Chapter 54: Campus Dismembered Body Case

Translator: Azza

Editor: Conspiracing

Lin Dongxue went home after work in the evening. She heard the doorbell ring right after she changed her clothes.

As soon as the door opened, Chen Shi came in with multiple bags. Lin Dongxue was stunned. “What are you doing? Are you planning to live with me?!”

Chen Shi put all his things down. It turned out to be vegetables and meat bought from the supermarket. He lamented, “I can’t stand watching you eat instant noodles every day. I’ll give you a delicious meal.”

Lin Dongxue smiled bitterly but did not refuse.

After the chandelier was repaired, Chen Shi rolled up his sleeves and went to the kitchen to work. Lin Dongxue did not even finish half an episode of the TV series she had been watching when Chen Shi had already cooked up a few dishes. He made lettuce doused in oyster sauce, stir-fried marinated pork slices, and eggplants with pork mince, filling her table up with food. Lin Dongxue was full of praise, “I didn’t know that you also knew how to cook!”

“Haha, I am a senior bachelor. If I can't even cook, wouldn’t I just be trash?”

Lin Dongxue used her chopsticks to dig in and taste his cooking. Chen Shi’s cooking skills were very good, but she couldn’t very well accept this gift knowing she’d probably have to do something in return. She pried, “You suddenly came to cook for me. What’s your motive behind this?”

“When are you going to learn to think of people in a positive light?”

“It’s my occupational habit.”

“Well, since you think this way, how do you plan to reward me?”

Lin Dongxue’s voice became almost an octave higher. “Ha! That means you truly did harbor evil thoughts!”

“Originally, socializing is for mutual benefit. Even if it is not for any immediate benefits, it would be for the benefits of the future.”

“What do you want in return then? I’ll treat you to food then.”

“Just compliment my cooking!” Seeing Lin Dongxue's surprised face, Chen Shi sighed, “I used a lot of effort to buy ingredients and make you a nice meal, but I didn’t even receive a good word from you.”

Lin Dongxue muttered, “It was yummy.”

“Good girl.” Chen Shi smiled and dipped his head down to eat.

This guy can be really nice to people, but he takes roundabout ways to show it. Guess this could be said as a reason to why he’s cute.

No, no, I can't feel good about him just because of a meal. She warned herself internally.

After dinner, Chen Shi cleaned up the dishes. Lin Dongxue offered to do it, but Chen Shi washed the dishes quickly in an experienced manner.

Lin Dongxue extended, “Would you like to have a cup of tea?”

“No, I’ll head back home to watch TV. I’m going to take my leave.”

Lin Dongxue was a little embarrassed. “I will see you off!”

When they got downstairs, Lin Dongxue received a call from Lin Qiupu. “Dongxue, are you at home right now?”

“Yes, what’s up?”

“There is a private high school near Qing Zhu Road. Someone reported that they found a bag of corpses. I am busy over on my end and can’t take out time to come over. You need to go over and handle it.”

When she heard that there was “a bag of corpses,” Lin Dongxue immediately thought that it was a body dismemberment case.

“Okay, I’ll head over now.”

“Be careful on the road. Don’t carpool with anyone! Remember to send a text message to me when you’ve arrived.”

“Brother, I am going to handle a case, not visit relatives.”

“Alright, alright, I have to go.” Lin Qiupu hung up the phone in embarrassment.

Lin Dongxue directly opened the door and sat in the passenger seat. Chen Shi asked, “What happened? Is there a case?”

Lin Dongxue looked at him curiously. “What are you made of?”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Why do I have cases whenever I’m with you?”

“Haha, pure coincidence... Where are you heading to?”

“Qing Zhu Road!”

Qing Zhu Road was only three kilometres away from Lin Dongxue’s residence. In less than fifteen minutes, the two arrived and inquired about what happened from the people at the little newspaper kiosk. This road had a private high school called Pu Si Foreign Language School.

