Chapter 287 167: Monkey Trainer? A Monkey Killer!?

"And right then, there was a flash of lightning. I got a clear look—it was a monkey!"

Hearing this, everyone was baffled.

'Just a monkey...'

'The killer left a monkey behind to cover their escape, and it knocked Wang Chao out with a drug when it saw him making a call?'

It sounded a bit too far-fetched.

However...

"A well-trained monkey could do it."

"Things like dogs riding bicycles or goats balancing on balls—it all seems ridiculous, but it's possible with enough training."

Chu Linhai spoke up.

He was older and had seen a lot in his day. He'd even investigated the various tricks of the trade used by the itinerant performers who used to travel all over.

"The monkeys used by trainers are remarkably intelligent."

"With the right conditioning, a monkey can become like a different kind of 'person'."

"Using a drug to knock someone unconscious—it's shocking, but not impossible for a creature like that."

"Look into any monkey trainers. In its early days, Jiangsan City attracted people from all over, so there should still be a few around."

With that, Chu Linhai went off to start looking into that angle himself.

Cases of monkeys killing people weren't unheard of.

Of course, training a monkey to kill was much rarer.

"You think it's a monkey trainer, too?"

Li Jianye mulled it over for a long moment before turning to Xu Huo.

"It's a possibility."

Xu Huo nodded. "A monkey that knows how to use a drug to take someone out couldn't have done that without being trained."

"Only a monkey trainer would have that kind of know-how."

"But... a monkey trainer trains monkeys, not gorillas or dogs!"

Hearing this, Li Jianye paused, and then understanding dawned on him.

That's right.

It was a monkey that knocked out Wang Chao.

But the culprit didn't just have a monkey!

They also had a gorilla and a dog!

That was outside the typical domain of a monkey trainer. After all, different professions are worlds apart; the specific training methods for each type of animal are actually quite distinct.

"But regardless, the culprit is definitely an expert at training monkeys."

"Even if they aren't a traditional monkey trainer, they possess the required skills, so there's no problem with investigating that angle."

Xu Huo nodded, which was why he hadn't contradicted Chu Linhai.

'In any case, Jiangsan City has plenty of police manpower right now, and the lead is viable, so they might as well investigate it.'

As for the current scene...

"First, go to the hospital and get yourself checked out."

"Make sure you're okay."

Xu Huo paused, giving Wang Chao a once-over.

"And send me a copy of your hospital report."

Wang Chao still had the drug in his system. If they could identify its components, it would be useful for the case.

Why?

In the Capital City's "Human Skin Blood Robe" case, the killer had used an anesthetic to flay the victim alive!

Anesthetics are a type of knockout drug, and that stuff is strictly controlled by the authorities. It was much the same in Jiangsan City.

For something like that to end up in civilian hands, there were only two channels: legitimate and illegitimate.

By analyzing the drug's components, they could determine whether its source was legitimate.

And based on that distinction, they could also narrow down the killer's likely identity!

It went without saying who had access to legitimate anesthetics. As for the illegitimate kind... those were almost always used by people on the fringes of society.

Combined with Chu Linhai's earlier assessment, there was a high probability it was connected to a monkey trainer!

"I'll get going, then."

Wang Chao nodded and hurried away.

He had slept through the night, so the drug should still be detectable in his system. But if he delayed here any longer, they probably wouldn't be able to find any traces at all.

As for Xu Huo...

Watching Wang Chao's retreating figure, Xu Huo turned back to the crime scene.

After a moment of thought, his brow furrowed, and in the next instant, his heart sank.

[Love Nose!]

In the next instant, all sense of distance seemed to vanish. The roads ceased to exist, replaced only by lines symbolizing the residual traces of people.

These lines were multi-colored, but they weren't seen with the naked eye. Instead, he perceived the colors with his nose—a bizarre sensory experience.

'Tsk, this is going to be tough. The light rain has pretty much washed away the scents.'

'It'll be hard to track anyone by scent now...'

Xu Huo muttered to himself. After another moment of thought, his brow furrowed again.

'And this scent...'

His nose twitched as he took another light sniff.

A spicy scent was drawn into his nostrils, then traveled down into his lungs.

'This is...'

'Hatred?'

In that instant, Xu Huo paused, his eyes narrowing slightly.

A spicy sensation, along with a hint of sweetness, lingered in his nostrils.

Spicy represented hatred, rage.

Sweet represented intimacy.

Spicy and sweet?

That might work for describing a dish, but for a killer and their victim...

'No, wait. The spiciness is from the killer toward the victim, but the sweetness is from the victim toward the killer.'

'Does that mean the killer hated the victim so much that they tortured them to death and hung the body here?'

The thoughts raced through Xu Huo's mind.

'Sweetness? The victim was murdered, yet they still felt some kind of affection for their killer?'

'What kind of psycho... no, that's not right.'

Suddenly, Xu Huo looked over at Li Jianye.

"Have there been any missing persons reports filed recently?"

Li Jianye shook his head. "We've had some, but they were all found. Mostly just kids who wandered off while playing and got lost."

"So far, none of them have been linked to the victim."

Hearing that, Xu Huo's heart sank.

"This is bad!"

"What's wrong?"

Li Jianye frowned. "What's bad?"

"The body. Look at the wounds on the body."

Xu Huo sighed and pointed to the corpse on the ground, which the police were in the process of bagging.

"The wounds on the body show different stages of healing."

"It's obvious. This means the wounds weren't all inflicted at the same time. In other words, these injuries weren't just from the moments before death—they've been accumulating for a long time."

"If that's the case, then the killer was in contact with the victim and began torturing them a long time ago."