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PROLOGUE
PART 2
A few minutes later, the locksmith arrived. He took out his lock-picking tools and tinkered for a while, then opened the door, saying, "The door wasn't locked from the inside, so it was easy to open."
"Alright, thank you. You can go back now," Tan Yong said to the locksmith.
The locksmith took the elevator downstairs. Tan Yong pushed open the door, and the old woman nervously followed him.
Sure enough, as soon as they entered the house, they smelled a foul stench. Tan Yong's experience told him that it wasn't the smell of ordinary garbage, it was more like the stench of a decomposed corpse. His eyebrows involuntarily furrowed. The old woman became even more nervous, her whole body stiffening as she let out a frightened sob. They were now standing in the hallway and could see the condition of the living room, at least there were no bodies in the living room. Tan Yong said to the old woman, "If you're scared, you can wait for me at the door."
"I'll wait here... Is that okay?"
"That's fine. Close the door."
The old woman did as instructed, closing the door and standing in the hallway, waiting. Tan Yong searched the living room, kitchen, balcony, and bathroom but found nothing unusual. In the two bedrooms, the door of the guest bedroom was open, and it only contained furniture. Therefore, the source of the stench could only be the master bedroom, which had its door closed. The implications of such a situation were quite obvious. Tan Yong took a deep breath, mentally prepared himself, and pushed open the door to the master bedroom.
A nauseating stench hit him. Tan Yong forcefully suppressed his discomfort, widened his eyes, and saw the scene inside.
The old woman noticed the police officer standing at the doorway of the master bedroom. She had evidently also smelled the strong odor and asked anxiously, "Officer Tan, is there... something inside?"
Tan Yong turned around and said to her, "Come and see for yourself."
The old woman shook her head, indicating her fear. Tan Yong said, "It's alright, come over and take a look. You'll see."
Trembling, the old woman walked over and let out a scream when she saw the body in the master bedroom. "Ah, is it a dead cat?"
Tan Yong nodded and looked at the decaying cat's body on the floor. "Was this cat owned by the girl who rented the apartment?"
"Yes. She brought this cat with her when she moved in," the old woman said, puzzled. "But... where is she?"
Tan Yong observed the room for a while and found a litter box filled with cat faeces. The source of part of the stench. He also found bags of cat food and canned cat food under the bed. Unfortunately, the cat couldn't open the cans or bags and ended up starving or dying of thirst in this room without anyone to take care of it. The bedroom window was open, with a mesh screen installed. The smell was emanating from there.
"This woman is so irresponsible!" the old woman reproached. "She left the cat at home and went away. As a result, the cat starved to death!"
"No, I don't think she abandoned the cat. It's possible that something happened to her outside, like being a victim of a crime, which prevented her from coming back to take care of the cat," Tan Yong said as he looked at the bag of cat food. "I've also had cats before, and someone who buys this brand of cat food must love cats. She wouldn't do something as cruel as letting the cat starve to death."
"So, you mean she was a victim of a crime? But... luckily it didn't happen in my house," the old woman said with a shudder.
Tan Yong remained silent and continued to search the entire house carefully. The house was overall clean and tidy, with no traces of blood or signs of a crime. To be thorough, Tan Yong opened the closets and cabinets, but found nothing unusual. It was not until he found three transparent drawers under the bed in the second bedroom.
Tan Yong squatted down and stared at the three drawers for a while. Suddenly, he felt a sense of foreboding, an ominous feeling enveloping him.
He quickly walked to the living room and opened the freezer compartment at the bottom of the refrigerator. A horrifying scene caught his eyes, and he took a sharp breath.
The three transparent drawers he found earlier were originally used to separate food in the freezer. After they were removed, the freezer became a large space for freezing. The body of a woman, frozen like an ice sculpture, curled up and filled the entire space.
The old woman, who had come over, saw the body in the refrigerator and screamed in horror, almost fainting. Tan Yong held her and helped her sit down on the sofa. The old woman trembled all over, grabbing the hand of the police officer and making incoherent sounds, seemingly terrified. Tan Yong comforted her and waited for her to calm down a little before asking, "Is this the tenant named He Yushan?"
"I don't know, I haven't seen what she looks like..."
"What? You rented the house to her without seeing her appearance?"
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"Yes, I only saw her photo on the ID card. As for her in person, she always wore sunglasses and a mask, covering most of her face."
What was wrong with this tenant? Why was she dressing so mysteriously? Tan Yong couldn't help but wonder.
The old woman kept her face turned away and dared not look at the body in the refrigerator again. She trembled as she said, "She was killed... and then kept in the refrigerator?"
There was no doubt about it. No one would willingly climb into a refrigerator and freeze to death. Moreover, both Tan Yong and the old woman saw the body in the refrigerator, with lots of bloodstains on the clothes and body. It was evident that the killer had cleaned up all the traces of the murder and then removed the drawers from the freezer to stuff the body inside. The purpose of doing this was likely to delay the discovery of the body, making it difficult for the forensic examiner to determine the time of death. But if the killer had considered this, why didn't he take care of the cat? Was it because he thought it would take at least a dozen days for the cat to starve to death and emit a foul smell? Or did he not notice the cat in the tenant's room when he committed the murder?
