Chapter 217: The Blood Curtain Cave

Lao San died in his own apartment.

This was an apartment in the city center, not very large—around a hundred square meters—but half of it was a double-height space, lavishly decorated like the American luxury apartments seen on TV.

Lao San's corpse lay in the double-height space, beside the body of his current boyfriend.

Blood flowed down from the double-height space, not just along the stairs, but also seeping through the gaps in the openwork railings on the front face of the space.

One could imagine that during the brief period when blood was abundant, this luxury downtown apartment resembled a curtain of blood—a waterfall composed entirely of blood, flowing evenly from the double-height space and splitting the room in two.

Even now, thick blood still dripped slowly from the double-height space, or stretched into long, sticky threads from above.

"I'd really like to show the person who bought this haunted house this ghostly scene," Fatty stood at the doorway, looking up at the dripping bloodlines, the taste of yesterday's noodles rising in his throat.

"Did your family make you buy a haunted house?" Shou Xiankan, Fatty's master, knew his family situation.

Fatty grunted, "They said since I'm always around corpses anyway, living in a haunted house doesn't matter. Plus, I'm young, with strong yang energy—after living here a while, the haunted house might even improve, and when we sell it, maybe we can get the normal price… I refused outright, so they gave up."

"Not every haunted house is like this," Shou Xiankan said, looking at the blood-drenched curtain of water, then asked: "Why did you refuse?"

"Because I can't afford a haunted house," Fatty said, then asked: "Where do we start?"

Shou Xiankan looked at Jiang Yuan and said: "Follow Forensic Jiang and assist him."

This area falls under the jurisdiction of Qianjin District in Qinghe City; the homicide is handled by the Qianjin District Criminal Investigation Team. The team leader is Lei Xin, whom Jiang Yuan had met before.

Lei Xin had previously collaborated with Jiang Yuan on the cremation murder case, so after confirming the victim's identity and learning Jiang Yuan was working on a related case, he called immediately.

Now, all the technical staff from Qianjin District are scanning the perimeter; the double-height space on the second floor, especially the bodies, have been left untouched, waiting for Jiang Yuan to arrive and process them.

Jiang Yuan, fully dressed, climbed the stairs with Wu Jun.

Ahead of them, transparent acrylic stepping stools were laid out one by one, minimizing disturbance to the scene, especially avoiding repeated footprints in blood.

Four of them walked up the stairs in a single file.

Two male corpses, bare-chested and drenched in blood, lay in pools of blood.

Thinking he had seen one of them just yesterday, Shou Xiankan's throat grew even itchier.

"Take detailed photos of every blood footprint," Jiang Yuan glanced around briefly, then began assigning tasks.

Wu Jun, though his master, wisely stepped aside now, picking up the camera himself to begin photographing.

While the corpse is the most important element at a homicide scene, solving the case isn't always dependent on the corpse.

Other information surrounding the corpse can sometimes be easier to use in cracking the case.

For Jiang Yuan, the blood splattered everywhere across the scene offered far too much information—he'd reconstructed crime scenes countless times. With this skill as a foundation, his efficiency in gathering and organizing evidence was extremely high.

For example, fingerprint scanning isn't done by examining every inch of the scene.

Large-area fingerprint scanning usually involves turning on the forensic light and shining it—immediately revealing many fingerprints.

But this is mainly used outdoors. Indoors, fingerprints are everywhere—you still have to determine which belong to the victim and which are useful.

Otherwise, a single scene technician bringing home hundreds of fingerprints would surely get cursed by the trace evidence unit.

More common is for scene investigators to analyze the crime's origin, speculate on its progression, then focus their search on areas where the suspect likely left fingerprints.

Like what Jiang Yuan did yesterday: a thief's fingerprints are most likely near the lock, because he had to remove his gloves to work, then wipe them clean—this easily leaves mistakes. Inside the room, the thief put his gloves back on, so searching for fingerprints there is pointless.

Therefore, if you can reconstruct the killer's sequence of actions, collecting evidence becomes simpler and more thorough.

But today's crime scene, Jiang Yuan felt, didn't need this method.

He examined each blood footprint one by one, and quickly formed an idea.

"The killer is about 25 years old, possibly up to 28. Actual height… should be around 170 cm, weight about 70 kg…" Jiang Yuan selected two relatively clear blood footprints, studied them carefully, then gave his conclusion directly.

The most famous scene investigator in Qinghe City was Chen Wenming, but he wasn't here this time.

