"He's a psychopath, I told you." Chen Lian, the female officer who was assigned to the team around the same time as Kang Guanyu, declared.
She stopped typing and tore her gaze away from the computer to give Kang Guanyu a death stare. The glow from the screen was reflected on her frameless glasses, making her look especially cold-hearted. "I have heard the recording. Someone has just accused him of murder and his first reaction is to call his workplace to tell them he won't be in?"
Different from the happy-go-lucky Kang Guanyu, Chen Lian had always been a serious and hardworking officer. Too hardworking in fact. She wouldn't even rest if the Captain didn't order her to. Maybe that's why they ended up being partners in most assignments.
At first, they were like oil and water, unable to see eye to eye with each other. But time passed and gradually, they found a working balance. Chen Lian's attentiveness complimented Kang Guanyu's clutter while Kang Guanyu's cheerfulness had made the rigid Chen Lian unite with the rest of the team members.
Kang Guanyu sighed dreamily and swung the swivel chair, a thick document on his hands. "A-Chen ah A-Chen, have you ever seen a criminal so handsome before? When he first opened the door, I thought we had wrongly entered a movie scene! There's a whole background music playing inside my head!" Kang Guanyu snapped the document close with a thud and whispered secretly into Chen Lian's ears. "I thought I have gotten used to seeing handsome guys after looking at Mu Yuze's face everyday, but Mr. He is on a totally different level! His presence is so strong and soothing, it makes you feel like looking at a mature, dependable Alpha brother…"
Chen Lian snorted. She wouldn't comment on the holes in Kang Guanyu's head, having seen too much of it during their partnership. "Too calm…" she muttered under her breath. "He's too calm. It's suspicious."
"What are you saying?" Kang Guanyu whispered-shouted. "Didn't you hear me just now? He was so terrified that he almost puked his guts out. I'd have to say… a gorgeous man will always be gorgeous even when his complexion is all—aoww!"
A slap on the back of his head cut Kang Guanyu mid-sentence. He turned around in a whiplash, shocked to see who was standing behind him. "C–C–Captain! This… I was just…" He shot a pleading look at Chen Lian which was promptly ignored. So much for being partners!
"Have you compiled the background check on Miss Zhao?" Li Zhi asked with his perpetual grumpy look. "I'd shave your head if you have the spare time to gossip about handsome men instead of using it to do your job properly!"
Chen Lian stood up from her seat and exclaimed, "Captain, it's not gossip if Officer Kang is doing it unilaterally. He's just dumping unnecessary information on me."
Kang Guanyu did not know whether to laugh or cry. Was he an adopted child here? Why was everyone ganging up to bully him?!
The corner of Li Zhi's lips twitched. For a split second, he looked like he was going to smile but in the end, his lips curled downward into stern lines. "The body is still missing but it has been assigned to our team and labeled as a potential murder case. Let's talk as we walk."
Kang Guanyu grabbed his notebook and hastily caught up to Captain Li's long legs, Chen Lian falling into steps behind them.
"C—Captain," Kang Guanyu couldn't help but blurt out what had been plaguing him for a while. "We have searched Miss Zhao's house thoroughly. Her door and windows are still intact, no sign of anyone breaking in. Whoever is the culprit, they must have known Miss Zhao enough to be invited into her house…"
"But the security guard didn't notice any guest coming for her," Chen Lian piped in.
"A-Chen," Kang Guanyu rolled his eyes exaggeratedly. "Their security guard is as old as the apartment itself! Not to mention his eyes aren't good anymore, an old apartment like that will not even care which Tom, Dick or Harry is coming in and out like they own the place! There is not even a guest list! It's either the culprit has been walking around right under the security guard's nose or… they are a tenant in the apartment themselves. Maybe they even live on the same floor as Miss Zhao! Right, that will explain why the blood is only on the fifth floor! What do you think, Captain? Should we just bring everyone in and not only Mr. He?"
Captain Li huffed. "Tell me what you have analyzed from the crime scene."
It was Chen Lian who answered first, flipping through the tablet showing the photos that the forensics had taken. "Her body and the murder weapon is missing. For now, the forensics are still working to see if the culprit has accidentally left a trail behind. But I doubt they will be able to find anything. Also… the culprit might have overturned the house to mess with the scene."
Captain Li asked, seemingly careless. "Why do you think the culprit wanted to mess with the scene?"
Chen Lian poked the inside of her cheek with her tongue. "It's just… too messy. Abnormal. The dressing table was overturned; cosmetics tubes and skincare bottles strewn all over the floor. Her wardrobe was wide open and her clothes spilled out messily. The curtain and bed sheet were shredded to pieces, most likely by a knife. If this hadn't been a potential murder case, I would have judged it to be a simple burglary.
"According to the statement from the tenant who called us, the noises were — I quote — 'very loud and disturbing' and 'it sounds directly above me'. Based on that, we can conclude that the culprit had confronted Miss Zhao in her bedroom because the rooms' base interiors are identical to each other. But why… does the blood is only found in the living room? Going by the mess in the bedroom, the culprit should be holding a weapon so wouldn't they have hurt the victim — at least enough to spill some blood — in the bedroom rather than leaving a possibility where she could still escape?"
"Oh you're right!" Kang Guanyu hit his palm with a fist, eyes widening in realization. "That's why I have always felt something was off with the crime scene! There's no blood at all in the bedroom! Wait a minute— so you're saying that the two of them had a confrontation in the bedroom, leading to the culprit pinning Miss Zhao on the floor to… to beat her for almost half an hour. Through some luck, she managed to escape to the living room where she was finally killed and then the culprit came back to wreck the bedroom? For what?"
"Maybe…" Chen Lian speculated. "...to hide the fact that something was missing?"
Kang Guanyu's eyes rounded. "Don't tell me that it has been the culprit's goal all along. Then this is a premeditated murder!"
Li Zhi was silent all the way and allowed the two ducklings behind him to echo their theories one atop of the other. Like that, they arrived at the surveillance room. Li Zhi held the handle and turned toward them. "What you're saying is possible. But for now, it's just baseless assumptions without the support of evidence. There's one thing we can't deny though, this is likely done by someone she knew. That's why we can only start the investigation from the victim's background to see if there's anyone around her with motive."
"Captain, there's one more thing," Chen Lian said quietly before Li Zhi could open the door. "Mr. He has just moved into the apartment a few days ago. Even though you told him that three people had given his name as the suspect, it's not entirely true — they all either pointed at the suspicious newcomer or the one whose room was closest to Miss Zhao, they don't even know his name.
"Why is Miss Zhao's body missing? I assume that the culprit's identity might be discovered on her body. They were fighting so it wasn't weird that there's evidence of their DNA on Miss Zhao's body. But why would Mr. He's name appeared on the crime scene? Judging from the culprit's meticulousness, they don't seem like a person who will leave something that will make the police trail it back to them.
Chen Lian lifted her eyelids and stared at the two of them. Her sharp, pale colored eyes seemed to see through everything. "What if it wasn't Miss Zhao… but the culprit who has written Mr. He's name to pin the blame on him? Then that means… the culprit and Mr. He might know each other."