Chapter 315: Warmth

A script murder game with over a dozen people—no, a meeting—would easily consume a few rounds and most of the afternoon.

Jiangfuzhen and his chefs began their evening food service, and as Jiang Yuan requested, the first dish served was tripe soup.

The sour and spicy tripe soup was steaming hot, stimulating the appetite and warming the stomach—perfect for comrades who had eaten too much at lunch.

If any colleague vomited because of it, that would just be clearing out their stomach.

At this point, Jiang Yuan also handed each person a tablet computer, so those who wanted to examine a particular photo closely could view it themselves.

Jiang Yuan did the same, eating the tripe soup while studying the charred corpse for a long while.

Other police officers began discussing in small groups; by the time the soup was finished, Meng Chengbiao noticed everyone's mood had grown sluggish, so he suggested: "Captain Jiang, maybe we should change our discussion format."

"Oh? Go ahead."

"Let's switch the order. Suppose we're the killer—what circumstances would lead us to choose the scenario we're seeing?" With his age and experience, even if he weren't in the Criminal Investigation Brigade, he'd at least be a team leader elsewhere, with his own management philosophy and investigative methods.

Seeing Jiang Yuan offered no objection, Shen Yaowei, the one most familiar with the case, immediately said: "If I were the killer, and my target was this female victim, I'd first need to confirm her location—or just wait for her—then kill and set fire. The male warehouse keeper was just collateral damage, burned to death along with her. So, is this a crime by someone who knew her?"

He had merely tweaked his cousin's earlier line of thought, since they now knew the male warehouse keeper wasn't the target.

Meng Chengbiao wasn't entirely satisfied with Shen Yaowei's answer, but he polished it: "Whether it's a crime by someone who knew her is still uncertain, but the female victim was definitely killed first, then set on fire. The male warehouse keeper was burned alive directly."

This sequence could be explained in any number of ways. According to the earlier investigative direction taken by Shen Yaoguo and others, they believed the killer was the warehouse keeper's cousin, who, while breaking into the warehouse to steal, was caught by the female victim and had no choice but to kill her. Afterwards, to cover up the crime, he set fire to the warehouse and accidentally—or half-intentionally—burned the male warehouse keeper to death.

All these stories made sense, so the real key lay in the direction of the evidence.

Next came Wang Chuanxing, who thought for a moment and said: "If I were to kill, I probably wouldn't set the warehouse on fire. That just amplifies the case. The warehouse originally held only the female boss and the warehouse keeper. If both are dead, I could dismember the bodies here, carry them away and dump them elsewhere—no need to burn them."

"Burning is simpler," Meng Chengbiao chimed in. "A burned corpse might interfere with the investigation more effectively than dismemberment or dumping."

Wang Chuanxing said: "The deaths occurred at night. At night, the warehouse has plenty of space, and you don't have to worry about using machinery. I could dismember the bodies, pack them into bags, make them manageable for one person, then take them outside to dump or bury them. Or I could even bring a gasoline drum and slowly burn the bodies inside the warehouse—wouldn't that be more efficient than direct burning?"

Miao Liyuan said: "You're thinking purely from the perspective of obstructing the investigation—that's hindsight. And burning two bodies, packing them, even burning them—how long would that take? During that time, the killer is completely exposed. If caught, all your preparations are wasted."

Shen Yaowei added: "Also, the warehouse area at night is busy with traffic. Many organizations transport goods at night. That warehouse was originally built for Jianyuan Pharmaceutical—there might have been trucks coming to pick up shipments."

Miao Liyuan said: "The key is preparation. It suggests the killer's preparations weren't thorough—either he didn't plan meticulously, or there's a strong element of passion-driven killing."

In the detectives' discussion, some obvious premises went unmentioned—for example, if this was a premeditated murder in a warehouse, the killer would certainly need transportation.

With transportation, he could carry larger, more professional tools—like gasoline drums, or dismemberment tools such as 【

saws, electric saws, or wire saws, or shovels for burying bodies.

In short, a rational killer planning a murder in a warehouse has multiple options. This is one reason Meng Chengbiao organized the "I'm the Killer" game.

Meng Chengbiao also controlled the pace of the "script murder" and summarized: "Shen Yaowei proposed a crime by someone who knew the victim; Wang Chuanxing suggested a more effective method of obstructing the investigation; Miao Liyuan highlighted the risks during the killing process, indicating the killer likely lacked thorough planning and may have acted out of passion."

Meng Chengbiao paused, then said: "Miao Liyuan's method contradicts Shen Yaowei's. As Shen said, because it's premeditated, the killer must first locate the female boss—so he leans toward someone who knew her. But Miao's conclusion implies the killer's motive is unreliable."

There was a brief silence. Today's script murder, lacking a script, had diverged rapidly.

On the other hand, everyone couldn't help but consider Jiang Yuan's perception—they had to play this seriously.

In just over ten minutes, thirty "silly white sweet" equivalents of brainpower had been burned out.

