Right then, the fat officer ran up to us and reported having found the victim’s clothes–a red dress in the grass nearby which also matched the murderer’s MO. I got Bingxin to check for fingerprints.
Continuing with the autopsy, I noticed the victim’s underwear had been pulled down to the knees. The inner vaginal walls turned outwards, suggesting she had been raped for quite some time after death. The human body didn’t recover after death.
"Twenty years ago, the murderer raped and then killed."
I nodded, "Yes, the order is very important. Most people don't have the hobby of raping corpses, especially since the sphincter relaxes after death. Both urine and feces will flow out."
This corpse showed similar characteristics. Diluted feces and urine permeated into the grass beneath, giving off a stench that was enough to make an ordinary man impotent. There were copious amounts of lubricant left in the victim’s vagina.
This was yet another clue that confused me. Was it really him?
I asked Xiaotao to hand me the Autopsy Umbrella. Twirling it, I examined the victim’s body. The murderer was quite experienced indeed, leaving few fingerprints on the victim. There were dense fingerprints around her lower body which should have been left when the murderer raped her.
I noticed an indentation on the inner right thigh, which was much heavier than other parts. Additionally, there was a noticeable scratch on the victim’s left ankle which indicated that the murderer's hand was very slender. It seemed the murderer wasn’t engaged in manual labor. This clue was consistent with the murderer from twenty years ago.
I couldn’t imagine what sort of position the murderer used, so I put that aside for the time being.
Using tweezers to separate the victim’s genitals, I found dark brown liquid mixed with blood. The victim was most likely a virgin. I examined the inner walls with Cave Vision and found it damaged in many areas, especially the right side. The murderer acted quite roughly and was extremely gifted in that area.
Frowning, I stared at the victim’s mangled genitals. Bingxin came over and asked me if I wanted to test for semen. Although I thought it quite impossible, I asked her to take samples.
"Have you tested the sand on the victim’s body?"
Bingxin spit her tongue, "I can't test that here. I took some samples for comparison back at the station."
It was then that I realized we were in a small county town in northwest China, without a convenient mobile trace detector.
After the technical team took photos, the fat officer placed the victim into a body bag, and our work here was done.
"We found a cell phone on the victim and confirmed her identity through her cell phone number," reported the fat officer.
The victim was a college student travelling from out of town, here to see a boy she met online. Unfortunately, the friendship failed to take off outside of the screen. According to the other party, she returned to the hotel by herself after dinner at eight o'clock last night and hadn't been in touch since.
The fat officer had yet to inform the young man of her death.
"Where’s the hotel?" I asked.
"Just around the corner!" he replied.
"Let’s have a look!"
As we walked to the hotel, I asked the fat officer how Ma Qiaojun was doing. The fat officer explained that the man had little contact with people and hardly ever worked. Hence, there was little information about him.
I noticed the words 'hardly ever worked.’
In the conversation with the psychologist, Ma Qiaojun had also mentioned his father’s inheritance. I suddenly recalled the fact that Ma Sanyou's mother died of cancer. The combination of these factors made me more convinced that the organization had secretly manipulated the case back then.
Ma Sanyou probably sold himself to raise money for his mother's medical treatment.
Upon noticing my silence, the fat officer said, "Are you suspicious of this boy?"
"No, no! Please refrain from drawing any preconceived conclusions."
Another officer muttered, "Fish begins to stink at the head. Like father, like son."
Although I really wished I could reveal that Ma Sanyou never murdered anyone, I knew better than to do so. I understood how Grandpa must have felt back then. Keeping this secret for twenty years must have been painful.
When we arrived at the victim’s room, I found an open suitcase lying by the bed with a bunch of untidy clothes. There was a kettle on the TV cabinet with a burned bottom.
The victim’s shoes were placed on the ground, while she wore a pair of plastic sandals when she left the room.
She could’ve gone down to buy a bottle of water since the kettle was broken, but she never returned. What happened after that? Did she bump into the murderer and was tricked onto campus? It seemed unlikely. It was late at night and she was out alone. She couldn’t be that careless about her own safety, could she? Perhaps she walked around the school and was kidnapped by the murderer who happened to pass by.
Coincidentally, this was the exact spot where Shen Lijuan was kidnapped. Assuming the murderer was the same man, he probably lived here or used to live here.
I turned to Xiaotao, "Let’s head back to the station first!"
On the way there, I purchased two maps of Liangchuan County. When we arrived at the station, the fat officer asked if I wanted to hold a case discussion but I said no. I needed time to think.
When the five of us entered the conference room, several officers were puzzled and whispered amongst themselves. "Are they hiding important clues from us? These experts are really narrow minded!"
In truth, I had no important clues. My plan was to carry out a divination. I wasn’t in the mood to explain, so I asked that they leave first.
I spread two maps on the table and marked the location of the corpse.
"Why do you need two this time?" asked Xiaotao.
"This one is used for the nine murders that year, while this one is marked with the current case. I’m hoping to compare them to see if the murderer is the same man," I explained.
“Can you do that with divination?" said Xiaotao.
"After 20 years, the murderer might’ve moved, so it’s not necessarily accurate and can only be used as a reference."
Lighting up incense, I began the Triple Divination Technique. With my consciousness immersed, the streets, intersections and signs on the map emerged one by one, turning into 3D images around me. This sort of visual experience was produced due to my proficiency with divination.
As my consciousness shuttled through the abstract symbols, I felt carefree and my mind was unleashed. When Xiaotao stopped me, I couldn’t help but want more.
I glanced at the two maps. Because of incomplete information, the first map was scribbled with a large area, about three blocks, marked. On the second map, a large area had also been marked. There was an intersection between the two areas–the road behind the school.
"It looks like the murderer is related to this school."
I bit my finger, "No, this is only based on the assumption that we’re looking at the same murderer. There are many doubtful points in this case that are inconsistent with the murders that happened twenty years ago, so it may not be accurate."
"I believe in your intuition!" smiled Xiaotao.