Madness of the Heart

Chapter 25 Demon Hunting (25)

Just as Ming Shu was about to rush to Qingyue Village again, the field team of the Luocheng Bureau sent a message back—

Hou Paddle is not in the dormitory of the University of Los Angeles, nor in his rental room. According to Hou Pad’s classmates, in early July, Hou Pad said that he had taken a job outside and would not stay at school during the summer vacation. The last time he saw Hou Pad was more than ten days ago.

“Ten days ago?” Ming Shu said, “Then my suspicion is correct. When Hou Jianjun went to Los Angeles to look for Hou Paddle, Hou Paddle didn’t intentionally miss him, but there was no way to see him again. But why did Hou Paddle disappear?”

“Hou Oar’s disappearance occurred in Los Angeles. Let us investigate it.” Hua Chong said, “The car is already waiting downstairs. I have arranged two trace inspectors. You should leave as soon as possible.”

Ming Shu looked at Xiao Yuan.

Xiao Yuan said, “Go ahead.”

The police car was speeding on the highway, and Ming Shu looked at the trees and fences flashing outside the window, feeling a sudden tightness in his heart.

What kind of person is Hou Pao?

Was the disappearance just an accident?

Or is it related to Hou Jianjun?

Or is it related to Hou Cheng?

Ming Shu’s eyes suddenly lit up—Hou Pad’s classmate said that the last time he saw Hou Pad was more than ten days ago, and during that time period, Hou Cheng was also in Los Angeles.

Hou Cheng never explained his whereabouts after coming to Los Angeles. The public surveillance can only prove that Hou Cheng stayed in the Fukang District for some time.

But if Hou Da’s disappearance is related to Hou Cheng, is there any intersection between Hou Cheng and Hou Da? What is Hou Cheng’s motivation?

Hou Cheng has no friends in Qingyue Village, only Hou Jianjun and a few other village officials will care about his life from time to time. Hou Pad is the son of Hou Jianjun, and Hou Cheng has no reason to do to Hou Pad.

Ming Shu shook his head, remembering what Hua Chong had said before leaving, “Hou Paddle will let us investigate.”

He slid down the window and exhaled slowly.

Because of the emotion and reason, Hou Pao should be handed over to the Los Angeles police for investigation. From the current clues, the probability of Hou Pao’s disappearance has nothing to do with Hou Cheng, and it is likely to be related to Hou Pao’s social circle in Los Angeles.

The most important thing before him was to unearth the secrets of Hou Cheng’s basement.

The hot wind came on and it burned the scorch even more. The police officer who was driving looked at the rearview mirror and said, “Ming Team, the air conditioner is on. Close the windows.”

“Sorry.” Ming excused, and immediately slid the window up.

It was him who said there were secrets in the basement, and it was him who asked to search again, but he was actually not sure that he could find something.

Because he was at the scene the time he found the cash, and the entire basement was turned upside down by him, and even the dark room was found, there shouldn’t be any omissions.

The rotten watermelon and vegetables are absolutely suspicious, Hou Cheng must be hiding something.

When the police car arrived in Qingyue Village, Hou Jianjun was hurried back from the neighboring village.

Hou Jianjun panted violently as he ran. Seeing the police car was like seeing a savior. “What happened to my son? Why did he suddenly say that he is missing? My son will not be missing. He is going to school in Luoda! ”

Mingshu knew that no matter how much he asked now, it would not help. He still asked: “The last time you went to Los Angeles to find Hou Paddle, when you called him, did he turn off the phone, or did he not answer?”

Hou Jianjun’s lips trembled, “Yes, it’s the shutdown!”

Ming Shu’s eyebrows tightened.

“He often turns off the phone, he just doesn’t like to answer my phone, he doesn’t like to see my useless dad.” Hou Jianjun explained to himself in vain, “He must be fine, I will go to Los Angeles, and my son will graduate next year. Now, it’s a top student!”

Ming Shu sighed and comforted Hou Jianjun. The trace inspector who was with him shouted: “Team Ming, let’s go to Hou Cheng’s house first.”

“I’ll be here soon.” After Ming Shuying, he turned to Hou Jianjun, “By the way, I have one more question.”

Hou Jianjun wiped the corners of his eyes covertly, “What?”

Ming Shu asked: “Have you ever had a relationship with Hou Cheng?”

“Hou Cheng?” Hou Jianjun was stunned for a few seconds, “No, no.”

Ming Shu asked: “Are you not sure?”

Hou Jianjun sighed heavily, “Little Oar despise me and the people in our village. He basically doesn’t communicate with everyone.”

