Chapter 1426: 24 Hours

Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales

Xia Fan gave out assignments to other Investigators and then set off to the site of the murder.

In the residential home, Xia Fan left Traveling Buddha and his colleagues from the technology division behind while he looked around and then headed up to the second floor.

Qin Xiaoqin had been murdered in the bathroom on the second floor. The murderer had taken her to the bathtub and cut her apart, after which he had washed away the bloodstains. The crime had taken place the night before last.

Qin Xiaoqin’s parents were both business people who were usually extremely busy. They were still on the way back after learning of their daughter’s death, so the crime scene had not been disturbed.

—

!!

Around half an hour later, Xia Fan emerged from the house, his brow furrowed in thought.

Xia Fan used the methods he was most skilled at, asking the mice who lived in the sewers. The sharp-nosed creatures had smelled blood, but it had been for a very brief time, less than ten minutes, before the smell of blood in the sewers started to grow faint.

Slicing a human into 108 parts in only ten minutes? This was a very impressive efficiency level.

Xia Fan could do it, but he had the Speed special ability. Was a special ability user without Speed able to do it?

There was also the smell of disinfectant, but not the kind found in ordinary homes. It was the anti-bacterial disinfectant normally found in hospitals. Anyone who went in and out of the hospital would remember the unique scent.

Someone highly efficient at cutting and carrying around hospital-use disinfectant?

Xia Fan vaguely sensed that his conjectures were not entirely correct. He had to have missed something!

“Come! To the next crime scene,” Xia Fan said to the people around him.

...

Qin Xiaoqin’s body had been discovered Wednesday morning. Since then, the Investigators of the Special Bureau had been constantly busy. By Thursday night, they had been working for thirty-six hours without sleep.

Xia Fan displayed an exuberant energy. After coming back from visiting the crime scenes, he shut himself inside his office. Nobody knew what he was thinking.

The slacker Traveling Buddha had already run off somewhere. As for Dylan and Ma Zheng, while they were busy, considering that this case was linked to the status and reputation of the Logistics Division, they still mustered their energy and knocked on the door of Xia Fan’s office.

Xia Fan looked up at Ma Zheng and Dylan and smiled. “Everyone must be exhausted, right?”

Dylan shrugged. “Our brothers in the Logistics Division are fine, but I don’t know about the other divisions. After all, Bureau Chief Zhu is a gold badge Investigator. Given his seniority, some people are bound to be unhappy that you replaced him.”

Ma Zheng frowned. “We’ve already inspected all crime scenes, but you didn’t say anything. This has made everyone very anxious.”

Xia Fan nodded. “I haven’t said anything because I’m not sure if the case was that simple.”

Simple!

Dylan and Ma Zheng were startled. Before Xia Fan’s arrival, the whole Special Bureau was in disarray over the Wednesday Killer, and Xia Fan said the case was simple?

“Sit,” Xia Fan said to Dylan and Ma Zheng. “Previously, I believed that someone who could find so many juvenile bullies had to have access to the encrypted databanks, and I even suspected our colleagues in the Bureau.

“But once I began to investigate the crime scenes, I found more and more clues that indicated that the criminal was from the medical system.

“Almost every crime scene had the smell of hospital disinfectant, and all the victims were cut apart while still alive in a very short amount of time.

“These details made me realize something. Could I have been wrong? Could the criminal not have been in the public safety system, but a doctor?

“Thus, I searched through the Deron Star Region’s medical databases, and I found this.”

Xia Fan transferred the info he had gathered to Dylan’s and Ma Zheng’s communication terminals. They opened their screens and paled.

“The medical system has information on the victims!?” Ma Zheng’s eyes flew open in shock.

Xia Fan calmly said, “To tell the truth, I didn’t know about it either, although I understand now.

“The youths bullied in school told everything to their doctors, and their doctors noted these things down in their files. If someone opened their medical files, they would quickly find the names of those bullies.

“Thus, the criminal has no need to enter the police’s encrypted data banks. If he had the privilege to check the medical databases, he could easily choose his targets.

“As medical records are supposed to be a secret, ordinary people can’t access medical databases, but a doctor can. This is because a doctor needs to learn from the experiences of his peers, and inspecting the clinical records of others is the best way.

“From this information, I have concluded the following: One, the criminal is a doctor or a former doctor with the right to enter medical databases. That is the only way he can locate his targets.

“Two, this doctor or a close member of his family experienced bullying in middle school. This is very important. The Wednesday Killer’s targets are very clear, and he only kills those in middle school. Bullying also happens in elementary school, high school, and college, but these incidents don’t trigger those criminals. All of his targets are middle school students.

“Three, the criminal is a surgeon. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be able to cut apart a human body so accurately in so little time. He clearly has a deep understanding of the human body.

“Four, the criminal must have a lot of free time. The twenty-four victims all lived on different planets, and while the interstellar routes are very developed, it still takes some time to go from one place to another.

“Taking the murder of Qin Xiaoqin as an example, the criminal struck on Tuesday night and abandoned the corpse on Wednesday morning. In other words, he was on Planet Meadow for more than twenty-four hours. Considering the time it takes to move between planets, he used almost two days.

“A working doctor could never be absent from a hospital for two days every week, twenty-four weeks in a row... not unless he’s already retired!

“Based on these four conditions, I looked through the databases again, and the result is the suspect!”

Genius!

A flawless argument!

Dylan and Ma Zheng were stunned, looking at Xia Fan like they were looking at a monster.

