Chapter 131: Finding Clues in the Face-Revealing Case – Excessive Lilies in the Orders

The prompt tone coming from the mobile phone’s speaker immediately made everyone in the room pause, and they all quickly pulled out their phones in unison.

Gao Chao, holding the phone he had just taken out, looked at the order image on the screen and said without hesitation, “I’ll dial the second number.”

Then, Lin Tian, Xu Changsheng, and the other few people also made their selections on which number they would dial.

“I’ll dial the third number.”

“Then I’ll dial the sixth number.”

“I’ll try the fifth number.”

“……”

After quickly assigning the numbers, they all immediately dialed the order phone numbers and, like Ming, turned on the speaker.

A few seconds later, a series of “disconnected number” prompts began ringing from multiple phones.

“Sorry, the number you dialed is not in service. Please check the number and try again.”

“Sorry, the number you dialed is…”

“……”

At that moment, the fact that none of the calls went through made it clear to everyone present.

Just as Su Ming had deduced earlier, the majority of the orders received on the day the victim was killed were fake orders, specifically fabricated by the drug lord using virtual numbers generated by a computer server.

In order to make the orders appear more realistic, the drug lord had kept these virtual numbers active for quite some time, which was why, when the police officers from the Yuhua Criminal Investigation Unit called these numbers earlier, they had been able to reach real people.

Upon further reflection, the “real” responses were likely just the result of the drug lord using a voice changer.

And now, the reason why they could detect the problem was clear: no matter how cautious the drug lord was, it would have been impossible for him to maintain the virtual numbers for five years.

Of course, if the special investigation team had guessed that the real target was not the poison, but rather Rose, the task would be simple: reactivate the old virtual numbers, which wasn’t difficult at all; just use a server to simulate the process.

But unfortunately, Su Ming had already won this round, pulling ahead with a significant lead.

He used the poison as a decoy, while in reality, his true goal was to uncover the drug lord’s involvement with Rose, thanks to his extensive knowledge of the drug lord’s members’ facial information.

……

At this point, the inference regarding the fake orders had been largely confirmed.

It was almost certain that the drug lord had also helped Rose in her test, in order to get her into the organization. The human skin mask technique was simply too important.

However, they still couldn’t track Rose or pinpoint her location; further investigation and the search for crucial character portraits were necessary.

Gao Chao put his phone back in his pocket and looked at Su Ming with a complex expression, full of admiration, before asking seriously, “Vice-Team Leader Su Ming, it seems just like you said, all these orders are fake and were deliberately made by the murderer to ensure the victim would be alone at the flower shop in the middle of the night. This already eliminates the random killing scenario. We can also confirm that…”

“The murderer must be very familiar with the victim’s personal information. At least, the murderer knew that the victim had no staff hired and no one to assist her that day.”

“But still, the problem with the crime scene hasn’t been resolved, and we still don’t have a clear answer.”

These words once again caused the others in the room to fall into deep thought.

Indeed, as Gao Chao had said, although the orders were mostly fake, the purpose was clearly to increase the workload and make the victim stay alone at the flower shop.

But even after achieving this, it still didn’t explain why the victim didn’t resist when the murder occurred.

The possibility of fainting due to low blood sugar had already been ruled out.

Because, among the items in the trash bin at the scene, there were not only flower stems cut by the victim but also candy and chocolate wrappers.

And from the withering degree of the flowers, it was clear they had been cut that day, not from a few days ago.

The candy and chocolate wrappers among the flowers indicated that the victim had eaten them earlier, ruling out low blood sugar as a cause.

So, what could have caused the victim to not resist despite sustaining fatal injuries?

From the current progress of the case, determining this fact was crucial—it could very well be the key to a major breakthrough.

Su Ming also furrowed his brow, trying to figure out what might have caused the victim’s lack of resistance.

With his left fist clenched in front of his chest and his right elbow resting on his fist, he lightly stroked his chin in deep thought.

When he casually glanced at the order screenshots on the screen in front of him, he suddenly noticed something odd about the last few orders.

The second-to-last order had a bouquet of “19 yellow lilies with a full garnish of baby’s breath.”

The third-to-last order featured “99 red roses symbolizing passionate love.”

The last order listed “52 black-and-white lilies with 9 red roses arranged in a heart.”

……

In the last ten or so orders, the number of lilies ordered was significantly higher than the others.

While lilies symbolize eternal love, romantic commitment, and pure, noble love, and certainly do have a place in Valentine’s Day flower sales, if we talk about the mainstream, roses are still more popular. But these last few orders showed a surprising number of lily bouquets being ordered.

And from what was known, it was inferred that these last orders, all fake and created by the drug lord, might hold the key to the problem…

At this moment, Su Ming immediately thought of a possibility. He turned to Gao Chao in front of the whiteboard and said without a doubt, “Senior Gao, could you please pull up the photos from the crime scene for me? I want to take a closer look.”

“Looking at the photos on this large HD screen is much clearer than looking at paper files. It might help us discover hidden clues.”

Without hesitation, Gao Chao immediately closed the e-commerce background order photos and pulled up the crime scene photos.

The first photo showed the victim’s body, with dried blood flowing across the ground like a small river. The victim’s face, which had been skinned, was mangled, making the photo seem eerie and disturbing.

Su Ming waved his hand to signal for the next photo. Gao Chao quickly switched to the second image.

This photo showed the victim’s work area, where many bouquets had been wrapped and placed on the table. Some flowers still needed to be processed and trimmed.

Su Ming carefully examined the flowers on the table for a few seconds. He recognized the common flowers such as roses, lilies, wild roses, sunflowers, and baby’s breath.

The third and subsequent photos followed.

There was still nothing unusual, at least in the flowers seen in the photos.

The fifth photo displayed the overall hall of the flower shop. Su Ming glanced at it briefly and didn’t notice anything odd.

He then began to examine it more carefully.

Just when Gao Chao thought there were no results and was about to switch to the next photo, Su Ming suddenly caught a flash of something in his peripheral vision. He quickly noticed a white flower that had been overlooked at the corner of the flower shop’s cashier desk.

The shape of the flower resembled a lily.

However, unlike lilies, its petals didn’t separate; instead, it had a trumpet-like shape, with the edges of the petals forming a wavy pattern.

It wasn’t a lily, but it looked very much like one—like someone had deliberately mixed it in.

When combined with the fact that the orders in the following list contained a demand for lilies in quantities clearly much higher than normal, Su Ming immediately thought of a possibility. He quickly stopped Gao Chao, saying, “Wait, Senior Gao. Don’t switch the photo just yet. I think I might have figured out why the victim didn’t resist!”