I See Murders Before They Happen

Chapter 158: Chapter 156: Heard You Got Robbed?

Officers from the nearby precinct arrived.

Su Miaoyi presented her credentials.

The cover of the drainage ditch was lifted, and a black plastic bag was pulled out and opened.

The stench of rot instantly filled the air.

Su Miaoyi wasn’t wearing a mask, and the smell nearly knocked her over.

She covered her nose and mouth and leaned in for a closer look.

It was a head and a pair of hands, already beginning to decompose.

The initial assessment was that they belonged to a woman.

Judging by the degree of decomposition, they had been there for over a week.

Only a pair of hands and a head.

Su Miaoyi followed the precinct officers along the drainage ditch, searching for the rest of the body, but they found nothing.

The head and hands were already decomposing; if the other body parts were also in the ditch, they too would be rotting and emitting a smell.

But there was no smell coming from anywhere else.

Su Miaoyi put on gloves and, under the pretext of examining them, touched the head and hands. But she didn’t see any images.

In the end, the robber, along with the discovered head and hands, were all taken back to the precinct.

All surveillance footage near the drainage ditches connected to this one had to be investigated.

The head and hands needed to be DNA tested to confirm they belonged to the same person. The victim’s identity also needed to be confirmed, and the search for the rest of the body would continue.

The precinct officers left. Su Miaoyi stood in place, staring at her phone’s black screen before looking around at the nearby shops.

Finally, she turned around, went back into the subway station, rode two stops back, found a phone store, and bought a new phone with her card.

After leaving the phone store, Su Miaoyi looked at her old phone.

’On this day, at some unknown hour, you have been confirmed deceased. I am overcome with grief.’

’But... this new phone really is faster and works much better.’

Su Miaoyi used her new phone to call a car and headed home...

...

In a back alley of an old street late at night, shops with gray brick walls lined both sides, their roll-up doors shut tight.

It was after two in the morning, and the street was deserted.

The neon signs on the various shops cast a faint glow in the darkness.

A light rain had fallen earlier in the evening. Puddles on the ground reflected a crimson light, adding an eerie touch to the quiet old street.

Suddenly, a CREAKING sound came from the upper floor of one of the shops.

A window above the shop opened.

After the window opened, no one appeared in the frame.

Over ten minutes later, a person suddenly fell from the window.

The person, wearing pajamas, dropped rapidly from the window, only to be jerked to a stop by a rope just before hitting the ground.

A young woman in pajamas, her long hair hanging down and limbs dangling, was left hanging by a hemp rope tied around her neck in front of the shop’s roll-up door.

Her hands were missing, and blood dripped from her wrists.

In the window above, a figure dressed entirely in black glanced down before disappearing.

...

「The next morning.」

Su Miaoyi entered the municipal bureau. Just as she sat down, she saw Chu Xingrou walk past her carrying a handful of green leaves.

Su Miaoyi watched her.

Chu Xingrou took a few steps, stopped, then walked back. "Sister Miaomiao! You’re back!"

"Woman, did you miss me terribly while I was gone?" Su Miaoyi leaned back, crossed one leg over the other, and looked at her.

Chu Xingrou froze for two seconds, then took a step forward. "President Su, it’s been too long. My heart ached from missing you so much."

"Eww~" Qi Feng walked past, covered in goosebumps and an expression of disgust.

Su Miaoyi and Chu Xingrou burst out laughing.

"Sister Miaomiao, you finally got a new phone," Chu Xingrou said, looking at the phone on the desk.

"With a new phone, it won’t suddenly freeze in the middle of a text conversation with you," Su Miaoyi said.

Once, Chu Xingrou had sent her more than twenty messages in a row, causing her WeChat to freeze on a white screen.

"What about the old one?" Chu Xingrou suddenly asked.

"The old one..." Su Miaoyi looked at her.

Chu Xingrou started laughing again.

Su Miaoyi chuckled along with her and asked, "What are these leaves?"

"Pomelo leaves," Chu Xingrou said, handing one to her.

Su Miaoyi took it and looked. "What are they for?"

"To get rid of bad luck," Chu Xingrou said. "Sister Miaomiao, you have no idea how much the higher-ups have chewed me out while you were gone. My mom says my workstation might be unclean."

Su Miaoyi’s left eyebrow slowly arched. "You’ll get used to it. We’ve all been chewed out to get where we are."

"Huh?" Chu Xingrou looked at her.

"What, you got chewed out too? By who?" Zhuang Yanzheng’s voice sounded from behind Chu Xingrou.

Without even turning around, Chu Xingrou got scared and ran off.

"Tsk." Zhuang Yanzheng clicked his tongue.

"Look how you scared her," Su Miaoyi said.

"And now you’re feeling sorry for her." Zhuang Yanzheng placed the breakfast he’d brought on her desk. "Didn’t you just say it? We’ve all been chewed out to get where we are."

"It’s a great regret of mine that I never got to see Captain Zhuang getting the worst of it," Su Miaoyi said.

Zhuang Yanzheng snorted, then chuckled. "I heard you were robbed last night."

The smile on Su Miaoyi’s lips vanished instantly. "..."

’Who the hell leaked such an embarrassing story? So annoying.’

Last night, after returning to Weiyang Palace, she had spoken with Zhuang Yanzheng on the phone and told him about the head and hands found in the drainage ditch.

They had also arranged for the breakfast last night.

She had deliberately avoided mentioning the robbery.

But he’d found out today anyway.

"Any progress on the case?" Su Miaoyi asked.

"The head and hands are confirmed to be from the same person. We’re still reviewing the surveillance footage," Zhuang Yanzheng said. "We’re also checking for missing persons reports near the drainage ditch, but no one has been reported missing in the last week."

"Living alone, a renter?" Su Miaoyi suggested. "From my brief look yesterday, she didn’t seem very old."

Zhuang Yanzheng nodded. "The forensic examiner estimates her age to be around twenty-three. Still no word on the rest of the body."

"Is it being transferred to the Municipal Bureau?" Su Miaoyi asked.

"No need." After saying that, Zhuang Yanzheng went into his office.

Su Miaoyi ate her breakfast, then turned on her computer. Seeing she had no urgent work, she opened a book on psychology and started reading.

Just after nine in the morning.

Zhuang Yanzheng came out of his office, knocked on her desk, and then shouted, "Field team, grab your gear and follow me. We have a homicide."

Su Miaoyi immediately stood up. "Where?"

"Over on Xiangyao Street."

...

Su Miaoyi was somewhat familiar with Xiangyao Street.

After all, the last time she was here for an interview, she was followed by that man and woman and nearly died.

Xiangyao Street was lined with newly built shops on both sides.

The last time Su Miaoyi came, many of them hadn’t been leased out yet.

This time, however, quite a few were open for business.

The crime scene was on a commercial street behind Xiangyao Street.

It was also lined with shops, but these looked a bit old and worn.

The crime scene was a clothing store.

When Su Miaoyi and her team arrived, they saw the person still hanging in front of the roll-up door.

A rope, descending from the window above the shop, was strangling the young woman around the neck.

A pool of blood stained the ground.

A large crowd had gathered around.

They were all scared, but they were all still crowding around to watch.

...

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