SFTD -Chapter 354 Rooftop Human Skin (Part 13)

This question caused Zhou Hai to fall into brief contemplation, but he didn’t dwell on it for long.

He directly asked, “What did you do today?”

Peng Chunyang shrugged and tilted his head toward the balcony.

“I saw you guys searching downstairs yesterday.

Then I stood in the corridor and listened for a while. That’s when I realized… it might be Peng Chunling who died!

I was terrified at the time. I thought back to what happened two weeks ago, and the more I thought about it, the more it seemed possible—that Peng Chunling fell from my house. Do you know how much I’d have to pay for that?!

So today, I’ve been hiding at my uncle’s place in Building 7 behind here.”

Zhou Hai raised his hand to interrupt him and walked closer, staring straight into his eyes.

“Let’s put that aside first. You just said there was a Coke bottle lying sideways on your coffee table? A plastic one? Did you search your home thoroughly and not find a second Coke bottle?”

Peng Chunyang didn’t understand why this thin man in police uniform was so fixated on a Coke bottle, but he still recalled carefully.

“The one spilled on the coffee table—I remember it very clearly. I can’t be wrong. I did look for another one, but I didn’t find it. I even checked under the sofa.”

Zhou Hai glanced at Wang Man, who immediately understood and waved his hand. Except for the two men holding Peng Chunyang, everyone else immediately began searching the room, turning it upside down.

Indeed, there was nothing. Not even under the sofa, where a thick layer of dust showed it clearly hadn’t been cleaned for a long time. If a bottle had rolled there, it would have left marks—but nothing was found.

Xu Biao crouching on the balcony shouted, “Hai Zi, come take a look!”

Zhou Hai quickly walked over. Xu Biao was crouched in the southeast corner, pointing at the corner of the balcony wall.

“Look at this. Does it look like something spilled here?”

Zhou Hai waved his hand. Xu Biao stood up—his large frame blocked the narrow space, so Zhou Hai stepped forward instead.

The balcony wall was not tiled or wallpapered like most homes, but painted with white latex paint, already showing years of aging.

The base color had turned yellow, and long exposure to wind and sun had caused some powdering and flaking.

Zhou Hai used a magnifying glass and examined the area Xu Biao pointed to. Indeed, the wall there seemed slightly darker than the surroundings, though the boundary was unclear. He touched the surface—white powder stuck to his glove.

“Brush.”

Xu Biao handed him a small brush. After sweeping away the white powder, a coffee-colored droplet with a trailing tail appeared.

“Xu Biao, extract this,” Zhou Hai said.

Xu Biao looked delighted. He had been worried the wall would crumble completely and didn’t dare touch it, but seeing it intact gave him confidence.

“Two minutes, extraction complete.”

Zhou Hai lowered his voice. “Anything else?”

Xu Biao nodded and leaned closer.

“On the inner side of the window sill, we found two complete fingerprints. They’re covered in dust—already collected.”

Xu Biao quickly knelt down to mark and photograph the area, then began further collection. Da Liu also followed his example, searching inch by inch.

Zhou Hai looked at Peng Chunyang, then pulled Wang Man out of the room. They stood in the corridor.

“Captain Wang, I don’t think Peng Chunyang is lying—at least not about the Coke bottle.

Now Xu Biao has found Coke traces and fingerprints on the balcony. The next step is interrogating Peng Chunlei, and another is searching the rooftop platform for the bottle itself. That depends on our luck.”

Wang Man nodded, took out his phone, and ordered the remaining personnel to search the rooftop platform, instructing them to bag any bottle they found immediately as evidence.

He then looked at Zhou Hai, lips pressed tightly, brows furrowed.

“If we can’t find solid evidence in this case, it’s going to turn into a back-and-forth between the two suspects. Right now their statements directly contradict each other—there’s nothing clear from testimony alone.”

Zhou Hai shook his head.

“Both sides are withholding information. This isn’t a calm, simple situation. Otherwise, Peng Chunling wouldn’t have panicked so severely that she chose to jump out of the window. And the reactions of both families’ fathers are strangely consistent—indifferent, and trying to protect their children as much as possible.”

Wang Man followed Zhou Hai’s reasoning and suddenly understood.

“You mean… both families know the truth, or at least don’t care about what happened, as long as it doesn’t affect the children?”

Although reluctant to admit it, Zhou Hai still nodded.

“Yes. Maybe the truth doesn’t matter to them. After all, Peng Chunling was an insignificant, burdensome ‘loss’ to them—otherwise she wouldn’t have been missing for over ten days without anyone caring.”

“Alright. I’ll send the collected evidence for testing. Solving and analyzing the case is your job. At least Peng Chunyang and Peng Chunlei won’t be able to clean themselves of this.”

Just then, the door opened. Xu Biao and Da Liu came out carrying evidence bags. From their confident expressions, it was clear they had more findings. Zhou Hai suppressed the urge to punch Xu Biao and glanced at him.

“What else did you find?”

Xu Biao didn’t act coy and directly lifted an evidence bag.

“Hair found on the balcony. I compared it with the wife of Peng Guodong from the bedroom—it’s finer, black, naturally colored. Based on the length, it’s definitely not a man’s.”

Zhou Hai took a look.

“Due to severe loss of fat tissue after death, the hair follicles were basically expelled, so we can’t accurately judge her hair density or color. We’ll take it back for DNA comparison. One of you should go back first—there’s too much evidence to process.”

Da Liu stepped forward.

“I’ll go back. If anything happens here, Xu Biao is more capable of handling it.”

Zhou Hai nodded. Just as he was about to respond, Wang Man’s phone rang.

“Boss, we found more than ten bottles on the rooftop platform—but we don’t know which one it is!”

Everyone immediately rushed down to the third floor and headed to the rooftop.

Sure enough, eight officers had already searched the entire platform. On a woven bag on the ground lay more than twenty plastic bottles.

Xu Biao and Da Liu crouched down, inspecting them one by one. Some with Fanta logos were thrown aside. Others, faded and covered with moss, were also discarded.

It had been half a month of dry weather with no rain.

If moss had grown, it meant the bottle had been there for a long time. The remaining dozen were all Coke bottles—Coca-Cola and Pepsi alike.

Xu Biao carefully checked production dates while Zhou Hai crouched nearby without touching anything, just observing.

Suddenly, one bottle caught Zhou Hai’s attention. He picked it up with gloved hands.

Inside the dried inner wall of the bottle, there was something stuck—like a dried, peeling residue. On closer inspection, it resembled mucus or thick phlegm, now dehydrated into a curled bubble-like shape sticking to the inside wall.

Xu Biao leaned in.

“Hai Zi, what did you find?”

Zhou Hai handed him the bottle. Xu Biao examined it with a magnifying glass and immediately sucked in a breath.

“Hiss…”

“This kind of bubble-like residue… a lot of things could form it, but it doesn’t really look like what you’re thinking.”

Da Liu also leaned in. Though he didn’t speak, his expression agreed.

Behind them, Wang Man grew impatient.

“Stop speaking in riddles! Just say what it is! And what exactly do you think it is?”

Xu Biao grinned mischievously.

“Take a guess?”