“Hiding the photos in such a secret place? They must be important. Do you know the people in the photos?” Chu Haoran asked me. He had found me sitting on the ground, absent-minded. The year my father met with an accident, I knew some of their situation, which was poor. He was investigating a case of clearing away some residents. There were still two families left in the place needing to be removed when he took hold of that case. The four adults and two children of the families had been murdered then. Soon, when he was investigating the real estate developer, he met with an accident. I didn’t know the results of the case until now. I only heard that the case had ended, but n.o.body knew the final judgment. I was always trying to find the profile of that case, but had failed. All the people who had any relations.h.i.+p with that case were hard to find, retired or being moved to some other places. I never gave up, because I understood this was a strange case. My focus turned back to the photo. The man in the picture was the manager of the real estate developer, who was named Shen Xinggui. In these years, his business had flourished. His company was listed. This person was said to be a faithful Buddhist, with a good reputation in the industry. My investigation was suspended because no one could give me useful information. Besides Shen Xinggui, there was another middle-age man, with a breathing mask and gla.s.ses covering his face, who had put on a little weight, and stood at about 170 kilometers high. In the photo, Shen Xinggui was pa.s.sing a small packet to him. I guessed this was a very important person, and I also wanted to know what was in the packet. “Is this man the chairman of the Shen Group? What’s his name?” Chu Haoran asked with his eyes squinted. Seeing he was serious about this issue, I tried to calm down, and replied, “Shen Xinggui, you know him?” Chu Haoran nodded, “Yes, it is him. I don’t really know him, but I saw him several times at charitable events. He was said to be a believer of Buddhism, and he cared about the stay-at-home children. Every year he donates a huge amount. So I have some impression of him.” Yes, his business was growing, and he himself was a favorable one. I knew everything about him, and his group. He had a perfect mask with which to hide the truth about himself, without any loopholes. But this appearance didn’t mean he was a good person and had no misdemeanors. Calling me stubborn or not, I got the intuition that he was related to my parent’s death. “Do you know the saying about a wolf in sheep’s clothing?” Heard my words, Chu Haoran’s expression changed slightly. I took a picture of that photo with my cellphone and pushed the box back to the place where it was. Maybe someday this photo would be used again. Chu Haoran didn’t ask more. Sometimes he was so good at holding his horses. If it was Xiao Teng here with me, he would have asked as many questions as possible, until his curiosity was satisfied. We cleaned the whole room, and then sat down to take a rest. Next time to come here should be in the distant future, maybe even the Spring Festival. Who knows? Since I joined the Homicide Squad, I became very busy with endless cases. I remembered that when I was still a child, Dad always promised to take me to the fairground, but then he always had urgent issues to handle. I felt so wronged. But now, I understood that he was really busy. My mom was always understanding and prepared everything for him to go out, from outer coats to his bag, asking him to be cautious and to get back early. “Shall we go somewhere to grab a few drinks? I am thirsty.” Chu Haoran stood up to go out. I was awaken from my memories, being aware of the cool, wet feeling on my face. I had cried without even noticing it myself. Maybe Chu Haoran found my awkwardness, and thus had asked me to leave for drinks. Each time he showed this careful quality, I was so grateful. His silent companions.h.i.+p with few questions was also impressive. We went downstairs. I took a deep breath and the fragrance of the flowers entered my nose. The sun was setting; however, the weather was still hot. I was not sure if this summer would be the same as previous ones. At this moment, Chu Haoran’s phone broke the quietness. He took the phone call and soon his eyebrows twisted up. He answered that he would be back soon and then hung up. “What?” I guessed my rest was also near the end. Chu Haoran answered that there was a case and we’d talk about it on the way back. We sped up, saying goodbye to Grandpa Liu, and hurried back. After seven to eight minutes, we arrived at our office. “Boss, you are with Zhuxuan?” Xiao Teng was a little surprised, but soon he returned to calmness. “Lao Peng will be here soon,” Chu Haoran said. We heard Lao Peng’s steps outside. He was always so quick. But each time he came to us, he always came with a serious case. This time he might also give us a deadline and additional pressure. “Come to me, everyone of you. This case is a weird one.” Lao Peng hurried to the meeting table and got straight to the point. “Weird?” Xiao Teng asked as he came near to him. Lao Peng took out some photos from his doc.u.ment folder, and pasted them on the board. “This is the victim. The spot was so b.l.o.o.d.y and her death scene was so weird, it's hard to understand. She was found by a neighbor, and he got panicked. The influence was bad. The police did some investigation and found nothing to help, thus they turned over the case to me, and then . . . you.” From the photo, we learned they had found the woman victim was naked, and though the face was pretty, her whole body was horribly mangled. She was lying in a pool of blood, with her whole body red with knife cuts everywhere. However, she was smiling in such a torturous death. It looked like she had died after terrible suffering, yet oddly, still smiling. “Oh, my gosh, is she smiling?” Xiao Teng also found this a weird scene. He felt it hard to believe. Lao Peng nodded. “Yes, weird. This is the profile on her. Read it carefully before you go out to investigate.” This victim was called Qiu Nan. According to the Forensic report, she was cut with more than 100 cuts, by a dagger. The wounds were not deep, but abnormal. The fatal wound was on the chest. She was murdered with that serious. .h.i.t and then cut by the dagger. Only her face was completely untouched, exposing the strange smile. She lay on the floor of her own apartment, and was found with the door open. The neighbor had discovered this strange thing and pushed the door open. Since the scene was too horrific, all the residents in the whole area were terrified.