Midnight Bookstore

The people from the City Bureau had arrived, and the police cordon had been set up. There were many patrol cars parked outside. The decapitated head of an old woman was confirmed to have been found and her identity had also been verified. She was Zhu Chenhao’s mother, the grandmother of the little girl Zhu Shengnan. Her name was Xu Meijuan.

The lower half of her body was not in the toilet. Zhou Ze stood alone at the door, whilst smoking, and thought to himself “Interesting… it was because of the child abuse incident that he had come to talk to the girl’s parents. In the end, he found a bigger gift bag.”

At this moment, the shouts of the police officers came from upstairs, as if they had found something there. Boss Zhou followed them up the stairs. He was an old acquaintance of the Tongcheng police force. This time, he came with Old Zhang and Officer Chen. Thus no police officers stopped him.

The wall that originally hung the oil painting had been cut out. In the interlayer between the walls was a headless female corpse that was punctured with nails.

The corpse was in an inverted posture, her legs were facing the top whilst her arms were facing down, the palms and soles of her feet were nailed. The other parts seemed to be reinforced with strong glue. It was like a… a dried gecko.

Yes… the corpse’s skin was extremely dry, like a doll that had released air. Zhou Ze came in closer to the body for a better look. Coincidentally, a criminal investigations officer beside him said, “Is this the other part of the body which belonged to the decapitated head that was found in the bathroom?”

“No.”

“No.”

Zhou Ze and Officer Chen said at the same time. Officer Chen looked at Zhou Ze and gestured for Zhou Ze to speak first.

“We can see that it’s a female corpse. Moreover, the blood was extracted from the body after the time of death. That’s why it looks like this.”

“Although the human body also looks a lot ‘shrunken’, from some details it can be determined that this female corpse can’t be too old. At most, it’s around thirty years old. Not someone as old as Xu Meijuan.”

Officer Chen nodded, indicating that she agreed with Zhou Ze’s view. The criminal investigations officer who was recording at the side gulped with some difficulty. Because of this judgment, it meant that the number of victims in this murder case had suddenly become two.

Tong City had been shaken by the case of serial murders 16 years ago, and now it is happening again.

“Cough, cough…” Zhou Ze coughed a few times.

“What’s Wrong?”

“I choked on something.”

As he said that, Zhou Ze took a few steps forward. The body had not been removed yet because the murderer had spent some effort to dispose of the body. Even if he wanted to remove the body, he had to first complete all the details that could be recorded in the vicinity; these were likely to play a crucial role in the investigation of the case.

Zhou Ze reached out and pinched the arm of the corpse. Although the corpse was shriveled, there was still a strange elasticity on her skin.

“There’s something in the body.” Zhou Ze said.

Sure enough, there was indeed something in the body. When the body was unloaded and handed over to the forensic doctor for a preliminary examination, he discovered that the body had been injected with mercury. Although, the amount of mercury used was a lot.

“What does an inverted body mean?” Officer Chen asked Zhou Ze.

“Officer, you asked the wrong person about this. I don’t know. I thought you would know something.”

The previous ‘Ghost Messenger’s picture of delivering a son’… Boss Zhou, who was an authentic licensed ghost messenger, had never heard of it. However, Officer Chen knew… this woman was well-read and had a strong memory. She had a wide range of knowledge.

“In most homicide cases, passionate killings account for the majority. Most of the time, the murderers would either run away or forcefully dispose of the body after killing someone.

“In homicide cases, there are those who would use a strange method to manipulate the body they killed. Usually wanting to use this method to express their twisted desires. Some murderers would pursue this kind of ritualistic thrill. Their motive for killing… Is very likely for this.”

“Oh?” Zhou Ze’s interest was piqued.

“Extracting the blood from the corpse and pouring some mercury into it. Mercury has an anti-embalming effect on the corpse. It may have the intention of torturing the corpse for an eternity.”

“The inverted hanging of the corpse should indicate the murderer’s mockery and even hatred towards the deceased. This should be a revenge killing, a deliberate revenge killing to say the least.”

“Then we should first investigate the social network of this family, right?”

“Yes, I’ll give the order now.” Said Officer Chen as she walked to the other criminal investigations officers and gave the order.

After looking at the body for a while, Zhou Ze simply walked out and stood on the balcony. He looked down and around. From here, he could see Wolf Mountain.

For people who were born in the plains, having a view of the mountain was considered not bad. Compared to the real mountain outside, the Wolf Mountain felt like a small mound of dirt.

However, the houses at the bottom of Wolf Mountain were very expensive. Zhou Ze remembered that Yingying had complained to him about the two houses which she had bought at the bottom of the mountain.

