Before the police arrived, I roughly examined the body. Xiaotao learned from the landlord that Jia Chong had indeed rented the room.
Because the Jiangling City police force was busy dealing with the suspect who fled in the morning, Captain Tang hadn’t joined us yet.
"This is bad. The murderer may take this opportunity to escape from Jiangling City,” I said to myself.
"Isn't he right here? Two women and five men,” remarked Xiaotao.
I waved my hand and said, "I can't explain it for the time being. Can you contact each district to watch the main traffic routes well so Jia Chong doesn’t escape?" Seeing that she was still hesitating, I urged, "Just trust me this once!"
"Alright then, I believe you!"
Only by the time Xiaotao was done did Captain Tang arrive. I ordered the police to escort the body back to the station so we could conduct some lab tests.
Back to the city bureau, Bingxin bagged the drugs left by the murderer for testing.
"By the way, check the corpse’s blood sugar and liver."
"Why are we testing them?" Bingxin wondered out loud.
"Just test it. I'll explain later," I said.
Captain Tang walked over. "Great Detective Song, the murderer killed himself. Can we consider the case closed?"
I shook my head. "This isn’t the murderer."
"But didn't he leave a message on the tree claiming he wanted to end everything on his own terms?" Captain Tang rubbed his head in puzzlement.
I smiled, "And you believe him? The murderer thought of this trick from the start. This body displays a clear contradiction. If he wanted to commit suicide, what’s the point in ruining his own face?"
"Didn't you say that the murderer has a strong sense of ritual? Perhaps this is an indispensable link."
I shook my head, "No matter how strong the ritual is to him, it can't be stronger than his desire to survive! It’s precisely because every corpse was disfigured that we have formed such a mindset, which he can take advantage of to escape. The corpse’s right hand was burned by hydrochloric acid. At first glance, it seems like he picked up the acid and splashed it onto my face. However, when I performed Organ Echolocation, I found the stomach empty, the liver showing signs of atrophy, and the kidneys inflamed. This person was most likely imprisoned for many days to the point of extreme hunger, leaving him under the murderer’s mercy. In addition to that, there’s slight bruising on the body, and damage to the internal organs. He seemed to have been wrapped with a quilt and beaten. Such abuse indicates the murderer’s hatred for him. Obviously, this man was also on his kill list."
Captain Tang looked surprised. "If that’s the case, isn't there an extra person?"
"Can we examine the body that was found in Jia Chong’s dormitory?"
"Yes," nodded Captain Tang.
"Then let's have a look!" I waved my hand.
The frozen body was thawed in the forensic laboratory and placed on the metal slab. After a brief examination, I deduced that the victim was about thirty years old and the time of death was five days ago. The cause of death matched the murderer's usual MO. He pounded the victim’s temple with a blunt object, killing him with one blow.
I picked up the victim’s palm and observed the damaged fingerprints. This was a strong palm with two longitudinal calluses. It suddenly occurred to me that Jia Chong was wearing a PE teacher's clothes when he slipped away right under our noses.
"Go back to the school and check if there’s someone missing."
"Can't you tell?" asked Captain Tang.
"How can I identify the body if he’s been disfigured?” I chuckled. “I can give you a hint though. This man is probably a PE teacher and friends with Jia Chong."
Right then, Bingxin entered the morgue. "The test results are out. The substance injected into the victim’s bloodstream is sodium cyanide which was mixed with twenty percent ibuprofen, the main component of painkillers."
A hint of excitement flickered across Captain Tang’s face. "If it wasn’t suicide, why did the murderer add painkillers to the drugs?"
I sneered, "He left it for us on purpose. Don't forget that he’s a chemistry teacher. What about the victim’s liver and blood sugar?"
"The blood sugar and liver indicators were extremely low, as if he had gone hungry for at least a week. He was basically in a semi-coma state,” reported Bingxin.
I uttered my thanks and left the rest to Captain Tang.
Just as I suspected, one of the PE teachers named Zheng was missing from Jia Chong’s school. According to their colleagues, Mr. Zheng and Jia Chong often ate together. Since Mr. Zheng taught physical education and had a fair bit of leisure time, he was planning on operating a convenience store on campus. Thus, he borrowed a sum of money to buy a large freezer. However, the store would only be ready next year, so he temporarily left his freezer in Jia Chong’s dormitory.
By this point, the details of the case had become clear. Accidentally discovering the corpse hidden in the freezer, Mr. Zheng was murdered by Jia Chong. Less emphasis was placed on physical education class, so after the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday, no one discovered the missing teacher.
Coincidentally, Mr. Zheng was also twenty-eight years old. From that incident, Jia Chong hatched a crafty escape plan.
Through investigation, we learned the relationship between Jia Chong and Ke Wenyuan. Ke Wenyuan was a lolicon fetishist. Even after the prostitution incident involving the female students, he still maintained a dubious relationship with several girls, often spending money on panties and stockings worn by them as well as collecting their hair and naked photos.
As one of the girls happened to be in Jia Chong's class, he soon began extorting Ke Wenyuan for small amounts, ranging from several hundred to a thousand. Well aware of how disgraceful his hobbies were, Ke Wenyuan knew his good reputation would be sullied. Hence, he gnashed his teeth and did as Jia Chong ordered.
It wasn’t known how they contacted each other after the incident. Perhaps Jia Chong threatened him and approached him as an accomplice.
What shocked me most about the case was Jia Chong’s finesse, despite being a rookie criminal. As books on criminal psychology suggested, some people were born with aggressive genes capable of making him a competitive champion or a vicious criminal.
However, I suspected this wasn’t Jia Chong's first run-in with the law. If my guess was right, he successfully escaped legal sanction once in high school!
Over the next few days, the police had their hands full with finding Jia Chong. After all, we were visitors from a different city so there wasn’t much we could help with. However, I reminded Captain Tang to monitor the victims’ homes.
Sure enough, on the afternoon of September 30th, Jia Chong, who had his bank accounts frozen, was caught red-handed slipping into one of the victim's homes to search for food.
Finally, I could meet Jia Chong in the interrogation room!