Chereads / The Man of Steel / Chapter 11 - Police Launching an Investigation

Chapter 11 - Police Launching an Investigation

2:00 am in the morning, near the Manila South High School.

Police had cordoned off the crime scene by installing yellow tape around the perimeter, keeping the growing crowd of onlookers at bay. The flashing red and blue lights of the police vehicles illuminated the area, causing the people who lived there to congregate near the area.

Senior Chief Inspector Arnel Santos crouched down near one of the bodies, his gloved hands lifting the edge of the blanket that had been draped over the victim. His face remained stoic, but inside, he felt a wave of revulsion at the sight before him. The body was mangled, the limbs twisted at unnatural angles, and the skin torn apart in ways that defied explanation. This wasn't just a brutal murder—it was something far worse.

The victims, nine in total, had been found scattered across the alley, each with injuries more horrific than the last. Some looked as if they had been thrown into the walls with unimaginable force, while others bore deep, gaping wounds, as though a wild animal had attacked them. Yet there were no signs of claw marks, no bites—just violent, ragged injuries.

Santos stood up, taking a deep breath and looking at his team. Forensics officers were busy taking photos, measuring the scene, and collecting evidence. Every now and then, one of them would shake their head in disbelief.

"Inspector," said Officer Ramirez, one of the younger detectives, approaching Santos with a look of confusion. "These injuries... it doesn't make sense. I've never seen anything like it. No human could do this."

"I know," Santos muttered, rubbing the back of his neck. He had been on the force for over twenty years, seen all kinds of violent crimes, but this... this was something else. "But we have to treat this like any other case. Get the forensic report as soon as possible. I want to know exactly what caused these injuries."

"Yes sir!" 

Santos resumed his exploration around the alley where he found a corpse stuck on the wall as if he had been embedded there. He scanned his body and saw that his solar plexus looked as though it had been caved in by an immense force.

It was as if something—or someone—had slammed the poor man against the wall with enough power to crush his ribcage in one blow, pinning him there like a doll.

He reached out with a gloved hand, lightly brushing the area around the body, checking for any other signs. The hollow block wall around the victim was cracked, radiating outwards from the point of impact like a spiderweb. Small bits of debris still clung to the wall, evidence of how recently the force had been applied. Yet, aside from the damage to the wall and the state of the body, there were no signs of struggle. No defensive wounds on the victim's arms, no weapons discarded nearby.

"Ramirez!" Santos called again and Ramirez, who was doing the task that was ordered to him by Santos quickly responded. 

"Sir!"

"Was there CCTV nearby?" Santos asked. 

"Well there were, but not on this alley. It just shows ten individual heading to this alley."

"Ten? But there were only nine dead bodies found. Where is the last?" 

Ramirez shook his head. "We have no idea." 

"Whoever that tenth person is might be the key to solving this crime. Let's talk about the victims, who are they?" 

"They are students from Manila South High School, while the others looked like bystanders from nearby areas."

"I need their names so we can inform the families," Santos instructed.

"Some of the victims are beyond recognition due to their injuries but one of the officers found a phone in one of the victim's bodies. They are hacking it as we speak as we speak." 

"Sir, the phone is unlocked!" one of the officers shouted from across the crime scene, holding up a smartphone sealed in an evidence bag.

Santos immediately made his way toward the officer. "Let's see what we've got," he said, waving Ramirez over. The screen of the phone lit up as the officer tapped it, revealing the lock screen. The wallpaper was a picture of a young boy in a school uniform—likely the owner of the phone. The team began scrolling through messages and recent activity, searching for any clues that might shed light on what had happened to the group.

 

"So his name is Vince huh?" Santos mused. "There is a group chat here…so he is part of a gang huh? Let's see…Vince calling for his brothers to gang up on one person named Matthew?"

"Probably one of the students in the Manila South High School…" Ramirez said.

Santos checked other group chats and saw their section group message and went to the members tab where he scrolled down until he saw Matthew's name on the list. He clicked on Matthew's profile and tapped the message tab.

There he saw some threatening messages to Matthew.

"Looks like Vince is a bully…extorting money from Matthew on a daily basis," Santos remarked. "Well looked like we found the tenth person but we don't know where he lives."

"The school will open at 5 o'clock in the morning. Perhaps we can get Matthew's records in order to find out where he lives, but we need a subpoena first," Santos said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

Ramirez nodded, understanding the legal process they had to follow. "I'll reach out to the legal team to get that started, sir. Shouldn't take long to secure one given the severity of this case."

Santos glanced back down at the phone, and navigated on Vince's messenger tab to their gang group chat. There, he checked the faces of the members who participated in ganging up on Matthew. 

"Ramirez, can you do a quick job for me? I want you to check the faces of those victims and see if they matched one of these faces…" 

Ramirez quickly moved towards the area where the bodies were lined up, the phone in hand, comparing the faces of the victims with the pictures of the group chat members. His brow furrowed as he carefully examined each body, mindful of the gruesome injuries. He tapped the phone screen to zoom in on the pictures, doing his best to make out any identifying features, despite the mangled state of some of the victims.

After a few minutes of comparison, Ramirez returned to Santos with a grim expression. "Sir, I've matched most of the victims to the people in this chat. It's not perfect, given the condition of the bodies, but based on their facial features, I'm confident that these are the same individuals. And…I also checked for Matthew's face just to make sure and he was nowhere to be found." 

Santos nodded, his suspicions confirmed. "Looks like we got ourselves a person of interest. Let's go."