After being driven out of Internet cafes, restaurants, and KTVs a few times like a wild dog, Old Lady Liu finally found a place where she could stay overnight and not be driven away. This was because there wasn’t anyone there. It was a self-service ATM area next to the bank.

Old Lady Liu was hugging Dog Egg and sitting on the floor which was covered with newspapers. She wasn’t even sure what time it was. The cars outside became scarcer and scarcer and the street lights gave off a cold vibe. It was very uncomfortable to sleep while sitting but her sleepiness washed over her anyway.

Suddenly, Dog Egg said, "Grandma, I want to pee."

"Piss in the bushes outside."

Dog Egg went out, but Old Lady Liu was too sleepy and dozed off almost immediately.

After a while, a truck drove past and woke Old Lady Liu. She suddenly realized that Dog Egg was not by her side. She was so scared, she broke out in cold sweat and immediately went outside to look for him.

"Dog Egg! Dog Egg!"

Old lady Liu was so anxious that she unknowingly walked to the Red House Community. In the security guard’s office, the security guard had fallen asleep on his stomach.

Old lady Liu thought that Dog Egg might have come here and called out in a low voice while walking around in the community, "Dog Egg! Dog Egg!"

Suddenly, a figure broke into her field of vision. She ran over in joy, hugged Dog Egg and wept. "Where did you go? You scared me to death!"

Dog Egg didn’t speak. It seemed like something was wrong.

She looked up and saw that Dog Egg’s face was red as if something had stained it. His clothes were also red.

The red stains had also transferred onto it. This smells like… Blood!

Old Lady Liu took his hand and asked, "What happened? Where are you hurt?"

Dog Egg remained silent, but two teary eyes shimmered in the night.

"Ah, a murder! Someone please come!" There was a woman's scream in the building like nails scratching on glass, breaking the peace in the night.

Old Lady Liu looked at her grandson in disbelief and wiped the tears from his face with her fingers. "Dog Egg, what did you do? Speak. Speak!”

No matter how hard she shook her grandson's shoulders, Dog Egg looked like he had received a huge shock and refused to say anything.

Early the next morning, Lin Qiupu, Lin Dongxue, Peng Sijue, and Xu Xiaodong stood in a messy, blood-stained apartment. A woman in pajamas was lying on the bed with her throat cut open with her head tilted back as if it was about to break. Her dying pose was her covering her throat with both of her hands.

In the living room was the body of another woman who had been stabbed in the back quite a few times. Blood stained her pajamas pink. From her posture, it seemed like she had tried to crawl towards the door to seek help.

Lin Qiupu observed, "The deceased are two women. This one in the living room is called Wang Xifeng, 32 years old and unemployed. The one in the bedroom is called Qiuping[1], 26 years old, a commercial model."

"Wang Xifeng?" Lin Dongxue looked surprised.

"You know her?" Lin Qiupu asked.

"Why is this name so familiar?" Lin Dongxue thought about it and said to Xu Xiaodong, "Pass me the device for police searches."

Lin Dongxue entered Wang Xifeng’s ID card, checked her personal information, and said, "It's a coincidence but Chen Shi drove an old lady to visit relatives yesterday. Because the person they were looking for had moved, he asked me to check it. It was this Wang Xifeng.”

"Is this really her?"

"Yes!"

"Old lady?" Lin Qiupu looked at the corpse and mumbled to himself.

Peng Sijue had just performed a preliminary examination on the corpse in the bedroom and said, "It is impossible for an old lady to do it. The deceased has signs of sexual assault. The murderer didn’t seem to pay attention to details though, as he left some semen samples behind."

Lin Qiupu glanced at the wall where a bloody fingerprint was clearly printed on the decorative plate on the wall. He said, "It's not your average person that doesn’t pay attention to details."

"With regards to fingerprints, we found five sets of them." Peng Sijue noted.

"In addition to the two victims and the murderer, what’s with the other two sets?"

