SFTD -Chapter 145 A Drop of Blood (Final)

Before long, they found a sharp slaughtering knife in the cellar. The electric baton and cash were not there, but on a wooden rack against the wall there were several mineral water bottles filled with a yellow liquid that looked like gasoline.

Xu Biao curiously walked over, picked one up, and was about to twist open the cap and sniff it when Zhou Hai reached out and stopped him.

“That’s urine!”

“It should be Zheng Chidong’s urine. Zhao Xinli, get a rapid drug test strip!”

The group climbed out of the cellar with the items. Zhao Xinli had already found the test strips. After testing, Zheng Chidong indeed showed a positive reaction for “party pills” (ecstasy). That finally revealed the trigger for his crimes.

“Let’s go. Interrogating a drug addict will be much faster.”

Just as Zhou Hai had predicted, after they returned to the criminal police team, it didn’t even take an hour before Zheng Chidong confessed everything—where Zheng Yuan was being held, and the entire process of the crime without missing a single detail.

It turned out Zheng Chidong’s father, Zheng Hongbo, was not Zheng Hongtao’s biological younger brother. He had been a child picked up by the old woman while she was out at the market. Seeing him pitiful, she brought him home and raised him. At that time, they had not yet moved to Suntan Village, so no one in the village knew about it.

Moreover, Zheng Hongtao had a strange temper—easily angered and explosive—so aside from superficial contact, the two families had very little interaction, though they still gave the old woman some money every year.

From a young age, Zheng Chidong had been jealous of Zheng Yuan. Although his older “brother” treated him well, he could not compare to Zheng Yuan in any way. His academic performance was especially terrible.

Later, he followed Zheng Hongbo to Shanghai to work as a plumber. Though the job was dirty and exhausting, the income was good.

As he grew older, he became unwilling to be controlled by his father and went out with coworkers to “broaden his horizons.” That was when he got hooked on ecstasy. The money he and his father earned was gradually stolen by him and he ended up deep in debt.

Around New Year’s Day, he received a call from Zheng Yuan saying he would come home later for the holiday, planning to earn some tuition money while working. Thinking of Zheng Yuan’s good living conditions and the newly built pig farm, Zheng Chidong slowly formed a plan. He lied that he wanted to visit him and took a bus to Beijing.

When he met Zheng Yuan, they got along very well. On the 30th, Zheng Yuan even took leave to accompany him around. While Zheng Yuan went to the bathroom, a text message came to his phone. Zheng Chidong secretly read it—it was from Zheng Yuan’s mother.

She told Zheng Yuan to come back early, saying his father was about to sign a five-year land contract with the village, worth over 400,000 yuan in total. She was worried it might be unreliable and wanted him to come back and help check it. The cash was also kept at home, which made her uneasy.

Zheng Chidong’s eyes lit up. Just when he was short of money, it was being delivered to him.

After Zheng Yuan returned, they went back to his rented apartment. On the way, Zheng Chidong bought duct tape. In the middle of the night, he knocked Zheng Yuan unconscious, tied his hands, feet, and mouth with tape, and stuffed him into a wardrobe in the rental apartment before fleeing.

But he didn’t forget to loot all of Zheng Yuan’s belongings. He also went downstairs to a tobacco shop and bought several packs of high-end cigarettes he had never smoked before. Since he was unfamiliar with the place and couldn’t get ecstasy, he had to use cigarettes to get by.

He then took a car to Migaos, bought a stun baton, and returned to Suntan Village by taxi. Since it was lunchtime and few people were around, he went straight into Zheng Hongtao’s house. Zheng Hongtao wasn’t surprised to see his nephew, and even set the table for him to eat together.

After eating, Zheng Chidong offered to clean up and helped the drunk Zheng Hongtao into the east room. Then he pulled out the stun baton and struck him hard on the back of the head. Even after seeing him convulsing, he didn’t stop until the man completely lost consciousness.

He then found a slaughter knife in the kitchen along with some rope. Wearing gloves, he tied Zheng Hongtao up, dragged him off the bed, and slit his throat. Still feeling it wasn’t realistic enough, he stabbed him repeatedly in the neck and shoulder, moving around the room to create chaos. To make the body drip blood while upright, he even used a small chess table to prop it up.

He also began searching for cash. Knowing the old man well, he quickly found 400,000 yuan hidden under a mattress. Seeing the scene still looked too clean, he threw everything out of cabinets and drawers and even did the same in the west room.

Only then did Zheng Chidong realize his uncle was also dead. He quickly put the table back, untied Zheng Hongtao, laid him on the ground, and then panicked, stuffing the cash into a backpack and fleeing.

He locked the courtyard door from inside, climbed onto the roof, and jumped into the alley. At that moment, he heard someone knocking on the gate. Panicking, he looked down and saw blood splattered on his shoes and pants—anyone seeing him would immediately suspect him.

He avoided the people coming out and ran to the east side of the village. Seeing the pig farm, his eyes lit up. Zheng Hongtao’s business partner never cared about the farm, and the old man was too stingy to hire workers, so he did everything himself. Now that he was dead, wasn’t this the safest place?

Thinking this, he climbed over the wall and went in.

Outside, the noise grew louder and louder. Zheng Chidong was relieved he hadn’t run out directly—he would have been caught immediately. Soon, the police arrived and seemed to only seal off the scene and village exits.

Zheng Chidong grew increasingly uneasy. He slept until midnight, then climbed out again. Just as he reached the village exit, a beam of flashlight swept across the road. Terrified, he turned and ran back home.

His mother heard the noise and came out quickly. Seeing him covered in blood, she understood everything without needing words.

She slapped him twice, but it was already too late. Zheng Chidong told her that all exits from the village were sealed. After thinking for a moment, she stripped off his bloodstained sportswear and burned it, replacing it with an old cotton jacket. She wrapped him in bedding and food and hid him in the cellar, hoping to wait until things calmed down before escaping. She did not tell Zheng Hongbo—at that point, with the police already involved, there was nothing more to say.

Thus, Zheng Chidong stayed in the cellar for a day and a night, nearly driven insane by fear.

That very day, Zheng Hongbo returned. After learning Zheng Chidong was hiding in the cellar, he guessed that his son was the culprit. But handing him over to the police was something he simply could not do. In desperation, he chose to resist the police.

The backpack buried in the cellar was eventually found—every bit of cash still there. But Zheng Yuan, who had been locked in a residence in Beijing, was not so lucky. When they found him, he had already died. The cause of death was suffocation. Zheng Yuan suffered from sinusitis and usually breathed through his mouth; once his mouth was sealed, he gradually suffocated.

After hearing Captain Xu relay the full account, Zhou Hai and the others no longer felt any excitement after solving the case.

A family—just like that—was gone.

Was it the fault of drugs?

Or the fault of upbringing?

Or should the old woman never have taken pity and brought that child home all those years ago?