Chapter 285 - 167: The Monkey Trainer? The Monkey Is the Killer!?

Haiyun Province, Jiangsan City.

January third. Not long before the Spring Festival. Dawn was just breaking; it was early morning.

A biting frost still hung in the air, the temperature so low it was bone-chilling...

...and ordinary residents were gradually starting their commutes to work.

Inside the municipal police headquarters, officers were also settling in at their posts.

Jiangsan City was peaceful—so peaceful that after September of last year, from the beginning of October all the way to January of ’04...

...there hadn’t been a single criminal murder case!

This would have been impossible in the past. After all, Jiangsan City was densely populated, with at least ten cases a year, but they had managed it last year. It was undoubtedly a sign of improved administrative performance.

Chu Linhai had even smiled at the time, making what seemed like a bold proclamation. But unfortunately...

January third.

Less than two days after Chu Linhai’s boast, an emergency call came in.

The caller reported that on Qianjin Road in Jiangsan City, a carousel had appeared in the middle of the street.

At first, the police wondered if it was just a prop left behind by some circus. That is, until they were processing the caller’s information...

The moment they heard the name "Wang Chao."

Every officer at the municipal headquarters was instantly on pins and needles. They raced to the crime scene with the utmost speed!

Chu Linhai and his men were also part of the team.

But when they all arrived on Qianjin Road and saw the object in the middle of the street, their faces instantly froze.

They...

...had never encountered anything so horrifying!

...

...

A prop stood before Xu Huo.

A very strange wind chime-like prop.

It was made entirely of a crude iron frame, the weld marks clearly visible. Five "charms" hung from it, swaying continuously.

The thing was about three meters tall, shaped like a capital ’I’, and resembled a carousel horse.

However, what hung from it were not carousel horses.

But... people!

Five corpses were hung up, completely naked and covered in wounds.

Dog chains were cinched tightly around their necks, then hung from the bizarre iron frame.

Whenever the wind blew, they would sway with it, becoming a true wind chime.

Made from five whole bodies!

"The deceased suffered signs of extremely severe abuse before death."

Xu Huo murmured, reaching out to brush a hand against one of the corpses.

The body’s skin was split open, revealing the flesh beneath. All sorts of gruesome wounds were visible.

On the back, the torso, the face, the hands, even the private parts...

They were everywhere!

"Judging from the marks, it was probably a whip."

Li Jianye pondered for a moment before offering his analysis. "And a whip with barbs!"

"One lash, and the barbs would catch in the flesh. Then with a sharp pull, in that instant, forget about the skin..."

"...even the flesh would be torn away!"

With each lash, in the areas of the body struck by the whip, the flesh hidden beneath the skin was clearly visible.

Have you ever seen a prickly ash tree?

Well, most people from the countryside probably have, especially those who grew up in the ’90s and early 2000s.

You wouldn’t dare even touch that thing, let alone get whipped with it.

But the killer didn’t use prickly ash branches to flog his victims.

He used rose stems...

One lash, and flesh would blossom like a flower!

"What the hell is this!?"

"Torture them, then kill them?"

Li Jianye frowned, observing the surroundings.

"And this device used to hang the dead... it’s a bit like an amusement park ride. Did they build it to look like one?"

"Is there some deeper meaning?"

"Or was it just a simple way to hang the bodies?"

Xu Huo watched in silence.

’The thing holding the dead looked like a carousel, and the dead were the horses.’

’Did the killer do this on purpose? Intentionally build it to look this way?’

’Or... was it just a means to hang the victims?’

’Both were possible. Setting aside the more subjective first point for now...’

’...let’s just look at the second point.’

’That it was purely for the hanging.’

The crime scene was a large intersection. Each one-way street had four lanes for vehicles and one for non-motorized traffic.

The bodies were in the very center of the intersection, with nothing overhead to hang them from. To suspend them in this position would require human intervention.

"Both are possible, but..."

"...I’m more curious about why they hung the bodies here."

"Logically, they’ve violated the simplest principle: ’dump it far, bury it near.’"

Xu Huo said coolly, shifting the topic of discussion.

Li Jianye paused at his words, then his brow furrowed.

He thought for a moment, then nodded.

"True."

"The crime scene is in a relatively open area with heavy foot traffic. Actually... you don’t even need a lot of traffic. Given where they put it, even a single person on the road would see it."

"And as soon as someone saw it, there was a ninety-nine percent chance an emergency call would be placed to the police dispatcher."

"They killed someone... no, five people, and instead of trying to hide the evidence, they put the bodies in a place like this!?"

As he said this, a silence fell over the surrounding officers.

There are many reasons why murderers kill, but in ninety-nine percent of cases, their reaction afterward is to hide the body.

But in this case, the killers didn’t hide it...

They even displayed it openly for all to see!

’Why? To provoke the police?’

’No, that doesn’t seem right either...’

In a flash, Li Jianye’s mind recalled another case.

"The same mindset as the Modern Jesus case?" Li Jianye paused, looking at Xu Huo.

In the Modern Jesus case, the killer, Sun Jiang, exposed the body to everyone because his goal was the exact opposite of the ’dump it far, bury it near’ principle.

That principle is about being afraid the body will be found and traced back to you.

Sun Jiang was afraid the police *wouldn’t* find the body!