It had to be understood that not even twenty-four hours had passed since Bureau Chief Huo Jiang had handed the Wednesday Killer case over to Xia Fan. This level of efficiency was absurd!

Dylan jumped up and exclaimed in shock, “In other words, you’ve already found the suspect?”

Xia Fan shook his head. “The search process is still ongoing, or I wouldn’t have had the time to tell you all this.”

Xia Fan turned his computer screen around so Dylan and Ma Zheng could see. The automatic search engine was running on it. The Deron Star Region was huge and home to billions of people. Searching through all the data took some time.

The office fell silent. Ma Zheng swallowed as he stared at the screen, each passing second feeling like a year.

Finally, after several minutes passed, the search stopped running, and a picture appeared on the screen. It was of an old man wearing a suit; his name was Chen Changsheng.

...

The bell rang in the middle of the night. Chen Changsheng frowned. Looking at his wristwatch, he saw that it was 11:05 PM.

Going to the door, he turned on the camera and saw three people standing outside. Their leader was a smiling youth, and he was pointing at the badge on his chest with his right hand: a badge of the Union’s Special Bureau.

Chen Changsheng’s heart thumped, and the hand that was about to open the door trembled.

Chen Changsheng knew that there was no escape for him, but he hadn’t expected the Special Bureau to come so quickly. He had more than a hundred names in his notebook, and he regretted that he couldn’t make it through the list.

Sighing, Chen Changsheng still opened the door. Looking at Xia Fan, he thrust out his arms.

Dylan took a pair of magnetic cuffs from his belt, but Xia Fan stopped him.

“Forget it. He won’t run. Leave him a little dignity,” Xia Fan said softly.

At that moment, Chen Changsheng felt like this smiling young man could understand him!

Dylan nodded and put the cuffs away.

Once they were inside the house, Chen Changsheng quietly sat on the sofa while Xia Fan sat across from him. Dylan and Ma Zheng led the Technical Division’s Investigators in locking down the house and searching for evidence.

Xia Fan looked around. The excessively low temperature and gloomy environment made him a little uncomfortable. He tried to imagine how an old man like Chen Changsheng was able to plan his avenging murders in this environment.

“A stealth-type ability?” Xia Fan suddenly asked him.

Chen Changsheng was startled, and then he realized that Xia Fan was asking him about his special ability. He whispered, “Spatial-type, Invisible Space.”

“Oh, an A-grade special ability. It’s no wonder no one was able to catch you.”

Ma Zheng was elated as he took out a diary and brought it to Xia Fan. “Look! The names of all twenty-four victims are here!”

Xia Fan took the diary with a glove-covered hand. Opening it, he flipped through the pages.

The cold words written on it were like a scalpel, showing no sympathy for the victims. Xia Fan could clearly feel that Chen Changsheng felt like there was nothing wrong with his actions. He wasn’t killing people, only removing the dregs of society.

“The murder weapon has been found! A scalpel! It matches the wounds on the victims.”

“Mm, collect it.”

The glass case holding the glacier python was turned around, and the whiteboard that contained the pictures of the victims was exposed to the investigators.

Dylan said energetically, “Take it back! It’s definitely this guy. The evidence we have is more than enough.”

Xia Fan nodded softly. Dylan and Ma Zheng moved to the sides of Chen Changsheng and raised him up from the sofa. This was a case for the Logistics Division, and they didn’t want anyone else to butt in.

“Wait,” Xia Fan suddenly said.

He stood up, entered the study, and took the picture frame holding the picture of Chen Changsheng’s son.

Xia Fan threw the picture frame to the floor, shattering it with a loud crack!

Chen Changsheng was furious, the veins on his forehead bulging as he charged at Xia Fan! Dylan and Ma Zheng had to put all their strength into holding him back.

But to Chen Changsheng’s surprise, Xia Fan squatted down and removed Chen Liang’s photo. After looking at it, he stuffed it into Chen Changsheng’s pocket.

Chen Changsheng suddenly felt a warmth from within his suit.

Xia Fan spoke in a gentle voice, “Union law means that special ability users cannot be executed. You will soon be sent to a concentration camp, never to return to the Deron Star Region.

“Take it with you. You will need it.”

Chen Changsheng’s face went from anger to shock, and from shock to shame.

Thump!

With a thump, the old doctor suddenly dropped to his knees and started crying! Bitter wails pierced through the night!

Ma Zheng and Dylan were utterly baffled as to what was going on. It was like Xia Fan had cast a spell on Chen Changsheng, turning the wicked devil back into a human.

Xia Fan said calmly, “To tell the truth, if I were you, I would also have killed those human dregs who killed my son without hesitation.

“But I would not have killed unrelated people, for Yin Yang Grandpa said that humans have souls. Even when they die, their souls will not dissipate, and they will watch us from the heavens. I’m sure that your son would not have wanted the father that he respected so much to turn out like this.”

“Aaaaagggh!!!” The thought of his pitiful son caused Chen Changsheng to scream in agony, tears drenching his face as he nodded again and again. Even the most stone-hearted person would be moved by the sorrowful sight.

Revenge had given him no release. The pain from the loss of his son was a wound that would never heal, and continued to inflict immense pain on him.

Xia Fan was a principled person. Although he empathized with Chen Changsheng, this didn’t change the fact that he was a criminal.

Xia Fan finally put away his smile and firmly ordered them, “Take him away!”

historical