In any case, this is a major criminal case, and it must be reported to Jiang Ming, the captain of the criminal police team. However, just as Tan Yong was about to make a call, the old woman suddenly grabbed his wrist and looked at him with terrified eyes: "Officer Tan, I beg you for something."
"What's up?"
"Would you please not tell anyone that something like this happened in my house?"
"What do you mean? This is the murder scene! Don't tell others? Our police won't solve the case anymore?"
"No... of course we have to solve the case. But I mean, can you... try not to let other people know that a murder happened in 'this home'?"
"I don't know what you're talking about." Tan Yong continued to call, "This is not an ordinary thing, how can I help you hide it?"
With a "plop", the old woman knelt down in front of Tan Yong, and said tearfully, "Officer Tan, do you know why I must find you? Because I know you are a good person, and you often let me, an outsider, into your community. Going to collect waste products is also very kind to me. In fact, before I came to you, I already had a bad feeling... But I think, if it was Officer Tan, you would definitely help me, and you would not ignore my life or death ."
Tan Yong looked at her in surprise: "What do you mean by 'your life and death'? Don't you live well? It's just your tenant who died!"
"Officer Tan, this house is my life." The old woman said tearfully, "I have been picking up rubbish and waste products for forty years, and every day I stretch my hands into dirty, smelly, phlegm and broken glass shards. rummage through the garbage cans, find things that can be sold for money, then flatten and tie them up, and send them to the garbage recycling station for a little money. Forty years, in the wind and rain, have been looked down upon by everyone, including My son. In order to avoid his embarrassing mother, he would rather go to other cities to do odd jobs than stay with me. Because of this, no girl is willing to marry him. For him, I spent all my life’s money to buy this house. But now something like this happened, this house can no longer be used as a wedding house. "
"Why? Change some furniture and appliances, and it will be fine."
The old woman shook her head again and again: "Officer Tan, there is a saying in our hometown. A house where a murder occurred is ominous; especially a place where a single woman died is too dark. People who live in such a place will There is blood and light. Even if I live on the street, I will not let my son live with his future wife and children in such a place..."
Tan Yong couldn't listen anymore: "This is superstition! Stop talking nonsense, there is no such thing!"
"Yes, it's superstition...then you let me sell this house, can you?"
"This is your house. It's your freedom to sell it or live in it. Do you need my permission?"
"But if everyone knows that this house is a murderous house, it is impossible for someone to buy it. It means that all the money I have worked so hard to earn all my life will be in vain! If this is the case, I will not be able to live. Only to die."
Tan Yong looked at her cloudy eyes, the gully-like wrinkles on her face, and her hands that were as dry as bark, and thought of the picture of the old woman hunched over picking up waste, and felt pity spontaneously. It is entirely possible for such a poor old man with a meager income to commit suicide because of the loss of his life savings... Tan Yong really couldn't ignore her feelings, hesitated for a moment, and said, "Okay, I promise you, the investigation and When solving this case, try not to let others know which household in this community this incident happened to."
"Then your colleague..."
"I will apply to the captain, and I will be in charge of the investigation of this case. As for the colleagues who are investigating the case with me, I will tell them to pay attention."
The old woman was moved to tears. "Thank you so much, Officer Tan!"
"In the past few days, you should not come to this house for the time being. This is the scene of the murder, and we will seal the house for a period of time for investigation and evidence collection."
"Okay, I didn't live here in the first place."
Tan Yong called his boss Jiang Ming again and reported the above situation. Jiang Ming stated that the case would be opened for investigation immediately, and he agreed that Tan Yong would be responsible for solving the case, and Li Bin would assist in the investigation.
Ten minutes later, the forensic doctor's car arrived. Tan Yong chose to transport the body in the refrigerator to the police car with Li Bin when there was no one in the elevator and corridor, and then informed the property management that a homicide occurred in this community, please remind all residents in the community to pay attention to safety, no special emphasis, which household the murder occurred in.
After the forensic doctor conducted a DNA test, it was determined that the deceased was the tenant He Yushan. The result of the autopsy is that she died of a knife in the back, directly piercing the heart. After that, the body was put into the freezer by the murderer, making it difficult to confirm the time of death. Judging from the various signs of the corpse and the degree of decomposition of the cat after death, the girl was probably killed more than 20 days ago.
This result has brought great difficulty to the detection. In more than 20 days, the number of locals and foreigners who have been in and out of this community has been countless. In addition, Lishi is a tourist city, and there are already a lot of people who come here to travel and view houses. Screening the murderer in such a large area is like finding a needle in a haystack.
Of course, Tan Yong and Li Bin also investigated some residents of the community and people who might be related to the victim, but found nothing. Because this girl lives alone, she has no contact with any residents in the community, and she has no relatives or friends locally. In fact, even why she moved here is a mystery. Based on the above reasons, it is almost hopeless to solve this case.
Due to the investigation process, Tan Yong and Li Bin hardly mentioned where the homicide occurred. Out of their own considerations, the property management and the few people in the community who knew about it did not publicize the matter. Therefore, most people in the city only knew that a homicide had occurred in Yuehai Bay Community, and the victim was a girl from out of town. Very few details related to the homicide and the specific address were known.
Two years passed in the blink of an eye.
Just when everyone was almost forgetting about the incident, a sentence spoken by the old woman at the beginning became a prophecy.
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