Ming Shu nodded and didn’t intend to waste any more time. He was about to leave and listened to Hou Jianjun again: “But when Xiao Oar was young, he went to Hou Cheng’s house with me to deliver soup, rice and fruit.”

A village cadre drove to the car and urged Hou Jianjun to get on the car. Hou Jianjun looked at Ming Shu anxiously: “There will be nothing wrong with Xiao Oar, right? You will definitely find him, right?”

Ming Shu pressed his lips tightly, and suddenly did not know what to say to Hou Jianjun’s red and muddy eyes.

Pity the parents of the world. Even though he was thrown in the country by his son and looked down upon him, the old father was still proud of his son and hoped that his son would be safe and successful. He didn’t know what happened to his son, so he could only ask the police for “you son will be fine.”

It seems that after hearing this sentence, the son is really safe.

But Ming Shu could not answer him.

The Los Angeles police will definitely find Hou Oar, but no one can guarantee whether Hou Oar is alive or dead.

The car drove Hou Jianjun away, Ming Shu stood there for a while, and walked quickly towards Hou Cheng’s home.

The searchlight illuminates the dark basement like daylight, and all the objects are transferred to the yard. Two hours later, there is no new discovery.

The tracer turned off the searchlights and began to do a luminol test in the basement.

“How is it?” Ming Shu asked.

“There are large areas of blood stains on the ground.” The scar inspector said, “But it is still unclear whether it is human blood.”

“Large area?” Ming Shu hugged his arm, thinking for more than a minute, “I’ll go down again.”

Fang Yuanhang shouted from behind, “Master, there is nothing down there.”

“I don’t believe it.” Ming Shu said, “There must be more, but we haven’t been able to find out yet.”

The trace inspector looked at each other, and had to follow Ming Shu to enter the basement again.

Ming Shu avoided the luminol reaction zone, initially leaning against the root of the wall to look at it inch by inch, and then almost fell on the dirty ground.

There were wooden boards on the walls of the basement earlier, but now the boards have been removed, and there is a small gap between the wall and the ground in some places.

The gap is too narrow, and limited by the angle, it is actually difficult for the eyes to see the gap.

Ming Shu clung to the root of the wall in a very awkward posture. After turning a half circle around the basement, he suddenly said loudly, “Let’s see if this is blood stains!”

The trace inspector rushed over immediately, Ming Shu stood up, moved his sore neck, and intuitively found the key evidence.

“Yes!” The trace inspector excitedly said, “I will take it back for an inspection right away!”

The process of waiting for the test results was very long. Ming Shu held a small bench and sat at the entrance of the basement with his right hand supporting his forehead, calmly combing through clues.

Watermelons, vegetables, messy boxes, and household garbage are all obscure things. Hou Cheng is covering up what happened here.

There are a lot of blood stains on the floor that cannot be seen by the eyes, indicating that Hou Cheng had washed the floor with water.

The spot where the blood was visible in the gap was something Hou Cheng could not find, and it was an important evidence left behind by the victim.

This is the scene of a murder case where Hou Cheng killed a person.

Is it the young man who once lived in Hou Cheng’s house?

If so, where is his body?

Hou Cheng is a very insecure person. He killed the tenants in his basement, but did not immediately dispose of the corpse, but temporarily stored the corpse in the basement. Home is Hou Cheng’s safe zone. Hou Cheng believes that as long as the body is taken out of the yard, it may be found no matter where it is placed.

But when the smell of the corpse became more and more obvious, Hou Cheng realized that if the corpse was not removed, the consequences would be disastrous.

Hou Cheng was forced to move the body, only possible to move the body from one safe area to another safe area.

Ming Shu stood up, and the overgrown field appeared in his mind.

That was the only place Hou Cheng could control outside of home.

There is another doubt.

Hou Cheng is a suspense writer, and he must know that water can’t completely wash off blood stains.

Why are there so many bloodstains that can be detected by luminol in the basement?

Those bloodstains are also an eye-blind thing?

Ming Shu couldn’t wait any longer, and rushed to Melon Field with the detectives who came to help.

July is the season when a large number of watermelons are on the market. The melon fields in Qingyue Village are thriving, but Hou Cheng’s melon fields have not been taken care of for a long time and are suspiciously deserted.

The guard band was pulled up outside the melon field, and the detectives were facing the scorching sun, and they were searching the field with police dogs.

The villagers stopped working and gathered outside the warning zone, watching curiously while talking loudly.

“I heard that Hou Cheng killed someone?”

“Isn’t it possible, Hou Cheng is a man, how could he kill?”

“What did the police search for?”

“Oh, don’t you just bury something in the field? It’s too scary. My field is right next to it!”

