I See Murders Before They Happen

Chapter 63: Chapter 61: A Serial Case? Another Vision

The deceased: Han Longyu, male, 29 years old, a Jinghai native who worked at his father’s company.

Time of death: twelve to eighteen hours ago.

Cause of death: fractured hyoid bone.

Dismembered post-mortem.

The tool used for dismemberment was an axe.

Su Miaoyi accompanied Yan Cheng during the autopsy, but she didn’t see any more visions.

"The factory I saw was very dirty. If he was dismembered in the factory, the cuts should be dirty," Su Miaoyi said.

The severed parts of the body only had some fluff from inside the mascot costume.

Yan Cheng nodded. "And the cuts are rough. Some parts weren’t severed in one blow. Instead, it looks like an axe was used to chop three, or even five times, to get through."

"The killer’s technique is amateurish, and he was clearly terrified," Su Miaoyi said.

"Exactly," Yan Cheng said. "When we found the body at the garbage dump, it was laid out perfectly whole. It was stitched together with so many fine threads. Even with several of us carrying it to the vehicle and bringing it back, the threads were still pulled and shifted."

The autopsy was finished. Yan Cheng was handling the final wrap-up procedures.

"Are you saying the killer stitched the body parts together at the garbage dump and then put the mascot costume back on?" Su Miaoyi asked. "That’s no small task. He would have had to be at the dump for a long time. Even though no one usually goes to a garbage dump in the middle of the night, what if someone had?"

"It was indeed very risky," Yan Cheng said. "But his needlework seems pretty good. Although the mascot costume wasn’t completely stitched up, you can tell he’s skilled. It might not have taken him too long."

Su Miaoyi looked at the mascot costume on the floor again.

"Amateurish, but still dismembers the body. Afraid, yet still stitches it back together," Su Miaoyi said. "Just how much did he hate the victim?"

Yan Cheng didn’t say anything.

"What’s this?" Su Miaoyi suddenly pointed to the cut on the victim’s leg.

Yan Cheng walked over for a closer look.

"This isn’t fluff from the costume, is it? The texture feels a bit stiffer," Su Miaoyi said.

Yan Cheng picked it up with tweezers to examine it.

It was too tiny to tell what it was from.

"Doesn’t it look like a fiber from a car’s floor mat?" Su Miaoyi asked.

Yan Cheng looked at her.

’Her eyes are really incredible.’

It was as if she could see things others couldn’t.

’Oh, right. She actually can see things others can’t.’

’The last person this amazing was...’

Yan Cheng said, "It does look like it."

"Don’t tell me it was another dismemberment inside a car," Su Miaoyi said.

"Then it would have to be a very spacious car," Yan Cheng said.

"Or maybe it wasn’t because he was afraid, but because there wasn’t enough space, which is why he had to chop three or five times?" Su Miaoyi analyzed.

Yan Cheng nodded.

It was already dark when they left the autopsy room.

She and Yan Cheng first grabbed a bite to eat at the cafeteria, then headed to the conference room.

Zhuang Yanzheng had been busy. He walked into the conference room and said, "A case from Xiang City was just merged with ours."

Everyone looked up at him.

Zhuang Yanzheng said, "A month ago, a similar case occurred in Xiang City. A body was also found inside a mascot costume."

He put the photos up on the screen for everyone to see.

Judging from the body, the MO was the same.

"The difference is that in the Xiang City case, a large amount of anesthetic was found in the victim’s body," Zhuang Yanzheng said. "The autopsy concluded that the victim was dismembered after being anesthetized."

"They found the dismemberment site in a forest on the outskirts of Xiang City. The body was discovered on the side of a small dirt road not far from there. However, no traces of the killer were found."

After he finished, Zhuang Yanzheng shared information about the Xiang City victim: "The deceased’s name is Zheng Bin, twenty-eight years old, from Jinghai. He went to college in Xiang City and stayed there to work afterward."

"Similar ages, and both from Jinghai."

"Correct," Zhuang Yanzheng said. "According to our records, they were high school classmates."

"Did they ever commit a crime together?" Su Miaoyi asked, recalling the words she had heard the killer say.

"We haven’t found anything," Zhuang Yanzheng said.

Su Miaoyi fell silent.

"We checked out the factory," Zhuang Yanzheng said. "We’ve confirmed it’s a lumber mill in the woods on the western outskirts of the city. It’s been abandoned for over three years. The owner’s family moved away, and the mill has been vacant ever since."

"Hardly anyone ever goes there, and even if they do, no one goes inside the mill," Qi Feng said. "The dust inside is thick. There are fresh footprints, as well as older ones partially covered by dust. Our preliminary judgment is that the footprints belong to the same person. We also found two drag marks, both very recent, likely from dragging the victim."

"Han Longyu’s parents were both hospitalized after seeing the body, so we can’t get anything from them at the moment," Zhuang Yanzheng said. "Zheng Bin’s parents are still in Xiang City; we’ve notified them to come back. According to the information provided by the Xiang City police, they couldn’t get any useful information either."

"Was anything found at the garbage dump?" Su Miaoyi asked again.

"The surveillance cameras in the area around the garbage dump have been broken for a long time," Zhuang Yanzheng said. "We can only check for suspicious vehicles or individuals on cameras that are further away."

No one knew how long those cameras had been broken.

There was no footage at all.

No recordings had been saved.

If they hadn’t tried to pull the footage this time, they probably still wouldn’t have known the cameras were broken.

"The entire area is out?" Yan Cheng asked, a little surprised.

"I suspect the cameras in that area were broken from the moment they were installed—just a half-assed job to check a box," Zhuang Yanzheng said. "I’ve already filed a complaint. The relevant department is on it now."

"The dump site was also clean. Nothing was found," Zhuang Yanzheng said.

Su Miaoyi bit her lip. The difficulty of the case had just increased significantly.

"In the Xiang City case, they couldn’t trace the source of the anesthetic either," Yan Cheng said. "Logically, with such a large dose, its source shouldn’t be untraceable."

The moment "untraceable source" was mentioned...

Su Miaoyi was reminded of the cyanide from the last case.

She thought of that man.

’Could it be related to him again?’

"First, let’s go over the autopsy results," Zhuang Yanzheng said.

Yan Cheng recited the autopsy findings.

Su Miaoyi organized her thoughts on the case. She picked up the victim’s photo from the table and looked at it again.

As she stared, the scene before her eyes suddenly changed again.

Her surroundings were somewhat old and worn.

She was inside a school.

She was walking down a hallway outside a classroom, with a few students scattered around.

Her walking pace was very slow.

And the vision was a bit unsteady.

She felt a hand supporting her lower back, while the other rested on her stomach.

Her belly was somewhat large.

This posture...

She was pregnant.

She walked forward slowly.

The class bell rang.

She heard students’ footsteps behind her.

So she moved to the side to let them pass.

A few students jogged into the classroom.

She watched the students and smiled.

Soon, the sound of running footsteps echoed from behind her again.

She was already walking along the very edge of the hallway, thinking she was safe.

But unexpectedly, she was suddenly pushed from behind.

She quickly grabbed the wall to steady herself, but just as she regained her balance, her feet were tripped.

A powerful force tripped her legs.

She fell hard to the ground.

Pain washed over her in an instant.

She turned and saw three boys smiling at her.

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