Urban Martial Saint

Liu Mubai and Huangfu Ziyu both remained silent; neither of them knew the answer to this question.

”It seems we weren’t mistaken!” Seeing the two not responding, Ye Qing continued, ”This person might very well be the murderer. Killing more than three hundred people in less than ten days, what intense murderous intent that must be. Moreover, he must be connected to Ding San’s family!”

Liu Mubai nodded, but Huangfu Ziyu suddenly said, ”Ye Zi, look here!”

Ye Qing immediately turned his head to see Huangfu Ziyu staring at a large photograph hanging on the wall. This photograph should be a family photo of Ding San, but the part above the head of the woman sitting next to Ding San was missing.

Ye Qing couldn’t help but be stunned; the woman next to Ding San must be his wife. Yet this photograph had been cut, with the part above the head removed, leaving only a hollow space.

”I figured it out! I figured it out!” Ye Qing suddenly slapped his thigh, saying, ”No wonder Deng Xueyi said he saw Ding San’s wife, I finally understand!”

Liu Mubai and Huangfu Ziyu both nodded repeatedly; upon seeing this, they naturally understood what was going on.

Ye Qing turned directly around and, along with Huangfu Ziyu and Liu Mubai, walked out of Ding San’s house. At this moment, Quan Zhengye and others were anxiously waiting outside, not daring to go in, fearing something might happen to the three of them inside. If anything happened to Ye Qing and the others, he wouldn’t be able to explain it to Liu Changping.

Seeing Ye Qing and the others come out unharmed, Quan Zhengye was overjoyed, feeling relieved as he hurried over, asking, ”Mr. Ye, how was it, did you find anything?”

”It’s certain, this case is not haunting; it’s man-made!” Ye Qing replied.

”Oh?” Quan Zhengye was slightly stunned and asked, ”How... how is that certain?”

Ye Qing didn’t answer him and hurried to Deng Xueyi’s house. Over there, like Quan Zhengye, Deng Xueyi was also anxiously waiting for Ye Qing and the others. Seeing them return, Deng Xueyi immediately came over eagerly, asking, ”How about it? How about it? Did you find anything?”

”Preliminary determination, it’s not haunting!” Quan Zhengye replied, completely repeating what Ye Qing had just said.

”No way?” Deng Xueyi said, ”I saw it with my own eyes, that person was Ding San’s wife, there’s no mistake, how can it not be haunting?”

Ye Qing asked, ”When you saw Ding San’s wife, how was the lighting around you?”

”The lighting wasn’t good...” Deng Xueyi said, ”But I definitely didn’t see it wrong, that person was Ding San’s wife.”

”Is that so?” Ye Qing smiled slightly and said, ”Have you considered the possibility that the person was just wearing a similar mask?”

”Mask?” Deng Xueyi widened his eyes, saying, ”Impossible, where would you find such a realistic mask?”

”What if the mask was a photograph?” Ye Qing said, ”During the night, with poor lighting and at a distance, when you were in panic, a photo on someone’s face might not be distinguishable to you.”

”A photograph?” Deng Xueyi was dumbfounded and scratched his head, saying, ”You... you mean that person had Ding San’s wife’s photo on their face and fooled me too?”

”That’s right!” Ye Qing nodded and said, ”You can go to Ding San’s house to see for yourself. His family photo has had a large piece cut out. The murderer must have cut it out to wear on their face, making it look spooky. Even if they don’t kill, they would have scared you quite a bit first!”

”This... damn it, what a trick...” Deng Xueyi nearly broke down; he truly thought it was a haunting and had been praying at home for several days. Turns out, someone just wore a photo as a mask and scared him to the point of almost wetting his pants?

”So, the killer is still human?” Quan Zhengye suddenly perked up; as long as it wasn’t a ghost, there was still hope of solving the case.

”Of course it’s a human!” Ye Qing said, ”In this day and age, do you still believe in ghosts?”

Quan Zhengye felt somewhat embarrassed; he had originally believed in ghosts, which had made him less enthusiastic about solving the case. Now, knowing it wasn’t haunting, he was suddenly full of energy.

”Mr. Ye, is there any other key clues at Ding San’s house?” Quan Zhengye asked, ”Why does the killer wear a photo of Ding San’s wife as a mask, why does he pretend to be Ding San’s wife, why does he seek revenge for Ding San’s family? Is there any connection between him and Ding San’s family?”

”You ask me, who should I ask!” Ye Qing shrugged and said, ”I really don’t know if there are any other clues. If you really want to find out, why don’t you go to his house and have a look yourself.”

