Chapter 6: The Eighteenth Level of Hell

  Cheng Long pried open the elevator door and we safely escaped from the inside. Everyone's eyes were in a state of extreme panic, except for Zhao Yong who remained calm and composed.

  "Don't be afraid, even if the power goes out, this Australian-made elevator will only slide down one or two floors at most. Remember, we are now conducting a covert investigation. If it were the main team cracking the case, you should now split into four routes and rush to the monitoring room, electrical control room, front 'gate', and back 'gate' to intercept all suspects."

  Everyone nodded, and the second team leader Wang Meng said: "With so many death threats and surprise bribery, everyone should stick to their hearts and pay attention to safety."

  Zhao Yong stepped towards the stairs, strolling casually as he said: "When solving a case, one must be on guard against blind spots and check every possible danger. When encountering this kind of situation, between the 16th to 18th floors, it's either a trap or something meant to scare people off. Who knows, maybe even a corpse will fall from above, so mentally prepare yourself."

  Gurgle!

  As soon as Zhao's voice fell, a human head rolled down from the corner of the 17th floor!

  "Ah~~~~" Even if I had mentally prepared myself beforehand, I was still startled, and the two "girls" let out a sharp cry.

  "It's fake." Luo Sansi hastily comforted the two 'girls': "You see, it's made of plastic, just smeared with some red stuff on top."

  "How detestable!" Lin Ruoyin was furious and stepped forward, her small foot flying up in a kick.

  "Don't move, it might be a booby trap." After Cheng Long raised his hand to stop her, he took out an instrument to measure. In less than half a minute, from the fake head, he pulled out... a sweet potato hand grenade!

  Second Lieutenant Liu Qi sighed repeatedly: "Fourth brother, let you see a joke, nowadays wherever we look are corrupt officials, everywhere are underworld thugs, this evil is almost overwhelming our justice!"

  "I like more challenging tasks," Zhao Yong continued upstairs.

  At this time, others didn't dare to say it, but I couldn't help but whisper a sentence at the back of the team: "Some people always say that others are small and inexperienced, but in fact, she is the most inexperienced."

  "Ren Chuanjie, you little brat want to die?" Lin Ruoyin's face turned bright red as she suddenly went into a rage.

  "What's wrong, wasn't it enough to harm us once, do you want to come again?"

  "You're despicable!!!"

  When we reached the 18th floor, our eyes widened in astonishment to see that the walls were painted with crimson-colored paint, on which was written:

  Eighteen Levels of Hell - Trespassers Will Definitely Die!

  We certainly won't be intimidated by such a boring threat and open the safety 'door' to enter.

  As I walked into the inner chamber, I found it was a long corridor, over 100 meters long!

  We walked past a small office, and the next one was the office of Liu Haibin, the president of the bank.

  This office is divided into two areas. After entering the 'door', it is the secretary's room, with a desk and chair, as well as a large sofa, landscape trees and other items.

  Walking into the innermost office, it's even more luxurious, with a high-end desk and chair, massage chair, fish tank, jade vase, four-in-one landscape tree, large sofa...

  Wang Meng said, "After repeated investigations, we found that four people borrowed large sums of money. They are Liu Yunxia, the head of the Water Conservancy Bureau, Shen Chiming, the chairman of Longjia Real Estate, Liu Meihui from Mei Hui Rongjin, and the Municipal Maintenance Team, which was signed by Mayor Chu Jiang. There are countless other irregularities, with a total amount of 300 billion yuan."

  Liu Qi stood sideways by the window, pointing outside and said: "The video, footprints, breath, and personnel records were all destroyed. The sanitation worker downstairs discovered it early that morning. There were bloodstains on the wall of the building, and when he looked up, he saw a person suspended in mid-air on the wall of the high-rise building. When the police arrived, they found Liu Haibin naked, with five ancient ghost-headed daggers stuck into his body. According to our expert appraisal, these ghost-headed daggers are ancient artifacts that coincidentally originated from Liu Haibin's hometown of Fenglong County in Shaanxi Province."

  We all went to take a look, the window was very small and only one person could bend over to pass through. How did the murderer do it? Such a murder, even if Liu Haibin cooperated with the murderer, it wouldn't be possible!

  Just as Zhao Yong looked up, Wang Meng smiled and said: "Don't look anymore, there's no clue above. In my opinion, the rumors of ghosts killing people are all nonsense spread by the common people. Even an air conditioner installer can think of three to five ways, we have seven or eight in our minds, it's not too many. The only evidence left by the murderer is those five ghost head stabs, I don't know if they're 'confusing' us or conveying some message to someone. Let's take a look at the body later."

  He said that, of course, we were not convinced, especially I, Cheng Long, Lin Ruoyin and Cheng Long. The four of us searched the office again from top to bottom.

  As a result, we found a large number of false and useless messages, in the end, we compromised, it seemed that there was really no way.

  Looking at Yong Ge and Lao Luo, one of them sat in an office chair, the other by the window, they were as stable as a mountain.

  Lin Ruoyin was a bit frantic: "The scene is not well protected, are those police officers downstairs eating free meals?"

  Zhao Yong, sitting by the window, turned his head and smiled: "This kind of case is called 'two curved lines can't form a circle', Old Luo, you're educating this young cadre."