At the crime scene… Boss Zhou looked at both the decapitated head in the toilet and the corpse in the wall before running out, he was also concerned about the national housing price policy. Meanwhile, he was also surprised that all of this did not send a shiver down his spine.

It was normal for Boss Zhou as he had seen too many dead people. Not to mention all the dark and disturbing things. It was no longer interesting to him.

Instead, he preferred things that were more simple and light-hearted. This was like watching too many Japanese movies. Only then did he feel that the Hong Kong movies of the early years were full of art.

“Boss.” Old Zhang walked to the balcony and passed a cigarette to Zhou Ze. Zhou Ze placed the cigarette between his ears as he opted to have it for later.

“Boss, I’m suffering.” Old Zhang Sighed.

Ever since he came back from the dead, there had been a series of murder cases in Tongcheng. If this case was not handled properly, it would be a massacre.

“Prepare to issue an arrest warrant for Zhu Chenhao.”

His wife’s and mother’s body was here. It is safe to say that the missing member of this family naturally became the prime suspect.

“I think you can spend some more time and look around. Maybe there’s a surprise in this villa.”

“Boss, what do you mean?”

“Mr. Xu is right. The killer’s methods of killing are not something that ordinary people can do, especially the way he ‘covers his ears to steal the bell’ after killing someone. It shows that the killer is mentally strong and experienced.” Zhu Chenhao did not fit this description.

“Report, we found a male corpse in one of the cars parked outside the house. We believe that it is the owner of this house, Zhu Chenhao.” A criminal investigations officer came to report.

Officer Chen nodded and signaled the criminal investigations officer to lead the way. Old Zhang put out the cigarette butt in his hand, bit his lips, and said, “This is great. The whole family is found.”

“No, we’re still missing one.”

“Oh, that’s right. If that’s the case, that girl might still be alive. She can be considered lucky.”

“Old Zhang.” Zhou Ze took the cigarette from his ear and slowly opened it in his hand, the center of his palm was filled with tobacco.

“What’s Wrong?”

“Do you think there’s a possibility?”

“What possibility?”

“She didn’t survive because she was lucky.”

“…”

The girl was still in the pharmacy. Since she had just finished her surgery, it wasn’t convenient for her to move for the time being. Little Loli had just gone out to buy some stationery. Because Zhou Ze’s bookstore didn’t plan to make any profit from the students, they didn’t buy stationery.

The summer vacation was about to end, and there were still two days left. She had to finish her summer vacation homework. Not to mention… When Little Loli did her homework, she didn’t feel bored at all.

She passed by the pharmacy as she went back and saw Fangfang standing at the door.

“Yo, Xiao Rui, do you want to come in and play? There’s a new little sister inside, she’s as cute as you.” The Little Loli frowned, “you’re praising another woman for being as pretty as me.”

“What do you mean?”

Any woman would be disgusted by such an evaluation. Fangfang on the other hand, only wanted the Little Loli to go in and chat with the girl because she felt that the girl was pitiful. In her opinion, they were all little girls, so they should be closer.

Unfortunately… Little Loli only looked like a little girl. However… she didn’t know then… the little girl got out of bed on her own. She didn’t use any anesthetic, so there was no such thing as sleeping.

The little girl was wearing clothes to hide the scars on her body. Looking at her delicate little face, she was adorable. Little Loli stood at the entrance of the pharmacy and looked at the little girl inside.

The girl stood inside the pharmacy and also looked at Little Loli without moving. Little Loli still walked in because she had to admit that this girl looked adorable. Hehe… her sister liked adorable little girls the most.

Little Loli walked in front of the girl and gently pinched her face. Because she had gone out to buy stationery, she didn’t know what had happened in the pharmacy. She also didn’t know what kind of darkness was hidden under the girl’s clothes.

The girl tilted her head and looked at Little Loli with some confusion. Little Loli put down the things in her hands, reached out, and grabbed the girl’s face. Only to then realign her head.

“When you’re young, you have to develop good habits. Don’t tilt your head at random.”

The girl nodded. But… when Little Loli released her hands… the girl’s head tilted again. Little Loli pretended to be very angry and asked, “What are you doing? You’re a child. You have to be obedient!”

Fangfang noticed this as she was standing by the door and saw Little Loli being stern with her younger sister. She giggled to herself softly as she had her mouth covered.

Coincidentally, there was a customer who came to buy medicine. Thus she went to work and left the two children to play by themselves. Little Loli kept realigning the girl’s head, “Be good, be obedient!” As she let go of her hand, the girl’s head tilted again.

“Hey, you don’t want to look at me, do you?”

The girl nodded.

“Why?”

“Because… because…” the girl was at a loss for words as if she didn’t know how to organize her words properly. She still said slowly, “Because… auntie… the scars on your body… are more than mine.”