Grandpa's murderer was back. Right now, I couldn't remain composed.

I took a deep breath before I instructed, "Xiaotao, go down and get me a bottle of absinthe and a cocktail shaker."

Huang Xiaotao quickly brought me what I wanted. Since I didn't have wormwood with me, this was a good substitute. I poured some absinthe into the shaker, wrapped it with a towel, and borrowed a lighter from Sun Tiger to heat it up.

As the alcohol gradually evaporated, I fumigated the walls of the private room and the familiar words emerged–Jiangbei Daggers, Protect The People, Condemn The Corrupt.

Xiaotao sneered, "The man is obviously an accomplice, yet he speaks as if he’s the master of justice."

Sun Tiger previously cautioned me against investigating the case. If the murderer returned, there would be violent waves throughout Nanjiang City and Sun Tiger would send another officer to investigate.

"We’re going to raid the Dog Trainer's hideout tonight!" announced Sun Tiger.

Xiaotao and I looked at him in surprise, "Tonight?"

"We’re going to take him by surprise. The Dog Trainer has hundreds of people in his hands. It's a terrorist organization and we can't allow it to run rampant any longer. Xiaotao, we need more people tonight. You and your team are coming."

Xiaotao saluted, "Yes, sir!"

Sun Tiger told us to meet the SWAT team at five and then left. It was currently noon and since I was concerned with this case, I thought investigating it would be a good way to pass the time. I decided to examine the scene first.

A while later, the officers from the Taoyuan Precinct arrived. It was Officer Ma with whom we cooperated in the Yi Xi case. Upon seeing Xiaotao and me, Officer Ma asked, "Have you conducted the autopsy?"

"The time of death was about two hours ago and the cause of death is the loss of his heart... There is no trauma throughout the body."

Officer Ma stared at me agape, "How is this possible?!"

He wasn’t aware of the murderer’s means. In order to distinguish the murderer from the Jiangbei Daggers, I decided to call him the Blade Master. I gave Officer Ma a general account of the murders committed by the Blade Master, after which Officer Ma stared at the words on the wall incredulously.

"Let me be frank,” he began. “If this case can't be solved by the city bureau, aren't we less likely to..."

"We’ll do what we have to do. The motive of the Blade Master has always been clear. He claims to be a messenger of justice. So we must identify the victims and confirm if he’s back to help the Dog Trainer this time or if it is a separate crime."

I pointed Officer Ma in the right direction and he quickly got to work. It didn’t make sense for Xiaotao and me to stay upstairs so we explored downstairs instead. The bar was currently empty so I walked to the back of the bar and asked Xiaotao, "Can I make you a drink?"

"Are you crazy? I can’t drink during work hours!” laughed Xiaotao.

"Don't worry, you won’t be intoxicated."

The materials on the shelf were quite complete. I found a recipe for a non-alcoholic mojito on Weibo which was actually rather simple. All it required was soda, lemon and mint. I mixed two glasses, one for me and the other for Xiaotao. Upon taking a sip, Xiaotao commended, "I didn’t know you were so good at this!"

"Thanks for the compliment!" I smiled.

"I’m very happy to see you back to normal."

A thought suddenly crossed my mind, "By the way, I forgot to ask you something. Have you ever heard the name Duan Yunjie?"

"Duan Yunjie?" Xiaotao recalled that Duan Yunjie was the top student in the Police Academy’s Class of 13’. When she graduated, she seemed to suddenly fall off the grid. Everyone assumed that she had gone undercover because this sort of thing wasn’t uncommon among officers. Xiaotao and Duan Yunjie once participated in the same shooting competition where they met.

I was relieved to hear that Xiaotao knew her.

In fact, I shouldn't have such doubts about Duan Yunjie. After all, she suffered so much and lost her superior in the line of duty. She was still receiving psychological treatment and could only restore her status as a police officer after she received a clean bill of health signed by her psychologist.

Of course, we wouldn’t drink without paying. So after a brief conversation, I left some money for the drinks we had.

At about 3:00 pm, Officer Ma returned from the station, "I’ve identified the victims. One is the owner of a film and television company and he looks clean, without a cause for suspicion."

"What about the other one?" I asked.

"It’s rather strange. He doesn’t have any fingerprints so we’re searching for his picture through the household registration database which will take quite a while.”

"No fingerprints?" The Dog Trainer's men had their fingers corroded with chemicals to remove their fingerprints, and so did our victim.

We asked for the victim's address and planned to investigate for ourselves. Outside the victim’s place of residence, I stealthily picked the lock and entered the apartment. It was a spacious place with elegant furnishings. A photo of the couple decorated the wall.

"This is a nice place!" Xiaotao remarked.

"Don’t you notice anything unusual?" I queried.

Then, pointing to a tea set on the coffee table, I said, "This tea set has two new cups."

I crouched down to look at the carpet, then wiped the surface of the table with my finger. "Doesn't the carpet feel a little fancy? And it has more dust on one side than the other which suggests it was originally hung as a tapestry. I wonder why it was moved here. Additionally, a heavy object was left on the table before, but it has disappeared."

“Is this a crime scene?" gasped Xiaotao.

"I can't say for sure. Perhaps it was broken after the couple’s quarrel,” I said. “Let's look at the bathroom."

Because I didn't have my tools on me, I went to the kitchen to get a bottle of salad oil. Examining the bathroom floor, I found nothing out of the ordinary except for a strong odor–obviously, the floor was recently cleaned repeatedly with disinfectant.

After emptying the water in the toilet, I poured in the oil. As soon as the oil reached the line where the water was, tiny red fragments floated from below. Xiaotao connected the dots, "That’s solidified blood!"

"Looks like there’s something fishy about our victim. Check if his wife is missing."

Xiaotao made a phone call and gave a thumbs-up upon hanging up. "You guessed it!” she exclaimed. “A few days ago, he reported his missing wife to the Public Security Bureau in this district."

"That’s interesting! This man killed his wife so the other victim is probably working for the Dog Trainer. So, they were talking about 'business,’ but were interrupted and killed by the Blade Master."

I had previously taken for granted that the Blade Master was working for the Jiangbei Daggers. But it seemed he was actually fighting against the organization. We had to reexamine his position.

Of course, this was all speculation and required confirmation. We didn't have the time to follow up on this for the time being. Xiaotao glanced at her watch and reminded, "It's time for us to gather!"

I called Officer Ma before leaving to meet the SWAT team with Xiaotao.

When we arrived, I was stunned by the sight that greeted me. There were more than a dozen police SUVs, armored vehicles, riot water cannon trucks, Z-9 armed helicopters, and two SWAT team squadrons gathered, lined up in four rows with riot guns and shields in their hands.

Sun Tiger walked up to the front, eyes aglow, "Tonight, I want the Dog Trainer and his mob to know what a real army is!"