Chapter 1: 1

All creatures will kill, there seems to be no exception, but of all creatures, only humans kill for pleasure—Mark Twain.

During July, the weather was very hot in Huadu, especially toward noon.

The blazing sun was shining, while the tarmac was burning, accompanied by the distorted air.

It was lunch break, and the open space next to the sand factory was a bit calm. Occasionally, only the cicadas chirping in the trees could be heard. The insects seemed to be tired which made the sound not too loud.

Five vigorous children brought the football and occupied the open space, driving the tranquility away.

Those children had just finished their final exams. They were like prisoners waiting for the judgment while having the party before the result was out.

They were undergoing exuberance, thus regardless of how hot the weather was, they simply took off their shirt after running sweaty, venting all their nervousness and depression caused by the exam.

The tallest one among the children passed the ball with a little force, making the spinning football hit the scrap car parking beside them with a bang, followed by some noise.

The front windshield of the car had long been cracked. Such a blow made the tempered glass shatter, and the glass shards fell onto the front seat.

The children were stunned for a moment.

“Brother Xuan…what now?” A skinny guy realized that they were in trouble, thus he looked back at the tall boy who had caused this with fear.

The tall boy was the oldest among them. His name was Yang Zixuan, and he was also the leader of this group of children.

Yang Zixuan glanced around, there were no others here except for the few of them.

He was no different from an adolescent boy. However, he wasn’t yet aware of how complicated things were at this age. Yang Zixuan calmed down, and said to the other children, “Don’t be afraid, it’s just a scrap car. The owner of the car is long gone, so we’ll pick up the ball and go play elsewhere.” After thinking about it, he added, “You must not tell anyone about this!”

The children quickly reached a tacit agreement and walked to the front of the car. This car was indeed old and worn out, layer after layer was covered with dust, and there was also a trace of it used to be drenched by the rain. The original color of the car had already faded away. The tender grass had even grown in some crevices, which added a little life to the old abandoned car.

The broken windshield allowed the children to see the inner part of the car. Although the inside was obsolete, it was far less messy than the outside. Several seats were still clean. Yang Zixuan pointed to the thinnest kid. “Grasshopper, we will carry you up, and you go inside to pick the ball.”

The thinnest kid called Grasshopper nodded.

They quickly took advantage of the fact that the adults weren’t here and immediately began to take action. Grasshopper was carried by several older children onto the front cover of the car and then he climbed neatly to the inside.

“Be careful not to get scratched by the glass.” Yang Zhixuan reminded him. The other children were a little nervous. If Grasshopper was injured, they might have to be responsible for this matter.

Grasshopper responded with a low voice. He lowered his body cautiously, and soon found the ball in the back seat.

Grasshopper’s surprised voice could be heard from the car. “Hey, there is a wooden box under the back seat of this car.”

“What box?”

“How can such an old car still have a wooden box?”

“What’s in the box?”

The children began a lively discussion.

Grasshopper approached the box, his noise moved. “This box is slightly big, and it smells…a bit strange…” He couldn’t tell what it smelled like, it was fetid but not so. It had a strange moldy smell. Yet again, it was covered by an unpleasant fragrance similar to the mothballs that his mother put in the wardrobe.

Grasshopper wanted to open the box. However, after shaking a few times, it couldn’t be opened. “This box is locked…”

The scene in front of them greatly aroused the children’s curiosity. They felt as if they had discovered a treasure left by the owner.

Yang Zixuan made a quick decision. “Let’s take the box out and have a look.”

The skinny guy beside him hesitated a little. “This…isn’t good, right?”

“It’s a scrap car without an owner anyway. I remember that this car has been placed here for several years already. Even if we take something away, no one will know.” Yang Zixuan said, “Besides, what’s there to be afraid of, we only check it and put it back later.”

Grasshopper wavered for a while. He first threw the football out before taking the box. 

Yang Zixuan took the box. The skinny guy and the others pulled Grasshopper out again.

As his name suggested, Grasshopper was like a flexible insect. He jumped off the front cover of the car lightly.

Yang Zixuan looked down at the thing in his hand. It was a heavy wooden box. It appeared larger than the wooden box that contained top-grade red wine, and there was a small lock on it as well.

