Chapter 472: The Murderer Is Him

The woman's last appearance on the surveillance footage was not far from the community.

It was rush hour after work, the streets were packed, so she certainly wasn't kidnapped or murdered on the road; no one would have the nerve to commit a crime in broad daylight.

If there had been, the killer would have been caught long ago; it couldn't have been delayed until now.

Eliminating the possibility of her being killed on the road leaves only one outcome.

The missing woman was either murdered after returning home, or she was kidnapped.

Han Fei turned his head to glance at the man, only to see him also watching Han Fei and Xu Mo; their gazes met briefly.

"Do you suspect him as the murderer?" Han Fei looked at Xu Mo and whispered.

"Hmm," Xu Mo nodded.

Although the man had behaved quite normally from the start, Xu Mo inexplicably suspected him.

It was a hunch.

"Let's go to Mingyue Community and take a look; maybe we'll find something," Xu Mo said.

Suspicion aside, Xu Mo still couldn't confirm whether the matter involved the man; a field investigation was needed to find out.

Han Fei nodded.

……

Mingyue Community.

Led by the three complainants, the officers arrived at the community.

The community wasn't large, its facilities were modest, but its location was prime—right in the bustling downtown, with sky‑high property prices.

Anyone who could afford a home here could be counted among the successful.

It is worth mentioning that

The man, who had been acting perfectly normal, became somewhat abnormal once he entered the community.

He seemed nervous.

The seasoned officers also noticed the man's oddity.

Following the three, the officers went to the missing woman's residence.

Room 1502, Building 7.

"This is it; my daughter and son‑in‑law live here," the elderly couple pointed at the entrance.

A water‑fee overdue notice was stuck on the door handle.

Xu Mo casually picked up the notice, glanced at it, and narrowed his eyes slightly as if he had discovered something.

Han Fei also sensed Xu Mo's subtle expression, leaned over, and looked at the water‑fee notice.

The notice showed that this household's water bill for the month exceeded two thousand.

The water‑billing system is tiered; a bill of over two thousand corresponds to roughly three hundred tons of water usage.

After reading the overdue notice, the two exchanged an instinctive glance.

A typical household's consumption, even at the high end, is only thirty to fifty tons, sometimes less than ten; a monthly usage of three hundred tons is virtually impossible.

"A monthly water bill over two thousand—what did you do?" Xu Mo asked the man beside him, puzzled.

The man, hearing this, panicked, snatched the water‑fee notice without even looking at it, and stuffed it into his pocket.

"Did nothing; the meter must be broken. I'll ask the property management later," he said.

After speaking, he pulled out a key, opened the door, and stepped inside first.

The officers followed his steps and entered the room.

The moment they entered, everyone smelled a pungent perfume; a particularly sensitive officer even sneezed from the fumes.

"Why spray so much perfume in the room? It's choking!" the reporting elderly couple also sneezed repeatedly from the strong scent.

It is worth noting that Xu Mo detected a faint whiff of blood beneath the pungent perfume; the scent was so subtle that, masked by the strong perfume, an ordinary person would hardly notice it.

Xu Mo's ability to discern the blood scent amid the perfume owed to his system, which had enhanced all his senses, making his sense of smell unusually acute.

At this point, Xu Mo could almost confirm that the reported missing woman had been murdered, and that the murder site was her own home!

The overwhelming perfume in the room was meant to mask the blood odor, and as for the over two‑thousand water bill, a large portion was likely spent on disposing of the corpse.

Xu Mo could roughly guess the disposal method: dismemberment, chopping up the body and flushing it down the sewer.

Soon after entering, the man urged the officers.

"You've seen everything, right? She's not at home. Isn't the priority to find her? Why did you have to come to my house?"

Xu Mo ignored him and walked into the master bedroom.

The bedroom lacked any blood odor, but Xu Mo faintly detected a foul smell.

Upon careful discrimination, Xu Mo realized the source was the bed in the master bedroom.

The sheets and duvet cover were newly replaced, with virtually no signs of use.

Without a word, Xu Mo lifted the sheets, exposing the mattress.

As he had guessed, the mattress bore traces of excrement; before death, the sphincter fully relaxes, allowing waste to escape.

Seeing Xu Mo lift the sheets, the man rushed over, "What are you doing?"

Xu Mo glanced at him, then gestured to the officers.

"Handcuff him."

The next second, the officers swarmed, immediately restraining the man; though they didn't know why Team Leader Xu suddenly ordered his arrest, they obeyed.

The sudden turn of events was unexpected by both the man and his parents‑in‑law.

"What are you doing? Let me go!" the man shouted, panicking as he struggled to break free from the officers' restraints.

The reporting elderly couple also wore puzzled expressions.

"Officers, why are you arresting my son‑in‑law?"

Looking at the couple, Xu Mo sighed and prepared to tell the two of them the not‑good news.

"Your daughter has been murdered; the one who killed her is him."

As soon as the words fell, the man restrained by the police officers beside him struggled even more fiercely, shouting while struggling, "You're talking crap! Stop slandering me!"

"Mom and Dad, don't believe what they're saying, hurry and save me!"

The elderly couple looked at Xu Mo, and for a moment they found it hard to accept this outcome.

How could their son‑in‑law be a murderer?

"You know full well that you're the one defaming yourself. I ask you, what's going on with your water consumption this month? Don't tell me it's normal usage—normal usage can't be over three hundred tons, can it?"

Without waiting for the man to start his sophistry, Xu Mo continued.

"And the perfume scent in the room—did you think spraying perfume could mask the smell of blood?"

The man swallowed, blinked rapidly a few times, and insisted, "I didn't kill anyone; the high water bill is because the water meter is broken."

"Is that so?" Xu Mo sneered, "Shall we open the sewer to see if there's any residue in your household's drainage?"

"There are traces of excrement on the mattress but no blood. I guess she was suffocated or strangled on the bed; before death the sphincter completely relaxes, causing excrement to be expelled, so the mattress shows excrement traces. You didn't manage to clean those traces completely... Am I right?"

Xu Mo, proficient in forensic autopsy techniques, can deduce and reconstruct the scene's circumstances solely from the scant clues left behind.