The two entered the school and Lin Dongxue showed the certificate to the guard who stopped the car. The guard cried in excitement, “Oh, you guys came! The school is about to explode in chaos!”

“What happened?”

“When there was a cleaner at night picking up the trash can, they found a bloody black bag. When the bag was opened, they found some hair and flesh inside. He thought it was an animal in the beginning, but when he pushed the bag around to see, he saw a man’s hand, so he quickly reported the case. Go and have a look. Just downstairs at unit 4 of the teachers’ dorms.”

Chen Shi went to park the car. The two went to unit 4 of the faculty dormitories and saw a group of people who gathered together. Lin Dongxue carried her ID high up with her hands and pushed through the crowd. When the crowd saw the police coming to the scene, everyone began explaining the situation at the same time. The situation each person described was roughly the same.

Chen Shi snapped, “Talk one by one! Who was the first to discover the body?”

A teacher-like person responded, “The cleaner Lao Zhang.”

“Call him over. Is there CCTV monitoring here?”

“Umm, there isn’t. There is only monitoring in the teaching area.”

“Are there only teachers who live in this building?”

“Yes.”

“Sorry to trouble everyone, but you all can’t leave yet as we have to register your contact details. Ah, yes, who has rubber gloves in their house? Bring over two pairs and a flashlight.”

After a while, the teacher who explained the situation brought over the things that Chen Shi had asked for. The two put on the gloves and opened the trash can. A pungent stench came out, flooding their nostrils and the dismembered body in the plastic bag could be seen. Lin Dongxue was disgusted and it felt like her stomach had flipped over.

“If you want to vomit, go to the building and find a bathroom to do so,” Chen Shi advised.

“No need!” Lin Dongxue held down her vomit. “With everyone looking at your every move, how are you so calm?”

“Actually, I also want to vomit.” Chen Shi smiled bitterly.

There were so many people on the scene that they didn’t want to look at the body there and then. Chen Shi pulled up a few pieces of the body and declared, “It’s a child about twelve or thirteen years old based on their fingers.”

This made Lin Dongxue feel a shiver go down her spine, “Is it a student here?”

“Ninety-nine percent!”

Lin Dongxue resisted the desire to look back at the crowd who was staring at them. The body was found here, so the murderer was most likely a teacher, or even someone who had just talked to them.

At this time, she saw a man coming out of the corridor. The man's eyes widened and suddenly turned back into the building.

“This bag can't be loaded with one person.”

Chen Shi’s words brought her attention back to reality. Chen Shi opened the other bags one by one and found other bags with corpses in them. He used his hand to lift them up and estimated it to be the approximate weight of a teenager.

“Take these back to the station first!”

“Okay!”

“We need to split up. You need to go and take down the contacts of the people present.”

Lin Dongxue registered each person on the scene and questioned the cleaner who found the body. The cleaner said they found the body at around 8 pm.

Chen Shi asked the guard to find him a large roll of plastic bags. When the guard gave this to him, Chen Shi wrapped the body bags with the new plastic bags, along with all the other bags, whether or not they had blood on them. He also asked the cleaner to label each bag with a serial number, then put it into a big plastic bag altogether and put it in the trunk of the car.

Soon, other police officers in the area arrived. They mainly came to protect the scene, so Lin Dongxue handed over the work and got back in the car.

Chen Shi lit up a cigarette and contemplated, “I’ll have to wash this car after we sort this out.”

Lin Dongxue was very puzzled. “Why did you bring all the rubbish back and why did you bother labelling them?”

Chen Shi asked, “How did you even pass your criminal investigation classes? Were there any blood stains on the bags around the body bag? You can directly judge when the body bags were put in, and then guess the time period of the corpse abandonment. I have labelled them with serial numbers for convenience if we need to reassemble the crime scene.”

Lin Dongxue could not argue. “Maybe when I was in class, my soul went out. Let’s swap souls so I can understand these things.”

“Haha, go buy two bottles of cola. I want to vomit.”