Chapter 80: The Security Guard Doomed to Die

2022-05-20

Dog blood. I actually found dog blood on the lipstick. There’s no way the lipstick came with that, which means someone accidentally got dog blood on it. But Liu Feier isn’t the type to get dog blood on her lipstick. So the only explanation is that someone else carelessly stained it.

I sat there with my eyes shut, tugging at my hair in frustration.

There isn’t all that much stuff in Liu Feier’s room, but it’s definitely not sparse either, so why mess with a single lipstick? If it were me, alone and bored at night, I’d probably check out her fancy mouse and keyboard. I wouldn’t bother with her cosmetics.

Opening my eyes, I felt sure of it—this had to be a woman. Only a woman would notice Liu Feier’s high-end makeup, only a woman would be tempted to try a luxury lipstick she’d never used before. Men just don’t think like that.

A woman with dog blood on her lips—why would she have that there? Suddenly, someone popped into my head—someone who treats dog blood like a lifeline.

Could it be that this whole scheme was organized by them? When Zhao Mingkun was in Linfen, he didn’t run into Lai San. So where is Lai San now? Could he be desperate enough to try something big? Still, it’s too early to say for sure. Looks like we’re in for a long fight.

“Little Wu!” Xiao Liu shouted from downstairs. “All the security guards are here. Come on down.”

I exchanged a glance with Gu Chen, then we headed back downstairs.

Security and the patrol team—there were dozens of people gathered below. They stood in three neat lines, looking sharp and ready. According to Liu Yinyan’s housekeeper, these guards hired by Building Management have no records of trouble. Many are university grads earning 5,000 yuan a month, plus end-of-year bonuses—a solid deal. No sign of troublemakers sneaking in either.

Looking at the assembled guards, I raised my voice. “I won’t waste words. You all know why I called you here. You heard about what happened at noon. But I’m not suspicious of any of you standing in front of me. I just need to know—is everyone here? Is anyone missing?”

The security team leader glanced around, suddenly frowning. “Erzi, where’s that college kid that works under you? Where’d he go?”

Erzi was a big, sturdy guy with a dark complexion, someone who looked completely straightforward. He scanned his surroundings and said, “You mean Xiao Wang, right? I saw him this morning, but he vanished in the blink of an eye. Anyone know where he went?”

As he spoke, Erzi looked over at the others.

But everyone around just shook their heads. Not a single soul knew where Xiao Wang had gone.

Seeing this, I realized something was definitely off here. I jumped in and asked, “What’s Xiao Wang’s story? What’s his real name, how old is he, where’s home? Tell me everything.”

The security team leader looked anxious, too. “Erzi, your guy went missing and you didn’t say anything sooner? If something happens here, we’re all getting fired. You realize this mess is all on you, right?”

I stopped him, saying, “Forget the blame game, just tell me what you know while there’s still time. Otherwise, the only thing you’ll be looking at is a corpse!”

Erzi quickly shared Xiao Wang’s details.

His full name is Wang Yikai, twenty-four years old. He studied at Dongxing City Normal University. After graduation, he couldn’t land a good job, so when this post opened up, he took the security gig. It’s been a year now.

Wang Yikai isn’t a local. He rents a place in Dongxing City by himself and doesn’t live in the staff dorm. The patrol team, including Erzi, all felt Wang Yikai looked down on them, probably because he had the best degree of all the guards.

Erzi said that after lunch, he and his team went on patrol. Wang Yikai was there at the time.

“Does your team patrol near Mr. Liu Yinyan’s villa?” I quickly asked. “Every five minutes a shift?”

Erzi replied, “Not sure on the exact timing. Our team has six people—three handle the back of the villa, three the front. Xiao Wang and the others are responsible for the back. Was he still there during the noon patrol?”

“Yeah, but halfway through he complained about a stomachache,” someone piped up. “He was almost rolling on the ground. We stuck with him for a while until he felt better. Then he said he needed the bathroom. Never saw him again after that.”

“So where’s his rented place?” I pressed.

Twenty minutes later, we arrived at Wang Yikai’s home.

