I See Murders Before They Happen

Chapter 221: Chapter 219: Still Zhang Bai

As soon as she hung up the phone, the look in Su Miaoyi’s eyes turned cold.

Chu Xingrou, who was standing beside her, felt a chill run down her spine.

Su Miaoyi went to find Zhuang Yanzheng to tell him about the vision she had just seen.

Zhuang Yanzheng had just received a report from the forensics lab.

It was the analysis of the DNA extracted from under Liu Shitang’s fingernails.

Su Miaoyi glanced at the report in his hand—identical to the one Yan Cheng had received—and said, "So it’s Zhang Bai."

"You had a vision?" Zhuang Yanzheng asked.

"Yes." Su Miaoyi sat down and recalled the scene. "It happened at the apartment where we found Liu Shitang’s body. Zhang Bai and Kang Hong were both there."

"You saw both of them?"

"Yes," Su Miaoyi said. "It was in the living room. They were eating barbecue together. Liu Shitang had been drinking. He wasn’t drunk, but he was a little dizzy and unsteady on his feet. His mind was still clear, though."

Zhuang Yanzheng listened as she continued.

"They must have been finishing up their meal. Liu Shitang got up and started walking toward the bathroom. He only took a few steps before he was tackled from behind." Su Miaoyi had seen it all from Liu Shitang’s perspective.

At first, she felt the world spin. Then, after he hit the ground, he saw Kang Hong’s face.

It was Kang Hong who had taken him down.

Meanwhile, Zhang Bai was still sitting steadily on the sofa, simply watching them.

Kang Hong was already very thin by then. After knocking Liu Shitang down, he collapsed onto the floor as well.

Liu Shitang glared at him, then scrambled to his feet and lunged at Kang Hong.

"Kang Hong was pinned to the floor, his neck in Liu Shitang’s grasp, completely unable to fight back." Su Miaoyi looked at Zhuang Yanzheng. "The fingerprints on that leather patch on the chest of Liu Shitang’s shirt must have been left when Kang Hong was struggling against him."

"Did anyone say anything?" Zhuang Yanzheng asked.

"Liu Shitang said... ’I just want this apartment. Nothing else after this. You guys make so much money, the cost of one apartment is nothing to you! I’ll take it, and I’ll keep my mouth shut. I absolutely won’t tell anyone.’"

"Just as we suspected. Liu Shitang had discovered something."

"Yes," Su Miaoyi continued. "As soon as he said that, Zhang Bai got up and made his move. Liu Shitang fought back, scratching Zhang Bai’s arm with his fingernails. Then Zhang Bai smashed a wine bottle over his head. Liu Shitang passed out, and that’s all I saw."

"And Kang Hong?"

"When Zhang Bai attacked, Kang Hong was still lying on the floor, motionless. I don’t know if he was paralyzed by fear or if he was too dazed from being choked to get up."

"I just checked with the hospital about Kang Hong’s condition," Zhuang Yanzheng said. "The doctor said we can try to question him tomorrow."

Su Miaoyi nodded. "My aunt just called. A neighbor said the door to their old apartment was open."

A sharp look crossed Zhuang Yanzheng’s face. "Good thing they moved out when they did."

"It could just be a burglar," Su Miaoyi said. "They might have seen that the apartment was recently vacated and wanted to check if anything valuable was left behind. We don’t know the full story, so I want to go to the old district and take a look."

"Alright," Zhuang Yanzheng said. "I’ll contact the local precinct. You can go straight to them when you get there."

"Okay."

Zhuang Yanzheng walked to his desk and handed her his car keys. "Take the car."

Su Miaoyi took the keys.

"Be careful. Don’t doze off," Zhuang Yanzheng said, then added, "Actually, I’d better find someone to go with you."

With that, he left the office to make the arrangements.

...

After arriving in the old district, Su Miaoyi contacted the local precinct, and they went to the apartment together.

Both the security door and the inner door were open.

Su Miaoyi examined the lock. There were signs of it being pried open.

The lock-picking job was crude. This method is fast, but it breaks the lock. That’s why both doors had been left open.

An officer from the precinct took photographs.

Su Miaoyi looked inside. As a forensic light shone on the floor by the entrance, footprints became visible.

There were so many footprints.

The floor had been mopped during the move, but that was before the dust covers were put on. Besides, Cheng Yong and Ge Yu had been back in the apartment for a while after that.

To the naked eye, the floor looked clean, but under the forensic light, they were incredibly clear.

Su Miaoyi analyzed the footprints.

She could estimate a person’s height, weight, and even aspects of their gait.

Besides the prints from the four family members, there were two sets of unfamiliar shoe prints.

Judging by the size of the prints and the shape of the soles, one belonged to a man, the other to a woman.

She took out a ruler to measure them, then observed the paths the two sets of prints took.

The man’s prints didn’t go far into the apartment.

He came in, walked to the living room, paced a little from one side to the other, and then left.

The woman’s prints went deeper into the apartment. She walked to the doors of all three bedrooms and then to the kitchen entrance before leaving.

Compared to the man’s cautious movements, the woman’s gait seemed more relaxed and unhurried.

Su Miaoyi studied the woman’s footprints. The gait, estimated height, and weight all seemed to match their upstairs neighbor, Aunt Wang.

She had just been upstairs, though. Aunt Wang was at the supermarket, but she had called and said she’d be back shortly.

Su Miaoyi and the other officers searched the apartment carefully. They could confirm that the unknown man had left without going any further inside.

Almost everything had been moved out of the apartment.

Only the furniture remained, and it was all covered with dust sheets.

That almost certainly ruled out a common burglar.

A thief, seeing an empty home with everything under dust covers, would be *more* likely to go through the rooms and search for anything left behind.

But this person didn’t go far inside, and there were no signs of a search.

’They were looking for someone.’

’When they saw no one was home, they left.’

Cheng Yong and Ge Yu had already moved out, but a chill still ran through Su Miaoyi.

’Today is the fourth day since Kang Hong’s arrest, and they’ve already come looking.’

’They move so fast.’

’If my aunt and uncle had been any slower in moving, I wouldn’t even know where to begin looking for them now. They wouldn’t just be missing, they could be...’

Waves of fear washed over Su Miaoyi.

After examining the footprints, they checked the rest of the apartment.

The police dusted the door for fingerprints.

They did find prints, but judging by their location, they likely belonged to her family members from locking and unlocking the door.

Aunt Wang from upstairs returned quickly. As soon as she arrived, they compared her footprints and the fingerprints left on the door.

The unfamiliar woman’s footprints were a match for hers, as were some of the fingerprints on the door.

"Your aunt and I were very close. Ever since she moved, I haven’t had anyone to talk to," Aunt Wang said with a sigh. "I was coming downstairs today and glanced over at your family’s door, just like I always do. I saw it was open and thought your aunt had come back for something, so I stood at the doorway and called out to her."

"When no one answered after a few calls, I went inside. I checked every room, but no one was there. I suddenly broke out in a cold sweat. I thought you’d been robbed, so I immediately called your aunt."

Su Miaoyi thanked Aunt Wang. They chatted for a few more minutes before Aunt Wang went back upstairs.

They then asked the other neighbors if they had heard any disturbances during the night.

None of them had.

Su Miaoyi stood in the doorway, gazing into the empty apartment.

The fingerprints on the door had been collected, but aside from the footprints, there was nothing else.

The investigation had once again led them down a new path, only for it to end in another dead end.

Wearing gloves, Su Miaoyi gripped the doorframe and stared at the security door’s lock. ’If only I could see something through you, too,’ she thought.

The thought had barely crossed her mind when her vision suddenly went black...