Case Files 013

Watching the ambulance quickly leave the street, the small clinic became lively again. People started to ask me what happened, but I wasn’t in the mood to answer their queries.

I looked at the doctor and asked, “Is calomel easy to make?”

The doctor nodded and said, “Well, the principle behind isn’t that esoteric. Anyone who knows a little about chemistry can make it. Yes, this kind of knowledge should’ve been taught in high school. If they have the heart, high school students can also make it; though, I can’t be sure."

“Judging from the situation at the scene, it might be true," I said.

The doctor smiled and said, “You see, I haven’t been to the scene, so I just took a guess. Tell me, the principle isn’t that difficult to understand, right?”

I nodded. In principle, this wasn’t a very complicated way to kill someone, but it sure was a clever one. This also meant that if the murderer had made preparations beforehand, all the murderer would then have to do is wait.

The murderer must’ve understood Wang Xin’s character intimately well. He knew that Wang Xin was a vain personality, who very much enjoyed showing off, especially in front of his guests. So when the guests did come, he found the ostentatious censer in his house that did not belong to him.

As long as it was not exposed to sunlight, mercurous chloride was unreactive and was easy to transport. Place it inside a censer, wait for it to slowly decompose into highly toxic gas, and then wait for Wang Xin to kill himself. Additionally, the murderer had reaped a bonus reward by involving Yang Licheng into his ploy like this.

Yang Licheng had originally wanted to shelter in Wang Xin’s house, but never would he have thought that Wang Xin’s happened to be the most dangerous place. I suddenly thought of something – the murderer had killed so many people, but had never appeared at his crime scene – same as the previous murder. The idea was, in theory, very simple, however it still remained an ingenious way to kill.

I frowned, pondering over the kind of person the murderer was; he was smart, and also liked to think, he worked alone, and probably liked to tinker with gadgets, he also seemed to have a good grasp on chemistry. When my train stumbled upon this, I immediately thought of a person – Lu Xiangyang.

From the testimonies from his girlfriend and his best friend, Lu Xiangyang frequently liked to dabble in strange things. For example: how to raise ghosts; how to cultivate Gu, and something like alchemy. And among the three primary elements of alchemy there were: salt, sulfur, and mercury.

Then, it wouldn’t be completely far-fetched for Lu Xiangyang to kill people with mercury.

“That's it!" I said to the doctor, “No matter what, thank you."

The doctor nodded, but shook his head again, and then said: “Now, it's not easy to be a doctor. I think when I was in college, I also had the idea of curing diseases and saving people. It can be seen that there are too many. Do you understand? I've been a doctor for almost 20 years, and I've seen too many people around me get corrupted. Especially in the face of life and death, the greed and sin shown by human nature are really depressing. People are afraid. I will never let my son study medicine.”

When I walked out of the small clinic, I looked at the banner of “Healing the sick, saving life, and rejuvenation with wonderful hands" hanging next to the medicine cabinet. An inexplicable emotion arose in my heart. Perhaps this doctor also had his own story.

Zhao Mingkun said, “I don't think you will follow me to the hospital, right?"

I nodded and said, “With our current identities, there is definitely no way we can go to the hospital. If someone dies, the police will certainly arrive. The doctor told me the truth just now, Yang Licheng and Wang Xin, I'm afraid there is no way to save them. The two inhaled large amounts of the toxic gas without knowing it, and since they didn't get treatment at the right time, I'm afraid they won't make it."

“Life is so fragile sometimes." I said helplessly, “And there is one point, I don't know if you noticed it."

"Which point?" Zhao Mingkun said.

I opened my mouth and said, “The quality of air in Wang Xin's house is very poor. Then who will be poisoned and who will not be poisoned depends entirely on the amount of mercury in the censer. It can be seen that the amount left by the murderer was not large. If it were otherwise, a few of us would have died a long time ago, right? The murderer has a good sense to not kill everyone in the room."

“You mean, the murderer might not be a very cruel person?" Zhao Mingkun looked at me and said, “He only needs to kill the thirteen people, and he doesn't want to kill the rest? But if so, If so, what happened to Hu Xiaoxue? Hu Xiaoxue was not born when Lu Zhiqiu died seven years ago. How come the murderer did not even spare a child?"

I frowned and said, “I’ve always wondered about this. If Jiang Xiaochun, Hu Pei and the rest were suspected of killing Lu Zhiqiu, Hu Xiaoxue would still be innocent. Besides, Jiang Xiaochun isn’t dead, he just scared crazy. I’m not sure, but that’s not what I’m trying to say.”

