Chapter 91: Clues

After leaving the young man’s home in Room 602, the group returned to Old Lady Huang’s apartment. They had just stepped inside when two people burst in from outside.

The man took one look at Old Lady Huang lying on the ground, then rushed over and began to sob uncontrollably. The woman stood off to the side, her expression numb, showing no sign of grief or joy. It took quite a while for the officers to calm the man down.

“Officers, how exactly did my mother die? Who did this to her?” the man choked out. He was Old Lady Huang’s son, named Liu Qinggang.

Lei Liming explained the results of the investigation so far and asked if Old Lady Huang had ever mentioned anyone to him, or if she had any serious conflicts with anyone.

Liu Qinggang thought for a moment and said, “My mom had a bad temper. She had some friction with most of the neighbors. The worst of it was probably with the people next door in Room 501 and the ones upstairs in 602. But both families are pretty reasonable. I don’t think they’d go so far as to kill her. We didn’t talk on the phone that often, and she never mentioned anyone in particular.”

Seeing that there was nothing useful to be gained from Liu Qinggang, Lei Liming turned his gaze to the woman who had come in with him. This was his wife, Chen Hongying. She shook her head immediately, saying she knew nothing about Old Lady Huang and didn’t want to be asked anything about her.

No one could really comment on her attitude. Although the neighbors had already mentioned that Old Lady Huang and her daughter-in-law didn’t get along, no one expected the relationship to be this strained.

Just then, the officers who had gone to question other residents returned. Lei Liming flipped through their notes and found that there was no significant information. Most of the residents had been at work that day. When the incident occurred, they all claimed to have already left the neighborhood for their jobs.

“Call the Technical Department¹ and ask if they’ve pulled the surveillance footage yet,” Lei Liming said to Guo Zile. Verifying whether the residents were telling the truth would be easy—just compare the footage.

Guo Zile immediately stepped out and returned shortly after to report that the Technical Department had already retrieved the recent footage from the building’s entrance camera. They were currently copying it and would deliver it shortly.

As they were speaking, another woman entered the apartment. Like Liu Qinggang, she took one look at the victim on the ground and broke down in tears. She was Old Lady Huang’s daughter, named Liu Yuling.

Generally speaking, daughters tend to have more frequent contact with their parents. Once Liu Yuling had calmed down a bit, the officers began questioning her.

Liu Yuling did indeed have closer contact with her mother. According to her, she visited every three or four days to check in, bring her some things, and help with housework. Her last visit was two days ago, and at that time, her mother had seemed completely normal, with nothing out of the ordinary.

They didn’t get any useful information from her either, which didn’t surprise anyone. Since they didn’t live together, it was unrealistic to expect her to know everything that went on. Besides, given Old Lady Huang’s temperament, even if she had emphasized having a conflict with someone, her children probably wouldn’t have taken it seriously—it was just her nature.

With both siblings present, Lei Liming asked them to discuss how they wanted to handle the victim’s remains. The forensic team had determined that the cause of death was blunt force trauma. If they disagreed with the findings, they could request a more thorough autopsy, but they would need to sign off on it. If they accepted the results, arrangements could be made with the crematorium to freeze the body until the case was resolved, after which it could be cremated and buried. Until the case was solved, the body could not be handled without authorization.

After a brief discussion, the siblings agreed with the forensic report. Holding back their grief, they began making arrangements. Their only request to the police was to find the killer as soon as possible, so their mother could rest in peace.

Aofeng sat quietly in the corner of the room, watching the whole scene unfold. He couldn’t help but feel a little moved. For someone with such a difficult personality, Old Lady Huang’s children were surprisingly reasonable.

“Boss, the surveillance footage is here. Should we start reviewing it now?” Guo Zile held up a USB drive containing the recent recordings.

“Start with today’s footage. Check that time window to see if anyone suspicious came in or out.” According to the forensic report, the estimated time of death was between 8 and 10 a.m. The person who discovered the body and called the police was a woman from Room 503. She had come home from work at 11:40 and noticed the door to Room 502 was ajar. Curious, she peeked inside and was nearly scared to death. She immediately called 110.

Guo Zile got to work, and the footage began playing from midnight that day. Since this was an old residential complex mostly occupied by elderly residents, there was no activity at all between midnight and 5 a.m.

At around 5:30 a.m., someone walked out of the building carrying a bag of trash. The surveillance footage clearly showed that the early riser taking out the garbage was none other than Old Lady Huang. Just as the resident of unit 602 had said, she was indeed an early riser.

