Wings of Angels Part 4

Before Su Junzi and An Yining arrived, the forensic investigators had already begun their work. Three overwhelmingly stinky men, added on with an overwhelmingly stinky woman gathered together to study the question. Yang Man had already completely given up on her own image in despair, sitting on the ground pompously, flipping through the photographs that Jiang Hu picked out as she listened to Sheng Yao's explanation.

"I don't understand." After listening, she said, "Look at this group of kids. They were standing in rows and were all around the same age. A lot of them have similar heights, so why did the murderer only choose the one who stood in that position?"

"Could it be that the position and height together will satisfy a certain fantasy of the murderer's?" Shen Yexi furrowed his brows. He was also looking at those photographs carefully, asking Jiang Hu, "What fantasy would that be?"

Jiang Hu thought for a very long time. "About this…"

The three waited for him with wide eyes in antic.i.p.ation.

"It's hard for me to say for sure too."

Sheng Yao's expression was blank for a while. "Doctor, it's only been such a short time and you've already wasted my precious feelings a second time."

Suddenly, Shen Yexi remembered a conversation that Jiang Hu had with him in the car.

"Even after choirmaster was moved to another position, the children who stood here still vanished in the end…" He voiced it out, and the other three were all stunned. "What was the first thing that triggered his fantasy?"

Sheng Yao instantly had a realization. "That kid who went missing in the very beginning is the most crucial one. Which performance was it in that she disappeared afterwards?"

Yang Man instantly moved to flip through the files. "The child who first vanished was called Lu Hui, ten years old. Before disappearing, she had a performance which was broadcasted on the local channel's children's TV program. The broadcast time of the performance was 8.30 p.m.. The majority of children's TV programs were already over, so the view ratings were not high. In the first place, choirs and such areas weren't highly-regarded either… Could it be that the murderer happened to see that performance?"

"Where's the photograph? The one of the performance." Shen Yexi asked.

Yang Man handed it to him. Lu Hui stood in the very center of all the children, just like a moon with stars revolving around her. Even her attire was different from the other children—she wore a small, pure white dress, a halo on her head and on her back was a set of angel wings.

Shen Yexi received the photograph and looked at it for two entire minutes before sucking in a deep breath, saying slowly, "If you look at it like this, if this girl's angel wings were to be folded back into the body, do you guys think it would happen to be into the ribs?"

"It's like he's collecting wings." Shen Yexi said.

Silence filled the air.

Yang Man felt a gust of wind blow past, her hair standing on end. She moved a little closer to Sheng Yao, pinching her throat. "Sheng-gongzi, this servant is afraid."

Sheng Yao's face was rather solemn and tragic. "Beauty, if it wasn't for my filthy arms, then this trivial man would be very willing for this Beauty to come here for shelter."

"This servant is not disgusted with Gongzi."

"This trivial man is afraid of dirtying this Beauty's elegant hair."

The confession between this pair of actors with profoundly wretched feelings was interrupted by the sound of the police car that arrived. An Yining and Su Junzi got down from it. The forensic investigators have already lifted away the corpses covered in white cloth. Su Junzi took a look at the four miserable-looking people squatting around the pile of photographs, looking just like mushrooms. "How are things? What's the situation?"

"Might be mentally ill." Shen Yexi said. "The corpses of the four children were all found. They were beheaded, and other than the final victim, Zhang Jing, every one's feet and heads are arranged in a straight line. Also, the distance between each of them are very similar. The victims' ribs were taken away… There's a high possibility that the murderer is collecting ribs and imagines them to be wings."

An Yining and Su Junzi looked at the photographs that Shen Yexi gave them.

An Yining asked, "Then, why was the last child's head outside?"

"Look at this place." Sheng Yao said, "Yang Man and I went around everywhere just now. There is a very high possibility that there are eye-witnesses. The underground drainage tunnel's paths are complicated and complex. I think there's a very big chance that when the murderer was throwing the corpse, they were alarmed by someone, so they hurriedly jumped into the tunnel and accidentally left the head above. Afterwards, they were worried that they'll be caught, so they escaped from another exit in panic."

At this time, the vaguely visible brows under Jiang Hu's fringe faintly knitted together for a moment. But Shen Yexi saw even this, turning his head around to ask him. "What's wrong? Dr. Jiang, is something incorrect?"

Jiang Hu shook his head, hesitating for a moment. "No, nothing. I just suddenly remembered something."

"What is it?" Hey, say, can't this guy here say things straight at once? Shen Yexi was deathly worried that he'll say something violently fresh like needing to use the toilet, so he added. "It concerns this case?"

Jiang Hu nodded.　　

What are you nodding for? Talk! Shen Yexi felt that he wasn't considered short-tempered, but his right hand was like it had been installed with a battery. It kept wanting to go over by itself to give this slow, dazed muddlehead a slap.

