Chapter 277: I Even Admire Them

Translator: Azza

Editor: Conspiracing

Chen Shi walked around thinking as he looked around the scene, reproducing the scene in his mind. He suddenly asked, “Why did he spray water at the reporters?”

“To drive them away. Why else?” Lin Dongxue said.

“What did he use to spray them?”

“It should be the water pipe next to the fish tank.”

“Where were you then? Did you leave the window?”

“Of course! I wasn't splashed but out of instinct, I was afraid he would spray water again, so I walked away.”

“How long were you away for?”

“About ten minutes. I asked the reporters if their machines were broken.”

“What were Xu Xiaodong and Officer Luo doing?”

“Police Officer Luo was also asking about the reporter's situation, Xu Xiaodong... I don't want to bother talking about him. He stared at the female reporter's wet chest the whole time.”

“So the entrance to the unit building was vacant at that time and hardly anyone would have noticed anything. Everyone was busy dealing with the unexpected situation?” Chen Shi's tone showed excitement.

Lin Dongxue looked towards the entrance of the unit building in surprise and there were flower beds on both sides of the entrance. Peng Sijue noticed this as well and brought the ultraviolet lamp over. He said, “There are footprints here!”

“The footprints are a bit weird. The focus is on the toes. The man walked away as they crouched.”

“No way!” Lin Dongxue was shocked. “You mean to say...”

“Yes!” Chen Shi nodded slightly. “The water was sprayed by the murderer. The victim scolded the reporter across the window and got killed when he went to the bedroom. The murderer who had been hiding there then took the water pipe and sprayed water on them. When you all ran away, they escaped.”

Lin Dongxue covered her mouth in surprise. “Is there such a bold killer?”

“Bold and careful.”

Peng Sijue thought about something and went to the scene with his tool box. Chen Shi said, “In fact, it can be proved. At that time, the reporter's machine was on. There should be a shadow of the murderer.”

“Yes, why didn't I think of it?!”

Peng Sijue said through the window, “Come in.”

When the two entered the scene, Peng Sijue was taking fingerprints from the water pipe. He said, “The fingerprints seem to only belong to the male owner... But this water pipe should be immersed in the fish tank year round and covered with moss. However, one end of the moss is wiped away. There are no fingerprints on it at all either.”

Chen Shi continued along his line of thought. “The murderer was wearing gloves, so he wiped off the moss without leaving fingerprints.”

Lin Dongxue was speechless with respect and asked Chen Shi, “How did you think of that?”

Chen Shi smiled. “Thinking from a different angle. If I were a murderer, how would I escape the scene?”

Lin Dongxue pouted unacceptingly.

Peng Sijue stared at the fish tank in a daze and finally took some water from the fish tank.

Peng Sijue went straight back to the bureau while Chen Shi and Lin Dongxue rushed to the TV station. At this time in the evening, the TV station was busy and no one had time to greet them. Lin Dongxue started several times, “We’re here to find...” but the other party would just glance at them before hurriedly walking away.

Chen Shi said, “They’re currently rushing to broadcast the evening news. Let's go in ourselves!”

“Can we?”

“You have a badge. What are you afraid of?”

There were many rooms in the TV station. The two found a video editing room and pushed through the door to see a group of people cutting movies at the computer, cooking some rice, smoking a cigarette, or scratching their ears. They all looked unhappy and the whole room was clearly filled with work stress.

“They look like a group of slaves in a slave ship.” Lin Dongxue commented. “I thought the criminal case team was bad enough.”

A dead-looking uncle asked, “Who let you in?”

Lin Dongxue showed her badge. “Police. I want to see the video footage taken in the Guanghua District on the evening of April 16th.”

“Find him!” The uncle pointed at the bald head buried in the equipment opposite them.

The bald editor lazily asked, “What material?”

“On the evening of April 16th, the video footage of Guanghua Community. It was the news regarding the man who was trying to kill the cat.”

He searched the computer and asked, “What's the date?”

“The evening of April 16th...”

“Where?”

“Guanghua Community.”

“What content?”

Lin Dongxue looked helpless. “The cat-killing man!”

“This? It's already on air. You can just search for it online.”

“We want to see the original.”

“What's so good about the original? It’s messy... Which unit are you from?”

“Police!” Lin Dongxue said. It seemed like this man was a bit forgetful.

“Why do you need to look at this? Did our boss agree?”

Chen Shi took out fifty yuan for him and said, “Brother, go out and have a meal. We can have a look for ourselves.”

“Oh, don't delete anything.”

Chen Shi pushed Lin Dongxue into the chair and Lin Dongxue operated the computer with the mouse. “Wow, the original video file is so big. Dozens of gigabytes.”

“The USB stick we brought with us seems to be useless.”

After searching for a long time, they finally found that section. In the picture, the reporter was talking when suddenly a stream of water was sprayed from the balcony before the footage became blurry from all the movement.

Lin Dongxue went back to look at the scene again and repeated it several times, but still couldn't see clearly.

Chen Shi suggested, “Put it in the editing software and look at it frame by frame.”

“Ah, they still have files open, so don't mess around.”

“So... New... Import... Done!”

Because he leaned over to operate the computer, Chen Shi's face was close to Lin Dongxue’s. She could see the beard stubble on his chin clearly. She smiled. “Why do you know how to do everything?”

“Who do you think I am?” Chen Shi smiled smugly, turning his head to look at Lin Dongxue's face illuminated by the screen.

Looking at the footage frame by frame, the two found nothing in the window. The water pipe appeared and suddenly started spraying water out of thin air. Chen Shi adjusted the contrast and it turned out that no one was recorded at all.

Lin Dongxue bit her nails. “No one was photographed?”

“Do you think it's possible under normal circumstances?”

“Oh, you mean, this man deliberately squatted down and sprayed the water?”

“It seems that this person is very scared of being recorded.”

Lin Dongxue went through the video again. When Mr. Ma talked to the reporter, the camera captured his face clearly. It seems that like Chen Shi's speculation, the sprayer was not Mr. Ma.

In this video, Lin Dongxue found something. She tried to use the mouse, but nothing happened. Chen Shi took the mouse from her and zoomed in.

“Here!!!” She pointed to a place.

“I see it.”

While Mr. Ma was insulting the reporter, the bedroom door behind him opened slightly. Lin Dongxue felt a shudder. The murderer actually snuck into the bedroom when the victim was speaking to the reporter.

Chen Shi said, “I think the water spray was the killer's God’s pen stroke[1]. It wasn’t premeditated. How long Mr. Ma would speak with the reporters and whether he would enter the bedroom after talking with them were all things that couldn’t be controlled.”

Lin Dongxue pondered, “What if Ma went into the living room after talking?”

“The killer may have had another plan but we can no longer see it... Anyway, this killer is smart, bold, and careful... I even admire them a little bit!”

“Hey, you aren't serious, are you?!”

1. Sudden inspiration.