Peng Sijue swept the UV light towards shelves where there was already a layer of aluminium powder with four smaller fingerprints on it. He said, "This fingerprint has appeared on the door frame, chair, and coffee table. Inferred from its width, size, clarity, and wrinkles, it should have been left by a child."

"Maybe it was left before the murder..."

"No, all five of the fingerprints were stained with blood. Judging from the degree of coagulation, they were obviously made during or shortly after the murder."

"A child?" Lin Qiupu was slightly surprised.

"The other set belongs to an old person and also appeared on the coffee table, sofa and door.”

Lin Dongxue wondered, "Is this old person the old lady that Chen Shi drove yesterday? Perhaps we should call him and ask for some information!”

"Call him then," Lin Qiupu muttered. "It's almost like he’s an official member of our team."

While Lin Dongxue called Chen Shi, Lin Qiupu and Peng Sijue went to examine the body. Peng Sijue deduced, "Her death was due to the cut to the throat. She only has this one fatal wound on her body. The cut is clean and sharp. It should be done by someone who is skilled at using a knife. The deceased's legs were on the floor and her upper body was on the bed. The bed sheets were stained with blood and nothing was worn underneath the pajamas. Her underwear was thrown on the bedside table next to her.”

“This position… Surely…” Lin Qiupu began.

Peng Sijue's speculation was also consistent with Lin Qiupu’s. He continued, "During intercourse, he cut her throat, catching her completely off guard. The deceased doesn’t even have any defensive injuries."

"What a ruthless character!"

Peng Sijue discovered that there was also bleeding from the calf of the deceased. A large piece of meat had been cut off, but the blood wasn’t flowing out as much. He had seen many corpses in his time and could tell with one glance by the skin around the wound that it was cut off after her death.

"What does that mean? Was it for revenge?" Lin Qiupu queried.

Peng Sijue shook his head.

The other corpse was more miserable. She had been stabbed to death by a sharp object and the wounds were concentrated on her back and waist. Lin Qiupu pondered, "What is the relationship between these two women? If they were just ordinary friends, while another woman was having a sexual relationship with the murderer, this Wang…Wang…”

"Wang Xifeng," Peng Sijue reminded.

"Why would this Wang Xifeng dress so simply, as if the person who came over was her own boyfriend?" Lin Qiupu turned to look at the bedroom, walked over, and moved the door with his hands. "This door isn’t locked and the sound insulation is very poor as well."

Lin Dongxue chimed in, "As far as I know, no matter how good the relationship between women is, they wouldn’t behave in such a relaxed fashion in front of someone else’s boyfriend or husband.”

Xu Xiaodong added, "Neither would men! When I was in the police dormitory before, if our buddy’s girlfriends came over, I would put on my pants.”

Lin Dongxue asked, "You don't usually wear pants?"

"Well, it was a boy’s dorm. You know how it is."

"Xiaodong, turn on the TV and take a look!" Lin Qiupu instructed.

These days, most people used TV-boxes which could accurately show the time when the TV was turned off. It was an important piece of evidence for investigating murders. The shutdown time displayed on the box was 11:23. Lin Dongxue took the remote control to turn it on and noted, “The sound isn’t too loud!”

"The sound?" Lin Qiupu paused before suddenly understanding. "You mean that if the murder was pre-meditated, he would have turned up the volume to cover up the sound of his actions, right? When did you become so smart?”

Lin Dongxue smiled proudly.

A forensic investigator came over and said, "The weapon has been found." He presented a sharp fruit knife with blood on it and claimed it had been discarded in the kitchen sink.

Lin Qiupu was a little confused. "Since the murderer suddenly murdered her during sexual intercourse, did he hold the knife the whole time?"

1. The same person as “Pingzi”. Up until now, the name Pingzi was used instead. Pingzi would be an intimate nickname given to her. Kind of like “Little Ping” or “Xiao Ping”, but unlike “Xiao Ping” that may be used by friends, “Zi” is often used by family members, significant others, people who are close, etc.