SFTD -Chapter 78 Who’s Next? (Part 16)

“Deputy Captain Wang, Wang Limin and Wang Shuli need to be isolated. Send someone to take Wang Limin down and escort the two of them back to the unit separately. Then contact the Xianyang police and check whether this Wang Shuli had any criminal record fifteen years ago.
Pay special attention to information about his wife. Some cases were never uploaded to the network system, and I keep feeling there are hidden connections here.”

Wang Man noted down everything Zhou Hai said and took Wang Limin downstairs. As they passed the police car where Wang Shuli was, two investigators forcefully shoved Wang Limin inside—the handcuffs biting tightly into his wrists.

The vehicle roared away, sirens flashing and disappearing into the distance. Wang Man walked to Wang Shuli’s side and tapped the roof of the car.

“You all head back too. Organize the search results, then take a statement from Wang Shuli and hand him over to the Public Order Unit for detention on prostitution charges.”

The officer nodded, took the paper Wang Man handed over, glanced knowingly at the back seat, and left with the others.

Wang Man led the remaining officers back to Unit 2. The property manager had already arrived and took them by elevator down to the underground parking garage.

Only after they descended did they truly understand the structure here. Guided by the manager, they began searching for the garage space with the electrical distribution box. After circling twice, they finally found the inconspicuous location.

Because from the side, the garage door was almost invisible—it formed a 90-degree angle with the utility room. Anyone passing by would easily overlook it. Moreover, it was not a rolling shutter door; instead, the entire wall was sealed off, with only a small side door near the utility room.

But the moment they approached, a foul, fishy odor hit them. In the corner were many dried water stains—clearly someone often urinated here.

Wang Man tried key after key from a large ring while Xu Biao adjusted his forensic lamp to maximum brightness, illuminating the dark garage.

“That’s bloodstain!”

At Xu Biao’s voice, Zhou Hai stepped closer. Following his pointing finger, there was indeed a smear of blood on the door, as if it had been wiped. Everyone held their breath. Xu Biao sprayed reagent—instantly, the stain fluoresced.

“Human blood!”

Just as the shout came out, Wang Man finally found the correct key.

The door creaked open. Zhou Hai raised a hand to stop everyone. Xu Biao lifted his light and peered inside—then with a loud clang, the forensic lamp fell from his hand.

Although it dropped, the light still stayed on. Zhou Hai looked past Xu Biao’s shoulder into the room—but saw nothing unusual.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

Xu Biao’s breathing was rapid as he pointed toward the innermost part of the room, trembling.

“A person! There’s a person hanging there!”

After steadying himself slightly, Xu Biao took a deep breath and raised the lamp again. Indeed, at the far end of the garage, a human-shaped figure was swaying.

Zhou Hai narrowed his eyes. It seemed this was truly Wang Shuli’s most private space. He grabbed the lamp from Xu Biao, found an old pull-cord switch on the wall, and tugged it lightly—the entire garage instantly lit up.

Light is the greatest comfort to humans; no matter how much fear there is, illumination always reduces it.

The room was divided into two sections by a large floral curtain hanging floor-to-ceiling.

The “hanging figure” they had just seen was actually the shadow of a set of clothes on a coat rack in front of the curtain. Xu Biao, upon seeing it clearly, let out a long breath of relief.

Directly facing the door was a large bed; on one side stood a wardrobe. The floor had no modern flooring, only an old-style red-painted surface, and the lower half of the walls were also coated in red paint.

The red paint was as glaring as blood, making the entire garage feel deeply unsettling. Wang Man and the others stood at the entrance looking in.

Xu Biao marked several areas on the ground with white chalk—clearly footprints.

Zhou Hai stepped over them and reached the floral curtain. He grabbed it and pulled sharply.

“Damn it!”

Xu Biao shuddered violently. This was practically a slaughterhouse. No wonder the walls were painted red—it was to conceal bloodstains.

A white slab, about the size of a massage table, appeared. On the wall was a rack filled with various knives. Beside it were two large buckets—one filled with water, the other covered in layers of blood stains. On the ground was a gas stove with a large iron pot on top.

Zhou Hai stepped forward, pulled out a long curved blade. Near the junction of handle and blade, there were dark brown stains. The entire knife radiated a heavy smell of blood.

The white slab nearby had clearly been scrubbed repeatedly, but bloodstains could not be completely washed away. Zhou Hai used tweezers to pick up a small bone fragment and examined it under a magnifying glass.

The cut surface was flat, slightly convex on one side, shaped like a fragmented joint surface of the humerus. Zhou Hai thought for a moment—only Wang Hong’s humerus had such a defect.

He placed the bone fragment into an evidence bag.

“Xu Biao, take all the knives back for testing. This seems to be the primary crime scene. Start processing it!”

Xu Biao began collecting evidence—walls, floors, slab, pot, curtain—everything that could be sampled was taken.

Even the large, blackened bucket was not spared; reddish-brown residue from its rim was scraped off with a knife and divided into multiple evidence bags.

Zhou Hai stood outside the curtain. There were also small dark spots on the bed, likely bloodstains. He tapped the area and called Xu Biao over, who quickly came to collect samples.

Zhou Hai walked slowly through the room. “Painting the walls and floor red… was it just for killing?”

Wang Man at the doorway walked in. “It seems too deliberate. Usually repainting is either for aesthetics or to cover something up.”

Zhou Hai suddenly turned to look at the property manager, who was already terrified, leaning against the door with keys clenched in his shaking hands.

“When was this garage sold to Wang Shuli?”

Startled by the sudden question, the manager blinked rapidly and flipped through a small notebook.

“In 2005, half a year after the residential area was completed. He bought it then. It couldn’t be sold to anyone else, so we didn’t insist that he had to be a property owner.”

“Nine years?” Zhou Hai murmured.

He used a surgical knife to peel open a bulging section of wall paint.

Perhaps due to poor ventilation and moisture accumulation, as Zhou Hai lifted it, a large sheet of red paint peeled away.

Behind it, the wall revealed dark brown bloodstains.

Xu Biao came over immediately and measured the height and shape of the stains.

“This is impact spatter. The spindle shapes are obvious. A homicide occurred here before the repainting.”

Zhou Hai looked at Wang Man. “Careful. Strip off the entire layer of paint. Label every piece in order. Can you do it?”

The phrase “Can you do it?” clearly provoked Wang Man. He waved his hand and led his team inside, copying Zhou Hai’s method—cutting and peeling the paint layer by layer.

Xu Biao had finished checking the bed area when he noticed they were about to move it. He tried to push it slightly—but it didn’t budge at all.

Zhou Hai narrowed his eyes. The weight was wrong.

He walked over and tapped Wang Man’s shoulder, making a “stop” gesture.

“Pause. Lift the mattress down first.”

Together they lifted the mattress and set it aside. The bed frame—made of four large boxes assembled together—was revealed.

Boxes?

Xu Biao reached out to open them.

Zhou Hai shouted sharply:

“Don’t move!”