Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The Gen Dui Hexagram was Zhao Yu’s latest. The Gen represented the case, while Dui represented wealth.
Phew… Zhao Yu thought. After seeing this hexagram come up, Zhao Yu was relieved and felt like he could finally get back into his usual rhythm. He always had an inexplicable feeling like something wasn’t quite right regarding the case. At least the crimes of the cases he had cracked previously had been clear, and Zhao Yu could devote himself to them.
This time it had been completely different! First, there had been the sudden, shocking appearance of treasure. Then that was followed by a series of potential murders because of it. Although it had been proven that Yuan Juncheng had been murdered, Zhao Yu couldn’t help but feel that there was something odd about this case.
Treasure, murder, and a group that kidnapped then released Cui Lizhu… all this made Zhao Yu feel apprehensive. What was the truth behind this case? Did the shocking treasure written about in the notebook really exist? And how did the people on the list of names die?
Sigh… I’ve got to steady myself… Zhao Yu thought as he quietly tried to calm himself by thinking about his past experiences. Whenever something was as complicated as this, it was imperative he retained his sense of direction. He made sure to hold onto the key points of the case. In this case, one of the key points was obviously the five dead people! He would only be able to turn this case on its head after he figured out the reason for their deaths.
As Zhao Yu was sitting deep in thought, the police officers at Feng Ping police station prepared the whiteboards that he had asked for. Looking at the familiar whiteboards, Zhao Yu wasted no time. Out of a force of habit, he immediately stepped forward and began calmly writing the details on them.
Many of the team members were aware of Zhao Yu’s habits and nobody bothered him. Everyone worked on their individual assignments instead. Around that time, Li Jing returned to the office after making some phone calls. She had nothing to do and took great interest in Zhao Yu as he worked at the whiteboard. She stood behind him and watched his every movement. As time passed, the team members came back with new information.
The first piece of news was that, based on Skynet and traffic monitors, Xu Hai had reconstructed parts of the silver-gray van’s tracks. Just as Zhao Yu thought. The driver was very professional and mad use of the CCTV’s blind spots so the police wouldn’t be able to track them.
Next, the sketch artist had finished drawing the person who kidnapped Cui Lizhu based on her description. However, after several rounds of data comparison, the identity of this man was still uncertain. Zhao Yu believed that the man showed his face so openly because he had nothing to fear. So, there probably would not be any clues even if they continued searching for him that way.
Lastly, during the rushed hours of the evening, Li Beini had investigated the most important thing. By gathering information from various local police offices, Li Beini verified that the four names remaining on Tao Xiang’s list had died under similar circumstances to Yuan Juncheng. The blood test reports from three of them showed the same telltale traces that Pitidebin exhibited. Only one of the deceased had not had a blood test done due to his old age, but based on his family’s reaction, even though he was older his heart had never shown any signs of weakness. Thus, Zhao Yu and his gang could confirm that the unticked names on Tao Xiang’s list had all been murdered!
The strangest thing about this was that the five people died in the same order that their names were written in on Tao Xiang’s list. This raised Zhao Yu’s suspicions. There was definitely a connection between the murderer and Tao Xiang’s list!
“Pitidebin…” Li Jing said. She frowned as she gazed at the whiteboard filled with Zhao Yu’s writing. “This drug is really rare and extremely precious. The person who used this drug to kill these people was a bit of a spendthrift, no? I can’t help but feel that whoever had this drug could have better put it to use by murdering tycoons or influential political figures! Isn’t a bit excessive to use it to kill some cultural heritage scholars?”
“Sigh…” Zhao Yu shook his head. “Anything is possible! What if someone had gotten hold of the recipe and mass-produced it?”
“Oh my god!” Xu Hai was speechless. “It’d be catastrophic if it could be mass-produced! The way I see it, the water we drink, the food we eat… don’t we have to be more careful? What if it’s been drugged? You wouldn’t even know how you died!”
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“No, it’s not!” Li Beini explained. “Pitidebin can only be delivered by injection, and it has to be a certain dose and concentration. It’s not as simple as you think!”
“Oh…” Xu Hai said, nodding. “That means there should be needle marks on the deceased! It’s a pity, their bodies have already been…”
“If that’s the case,” Li Jing said. “Doesn’t that make these murderers professional killers?! Leader Zhao, we’re lucky you pay attention to even the smallest of details, otherwise, these poor people would have suffered wrongful deaths without anybody ever knowing the truth!”
“But…” Cui Lizhu said. “There’s a total of 16 people on my father’s list of names, and eleven were ticked. I wonder if the deaths of these 11 people had anything to do with the murderer as well…”
“This is no longer a simple case!” Zhang Jingfeng said as he picked up a stack of materials. “I’ve investigated everything from the start and none of them died of heart attacks. Besides, many of them died very long ago, so I’m afraid it’s almost impossible to confirm whether or not they had been murdered.”
“It’s okay!” Zhao Yu said, looking at the whiteboard. “Right now, the main goal is to verify the causes of death for these five people! If we can catch the murderer, they might be the key to unlocking the bigger puzzle! Old Zhang, Xu Hai! I’ve got a few names here from Yuan Juncheng’s wife. These people are more familiar with his work, so the two of you visit them today. See what Yuan Juncheng was really doing and what really caused his death” Zhao Yu ordered.
“Roger!” The two men replied. They immediately left to investigate after receiving the names from Zhao Yu.
“Beini!” Zhao Yu said, waving at Li Beini. “Get the police officers who visited the other four deceased’s family and friends to check what they are doing now and what they were doing before the deaths!”
“Okay!” Li Beini said, immediately returning to his desk and starting to work.
“Right!” Li Jing said, pointing to the five names on the board and nodding. “Other than working in similar fields, these five people have nothing in common, so why did Tao Xiang write their names on the list? And why did the murderer want to kill them? Leader Zhao… could it be… it could be because of the treasure, right? The five of them knew something about the treasure so the murderer injected them with a truth serum. I guess he wanted to find out what they knew about the treasure?”
“But the strangest thing about this case is…” Zhao Yu said calmly. “If the five of them knew about the treasure, why has it not been unearthed yet?”
“That’s true, it really is weird!” Li Jing frowned.
“Also, he used the truth serum, so why did he have to kill them?” Zhao Yu wondered.
“What you’re trying to say is that they already had the answer, so in order to keep the deceased from leaking what they knew, the murderer was forced to silence them? That…” Li Jing silently shook her head. “That doesn’t make sense…” Li Jing’s phone began to ring as she finished speaking. She looked at Zhao Yu as she answered the phone.
“Really? Are you telling the truth?” Li Jing exclaimed, shocked. “If that’s the case, then this is becoming more and more interesting!”