Thanks for your hard work.”

Soon, Meng Liansu raised her head from the corpse—only the skull intact, the rest chopped into countless pieces—and delivered her preliminary findings.

“The victim was male, aged forty to forty-five, height between one-seventy-two and one-seventy-five centimeters, weight seventy-five to seventy-eight kilograms. Time of death preliminarily placed between eleven p.m. and midnight last night—no later than that. Cause: exsanguination. Weapon, judging from the wounds, likely a bone cleaver or similar tool.”

“Bone cleaver?” Zhou Hui looked away from the body and scanned the warehouse, packed with fishing gear and large crates for fish and seafood. She arched a brow. “The kind for butchering big fish?”

Meng Liansu followed her gaze and nodded. “Possible. But we’ll need a full autopsy to confirm the exact weapon. This is just preliminary.”

Zhou Hui eyed the corpse once more, then asked Meng Liansu, “Where’s the fatal wound?”

Meng Liansu shook her head. “No single fatal wound—or rather, every slash was potentially fatal. The killer hacked at him dozens of times at least. Hard to say which one finished him.”

“Holy shit! That’s vicious. What kind of grudge leads to chopping someone up like this?” Han Wei exclaimed in disbelief, staring at the mound of chunks on the floor. “How many pieces even is that?”

Meng Liansu replied without flinching. “Twenty-four.”

Han Wei sucked in a sharp breath and couldn’t hold back a curse. “This has to be a revenge killing, right? Twenty-four fucking pieces?”

“We’ll know the exact count after piecing it back together,” Meng Liansu said. She peeled off her mask and stood. “If limbs are missing by then, you’ll have your work cut out for you.”

Han Wei sighed helplessly. “Meng Sis, go easy on us with those words. Rack up some good karma for the criminal investigation field team, yeah? Lately, it’s all bad luck—whatever we don’t want shows up. We just wrapped the River Channel Murder Case last month, and now this. Sigh. Gotta get my mom to draw a fortune at the temple sometime, ward off this jinx.”

Meng Liansu stripped off her gloves and gave Han Wei’s shoulder a smiling pat. “Then good luck to you all. Catch the killer quick.”

“Alright, Han Wei, back to it.” Zhou Hui, still gloved, searched the body once more. Nothing.

She stood up and circled the corpse twice with her flashlight, scanning for anything she might have missed. Still, there was nothing unusual.

Han Wei scratched his head. Once again, they couldn’t identify the victim, and he felt like all the cases this year were just too bizarre. He couldn’t help blurting out, “Captain Zhou, this one’s a real tough nut.”

Captain Zhou frowned slightly and suddenly asked, “What about the guy who reported it?”

“Huh?” Han Wei blinked in surprise, then replied, “He’s out in the patrol car. Little Yang’s taking his statement.”

Captain Zhou strode toward the door. “Come on, let’s go ask him what he knows.”

They had just reached the entrance when, beyond the police cordon, a burly bald man was arguing heatedly with one of the officers. No one knew what the young cop had said to set him off, but the man thrust out his neck and bellowed, “Hey! Why the hell are you sealing my warehouse? Why seal my warehouse? I’ve got business to do! You think you’re hot shit just ’cause you’re cops? I’ll sue your asses… Let me in! I need to grab my stuff!”

The young cop stood firm at the cordon line, explaining helplessly, “Sir, please calm down. Like I told you, this is a crime scene. There’s a dead body inside, so everything in there is evidence. You can’t take anything until the case is closed.”

The bald man narrowed his eyes and kept on ranting. “Crime scene? What’s that got to do with me? So there’s a body in there—what’s that to me? It’s not like I invited the guy to crash in my warehouse. Sealing it up doesn’t do jack shit! If you’ve got the balls, go catch the killer! Get out of my way!”

The young cop blocked him left and right. “Sir, you can’t go in.”

“Screw you! If I can’t get my goods, how the hell am I supposed to eat? You cops gonna buy my dinner?”

The bald man shoved forward desperately, pushing the young cop aside. The officer stumbled and couldn’t hold him back—the man slipped right past the cordon.

“Hey! I told you, you can’t—”

“Holy shit! Aaaah!”

The young cop’s shout cut off abruptly. In that instant, the bald man caught sight of the corpse. His pupils dilated in shock, and he dropped to the ground like a sack of potatoes. He scrambled backward on hands and knees, crawling out of the warehouse and splattering himself with mud in the process.

His trembling finger jabbed toward the body inside as his words came out in a garbled mess. “Who… who the fuck put that… that guy in my warehouse… I… I’m not going in… not going in…”

~~~