"He's about to solve it?" Qian Deming raised an eyebrow and said, "So he finally decided to play it straightforwardly." he gulped a mouthful of juice as he enjoyed the lemon's sweet bitter taste for a while before he asked, "Did he put any plans to catch the killer?"
"Not yet, we still don't know who it is…" Sing Tao said, "Moreover, he doesn't tell anyone about his planes until he decides to do them"
Qian Deming puffed a little laugh, and repeated after her mockingly, "Hahaha… He doesn't know who it is yet. I see…"
Sing Tao felt the mocking sense of Qian Deming's words. However, she acted as if she didn't get it. Qian Deming's laugh stopped suddenly and his look sharpened a little. He asked, "What about the anatomy results? Did you bring them?"
"I'm sorry, but I wasn't able to take a single look at them." Sing Tao said, "As soon as Ying Yang Li brought them, Ye Xiao Xie took them inside his private bureau and looked himself up there. However, I heard from his call with Xian Wen Tian that the doctors noticed that there was an animal's hair stuck inside the victim's nose and mouth…"
Qian Deming frowned as he played with the little remaining gulp of juice. He said indifferently, "Hm… An animal's hair… it must be a cat, right?"
Sing Tao watched him in surprise for a long while before she said, "That's what the doctors said as well, but as I know, there is no difference between a cat's and a dog's hair, so how did you know it?"
Qian Deming smiled gently and said to her, "Oh, is that so? I think that it's just a coincidence. Alright, you can go now. Thank you so much for your hard work, Miss Sing"
Sing Tao knew that he avoided answering her, so she nodded at him and stepped away. However, when she reached the door, she stopped as if she just remembered something.
Qian Deming raised an eyebrow and asked her, "Is there anything you wanna add?"
Sing Tao gave him a side glance and said in a sharp low tone, "Listen up. I don't know what are you up to exactly, but I'm still helping you just to pay you back for your deed. Yet, if you dared to mess around with Ye Xiao Xie, I won't hesitate to stop you."
Qian Deming gave her a sarcastic laugh and said, "Are you saying by that you don't trust me anymore?"
Sing Tao rolled her eyes and muttered, "Your talking as if I was doing so." with that she slammed the door behind her.
Shen Yuan was concentrating on washing Qian Deming's hair silently without giving a shit about anything else. Even when Sing Tao slammed that door he didn't move a single inch. Qian Deming looked at him through the mirror that was facing them, and asked, "She is so in love, isn't she? Hahaha…"
Shen Yuan was silent for a long while before he answered, "I don't have any ideas about women or their feelings. Nevertheless, I think that Master Qian is right."
Qian Deming puffed a little laugh and said, "Stop acting like a stone already, you little liar… Aren't you a genius?".
Shen Yuan smiled coldly without removing his black sharp eyes from those black strands. He murmured, "Whatever you think, Master…"
Qian Deming took one of the red leaves from the water and said as he started playing with it, "Ye Xiao Xie is just like a jailed bird… he needs someone to set him free…" he was silent for a while before he added, "And that person will be no one but me… I'll set him free… He is my bird." He stopped for a long while before he yawned and put aside the almost empty glass. "If you finished, please hand me my bathrobe. I'll go to sleep" he said.
Shen Yuan dried his hair, gathered it into a braid, and then he asked him, "Won't you have your dinner first? It's already prepared…"
"No, just have it instead of me… I have so much work tomorrow… This case is already solved. however, I need to gather more info before Ye Xiao Xie could do anything crazy." He wore his black bathrobe and added, "I won't let him take that step alone… catching them will bring him and the ones around him a big disaster. " He looked at his reflection through the mirror and narrowed his eyes hatefully, "He wants to challenge that dog, but he is no match for him. Only a rich devil like me will have the ability to end him."
He was about to step out When his legs halted suddenly. He supported himself by putting his hand on the door and putting the other on his chest. He started breathing heavily as if he was having his last breaths. Shen Yuan was about to bow to him in respect, but when he noticed the sudden change in his state, he rushed to him.
"Master!" he prevented him from falling as he shouted angrily, "Cristina! Where the hell are you?! Bring the inhaler! Right away!"