Yang Zixuan also noticed the strange smell of the box. He shook it, and some white powder leaked out from the crack of the wood.

“It’s not that…thing, is it?” A kid asked timidly.

“It doesn’t look like it…” Yang Zixuan shook his head. He had seen it on TV, that type of thing was very soft, but the white powder in front of him was a bit rough, reflecting under the sunlight, like some kind of chemical reagent.

“Brother Xuan, just forget it and put the box back. We should go.” The skinny guy felt that the box was strange, and whispered, “I’m a bit scared.”

“What a coward! There can’t be a ghost inside. Can it have the ability to eat you?” Yang Zixuan was unwilling to give up. He picked up the rock from the side and smashed against the lock a few times. 

The wooden box couldn’t withstand the weight, and after a click, it quickly unlocked. Yang Zixuan hurriedly reached out to open it. Then, he couldn’t help covering his nose when a stronger smell wafted out.

The other children leaned over and showed some disappointment. The box was filled with white powder, they didn’t know what chemical product it was.

“I thought it was a valuable thing!” Yang Zixuan felt like he had lost face. He threw the box onto the ground and kicked it.

The box overturned, revealing something from the white cover.

“There seems to be something inside…” Grasshopper said with a frown. He stretched out his hand daringly and pulled out a long-shaped thing. It was long and soft to touch, there was a nail on it as well…

Yang Zixuan also crouched down and pulled the white cover away. At this moment, all the children finally saw the thing clearly.

Covered by white foam, it was a pair of hands. To be precise, this was a pair of overlapping pale human hands, which looked like a Halloween horror prop, but no prop could be this real…

Although the cut part no longer bled. The flesh and bone at the edge of it could still be seen.

Ah, ah, ah!!!!!!!

Oh my God!!!!

The children screamed in horror, they all fled from the scene.

Half a minute later, the pale-faced Yang Zixuan ran back bravely from the other side of the road, stretching out his foot and picking up the forgotten football.

An unexpected discovery broke the calmness of the summer afternoon.

The children’s parents quickly called the police. Such a case had attracted the attention of the sub-bureau. Afterward, the captain of the Sub-Bureau led the team to investigate the scene, then they quickly judged that the case was unable to solve and applied for the Major Crime Unit’s assistance as soon as possible.

Several police officers from the Sub-Bureau set up the police cordon and waited for the member from the Major Crime Unit of the General Bureau so they could hand over the case and the hot potatoes could also be thrown out by then.

Under the bright and blistering sun, several scrap cars were singeing without a place to shelter. If one stayed a little longer, one would probably get heatstroke.

Two police officers were sent to wait at the scene. There was nothing to see at the scene, the people in the neighborhood felt terrible and unlucky when they heard about the incident. Not even a person could be seen within a hundred meters, they all hid a hundred thousand miles away.

The two policemen were bored. They squatted not far away and chatted, one was the young intern police officer that had just graduated, while the other was the grassroots criminal police who had been bold for ten years. There was a clear generation gap in the gossip.

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The old policeman lit a cigarette and opened his mouth first. “I didn’t expect it’s not peaceful recently.”

The little policeman had never seen much about the world. “Yes, I don’t know who did it. I already feel a chill in my heart just by looking at the hands. Has the forensic doctor of our Sub-Bureau come and check it?”

“Done checking it but didn’t dare to move, saying it’s a woman’s hands. The physical inspector also came. Although it’s a scrap car, it’s very clean. There are few fingerprints, yet it’s later found that the fingerprints are left by the children who found the scene. I think when the people from the General Bureau arrive, they will have to check everything again.”

The little policeman was stunned. “It’s a female victim again? Several major cases have been about female victims recently.”

The old policeman was not surprised. “There are more female victims and more male criminals. The ratio of male and female is more and more out of balance.”

The little policeman became worried. “This case is quite difficult then. There is no name written on the cut hands, and the identity of the victim can’t be confirmed either. No wonder the captain immediately called the Major Crime Unit to come when he saw the scene.”

The old policeman took a breath of cigarette in his hand. “I’ve checked this case. Maybe the Major Crime Unit is unable to solve it.” 

