Chapter 18: The Headless Corpse

2022-05-20

“Living with a woman that gorgeous and not making a move—is this guy even a real man?” I shook my head at Gu Chen and Guan Zengbin while staring at Hu Jiajia’s photo. “Either Hu Jiajia’s lying, or that guy’s got some kind of problem with his preferences.”

Guan Zengbin, sitting in the passenger seat, shot me a contemptuous look over his shoulder. “You think every man is as pervy as you? Ever heard of someone with real self-restraint? The only reason she’d let him move in is if he’s got impeccable character. Look at you, your eyes are practically falling out of your head. Compared to him, honestly… tch.”

Gu Chen was driving us toward the scene where the body was found. “So doesn’t that mean Hu Jiajia could still be in danger? If the killer got the wrong person, what’s to stop him from trying again?”

“I’ll give Team Leader Shao a call, ask for protection for Hu Jiajia until we catch the killer.” I nodded seriously.

“But you know,” Guan Zengbin folded her arms, “Hu Jiajia isn’t simple. She always seems to attract a strange crowd.”

I shrugged. “Takes looks to pull that off. Think you could compete with her?”

“Get lost!”

People say the sewers are a city’s conscience. That’s true enough, but that conscience only stays clear with regular cleaning and maintenance. Otherwise, blockages are inevitable, just like with a heart. You can find all sorts of things down there—children’s toys, an old lady’s dentures, a newlywed’s diamond ring.

Or, maybe, a headless corpse.

The sewer system here wasn’t big enough to drive through, but two people could walk side by side. Two workers on sewer maintenance were the first ones to find the body.

It’s not a job anyone wants—there’s a stench that soaks right into your bones. No matter how many showers you take, you can’t scrub it off.

Lately it’s been hot with little rain. Inside the sewers it’s like a steaming gas chamber, putting the two workers’ guts to the limit as they hurried through the underground maze. As risky as their work is, it’s not the fear of flash floods that gets to them most—it’s the thought of running into someone down there.

They’d joked before: what if we find a person at the next turn? What then?

So at the next junction, both stopped in their tracks.

The beam from their flashlight landed on a dark, shapeless lump sprawled on the ground ahead.

Neither dared to breathe. Their legs felt like they were filled with lead, because now they could see it—the shadow on the ground was a person’s.

“Worst comes to worst, it’s just another person.” That was what Xiao Gao had said before.

But right now, not only was Xiao Gao not feeling brave, he couldn’t even lift his foot. People think they’re tough, but everyone’s afraid of the unknown. Three minutes passed, the shadow on the ground didn’t budge.

“Fake?” Xiao Gao whispered, turning to Lao Li.

“Go check and you’ll find out!” Lao Li muttered back, just as quietly.

“Together.” Xiao Gao said.

Their footsteps echoed down the tunnel, hearts hammering against their ribs. As their flashlight cut closer, the object came into focus. The smell hit them hard—that was definitely a human being. Or, to be more precise, a dead body.

“Oh crap!” Xiao Gao’s scream ricocheted down the sewer, but only the two workers and the corpse heard it.

“Will you stop freaking out!” Lao Li’s hand shook around his flashlight, his nerves fraying.

“The body… the body doesn’t have a head!” Xiao Gao’s voice cracked with terror.

No one dared drag the corpse out once Xiao Gao described just how nasty it looked. Everyone hesitated, no one wanted to take the job.

Gu Chen cursed and said, “It’s just moving a corpse, isn’t it? Give me some clothes, I’ll do it.”

Half an hour later, Gu Chen came back to us.

“That smell…” First thing he did was run over to the trash bin to puke.

The corpse was laid out in front of us. Facing it, I realized Xiao Gao was a bit of a prude, because the body was far more revolting than expected. The shock hit on every level.

Visually, decay had turned the corpse monstrous.

Smell-wise, that unique stench of rot seemed to punch straight through your nose and deep into your soul. Next to it, things like fermented tofu or canned herring seemed harmless. The fumes were so sharp it was like drinking fake whiskey, hammering away at your brain.