Qian Deming started coughing nonstop until he lost his balance. However, Shen Yuan kept holding him strongly until a yellow-haired girl ran inside the bathroom. That was no one other than Cristina. She was a 21 years old European maid who was working in Qian's palace for 2 years.
"Here you are! Give it to him fast!" She said in a frightened tone.
Qian Deming leaned against Shen Yuan's chest and breathed in the inhaler hurriedly. When he started feeling well he heard Shen Yuan's voice coming from above his head.
"Master, If you're not feeling well, I can carry you back to your room to call your physician."
Qian Deming smiled at him and shook his head, "No need for the trouble, it wasn't too hard this time. I'm fine."
Shen Yuan bowed at him obediently and said, "If that's the case, then I'll do whatever pleases Master. Please, remember to keep your inhaler with you next time. Have a good night."
Cristina stood closer to Qian Deming and asked, "Are you okay master? How do you feel now?"
Qian Deming patted her head and said, "No need to worry, silly Cris*. Have a good night" With that, he left her behind watching him with a worried look.
(Fast note: Cris is a pet name that Qian Deming gave her.)
When he entered his room, he stayed in front of the mirror to watch his reflection for a long while before he removed his fake black pupils to reveal two extremely beautiful purple eyes. They were just like violets. Weird, but charming indeed. However, from Qian Deming's perspective, they were so disgusting. They were holding the dark shadow of the past that he was never able to face. Therefore, he couldn't help but avoid looking at them. He threw himself on the bed after wearing his golden silky nightwear robe and kept eyeing the ceiling absentmindedly until he fell asleep.
The next morning, Qian Deming's hair and mind were so messed up as his eyes showed signs of great exhaustion. Shen Yuan was already up by then as well. He was Qian Deming's right arm, personal guard, and butler. He was always waking up at 5 am to start his work earnestly. He climbed the stairs calmly and knocked on Qian Deming's door respectfully.
"Good morning, Master."
Qian Deming was still sitting on his bed. Even his bed curtains were still down.
Shen Yuan walked straight to his closet and asked, "Master, which style is to your liking today?"
Qian Deming kept watching his silhouette through the golden curtain before he said, "I have a stupid meeting at lunch ahead of me, so just give me anything official… One of my white summer suits there for example"
Shen Yuan searched for a while and then brought him his clothes. He smiled at him and said, "You can wear them now, I'll go down to see how things are going with the maids in the kitchen."
Qian Deming watched his clothes in long silence before he finally took them. After having his breakfast, he requested Shen Yuan to fix his hair on the balcony. He was about to drink coffee but his eyes caught the sight of a black car nearby. So he narrowed his eyes and gave Shen Yuan the sign to stop brushing his hair.
"Look who came here to watch me in the bright morning…" He stood up and added, "The first step of my plan succeeded." He smiled as he started waving at the car to greet the person inside it.
The secret policeman that was watching him from there, "..."
///
Police station 8:00 AM.
Ye Xiao Xie was sitting cross-legged on his desk as usual. However, this time he was wearing a cheerful expression. He took one last sip from that cold cup of coffee and walked fast to Xian Wen Tian's bureau.
"Xian Wen! Open the door fast."
Xian Wen Tian welcomed him with an exhausted face. He looked him up and down before he finally spoke, "Who the hell are you?"
Ye Xiao Xie broke inside the bureau shamelessly as he said jokingly, "Am I really this different when I'm excited?"
Xian Wen Tian rolled his eyes and closed the door behind him. "You become a freak whenever you feel so… Anyway, what's your plan?" He sat on his chair lazily and added, "Judging by your expression, I think that you've already solved the case."
"Not really. You can say I almost solved it. I figured out something very important." He slammed two pictures on his desk and said in a confident tone, "Try to spot the difference between those two. they are the main key to everything else I'll tell you later."
Xian Wen Tian's eyes were already overpowered, so he wasn't able to notice anything until Ye Xiao Xie pointed at one of them, "This one shows the bruises on the back of one of the victims from last year… And this one here is from Fang Xuan's case." he stopped for a while and added, "If you look closer, you'll find that there is a little difference between the two of them…"
Xian Wen Tian gave it a closer look before he finally noticed something. He frowned and declared carefully, "...the bruises' shape… it seems to be different…"
Ye Xiao Xie snapped his fingers and said joyfully, "That's what I call great eyesight!" He took a chair from the second desk and sat on it. He said in full excitement, "The reason why they look a little different is the thickness of the knife that was used to make them." He took out all the other pictures from his T-shirt and put them on the desk as well, "Not only that but also the bruises are a little different." He showed him the picture of an old man and said, "Do you remember him?"
