Chapter 57

After asking about some details, Gao Jianjun felt it was unlikely to be a prank by an acquaintance and decided to report it to the branch immediately. If this was confirmed as a kidnapping, it would be a major criminal case, and how to handle it required instructions from the branch.

It was already noon; the branch’s criminal investigation team had specially assigned technical personnel with equipment to quietly move into Wu Yuxian’s home. Hours remained before the kidnappers’ deadline for the ransom, and Xiao Wu from the telecom department had confirmed the call originated from a public phone booth on Renmin Road in Jiangdong District.

The possibility of identifying the caller’s appearance through the phone was now extremely slim. The detectives could only wait inside Wu Yuxian’s home for the kidnapper to call again.

What a troublesome winter!

Meanwhile, members of the special task force, with assistance from municipal authorities, used the sewer network layout to list several possible dumping sites and focused their investigation there.

————

In the worker housing compound of Jiangnan Chemical Plant in Jiangnan District, Xu Zhibing, a plant worker, was preparing lunch at home when he suddenly noticed water rising from beneath his kitchen sink. He lived on the first floor—when the sewer backed up, his home suffered the worst.

He cursed as he ran outside; the sewer manhole cover was right behind his kitchen. He had cleared blockages here before. This time, he skillfully hooked the cement cover with an iron hook—a foul stench of rotting flesh surged into his nostrils! He nearly vomited from the stink. He cursed inwardly: Why was it so bad this time? Then he saw a large mass of decayed flesh floating at the manhole opening!

He used a metal skimmer to scoop out the rotting flesh, preparing to toss it into the trash—when he froze, his legs buckling beneath him as he collapsed onto the ground.

In the metal skimmer, a chunk of foul-smelling flesh, the size of an egg, bore a black spot like a human mole, with a few coarse hairs growing from it—it was unmistakably human flesh!

Recovering from his shock, Xu Zhibing scrambled to his feet and sprinted toward the courtyard gate—there was a public phone at the guard post!

Upon receiving the alarm call, the police officer, hearing human tissue had been found again in the sewer, reported it to the special task force without a second’s delay. The task force members, struggling to locate the body parts, were stunned—elated by the new discovery, yet terrified it might be another dismemberment case.

Soon, You Xinfat led a team to the scene, near Jiangnan Chemical Plant.

Even this seasoned detective felt his stomach churn at the sight of the retrieved rotting flesh—luckily, he hadn’t eaten lunch yet, or he would have vomited on the spot.

Forensic expert Ye Hui frowned slightly; she had never seen such a fragmented corpse before.

The rotting flesh chunks were irregularly shaped—some as large as eggs, others as small as grapes. Gas from decomposition had swollen them, clogging the sewer. Over three hundred pieces had been recovered. Besides the one with the black mole, the team also retrieved fragments of human liver and parts of the stomach. Based on skin elasticity and hair development, these matched the body parts from the 1.16 case—all belonging to a single adult male.

Judging by the degree of decay, the bodies had likely been dumped into the manhole about fifteen days ago—consistent with the timing of the 1.16 case. The two sets of dismembered remains almost certainly belonged to the same person.

You Xinfat immediately reported to the special task force and organized a door-to-door investigation of the building’s residents. Clearly, these body parts had flowed into the manhole via the sewer—meaning the killer likely lived in this building.

Quickly, with help from the Jiangnan Chemical Plant security office and the neighborhood committee, the task force narrowed down two suspects.

The first was Tao Xiaoyong, a laid-off worker living on the top floor of the building, with a history of gambling. The second was Lin Jiaming, a resident on the third floor with a criminal record.

Lin Jiaming was home that day, but Tao Xiaoyong’s apartment was locked tight.

After investigating Lin Jiaming, they found him emotionally stable. Since his release, he had worked steadily at an electronics factory nearby, living and eating on-site due to his three-shift schedule. The apartment in Jiangnan Chemical Plant was occupied by his parents—he had neither opportunity nor time to commit the crime.

With Lin Jiaming eliminated, Tao Xiaoyong became the prime suspect. According to the neighborhood committee and plant security, Tao was in his early thirties, never married, and seemed to have no serious girlfriend. His parents, retired, had returned to their rural hometown in Qinghe County, leaving him alone in this apartment.

After being laid off from Jiangnan Chemical Plant two years ago, he somehow fell into gambling. With no savings, he lost everything quickly. Later, he reportedly took a job at a nightspot in Jiangdong District—something unsavory, judging by his habits. He lived by night, slept by day, and rarely interacted with neighbors.

After listening, You Xinfat asked: “Do you know exactly where in Jiangdong District he works?”

The neighborhood committee chair, a middle-aged woman nearing fifty, sneered: “Who knows? We just heard it was some nightspot. I didn’t even know what a nightspot was—until I learned it’s a place catering to men with dirty minds: dancing, singing, and… you know. Just ask around—you’ll find out where nightspots are in Jiangdong District.”

As she spoke, her eyes darted between You Xinfat and the security chief, as if implying they were among those “dirty-minded men.”

You Xinfat ignored her gaze and asked: “Does Tao Xiaoyong have any relatives or friends in Zizhen City?”

The committee chair replied: “Friends? Who’d associate with a gambling addict? As for relatives—I’ve never seen any. Tao’s parents were recruited from Qinghe’s countryside as young workers; all their kin are still back in the village. No one here has ever met them.”

To avoid alerting Tao Xiaoyong, You Xinfat specifically instructed the committee chair not to watch his house—just notify him immediately if Tao returned, and make sure the man never knew the police had inquired about him.

Time flew by. While You Xinfat was examining the body parts at the chemical plant’s worker housing compound, a meat shop on the street in Luojiaying, near Jiangdong District’s industrial zone, concealed a windowless back room about twenty meters inside. (Such private rooms were often constructed without regard for lighting or spacing, merely to squeeze in extra space.) Inside stood five horizontal freezers—one each on the left and right at the entrance, and three directly opposite the door. Behind them lay another, even darker room. Beneath a single bare lightbulb, a massive wooden table—two meters wide and three meters long—stood dead center. At one end, a metal faucet was mounted; an open trench ran around the table, draining through a hole in the wall to the outside.

In the corner stood a large iron cage, roughly 1.5 meters in diameter, square-shaped.

Inside the cage, bound hand and foot and gagged with a greasy black rag, cowered a fat man, curled like livestock.