”That’s right!” Quan Zhengye immediately headed out, taking a dozen of his men straight to Ding San’s house.

Earlier, he went there but was afraid to enter due to fear of ghosts. Now that he knows it’s not haunted, he became braver, leading a group directly in to search for clues.

Ye Qing didn’t follow Quan Zhengye to get involved again because he had already examined that room thoroughly and found no other clues. In other words, the killer didn’t stay in that room for long. However, one thing is certain: the killer definitely has a very crucial connection with Ding San’s family, otherwise why would he wear Ding San’s wife’s mask and seek revenge for Ding San’s family?

Thinking these things through, Ye Qing didn’t linger at Deng Xueyi’s place and drove directly to the city. On the way, he called Black Bear, asking him to go to the orphanage and find Ding San’s son, take some photos, and send them to Tianhui City.

Returning to the city hotel, Liu Changping was still busy analyzing the entire case, and Zhao Chengshuang was following along to study the case.

Ye Qing didn’t tell Liu Changping about the things at Ding San’s house because he only had speculation and the details were yet to be confirmed.

After resting for over three hours at the hotel, by around eleven o’clock, the whole police force of Tianhui City had mobilized. It was when the killer would strike, and also when they would capture the killer. At this time, the entire Tianhui City was on high alert because no one knew where the killer might suddenly appear.

Ye Qing and the others rested for such a long time, recovering their strength and energy, and first went to see Liu Changping. Liu Changping was busy organizing the capture operation for the killer, selecting a few targeted individuals he suspected the killer might go after, thus dispatching many people, mainly to ambush near these individuals, waiting for the killer to show up.

Seeing Ye Qing arrive, Liu Changping immediately waved to him and said, ”Ye Qing, you three stay here on standby for a while, ready to rush in to support at any time.”

”Okay!” Ye Qing nodded, agreeing with this plan. Honestly, after coming out from the small town, the killer struck without any pattern, and even Ye Qing couldn’t predict where he might appear next. So, staying here and waiting was actually a better choice.

By eleven thirty, Black Bear finally arrived, having taken many photos of Ding San’s son and just brought them over.

Seeing these photos, Huangfu Ziyu exclaimed, ”Why take so many photos?”

”The person definitely has a connection to Ding San’s family, or he believes that everyone in Ding San’s family is dead, so kills so many people to revenge on society.” Ye Qing said, ”However, Ding San’s son is still alive. Letting him see these photos might make him turn back!”

”I think you’re just wasting time.” Huangfu Ziyu shook her head and said, ”He’s killed over three hundred people, how can he turn back, how can he stop? Even if he wants to turn back and stop, can you guarantee he won’t be executed? In my opinion, these photos are useless. At this point, there’s no turning back. It’d be better when he shows up, for the three of us to act together and take him down decisively!”

Liu Mubai nodded, as he supported Huangfu Ziyu’s view, sharing the same mindset. The opponent had already killed over three hundred people, there was no possible way to stop now, and Ye Qing bringing these photos was simply ineffective.

Ye Qing shrugged and said, ”Let’s give it a try, maybe it’ll work.”

Everything was prepared, so everyone waited in the hotel for news. Around one in the morning, the killer finally appeared at a villa in the East City District. When Ye Qing received the news, he had already killed seven people.

Ye Qing and the others wasted no time, quickly driving to the location. At that moment, police from other parts of the city also received the news, rushing to the villa.

Their hotel was relatively close to the villa, so they were the first to arrive. When they got there, the police guarding the place had already charged in. As Ye Qing and the others reached the outside of the villa, they occasionally heard gunshots from within.

Listening to the shots, Huangfu Ziyu gripped the Cold Moon Blade in her hand tightly, saying in a deep voice, ”This person is quite arrogant, hasn’t left after so long, interesting!”

Ye Qing had already gotten out of the car, took a deep breath, and rushed into the villa first. Huangfu Ziyu and Liu Mubai followed closely behind, all three were quite strong, soon reaching the backyard of the villa, where it was a scene of fierce battle.

Rushing from the front yard, Ye Qing saw more than ten corpses along the way. Just as said earlier, these corpses were all shrunken, without any blood, entirely turned into dry corpses. However, not far from these corpses, there was a puddle of blood, looking as if all the blood from the corpses had been extracted and then poured nearby.

Ye Qing had seen many assassins, but he had never seen killings like this before. Moreover, the most crucial thing was, he couldn’t understand what the killer used to drain all the blood from these people. Drying the corpses like this, what kind of instrument could do it?