Chapter 3: The Scene of the Abandoned Corpse

  The next morning, Zhang Qiang was pulled out of bed by Wu Hui. Zhang Qiang was a bit annoyed, but when he saw the expression on Wu Hui's face, he swallowed his anger because on Wu Hui's face, he saw the Wu Hui from back then.

  "Want to go together?" Wu Hui asked Zhang Qiang while putting on his coat.

  Without washing up, Zhang Qiang hastily put on his clothes and followed Wu Hui out the door, "Go, of course we have to go, come quickly."

  "How was it, did you figure it out? I saw you going to 2604 last night, so I knew what you were thinking." Zhang Qiang said with a mouthful of the fried dough sticks he bought from the street vendor.

  "Stop talking nonsense, swallow your words and then speak again, don't worry about choking." Last night Wu Hui read through the case files all evening, there were some places he didn't quite understand, he wanted to go see for himself.

  The first stop, Wu Hui went to the airport, because from Guo Yining's case file he saw that after the victim arrived at the airport, she didn't receive anyone and left alone by taxi. What was the reason that made her not receive that person?

  After arriving at the airport, as soon as he walked into the airport hall, he saw Guo Yining and Fang You standing at the door waiting for him. Wu Hui took a look at Zhang Qiang and knew that it was he who had called them over. It's good that they were called over, with their police identity, things would be easier to handle.

  "Good morning, Wu Hui." Fang You didn't know who Wu Hui was, but seeing how seriously Guo Yining treated him, he also showed great courtesy when meeting Wu Hui.

  "Good morning!" Wu Hui nodded and replied, "Officer Guo, there's something that still needs your help. Can you find the taxi driver who drove the victim on that day?"

  "Ah, found it. According to the driver's account, the victim took a taxi from De Xin apartment directly to the airport. The victim told the driver to wait for a while, saying she was going to pick someone up. The driver was initially unwilling, but the victim offered double the fare, so the driver agreed to wait. This incident also left a deep impression on the driver of the victim." Guo Yining recounted what he had learned to Wu Hui.

  "I saw the surveillance footage provided by the airport, and the victim did not meet with anyone and left alone."

  "The taxi driver also said that the victim was very happy when she came, and the taxi driver thought she was picking up her boyfriend. However, after leaving the airport, the victim became somewhat angry and had a bad attitude towards the taxi driver."

  "What about afterwards? Where did the victim get off?" Wu Hui followed Guo Yining to the airport's surveillance room to review the footage from that day.

  "De Xin apartment, but did not return home." Guo Yining was somewhat puzzled, the victim returned to De Xin apartment where he lived, why didn't he go back home.

  "Has the surveillance around been checked? No sign of the victim has been found?" Wu Hui knew that now there were surveillance cameras everywhere, and if someone was lost, they wouldn't be impossible to find.

  "No discovery was made because the surveillance cameras at the entrance of De Xin apartment were under maintenance that day, so we checked the surveillance cameras of De Xin apartment and did not find the victim returning home."

  Wu Hui listened to Guo Yining's words while watching the surveillance video, and indeed one scene caught her attention. "Hmm? Pause for a moment, can you enlarge this shot?" Wu Hui found that the victim's facial expression changed, originally smiling, suddenly the smile disappeared, and looked somewhat angry. "Switch shots, see who she is looking at."

  The security guard heard Wu Hui's words and looked in the direction of the camera, seeing that there were three people in front of the victim: a woman with great charm, a man who had just returned from a business trip, and a young man wearing headphones.

  "Officer Guo, check who these three people are and where they came from." Wu Hui knew that among these three people, there must be the person the victim was supposed to meet.

  "Alright, I'll send someone to investigate right away." Guo Yining made a phone call and had the team members go check on the identities of the three people.

  "Captain Guo, I want to go to the scene where the body was dumped." Wu Hui always felt that they would find something at the scene where the body was dumped, so he volunteered to go there.

  As for Wu Hui's request, Guo Yining was somewhat surprised, but still went with him to the scene where the body was abandoned.

  After arriving at the scene, Wu Hui saw the police cordon and suddenly felt a sharp pain in his head, which was unbearable. Zhang Qiang hurriedly supported Wu Hui, "How are you? Are you okay?"

  Kuo Yin-ning also had some concerns, "If it's not going to work out, we'd better not look at it. The photos of the crime scene are all in the case files."

  Wu Hui waved his hand and took a few deep breaths. He had to take this step, "I'm fine, let's go!"

  Wu Hui took a look at the scene where the body was abandoned, then turned around in all directions, hoping to find something related to the case. The Legal and Political Department is still quite serious and meticulous in doing things. At the scene where the body was abandoned, Wu Hui did not find any valuable clues. When he was about to give up, at a place about 200 meters away from the scene where the body was abandoned, something shiny caught Wu Hui's eyes.

  "What is this thing?" Guo Yining followed Wu Hui and also saw it. The scene that day was overcast, and they didn't see the thing because today's sun was particularly good, and only under the sunlight did they spot the overlooked object.

  "I remember that on the day I saw the victim, there was a rabbit on her phone case, and on the rabbit's ear was this rhinestone bow. This bow is about the size of a fingernail, and in this desolate place, it's really hard to find."

  In front of us is a main road with people and vehicles coming and going, it seems the murderer didn't plan to hide the body. "The victim's mobile phone still hasn't been found?"

  "No, I've searched the scene thoroughly and couldn't find it. But I didn't think to look for accessories on the phone case, which means the phone is still with the killer. Why would he leave behind the victim's phone? Is it to cover up something?" Guo Yining took the evidence bag handed over by Fang You and put the diamond butterfly knot inside.

