Chapter 171 - 133: Opening an Investigation! Monk Du’e?

A case has surfaced in Linlan City.

According to the police’s preliminary analysis, the victim had been dismembered into over a hundred pieces of flesh of varying sizes.

The killer then coated the pieces in egg wash, dredged them in breadcrumbs, and dropped them into a wok of scalding oil. They watched the oil boil before finally leaving...

"A corpse-frying case!?"

"Wait, is it just me, or is Linlan City getting a little weird? Wasn’t the last case also about cannibalism?"

December 3rd.

8:30 AM.

In the Linlan City Municipal Criminal Investigation Bureau, Wang Chao looked at Wang Hu with a bewildered expression.

"Oh, right, the Well of Corpses case... Do we have some kind of cannibalistic tradition here or something?"

Looking at Wang Chao’s bewildered face, Wang Hu fell silent.

A moment later.

SMACK!

"Cut it out."

Wang Hu smacked Wang Chao on the leg. A world-weary expression settled on his face as he looked away.

"What’s the verdict?"

"It’s straightforward. The teeth, eyeballs, and finger bones... the distinctive features make it clear. This is a corpse-frying case," Xu Huo said.

After the crime was reported last night, police conducted a search of the nearby sewers but found no useful clues.

The pieces of flesh were fried to a golden crisp and gave off an enticing aroma. They were clean and packed in a box, making it clear they hadn’t been fished out of a dumpster or a sewer.

The box holding the fried pieces had only a decorative pattern, with no text or images, so they couldn’t tell which fried chicken place it was from.

So, the police had to resort to canvassing the area.

The case was registered at night when most residents were asleep, so the canvassing proceeded slowly.

However, by the time the sun came up around seven, they had pinpointed the shop where the "fried chicken" originated.

The reason Xu Huo and the others were still at the municipal bureau was...

"Don’t the parents of these little tykes have any records?"

Xu Huo turned his head and looked out into the main hall. There, on a public bench, sat the children. Their little legs dangled in the air as they buried their faces in the savory crepes clutched in their small hands, gobbling them down.

Seven little tykes, all in a row.

Though the children were nervous and scared, it didn’t stop them from eating.

These were the little thieves they had caught last night.

Xu Huo hadn’t expected it; he’d gone looking for one and pulled out a whole cluster.

The two leaders of the group were twelve-year-old boys, standing at four-foot-five. They were emaciated, and their clothes were filthy.

The seven children lived in the sewers. The place they were caught wasn’t a hideout—it was their home.

The sewers were their home.

"How could a name like ’Master Du’e’ possibly be in any official records?"

Wang Hu shook his head helplessly.

He spread his hands in a gesture of utter helplessness.

The seven children did have a guardian.

The two boys called him "the big bald guy," so Xu Huo went with a more formal-sounding name: "Master Du’e."

It was a title, obviously not a real name.

They had already dispatched officers to investigate. After all, according to the children, this "Master" was the one who had given them the "fried chicken."

They...

...were very likely connected to the case!

Can children kill? There were plenty of cases. One should never underestimate the motiveless malice of a child; such evil could be even more venomous than the hatred of an adult.

Despite their young age.

But for now, they were the prime suspects in the police’s eyes. Starting the investigation with them was undoubtedly the right move.

Just as Xu Huo was waiting...

A voice suddenly crackled.

"Chief, we found him."

"Master Du’e is now in police custody."

Qian Hua’s voice crackled through the walkie-talkie, breaking the tense silence.

Wang Hu paused for a beat, then quickly rose to his feet and spoke.

"Bring him to the main hall."

"Yes, sir!"

The walkie-talkie went silent.

A few moments later.

Two figures appeared at the entrance to the hall, and all eyes fell upon them.

It was...

A bald man.

Wang Chao raised an eyebrow and touched his own head.

"Phew, good thing I’m not going bald."

The man who arrived was bald.

Or rather, he was a monk.

The man was gaunt and seemed to radiate an aura of sorrow and hardship. His features were wizened, yet his eyes held a glimmer of compassion.

He was about five-foot-three and in his fifties, dressed in bulky clothing.

It was a kasaya, his winter robe.

The kasaya wasn’t embroidered with golden thread; rather, it was stitched together from countless scraps of mismatched cloth, giving him an appearance of extreme poverty.

"Big Baldy!"

Seeing him, the children’s eyes lit up. They immediately scrambled down from the bench and ran to hide behind him.

The children clung to his legs, hiding behind him and peeking at the police through the gaps in his robes.

"Eat... yummy... yummy food."

The little girl with deformed legs, which were wrapped in tire rubber for protection, crawled over to him on her hands. She tugged on his tattered trouser cuff and held up the half-eaten savory crepe.

The monk took it, had a small bite, and handed it back to her.

He looked up at Xu Huo and the others, his face etched with an expression of strained awkwardness.

"Officer, I..."

"You’re Master Du’e?"

Xu Huo raised an eyebrow, taking in the man’s sorrowful appearance. "What’s your secular name?"

"I’ve been in a temple since I was a child; I have no secular name. You can just call me Du’e."

Master Du’e shook his head, then changed the subject back to the children.

"Did the officers say that Xiao Hu and the others stole something?"

"That’s right. They stole some bread."

Xu Huo nodded.

"I never taught them..."

"Those two..."

Du’e fell silent. Behind him, the two boys lowered their heads, not saying a word.

"Never mind," he murmured. "I don’t know where they learned how, but it’s a way for them to survive."

He shook his head. Instead of lecturing them about monastic precepts, his words made the officers raise their eyebrows in surprise.

’A way to survive...’

’A monk, here in the police station, daring to say that children stealing is a way to survive?’

"You’re an interesting monk. Not like the others I’ve met."