Chapter 148: "Shouldn't She Die?
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Chen Yi paid no heed to the complex emotions within the eyes of the law enforcement officers, instead, he appeared distant, as if on the verge of a mental breakdown, muttering to himself.
"I heard her agonizing screams."
"I killed her."
"It was her fault, she shouldn't have treated me like that. After my business failed, she should've encouraged me, not suppress and doubt me every day, she was asking for death."
"She deserved to die!!!"
Suddenly, he lifted his head, sitting in the interrogation chair, staring at the officers behind the desk with eyes red and near to bursting as he screamed, "You tell me, did she deserve to die?!"
"Didn't she deserve to die?"
The officers exchanged glances, then rose in silence to momentarily pause the interrogation, taking the transcript in hand to consult their colleagues in the evidence department, preparing to verify a hunch they had.
"The suspect has confessed, he killed his wife with a dagger, and had his pet dog consume her dismembered body, washing away the blood with strong acid."
"Do you in the evidence department have any leads?"
"Something's not quite right."
A young staff member from the evidence department sat at the computer table, flipping through photos with a frown, saying, "The forensics team has given a preliminary verdict. The meat in the stomach of the suspect's pet dog is not human flesh but chicken breast."
"And the blood on the floor is the suspect's own; no other person's blood was found."
"Colleagues are now out collecting hairs, dander, and other evidence at the crime scene, we should soon have some information."
"However, the records department says there is no name of Li Xiuqin as mentioned by the suspect; they can't find any file on her. The outreach department has already sent people to inquire around the neighborhood."
"The message from the outreach staff is that this Li Xiuqin seldom came downstairs, spending most of the time shopping online, and on the rare occasions she did go out, she didn't greet others, keeping to herself and strangers to her intentions."
"Additionally, the security guard at the suspect's residential complex mentioned that the man was a complete recluse, barely leaving home, especially never with his wife. Never would they have imagined that this recluse could muster the courage to do something like killing his wife."
The two interrogating officers exchanged looks again, then narrowed their eyes, murmuring thoughtfully, "So you mean to say, as of now, no one has seen the suspect and the victim together in public."
"Yes, the intelligence we've gathered indeed confirms this; it seems their relationship was indeed very distant."
...
Chen Yi sat calmly in the deserted interrogation room, his head bowed, silent, not speaking a word.
The original inhabitant of this body may have had a good attitude towards study, but his methods were lacking, the blood in the living room and the corner wasn't thoroughly cleaned.
After a complete cleaning, he changed it to his own blood.
He might be rusty in other areas, but cleaning up a crime scene was his old line of work.
But he was injured again.
Chen Yi wanted to touch the wound on his right chest, but since his hands were cuffed to the chair, he couldn't move; the wound still throbbed with a dull pain. By now, the police must have started to harbor doubts.
Though the wound was self-inflicted.
Blood and such were easy to clean, and a body could be hidden for a while, but hair and dander were tough to clear away.
When he walked out of the room to the living room, he saw a female corpse; it seemed she hadn't been decomposed yet, and he only had a few minutes, so there wasn't enough time to deal with the body.
Carrying a body bag down from the apartment complex was obviously too conspicuous.
Pressed for time, he could only wrap the woman in several layers of cling film from the kitchen, turned on the water heater, stuffed the body inside, and then reinstalled the heater properly.
Fortunately, the woman's body was small enough to fit into the narrow space of the water heater.
This hiding place was not secure, merely temporary, but it was sufficient; when the police eventually found the body, he would've successfully exited the map and secured his hidden reward.
The only challenging aspect...
Was the hair and dander in the house.
Even a meticulously clean person would leave behind a lot of hair and dander in their home; without special methods and a lot of time, it's impossible to thoroughly clean it up.
Particularly the bedsheet, clothes, pillows...
These are places where dander sticks, and to clean it up quickly, there is only one way, which is to burn it completely.
No need for a big fire, just an open flame inside the house; DNA in any area affected by the direct flame would be completely destroyed.
Destroying DNA isn't that hard after all.
White vinegar, limewater, and such can effectively destroy DNA. Give him an hour, and he could ensure not a trace of DNA was left in the corners of the house; this was his expertise and not too difficult a task.