  Luo Sansi sat leisurely in the boss's chair: "The beginning and end of a case is a circle, running through the whole case as a circular case. The puzzling point at the beginning of this kind of case is an arc, and the huge criminal system is also an arc. Now the situation is that from the beginning to the end, it can't be connected, and from the end to the beginning, it can't be connected either. At this time, the case is secondary, mainly considering the problem from the perspective of the country, how to minimize the loss to the country."

  At this time, Jiang Yu nodded and said: "My grandfather once said that the higher the position, the more difficult it is to do everything comprehensively. When losing balance, one should consider problems from the perspective of the interests of the majority."

  Lin Ruoyin was not convinced: "If the big shots think so, we small ones don't have to. If every task is done with precision and attention to detail, I believe that if everyone were like us, no matter how many things the leaders had to deal with, they could handle everything perfectly. What our country lacks is a spirit of perseverance."

  I exchanged a glance with Cheng Long, smiled wryly, and thought to myself, "Your elder sister doesn't lack money to spend", of course I thought that.

  If it were a man, seeing his wife and children waiting for food at home on the kang, if he couldn't earn money, what can't he do?

  Everything can't escape the influence of one benefit.

  We turned around and went to the morgue. The two 'girls' didn't go in, Cheng Long naturally protected us closely, and the five of us went in to take a look.

  Facing a frozen corpse that had been dissected, Zhao Yong personally took a look and found that the deceased had a dagger in each of the following places: under both ribs, on the soles of both feet, and in the middle of both thighs.

  "Enough cruelty!" Luo Sansi exclaimed: "Not directly killing, but stabbing five knives all over the body. If you don't want to fall down, you have to be bled. Between falling to death and being bled, they are entangled and die. This must be a deep hatred!"

  On the other side, Liu Qi said: "Colleagues also analyzed that the murderer intentionally killed him and uncovered this overwhelming dark curtain."

  Zhao Yong held an iron instrument on the side and said, "It's indeed an antique, such a 'fine' and intact antique is probably worth more than 30 million, this murderer has some meaning."

  I stretched my neck to take a look, it was an iron awl one foot long, as black as ink, roughly made but the cone head was a human skull shape, the iron awl was solid, and the sharp blade at the opening had become somewhat dull.

  Zhao Yong saw that I was very interested in the 'mysterious' appearance, and as a senior, he explained: "Looking at the color and the base print, this item is not cheap, but it's unknown what time period it came from. This is a small clue, but the chances of solving the case are slim. The autopsy report says death was due to excessive bleeding, but that's nothing to look at. When there's no way out and many uncertainties, you have to find someone. People versus people, the fun never ends, grab one person and pursue them relentlessly, this should be your strong point."

  "Hmm......" Is that all? I furrowed my brow slightly, and it seemed that even on the deceased's body, there was something to be found. I also saw the deceased's pre-mortem expression, which Wu Xing had explained to me before - this kind of limp, layered expression should be one of relief!

  It's clear that the deceased Liu Haibin had no grudges before his death, judging from his calm and peaceful expression. But if that's the case, he shouldn't have died in a pool of blood; wouldn't it be better for him to just jump off the building directly?

  Before death, there should be no entanglement or struggle. So, between jumping from a building and being stabbed by five ghost heads, he had a choice. Why did he choose the latter? This shouldn't be the calm and serene 'color' of release.

  Besides, Brother Yong said that this is a small clue with a low success rate, but I think it's very likely to be the starting point of one end of the two curved lines. If we draw further, they can be connected!

  I even have some doubts in my heart, whether the person who tried to stir up the wind and waves is actually Liu Haibin himself...

  "Chuan Jie, let's go, it's time for us to carry out our own mission." Zhao Yong patted me on the shoulder.

  "Yong Ge, can I take pictures of these five ghost heads and the dead man's head?"

  "What's wrong with taking a photo? Just don't forget about the confidentiality agreement..."

  On the way back, I put on that black skull punk outfit again, diamond earrings, Jiang Yi and Lin Ruoyin were also dressed up quite seductively, black silk high heels, thick makeup, it was quite stunning.

  While the two of them were dressing up in front of the mirror, Zhao Yong suddenly turned around and said: "I'm telling you, two beauties, decoration is not important. Look at Chuan Jie, he has a worried expression on his face, that's what we need, this 'cool' big brother style."

  "Hah~" Cheng Long hooked my neck and laughed: "Chuan Jie, aren't you afraid? Don't worry, with me, the godly marksman, protecting you at all times, you can just pretend to be scared, then lure them out to the wilderness and we'll take care of them in one go."

  "Hey, hey! Not so fast, don't forget the bribe, Director Lin is eagerly waiting." Lu Sansi hastily reminded.

  The two outsiders left, and everyone's suspicious eyes stared at me. I smiled indifferently: "To be a good policeman, you have to first become a master of crime. Don't worry, this little robbery is on me, no big deal."

  Zhao Yong's eyes didn't blink as he asked: "Chuan Jie, you've been acting strange since earlier, did something happen?"

  Everyone became even more tense and began to speculate wildly: "Has this kid been bribed by someone? Has he received money from someone?"

  Alright, you should know that you are a young and promising figure in the Major Crimes Unit.

  It was originally suspected that it would be such a taste, and at that time, I wanted to express my inner thoughts, this feeling, is indeed unbearable.

  Facing everyone's doubts, I lifted a extremely melancholic face and muttered: "Was I going to abduct his daughter-in-law or ruin his family's daughter?"

  "Get out~~~~~~~"