It was in the outskirts, a bit away from the villa, nestled by the mountains and water, but not developed into a villa district yet. There were scattered little brick houses everywhere, no planning at all, clearly built for workers from the villa zone.

Erzi pointed at a red brick house up on a small hill and let us know that was Wang Yikai’s place.

I nodded and signaled Gu Chen to stay close. I gently pushed the door—it wasn’t locked, just cracked open. With a swift push, I swung it wide, only to find the place empty. The first thing that hit me was a bed—blanket neatly folded, pillow right on top, looking untouched.

Next to the bed was a simple wardrobe, the kind you assemble yourself, covered in fabric. I pulled down the zipper in the middle—no clothes inside. Looking to the side, I saw a desk. From the way the dust settled, there were three rectangular spots that remained clean.

There was another door, leading to the bathroom.

“Looks like that kid was in on it,” Gu Chen said as he checked out the small room. “During the operation, he pretended to have a stomachache to buy time for whoever helped Liu Feier escape.”

Gu Chen nodded to himself as he went on, “Besides, to avoid all the surveillance, you’d need to be seriously familiar with the villa. That calls for an inside man—makes Wang Yikai a huge suspect. And see, his clothes are gone, door left unlocked—he must’ve left in a hurry.”

I wagged a finger, then corrected him. “You’re half right and half wrong.”

“What do you mean?” Gu Chen looked at me in confusion.

I explained, “Yeah, Wang Yikai’s definitely the inside man. You nailed that part. But the rest isn’t right—it’s actually contradictory. First, Wang wasn’t in a rush. This place is small; if he’d packed up his wardrobe, he’d need to fold his clothes somewhere.”

I pointed at the bed, “And that’s the best spot to do it. But look—the sheets have zero wrinkles. So either he didn’t use the bed, or he fixed it up perfectly after.”

Gu Chen nodded, and I turned him toward the desk. “See this desk? It’s filthy, but there are three clean, rectangular patches. That means something was sitting there—a 15.6-inch laptop, a keyboard, and, judging by the marks, a mousepad on the right.”

That much was obvious. Erzi chimed in, “Yeah, I was here before. The computer used to sit right there.”

I snapped my fingers. “And here’s the thing—he neatly packed his wardrobe and computer, yet left the front door unlocked. Makes no sense. If he was running for his life, would he really take the time to tidy up? If someone bribed him, wouldn’t he realize how serious this was? Why worry about his computer and a few shirts?”

Xiao Liu frowned and said, “So you mean Wang disappeared first, then Liu Feier went missing after? If he’d just bought time, he could’ve packed up and left later.”

I shook my head. “Psychologically, if someone can keep that calm, they’d pull off a better act and wouldn’t use such an obvious excuse. If I were him, I’d have a hundred better ways to stall and not give myself away.”

I pointed at the lock. “The door wasn’t locked! If he had time to pack up, why not just lock up? Didn’t you notice, when we came in, the door still had the old-fashioned lock, the type that needs a hanging padlock? There’s one theory that actually fits the facts.”

“What is it?” everyone asked.

“After Wang went to work, someone broke the lock, took his computer and clothes, and left. Wang never actually returned—someone staged it to make it look like he did.”

I walked out the door, adding, “Why do all this? To hide the truth and mislead us. But we don’t need to speculate anymore. I’m sure of it—Wang the security guard was killed right after he faked his stomachache and slipped out.”

Everyone fell silent at my words. Erzi looked confused and asked, “Wait, what do you mean, killed?”

“Yeah. He’s probably dead,” I said quietly. “And killed inside the villa. Erzi, do you know if there’s anywhere in the villa district without cameras, someplace no one visits?”

Erzi thought for a moment, then smacked his forehead. “There is! There really is. The north side of the villas backs up to the mountain. There’s a gate built into the wire fence up there for the rich folks to go hiking. But they’re so busy, they almost never use it—maybe once a year.”

“No cameras there, and patrols barely even check it!”

Wang Yikai—most likely, his body is in the woods now.

“Take us there now.”