Most people there couldn’t take the assault on their senses. By now, half the group was puking their guts out. I clenched my rolling stomach. “Anyone kind enough to offer a real gas mask? Regular masks don’t stand a chance against this…”

Guan Zengbin, unfazed, stepped forward with a pair of tweezers and picked up a worm writhing desperately, trying to escape. For a split second, I was terrified she’d pull a Bear Grylls and eat it, but thankfully she kept it professional. “We’re already at the maggot stage. Judging by conditions down here, the body’s been dead for two to three days, maybe less. It’s hot and damp in the sewers, after all.”

“Look at the neck. The wound matches the one from Zhang Mingliang’s found head. That means this is probably his body.” Guan Zengbin squatted by the corpse, narrating her findings, completely unfazed. “But we should confirm it with DNA.”

“Take the body back to the funeral home,” Guan Zengbin said briskly.

Gu Chen and I traded looks. Forensics or not—nineteen or not—she didn’t flinch at all facing that corpse. We couldn’t help but be a little awed.

“She’s incredible…” Gu Chen looked at the corpse. “It was too dark earlier, so I didn’t really see it, but now… nope, I need to go puke again…”

During the autopsy, Gu Chen must’ve washed his hands eight times, yet still claimed he could smell the rot on his skin. It was like he’d been cursed with it. Meanwhile, Guan Zengbin handled everything with ease, like none of it bothered her.

I couldn’t imagine what her future husband would say when slipping a ring on her finger and kissing her hand. Maybe he’d shout, “This hand is toxic!”

Just looking at the corpse, I honestly couldn’t see much point to an autopsy—it was pretty much all rotted away. To save my eyes, I waited outside. Gu Chen came back from another round of hand-washing, already giving up. “I almost smeared crap on my hands to cover the corpse smell.”

“You should really shower,” I said earnestly. “Your problem isn’t just your hands, it’s your whole body. You took a beating carrying that corpse out.”

By the evening, Guan Zengbin’s autopsy report was ready.

She was scrubbing her hands with cilantro when she told me, “No doubt—the victim is Zhang Mingliang. The DNA’s a perfect match. His body’s finally more or less whole now. Even though it’s badly decomposed, I can confirm he had gender reassignment surgery.”

“It’s hard to pinpoint the exact time of death, but based on the head, it was likely between 11 p.m. the night before last and 1 a.m. yesterday. Cause of death was a sharp instrument cleanly severing his head. The bloodstains in the building line up with that.”

“Only, there was a bit more blood than you’d expect at the scene, but that’s not a huge issue,” she added.

“Thanks for your hard work,” I said from the heart. “Most people couldn’t handle facing a corpse like that alone, especially a young woman.”

She kept crushing cilantro leaves into her palms. “That’s rare, hearing my Squad Leader Wu give sincere compliments. Almost as hard as winning the lottery. Where’s Gu Chen?”

I shrugged. “He’s nearly scrubbed the skin off his hands by now…”

“He’s never seen a corpse that decomposed before. He’ll see plenty more in the future.” Guan Zengbin dumped the cilantro in the trash and, from somewhere, produced a bottle of vinegar to rinse her hands. “Oh right, I almost missed an important clue during the autopsy.”

“What did you find?” I asked quickly.

She rinsed her hands with vinegar as she explained, “I was curious about the gender reassignment, so I looked a bit more closely, and you’ll never guess what I found—I collected a small amount of bodily fluid.”

Right then, Hu Jiajia’s threatening letter flashed through my mind.

It’s crazy how things line up sometimes. The killer couldn’t have known the victim was transgender. The world really is wild.

“Looks like our focus needs to shift to Hu Jiajia,” Guan Zengbin said. “Maybe we can trace the killer through her.”

“And the young man caught in the trap—he definitely knows something.” I ran my hands through my hair. “We’re short on help. We’d better get Team Leader Shao involved.”