Chapter 31: The Headless Corpse Case from Eight Years Ago

There are many hot pot restaurants in Kang'an City, but very few meet Cen Lian’s rigorous standards. Some are so unappealing that the mere mention of terms like "gutter oil" or "rat heads" is enough to ruin his appetite before he even steps inside.

The trio finally found a clean establishment. Before they had even ordered many dishes, Wu Qiushan began urging Cen Lian to review the files of a cold case.

"Brother Yue, are you really that impatient?" Tang Hua asked, dumbfounded.

"You’ll be just as impatient once you’ve seen it," Wu Qiushan replied, his tone brimming with absolute confidence.

This piqued Tang Hua’s curiosity, but burdened with the responsibility of ordering, he focused on selecting a large amount of meat and a small portion of vegetables for color before pulling his chair over to join them.

"Good heavens! It’s this case?" Tang Hua exclaimed in shock after glancing at the file.

Cen Lian hadn't expected Wu Qiushan to bring this particular case to him.

"This happened during our freshman year; I still remember it clearly," Cen Lian said, looking up at Wu Qiushan. "The 0524 Headless Corpse Case."

The file before him stirred long-buried memories. The case occurred over eight years ago, just as Cen Lian’s freshman year was coming to an end. It began with the discovery of a headless female corpse along the Wu River in Taishan District. Identification revealed she was a sex worker from a local establishment.

Had the case ended there, it would have been an unremarkable homicide, but its complexity went far beyond that.

The Taishan District criminal police had formed a special task force to catch the killer as quickly as possible and quell the growing public outcry. Unexpectedly, on the third afternoon, a registered letter arrived at the police station containing a set of coordinates. Following those coordinates, the task force discovered a second headless corpse—this one a male who also worked in the sex industry.

Since then, the task force had uncovered three more bodies—three women and two men in total, five headless corpses laid out neatly. All victims were young sex workers between the ages of 20 and 25, but beyond that, there appeared to be no connection between them.

The task force had exhausted every possible avenue, yet they never found a breakthrough. To this day, the heads of the five victims remain missing, and the case, unable to proceed, has become a cold case.

"I remember this case. The killer was very professional—perhaps even excessively so," Cen Lian said, using his chopsticks to retrieve a slice of lamb that Tang Hua had just dropped into the boiling pot. "He killed five people without leaving a single trace. Even with the first victim, there was nothing. Our initial assessment that he wasn't a first-time killer was correct."

Noticing Cen Lian's move, Tang Hua hurried to fish some meat into his own bowl, though he didn't stop talking. "Since all five victims were sex workers, does that mean there was a massive amount of surveillance footage to go through?"

"Yes, at least a terabyte," Wu Qiushan said, picking up meat unhurriedly. "I have some leads on this case. I previously detected a specific contaminant in the clothing fibers of the five victims—it’s definitely some kind of... chemical compound." He hesitated slightly as he said the words.

Cen Lian suspected that Wu Qiushan already had a theory but couldn't definitively identify the substance. After conducting a preliminary investigation, Cen Lian felt there was a possibility of solving it, but he lacked enough evidence to be certain. He needed Cen Lian to act as a "double insurance," providing enough confidence to convince his superiors to reopen the cold case.

"If there’s enough video and image data, I can certainly try," Cen Lian said. He wasn't entirely sure of success, but he held fast to one belief: "People leave echoes, and geese leave trails. As long as he truly existed, I can dig him out for you!"

"Listen, you two heroes," Tang Hua interrupted, breaking the mood with his chopsticks. "Stop talking about catching killers for a second. The tripe has been in the pot for nearly a minute; if you don't eat it now, it'll be overcooked."

This brought Cen Lian and Wu Qiushan back to their hot pot. Solving cases is a never-ending task, and for a cold case, there was no need to be so pressed for time.

After the meal, Wu Qiushan promised to bring the surveillance footage to Cen Lian the next day and left by taxi, claiming he needed to verify something at the lab.

As Tang Hua and Cen Lian walked back to the dormitory, Tang Hua pondered the case. "Do you think this could have been related to some kind of cult ritual?" he asked, unable to keep his thoughts to himself as he reached his door. "Like, kill five people to gain something?"

"Don't overcomplicate it," Cen Lian shook his head. "Maybe he was simply hurt by someone in that industry."

Tang Hua considered this and agreed it made sense.

The next morning, no new cases were assigned to the Third Squad. Whether Wu Qiushan had pulled some strings or not, they were free to focus on the Headless Corpse Case. When Tang Hua arrived, he ran into Wu Qiushan, and the two headed upstairs together.

"Planning on taking up permanent residence at the precinct?" Cen Lian asked, seeing Wu Qiushan carrying a stack of items.

It seemed that if this case couldn't be solved, Wu Qiushan intended to stick to him like glue. Wu Qiushan found a spot next to Cen Lian. "If this case doesn't get solved, I’m not leaving," he declared with a "do-or-die" attitude, piling all the case files onto the table.

Cen Lian proactively took the surveillance footage, which turned out to be on an external hard drive.

"As expected, too much data for a USB stick," Tang Hua remarked, impressed by the drive.

Yuan Chenxi arrived with a round of milk tea, scanning the room until she spotted Cen Lian and Wu Qiushan. "So, Brother Yue was mainly here to buy milk tea for Brother Cen," she teased, catching sight of the files. "Looks like the rest of us are just reaping the benefits."

"His bribery is a bit too cheap," Cen Lian said with feigned disdain. "He brings me such a grueling case and thinks a cup of milk tea will settle the score."

"As long as the case gets reopened, I’ll treat you to whatever you want," Wu Qiushan said, sitting up straight, clearly unbothered by the cost.

Yuan Chenxi looked over with curiosity, realizing they were studying a case from over eight years ago. "I've heard of this one. Rumor has it that three squads were deployed, yet they found nothing. You're planning to reopen it?"

"It's mostly his wish," Cen Lian glanced at Wu Qiushan. "He’s likely trying to test out some new technology of his."

Wu Qiushan didn't argue, simply watching as Cen Lian began opening the surveillance footage in chronological order. "This is from the month before the first victim died. The quality is poor in some areas, and there’s quite a bit of lag and fragmentation," he explained briefly.

Cen Lian figured he must have already gone through the footage himself, likely without finding anything.