Hearing this, the little policeman couldn’t help saying a few words, “That’s not necessarily true. I heard my senior brother say Captain Lu of the Major Crime Unit is young and he has also returned from abroad. He is smart. Many major cases were solved by him as soon as he was promoted. A lot of old leaders in the Bureau like him very much and they all focus on cultivating him.” The little policeman argued, and then added, “I heard he’s quite handsome.”

“The key to being police is that you can solve the case. There is no use in being handsome.” The old policeman didn’t seem to hear the good things[1]. “And about those foreign techniques? It might not be able to adapt to the new environment.”

[1] The original sentence in here is 外国的月亮圆=The Moon seems rounder in foreign lands. This is a popular sentence on the internet in some people’s minds, which they used to describe a certain beautiful, exquisite, and perfect thing about abroad. So here, the little policeman talked about Lu Junchi who used to live abroad, which LJC’s knowledge and skills can be considered as perfect things abroad. And I didn’t know how to insert this sentence since it doesn’t make sense so I will just go with good things.

The little policeman felt his concept was getting old. “The criminal has never distinguished the border between the country. Even if the technology is not in place, the idea is the same, such as the criminal psychology portrait is excellent from abroad.”

The old policeman said, “Foreign methods may not be easy to use. Take a look at our General Bureau. A few years ago, it was really difficult to create the Behavior Analysis Team, yet the team was disbanded after two years.”

While the two were talking, a tall and thin curly-haired young man walked over from the opposite side to greet them.

The two policemen hurriedly stood up. The old policeman had just talked about people behind their backs. At this moment, he felt a little guilty. He thought to himself, this person shouldn’t be Captain Lu, right? He looks too small.

The young man introduced himself. “Are you from the Sub-Bureau? I’m Qiao Ze from the Major Crime Unit.”

Just as the old police breathed a sigh of relief, Qiao Ze frowned and said, “Pinch off the cigarette, this is the scene.” Then his eyes swept around the surroundings. “Where is your captain? Is he here?”

When the two policemen heard this, they thought, as expected of the people from the Major Crime Unit.

However, as the saying goes, the first-level official could crush people to death, and the Sub-Bureau felt like they were half a head shorter than the General Bureau, not to mention the other party was from the Major Crime Unit. “Our captain went to investigate, I’ll text him to come back right away:”

Huadu, also known as Flower City, was a city with a population of 25 million people.

There were a total of nine police districts in Huadu, and the highest was the General Bureau. The Major Crime Unit in the Criminal Police Department of the General Bureau often dealt with cases that had very few clues.

At this time, the captain of the Major Crime Unit, Lu Junchi, also arrived at the scene. He parked the car in the parking lot not far and then walked over.

When Lu Junchi walked out of the parking lot, he could already see the police cordon that had been put in the distance, thus he quickly walked through the open space next to the sand factory.

This open space was once used by the sand factory to store the sandy soil. In order to separate from the surrounding space, there was a perimeter wall at the end of the open space.

There was more than one old car here, and the children’s football hit the oldest one among them.

Lu Juchi watched from afar for a moment, before he hurriedly approached.

The case checked by the sub-bureau would be checked again according to the process after receiving it to ensure that there would be no mistake.

Lu Junchi nodded at the police slightly, lifted the police cordon, and walked through the crowd.

Next to the scrap car was a clean young man in his early twenties, holding a notebook, while complaining mercilessly about the criminal police captain of the Sub-Bureau. That person was the youngest police investigator in the Major Crime Unit—Qiao Ze.

“…If this happens again next time, after receiving the report about the situation, just wait for us to arrive and handle it in a low-key way. Look, several people have come here, and you have also visited around, which simply makes things known to everyone. If it hadn’t been discovered by the network monitor, it would have been on the hot search by now…” Qiao Ze spoke quickly and pointed to his mobile phone.

The old criminal police captain of the Sub-Bureau was getting older and rarely used his mobile phone. He was a little confused by what the other party had said, hence he stared at it intently. The phone in the young man’s hand had opened a software interface that he had never seen before.

