Chapter 114

Only then did Qi Fei realize that he had caught a glimpse of that luxury Maybach parked outside; it was the vehicle Huang Daqiu used when he went to the Yun Shen Secret Realm for questioning.

Damn it, he should have thought of it earlier; this car didn't belong to the Golden Snake Immortal Ying Shuigen, but to his wealthy patron.

Qi Fei looked at the room; there were countless glass tanks of all sizes around the walls, which appeared to be for raising snakes. Judging by the placement of the rosewood furniture, this should have been a VIP reception area.

Judging by the scene, Huang Daqiu had experienced a fierce struggle with the other party before he died. His arms were mangled from trying to block the attacks, and these glass snake tanks looked like they had been smashed during the struggle.

Besides snakes, there was broken glass everywhere on the floor. It seemed these snakes had all been released from these glass tanks.

Qi Fei squatted down and specifically checked Huang Daqiu's fingers. Sure enough, a section of his little finger had been sliced off; it must have been the section that the snake Ying Shuiwang grabbed had spat out.

"Brother Fei! There's a situation over here!" Wu Shanqiu's voice came from outside. Qi Fei hurried out of the side hall and saw Wu Shanqiu already standing on the stairs leading to the second floor.

He saw a woman in pajamas lying face down on the steps, her back of the head covered in blood. Occasionally, snakes would crawl out from under the corpse. Unlike Huang Daqiu, who was covered in wounds, this woman had been killed with a single blow. Qi Fei could almost see the scene at the time: the woman had run toward the second floor in fear, only to be caught by the killer on the stairs, who had mercilessly dealt her a fatal blow to the head.

However, it wasn't over yet, because the bloody footprints crossed the woman's corpse and continued toward the second floor.

Qi Fei remembered the blood test report regarding the kinship; if that were true, it meant there might be more victims.

The two followed the footprints up to the second floor. Unlike the VIP reception style downstairs, the second floor was clearly Ying Shuigen's own living quarters.

The bloody footprints led into a small bedroom. When they pushed open the ajar door, they saw two boys, one big and one small, lying on the bed, having been stabbed multiple times. Similar to Huang Daqiu, there were signs of defensive knife wounds on their arms, but unfortunately, they had still been hacked to death by the other party.

Almost all the drawers and cabinets had been opened. At first glance, it seemed like a robbery-homicide case.

However, what was surprising was that the valuable items were still there.

Qi Fei looked at the jewelry in the vanity drawer, and Wu Shanqiu's voice came from the side: "This doesn't make sense. The jewelry box is right there; why are these things stuffed haphazardly into the drawer?"

Qi Fei checked other places one by one and said: "It's not just the jewelry; all the valuable things were turned out and then thrown back. Moreover, the Patek Philippe watch Huang Daqiu was wearing on his wrist, worth at least a million, wasn't taken either. The killer's goal wasn't money."

"Or were they looking for something?" Wu Shanqiu said.

"What a headache. I've never seen such a chaotic crime scene; the difficulty of gathering evidence is quite high. The traces have all been destroyed by those thousands of snakes." Qi Fei said distressfully, looking at the room and then out the window, before going to the next room to take a look.

"Brother Fei, what are you looking for?"

Qi Fei was looking down when he suddenly saw a small snake crawl out from the base of the wall. It seemed there was a gap inside the wall.

Qi Fei squatted down, observed the baseboard, and touched it with his hand. Sure enough, he found that a piece of the baseboard was loose. He pried it open with a bit of force, and inside was an iron box.

Sure enough, something had been hidden.

Qi Fei put on gloves, carefully took out the box, placed it on the vanity, and opened it. Inside, there were no valuables, but an old notebook.

After flipping through the notebook, they saw content far more shocking than gold, silver, or jewelry.

This notebook recorded the amounts of money donated by many people, which were quite substantial. The key point was the identity of the donors. One by one, they were all wealthy, powerful, and prominent figures.

There was also a name here that Qi Fei recognized—Qi Dongjun.

Over the years, Qi Dongjun had given this Golden Snake Immortal quite a bit of money, time and time again.

Qi Fei gritted his teeth and said irritably: "He really is everywhere!"

"Brother Fei, do you think the killer was rummaging through everything just to find this?" Wu Shanqiu said from the side.

"Regardless of whether they were looking for this or not, these people all need to be investigated."

The reinforcements arrived quickly, and a cordon was set up at the scene.

Qi Fei knew that the list in the iron box was of great importance and had to be reported immediately, so he decided to return to the police station first.

While Qi Fei was driving from Jiangting Island to the Nancheng Police Station, Wu Shanqiu was rummaging around in the passenger seat, never resting.

Halfway there, Qi Fei finally couldn't help but ask: "What are you looking for?"

"Ha! Found it! I knew I put one in the car when we were on duty last summer." Wu Shanqiu took a bottle of floral water out of the glove box and sprayed it on herself. "After coming out of that snake den, I keep feeling itchy all over. It's so disgusting; I hope I won't have nightmares tonight."

Wu Shanqiu pressed the spray too many times, and a pungent, fragrant smell permeated the air, making Qi Fei sneeze several times in a row.

"Those are snakes, not mosquitoes. What's the point of spraying floral water?" Qi Fei hadn't even finished his sentence before he started sneezing again.

"Oh, sorry, Brother Fei, I forgot you have rhinitis." Wu Shanqiu stuck out her tongue. "It's just for the psychological effect, you know."

Talking all the way, it wasn't long before the car returned to the police station. Before they even went upstairs, they saw Liu Tong politely seeing two people off from upstairs.

The eyes of these two people were as swollen as peaches; one look and you could tell they had been crying for a long time.

Before leaving, they were still holding Liu Tong's hand: "Captain Liu, I'll leave this matter to you. No matter what, you must give us justice!"

Qi Fei and Wu Shanqiu watched the two leave the police station in unison, and when they turned back, they saw Liu Tong let out a long sigh of relief.

Only then did Liu Tong ask Qi Fei: "You said on the phone there was an important situation to report. Is Huang Daqiu among the victims found at the scene?"

Qi Fei shoved the old notebook into Liu Tong's hand: "I'm worried the killer's target was this."

Liu Tong flipped through it and understood what Qi Fei meant: "Well, the people on this list are all suspects now. The investigation will be quite difficult."

"Captain Liu, you must go to the scene on Jiangting Island to see for yourself!" Wu Shanqiu leaned over and said to Liu Tong.

Liu Tong looked at Wu Shanqiu while flipping through the list: "Oh, you even know how to assign tasks to your leader now?"

"I've never seen anything like this since I started working! I need to apply for psychological counseling." Wu Shanqiu said, rubbing her arms as if she had goosebumps again.

Liu Tong closed the notebook and tapped the cover: "I'll report this to the bureau leaders immediately, apply for assistance from various departments, and then we'll set off!"

The police car that had just returned soon sped off toward Jiangting Island again.

"What kind of case is this that you're receiving them so courteously, Captain Liu?" Qi Fei asked, grinning at Liu Tong in the back seat while driving. He knew this wasn't Liu Tong's usual style of avoiding trouble.