Chapter 55: Buying a House Comes with a Corpse—Is This a Legitimate Developer?

Police Station, Major Crimes Division.

Liu Jinzhou led Lu Jiangying and Xu Hui into the office.

"Everyone, please pause your current work for a moment. Let me introduce two new officers joining our Major Crimes Division: Lu Jiangying and Xu Hui. They were previously comrades in the Second Criminal Investigation Detachment, so they are already quite familiar with our workflow."

Lu Jiangying and Xu Hui stepped forward and saluted their new colleagues.

Liu Jinzhou looked up and called out to an officer organizing files in the corner, "Zuo Ziyu!"

Zuo Ziyu stood up, "Captain Liu!"

Liu Jinzhou gestured, "From now on, Comrade Lu Jiangying and Comrade Xu Hui will be members of your Squad Eight."

Zuo Ziyu glanced at Lu Jiangying's police rank. "Me? Huh?"

Zuo Ziyu was only a probationary officer with one bar and three stars, while Lu Jiangying, having just received her new insignia, was already a senior lieutenant with two bars and one star.

Liu Jinzhou turned back to introduce them to Lu Jiangying and Xu Hui, "Zuo Ziyu, leader of Major Crimes Squad Eight. He is a graduate of the Armed Police Academy with exceptional tactical skills. Considering that the two of you may face quite dangerous cases in the future, I've assigned you to Squad Eight."

"Yes, Captain!" shouted both officers in unison.

"You can sort out the work arrangements yourselves. I have other duties to attend to, so I'll take my leave."

With that, Liu Jinzhou turned and left.

Zuo Ziyu gestured for Lu Jiangying and Xu Hui to take a seat.

"Let me briefly explain the situation in our squad. Including the two of you, we have eight members in total. Four of us investigators, including myself, graduated from the Armed Police Academy. As Captain Liu mentioned, we are tactical experts and also proficient in surveillance and tracking. Therefore, our squad serves as the firepower backbone of the Major Crimes Division—all four Type 95 rifles assigned to the entire team are in our unit. The other two investigators are graduates of the Police University and are professional trace evidence examiners."

Lu Jiangying stood up to introduce herself, "Lu Jiangying, crime scene analyst."

Xu Hui stood up right after, "Xu Hui, criminal profiler."

A look of joy spread across Zuo Ziyu's face, "That's fantastic! What our squad lacked precisely were experts in deducing and reconstructing the behavior of criminal suspects."

Lu Jiangying placed the file she had been holding onto the desk.

"Team Leader Zuo, Team Leader Zhou forwarded a case, and I brought the file with me."

Zuo Ziyu took the file, "Oh? Let me take a look."

Lu Jiangying explained from the side, "Yes, it's a spillover case from a major drug investigation. While apprehending a bicycle thief, officers discovered two kilograms of narcotics hidden within the frame of the stolen bicycle."

Furthermore, we found a small amount of blood on the handlebars. According to forensic testing, the blood did not come from the original owner's hands. No other bloodstains were detected on the bicycle frame. We took the thief back to identify the scene of the theft, but no dripping bloodstains were found there either. At the same time, we notified police stations across the city to keep an eye out for missing high-value bicycles. Given that a road bike worth over 200,000 was missing, the owner would certainly have reported it. Yet, more than eleven hours have passed since the bicycle was stolen, and we still haven't received any report about a missing high-value bike. One more thing: such expensive bicycles are usually equipped with GPS tracking devices, but after inspection by our technical surveillance comrades, they found evidence that it had been forcibly removed."

Zuo Ziyu furrowed his brow as well.

Unexplained blood on the handlebars, a missing owner, and a forcibly removed GPS tracking device. Although no victim's body had been found yet, judging from the evidence collected so far, it was highly probable that the bike's previous user had committed murder and fled after abandoning the vehicle.

"What about surveillance footage from the theft scene?"

Lu Jiangying wore a troubled expression. "The theft occurred near the North Second Ring Road, where the distance between security cameras is large. We haven't been able to find footage of the bicycle's previous owner yet. The thief chose that spot precisely because he circled around multiple times and confirmed there were no nearby cameras before making his move. Right now, our technical surveillance comrades are screening cameras at various intersections in an attempt to find footage of the rider."

The three of them fell into an eerie silence.

A case with no victim, no reporting party, and no clues, relying solely on a tiny drop of blood on a stolen bicycle—how was one supposed to solve this?

"Buzz, buzz, buzz!"

The vibration of Lu Jiangying's phone broke the silence.

Lu Jiangying took out her phone and checked the screen. Unsurprisingly, it was—'My Broodish Little Brother'.

"I need to take this call..."

Just as Lu Jiangying started to get up, Xu Hui grabbed her by the arm.

"Jiangying, it's Xiaozhou calling. I don't think you need to avoid it. Who knows, maybe he's calling to give us a breakthrough clue? Think about it—when has there ever been a time when our leads hit a dead end, and Xiaozhou didn't immediately catch the suspect red-handed through unannounced, direct intervention?"

Lu Jiangying thought about it and realized she was right. Luxingzhou's habit of walking straight into crime scenes without warning was like a horror movie for suspects.

As soon as she connected, Luxingzhou's puzzled voice came through the receiver.

"Sis, I'm calling to ask: is a developer who throws in a complimentary corpse with a house purchase considered a legitimate businessman?"

Lu Jiangying: ......

Ten minutes later, Jinxian Tianhu Residential Community.

Building 3, 8th Floor.

With a numb expression and her arms crossed, Lu Jiangying looked at Luxingzhou, who was being escorted out of the crime scene. "Explain yourself. What's the situation with the body in the living room?"

Luxingzhou wore a bitter smile. "I suppose it was a housewarming bonus!"

Lu Jiangying raised an eyebrow. "What?"

Luxingzhou hurriedly explained, "The real estate agent brought me in and talked the whole way about how buying this apartment comes with this complimentary feature and that bonus. Right as she was about to mention what comes complimentary in the living room, we saw a woman lying on the floor with her internal organs neatly arranged to the side. I even asked if that was included as a bonus..."

Luxingzhou's voice trailed off into a murmur.

Lu Jiangying felt that sooner or later, she would suffer a cerebral hemorrhage brought on by Luxingzhou's unique train of thought.

Buying a house and getting a corpse as a bonus? Is that something a normal human brain could even come up with?

Are you buying a haunted house here?

"Then what's the deal with the woman lying over there?"

Luxingzhou glanced at the real estate agent. "Oh, she passed out from sheer fright the moment she saw the body!"

Lu Jiangying checked the real estate agent's vital signs; she was fine, nothing serious.

Xu Hui asked with a curious expression, "Xiaozhou, why did you come to Jinxian Tianhu anyway? You don't have any close acquaintances here."

Luxingzhou glanced at Lu Jiangying. "Well, I've made quite a bit of money from live-streaming recently, so I wanted to buy a new place to upgrade my living environment. Besides, it's close to the police station..."

"Officer Lu, Officer Xu, there's an emergency situation. Come inside and take a look."

The forensic pathologist suddenly called out to Lu Jiangying and Xu Hui.

Lu Jiangying put on her gloves. "You can go home as soon as your statement is recorded. You are not allowed to post anything about this case on the internet, understand?"

Luxingzhou put on a serious face. "Yes, Madam Lu!"

Lu Jiangying turned and walked over to the victim. "What is it?"

The forensic pathologist pointed to the victim's cut-open abdomen. "Officer Lu, see for yourself."

Lu Jiangying looked down into the victim's hollowed-out abdomen...

Money!

Her belly was completely stuffed with cash!