Huo Xun furrowed his brow, encountering for the first time such an uncooperative victim’s relative. In previous kidnapping cases, families were usually ready to sell all their possessions just to save their loved ones.
But Qin Siyu clearly didn’t want to spend a single penny.
Moreover, he believed Feng Aicai was the criminal; catching Feng Aicai would mean cracking the case.
"What era is this, still using torture to extract confessions?"
"The kidnapper sent a text to your wife, right? You prepare part of the ransom first, and hurry to send the money to the designated place. We have already set a trap there.
Whether it is the Feng siblings or not, we will soon find out. Once we catch the kidnapper, the money will still be yours."
Qin Siyu agreed reluctantly.
He went back and prepared two million in cash, while Zhou Rui wanted to prepare more since she was worried the kidnappers would be angry upon discovering they had prepared so little money.
Qin Siyu didn’t allow it and added, "Feng Aicai and his sister are the kidnappers! Why prepare so much money? Feng Aicai is already caught by the police.
If his sister dares to do anything to Jingjing, I won’t spare Feng Aicai!"
Zhou Rui also believed it was the Feng siblings, so she didn’t say anything further.
On the day the ransom was delivered, everyone waited a long time, but the kidnapper never appeared to take the money.
Meanwhile, the police disguised as Feng family servants received a courier package.
Inside, there were blood-stained fingernails and pieces of a dress, along with a note.
But the fabric was made of black gauze, which was what Feng Aiyuan had been wearing at the time of her disappearance.
The fingernails were likely Feng Aiyuan’s too.
This meant Feng Aiyuan had been victimized as well!
The note read, "Every wrong will be addressed, every debt will be repaid. Guess who will die next?"
The meaning revealed by this note made Zhou Rui faint in fear.
Could it be that Qin Kejing and Feng Aiyuan were both already dead?
This message sent chills down one’s spine; the adversary had obviously discovered the police ambush.
Not only did they send this provocation, but he also planned to strike again!
The only consolation was that the police had found the criminal’s hiding place through this delivery.
The murderer had used the same local courier service twice.
The police dispatched personnel to scour the area around the courier service carefully and found pieces of Qin Kejing and Feng Aiyuan’s dresses, eventually pinpointing an old residential complex.
The complex hadn’t been renovated for many years and didn’t even have elevators.
Many parts were dilapidated, and the residents here were not locals but migrant workers.
Behind the area, there was a large stretch of abandoned buildings.
The Criminal Police Team had staked out in the old complex for several days and finally noticed a suspicious figure.
"Black fisherman’s hat, gray hoodie. Is that the person?"
One of the officers pointed at a woman in the distance who was wearing a hat and also a mask that covered her face, nearly identical to the courier’s description of the person who had sent the package.
The fingernails and fabric pieces had been sent to the courier shop by a woman dressed .
"Follow her and see."
Huo Xun gave the order, and a few undercover police officers subtly trailed the woman.
She left the complex and headed toward the nearby abandoned buildings. The place was generally deserted, so her behavior was very suspicious.
As there were fewer and fewer people around, Huo Xun grew somewhat concerned that the woman might notice they were following her, but she never looked back and kept walking on her own.
The surroundings took on an inexplicably eerie atmosphere.
The police couldn’t help but wonder, could this be the place where the murderer hid the body? They had searched here before but found nothing—could there still be some secret hiding spot?
No sooner had they thought this than the woman in the distance stopped in her tracks.
Huo Xun thought she had spotted them, but the woman didn’t turn around; instead, she suddenly fainted to the ground.
"Why is she lying on the ground motionless?"
"Captain, what should we do? Could this be a trick?"
In the shadows, the plainclothes officers quietly exchanged messages using their devices.
Five minutes passed, and the woman remained on the ground, motionless.
That’s when Huo Xun finally said, "Go check on her."
Four plainclothes officers emerged from the shadows and approached where the woman had collapsed.
Her fisherman’s hat lay scattered to one side, and all that remained on her face was a mask. Just the sight of the woman’s eyes made all the officers present gasp in shock.
Or rather, it should be said, she had no eyes at all!
Where her eyes should have been, there were only two bloody holes!
The blood had long since dried and coagulated in the sockets, indicating that her eyes had been gouged out some time ago.
"Captain, her, her eyes, how are they..." gone?
The voice of an officer quavered as he spoke.
Huo Xun was slightly braver than the rest, he squatted down, and removed the woman’s mask.
As he did so, he nearly scared himself into sitting on the ground. Fortunately, he didn’t sit down; otherwise, he would have lost all face in front of his subordinates.
At his side, there were more sounds of sharp intakes of breath.
Because under the mask, the woman’s face was a mess of blood and flesh!
Her nose and lips had been slashed!
Huo Xun took a deep breath and quickly checked the woman’s carotid artery.
A hint of perplexity appeared in his eyes, "She’s gone, and there’s a strange smell to her too, like the stench of a corpse that’s been dead for several days. Could she have been dead all along?"
"But, she just walked past us a while ago?!"
"Could it be another paranormal event? How could someone who’s been dead move!"
Huo Xun’s gaze darkened, "I’m going to call Qin Zhao. You guys take this body back."
Since the corpse’s facial features were mutilated, leaving only the ears, they were temporarily unable to identify the woman. Taking her back for a forensic examination would quickly reveal whether she had died that very day.
These past few days, Qin Zhao didn’t want to stay with Chu Yan, so she stayed at Qin Wan’s place for a while.
Chu Yan had looked for her several times, but Qin Zhao refused to go back. Now, receiving the call, she happened to be at Qin Wan’s home.
Qin Wan also made delicious food for her every day, her cooking skills were in no way inferior to Chu Yan’s!
"I’ll come over," Qin Zhao said after hearing Huo Xun’s description, also finding the situation strange.
They were handling the case of Qin Kejing’s disappearance, and after Qin Kejing vanished, the Diamond Crown also disappeared. Now with such a bizarre incident occurring, could it be related to the Crown?
Criminal Police Team.
Huo Xun and the others had brought the body back.
"This smell, it’s definitely not a body from today." The forensic expert hadn’t even started the formal procedure before drawing a conclusion.
The body had a severe scent of perfume on it, but it still couldn’t mask the putrid smell of decay. Now in early winter, the odor wasn’t very distinct. Had it been summer, the perfume wouldn’t have covered it at all.
The people’s faces changed, a chilling sensation crawling through their scalps and down their spines.
So the figure that had walked past them just now wasn’t a living person, but a corpse?