Chapter 173 134: The Serial Corpse-Cooking Case

"What's the situation at the crime scene?"

"Not much progress. The initial assessment is that it has nothing to do with the fried chicken shop's chef, owner, or other staff."

Li Jianye looked at Xu Huo and shook his head.

"Based on the time of death, we estimate the frying occurred around 1:00 AM on December 2nd. It was late at night, so there were no witnesses."

"Going door-to-door for interviews has been tough. The victim hasn't been identified, and collecting the rest of the remains is proving difficult."

"The only good news is... there's surveillance footage. But aside from proving that Monk Du'e handled the fried chicken, it's completely useless."

Li Jianye laid out all the leads they had so far.

In addition, there was the deoxyribonucleic acid analysis, commonly known as a DNA report.

It was useless, for the most part. Its only purpose was confirming the fragments of flesh were indeed human.

It confirmed the homicide!

"Tsk. Why is it always one of these cases with zero leads?"

Xu Huo grimaced, clicking his tongue. This was going to be a tricky one.

Li Jianye remained expressionless.

Honestly, Li Jianye had grown used to it. Of course, that numbness only came after a long period of despair.

God knows how happy he'd been at the end of last month, seeing the Corpse Well case finally wrapping up.

Until some "entrepreneurial genius" decided to put on a little show for him.

He'd been completely numb back then, just staring wide-eyed as the guy got to work, practically right under his nose.

Luckily, more than half a month went by without incident. The guy even managed to open his shop.

What did this mean?

'It means the curse is broken!'

'It means this damn life of endless overtime is finally over!'

Until...

Then, on the night of the 2nd, a call to the station shattered his dream.

"Show me the rest of the body parts."

Xu Huo said, looking at Li Jianye.

"Okay, they're all in the back kitchen."

Li Jianye snapped out of his thoughts, nodded, and led Xu Huo inside.

The fried chicken shop was very big. If it continued to operate, it had the potential to become a franchise chain.

But this case had completely destroyed the owner's reputation. He'd probably have to sell the shop. In a way, Wang Chao and Xu Huo had just eliminated a potential rival.

With that kind of potential, the back kitchen was bound to be well-equipped.

"Even though it's a fried chicken shop, they actually sell a lot of types of fast food."

"Fried chicken, drumsticks, nuggets, burgers, roujiamo, chicken wraps, and so on."

"Specifically, the chicken nuggets and fried chicken dishes are prepared in advance. Think of them as ready-to-cook meals."

"That's why the chef and his assistants didn't notice the human flesh the killer had cooked in the early morning. They just subconsciously plated it and sent it out."

Li Jianye clarified the logic.

Pre-made meals are actually quite common these days.

Like the meatballs or sweet rice you get at big events like weddings and funerals.

And fried chicken is no different.

Ready-to-cook meals improve efficiency, and the taste is pretty much the same. You can par-fry the chicken a day in advance, then just finish frying it the next day. The time you save is money!

Of course, if we were talking about a pre-made meal on the level of an eighteen-year-old lad eating "eighteen-year-old" fried chicken, then Xu Huo would just as soon pretend he never said anything.

There were no cameras in the back kitchen, so there was no clear information to be found there.

The moment Xu Huo entered, his eyes were drawn to the side.

It was a countertop in the back kitchen, now cleared of all utensils and ingredients.

The stainless steel counter looked just like a mortuary slab.

Fittingly, it was currently holding parts of a corpse.

"So far, we've found toes, fingers, eyes, and other relatively small bones."

"No leads on anything else yet."

"As for the chunks of flesh... they're difficult to search for."

Li Jianye sighed. Xu Huo listened silently.

Neatly arranged bones were laid out in front of him.

The bones were arranged to mimic the human anatomy. The fragmented finger bones were laid out in order. Traces of tendon still clung to the palm, which bore a bite mark and signs of being ripped apart.

The toe bones showed signs of being chewed.

There weren't many of them.

"The skull, leg bones, ribs, and pelvis—have any been found yet?"

Xu Huo asked again.

"No. Our current theory is that the killer didn't have the tools to completely obliterate the body and relied purely on manual cutting and dismemberment."

Li Jianye said, shaking his head.

"A male, huh..."

Xu Huo mused for a moment. "Based on the remaining bones, the palm is about 17 centimeters long. Extrapolating from that, his height would be around 170 centimeters."

"Based on the palm and finger bones, he was male, with a normal weight of about 65 kilograms."

A person's hand grows in proportion to their body, typically about one-tenth of their height.

Male finger and palm bones also differ from female ones; male bones are generally thicker, while female bones are more slender.

So, the victim was likely a male, and based on bone age, around forty years old.

In addition, there were teeth.

Xu Huo had also found the victim's teeth and eyes among the remains.

The teeth were misshapen, yellow, and severely worn, with visible cavities.

A person's body reflects their environment. A wealthy person with a comfortable lifestyle—someone who is very clean—might get cavities, but their teeth wouldn't be yellow like this.

But the reverse could be true.

With that, a clearer picture of the victim began to emerge.

"We're looking at a middle-aged man, around forty, 1.7 meters tall, and weighing about 65 kilograms. He likely came from a lower-class background and paid little attention to his personal hygiene."

"The time of death was around December 1st. It's now the 3rd. The fact that nearly forty-eight hours passed without anyone filing a missing person report suggests..."

"He was most likely a man who lived alone."

Xu Huo studied the skeletal remains, which offered few other clues.

"An average woman, even one who was 175 centimeters tall—taller than the victim—wouldn't have had the overall strength to overpower him."