Tang Jia set aside her tea demeanor and said: "I support Wang Chuanxing's idea, but his thinking is purely that of a young male. I think the killer is more likely like me—a person weak in physical strength, physical ability, or mobility—such as a woman, a minor, or an elderly person."

Several people turned to look at her.

Tang Jia said: "The killer likely fears or avoids confrontation. After killing the female boss under the guise of familiarity, she probably lacks the physical strength to dismember and dump the bodies. She may not have even planned to kill the warehouse keeper. So the idea that dismemberment is convenient inside the warehouse may not hold."

"You think the warehouse keeper was purely an innocent bystander?" Meng Chengbiao asked.

"Possibly. The killer may simply lack the physical ability to kill the warehouse keeper, dismember both bodies, and dump them. Just picking up an electric saw is already difficult for me—let alone cutting two corpses into pieces light enough for one person to carry…"

Tang Jia gestured to her arm: "I'd have to cut each body into bags of twenty or thirty jin. Two people weigh over two hundred jin—I'd need at least seven or eight bags."

Police officers had some understanding of dismemberment. The hardest part is dealing with the four large leg bones.

Even with a regular electric saw, cutting fresh bones is extremely difficult—you risk spraying bone fragments everywhere, which makes them easy to find at the scene.

And if you can't sever the femoral head, the bone with attached flesh becomes harder to handle. If you pack it in plastic bags, the sharp bone fragments easily puncture them—what then if you've miscalculated and run out of bags?

Anyone who's done home renovation has had similar experiences: the carpenter buys all the materials according to the plan—nails, screws, etc. but halfway through, he's still missing something and has to make extra trips to buy more.

Killing and dismembering or burning bodies is the same. What if, halfway through dismemberment, the chainsaw chain breaks? Do you take your bloody clothes out at night to buy a new one?

Or what if bone fragments fly and cut your face, or blood splatters on the floor—did you bring a towel or bandages? Did you bring cleaning supplies?

"Tang Jia's analysis makes sense," Meng Chengbiao affirmed. "Then from your perspective, how would you kill?"

Tang Jia took a sip of water and said: "I'd first buy some cosmetics I don't normally use, wash and apply makeup, wrap my head in a quick-dry towel, buy new clothes that are easy to move in, buy a good pair of gloves, and wear a scarf or a hat that hides my facial features."

Meng Chengbiao stared, wondering if the legal channel had switched to a shopping TV show.

Tang Jia continued: "My first concern is how to kill the female boss smoothly. If the killer has weak physical strength, poison would be the best choice—if poison doesn't work, then using familiarity to control or kill her."

"After killing her, my biggest problem is solved."

"Next, burning would require a lighter, or extra matches, maybe some accelerant. I'd need to avoid cameras and walk a long distance carrying heavy loads."

What Tang Jia said next was more ordinary.

Meng Chengbiao gave Tang Jia high praise again, then urged others to take another round of "I'm the Killer." Afterward, he turned to Jiang Yuan and asked: "Captain Jiang, would you like to say something?"

"Sure." Jiang Yuan put down his skewer, wiped his mouth, and smiled: "This case is complicated and cold—many things we may never fully understand, perhaps never will. But some things still leave traces."

Jiang Yuan didn't follow the "I'm the Killer" line of thought—he went straight to: "I prefer to focus on evidence. The most stable evidence we currently have is here…"

He displayed the physicochemical analysis of the male warehouse keeper's blood: carbon monoxide concentration at 54. %.

Jiang Yuan said: "This level matches the lethal dose for someone who inhaled carbon monoxide before death. But considering this warehouse keeper was a long-term smoker, whose body naturally contains 5% to 15% CO, this 54. % figure is actually below the lethal threshold."

Jiang Yuan then showed a photo of the corpse and added: "The male victim's skull shows impact trauma, consistent with injuries sustained while trying to escape a fire. But this indicates the male victim was still mobile at the time of death."

"So you also believe the warehouse keeper didn't escape and was burned alive?" Shen Yaowei asked.

Jiang Yuan nodded: "So we can set the warehouse keeper aside for now. As for the female victim, from the autopsy photos, she was stabbed through the heart from the front—killed instantly. The killer acted with decisive brutality—it can't be explained by simple passion or premeditation alone."

"Then…" Meng Chengbiao thought, it must be one or the other.

"Here, I want to emphasize: the stab to the heart was clean and precise—likely performed by a trained professional, and with considerable strength—at least that of an average adult male." Jiang Yuan thought of Jianyuan Pharmaceutical's fourth daughter, which prompted this description.

Tang Jia immediately caught on: "You think it was a strong woman, with training, who killed the female boss in one strike?"

"It could be either male or female," Jiang Yuan didn't fix the gender. "The case team originally considered something similar, but focused mainly on the male warehouse keeper's connections. Let's start by following the female boss's side."

This investigative direction differed from before, and likely held promise—everyone's mood surged. They picked up grilled lamb, braised beef, and other food, eating while discussing the charred corpse.

Meng Chengbiao suddenly felt this scene was warm—just like when he first joined the Criminal Investigation Brigade, the whole team brimming with energy, daily life filled with passionate case discussions and eager arrests.