Chapter 1129 - 578: The Bizarre Death Scene (Part 2)

"Let’s go and take a look," Qin Feng said decisively.

As they walked, Li Ming continued to introduce, "This area of the street and tunnel is an old town. Monitoring facilities are almost non-existent here, and the residents are relatively mixed and have high mobility."

"The scene is located on the second floor. The first floor is a row of KTVs, which is quite noisy at night, though it’s quieter during the day."

"In our initial interviews with the surrounding residents, we found out that they were not familiar with the deceased, and some couldn’t even recall the name."

"Moreover, according to the deceased’s friends, this apartment was rented. The landlord is on the way and should be here soon."

Ten minutes later, the group arrived on the second floor.

At this moment, the door was already open, the lock damaged, and the handle thrown aside, with some debris scattered on the floor.

Mr. Li pointed at the lock and explained, "This lock was opened by a locksmith called by the deceased’s friend. Once inside, they found the deceased."

The four of them then put on masks and shoe covers and entered the room.

The apartment was a two-bedroom unit with a living room, very compact in layout, and the furniture was relatively old.

On a sofa was a young girl in jeans.

Mr. Chen glanced briefly at the scene, then turned and asked, "What is the identity of the deceased?"

Li Ming immediately replied, "She was a worker at a nearby shoe factory named He Qian, twenty-four years old, from out of town."

"When was the last time she contacted her colleagues?" Mr. Chen continued to inquire.

"After work yesterday afternoon, she went home. This morning, because she hadn’t shown up for work, her supervisor called her but couldn’t reach her. The phone kept going unanswered."

"Initially, the supervisor thought she might have overslept, but by noon, with still no news, they panicked and contacted other colleagues to check."

Mr. Chen nodded, his brow furrowed, his gaze once again falling on the corpse.

At this point, Director Hou, standing in the center of the living room, slowly turned around, his eyes landing on the slightly aged window.

The window frame was made of old-fashioned aluminum alloy, covered with a thin layer of dust on the glass.

After observing for a moment, he discovered that while there were no protective bars installed, the window was tightly closed, the latch intact, and there seemed to be no signs of tampering.

Meanwhile, Jiang An began to walk around the room, his eyes scanning every corner intently.

The living room, though small, was reasonably tidy.

He turned to enter the bedroom near the balcony, then turned to the other room.

The two bedrooms were similarly arranged, each with a single bed.

But what made him frown slightly was—both of these beds were made up, with clothes and personal items placed next to the pillows.

He stopped, turned back to Li Ming, who was conversing with the officers in the living room, "Mr. Li, you mentioned that only one person lived in this room?"

"But both bedrooms have personal items, and both beds appear to have been slept in."

"And look at the trash can here—so much daily trash, takeout boxes, tissues, drink bottles. This doesn’t look like someone living alone."

Li Ming was taken aback upon hearing this, quickly stepping forward, speaking in a low voice, "This... We briefly asked the supervisor earlier, who said He Qian was registered as living alone."

"I’ll confirm again, have the person who reported the case ask in detail."

At this moment, Director Hou also stepped away from the window, his gaze circling the room, "We need to figure this out."

"This person’s already deceased. Who was the other occupant? Where are they now? Are they dead or alive? These are the basic inquiries we can’t overlook."

Without another word, Jiang An turned and re-entered the two bedrooms, checking meticulously.

He squatted down to inspect the floor, opened several drawers and wardrobes.

There were no obvious signs of struggle in the bedrooms, no broken glass on the floor, no marks or blood on the walls, and the clothing in the wardrobes was neatly folded, with some pieces even covered with dust bags.

He then headed to the bathroom.

The bathroom door was half-opened. He pushed it gently, causing the hinge to creak softly.

As the door opened, a humid smell wafted out.

Jiang An looked up, his gaze freezing instantly.

The bathroom lights were dim, the heater lamp still on, but the state of the floor contrasted sharply with the rest of the tidy apartment.

There were a few shards of glass scattered on the tiles, seemingly fallen from a mirror;

Two towels lay on the floor, with one draped partially over the edge of the sink;

The corner trash can was overturned on the floor, littering tissues and cotton swabs all over;

Jiang An stood at the doorway, not stepping inside, just quietly observing it all.

With his many years of frontline investigative experience, he judged that this disorder was certainly not caused by daily life.

Clearly, some sort of intense confrontation—or possibly a life-and-death struggle—had happened here.

But, there arises a question.

He slowly turned his head, his gaze passing through the living room, landing on the female corpse on the sofa.

She lay on her back, wearing deep blue jeans on the lower body, a black jacket on her upper body with a neatly zipped-up jacket, and gray cotton socks on her feet.

Her clothing was intact, showing no signs of having bathed or changed.

Could it be...

Was she preparing to enter the bathroom to bathe when the struggle occurred?

As he pondered deeply, footsteps sounded behind him.

Director Hou and Deputy Director Chen Guan approached side by side.

The two stood beside Jiang An, their eyes also drawn to the scene in the bathroom.

Almost simultaneously, their brows furrowed heavily, their expressions grave.

"This doesn’t add up," Director Hou murmured softly.

Chen Guan leaned in, "If the death took place here, why would the body be moved onto the sofa?"

"And with the clothes so intact, it doesn’t look like something happened in the bathroom. This... this doesn’t make sense."

Jiang An remained silent for a moment before slowly speaking, "The bathroom is very messy; some items are broken, indicating that a conflict occurred here at the time."

"However, the deceased’s clothes are tidy, with no indication of bathing or changing."

After a long pause, he spoke in a deep voice, "I’m wondering, could it be possible—was it not her who fought here, but someone else?"

"Someone else?" Qin Feng was momentarily stunned, then his eyes changed.

Director Hou nodded slightly upon hearing this, "According to our usual investigative logic, the state of this scene is indeed strange."

"If there had been a fight here and the participant wasn’t the deceased before us, there must have been another person—and that person is highly likely to have also encountered something."

Deputy Director Chen Guan’s expression turned stern at these words, "If it looks like this, doesn’t it imply that there’s a possibility another person was killed?"

"We can’t conclude anything just yet," Director Hou shook his head, still focused on the scattered items inside the bathroom.

"But what is certain is that the fight was very fierce."

"Look at the toothbrush cup, it’s fallen and cracked on the floor, and more than one towel has fallen, plus this trash can—this couldn’t have been caused by an accident."

Mr. Li, standing at the back of the crowd, turned pale upon hearing these words.

He swallowed hard, "Mr. Chen, Mr. Qin, is it really possible there’s a second victim?"

"Please don’t scare me, we haven’t had such a major case in five years at the Nanshan Police Station."

Deputy Director Chen Guan turned his head, giving him a glance, "We don’t seek trouble, nor fear it."

"Even if there are two victims, Guangling Criminal Investigation has the capacity to handle it."

"Besides, with Director Hou and Mr. Jiang here today, we have no reason to fear this case."

Li Ming nodded, turning his gaze to Jiang An, "Mr. Chen is right. Mr. Jiang gave us a lecture in a training class before, discussing the logic and details of scene investigation."

"With you all here today, I’m much more at ease."

Jiang An didn’t respond to the praise, just nodded slightly, his mind deep in thought.

The scenes he had witnessed replayed in his mind over and again...

If a conflict really occurred here, why is there only one body?