Xian Wen Tian nodded as he examined the other pictures, "Yes… this is Mr. Liao. He was also one of XTDX's victims. He was killed after the news about him being a suspect in the case slipped from here... What does he have to do with your conclusion?"
"Be patient, you'll know everything … Xian Wen, tell me, don't you think that Mr. Liao's death and other than being so suspicious was the point of many changes in this case as well? When he died the crimes didn't cease but they no longer became the same. What I mean is, the first victim's body was found in his house but the two victims that came after him were both found in Jiang City's big lake. By looking at how the killings didn't stop even when Mr. Liao died, we thought that he was innocent, but I'm afraid that we missed something at that time."
Xian Wen Tian gave it a long time of thinking before he said, "Are you trying to say that we made a mistake by thinking so? Could it be that Mr. Liao was the main criminal from the beginning?" he stopped for a while and added, "But if it was so, how did people still get killed after he died?"
Ye Xiao Xie hit the table in full joy. "That's exactly the question that I was waiting for from you!" he said, "the conclusion that I've got is that XTDX is not only one person who kills for nothing… XTDX is a group of assassins that use almost the same ways of killing and Mr. Liao was just a boat for them."
"Wait, what?" Xian Wen Tian wore a doubtful face, "what are you basing this conclusion on?"
"The crime scenes." Ye Xiao Xie raised his index and said, " The crime scenes are a little bit different from one to another." He walked straight to the display board and looked at the pictures from each crime. "As we know, serial killers have very specific ways of doing their job. They always have some things that distinguish them from other killers, like a favorite spot of stabbing, a favorite time of the killing, and so on… They try to commit the perfect crime and kill their victims almost the same way just to create the same scenes and make the police turn in empty circles. However, this case didn't have any of this." he looked at him and added, "It's true that all XTDX's victims are getting killed by poisoning and get those scrapes on their backs afterward. Nonetheless, there were still some distinctions from one crime to another. Let's take Feng Xuan and the last victim of last year as an example." he pointed at their pictures on the board as he continued, "Last year, the last victim was a young girl called Xian Ya. She was found in the garbage. After we did all the required investigation we found out that she was raped before getting poisoned but unlike Feng Xuan, she didn't have a single cat hair on her body. But did the same thing happen with Feng Xuan?"
Xian Wen Tian put his hand on his forehead as he sighed, "Are you kidding me? Feng Xuan is a man! How do you want him to be raped as well?"
"Then could you explain to me why Cheng Mei Ren, the girl who was killed before Feng Xuan, also has cat hair in her clothes? Why did we find it next to the beach as well? Yet, her body was completely safe." Ye Xiao Xie asked. He didn't wait for Xian Wen Tian to give him any answers, so he added to make things clearer. "We are already aware that those victims were just innocent random youths who didn't have any dealings with anyone. However, XTDX's first victims were two rapists. After them, only young girls were getting killed. And this year the killer started aiming at University students. Do you think that this is logical? What I mean is, why would a killer who started by killing rapists rape other people, and why would a serial killer who killed only young men change his taste for no reason and start killing young women as well?"
Xian Wen Tian put down Mr. Liao's file and answered unhurriedly, "So in other words, you're saying that XTDX can't be one person?"
"Exactly." Ye Xiao Xie took out a cigarette and continued, "I also thought at first that it's just one person who wants to mess well with us, but it was truly impossible…" he lit up his cigarette and smoked it calmly to explain further, "Mr. Liao killed no one, but he helped at doing so." He went to the drawer and took out a red file with the title "XTDX" on it and threw it to Xian Wen Tian. "Mr. Liao was a drug trafficker, so there is a very high chance that he was the one who gave such a drug to XTDX. His death after we showed our suspicion to him was nothing but a reservation from XTDX so that we wouldn't reach them… Mr. Liao was just a distraction for us. They wanted us to waste our time with him so that they could get away with it."
