Chapter 136: The Fool and the Half-Million

2022-05-20

For Captain Zhou, those few hundred meters felt as long as a century. When we got back to our apartment, he leaned against the bed, frozen tears on his cheeks melting as new ones flowed and mingled together.

I knew that asking Captain Zhou about Luo Sumei right now would be heartless. But we’ve come this far in the case and the killer is only getting more brazen. If we don’t get answers soon, I’m afraid the killer will strike again before we can stop them.

With that in mind, I broke the silence. “Captain Zhou, when exactly did you lose contact with Luo Sumei?”

He turned to look at me. Choking back sobs, he said, “A week ago. Or to be exact, nine days. We argued that day and after the fight she blocked me on everything.”

“I’ve never been good with feelings,” he said, wiping his tears. “She didn’t call, so I didn’t reach out either—I didn’t want to upset her any more. One day passed after another, and never in my wildest dreams did I think something like this would happen…”

I nodded. “Captain Zhou, did Luo Sumei ever wear nail polish before?”

He glanced at me. Guan Zengbin and Gu Chen both looked my way too, questioning looks in their eyes. I could tell they knew what I was getting at. The question made it clear I was probing for more than just small talk.

Guan Zengbin glared at me as if to say it was heartless to suspect Captain Zhou at a time like this. But I can’t leave any stone unturned, especially now. Every possibility must be considered, every person ruled in or out.

Captain Zhou clearly caught the meaning behind my words. “No,” he replied. “Xiaomei’s thirty this year, and as long as we’ve been together, she’s never worn nail polish. Never. So when I saw those legs and arms, it never crossed my mind that it could be Xiaomei…”

Guan Zengbin shook her head. “I’ve never done my nails or worn makeup, but I’ve seen it plenty. Back in school, I used to go get our nails done with my best friend. You can’t get nails like that at home. Xiaomei definitely had them done at a salon.”

I added, “Captain Zhou, when she left home after your fight nine days ago, was her nail polish already done?”

“No, definitely not,” he said firmly. “I’d have noticed right away.”

So that means Luo Sumei only went missing after getting her nails done. If we can figure out exactly when and where she was last seen, we might pinpoint the time she disappeared—and maybe even the identity of the last person she met.

But then, why did she come to Tougouzi Village? Why did she die in Tougouzi Village? Did she have some special connection to this place?

I said, “Captain Zhou, I give you my word—no matter who killed Luo Sumei, I’ll find the truth.”

Just then, my phone chimed—the WeChat notification sound. I pulled it out and saw a message from Mary: “I’ve found that newspaper for you. I’m still digging into Luo Sumei’s case.”

She attached an old newspaper clipping. This time, I could clearly see the twelve names listed at the end, and with each one I read, my frown deepened.

No wonder—the way the killer disposed of Luo Sumei’s body was copied exactly from this newspaper. All the methods were right there.

No wonder my profiling pointed straight to a butcher. The killer had copied someone else’s methods for dismemberment, without revealing any clue to their own mindset. But why use such varied techniques on the same body?

I’ve narrowed it down to three possible motives.

First, the killer and Luo Sumei were mortal enemies.

If that’s true, then after killing her, it wasn’t enough for the killer just to take her life. They wanted the world to know what they’d done—like a kid who aces an exam and can’t wait to brag. That’s why the killer rushed to use Luo Sumei’s phone to reveal her identity.

Second, maybe the killer had a vendetta against Captain Zhou. You know that saying about wishing someone a long and lonely life? Sometimes, true revenge isn’t about killing—death’s an escape. But if you’re alive, there are a thousand ways to make you suffer.

If that’s the motive, only Captain Zhou would know whether he’s wronged someone badly enough to earn such hatred. Only he can say if there’s someone who hates him so much that even killing him wouldn’t satisfy them—they want him to suffer.

Third possibility: the killer wanted to hurt us directly. Maybe there’s no grudge against the victim or Zhou personally—Luo Sumei was Zhou’s girlfriend, Zhou’s a cop, and the killer wants revenge on us. People with this mindset usually feel they’ve been wronged or treated unfairly.

If that’s the case, we’ll need to check village residents’ records, or their families’, for anything suspicious. If so, it should be in the files. So I pulled out my phone and messaged Mary, asking her to investigate village records.

Based on everything so far, these are the three most likely motives I can think of. But no matter which it is, the killer’s starting to lose their patience.

If you were the one who dismembered the body and wanted us to know the victim’s identity, what’s the easiest way?

You got it—just toss out the victim’s head.

But the killer didn’t. Instead, they used Luo Sumei’s phone to send us a text. But that’s not going to lead us anywhere—phone GPS is only so accurate, and we already know the killer has to be a villager.

So why go through all the trouble with the phone instead of dumping the head where we’d find it?

I shook my head and decided to put that question aside for now. What I really needed to check was my second theory: did Captain Zhou have any mortal enemies? When I shared my reasoning with him, he fell into a long, heavy silence.

After a while, he shook his head, his voice hoarse. “No, I don’t have enemies. You know me—I avoid making trouble with people. I hardly ever argue, let alone fight. Who would hate me that much? It can’t be someone who hates me.”

Gu Chen spoke up. “Could it be someone you arrested before?”

Captain Zhou frowned, then slowly replied, “I don’t think so. In Yumu City, serious crimes are rare—you know that. Most people I’ve ever arrested were just for fighting or snatching wallets. No one’s done anything as bad as murder. Why risk it all just to get revenge on me?”

“You know, if they get caught,” he sighed, “there’s no escaping death. Why would they throw their life away just to retaliate against me? It’s too big a risk. I don’t think anyone I’ve arrested would go that far.”

With how firmly Captain Zhou answered, I felt confident ruling out option two—the killer wasn’t targeting him out of personal vendetta.

But I couldn’t confirm or deny the first and third motives yet. I’d have to wait for Mary’s update.

As I was thinking this, Mary’s message came through: she’d found the details about Luo Sumei’s disappearance.

Turns out Luo Sumei didn’t go missing nine days ago. The last time anyone saw her was three days ago, in the morning—the very day she was killed.

The last person to see her was a man named Tony, an employee at a nail salon.

Since it hadn’t been long, Tony still remembered her. That morning, it was snowing heavily and there were no other customers. Tony had actually asked her why she’d come out in weather like that just to get her nails done.

Luo Sumei told him she had a meeting at noon.

Tony joked with her, asking if she was meeting her husband for an anniversary.

But she laughed and told him she wasn’t married. She said she was meeting an idiot at noon, someone about to give her half a million. With that money, she could finally buy a nice apartment in Yumu City—a place of her own at last.

Tony noticed how happy she looked and convinced her to get the full set of nails. She agreed, still smiling.

Mary sent us photos of Luo Sumei’s manicure. Tony confirmed these were the ones he’d done that day.

Luo Sumei left the nail salon around eleven.

Her time of death was estimated between one and three in the afternoon.

Who did she meet? Why were they giving her five hundred thousand? Was it the killer?

What exactly happened in those few short hours?