SFTD -Chapter 346 Rooftop Human Skin (Part 5)

Xu Biao quickly thought it over, nodded, and dragged Da Liu away. Then he pointed back at the platform and said:

“Zhao Xinli and the others have already bundled that lump up. Take a look—how are we supposed to get it down? If we lower it with ropes by hand, it seems pretty dangerous!”

Zhou Hai didn’t quite understand what he meant and turned back to look.

In an instant, he understood.

Xu Biao was worried it might snap. After all, it had been exposed and dried on the rooftop; everything was extremely fragile now. If it were broken, it would probably crumble into pieces.

For a moment, Zhou Hai even thought of dried fish fillets and shuddered. Forget it—no need to ruin food thoughts today.

Xu Biao waved Da Liu over and the two went to the west-side balcony on the 19th floor to take a look.

Meanwhile, Zhou Hai walked toward the platform. At this moment, the tarpaulin had already wrapped up that “human-dried lump.” To prevent deformation on both sides, several long bamboo poles had been added inside, forming a crisscross frame.

Honestly, it was done quite well.

Wang Man had already gathered his people and instructed them to tie on more ropes. A young officer climbed onto the small platform below, pulling on a rope hanging down.

The remaining four officers tossed two ropes down to the ground floor, and together they slowly lowered the wrapped bundle.

The coordination between both sides was excellent. After all, there were many protruding decorative metal structures outside the building, so the bundle could only be transported diagonally downward.

Soon, one side reached the ground. The personnel below moved to the slanted side and steadily caught the bundle.

The transport vehicle that had been prepared earlier was already in position. They tilted the bundle slightly and pushed it into the back of the vehicle.

Everyone finally let out a breath of relief.

Zhao Xinli looked around and realized Da Liu and Xu Biao were gone. He immediately guessed Zhou Hai had assigned them other tasks. Pointing at the remains, he said:

“Boss, I’ll take the vehicle back to the center first. We’ll collect blood samples from the victim’s family, and also compare the DNA from the hair found on the comb. As for this body—do we still need to perform hydro-rehydration?”

Even as he said it, Zhao Xinli couldn’t help shivering. He had seen the hydro-rehydration process before—it was extremely intense. But this corpse now looked like a dried salted fish. How were they even supposed to soak it?

And more importantly—where would they even find a tank big enough?

Zhou Hai glanced at him, and Zhao Xinli felt that the look had a penetrating quality, as if all his little thoughts had been seen through. He quickly lowered his gaze.

“Hydro-rehydration is necessary,” Zhou Hai said. “But it won’t take too long. Don’t be fooled by how dried up she is—precisely because she’s like this, rehydration is actually easier.”

“As for the soaking tank, go find Xiao Liang. He prepared a huge stainless steel tank before—big enough to fit four people side by side. Is that big enough for you?”

Zhao Xinli nodded with a bitter smile. He felt like he was just asking for trouble.

“I’ll head back now and start the hydro-rehydration immediately. I’ll also ask Xiao Liang to prepare the solution.”

Zhou Hai nodded, but then stopped him with a hand.

“Ask when Sister Zeng will be back. There are many tests here that require her to do personally.”

Zhao Xinli looked confused and asked: “What, do you think this wasn’t an accident—but someone deliberately pushed the victim off?”

Zhou Hai looked into the distance, his lips tightly pressed together.

“It’s too early to say anything. After they finish inspecting upstairs, we still need an autopsy to find the answer.”

“After all, being sun-dried into a corpse like this isn’t something an ordinary family can accept. But look at the victim’s father—he seems very calm.”

Following Zhou Hai’s gaze, Zhao Xinli also stood on tiptoe and looked over.

A figure stood beside the police car, smoking. A young officer stood beside him. The man kept looking around, but his gaze never once fell toward the area where the body was being loaded.

The surrounding area had already been cleared by police and uniformed officers. The only person still standing there was most likely the victim’s father, Peng Chunling.

Even if it were a mentally impaired child, it was still his own daughter. Now that she had gone missing and suddenly turned up dead on a rooftop, his lack of emotion—no shock, no grief—felt strangely unnatural.

Zhao Xinli wanted to say something, but Zhou Hai shook his head, stopping him.

“Don’t jump to conclusions. And don’t let my speculation influence your judgment. It will lead you off track.”

“Stick to the evidence. Go back first—collect blood and run DNA tests. And make sure everything is recorded on body cams.”

Zhao Xinli nodded and turned to leave.

Wang Man clapped his hands and shouted to his subordinates: “Quick, clean up the scene! Fence off the lower platform. Everything we brought up here must be cleared out!”

Zhou Hai frowned slightly and looked at him.

“Clean the scene? What does that mean?”

Wang Man shrugged.

“We had a case before where, when we left, we left the area outside the shop all dirty and even dropped a couple of sealing tapes.”

“That shop owner had too much energy—he directly reported us to the Bureau of Spiritual Civilization, saying our behavior didn’t fit the image of civil servants in Dongnan City, and wasn’t good for creating a national-level hygienic city.”

“Besides, soldiers are supposed to not take even a needle or thread from the public. Police officers, while protecting the scene, should also keep the surroundings clean and not affect public sanitation.”

Zhou Hai stared at him for a long time, then frowned.

“I’m not sure I understand. What does this mean?”

Wang Man chuckled helplessly and put an arm around Zhou Hai’s shoulder.

“Forget it, no point complaining. Just do what we’re supposed to do. After each scene, we try to restore it to how it looked before we arrived. Think of it as a good habit.”

Now Zhou Hai seemed to understand a bit more. He pulled Wang Man toward the third-floor room and entered the hallway.

“Let’s go see how Xu Biao and the others are doing.”

The two took the elevator up to the 19th floor.

Just as they were about to get out, they heard a burst of shouting and door-slamming outside—but it was hard to tell where it was coming from through the elevator door.

With a ding, the doors opened.

But the hallway outside was empty. The argument still seemed to be there, only muffled, locked inside some room.

They walked straight toward the west-side apartment.

The door was wide open. Inside, they saw two people crouching on the balcony in the living room.

Zhou Hai scanned the room. A teenage boy stood in front of a bedroom door.

From inside the room came faint sobbing and pleading, but the boy was gripping the door handle without moving, staring silently at Xu Biao and the others—even when Zhou Hai entered, he didn’t react at all.

This must be Peng Chunling’s younger brother.

That gaze was familiar—exactly like the father downstairs: extremely detached.

As if everything happening here, including the dead person, had nothing to do with him.

Could the whole family be like this?

Zhou Hai thought as he walked toward the balcony.

Xu Biao stood up upon hearing footsteps and shook his head.

“There are signs of stepping here, but they’re all over the balcony. It’s impossible to distinguish which ones were intentional and which were from struggling.”

Zhou Hai stood at the balcony edge and looked outside.

High-rise apartments with open balconies like this were rare, since for safety reasons most people had enclosed theirs. Only a few units hadn’t. The Peng family was one of them.

For others, it might be fine—but this family had two members with intellectual and mental disabilities. Why was the balcony still completely open?

Was it financial reasons? Or something else?

Zhou Hai took a deep breath and turned back.

“Any other findings?”