But the map only gave him less than ten minutes to prepare, and within those ten minutes, he had to check the diaries left by his original identity on the computer, leaving no time for such tasks.
Hence his solution was... to disregard it all.
DNA is a useful tool in investigations, but it requires that the victim's DNA be previously cataloged for comparison. The problem is that the victim, according to societal rules, was entirely invisible.
Without even basic identification like an ID card or household registration, even if you find DNA from the victim, there's no way to match it with any existing DNA records.
...
"The colleagues from the Evidence Department have a result, apart from the suspect, there is hair and dander from another person at the crime scene. They're already extracting DNA, and the results should be out soon."
Outside the interrogation room.
The young fellow from the Evidence Department was reporting the work progress to two colleagues standing in front of him.
"Hmm?"
The few police who had just interrogated Chen Yi furrowed their brows tightly, their train of thought abruptly interrupted. Initially, they had suspected that Chen Yi hadn't killed anyone, and that it was a split personality disorder—his other personality had just killed itself.
But now, a significant amount of hair and dander from another person was found at the crime scene.
That situation didn't add up.
"We have a result."
The young man from the Records Department raised his eyebrows at the news from his colleague, "There are traces of DNA on the main bedroom bed and those women's clothes at the crime scene. They have been DNA-matched."
"Two types."
"One is from the suspect, the other isn't in the DNA database, and it's unclear if it's Li Xiuqin's. We can't compare it unless we find Li Xiuqin's body."
"You're saying... there are DNA traces on those women's clothes?"
"That's right."
A few interrogating officers nodded, some understanding in their minds. They pushed open the door to the interrogation room again, staring straight at Chen Yi with a cold expression and said each word deliberately.
"I've got good news for you, the collection of evidence has made significant progress."
"We've found a lot of the victim's DNA traces on the bedding and in the wardrobe at the crime scene."
"If you confess now, we'll deal with you leniently."
Chen Yi hung his head in silence, not speaking. He really wanted to say impatiently that he had been confessing all along, otherwise what had he been doing all this time?
But he couldn't say that, as such a tone was not quite suitable for the role he was currently playing.
Regarding this officer's claim to have found the victim's DNA traces, it was complete nonsense.
At most, they had found a stranger's DNA traces. The DNA of the original identity's wife wasn't even in the database, so who could they compare it with?
However, no matter how the police questioned him, Chen Yi didn't say another word, remaining silent. Although the officers were anxious, they were somewhat at a loss without definite direct evidence; they could not close the case.
The biggest problem now was the inability to find the victim's body, only some DNA that couldn't be compared or verified.
And right at that moment—
The colleague from the Evidence Department pushed the door open and whispered in the interrogator's ear, "We found something on the suspect's computer; come out and take a look."
...
Outside the interrogation room.
The officers who conducted the interrogation were staring solemnly at a self-written diary on the computer. The diary detailed the suspect's triumph when his business succeeded and the downfall after the failure, along with the stark difference in his wife's attitudes before and after.
Through the text, one could vividly sense the suspect transitioning from pride to hysterical madness, every word filled with intense bitterness.
Then, they pulled up the browsing history the suspect had deleted.
Extensive pornographic site browsing records, along with messy web pages on how to deal with a corpse.
In the diary, they sharply noticed something unusual.
The suspect would call a prostitute every time his wife went out shopping, to put on his wife's clothes and serve him personally; and today, this act was discovered by the victim, which led to a violent confrontation and resulted in him killing his wife, Li Xiuqin.
"Hurry, hurry, hurry!"
The interrogating officers fixated on the computer and urgently said, "Find the prostitute that the suspect found; this is an important breakthrough."
"Not so fast."
A colleague from the interrogation team furrowed his brows and spoke, "Look at the times these pornographic sites were browsed, they're mostly at one or two in the morning. Put yourself in the shoes of a man for a moment—would you be looking at this stuff if you had a family?"
"What's so strange about that?"
The colleague from the Records Department sitting at a nearby table touched his nose awkwardly, "After all, sometimes, you prefer the feeling of being in control."
"Once or twice I can understand, but this browsing is nearly every night."
"Would a normal man resolve the need by himself every night?"
"What's so odd about that? Some men just don't like women and prefer their own hands."
"If he doesn't like women, then why would he call a prostitute?"