The old captain apologized lightly, “We will definitely strengthen our network monitor in the future…” 

Qiao Ze put away his mobile phone and sighed, feeling that he and the old captain weren’t in the same thinking at all. “This is not the key point! The murderer had put things here, and also create the antiseptic. Maybe he will come back to check. Originally, after finishing investigating the scene, we can arrange the monitor and wait for the opportunity. And if you make a fuss, the murderer will not come.”

“Qiao Ze!” As the words came to this point, Lu Junchi called the young man’s name in a low voice, reminding him to show some mercy to the old captain.

The young man turned around and immediately understood. He turned back, no longer fired the gun, and said to the old policeman, “Captain Zhang, if you notice something wrong next time after investigating, then protect the scene and contact our Major Crime Unit as soon as possible…”

After saying this, Qiao Ze ran to Lu Junchi’s side and put on an assistant-like expression. “Captain.”

Lu Junchi made a sound as a response. He was tall and stood under the sun with a stern face, wearing only a simple shirt. The collar was unbuttoned, revealing a little skin.

Lu Junchi, as his name suggested, was very handsome, with bright clear eyes, and a straight nose. However, his type of handsomeness appeared to be a bit aggressive, but whenever he communicated, people would always feel that he was gentle, meticulous, and patient.

Lu Junchi was wearing a dark color shirt today. In this summer when the heat gradually subsided, the dark color would absorb heat. But the temperature around him was somewhat lower.

Since the car industry changed human history, there have been some scrap cars in every city. They were placed alone somewhere in the city, like the solitary grave of a small car.

Those old cars were abandoned by their owners for various reasons: old, breakdown, car accident, the car’s owner encountered a mishap….

Once the disposal of a scrap car exceeds its value, abandoning it becomes the only option. There were very few people willing to repair the scrap car. Therefore, many scrap cars were parked on the side of the road, and none of the people would pay attention to them.

Lu Junchi looked at the scrap car, stretching out his hand, rolled up his sleeves to his elbow, put on the gloves, and asked, “Has the case been handed over?”

Qiao Ze said, “The box was found by a few children playing football. They were frightened and the scene was not well protected. After that, the police recorded those children’s statements. This scrap car had been parked here for at least five years, the box was originally placed under the back seat of the car, and they took it out of curiosity, but they didn’t expect to discover a pair of hands after opening it…”

Lu Junchi turned his head, looking at the two hands that had been stored into different bags by the forensic doctor, separated by a layer of plastic film. It could be seen that the fingers were long and slender. The fingerprints and the palm line were quite clear.

It was a pair of a woman’s hands, which had apparently been chopped off for some time, and had come into contact with the antiseptic, showing a pale gray color.

The hands were motionless and vivid, like a fine work of art.

It was clearly something that people had and could be seen everywhere, but now it was evidently strange which could make everyone terrified. The hands were separated from the body by a knife. One could feel pain only by looking at it. Additionally, it also appeared in the place where it shouldn’t be.

Who was the owner of these hands?

Who was the murderer that had harmed her so far?

“Have you found anything else?” Lu Junchi took off the gloves and checked the scene to figure out the situation.

Qiao Ze shook his head. “Only a few fingerprints and footprints of the kid are found in the car. There isn’t any useful trace left on the box. It is estimated that we will have to wait for the further examination results.”

Lu Junchi frowned slightly. It sounded like the scene where the hands had been discovered was too clean. There wasn’t even a sign of looking over again. Did the murderer just put the hands there?

The current priority was to determine the identity of the deceased, but there was very little information that the hands could provide.

There was a sea of people and missing people in the city. Just relying on this pair of hands, fingerprints, blood type, DNA, and scar analysis wasn’t enough to confirm the identity of the deceased.

Qiao Ze continued to report, “Right, I’ve already asked someone to check the identity of this scrap car owner.”

“These hands are definitely not left by the car owner. No murderer would put their own masterpiece in the car.” Lu Junchi suddenly remembered something, he turned around, and said to Qiao Ze, “Apply for the Sub-Bureau to transfer some police force, and look for scrap cars in the city as well as the similar box in the car.”

There were thousands of scrap cars in this city, and Lu Junchi had a hunch that maybe other cars would also have analogous information.

Qiao Ze got the captain’s order and hurriedly responded, “Yes!”

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