  "It's possible, but there's another possibility that the killer kept it as a trophy." Some serial killers like to keep something from their victims as trophies, which satisfies their abnormal psychology.

  "If Wu Hui's guess is correct, then the people who were harmed before must also be missing something. It seems that he needs to carefully study the case files of the previous few people." "Officer Guo, if it's convenient, I'd like to take a look at the information on the previous victims."

  "No problem, Fang You, you go back to the office and pick it up, then send it over to Wu Hui's place." Upon hearing Guo Yining's words, Fang You drove back to the office to retrieve the materials.

  "Wu Hui, how is it? Any leads?" Zhang Qiang walked to Wu Hui's side and saw that his eyebrows were furrowed, knowing this was his habitual action when he found a key issue.

  "Not yet, wait until I get the first three cases, I think I can see what I want." Wu Hui patted the dirt off his hands and walked with Guo Yining towards the car parked on the road, leaving the scene where the body was abandoned.

  Wu Hui and the other two did not go home, but instead returned to the bureau together. Fang had called to say that the three people at the airport had been found and were now waiting at the bureau for Guo Yining to return and ask them questions.

  Wu Hui was not a police officer and could not participate in the interrogation. However, Guo Yining let him stay in the listening room, where he could hear the entire process of their inquiry.

  The first person to be questioned was that woman at the airport. Judging from her attire and makeup, she seemed like an ordinary office worker.

  "Wang Ying, hello, I have some trouble to ask of you. Have you ever seen this woman?" Fang You put the victim's photo in front of Wang Ying.

  Wang Ying took a look at the photo and saw that the woman in it was extremely fashionable and beautiful. She had never met anyone like this before, "Sorry, I haven't seen her."

  "Are you sure?" Fang asked again.

  "Well, I can be certain, I've never seen him." Wang Ying put down the photo and pushed it to the middle of the table.

  "Where did you go after leaving the airport on November 9th?" Fang Yu took back the photo and made a note in his notebook.

  "On the 9th, I returned to Xi'an from a business trip. My boss asked me to send back the report from the trip immediately. She said that she had been on a business trip for a week and returned to Lincheng in the afternoon. Originally, she planned to go home, take a hot bath, and rest well. However, as soon as she got off the plane, her boss called her and asked her to return to the office quickly. So, I hailed a taxi at the airport and waited for about half an hour before it arrived. The driver had a terrible attitude and said that he didn't want to drive because it was a loss-making trip. He only came after I threatened to complain about him. Later, around 6 pm, just before the company closed, I arrived at the office and discussed the details of the business trip with my boss."

  "What's next?" Fang was taking notes seriously and looked up at Wang Ying.

  "Afterwards, the boss said some plans need to be revised a bit, so I was asked to stay behind and work overtime."

  "How late will you be working? Is there anyone who can vouch for you?"

  "At that time, there was another person who was working overtime with me, my colleague. We worked together until 7 o'clock in the morning to finish the task assigned by our boss. Then we went to have breakfast together, and after finishing breakfast, we parted ways and each returned home."

  "Alright, thank you for your cooperation. If there's anything else, we'll be in touch with you again." Guo Yining thought Wang Ying didn't say a word, lowered her head and said a few words to the other party, then took Wang Ying out and brought in a fashionable man.

  "Are you Xu Weidong?" Guo Yining looked at the young man in his early twenties sitting in front of him.

  "Yes, officer, what's the matter? You've called me here, but I haven't done anything against the law." Xu Weidong looked around at his surroundings, this was his first time entering an interrogation room, and he felt a bit curious.

  "Don't worry, if you've done something illegal, we police will absolutely not wrong you. Now there are some things to ask you, hoping you can answer truthfully." As he spoke, Guo Yining pushed the victim's photo in front of Xu Weidong, "Do you recognize the person in this photo?"

  Xu Weidong took the photo and said, "I recognize her, of course I do. Such a beautiful girl, one glance and I remember her. What's wrong, officer? Has she committed a crime?"

  "Never mind other things, just tell me how you know each other."

  "I thought I knew her, but actually I didn't. We just met once, on the 9th, when I got off the plane and saw her at the arrival gate. She seemed to be waiting for someone. I was going to go up and ask for her WeChat number, but before I could, she turned around angrily and left. I chased after her a few steps, then remembered my luggage wasn't picked up yet, so I went back to get it. After that, I never saw her again." Xǔ Wèi Dōng thought about this with some regret, thinking that if he hadn't checked his luggage, maybe now he'd be having tea and chatting with the beauty.

  "How many people did you see her with at that time?"

  "It was just her, I'm sure of it. She must not have received the person she was supposed to meet and left. " Xu Weidong thought for a moment, as if he remembered something, "Oh right, I remember when I came out after picking up my luggage, I saw her standing at the airport entrance, staring at something motionless."

  "Do you know what she's looking at?"

  "I don't know about this, she just took a glance and then got into a taxi and left."

  "After getting off the plane on flight 9, where did you go?"

  "Officer, you can't be suspecting me, I haven't done anything!" Xu Weidong was somewhat frightened when he heard the police questioning him.

  "Don't worry, it's just a routine inquiry, nothing will happen, you just need to answer truthfully." Guo Yining was already used to Xu Weidong's reaction.

  "After getting off the plane, I called a friend to come pick me up in his car. Then I went outside the airport to smoke while waiting for him. It took about ten or twenty minutes before he arrived. Afterwards we went to a bar to drink until morning before heading home."

  "Alright, thank you for your cooperation. If you remember anything, feel free to call me anytime." Guo Yining handed his business card to Xu Weidong and then had Fang You escort him out.

  Zhang Qiang looked at Wu Hui and said, "How is it? Have you figured out anything?"

  Wu Hui smiled and pointed at Xu Weidong who was about to leave, "He has something hidden."