After she went back inside, there was a long stretch of inactivity. It wasn’t until around 7 a.m. that people started coming out one after another. Guo Zile quickly captured screenshots of everyone who appeared, planning to print them out later for identification to determine which residents had been present.

Due to varying work schedules, people continued leaving the building from 7 to 8:30. According to the lady in unit 503, she usually left for work at 8:30 because she started at 9. This was confirmed by the surveillance footage. She clearly remembered that when she left, the door to unit 502 next door was still closed. This meant that the time of the crime must have been between 8:30 and 10 a.m.

Therefore, anyone who stayed in the building or entered it during that time frame was a potential suspect.

As they continued reviewing the footage, they noticed that after 8:30, very few people left the building. Most of them were elderly folks carrying baskets to buy groceries. Until the police sealed off the scene, no unfamiliar faces appeared on the footage. Everyone who entered had already left earlier that morning.

Lei Liming’s expression grew serious. At this point, it was clear that the killer had to be someone who lived in the building. Moreover, based on the footage, none of the people who left looked nervous or suspicious, and no one was seen carrying anything heavy. This suggested that the killer likely hadn’t left, and the murder weapon was probably still inside.

“Based on the footage, split up and go door to door to verify information. Separate those who weren’t in the building at the time from those who were. Focus the investigation on the ones who stayed inside. Also, send a few people to thoroughly search the front and back of the building. Check whether the killer might’ve escaped through a window to avoid surveillance, and see if there’s any sign they tried to move the weapon.”

“Yes!” the officers from the Criminal Investigation team responded and immediately split into groups. Song Changfeng and Aofeng were assigned to assist with the inspection. They followed an officer to the base of the building.

Near the police cordon, small groups of people had gathered, likely drawn by word of the incident and curious to see what was going on. Some even took out their phones to take photos and videos, possibly to post online.

Aofeng paid no attention to any of that. He stayed close to Song Changfeng, circling the building carefully. He sniffed every inch of the ground, especially around larger rocks. Aofeng was particularly thorough with those. Who knew? One of them might have been the murder weapon used on Old Lady Huang. While Aofeng was sniffing intently, Song Changfeng wasn’t idle either. He closely examined every windowsill and the weeds beneath them, looking for signs of climbing or trampled vegetation. This residential complex was old, and the flow of people over the years had been complicated. To avoid trouble, almost every household had installed security bars² on their windows, making it unlikely someone could climb down.

After about half an hour of careful searching, their efforts still turned up nothing. Despite how long they’d spent down there, they hadn’t found a single clue. But at least it confirmed that the killer hadn’t escaped, and the weapon hadn’t been moved.

“Let’s go. We’re done here. Time to head back up,” one officer said.

The officers who had come down began heading back upstairs. Aofeng and Song Changfeng were at the rear. Just as they were about to turn the corner and re-enter the building, Aofeng’s ears twitched. He thought he heard something hit the ground. It was a dull “thud,” muffled but distinct.

“Aofeng, what is it?” Song Changfeng noticed Aofeng had stopped in his tracks and looked puzzled. Clearly, he hadn’t heard the sound.

Aofeng turned his head and tugged on the leash, pulling in the direction they had just come from. Song Changfeng caught on. “You want to check it out?”

Aofeng nodded, and they retraced their steps. Based on the sound he had just heard, Aofeng estimated the general area. He led Song Changfeng to search that section, and sure enough, they found something they had missed earlier.

It was an object wrapped in a plastic bag. The contents were dark and hard to make out. It wasn’t very large and had fallen into the shrubbery at the back of the greenbelt. Without a careful look, it would’ve been impossible to spot.

Song Changfeng put on gloves and opened the plastic bag. Inside was something tightly wrapped in layers of black tape. He picked it up and weighed it in his hand. It was surprisingly heavy. Judging by its shape, it looked like a square iron block or something similar. The tape was a specific kind—PVC electrical insulation tape used by electricians. A suspicion began to form in Song Changfeng’s mind. Perhaps the item Aofeng had just led him to was connected to the murder weapon.

Aofeng leaned in and took a careful sniff. He noticed a strong smell of paint and cement on the bag. That suggested it had likely been thrown from a place that had recently been renovated. If they could figure out which apartment in the building was currently under renovation or had just finished, they could identify who had thrown it.

But for now, the most important thing was to figure out what this object actually was, and whether it had anything to do with the case.

Translator’s Notes