SFTD -Chapter 63 Who’s Next? (Part 1)

October 8, 2014 — the first workday after the National Day holiday.

The moment he stepped into the office, Xu Biao jogged over with a grin and slapped Zhou Hai on the shoulder.

“Haizi, a rare few days off — where’d you go have fun?”

Zhou Hai shook his head.

“Didn’t go anywhere. Stayed home, read three novels and watched six movies.”

Fengzi walked in from outside laughing.

“So the boss is actually a homebody! By the way, how come I heard Xu Biao got himself a girlfriend?”

Xu Biao froze, then immediately leaned toward Fengzi with an exaggeratedly sweet smile.

“Hold on, since when did that happen? How come I didn’t know? Is she pretty? Or are you planning to have sister-in-law help me solve my lifelong problem?”

Fengzi looked speechless and shoved away the chubby face inches from his own.

“A friend told me. They were having coffee downstairs at Wanda Cinema and saw you meeting a girl. Though it didn’t seem to go very well.”

The grin slowly disappeared from Xu Biao’s face.

“Oh, that thing. My mom was afraid I’d die alone, so she introduced me to someone. The girl took one look at me and wanted to leave immediately. She said I looked too greasy, my salary was too low — not even enough to cover half a month of her expenses. No house, no car, no savings. I thought at least I looked decent, but apparently the difference between my real face and my photo was too big.”

Zhou Hai looked puzzled.

“What photo?”

Xu Biao shrugged and pulled out his phone.

“This graduation photo.”

Zhou Hai glanced at it. The Xu Biao in the picture was nowhere near as round as he was now. Wearing a graduation cap, he actually looked quite handsome.

Truly, gaining weight could destroy a person’s entire image.

Zhou Hai patted him on the shoulder.

“That girl was pretty merciful. If it had been someone else, she might’ve called the police directly.”

Fengzi laughed so hard his shoulders shook.

“They say every fat guy is a potential stock. Can’t you show a little ambition? Lose sixty pounds and return to your peak looks!”

Xu Biao brushed away Zhou Hai’s hand, shoved Fengzi aside, and pinched the roll of fat around his waist with a pained expression.

“Get lost, all of you! My appetite’s been terrible lately. I basically survive on water and melon, and I still gained six pounds. You skinny people could never understand this suffering.”

Just then, Xiao Liang pushed open the door carrying two large bags, instantly drawing everyone’s attention.

“Whoa!” Xu Biao exclaimed. “Student Xiao Liang’s pretty strong. What’d you bring?”

Xiao Liang lifted the two large cloth bags onto the table and untied them. One oversized food container after another appeared before them.

All food.

Braised pig trotters, duck necks, duck heads, duck wings, chicken legs, pork intestines, dried tofu, braised eggs — three containers of each.

Xu Biao swallowed hard and opened the top container. Instantly, the rich aroma of braised spices filled the room.

“My mom made these last night and told me to bring them for everyone to take home. I wanted to treat you guys to dinner, but none of you would go. So my mom came up with this idea instead. Back in the day, she actually ran a braised food shop — the taste is guaranteed!”

Zhou Hai understood this was Xiao Liang’s mother expressing her gratitude. After a moment’s thought, he nodded.

“Please thank your mother for us.”

Xu Biao sidled up and glanced at Zhou Hai.

“You live alone. Can you even finish this much food? How about I help you out?”

Fengzi rolled his eyes. Just moments ago Xu Biao had been complaining about a girl disliking him for being fat, and now he’d already forgotten all about it.

“Glutton.”

Xu Biao lifted his chin stubbornly.

“I have to live up to the title of Fatty. Got a problem with that?”

Just then, the office phone rang.

Xu Biao instantly looked nervous. He rushed over to check the number, and his expression worsened immediately. He picked up the receiver.

“Hello?”

“Hello, this is Dispatch Center. Is Forensic Doctor Zhou from Team Two there?”

Xu Biao raised the receiver toward Zhou Hai.

“Haizi, it’s for you!”

Zhou Hai took the phone.

“This is Zhou Hai.”

“In Changhe District’s Sino-Korean Pedestrian Street, workers recovered suspected human bones from a sewer. Director Liu asked Team Two to head over and take a look. We’ll send the address to your WeChat shortly.”

“Understood.”

After hanging up, Zhou Hai patted Xu Biao, who was still staring at the braised food.

“Put all this in the cafeteria refrigerator. Time to work. Human bones were found in the sewer at Changhe District’s Sino-Korean Pedestrian Street.”

Xu Biao looked conflicted as he packed away the containers, muttering under his breath.

“See? This time it wasn’t my crow mouth.”

Fengzi glanced at his white shirt and immediately sprinted toward the changing room. Crawling into a sewer later would definitely ruin this new outfit, so he hurried off to change.

Half an hour later, Fengzi’s speeding car arrived at the destination.

This was Changhe District’s Sino-Korean Pedestrian Street. The towering archway carried a distinctly foreign charm.

Both sides of the street were lined with specialty food shops and Korean stores. The décor, clothing, and smells all made it feel as though one were walking through the streets of Seoul.

At the entrance of the pedestrian street, they could see Chu Menghan standing with a team of officers in the distance.

Her graceful figure looked especially striking in a police uniform. When the wind brushed past and blew loose strands of hair across her face, many passersby paused to watch as she tucked them behind her ear.

Zhou Hai quickly shifted his gaze away and walked over carrying the investigation kit with the others.

Hearing the footsteps, Chu Menghan lifted her eyes and smiled with a nod.

“Sorry to drag you over on the very first day after the holiday.”

Xu Biao raised his brows at Fengzi. Compared to before, Chu Menghan seemed much gentler now.

Fengzi poked him immediately, signaling him not to start trouble.

Zhou Hai shot Xu Biao a warning glance, and Xu Biao instantly backed down.

“It’s fine. Tell us about the situation.”

Chu Menghan pointed toward a sewer maintenance opening by the roadside.

“A couple of days ago, some shop owners on this pedestrian street complained that the sewer smelled horrible and asked the city department to deal with it. Yesterday afternoon, workers from the municipal engineering department came to start clearing it. Today, about two hundred meters east of this entrance, they found a large amount of sticky floating matter that looked like pork fat. The dredging equipment got clogged. So workers went down to clear it manually and pulled out some bones from inside the pipe. The more they looked at them, the more they seemed like human bones, so they reported it. The bones are right here.”

Following the direction of Chu Menghan’s finger, Zhou Hai finally noticed a bamboo basket beside the sewer opening. Inside were bones of various sizes.

Zhou Hai walked over. The bones were covered in sludge and grease.

At some point, Xu Biao had found a large bucket of water and roughly rinsed the bones clean, revealing their original appearance.

Zhou Hai picked out a humerus, a femur, a human molar, and several rib fragments.

There were numerous chop marks on both the femur and humerus. It seemed someone had tried to sever the bones, but the blade used hadn’t been suitable. Instead, it had only carved deep grooves into the surface.

When Zhou Hai touched the grooves, the edges still felt extremely sharp.

For a body to be reduced directly to bare bones, either it had decomposed over a long period of time, or someone had deliberately removed the muscle tissue.

These chopping marks suggested the victim may have been dismembered and stripped of flesh before being dumped into the sewer.

But this was a commercial district packed with people. Even knowing it was a dismemberment case, finding evidence would be incredibly difficult.

Holding up the humerus, Zhou Hai looked at Chu Menghan.

“Your judgment was correct. These are human bones.”