I was stunned. Never would I have expected this guy to be so arrogant. So, I secretly unlocked my cell phone in my pocket. Because I often used the voice recorder, I completed my task without having to look at my phone. “Then you admit that you committed all those murders?"
Zhang Qiang laughed scornfully and began to play the fool. "What are you talking about? I don't understand what you mean at all."
What a cunning man! I scoffed at him. "Fine, just you wait. We'll find evidence sooner or later."
Zhang Qiang pretended to be confused. "What do you mean? By the way, I’m done mending your jacket. Here you go!"
As I grabbed my jacket and was about to leave the tailor’s shop, Zhang Qiang cracked a sinister smile. "It's getting dark. Be careful on your way!" Then, he dragged a finger across his throat in a cutthroat gesture.
This episode greatly surprised me, exceeding anything I had anticipated. But fortunately, I obtained a sample of his DNA.
I hurried over to Cao Dazhuang’s old house. The police were already there. When I entered the room, they were all gathered around a boy who was engrossed in a game of League of Legends. I asked curiously, "What’s going on?"
Xiaotao’s expression was one of helplessness. "This damn nerd refuses to get up until he finishes his game. So we all have to wait!"
"Who’s a damn nerd? Watch how you speak. How disrespectful you are to drop by unannounced and order me to leave!” The boy adjusted his thick glasses and complained, not bothering to turn around.
Xiaotao glared at him with her hands on her hips. "If I didn't respect you, I wouldn't be standing here like an idiot, watching you play your game."
On the computer screen, Garen suddenly jumped out from the underbrush. With a wave of his sword, the boy’s in-game character–Riven–was instantly slain. I said, "Bro, you’re terrible at this. You might as well surrender now!"
The boy refused. "No, I won’t give up until the last moment!"
I looked around and noticed that the room was in a state of neglect. There were lunch boxes and cigarette butts strewn all over the place, including cardboard boxes that he hadn’t bothered to discard from when he had first moved in. However, the fact that this house was rented by the nerd was good news for me. It was likely he had never once cleaned the place.
The boy finally ended the game. He stood up and stretched himself. "You can check the place, but don't touch the important files in my hard disk."
Xiaotao retorted, "Who has time to go through your important files?!"
After the boy went out, we closed the door and began to investigate the scene. The floor was covered with a layer of cheap rubber mat to make it look like the actual floor, which seemed that way at a glance. The technical support officers uncovered the rubber mat to reveal a concrete floor. They sprayed it with luminol and used ultraviolet light to look for traces of blood.
Bingxin deliberately asked, "How can anyone live like this? Xiaotao-jiejie, is your place this messy?"
Naturally, Xiaotao didn’t back down. "Why don’t you ask Song Yang? He’s slept over at my place."
Bingxin hid her shock with feigned composure. “Hmph, what's the big deal? We slept together in the same bed when we were young, didn't we, Song Yang-gege?"
I scowled and said, "I’m not a famous escort from the capital. What’s there to boast about?"
I didn’t think I’d have a chance to show off my wit amidst their fun.
The technical support team didn’t find anything on the floor, walls or bathroom. All of a sudden, Bingxin let out an ear-piercing scream and grabbed my arm. "Ahhh! There’s a mouse!"
Looking down, a little mouse had emerged out of nowhere and started sniffing around. Perhaps sensing the smell of human beings, it scampered back under the table.
I mocked, "You’re not even afraid of the dead, why should a mouse scare you? Wait a minute, there are mice!"
Xiaotao seemed speechless. "Song Yang, your reaction’s a little slow. So what if there are mice?"
I excitedly explained, "Maybe we’ll find some clues in the mouse hole!"
Upon hearing this, Bingxin turned stiff at once. I urged her to get some air if she couldn't stomach it, but she shook her head firmly.
A mouse in the house meant the presence of a nest of mice because they reproduced extremely quickly.
I asked an officer to move the table. Then, I started tapping near the bottom of the wall with my knuckles. As soon as I heard a hollow sound, I immediately instructed, "Remove the bricks here, but do it gently."
