I See Murders Before They Happen

Chapter 282: Chapter 280: Going Over

”They didn’t even spare the dog?!” Chu Xingrou said angrily.

”The dog was poisoned,” Yan Cheng said.

”You did an autopsy on the dog, too?” Lu Zhishen asked.

Yan Cheng nodded, looking at the lab analysis results. ”It was a type of rat poison, a large dose. Judging from the stomach contents, the poison was put in raw pork. The dog ate it and died.”

”What about Gao Hui’s autopsy results?” Zhuang Yanzheng asked.

”Cutting her tongue and sewing her lips were both done while she was alive,” Yan Cheng said. ”A potent poison was detected in her system.”

He looked up at them as he spoke. ”Blood-sealing Throat.”

Zhuang Yanzheng, Lu Zhishen, and Chu Xingrou were all startled to hear the name.

Su Miaoyi’s expression didn’t change much, but her eyes flickered slightly as she glanced at the autopsy report in Yan Cheng’s hands.

”Blood-sealing Throat again?” Lu Zhishen said.

”Could it be related to the last case?” Chu Xingrou said. ”Could it be Mia’s people? If it is, why would they kill these two? Is there a connection between the cases?”

Everyone fell silent.

Yan Cheng continued, ”Su Miaoyi didn’t see the masked person administer the poison. I suspect that after the victim passed out from the pain of the needle, the killer applied the poison to her wounded lips.”

”It wasn’t ingested orally; no Blood-sealing Throat was found in the stomach contents. So it must have entered her body through the wound.”

”The killer’s target was Gao Hui,” Su Miaoyi said.

”Correct,” Zhuang Yanzheng said. ”If he had wanted to kill Tian De, he could have applied some Blood-sealing Throat to the bleeding wound on the back of Tian De’s head, and Tian De would have died too.”

”The killer’s target was Gao Hui. He only knocked down Tian De to make it easier to get to her,” Chu Xingrou analyzed. ”Whether Tian De lived or died doesn’t seem to have mattered to the killer. If that’s the case, then he wasn’t particularly trying to hide the fact that he was wearing a mask, was he?”

”After all, if Tian De wasn’t knocked senseless, he’d be able to tell everyone the killer wore a mask, right?”

”He was already wearing a mask, so he wasn’t worried about being recognized,” Yan Cheng said. ”Whether someone saw the mask or not probably didn’t matter to him. Of course, this is all just our speculation.”

Lu Zhishen searched for anything related to masks in Chang City or Yanjing Village.

But he didn’t find any information.

”What about Tian Dajiang’s autopsy?” Zhuang Yanzheng asked.

”Tian Dajiang’s cause of death was drowning,” Yan Cheng said. ”However, traces of meth were found in his system. He was likely a long-term, addicted user.”

Zhuang Yanzheng flipped through the files on Tian Dajiang.

The villagers didn’t know he was on drugs, and neither did his parents.

And there were no records of any transactions.

”Tian Dajiang was a bachelor. His parents are elderly, and their income comes from the family’s land and occasional odd jobs he did.” Su Miaoyi had just skimmed the file and memorized it all. ”He has tens of thousands of yuan in a fixed-term deposit, and over twenty thousand more on a card linked to WeChat. He was very frugal; there are no large transactions.”

”Drugs cost a lot of money,” Chu Xingrou said. ”So where did he get them?”

”A premeditated murder. The killer likely planned this for a long time.” Lu Zhishen held a pencil, rubbing his thumb back and forth over it. ”The killer gave him the meth, got him addicted and to the point of hallucinating, and over time, guided him to jump into the well.”

Su Miaoyi thought about the information in the files.

”Gao Hui’s file says she had no enemies and hadn’t offended anyone,” Su Miaoyi said. ”But Tian Dajiang’s file says he raped a girl from the same village.”

Chu Xingrou quickly flipped to Tian Dajiang’s file.

Lu Zhishen leaned in to look as well.

”Why wasn’t it reported to the police?!” Chu Xingrou’s voice was a mixture of shock and anger.

The file noted that this information came from villagers’ accounts.

No police report.

No record of punishment.

Only a compensation payment of just over ten thousand yuan.

And that compensation payment of just over ten thousand yuan was only mentioned by Tian Dajiang’s parents.

”Why wouldn’t they report something like this to the police? How could they let that old bastard get away with it?” Chu Xingrou was furious.

She read further down the file.

It stated that the victim’s family had been ruled out as suspects at the time.

The family of four had been in Chang City at the girl’s aunt’s house. They weren’t in the village at all and had no opportunity to commit the crime.

Chu Xingrou was so angry she had to close her eyes for a moment.

No fingerprints were found, no other DNA evidence.

However, a few footprints were discovered.

From the footprints, they determined the person was a man, about five-foot-eight and weighing around 143 pounds.

Moreover, the footprints were only found at Tian De’s house.

No footprints were found at Tian Dajiang’s house or by the well.

The footprints were compared against the villagers.

None of the people who matched the description had the opportunity or motive to commit the crime.

After all the villagers were ruled out, the scope of the investigation was widened.

They investigated several surrounding towns for a long time, but never found the killer.

Three years had passed. The case was still active, but it had never been solved.

”I’ll go there,” Su Miaoyi said.

Zhuang Yanzheng looked up at her.

”It’s come looking for me. I have to go,” Su Miaoyi said.

”True,” Lu Zhishen said. ”Otherwise, this business with her constantly staring to the southwest isn’t going to resolve itself. Besides, the case is urgent.”

”Going to another jurisdiction requires an official request,” Zhuang Yanzheng said. ”We’ll also have to coordinate with Chang City.”

It was different from the trip to Jiangcheng.

In Jiangcheng, Kang Ting and his team had actively requested her help.

This time, their team was proactively offering to help, so they had to communicate with the other party in advance.

Every region has its own way of doing things. Poor communication could lead to trouble.

”Since Blood-sealing Throat has appeared again, they’ll have to cooperate with the investigation,” Yan Cheng said.

Zhuang Yanzheng nodded.

”Let me know when the request is approved,” Su Miaoyi said.

”I should go with her,” Lu Zhishen said, looking at Zhuang Yanzheng. ”It’s probably not feasible for you to go; there’s too much going on at the city bureau. If I go, I can immediately sketch anything she sees. And if she suddenly blacks out and wanders off, I can keep an eye on her.”

”I could go too,” Yan Cheng said. ”Things are quiet at the university lately, and Xiao Chen is at the bureau.”

They were both people who understood Su Miaoyi’s situation well. It would be much more convenient for one of them to go with her, and they could look out for her.

”I—” Chu Xingrou started to say, but then stopped.

’It seems it probably won’t be my turn.’

”Zhishen and Xingrou can go together,” Zhuang Yanzheng said. ”I’ll go talk to Director Meng.”

Chang City has their own medical examiner who can step in if needed. But they don’t have a sketch artist, and Su Miaoyi really needs one to work with.

Chu Xingrou and Su Miaoyi are both women, so they can look out for each other.

Besides, both Chu Xingrou and Lu Zhishen are highly skilled in combat. If Su Miaoyi suddenly sees something, the two of them can protect her.

”Okay,” Chu Xingrou agreed quickly.

Lu Zhishen nodded.

Su Miaoyi said nothing, completely accepting the arrangement.