Fatty, as Chen Wenming's subordinate, had seen Chen's footprint analysis, but compared to Jiang Yuan's method, he felt Jiang Yuan was possessed by a spirit.

All technical staff knew that some indicators were easy to give broadly, but narrowing them down precisely required considering multiple factors—it was extremely difficult.

Jiang Yuan dared to confidently deliver such a detailed conclusion; Fatty was almost worried for him.

Wu Jun, however, was used to Jiang Yuan's habitual phrasing, and asked: "What do you mean by 'actual height'?"

"This is the distinctive feature of this case," Jiang Yuan gestured vaguely in the air. "Look at the rear portion of this footprint—it has a slight dragging sensation."

"What does that mean?" Wu Jun asked.

Fatty, having worked with footprint experts, blurted out: "Small horse pulling a big cart?"

Jiang Yuan glanced at him. "We usually call it small feet in big shoes—but it's the same thing."

Small feet in big shoes are relatively easy to spot: besides the dragging Jiang Yuan mentioned, there might be heel imprinting, uneven pressure on the sides, or shifts in center of gravity at the big toe and little toe areas.

In short, small feet in big shoes are easy to detect—anyone who's read a bit, studied trace evidence, or spent three to five years in prison should know this. By contrast, hiding shoe prints is much simpler—like…

"So this guy's kind of dumb, a novice?" Fatty, who'd studied this, cut straight to the point.

But Jiang Yuan shook his head. "This person is slightly different."

"How?"

Jiang Yuan said: "Look at the outer edge of the shoe print… this person wore height-increasing shoes, and also had small feet in big shoes—I believe it's a matched set."

Wu Jun nodded, took notes, then said: "Looking at the bodies, they were stabbed many times, with excessive force—unnecessary brutality. Likely a crime of passion…"

"Yuan Yutang was bisexual. There could be romantic rivals."

"Same-sex relationships can have male rivals too."

"True."

"Still, killing two men—even with a key, sneaking in while they slept—is very difficult," Jiang Yuan stared at the blood pool for a moment, then added: "By the time he killed Yuan Yutang, Yuan was already awake. This blood pool here has been washed multiple times with water—there might be traces of the killer's blood. Collect more samples."

Washing blood intentionally only masks traces—it can't erase DNA. To completely clean it, you'd need a special cleaning solution.

Fatty and Shou Xiankan both replied and bent down to wipe.

Jiang Yuan continued scanning the surroundings, then said: "This apartment's cleaning was probably outsourced. Ask later if any towels or bathroom items are missing."

"You suspect the killer was injured and used a towel to bandage himself?"

"Yes. Also check pillows and sheets—he might have dripped blood somewhere and grabbed one or two items on the spot." Jiang Yuan spoke as he began searching himself.

He tried to find incomplete bloodstains—they'd definitely be the killer's.

By this point, Jiang Yuan already felt a sense of ease.

The case before him clearly had strong elements of a crime of passion.

If a crime of passion were a single fatal strike, that'd be one thing—but stabbing someone face-to-face, failing to kill on the first blow, then forcing the killing amid resistance, still unsatisfied, stabbing over a dozen more times—it's nearly impossible not to leave evidence.

Under these circumstances, to evade detection and conceal the crime, you either delay discovery of the body to let biological evidence naturally degrade, or you dispose of the corpse and thoroughly clean the scene.

But cleaning the scene is technically demanding, disposing of the body carries risk of discovery, and creating a secondary crime scene doesn't guarantee it won't be found either.

From a criminal investigation perspective, crimes of passion are generally not very difficult.

And those involved in crimes of passion are often reckless. That's why it's called passion—if they weren't blinded by rage, if the atmosphere hadn't reached the point of murder, a normal person with normal thinking would never resort to killing.

After searching around and finding no incomplete bloodstains, Jiang Yuan wasn't discouraged. He stood up and summarized: "For now, we can start by investigating Yuan Yutang's male lovers or rivals who wear height-increasing shoes and large-sized footwear." Jiang Yuan estimated: "After height increase, this person should be around 180 cm tall, shoe size 44."

Wu Jun called out over the railing: "Captain Huang…"

Huang Qiangmin hurried over. "Any leads?"

Jiang Yuan repeated the group's earlier conclusions to Huang Qiangmin.

Huang Qiangmin muttered a few words, then immediately said: "I'll have Wu Junhao come back and make arrests right away."

Jiang Yuan suddenly remembered yesterday's thief. "Did you catch that burglar?"

"Caught him. He's being interrogated now. Old hand—has some bite to him." Huang Qiangmin pulled out his phone and got busy.