Chapter 100 - 99: Terrifying, Twisted, Pathological Psychology

The second victim’s thigh...

It also had a hole!

There was some dried residue of an unknown liquid inside.

"Get a DNA test. First, let’s confirm if the perpetrator is the same person."

Xu Huo pondered for a moment, giving an order before turning his head back to the corpse.

There was a hole in the corpse’s thigh, already rotten and putrid.

Unlike the first body, this one yielded very little information.

The time of death was four days ago, and signs of bloating had already appeared!

What is bloating?

It’s when bacterial proliferation produces a massive amount of decomposition gas inside the body, causing it to swell up like a balloon!

You can imagine what a pig would look like if it were stuffed into a full-body skintight suit.

That’s what this bloating is like.

But, surface-level information was still visible!

"Based on the injuries and the killer’s actions, it’s similar to the last body. We can probably confirm it’s the work of the same perpetrator."

"Two cases in such a short time..."

Li Jianye looked around the scene, lost in thought.

"Were there any eyewitnesses from before her death?"

The unit captain beside him shook his head upon hearing this, then nodded.

"No witnesses, but we have one on surveillance."

"The surveillance footage shows the deceased was on her way home from work before she disappeared. She paused slightly while passing the park, then voluntarily walked into it."

"The next time she appeared was now."

"Voluntarily again!?"

Wang Hu paused, his brows furrowing even deeper.

"Do you have a laptop?"

The unit captain nodded and quickly had someone bring over a laptop, with the video already cued up.

The video began, showing footage from a surveillance camera at the intersection across from the park.

The camera’s timestamp showed it was 10 PM, and the park was already empty.

The victim, having just gotten off from working overtime, was passing the park entrance when she suddenly seemed to notice something and looked toward the park.

She stood in place, her lips moving as if she were talking to someone.

Immediately after, she voluntarily walked into the park.

After that, her figure never emerged from the park again.

The park was like a man-eating monster!

"Someone was luring her?"

Qian Hua’s brow furrowed.

Li Jianye looked around, his gaze finally settling on Xu Huo. "Kid, do you know how to read lips?"

"Translate what she’s saying."

At this, Xu Huo rolled his eyes.

"The video is as blurry as a mosaic. You can only tell it’s a person by their clothes. I can’t even see her mouth, so how am I supposed to translate anything?"

Cameras in ’03? In one word: expensive. In two words: very expensive. In three words: expensive and bad!

Forget about him.

Even if the legendary Ba Hu investigators, with their seemingly supernatural abilities, were here, they’d be helpless trying to read lips from this video.

"But all in all, we’ve confirmed one thing."

Xu Huo’s tone shifted. "The fact that both victims seemed to go willingly isn’t the essence of this crime. They were lured there through some method!"

The victims went willingly, but not entirely of their own volition.

The killer, using some unknown method, gained the victims’ trust and lured them over in a very short amount of time.

Then, together with an accomplice, he raped and murdered them!

How long did this whole process of gaining trust take?

A minute at most!

One minute, to go from being a complete stranger to gaining enough trust for a beautiful woman to let you get close!

’The last time I saw someone like that? They were in jail!’

’That guy studied female psychology on his own. Within three hours, he could trick a strange woman into getting a hotel room and sleeping with him, while also scamming her out of her money. He even got the woman to pay for the room.’

’Even after the scam was exposed, not a single one of the deceived women reported him to the police. He had them completely wrapped around his finger.’

’Of course, the killer in this case is different from him.’

’This person...’

’He truly devours his victims!’

’He lures them over and, before long, rapes and murders them. It’s not as simple as conning someone out of a bit of money.’

"What’s the status of the victim’s background check?"

Xu Huo stood up and looked at the unit captain.

"The victim’s family reported her missing after twenty-four hours, and the police confirmed her identity immediately."

The unit captain replied quickly, pointing at the laptop.

"You can pull it up directly on the computer."

Xu Huo nodded, moved the mouse, and clicked on something.

"Victim’s name is Ma Ling, female, occupation model, age twenty-six."

"Her family..."

"Her private life wasn’t messy. She was a normal woman, not promiscuous."

Xu Huo quickly scanned through the profile, then paused and shook his head.

’The victim’s profile shows no connection to Chao Yang, the victim from the first crime scene.’

’The two didn’t know each other. They’d probably never even met!’

’In other words, the killer won’t be found in her files.’

’At least, not in any of these records about Ma Ling!’

’So... where did the killer find Ma Ling?’

’Was it a random killing?’

’Or... was it... Murder!?’

Xu Huo’s brows knitted as thoughts raced through his mind.

’If it was a random killing, that’s one thing. But if it was Murder...’

’Then, is the killer someone the victim knew?’

’No, that’s not right. It’s not enough for just this victim to know him. The other victim, Chao Yang, would have to know him too!’

’If they knew each other, where did they meet?’

Looking at the corpse, an image of the first crime scene surfaced in Xu Huo’s mind.

He was making a comparison.

Comparing the information from the two scenes!

’Between the two scenes, what information doesn’t add up?’

Xu Huo thought for a moment, then paused as if in a trance.

"Are there any photos?"

He looked up at the unit captain, who shook his head. "For now, just the ID photo in her file. You can look it up on the system."

Xu Huo wasn’t picky.