Xian Wen Tian gave it a long thought before he finally spoke, "That makes sense… the crime scenes did truly have some slightly different details from one to another, but this only happened three times."
Ye Xiao Xie blew the smoke away gently and narrowed his eyes. "That's right, that's what makes me assume that this group is only made of three people…" he walked back to Xian Wen Tian and sat facing him as he said, "and those three killers are not moving by themselves… there is someone above them of course. And all we have to do is to put up a plan to catch the first suspect at all costs. With him, we will have the ability to catch the rest of them and understand what's exactly happening here."
Xian Wen Tian, "And do you have any suggestions who could it be?"
Ye Xiao Xie put off his cigarette as he answered calmly, "I already have five people on my mind. We will know everything by this Sunday."
"This Sunday?" Xian Wen Tian asked.
"That's because the next crime will happen that day."
"Huh? Didn't you just say that we are dealing with three people? We don't even know about their preferences and now you're saying the next crime will be this Sunday?"
Ye Xiao Xie gave him a calm laugh and said, "I'll tell you how I knew it when we'll catch him.'' He stopped for a while and then he asked, "By the way, where are Sing Tao and Ying Yang Li? I have a little job for them…"
Xian Wen Tian yawned and leaned against the chair lazily, "They didn't come yet… They are not crazy enough to stay up the whole night here."
The proud detective stood up and gave him a sarcastic laugh, "Being crazy is what creates good detectives". He was about to leave the room, but his phone started ringing suddenly. It was the policeman he had sent to watch Qian Deming sao he answered without hesitating.
"What's your report?"
"Report? A-ye… You made me so disappointed. Is this how you treat an innocent soul like me?"
Upon hearing that voice, Ye Xiao Xie frowned.
"Why are you sending your men to watch over me? If you want to see my handsome face this bad, we can go out for a date"
"Cut the fucking crap! Who gave you the right to call me? Where is Ling Xiao? Why is his phone with you?"
Qian Deming was standing far away from the policeman who was counting a bunch of money in full excitement, he looked at him and said arrogantly, "Your men are truly obedient, no wonder they fulfill your orders so earnestly…"
Ye Xiao Xie remembered the words he told him when he made his students leave the hall, so he asked, "Why are you so childish?"
Qian Deming laughed loudly, "Me? Childish? It's just that I have my ways of handling people as well."
"That greedy bastard…" Ye Xiao Xie said hatefully. He rolled his eyes angrily and was about to add something. However, Qian Deming was faster than he was and said, "By the way, I'll save your phone number, so that I can call you from time to time. You won't have to spy on me because you'll hear my voice every day."
Ye Xiao Xie, "..."
Xian Wen Tian, "..."
Ye Xiao Xie hung up immediately and Xian Wen Tian couldn't help but laugh loudly.
The black-haired man frowned at him for a long period before he finally spoke, "Laughing like that in front of your ancestor, huh?"
"Hahaha… Sorry, but I couldn't help it… who's that man? Is he an old boyfriend of yours?"
"Say that again and I won't hesitate to peel off your shameless face!"
"HAHAHAHA…"
Ye Xiao Xie rolled his eyes as he thought, I wish I didn't have an answer to this question… He was silent for a long while, but in the end, he spoke, "It's the red Ferrari man. I gave Ling Xiao an order to keep an eye on him but he ended up accepting bribery." he frowned angrily as he gathered his hand into a rough fist, "Just let him be for now… When he'll come back, I'll burn that money in front of his damned face and write a report about his mischievous act!"
"Oh my goodness! HAHAHA…"
The angry detective hit the table with his hand and swore furiously, "If that childish man called me again, I'll be a dog if I didn't crash his…"
Ring… Ring….
He didn't even complete his words when an unsaved number appeared on his screen.
"...."
Ye Xiao Xie closed his eyes, sighed, and then handed Xian Wen Tian his phone.
The latest kept watching him in surprise for a long while before he asked, "Why are you giving this to me? Do you want me to answer instead of you?"
"What?! Do you take my words as a joke or what? Don't answer, just get rid of that fucking phone. Inform the others that I'll be having a new number." With that, he quit the room furiously, leaving Xian Wen Tian like a speechless statue behind him.