Chapter 340 - 338: Saw Lu Xian

Chapter 340: Chapter 338: Saw Lu Xian

「The next day.」

Su Miaoyi woke up early, waiting for news from Zhuang Yanzheng.

The fifteen-year-old case involved the murder of a family of five at a brick factory.

The family owned a private brick factory.

The family of five—grandparents, parents, and their child—all lived in the house behind the brick factory.

The crime scene was also inside the house.

Zhuang Yanzheng had also made inquiries early on. The brick factory was still there, abandoned for all these years.

As soon as Su Miaoyi got the news, she hurried to the entrance of her residential complex.

Zhuang Yanzheng picked her and Chu Xingrou up on his way.

Lu Zhishen and Yan Cheng were also heading directly to the brick factory.

The brick factory was on the outskirts of the city and wasn’t very large.

Ever since the incident, the brick factory had been left to decay.

When they arrived, a man was waiting outside the factory. He was the male victim’s cousin.

"You must be Officer Zhuang."

Zhuang Yanzheng shook his hand. "Hello."

"After my cousin’s family was killed, nothing here was touched except for some bricks that were hauled away," the cousin said. "The killer was never found, which has been a heavy burden on both me and my mother. That’s why we left this place as it was. Back then, we thought that if the police ever came back to investigate, we shouldn’t disturb anything, just in case they could find a clue. But too much time has passed. Year after year, this place has fallen into ruin."

As he spoke, the group headed inside.

Weeds were everywhere.

Even inside the factory grounds, the grass was half a person’s height, with no clear path to walk through.

They had to push the grass down as they walked.

A small pile of bricks and some dirt remained in the factory yard. Morning glories climbed over the bricks, and all sorts of weeds grew from the soil. The kiln used for firing bricks had partially collapsed.

Su Miaoyi touched the bricks, the dirt, and the kiln as she passed them.

Finally, they reached the house where the deceased family used to live.

It was a simple, one-story house.

The cousin took out a key to open the door, but the lock was completely rusted shut, the keyhole clogged with rust.

Zhuang Yanzheng picked up a rock and smashed the lock open.

As he pushed the door open, dust flew up from inside.

Although the room was covered in a thick layer of dust, they could still see that it was identical to the photos in the case file.

There were three rooms in total. The grandparents lived in one, and the family of three lived in another.

The last room was used for cooking and eating. A low, square table still sat in the room, with three of its four small stools knocked over.

The fourth stool was at the municipal bureau, taken as evidence at the time.

The killer had used the stool to smash the child’s head, and the child’s blood was on it.

Back then, the killer had used weapons found inside the house.

The small stool and a kitchen knife.

The kitchen knife was used to kill the four adults.

The two elderly parents were found dead in their bed.

Based on the photos, the two of them were murdered in their sleep.

The boy’s father collapsed in the cooking and dining room, while his mother collapsed in their bedroom.

The little boy was found collapsed next to his mother.

After the murders, the killer ransacked the place. The case file had no record of whether any valuables were missing.

With the entire family gone, there was no way to know what was missing from the house.

The killer had thrown the murder weapon, the kitchen knife, outside the house.

No fingerprints were found on the kitchen knife, nor on the stool.

They only detected the impression of a bloody glove.

The analysis concluded it was likely a plastic or rubber glove.

Chu Xingrou looked around, then, guided by the photos, she scuffed away some dust on the floor with her foot, revealing a patch of blackened blood.

After so many years, the bloodstain had turned black.

Su Miaoyi hadn’t forgotten the purpose of their visit.

After all, fifteen years had passed. In another five, the house itself was at risk of collapsing.

It was unlikely they would find any new clues here.

Their main goal was to help her see a vision of the crime.

So, Su Miaoyi touched this and that, practically one step away from taking a rag and cleaning the whole place.

But no matter what she touched, she couldn’t see any vision.

By the time Su Miaoyi was touching everything for a second time, she really wanted to get on her knees and beg her Special Ability to do something.

But the entire morning passed, and she saw nothing.

On the way back, Su Miaoyi leaned against the car window, silent.

Chu Xingrou held the wet wipes Lu Zhishen had given her.

When they got in the car, Lu Zhishen had given her a pack of wet wipes for her and Su Miaoyi.

Both of them were covered in dust, their faces smudged like little kittens.

But since Su Miaoyi wasn’t talking, she didn’t disturb her.

After a while, Su Miaoyi said, "I should have asked Brother Zheng to get that ’Complete Book of Spells’ from his dad’s house last night. I could have studied it overnight and tried something today."

"People would think I’d hired a master psychic," Zhuang Yanzheng said.

Chu Xingrou handed her a wet wipe to clean her face.

Su Miaoyi took out her phone and looked at her reflection. "Whoa, a ’dusty’ makeup look."

"Hurry up and wipe it off. If anyone saw you, they’d think I took you two out begging," Zhuang Yanzheng said.

Wiping the dust from her face, Su Miaoyi retorted, "Follow Captain Zhuang, and you’ll starve three meals a day."

Zhuang Yanzheng didn’t reply.

After returning to the municipal bureau, Su Miaoyi stared at the photos.

The afternoon passed, and still, she saw nothing.

Su Miaoyi was starting to get a headache. So, after work, she went to the convenience store across from the bureau, intending to buy a popsicle.

She crossed the street and walked toward the convenience store.

Suddenly, she got that feeling again—that someone was watching her.

She kept walking, took out her phone, and turned on the front-facing camera to check behind her.

She saw someone behind a tree nearly fifty meters away.

She could only see a piece of clothing behind the tree. It seemed to be a woman, but she couldn’t be sure.

Su Miaoyi immediately turned around, intending to get a better look.

But in the instant she turned, the scene before her eyes changed.

Zhuang Yanzheng was coming out of the municipal bureau when he caught a glimpse of someone standing across the street.

He habitually took a second look.

He realized it was Su Miaoyi, standing there completely still.

He immediately crossed the street. When he reached her, he confirmed that she was frozen because she was seeing something.

He stood beside her and waited. After a moment, Su Miaoyi suddenly snapped out of it.

This time, it wasn’t too unpleasant; she just shivered suddenly.

Her focus returned, and she looked around.

"What did you see?" Zhuang Yanzheng asked.

Su Miaoyi looked at him, stunned for a second, then immediately grabbed his arm. "Have Lu Zhishen and Xingrou left yet?"

"Not yet."

Su Miaoyi started walking back across the street.

Zhuang Yanzheng followed her.

"I saw Lu Xian," Su Miaoyi said. "He’s in Jinghai right now."

Zhuang Yanzheng had expected her to have a vision about the brick factory case, not Lu Xian. "Where?"

"I’m not sure. I only saw some buildings. We’ll have to search," Su Miaoyi said quickly. As she reached the other side of the street, she stopped again.

"What’s wrong?"

"Over there." Su Miaoyi pointed into the distance. "About fifty meters away. Before I saw the vision, I felt like someone over there was staring at me."

Zhuang Yanzheng followed her gaze. "Okay, I’ll go pull the surveillance footage."

"Okay."