Miss Cousin is Always Busy

Jun Zishu visited the archives and started searching for clues about the case from back then.

The original owner's master had already died in the line of duty a few years ago, so Jun Zishu had nobody to ask about the case. Fortunately, the cannibal case back then was quite big, so she didn't have trouble finding the dossier from twenty years ago. Even so, the papers had already turned a little yellow, and the handwriting on it had started to fade.

Twenty years ago, a horrific cannibalism case took place in Lanhai City. The criminal was a man with mental illness. He believed that he had a fatal disease and that the only way he could survive the disease was by drinking human blood and eating human flesh. The criminal's methods were extremely cruel, and all of the victims' bodies were badly mutilated.

The city's entire police force had practically mobilized just to search for the criminal back then. Eventually, when the police found the criminal in his home, he was in the midst of eating his child, and his wife had already died.

Originally, the criminal should've been sentenced to death. However, one victim's family used their connections to have him sentenced to life.

After all, death was too light of a punishment for the criminal. What was truly torturous was spending the rest of one's life in prison getting bullied by others.

After Jun Zishu read through all relevant documents, she returned the dossier to its original location.

After reading about the case from twenty years ago, she felt that the case this time was slightly more severe.

The killer, this time, evidently did not think he had a disease. Instead, he found joy in eating human flesh, evidenced by the missing flesh at the victim's thighs. Of course, the possibility of mental illness couldn't be ruled out, either.

What a perverse bastard.

Jun Zishu frowned in annoyance at this realization.

Meanwhile, Jiang Yinsheng quietly stayed by Jun Zishu's side throughout this entire time. Since she couldn't help Jun Zishu with anything, she didn't make any sound to avoid worsening Jun Zishu's already bad mood.

…

Wang Duoduo and Yang Tianxiao brought two colleagues to the victim's home. After making multiple twists and turns through the city's snowy streets, they arrived in a dilapidated neighborhood.

After locating the victim's house, the group of officers knocked on the door and waited for a while before they got a response.

"Who is it? Why the heck are you knocking on other people's doors in the middle of the night? Can't you let me get some sleep?"

The annoyed voice of a middle-aged woman came through the door.

"Police."

The person on the other side of the door promptly fell silent. Then, the middle-aged woman opened the door impatiently and asked, "What did that little punk do this time?"

The middle-aged woman was wearing thick pajamas, and her hair was draped across her back. Although she wasn't tall, she gave off a very imposing aura.

"Are you Chen Yang's mother?"

"Yes, yes, yes. So, what did that brat do again this time? For heaven's sake, he only knows how to make trouble for me. He hasn't even come home after such a long time. Who knows where the hell he's gone to? The only thing he's good at is misbehaving! Day after day after day! It's like he's trying to anger me to death!"

"We found his corpse half an hour ago."

"What corpse? Don't tell me he killed—What did you say?!"

The middle-aged woman's eyes widened in shock as she looked at Wang Duoduo, the tone of her voice shooting up near the end.

"What's the corpse?! Take me to it!" the woman demanded, her face full of disbelief. Even so, her eyes had already reddened. Then, she turned back into the house and shouted, "Old Chen, come out quickly!"

Shortly after the woman's shout, a sleepy-eyed man walked up to the front door yawning.

"What's wrong?"

"The police are here."

"Did Yangyang get into trouble again?"

"They said the little brat is dead," the woman uttered in a sobbing voice, and the man's body shook when he heard his wife's words.

"We wish to learn more about his situa—"

"I want to see my son now," the woman said, interrupting Yang Tianxiao's words.

Yang Tianxiao paused for a moment before nodding. Honestly, though, she felt that the middle-aged couple would faint if they saw the corpse. So, she suggested, "Actually, we don't recommend you see it…"

"What's wrong? How did he die? Who killed him?" the middle-aged woman bombarded Yang Tianxiao with a barrage of questions, her emotions agitated.

"We are still looking into the murderer, so we need you to cooperate with us so that we can get ahold of more clues."

…

When the middle-aged couple got to see the pictures of the victim's corpse in the police station, their despair reached its peak.

The officers on duty could only do their best to console the middle-aged couple. After all, nobody could stay calm if they were put through such a situation.

The autopsy report also came out shortly afterward. However, there wasn't much useful information discovered.

According to the corpse's livor mortis and stiffness, the victim should've died around three to five days ago. However, this might not be accurate since the recent cold weather and snowing would've affected the corpse's decomposition rate to a certain extent.

The body's wrists, neck, and legs all had obvious signs of bruising, proving that the victim must've been bound by rope before his death.

The body was also cleaned thoroughly, and there were no traces of blood in the fingernails or remnants of any kind on it.

Other than the bruises caused by the bindings, there were no other obvious bruises or scratches on the victim's body. The victim was also suspected of having died from excessive blood loss.

That was only natural. How could the victim not die after having his stomach cut open?

For the killer, cleaning the victim's body was probably their first step in preparing the ingredient.

Then, after the ingredient was cleaned, the next step was to cut it up.

