Chapter 065: Not the Murderer?

Chen Fan was taken aback for a moment and asked me why. I told him that before the Taoist priest disappeared, he had come to this place with Xuan Yi. After hearing this, Chen Fan nodded and said he would immediately send someone to investigate. By the time the police had finished gathering all the evidence from the scene, it was already noon. The nauseating corpse had been taken away by the authorities.

The forensic work at the scene was still ongoing. After greeting Chen Fan, I left with the little ghost. We went straight to the hospital. Luo Feng was out of danger by the time we arrived, but he was still asleep. It wasn't until evening that he finally opened his eyes.

Luo Feng's lips were pale. He asked me if I had found anyone. I shook my head. He sighed and asked me to help him sit up. The hospital room was quiet. I hadn't told Chen Fan about Luo Feng's injury; otherwise, an investigation might have brought Luo Feng unnecessary trouble.

I asked the doctor about Luo Feng's condition. The knife hadn't penetrated deeply; luckily, it had missed any vital areas. Luo Feng was robust. He lit a cigarette and started smoking. Just as I was about to take it away, he waved his hand and smiled, telling me that when he was a teenager, during the most chaotic days in the harbor district, the wounds he suffered then were far worse than this.

After a few puffs, Luo Feng seemed uncomfortable and stubbed out the cigarette. He looked haggard, his lips still pale, but his eyes were cold and sinister. Weakly, he cursed, “Damn it. If I ever catch that old Taoist who stabbed me, I’ll skin him alive. It's been years since anyone dared to pull a knife on me.”

Luo Feng was still fuming. I asked if he had seen the attacker's face. He seemed surprised, asking if it wasn't the old Taoist priest. I was about to answer when he slapped his forehead. “He’s been dead for a while now, I almost forgot. Actually, I didn’t really see his face. I just instinctively thought it was the old Taoist.”

I nodded. “The attacker was clever. Xuan Yi was close to the old Taoist, and with Xuan Yi present, you saw someone who looked like the old Taoist—it’s natural you’d assume it was him who attacked you.” Luo Feng agreed, but soon voiced a new doubt: why would someone disguise themselves as the old Taoist to attack him?

Honestly, I had the same question.

Despite the pain in his chest and his weakness, Luo Feng described the scene for me to help with the investigation. What he said matched closely with the little ghost’s account. The only difference was that the little ghost saw Xuan Yi, but Luo Feng did not. He only noticed the little ghost suddenly running off and then followed.

After that, Luo Feng followed the little ghost to a place packed tightly with Kuman Thong dolls. He asked the little ghost where Xuan Yi was, but the little ghost just pointed at the mound of dolls, saying there was something inside. As Luo Feng described the moment, cold sweat broke out on my forehead—it felt as if I were experiencing it myself.

Luo Feng said he also felt as though the mound of Kuman Thong dolls was moving, so he approached cautiously. But when he got closer, he saw it was just the wind causing the outer layer of dolls to shift. The little ghost insisted something was inside, so Luo Feng bent down to take a look.

It was then that a figure suddenly sprang out from within the dolls. Luo Feng was caught off guard and took a knife to the chest. If not for his quick reflexes, he might not have survived. The attacker was dressed just like the old Taoist priest and, after stabbing Luo Feng, quickly fled.

After being stabbed, Luo Feng had no strength to give chase. He instinctively shielded the little ghost, trying to protect it, but as he leaned forward, both of them collapsed into the mound of dolls. That was when I arrived. When Luo Feng heard there had been a revolting corpse hidden among the dolls, he shuddered all over.

“Damn it, I had such close contact with that corpse—I’d rather have been stabbed a few more times,” Luo Feng said, looking like he was about to vomit. “And that guy, hiding in those dolls—how could he stand it?”

There was nothing more I could get from Luo Feng, so I told him to rest and left the hospital. It was cold outside. I lit a cigarette, but after only a few drags, I noticed a familiar figure in the distance—it was Wang Yazhuo. She paced back and forth outside the hospital before finally heading in.

At first, she didn’t see me. I called out her name and only then did she notice. She came over, hesitated for a while, and then asked if Luo Feng was all right.

I watched her closely, feeling something odd. Luo Feng and Wang Yazhuo barely knew each other, and his relationship with Wang Jianming was nothing more than the occasional dealings one has on the street. Smiling faintly, I observed her. She seemed a bit embarrassed—just like any ordinary woman, none of the arrogance or willfulness that rumors attributed to her.

I told Wang Yazhuo that Luo Feng was fine.

She handed me a basket of fruit and asked me to give it to Luo Feng, then hurried away. I brought the fruit back to Luo Feng’s room. He was surprised at my return. After I explained, he got goosebumps all over. I teased him, saying maybe Wang Yazhuo had taken a liking to him.

Luo Feng shook his head at once. “No way, I couldn’t handle it.”

By the time I left the hospital again, it was already nine at night. I received a call from Chen Fan, who was anxious to see me. I gave him my home address and, after a short rest, he arrived. Still in uniform, Chen Fan looked around my shabby rented room in surprise and asked why I didn’t just live with Luo Feng.

He brought me the preliminary forensic report on the corpse. Based on the body’s condition, the medical examiner estimated the time of death to be about a week ago. Through identification, the police confirmed that the deceased was indeed the missing Taoist priest. Aside from the face and head, there were no other injuries.

There was a visible wound on the back of the head, so the medical examiner’s preliminary conclusion was that the direct cause of death was a heavy blow to the back of the skull. The exact time and cause of death would require dissection and more advanced techniques, which would take time. At the crime scene, the police collected many footprints and fingerprints, including traces left on the Kuman Thong dolls.

I knew the police would have gathered physical evidence from a lot of unrelated people—ours included, as well as those of passersby who had stayed in that abandoned house before. The killer had chosen the crime scene well, for the evidence was so muddled that the police would have a hard time isolating what was most relevant to the case.

I asked Chen Fan if they had found any objects resembling the murder weapon. He shook his head but showed me photos of the corpse. I focused on the close-ups of the wound on the back of the head. The injury was irregular, only about a centimeter deep, but its area was quite large.

A blow of that depth to the back of the head, even if not fatal, would usually cause unconsciousness. Judging from the photos, I guessed the victim had been struck more than once. A single heavy blow seldom leaves such a large area of injury; even with a large object, the contact area is still limited. So I surmised the injury had been widened by multiple blows.

Moreover, the wound was not deep. With the same amount of force, the smaller the contact area, the greater the pressure. For example, under equal force, a needle easily pierces skin, while a chopstick does not. If the murderer used a pointed object with enough force to cause unconsciousness, the wound would not be only a centimeter deep.

“The murder weapon was probably something rounded, without many sharp edges,” I told Chen Fan. “Go back to the scene and keep searching.”

Chen Fan said, “Brother Han, you can tell all that just from the photos? The medical examiner also said the victim was struck more than once.”

I smiled. “It’s just basic trace evidence analysis. You should study it more when you have time—it’ll do you good.”

As we spoke, Chen Fan took a call. After hanging up, he told me there was news about Xuan Yi, but he probably wasn’t the killer...