"Why don't you say it?" Sheng Yao watched Shen Yexi's expression slightly s.h.i.+ft, hurriedly prompting Jiang Hu.

"Oh. Just now, I said that this person has OCD. If they really did get a scare and ran off in a panic and didn't put the corpses back to how they were used to, then this would definitely be a source of pressure on them. They will be anxious and nervous. And there's a high possibility that they're currently observing us from a certain place, hoping for us to leave so they can return to put the corpse's head back. But…"

"The forensics team have already moved the corpses." Shen Yexi continued. His thoughts turned in his head quickly. He paused for a while, asking Jiang Hu in a low voice, "What do you think he will do?"

Jiang Hu said, "They'll become increasingly anxious, until they break down or they find a way to resolve the anxiety."

Shen Yexi's eyes flashed. "What I'm scared of is that he won't come out—Junzi, bring a few brothers to find hidden eye-witnesses. Yang-jie, make a call to arrange for people to put surveillance in this area. Yining, tell me the statements the victims' families gave."

He had exceedingly strong delegation skills. Jiang Hu stood at the side. Watching from a bystander's point of view, Shen Yexi certainly had the skills to back himself up for not thinking much of anyone. No matter if it was Yang Man, Sheng Yao or An Yining or Su Junzi, anyone of them were all elites, but each one of them were willing to accept this person's orders.

Even during that period of time when Shen Yexi was hospitalized, a certain kind of situation akin to a group missing its head practically happened to the team. It was no wonder that Mo Cong regarded him this high. 

An Yining gave a simple summary of the information that she and Su Junzi collected. She thought it was very strange because the account of every victim's parent was more or less the same. There had been a traffic jam, the road wasn't far, they had waited for the child to walk over themself, they overlooked this and the child was kidnapped.

The evening rush hour had not been over yet, and for that road to be congested with traffic was something common too. But since they weren't worried about letting their children walk back by themselves, then the distance to the car definitely won't be very far. It could even be a place from where the parents could see. And during the peak hour, there were especially many pa.s.sersby there. So, how did the murderer abduct the children in a manner without alerting anyone?

"They must be very familiar with the path to the choir group, or…" An Yining furrowed her brows. "They are someone the children were familiar with. Ten year olds have a certain capacity for independent thinking. Normally, they won't be so easily taken away unlike small children. And there were so many people. When he brought the children away, if there was any unnatural situation that happened, it would definitely be noticed by pa.s.sersby."

Shen Yexi nodded. "Alright, the scope has been reduced by quite a bit."

Sheng Yao added, "And I think that the place where that person lives shouldn't be far from this place too. Or perhaps, the place that they previously lived in wasn't far from here, so they're very familiar with this place. This murderer threw the child's head outside in a flurry, so they might be someone easily scared. Then, the location they tossed the corpse in should be somewhere they're extremely familiar with and a place that could bring them a sense of safety."

Jiang Hu stood at the side without making a sound, a little inattentive.

Shen Yexi glanced at him, then told Sheng Yao, "How is the situation with the nearby residents?"

Sheng Yao paused. "Just now when I was waiting for you down there, Yang Man already roughly swept one round in the vicinity. Other than the closely-packed old buildings with bad soundproofing, it'll be the compounds and the ragged houses which hadn't been renovated for years and are due to be torn down—I've already sent someone to the neighbourhood committee and local police station to investigate. I suppose it won't take too much time to produce a name list. Except, the length of this name list probably won't be short."

As expected of Sheng Yao, who came from information security and was transferred to criminal investigation. Normally, no matter how sloppy he seemed, meticulousness was ingrained in him.

Shen Yexi nodded, "Yining, put together the information. We'll call Yang-jie to stop working and go back first. Let's change our clothes before we make our next arrangement— this smell, can contest with fumigation."

Because of the progress in the case, his face had a slight, relaxed smile. He looked back to tell Jiang Hu, "Where does Doc stay? I'll send you back."

This person's emotions changed very rapidly, and were a little difficult to grasp.

In this world, there were many people with limitless potential. In the beginning, they were just like the wind, travelling to places without any care. Yet, the world birthed many, many things that gradually bound and restrained their limbs. Their movements gradually slowed, and ultimately, they were restrained into a corner. Gradually, anyone who paid a little more attention would be able to guess their thoughts.

Jiang Hu thought in the beginning that Shen Yexi was just bound in a very, very tiny circle by that obsession-like sense of justice. Each time he faced vice directly, it was the harshest shock to his humanity. Such that after he witnessed his most intimate brother and comrade's death, everyone suspected he had PTSD.

But the strange thing was, each and every time, he pa.s.sed the psychological examinations, and he even looked… like someone very inscrutable.

Was it because he was pursuing an even higher need that Maslow spoke of? This would mix in too many philosophies and reasonings and even schools of thought. So Jiang Hu tilted his head, smiling. "I'll trouble Leader Shen then."