Chapter 117 - 110: Shocking Information! Who Is This Person?

’What... is up with this person!?’

Qian Hua’s eyes widened, his brows furrowing unconsciously. He was horrified.

He scanned the area in front of him.

There were no traces of blood in the living room; the killer had only hidden their tracks here. The scene of the murder and dismemberment was off to the side of the living room—in the bathroom.

In other words...

The perpetrator had somehow entered the villa and subdued all three victims with their bare hands!

Then, they dragged the victims into the bathroom and spent an unknown amount of time dismembering the bodies...

Finally, with incredible psychological fortitude, they cleaned the entire scene...

They even anticipated that the police would use Luminol to collect evidence and neutralized it in advance...

’Damn it, when is Cheng Yang going to talk!?’

Qian Hua couldn’t stand it anymore. He looked around the magnificent villa, his voice tight with suppressed agitation.

"It’s his daughter who died—his own flesh and blood!"

"It’s possible Zhang Hai doesn’t know anything, but there’s no way he’s in the dark!"

’When is he going to talk?’

The police had approached Cheng Yang right from the start, hoping he would cooperate with the investigation.

Normally, when someone’s daughter is murdered, few parents would remain calm and uncooperative.

But Cheng Yang...

He claimed to know nothing and, even now, showed no signs of being overly emotional.

If Li Jianye hadn’t seen him, Qian Hua would have actually believed the man was completely devoid of emotion.

Cheng Yang was grieving, but he hadn’t reached out to the police.

"Stop thinking about it. If he’s really involved in this, he’ll actively try to hide it."

Xu Huo shook his head, advising him not to dwell on it.

"A man like him... if he were going to talk, he would have done so at the beginning. He wouldn’t have dragged it out until now."

As for why he wouldn’t talk...

The crime of harboring a criminal carries a sentence of three to ten years.

Was that all?

No. If the capitalists of his past life were the type to devour people whole, then the likes of Cheng Yang in the year ’03 of this world...

...were savage, bloodthirsty beasts!

In this era, anyone who managed to rise up and build an empire was bound to have dirty hands.

Take demolition projects, the methods used to reclaim franchise rights in the delivery business, construction site and quarry bosses, or even executives in certain "special" state-owned enterprises—they were all capable of ordering their men to personally go and brawl with their rivals!

It was a chaotic and bloody time.

If the police started targeting Cheng Yang... forget ten years, forget three.

Six months!

In six months at most, his competitors and the enemies he’d made would tear his entire empire apart. It would be a bloodbath!

Compared to his own survival, getting revenge for Cheng Yu wasn’t as important.

Of course, the most crucial point was...

If he had information, taking revenge himself would be far more satisfying than letting the police handle it!

"Have you checked the water usage?"

Xu Huo turned his head to look at a nearby police officer.

"We have. Water usage was abnormally high, but it was only enough to clean the scene, not enough to flush the body parts down the drain."

"There were no signs of mechanical pulverization in the bathroom. Two suitcases are missing from the villa. Our initial guess is that the bodies were carried away."

The officer in charge spoke up.

’What do you usually find in a suitcase?’

’Either cash or people!’

If a person is folded up, especially a woman, they don’t take up much space. Even less so without a head.

Two suitcases would be more than enough to carry them away.

Would you ever suspect someone on the street pulling a suitcase of having a dead body inside?

"Have you checked the septic tank?"

"We haven’t gotten to it yet."

Xu Huo paused, his expression turning serious. He thought for a moment before speaking:

"The time of death was the night before last. The bodies were discovered last night. That leaves only one full day for dismemberment and disposal."

"Disposing of the bodies during the day would be risky. Plus, he still had to clean the scene—bloodstains aren’t easy to get rid of, which takes even more time. While other covert actions could be done in daylight, the best time to dispose of the bodies would have to be in the early morning hours."

"But that leaves three tasks to be done in the early morning."

"Murder, dismemberment, and disposal!"

Xu Huo isolated these elements, figuratively crumbling them in his hand as he spoke piece by piece.

"The timeline is very tight. Dismembering a body is no simple task, not to mention the time needed for disposal."

"Check the septic tank."

"The water usage clue might be a red herring, a false lead planted by the perpetrator to mislead the police."

The officer in charge paused, a look of realization dawning on his face.

A killer who could process a crime scene to this extent...

...would certainly be capable of anticipating that the police would check the water usage and then use that very detail to plant a false clue!

He immediately found a few officers and had them quickly contact some septic tank cleaners.

Septic tank cleaning is a niche profession. The workers typically move between pig and cattle farms and various large buildings.

They are hired to handle waste, which they can often profit from a second time by selling it to organic fertilizer plants and the like.

This was a large septic tank, so the process would take some time.

「The next day, the 28th, at 7:00 AM.」

"We got something! We got something!"

As a loud shout rang out, the dozing officers instantly snapped to attention, no longer drowsy.

Upon hearing the news, Xu Huo rushed back to the scene, making his way to the septic tank area.

A residential community’s septic tank is usually located on the sides of the green belts, hidden underground. They consist of several large, capsule-shaped metal tanks.

There’s a manhole on top, which provides access to the waste inside.

As the cleaners pumped out the waste, investigators wearing gas masks, at the manhole...

...found several bodies.

"We got them! We got them!"

"Suitcases! There are two suitcases!"

The officer in charge, covered in filth, ignored the stench and hurriedly pulled them up, shouting for others to come forward.

Several of the septic tank cleaners hurried over to help pull, then began to slowly rinse the cases with a small stream of water.

A moment later, the suitcases were opened...

A suffocating stench washed over everyone, filling the air around them!