Chapter 193 - 142: Arrest Them! The Fundamental Logic of Desire

Xu Huo looked at the people around him and said slowly,

"He stole four hundred thousand, but he used it to buy..."

"Tens of thousands of... ’cucumbers.’"

Li Jianye froze, then his expression turned to one of bewilderment.

"This..."

"You mean, he spent the money on things anyone could buy?"

"And the amount of money he spent was equivalent to buying luxury goods!?"

Xu Huo nodded.

’Is that so hard to believe?’

Yes, it was very hard to believe.

First of all, he defied the fundamental logic of human desire.

Humans are creatures that always strive for something better.

Would you envy a beggar wandering the streets? No.

Would you envy a child living day-to-day in a warzone? Also no.

But a life of luxury would certainly entice you!

By the same token, if you were living a life of luxury, would you envy someone slaving away at a menial job? No.

Is your lifelong dream to become a billionaire, or to own a home the size of a bathroom in a first-tier city?

It made no logical sense!

But... the killer did it anyway!

"Officer, we couldn’t find anything for four hundred thousand, but we did find two orders that match your request, totaling around three hundred thousand. They were placed within a fifteen-day period from the end of October to the beginning of November, went through two transfers, and then left Linlan City."

At some point, the manager had returned, hurrying back with a file.

He opened the file in his hands, revealing its contents.

Xu Huo looked over.

Two clear transaction records came into view.

The first was an order from October 25th, totaling three hundred and fifty thousand. The information for the recipient on the order was rather vague.

The order was filled by four different suppliers, providing large quantities of food items like milk, bread, and eight-treasure porridge, which were shipped to several orphanages in Linlan City.

"Who was the buyer?"

Xu Huo narrowed his eyes, looking at the list of cheap goods.

"Don’t remember. To be honest, no one wanted to take the order at first. His identity seemed a bit fake, but he had the money..." the manager said sheepishly.

"Besides, it was a donation for orphanages. We’ve had anonymous buyers ship things there before..."

An unknown identity, coupled with the fact that food isn’t a sensitive item—and neither are orphanages—meant they didn’t bother to look into it. As long as he paid, it was fine.

"I asked you who the buyer was."

Xu Huo shot him a glance, his tone calm and unhurried.

The manager’s heart tightened, and he stopped making excuses for the wholesale market.

"I don’t know him. He was young, looked to be in his twenties," the manager said quickly.

"Did he have a mole by the corner of his eye?" Li Jianye prompted.

The manager thought for a moment, then clapped his hands. "Yes, he had a mole!"

"It really was him!"

Li Jianye was stunned.

’We found it. We finally found where the killer’s money went!’

The man stole four hundred thousand...

He didn’t enjoy the lifestyle that four hundred thousand could buy. Instead, he bought huge quantities of cheap goods!

"The case from six years ago... was it about food? Or something else?"

Qian Hua keenly recalled what they had discovered that afternoon.

"Starvation... right, the first victim died of thirst and hunger!"

Li Jianye frowned, offering a slightly different idea. "I think it has to do with the killer himself."

"According to Huang Song, he left home at eleven, with no family coming to find him. He walked from Penglai City to Linlan City at eleven and witnessed the case from six years ago... It might be related to that."

’Is it related?’

’It doesn’t matter.’

Xu Huo wasn’t focused on that, however. His gaze shifted elsewhere.

To the second transaction record.

"In the same month, mid-November, five days after the first order was completed."

"Someone sold off a batch of food for two hundred and fifty thousand?"

Xu Huo paused, narrowing his eyes.

The other two men leaned in to get a closer look.

Compared to the first record, this one looked completely normal. The personnel information and other details weren’t vague in the slightest.

The delivery address was for a company in another province, which had bought the items to distribute as employee benefits.

But the shipping address...

"An orphanage?"

Qian Hua’s pupils contracted, his face a mask of astonishment.

He looked up at Xu Huo in disbelief.

"The company behind three private orphanages sold off a batch of food for two hundred and fifty thousand!?"

"Huh?"

Li Jianye’s mind was buzzing.

He squinted, trying to get a better look.

But the words on the document remained unchanged.

First, the killer spent three hundred and fifty thousand to buy large quantities of food to send to welfare centers, orphanages, and the like.