“I’m still neighbors with Hou Cheng!”

“Hey, I’ll just say why this year’s harvest is not as good as in previous years. It is Hou Cheng who dares to do something evil!”

“You are superstitious…”

The search work continued until the evening, when two skeletons wrapped in rags appeared side by side in the middle of the melon field.

“Fuck me!” Fang Yuanhang exclaimed, “How come there are two?”

There was no forensic doctor at the scene. Ming Shu squatted by the pit and observed for a moment: “No, this may not be the victim we are looking for. The two shrouds have been placed here for a long time. I estimate that it will be more than ten years old. And the shape of these bones is not like being buried here and naturally corrupted, it is more like being transferred here after they have become white bones.”

Fang Yuanhang’s hair was horrified, “Then who are they? Why did they appear in Hou Cheng’s field?”

The onlookers couldn’t see the situation in the field clearly, and they talked endlessly.

“It looks like something has been dug out?”

“I dare not watch it!”

“My child often goes to Hou Cheng’s house to play, and it scares me to death. I won’t let him go if he is killed in the future!”

Ming Shu stood for a long time and said, “They may be Hou Cheng’s long-dead parents.”

Fang Yuanhang said, “Master, are you kidding? Hou Cheng buried his parents in the field? Or did he bury his parents in the field after they had become bones? There is an elderly watermelon in the field? Is he sick?”

“Look at the location where the bones are buried.” Ming Shu said, “At the center of the diagonal. In some villages, the center of the diagonal represents dignity, which means praying for blessings. Are they Hou Cheng’s parents? Go Look at the cemetery outside the village and you will understand.”

It has been the past ten years that Qingyue Village has fully promoted cremation. There are many private tombstones scattered on the mountains outside the village, all of which are buried tombs of the past few decades.

The government called for cremation, but did not remediate the old burial tombs, so they were preserved and became a place for generations to pin their grief.

The village cadres brought Mingshu and his party to the burial tomb of Hou Cheng’s parents and persuaded: “It’s great for people to die, and it’s great for people to die. You can’t move their tombs.”

Fang Yuanhang asked: “Master, are we really going to open this tomb?”

Ming Shu walked around the tomb twice, shook his head, “No need.”

The village cadre breathed a sigh of relief.

Fang Yuanhang was puzzled, “Then how to prove that the people in Hou Cheng’s field are his parents?”

“This tombstone is very old and it is surrounded by weeds. It has not been repaired for at least five years.” Ming Shu stared at the vague writing on the tombstone, “Hou Jiangfeng, Xu Hong. Their photos are missing.”

Fang Yuanhang’s mind turned around and realized, “Hou Cheng is very filial, and the room where his parents live on the second floor has been cleaned spotlessly. It is impossible for a person like him not to take care of his parents’ tombstones, let alone lose his photos. No matter. The tombstone is so dilapidated now, there is only one reason—”

Ming Shu nodded, “Hou Jiangfeng and Xu Hong’s bones are long gone.”

The trace inspector squatted beside the tombstone and looked up and said, “There are traces of being opened.”

At this moment, Ming Shu received a call and the results of the bloodstain test were finally released. The invisible bloodstains that appeared on the floor of the basement of Hou Cheng’s house were pig blood, and the traces of blood in the gap were human blood.

Ming Shu must ask: “Can DNA be extracted?”

On the other end of the phone: “Yes!”

Ming Shu didn’t rush back to Los Angeles immediately, but made a phone call with Xiao Yu’an.

“If nothing else, the blood stains in the basement belonged to a young man who had stayed at Hou Cheng’s house. Hou Cheng spent a lot of time in the basement, did many cleanings, used rotten vegetables and fruits to cover up the smell of the corpse, and even misled us with pig blood. He didn’t notice that there were old blood stains in the cracks.” Ming Shu said: “This tenant has probably been killed, but I still don’t have a clue as to how Hou Cheng will deal with the body. I originally thought Hou Cheng would bury the body in it. In the fields, but only the bones of Hou Cheng’s parents were found in the fields.”

Xiao Yuan interrupted, “The bones of Hou Cheng’s parents?”

Ming Shu told Xiao Yuan of his analysis, and said: “Hou Cheng should have serious psychological problems. He has a deformed love for his parents.”

Xiao Yuan said: “But Hou Oar is not willing to do even the most basic filial piety to Hou Jianjun. From this perspective, they are completely opposite.”

Ming Shu asked: “Xiao Ju, why did you suddenly mention Hou Paddle?”

“Suddenly thought of it.” Xiao Yuan said: “The Los Angeles police investigated for most of the day and found an important clue.”