"You are not?" Zhao Mingkun looked at me.

I nodded and said, “Yes, that's not what I meant to say."

“What is it then?" Zhao Mingkun asked again.

“Precision." I got on Zhao Mingkun's motorcycle and said, “It's accurate enough, the murderer's dosage is very precise. He figured out how much to use to kill Wang Xin. Whether he wants to kill the rest or not, I feel like it's a habit of his. "

"Habit?" Zhao Mingkun asked.

I nodded and said, “That's right, the truth is already in our hands."

“Then we should do …”

My phone rang before Zhao Mingkun finished speaking.

“Gu Chen?" I asked, “What did you find?"

The background sound on Gu Chen's side was very messy, so Gu Chen said, “I'll send you an address in a while. Come here, I caught Lu Xiangyang."

“You caught Lu Xiangyang?" I asked.

“That's right!" Gu Chen was panting, as if he had run for several kilometers, and Gu Chen seemed to be agitated, not knowing where he was.

“Now I have something to solve." Gu Chen said, “Come quickly. If you are late, I'm afraid you won't find Lu Xiangyang and me. Don't talk. I don't have time to chat. I'll give you the address. Come right away."

“Hello? Gu Chen, Gu Chen!”

Gu Chen hung up the phone. Listening to Gu Chen's words on the phone, it seems like he was in some trouble. And within seconds, an address appeared on my phone. I handed the phone to Zhao Mingkun and said, “Go to this place now. Gu Chen seems to be in danger."

“That armed policeman?" Zhao Mingkun looked at me and said, “Isn't he very skilled? What danger could he be in?”

“I don't know, it seems urgent, and you also heard that he caught Lu Xiangyang," I said.

Zhao Mingkun started his motorcycle and drove quickly down the street. While riding a motorcycle, she said to me: “That means, Lu Xiangyang didn't go south at all. Lu Xiangyang stayed in Dongxing City from the beginning. It seems that this Lu Xiangyang is still quite suspicious. Do you think he was trying to confuse the police?"

“It's very possible." I said, “This case, speaking of it, is simply a coincidence between us." If we look at the normal process, Hu Pei's death will definitely take a few days, or at least a day. It will be discovered, so if the police follow this clue to investigate, it will be at least a day later than us.

“It’s very likely,” I said, “This case, speaking of it, was a coincidence we stumbled upon. If you follow the normal process, Hu Pei’s death would likely have been discovered in a few days. Then, if the police followed the lead and investigated, they would’ve taken a day more than ours.”

"That's right." Zhao Mingkun nodded.

I continued: “If we look at it from the police's point of view, we know that Lu Xiangyang's matter will take at least until tomorrow. So many people have died now, except for the four women in the dormitory who have yet to die, the rest are dead. Give Lu Xiangyang another day, and I am afraid that all four women would’ve been killed by him.”

Zhao Mingkun looked at me through the rearview mirror and said, “Then do you really think Lu Xiangyang is the murderer?"

“On this point, I’m still not quite sure!" I said, “But whether Lu Xiangyang is the murderer or not, we have already found him. If he is not the murderer, he can at least prove his innocence, right? However, actually, I don't think Lu Xiangyang is the one."

“Why?" Zhao Mingkun said.

I pointed to my chest and said, “Intuition and clues. The age difference between Lu Zhiqiu and Lu Xiangyang is too big, and Lu Xiangyang doesn't seem to be someone who knows his sister's classmates. Lu Xiangyang has nothing to do with these people at all. Among these thirteen people, I have never heard anyone mention Lu Zhiqiu's younger brother, which means that they probably don't even know who Lu Xiangyang is.”

“Is that place far from here?" I asked. “You'd better go faster."

Zhao Mingkun snorted coldly and said, “Do you know why I like riding a motorcycle and not driving a car?"

“Why?" I asked.

Zhao Mingkun said, "Hold me tight."

I nodded and hugged Zhao Mingkun tightly.

And when I hugged her firmly, I saw Zhao Mingkun lift the front wheel of the motorcycle, and when the front wheel landed again, I felt that I was not sitting on a motorcycle. It's not driving too fast, it was like flying.

The sound of the wind shattered Zhao Mingkun's words: “Because motorcycles are faster, and you don't have to worry about traffic jams."

I opened my mouth and said, “You should slow down. This is too fast. If a car comes out a corner, you won't have time to duck."

Zhao Mingkun laughed and said, “Didn't you tell me to be faster?"

“This is too fucking fast …"

(End of this chapter)