Second, the orphanages sold a batch of food to an outside party for two hundred and fifty thousand...

The addresses of the orphanages were the same.

In other words...

"Those bastards sold off the goods he anonymously donated!?"

Li Jianye was deeply shaken. He never would have expected such a twist.

But then, the three of them immediately sensed something was wrong.

"Shit!"

The expressions on Li Jianye and Qian Hua’s faces changed. The next second, they slapped their thighs and rushed outside.

Xu Huo watched them go, a thoughtful look in his eyes, but followed them nonetheless.

「A moment later.」

The police car became a streak of light, speeding toward a certain location.

...

...

「December 5th, 10:30 PM.」

After checking two wrong locations, Xu Huo, Li Jianye, Qian Hua, and the others arrived at their destination.

Finally, they came to a house.

It was a villa, worth nearly a million.

CREAK~

The moment they pushed the door open, a horrifically foul stench assaulted them.

The reek was so thick it felt tangible, like a cloth smothering one’s face.

CLICK!

Xu Huo flicked on the lights.

A corpse was hanging right before their eyes.

One end of the rope was tied to the ceiling fan, the other around the corpse’s neck.

There was a gaping hole in the victim’s stomach, his intestines spilling out like a waterfall. They were already rotting, emitting a nauseating odor.

His hands had been chopped off, and his mouth and eye sockets were stuffed with cash. From the state of the body, it was clear he had been forced to starve for a considerable time before being killed.

Xu Huo stood before it, looking up at the putrid, reeking corpse.

This was the director of the private orphanage.

He had been dead for about a week.

Looking at him, Xu Huo, in a daze, couldn’t help but break into a smile.

"Tsk... fucking interesting."

Xu Huo looked at the corpse and, unable to restrain himself, began to laugh.

The corpse hung overhead. He turned to look at Qian Hua, pointing a finger at the hanged director.

He wore a brilliant smile.

"Wasn’t he just digging his own grave?"

Qian Hua and Li Jianye fell silent.

An uncanny silence filled the huge villa, with only Xu Huo’s voice echoing through the space.

The director was dead.

He hadn’t given the supplies the killer donated to the orphanage to the people who needed them.

He had resold them for two hundred and fifty thousand...

And then.

The killer hanged him here.

"Tsk, this guy is just too interesting."

"On the verge of death, the killer risked his life, sneaking into the wealthy districts of Linlan City multiple times to steal four hundred thousand..."

"On the verge of death, he used almost all his money to buy supplies, risked exposure to place the orders, and in the end..."

’I’m not a cop, so I can say whatever I want. It’s not like anyone can discipline me.’

He looked at the corpse, the smile on his face growing wider.

"In the end, all the supplies, all his efforts, were sold off by this man!"

"Sold off by him, for a hundred thousand less, to another province!"

"Interesting, truly interesting..."

His laughter continued, betraying no other meaning. You couldn’t detect any sarcasm or passive-aggressiveness in it.

It was as if he found it purely and simply hilarious.

"The killer..."

Qian Hua’s lips moved. He wanted to say something, but couldn’t, and so remained silent.

He finally understood.

He understood why the killer had been so frenzied when he started killing in December...

He understood even more why the man was crazy enough to kill someone in a crowd!

"Don’t worry, we still have to catch him. Otherwise, if he keeps killing like this, the impact on public order in Linlan City will be far too great. That’s not good for anyone."

Xu Huo smiled and patted Qian Hua’s shoulder reassuringly.

"But where is he?"

Li Jianye asked with a frown.

Right, where was he?

’Where else could he be?’

"Where is he? Heh, I know."

Xu Huo grinned. Seeing their stunned expressions, he paused, then added,

"You know."

"And you know too!"

Seeing him point at them, Li Jianye and Qian Hua were even more confused.

’We know!?’

’How do I not know that I know!?’

"What the killer is doing... it’s actually very obvious."

"It’s just that no one took proper note of this clue. No one made the connection. It was buried very deep."

Xu Huo smiled and shook his head.

But as he smiled...

...his expression gradually hardened. He turned back, his eyes filled with a vicious glint, and swept his gaze over the bloated, rotting corpse hanging from the ceiling.

He said,

"Notify the internal affairs unit. Notify everyone. It’s time to..."

"Make the arrest!"