“what?”

“Hou Paddle’s so-called’take job’ is actually serving as a male hostess in a nightclub in the Fukang District.”

Ming Shu was really taken aback, and at the same time he thought that Hou Cheng was controlled by the security detachment at the nightclub in the Fukang District.

“Leave aside Hou Pad, the investigation here is fairly smooth. It is estimated that the truth will surface soon afterwards.” Xiao Yuan’s tone slowed down, “As long as DNA can be extracted, a nationwide comparison of missing persons can be done. . Even if the corpse is not found for the time being, we have one more key clue.”

Hou Cheng was taken to the interrogation room, his attitude became more and more arrogant, “What do you want to ask me?”

“My team members searched your basement.” Xiao Yuan said, “Guess what they found?”

The lines on Hou Cheng’s forehead trembled very lightly, “How many times have you searched my basement? You don’t use it to defraud me. If you can find things out, you won’t ask me that way now.”

“You are really confident.” Xiao Yuan smiled, and put an appraisal form on the interrogation table, “There are remnants of blood in the basement.”

Hou Cheng did not panic, “Bloodstains? Can you be sure that it is human blood?”

Xiao Yuan asked: “It’s not human blood, what kind of blood would it be?”

Hou Cheng’s gloomy gaze patrolled Xiao Yuan’s face, and Xiao Yuan stared at him unmovedly.

Half a minute later, Hou Cheng smiled, “You have already found out, it’s pig blood.”

“You mean it’s on the ground?” Xiao Yuan clicked his finger on the appraisal sheet. “Yes, it is pig blood on the ground. But why is there pig blood in a basement? Or a large area of ​​pig blood. You killed pigs in the basement. ?No way?”

Hou Cheng’s eyelids twitched fiercely, implicating waves of wrinkles.

“I told you last time that the more you want to conceal your crime, the easier it is to show your feet.” Xiao Yuan turned around, “but you suspense writers are used to setting up reversals. You will do this, not at all. Strange. The book is of course intertwined, reversing and then reversing, but in reality…”

Xiao Yu settled down, “The more complicated your game, the more clues I have to solve. Understand?”

Hou Cheng sneered, “If you find something, you won’t be here to talk nonsense with me now.”

“Well, no more nonsense.” Xiao Yuan said: “Pig blood is a blinding thing you put down, but you didn’t expect that you didn’t clean up the blood you left behind when you committed the crime. There is such a small piece of it, and it still remains in it. In the gap between the floor and the wall.”

As he said, Xiao Yuan stretched out his right hand and compared the size of the blood stain, “You have installed wooden boards in the basement. If you don’t remove these boards, you will never see this blood stain. Even if you remove them, you need to be careful and careful. You can see it. So you can’t notice it. It’s normal.”

Hou Cheng opened his mouth, his eyes suddenly changed.

“Scared?” Xiao Yuan got up, pacing around the table, while continuing to look at him, “You should know that with the current criminal investigation technology, even old blood stains can still extract DNA. In the basement you hurt, Or who the murderer was, I will know soon.”

Hou Cheng said nothing, a fierce light shot from under his sagging eyelids.

“One more thing.” Xiao Yuan stood still suddenly, with his hands on the edge of the table, “Because of this blood stain, my team members searched your melon field.”

Hou Cheng’s pupils tightened, “You guys!”

“Isn’t this in line with the investigative logic? Assuming the basement is the first scene, how would you deal with the victim?” Xiao Yuan said, “You will bury him in your melon field because it is your safe zone.”

Hou Cheng gritted his teeth and creaked.

Xiao Yuan said: “It’s a pity that we didn’t find the victim, but we found two bones in the center of the diagonal of the melon field.”

Hou Cheng’s mood changed drastically, and he suddenly yelled: “I killed you! I killed you!”

Xiao Yuan stepped back, “You are so excited because those are your parents, right?”

Hou Cheng bowed his back high, like a wild beast, “Why do you dig my field! Why do you make my parents restless!”

“You are the one who makes your parents restless!” Xiao Yuan said sternly: “You are the one who dug them out of the burial tomb; you are the one who committed the crime and exposed their bones to the eyes of the world!”

Hou Cheng hugged his forehead, “You are talking nonsense! I just want to be filial!”

“Then your way of fulfilling your filial piety is really unique.” Xiao Yuan was condescending, his attitude suddenly became harsh, “I will never let go of every evil you have done.”

That night, the DNA information in the old bloodstains was extracted, and after comparison, it was determined that they belonged to the Lucheng youth, Yang Nanke, who disappeared three years ago.