There was no need to mention Gao Mingqiang; I could sense the unease on everyone else's faces as well.
I didn't say much, crossing the police tape and heading straight for the restroom. Inside, I discovered a male corpse that seemed to have been dismembered and forcefully crammed into the toilet bowl!
If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I would have thought it was some movie special effect.
The man's body had undoubtedly been broken into many segments, with only the upper torso visible. This time, the killer had again used agate, not in the victim's eye sockets, but in his nostrils!
The nostrils were completely torn open to accommodate the two agates.
The scene was truly gruesome.
The victim's hands were forcibly tied behind his back and bound to the toilet's cistern. I realized we would need to devise a plan to retrieve the body.
Ultimately, we resorted to smashing the toilet to extract the corpse from the sewage. As we lifted the body, it appeared as though twisted intestines were dangling from the floor.
The bones beneath the body were severely fractured, and the flesh seemed thoroughly compressed. The victim, who should have stood over 1.7 meters, had been squeezed down to less than 1 meter. This level of brutality left me utterly stunned.
At this point, I understood that this killer was probably the most perversely terrifying one I had ever encountered.
Looking at the mangled abdomen and legs of the male corpse, resembling clumps of rotten flesh barely clinging together, even the experienced forensic investigators couldn't help but frown deeply.
Xie Chuchu and Zhang Keying were stunned into silence for several minutes, while my heart churned uncontrollably.
After we moved the body to the corridor outside the restroom and examined it under the bright lights, we noticed this time there were no ligature marks on the victim's neck or other areas. However, starting from the abdomen, there were severe, incredibly clean incised wounds. The surgical skill was evident, but the sheer number of slashes was chilling.
I counted, and there were a staggering eighty-one cuts, each following almost the exact same trajectory.
Had this person turned mutilation into an art form?
Previously, the victims had knelt before their parents' portraits. While that wasn't the case for the latter two, background checks revealed that Liu Kangcheng also treated his father poorly. Although I hadn't investigated this victim yet, I suspected the same was true.
The deceased seemed to have a feminine scent, with lingering lipstick marks on his lips, though not fresh, indicating they weren't too old. There also appeared to be fabric fibers on his hands, suggesting he had clutched some material before death.
But what did this have to do with the Seventy-Two Demons? And why would the killer inflict such cruel yet artistic punishment? Was this killer a collector who joined an organization and, hating those who treated their parents poorly, resorted to artistic methods of killing?!
As I pondered, the forensic team had already searched the restroom and corridor multiple times, seemingly without finding anything.
However, this was to be expected. If crucial evidence were so easily found, we wouldn't still be unable to apprehend the killer. For now, I photographed the victim's face and asked He Xin to run it through the facial recognition database, which was the fastest method. Taking the body back to the forensic lab would consume significantly more time.
I won't detail the on-site investigation. Just as we were preparing to leave, Xiahou made a new discovery beneath the sink in the restroom. I approached him, and he shook the evidence bag in his hand, saying, "There's a listening device under the water pipe. Who do you think put it there?"
"Probably not the killer. It looks like it's capable of taking pictures, not just listening!"
Mentioning the possibility of covert filming, we re-examined the restroom and, to our surprise, found similar cameras installed beneath the toilet in each stall. It seemed Xiahou had made a significant breakthrough this time.
We recovered a total of five cameras from the scene: four in the individual stalls and one beneath the sink.
Well, we'll take all these back. If we can retrieve any useful clues, it could prove crucial to solving this case.
Furthermore, the angles of these cameras should allow them to capture something. By the time we brought them back, everyone else had already packed up. However, I still managed to find some time to speak with the bar's manager, Mr. Huang. He told me he had no idea what was going on, claiming the bar had always been a respectable establishment, never involved in any incidents. Not to mention murder, but even illegal activities like prostitution or drug dealing were absent here.
Mr. Huang asserted this with conviction, but I noticed his hands trembling and his feet fidgeting unconsciously. His eyes darting around also confirmed he was lying. My expression immediately turned serious: "Mr. Huang, I don't know why you're still hiding things, but this is extremely important. I can tell you clearly, this isn't the first case of its kind. As a shrewd businessman, you should understand the implications, right?"
"I... I... No, Officer He, what's wrong? Do you think I'm lying to you?"
"Aren't you? Be serious. The victim was likely a regular here, wasn't he? Did he have any dealings with someone here?"
Perhaps surprised that I knew such details, Mr. Huang looked somewhat awkward. "Officer He, what else do you know?"
"Was he a frequent visitor to your bar before his incident, and did he meet with a certain woman? Not long before the incident, he was likely with that woman, wasn't he!"
This time, Mr. Huang couldn't conceal it any longer, like a child forced to confess after doing something wrong. "Yes, that's right. That woman often met with Xiang Yingzong here. Xiang Yingzong is the deceased you found earlier. He was supposedly an employee at an electronics factory, but I'm curious, how did someone like him get involved with our bartender? Mei Qin is quite attractive, even I..."
Mr. Huang almost said something he shouldn't have, then cleared his throat awkwardly, and with a wry smile, corrected himself: "In any case, you can ask Ms. Mei Qin. She should know something?"
"Then why were you hiding it earlier?"
"I didn't want her to be in trouble!"
It was clear that Mr. Huang had some feelings for Mei Qin. I asked him to take me over. When we arrived at the bar, I quickly spotted a woman wearing a red sash around her waist and a pink princess-style dress, standing there nervously watching the police officers coming and going.