They didn’t have tools with them, so they went out to buy some. The nerd ran in and cried, "Hey, don't knock down my wall. You’ll leave after you’re done. Won’t the landlord drive me away?"
Xiaotao said, "I’ll explain it to the landlord."
The nerd mourned, "Look at what you’ve done to my house! How am I supposed to sleep at night? Don’t I get compensation for this?"
Instead of answering, Bingxin pointed to the books on the shelf and asked, "Are you also sitting for the postgraduate admission exam?"
The nerd shyly scratched his head. "Y-yes!"
As it turned out, the nerd experienced trouble finding a job after graduating from university. Despite informing his family that he would take the postgraduate admission exam, he had actually rented a place outside and spent all his time playing video games in a bid to escape from reality.
Bingxin continued, "I plan to sit the postgraduate admission exam as well, but I’ve always had poor English. Is it okay if I ask you a few questions?"
He turned crimson. "Y-yes!"
Bingxin consulted him on a few idiot-proof junior high school English questions, to which the nerd earnestly explained. As far as I knew, Bingxin had perfect proficiency in the language. Back in school, she attended an international summer camp and could communicate smoothly with foreigners.
Perhaps it had been a long time since the nerd had spoken to a girl. With Bingxin’s continuous praise and flattery, he seemed to have experienced a drop in IQ and completely forgot about his compensation.
Xiaotao watched them with a smile, as if she were appraising a promising student!
Some time later, the wall was removed. A nest of mice was hidden in the hollow space behind the bearing wall. Someone shone a flashlight, unleashing chaos. Their squirming furry bodies were so revolting everyone was afraid to get started.
The nerd squealed. "How disgusting! Don't you dare let them out! How am I to sleep if you do?"
I turned to Xiaozhou and said, "Go to the nearby market or a restaurant. Get a raw crabshell and a wooden barrel."
Xiaozhou left with an officer and soon brought me what I asked for. I placed the wooden barrel horizontally, quickly roasted the crabshell with a lighter and threw it in. Squeaks were followed by a swarm of mice flocking to the wooden barrel. I immediately turned the barrel upright and shut them all inside.
Xiaotao commended me. "That’s amazing. How did you come up with that idea?"
I grinned. "This is a traditional method for catching mice. Mice love the smell of crabshell smoke, just like cats drawn to catnip. Traditional Coroners often dealt with mice and cockroaches, so some of these folk remedies were also recorded in the book."
Bingxin shouted, "Song Yang-gege, come take a look. There’s something in the mouse hole!"
There were two delicate bones among a pile of rubbish in the hole. I picked one up with tweezers and compared it to my fingers. Ordinary people would easily mistake them for pig bones but they were actually human phalanges.
It suddenly hit Bingxin. "So the fingers missing from the body were here all along!"
I nodded. "It looks like the murderer dismembered the body here, but the mouse happened to fish in troubled waters and stole two fingers back to its nest to gnaw on, leaving us evidence instead."
The nerd shrieked. "What do you mean? Someone was murdered and dismembered here? That’s terrifying!"
We didn't pay any attention to him. I went on combing through the pile of rubbish and found a band-aid with blood that was faintly discernible on the underside of the cotton. The mouse must’ve dragged it back to its hole to lick the sticky part because the adhesive on the band-aid had a sweet taste.
I handed the band-aid, phalanges and cigarette butt I stole from Zhang Qiang's shop over to Xiaozhou for testing. Before we left, Xiaotao stuffed 300 yuan in the nerd’s hand as compensation, but it was really more like hush money. She warned him against spreading the matter.
"Song-ge, what about this barrel of mice? We can’t just release them, right?"
The best way to get rid of mice was to fumigate them with sulfur fumes, but the stuff was poisonous and it might harm the stray cats and dogs on the street. I suggested, "Throw some dry ice into the barrel and let them suffocate to death. Remember to properly dispose of their bodies, or we might see a fall in the price of mutton skewers in the county tomorrow…”