SFTD -Chapter 179 A Severed Thumb (Part 9)

Chu Menghan answered the call, and Zhou Hai’s voice came through.

“Dr. Nan just called. He analyzed the chemical composition of the fluorescent paint found under the victim’s fingernails. It’s a type of paint commonly added to reflective coatings. Combined with the welding burns on the fingers, we suspect the victim worked for a company involved in traffic barricades or road safety facilities.”

Chu Menghan turned and walked out of the house, rubbing the bridge of her nose with a weary expression.

“There are hundreds, if not thousands, of companies in Dongnan City involved in that industry. How long would it take to investigate them one by one?”

Zhou Hai frowned, his tone turning firmer.

“Can you at least let me finish? Based on the body disposal locations and the ATM withdrawal points from Wang Yanming’s bank card, I did a geographic activity analysis. Within that range, I found three companies that fit the profile. I’ve already sent them to your phone. You can take the victim’s photo there now and check whether they have a welder named Wang Yanming.”

Chu Menghan immediately raised her phone and opened WeChat.

“Got it. I’ll send people to investigate right away.”

At that moment, Wang Man returned from outside the courtyard.

“We’ve already verified it. Wang Yanzhi and his wife really did go help Old Pan’s family in the east house last night. Wang Xisheng also left the night before yesterday. There were lots of people around the entrance who saw them, so it seems neither of them lied. As for Wang Xisheng’s arrival time at school, I’ve already asked Xiao Zeng to verify it.”

Wang Yanzhi and the local police officer also walked out of the room. Faint sobbing from the elderly man could still be heard inside—apparently Wang Yuling had told him something.

“Wang Yanzhi, right now we only suspect that the deceased might be your second brother. If we get confirmation, we’ll notify you. Leave your phone number with Deputy Captain Wang.”

After speaking, Chu Menghan walked toward the courtyard exit. Before she even got into the car, her phone rang again.

It was Huang Zhongsheng, who had been assisting with surveillance duties.

Chu Menghan’s heart sank.

“Captain Huang?”

“Come over. We’ve got a new discovery here!”

Half an hour later, Chu Menghan’s car sped to the location Huang Zhongsheng had provided.

The moment she stepped out, she saw Huang Zhongsheng standing inside the police tape with his arms folded, staring ahead. Chu Menghan quickly walked over. After all, he had come to support them.

“Captain Huang, thank you for your hard work.”

Huang Zhongsheng waved his hand.

“Come on, we’re the same rank. No need for the formalities. Just call me Big Brother Huang, and I’ll call you Menghan.”

“Alright then, Big Brother Huang. Tell me what’s going on.”

Chu Menghan looked ahead and saw two people in full forensic coveralls—one tall and skinny, the other short and fat. There was no need to guess; it was obviously Monk Fahai and Xu Biao.

“They’ve been examining the scene for a while?”

Captain Huang nodded.

“The killer’s anti-surveillance awareness is very strong. The garbage collection point we had under surveillance was only five hundred meters east of here. He probably sensed something, so he dumped the three bags of meat here instead.”

“Three bags of meat? That many this time?”

Captain Huang nodded and handed his phone to Chu Menghan.

“Three black plastic bags. Inside were neatly wrapped chunks of frozen meat bundled in plastic sheets and tied with fiberglass rope. One was placed in front of each trash bin. Luckily, we’d already informed the sanitation department internally. The garbage collector here took one look, thought it was suspicious, and immediately called 110. Our people rushed over and secured the scene right away, though we let the garbage truck leave to avoid causing panic among the public.”

Chu Menghan nodded.

By now, she had already changed out of her police uniform and into an inconspicuous padded jacket. Ever since returning to the city, public curiosity from yesterday’s events still hadn’t died down. If large numbers of police officers suddenly appeared again, it would only fuel more rumors.

“Have you checked the surveillance footage?”

“We’re working on it. We copied the traffic cameras from the intersection and the footage from the nearby hotel, but it’ll need to be manually reviewed.”

At that moment, Zhou Hai and Xu Biao hurried back. Without explaining anything, they quickly carried the forensic kit into the vehicle. After all, this was a busy downtown area.

Chu Menghan and Huang Zhongsheng followed them into the car and sat across from them.

“What did you find?”

Zhou Hai raised a thermometer.

“The outdoor temperature right now is fourteen degrees Celsius with a level-three southeast wind. Under these conditions, frozen meat of this volume would need roughly one and a half to two hours before blood water begins to seep out after thawing.

You received the report at 10:10, and we arrived here at 10:44. Just now, two of the three frozen meat packages had already started leaking a bit of blood water.

Which means the killer removed the meat from storage and dumped it here sometime between 8:40 and 9:10.”

Chu Menghan suddenly understood and nodded.

“So the storage location is very close to here and has convenient transportation access. Is that what you mean?”

Zhou Hai spread out a printed map showing the two previous body disposal garbage sites. He then marked the current location and circled the three points with a dashed line.

“The activity range matching those conditions lies within this area.

And now we can add another characteristic to the killer’s profile: he has access to freezing storage.

When we first discovered the frozen meat, we didn’t see any ice crystals, and the surrounding contamination was too severe to determine anything. But this time it’s very clear.

The killer has the capability to store two corpses simultaneously.

And the storage conditions are extremely dry—not a cold storage warehouse or industrial flash-freezing equipment. The packaging is very clean, with evenly distributed condensation droplets and no signs of wiping or handling.

That’s all we can infer from the exterior and the scene for now. The rest will have to wait until after thawing and examination.

What I really want to know is how the killer disposed of the bones.”

Chu Menghan exchanged a glance with Huang Zhongsheng.

“Alright. Then you guys head back to the center first. We’ll review the surveillance footage and continue checking those three companies for information on Wang Yanming.”

Xu Biao poked Chu Menghan and shot her a meaningful look.

“Didn’t you notice? Our four-person squad somehow became a two-person squad.”

Huang Zhongsheng lifted his leg and kicked Xu Biao lightly.

“You brat, stop acting mysterious and just say it already. Everyone’s stressed enough without you turning this into a guessing game.”

Xu Biao pouted and glanced sideways at Captain Huang.

“What do you know? This is called finding joy amid suffering. Bringing too much emotion into an investigation can lead you into cognitive bias… or whatever it’s called. I saw some psychology explanation about it yesterday.”

Huang Zhongsheng patted Xu Biao on the shoulder.

“Enough showing off the little theory you learned. Hurry up and tell us where those two went.”

“Haizi told the two of them to drag Xiao Zeng along and investigate those three companies.”

Chu Menghan lifted her eyes and looked at Zhou Hai, who was still constantly calculating something on the papers in front of him.

He was trying to lighten her burden.

What Xu Biao had just said was also his way of comforting her. Indeed, both she and Captain Huang had become somewhat impatient. And in that kind of emotional state, it was easy to overlook details—or worse, steer the entire case in the wrong direction.

“Thank you.”

Xu Biao raised his eyebrows at Chu Menghan with an expression like he’d seen a ghost.

“My god, Beauty Chu actually said thank you. First time ever. Which one of you recorded that just now?”

But Zhou Hai still didn’t look up, continuing to calculate something.

Chu Menghan looked puzzled and was about to lean over for a closer look when Xu Biao stopped her.

“Don’t interrupt him. He’s using some Manhattan measurement method or whatever, trying to calculate the killer’s activity radius and exact location.”

Huang Zhongsheng looked completely confused.

“Manhattan what method? What kind of nonsense is that?”