Outside the residents' alleyways in Songlang Village, North City District, the crowd of onlookers grew larger. Inside, Zhou Dong and Niu Qiuling were examining the scene, searching for useful clues.
Meanwhile, forensic doctor Qin Bo and his two apprentices were conducting a preliminary examination of the deceased lying on the ground, initially determining that the victim had died around 2 AM last night.
However, at this moment, amidst the crowd of onlookers, a man and a woman, both looking travel-worn, appeared!
The woman wore a blue linen robe, her long black hair styled in a bun, like someone from ancient times, secured by a peach wood hairpin inserted from left to right, revealing her perfectly oval face. She had a pair of slightly stern eyebrows, beneath which lay a pair of rather cold eyes. Her nose was high-bridled, and her thin lips were unadorned with any rouge.
Her face also bore a touch of rustic, faint plateau blush and some freckles, making her appear out of place compared to city girls.
Despite this, the woman's features were incredibly beautiful, giving her an aura of righteous dignity. Standing around 1.7 meters tall and clad in a blue linen robe, with a long, coarse cloth-wrapped object on her left shoulder, the purpose of which was unknown, she resembled a female Taoist nun descending from the mountains.
The man accompanying her stood only 1.6 meters tall, with a youthful face, appearing to be only fifteen or sixteen years old. He, too, wore a blue linen robe and had his long hair tied in a bun. His face also showed a rustic plateau blush. He was quite handsome and charming, with a touch of cuteness.
He carried many travel bags and had a meat bun in his mouth, while holding a few more in his other hand, which he offered to the woman beside him. "Senior Sister Zhi Shan, this meat bun is delicious."
"Mmm, you eat first."
The woman's Taoist name was Zhi Shan, her given name Xu Lingwei.
"Huh, where did these Taoists come from?"
The surrounding residents, upon seeing the Taoist-attired man and woman, pushed their way in to join the spectacle, drawing whispers and pointing fingers from those nearby.
After all, Xu Lingwei and her junior disciple Li Zihang's blue linen robe attire made them stand out conspicuously in the modern city, making it difficult for people not to point and stare.
However, Xu Lingwei and her junior disciple Li Zihang seemed unfazed by such a scene. The siblings pushed through the crowd to the outside of the police cordon. They watched Zhou Dong, Niu Qiuling, and the forensic team examining the body and the crime scene in the alleyway. Li Zihang, while eating his meat bun, remarked, "Senior Sister, I just heard the old lady selling buns say that this person was bitten to death by something!"
Xu Lingwei's cold, sharp eyes narrowed slightly. Then, she quickly formed a series of hand seals in front of her, a sight that left onlookers stunned. Xu Lingwei bit her finger and smeared two streaks of her own fresh blood directly onto her eyelids.
Immediately afterwards, she forcefully opened her eyes, two sharp gazes shooting out. The surrounding residents watched, bewildered, wondering what this girl was doing. Was she filming a TV show, pretending to be a Taoist nun?
"Evil energy!"
Xu Lingwei's eyebrows twitched. Using her spiritual eye, she could see the corpse lying in the alleyway, a faint trace of evil energy remaining. She said, "It's a puppet refined by the Heavenly Eye Main Divine Cult!"
Li Zihang's eyes immediately lit up. "So, we've come to the right place!"
"Mmm." Xu Lingwei nodded, saying no more.
"Make way..."
Then, Wan Yunting pushed through the crowd and entered the cordon. After greeting the patrolling officers, he lifted the cordon to enter. He then saw Xu Lingwei and Li Zihang standing to the side, dressed in their blue linen robes, which caused Wan Yunting's expression to freeze. He couldn't help but appraise the man and woman dressed as Taoists.
Xu Lingwei's indifferent eyes also cast a faint glance at Wan Yunting, without much thought, continuing to watch the corpse in the alleyway.
"Yunting, you're here."
Seeing Wan Yunting enter, Zhou Dong and Wu Lei stepped forward, pointing to the body lying on the ground, which Qin Bo, the forensic doctor, was examining. "Same cause of death."
Wan Yunting went to look at the body. The bite marks on the left side of the neck were very clear, and the entire body was drained of blood. This was the same cause of death as yesterday at the wetland park and for Tian Guofu's wife, Lin Huiping.
"Any other clues?" Wan Yunting asked.
"The body also has fingerprints. No valuable clues were found at the scene."
Zhou Dong looked at the alleyway and shook his head, saying, "Too many people came and went. When someone discovered the body this morning, they even thought the deceased was drunk and sleeping here. It wasn't until around 6 AM that a breakfast vendor discovered the body and reported it to the police."
Wan Yunting nodded. This case had completely stumped Zhou Dong and his criminal investigation team.
"Captain Zhou, we found a working camera, and there's a clue in it!"
A technical police officer pointed to an old-fashioned streetlight next to a residential building behind them, where an old-fashioned surveillance camera was hidden.
Since the two surveillance cameras in this alleyway had been deliberately smashed, they hadn't expected to find another old-fashioned one. This news made Zhou Dong and Wan Yunting's spirits lift. "Finally, we can find some useful clues."
"Forensic Doctor Qin, if there are no clues at the scene, please transport the body back for further autopsy," Zhou Dong said, turning his head.
"Alright."
Forensic Doctor Qin Bo nodded, then, with his two apprentices, bagged the body and transported it back to the police station. They also notified the deceased's family.
"Yunting, let's go back and see if this surveillance footage captured any useful clues, then we can analyze the case further," Zhou Dong said.
"Okay."
Wan Yunting naturally agreed. Zhou Dong instructed some officers to stay and guard the crime scene, continuing to search for useful clues. He, along with Niu Qiuling, left with Wan Yunting. As they walked out of the alleyway, they saw the man and woman dressed as Taoists still there. Wan Yunting glanced at them again before leaving with Zhou Dong and heading directly back to the police station.
"Come on, let's go find Uncle-Master."
Seeing that the police had all left, Xu Lingwei said to her junior disciple, then continued to eat a meat bun as she left. Li Zihang, carrying many travel bags, trotted happily behind Xu Lingwei. "Senior Sister Zhi Shan, where are we going to find Uncle-Master?"
"I don't know..."
Xu Lingwei said faintly. When they descended the mountain to pursue people from the Heavenly Eye Main Divine Cult, their master had instructed them to look for their Uncle-Master, Chang Wude, who had been missing for decades.
Meanwhile, Wan Yunting and Zhou Dong returned to the police station with Niu Qiuling and the others. The group went directly into the conference room of the criminal investigation department. The technical officer immediately inserted a USB drive into the computer and brought up the video captured by the surveillance camera last night. Finally, a segment of the video was projected onto the large screen behind them, and the scene appeared in the dimly lit alleyway.
From the camera's perspective, this was a high-mounted, hidden camera. The bottom right corner displayed the time of the video, which was 2:17 AM last night.
Suddenly, a man appeared in the surveillance video, walking along and looking down at his phone as he headed towards his rented apartment building.
"Someone!"
Suddenly, Wu Lei, standing behind them, pointed to the bottom left corner of the video screen where a dark shadow suddenly appeared. He exclaimed in surprise.
This startled Wan Yunting and Zhou Dong, who were sitting in front, and they turned to glare at Wu Lei. "Don't make a sound, just watch properly."
Wu Lei smiled apologetically at everyone, then covered his mouth and continued to watch the video on the big screen.