Jun Zishu speculated that the flesh around the inner thighs was the first to be cut out. If the killer had cut open the victim's abdomen and dug out the victim's organs beforehand, the victim wouldn't have lasted for very long. Meanwhile, in the eyes of a chef or the average person, a dead ingredient wouldn't be as fresh as a live ingredient.

The more Jun Zishu tried to think of the crime sensibly, the more discomforted her heart became. There was even a vague feeling of discomfort in her stomach.

"Are you okay?"

While listening to the faint sobbing voices coming from outside Jun Zishu's office, Jiang Yinsheng placed her hand on Jun Zishu's forehead.

When Jun Zishu felt the cold sensation touching her face, her mind regained a lot of its clarity.

"Mhm."

…

After the victim's family members were stabilized, Jun Zishu began asking them questions.

It was unlikely for such a crime to be committed by an acquaintance, but the possibility couldn't be ruled out entirely, either.

Some criminals would only target strangers, some would only target people they've set their sights on since the very beginning, and some would only target acquaintances. Jun Zishu didn't know which case the killer belonged to, so she could only search for clues and gradually find out.

"When did Chen Yang stop coming home?"

"About…half a month ago… He doesn't come home often. If he gets into trouble, it wouldn't be strange if he stays out for a few months."

Chen Yang didn't have good grades in school, so he didn't like to study. He had always mingled with hoodlums, so he had already dropped out of school and entered society even before he finished middle school.

Judging by Chen Yang's mother's reaction, Jun Zishu guessed that Chen Yang had caused quite a lot of trouble when he was alive.

"We can't and don't know how to control him. So long as he doesn't commit any huge crimes, we'll just let him be. Although we reprimand him every time he comes home, it's useless. The longest time he's been away from home was six months. He never called home once during that time. He has no conscience."

Despite being fed up with her son so much and knowing that her son was not a good person, Chen Yang's mother still couldn't help but feel sad and hurt when she found out about her son's death. After all, he was essentially a piece of flesh that had come from her body.

After the inquiry, Jun Zishu had someone send the middle-aged couple home.

Based on Chen Yang's parents' statement, Chen Yang wouldn't stay in the same location for long periods. He would also change jobs frequently.

If such a person went missing, their disappearance wouldn't easily alert other people. If not for Liao Ying taking a shortcut on her way home, it might've taken even longer for the corpse to be discovered.

The snowfall outside was growing heavier and heavier. Failing to find any useful clues, everyone on the crime investigation team gathered together with sullen moods.

"If things are really as we suspect, the killer is unlikely to stop until he is caught. So, we may be greeted with…"

A new corpse.

Everyone looked at each other in silence.

The only thing they had to go with right now was a corpse with a pitiful amount of clues. They didn't have any useful evidence to identify the killer at all.

"The killer must've premeditated this crime. He may have stalked Chen Yang for quite a few days and knew that Chen Yang's disappearance wouldn't alarm anybody. Facts have also proven that he is right, and Chen Yang's body was only discovered by accident several days after his death. Right now, we still don't have enough evidence to verify the killer's preferences."

They only had one corpse right now, so they couldn't accurately determine what kind of preference the killer had toward his "food."

"The killer used strong bondage on the deceased when the deceased was still alive. However, we still lack evidence to identify the killer, so we cannot be certain whether the bondage was used to prevent the deceased from struggling or escaping, or if the killer wasn't very strong."

Chen Yang was a 19-year-old youth. He was in the prime of his life. He would also often get into fights because he mingled with shady people, so he wasn't the type of person with a weak physique.

If they wished to find more clues about the killer, they could only wait until the next body appeared. However, the appearance of the next body would also mean the death of another person.

The snow outside fell silently, and the darkness was so dense that it threatened to devour everyone in the room.

"It's late. Everyone should go home and rest first. Zhou Lan, head to Chen Yang's last workplace tomorrow morning and ask around there. Tianxiao, you'll come with me to ask around the crime scene."

"Roger."

…

After leaving the station, Jun Zishu drove home with Jiang Yinsheng in the passenger seat.

"I can help you when you go out to investigate at night. I can do many things that you can't do. Although I can only go out at night, many bad things happen at night, right?"

"If I need help anywhere, I will be sure to ask you. Thanks."

"No need to be polite with me. Just think of it as something I should do in return for taking me in. I can also do all the dishes and laundry at home from now on."

"I'll do those myself."

Jun Zishu's eyebrows twitched when she heard Jiang Yinsheng's words. She wasn't so lazy as to have a ghost do her dishes and laundry.

"Alright, then," Jiang Yinsheng responded, looking a little disappointed.

After returning home, Jun Zishu grabbed a clean set of clothes and walked into the bathroom. As her mind was occupied by something else, she didn't notice that she had missed something when she entered the shower. She noticed the problem only after she had wiped her body and was about to put on her clothes.

Ah, I forgot my panties.

Should I go out and put it on? Or should I get the little ghost to get it for me?

After thinking it over, Jun Zishu decided on the latter. So, after putting on her top, she walked out of the bathroom while holding onto her pants.