Chapter 692: The Little Cat’s New Year’s Visit!

Right after Chen Xiao and Sang Yupeng finished discussing the cruelty to animals, Cao Xiuyuan and Qin Fei, who were conducting the inspection in the room, came out.

Qin Fei noticed the absence of Wen next to Chen Xiao, and Sun Zhou was nowhere to be seen, so he walked over to Chen Xiao.

"Where are they?"

"Old Wen went to investigate Sang Xiaoming’s social connections on my orders, and Captain Sun went to find a boy named Zhang Si."

Upon hearing a completely unfamiliar name, Qin Fei immediately realized he must have missed something.

"What’s going on? Did you find something earlier?"

"Sang Yupeng doesn’t know anything about the surveillance, but there’s someone among his tenants whose son is obsessed with the internet and is likely skilled in hacking accounts and such, so Captain Sun went to inquire about him."

Originally planning to go to the next room, Cao Xiuyuan paused when he heard Chen Xiao’s words.

However, his pause lasted only a second or two before he continued with Director Chang into the room.

Seeing this, Chen Xiao asked Qin Fei, "It seems that the rivalry between Captain Cao and Captain Sun is quite intense right now. Was it always like this before?"

"If it had always been like this, their superiors definitely wouldn’t have arranged for them to work together. Before this, Captain Cao and Captain Sun only occasionally crossed paths professionally."

Chen Xiao nodded, "Then you don’t have to constantly follow Captain Cao around. We have a very important task to accomplish."

"What task?"

"You’ll know when you come with me."

Without further explanation, Chen Xiao led Qin Fei downstairs.

Once in the car, Chen Xiao said:

"From my chat with Sang Yupeng earlier, I learned something—that there are individuals in this area who enjoy cruelly killing cats and dogs."

Upon hearing this, Qin Fei’s brows furrowed, "The cruelty to cats and dogs doesn’t directly relate to our case, does it?"

"Before finding Sang Yupeng, I had talked to Sun Zhou about why the murderer would kill someone. This topic is old news to us, but Sun Zhou mentioned a term we hadn’t discussed before, called ’born evil seed.’"

"He said some born evil seeds kill without needing a reason, but they still have a motive—to gain unprecedented pleasure and a sense of achievement by killing."

"Though I find it absurd that this case could have such a possibility, I can’t convince myself to rule it out now."

Qin Fei paused, then resolutely said, "Let’s do nothing for now and rule out this possibility first!"

Chen Xiao grinned at Qin Fei, "I must thank you for respecting my opinion so much."

"You’re welcome. You’re here to help me, aren’t you?"

"Mutual aid."

Chen Xiao chuckled as he temporarily drove the car away from the low-rent area.

Earlier, when they arrived, both Chen Xiao and Qin Fei had observed the surroundings without seeing any cat or dog carcasses.

After all, this area is usually cleaned, so Chen Xiao headed to the sanitation company.

Upon arrival, Chen Xiao and Qin Fei revealed their identities, and soon the company’s manager led two elderly women over.

"This is Granny Wu, and this is Granny Li. They are responsible for cleaning the low-rent area you mentioned."

Chen Xiao politely shook their hands and first exchanged some pleasantries.

The two elderly women were initially displeased about having their rest disturbed, but seeing Chen Xiao’s politeness, they somewhat eased their demeanor.

Upon hearing Chen Xiao’s inquiry about cruelty to cats and dogs, Granny Wu and Granny Li’s expressions changed noticeably.

"It turns out you’re here because of those cats and dogs. Yes... In that low-rent area, there are indeed people specifically hunting and killing stray cats and dogs."

"At first, Wu and I were a bit happy that someone was helping us by removing those annoying cats and dogs. But later, the deaths of those hunted cats and dogs became increasingly gruesome, and several times we were scared to the point of nearly having heart attacks."

"Yes, young man, don’t blame us for being harsh. We work in sanitation, and the excrement and urine of those stray animals are quite bothersome. But later, seeing those cats and dogs in such tragic states, we couldn’t help but feel some pity."

The two elderly women spoke alternately.

Showing signs of shock, even Qin Fei couldn’t help but take their words seriously.

"Aunt, what scenes left a deep impression on you?" asked Chen Xiao.

Aunt Wu, without much thought, said, "Little Cats Greeting the New Year!"

"Yes, Little Cats Greeting the New Year!" Granny Li echoed in surprise.

"What’s Little Cats Greeting the New Year?"

"On the morning of New Year’s Day, there was a lot of firework residue from the night before, so Wu and I got up early to clean the streets."

Aunt Li began describing, revealing a deep fear in her eyes:

"I remember it clearly; it wasn’t yet four in the morning when Wu and I were on duty, starting from the intersection on the town’s main road and sweeping toward the town’s office building."

"At first, there was just rubbish left from the firework celebrations, but upon reaching the office building, we saw something lined up across the entrance from afar."

"At first, we didn’t think much of it, but as we got closer, we saw they were all kitten carcasses, at least a dozen of them!"

"All those kittens had their skins peeled off, and their front legs were nailed in a praying position!"

"But, their heads had been chopped off. The heads were later found on the river’s surface, with one or two possibly having sunk or floated downstream."

As the two elders spoke, they each shivered.

Chen Xiao seemed to have been present at that scene.

A faint fish-grey dawn as sanitation workers cleaned the street.

While sweeping, they stumbled upon rows of skinned cat corpses.

The cat heads were missing, all kneeling on the ground, earning the name Little Cats Greeting the New Year due to it being New Year’s Day.

Chen Xiao glanced at Qin Fei, who displayed similar shock, and asked the two elderly women:

"Anything else you recall vividly?"

Aunt Wu immediately replied:

"Yes! But I don’t know if it was intentional or not, still, it seems suspicious to me."

"Please, go ahead," replied Chen Xiao, prompting Aunt Wu to continue:

"Before March this year, the town’s clinic had an old dog named Health. The old dog’s keen sense and ability to detect severe illnesses saved doctors a lot of diagnosis time, hence the name ’Health’ meant to send health to patients."

"But on March 7th, Health went mad. With bloodshot eyes, it barked hysterically on the streets all day, attacking people like a rabid dog. Initially, one or two were bitten, thought to be accidents, but as more victims emerged, fear spread."

"And so, Health, known for delivering health, was bludgeoned to death by the terrified crowd, bones shattered all over!"