Corpse Dismemberment Case

Lan Mu grew more excited the more he thought about it, even imagining himself transforming into even more powerful beings in the future.

"I could explore the deepest parts of primeval forests and uncover their mysteries. I could also get up close to the most dangerous animals in the world."

"If the White-haired Lion's invisibility still worked, I could film the world's most dangerous dens of thieves, explore mysterious ancient ruins, or even venture alone into a dragon's lair and infiltrate any secret area sealed off by an entire country."

All of it would be built upon his one-of-a-kind superpower.

As for where he would film his first documentary, he had yet to decide.

For now, the priority was buying equipment, so he went to a photography equipment store he knew well.

There were plenty of consumer camcorders and professional high-definition cameras there.

The filming results of consumer and professional equipment were completely different. The price of a full consumer camera setup might not even be enough to buy the tripod for a professional camera.

Lan Mu looked at the Red 1 professional camera he had dreamed of. The tripod alone cost over twenty thousand. Two batteries and a charger cost another twelve thousand. The batteries alone were more expensive than the full set of bows and arrows he had bought!

The viewfinder cost twenty-two thousand, and the lens adapter cost twenty-six thousand.

There were all kinds of high-end storage media, including a 160GB professional hard drive in RAID form, priced at thirty-three thousand.

On top of that, Red 1's two super lenses were priced at thirty-seven thousand and seventy-one thousand respectively.

Even by the most conservative estimate, the whole set would cost over two hundred and thirty thousand!

Even all of Lan Mu's savings put together could not buy such a set of equipment.

And this was not even the most expensive option. Compared to the large cameras used for filmmaking, this price was truly insignificant.

Thinking of how he only had one hundred and fifty thousand left in savings, he knew he absolutely could not buy equipment costing more than one hundred thousand.

But he needed it to be waterproof and capable of enduring long-term wilderness filming. After looking around, he settled on a Panasonic model.

The full set cost around seventy-seven thousand and came with matching waterproof casing, two sets of batteries, and hard drives.

After swiping his card through gritted teeth, he carried the equipment home like it was treasure.

If he wanted to make money and buy better equipment in the future, it would all depend on this.

Seeing that evening was approaching—it was already five-thirty—he hurried back. Su Yue had been home alone all day.

But not long after he left, he suddenly caught a familiar scent.

An elf's five senses were far stronger than a human's, and his sense of smell could even rival the White-haired Lion's.

He had smelled this scent many times before. To humans, it might only have been a faint fishy odor, but to him, it was an intense stench of blood!

"Where?"

He searched for the source of the smell and finally locked onto a trash can more than ten meters away.

Lan Mu slowly approached. The closer he got, the stronger the bloody smell became.

"In the trash can? What is it? This familiar smell of blood."

However, when he was only five meters from the trash can, a city sanitation worker walked over, dragging a garbage cart behind him.

Lan Mu immediately took out his phone and pretended to play with it.

Yet his attention remained fixed on the trash can.

Before long, the sanitation worker opened the back cover of the trash can and began pulling out piles of garbage with a pair of tongs.

Lan Mu quickly spotted a strange black plastic bag among it.

The black plastic bag was huge and bulging, its opening tightly tied shut. All of the bloody smell was seeping out from it!

After thinking it over, Lan Mu walked up. Seeing that the sanitation worker had noticed nothing unusual, he spoke directly.

"Sir, can't you smell the blood?"

The sanitation worker looked baffled. "What blood?"

After saying that, he deliberately sniffed around. Unconcerned, he said, "There does seem to be a little. What about it? Maybe there's a dead rat."

Lan Mu shook his head and pointed at the black garbage bag. "It doesn't smell like a dead rat. The blood smell is coming from this."

"This?" The sanitation worker still did not understand. He had worked all day and was tired enough already. He could not figure out what this strange young man wanted.

"Please poke a hole in this bag and take a look," Lan Mu said gravely. He seemed to understand what that familiar bloody smell was.

"Poke it? Kid, go play somewhere else! If the trash spills out, are you going to pick it up?" The sanitation worker shook his head, clamped the garbage bag with his tongs, and tried to toss it into the garbage cart.

But the bag seemed very heavy. The older sanitation worker tried several times but could not lift it.

"Huh? What's so heavy?" This time, without Lan Mu needing to say anything, the sanitation worker poked a hole in the bag himself, intending to remove it in several trips.

After the bag was punctured, the first thing visible was a tangled mass of dark hair.

Lan Mu shuddered and raised his phone to call Ma Xiang.

He had smelled this bloody odor many times before. It was the smell of the dead.

The sanitation worker seemed not to understand what it was yet. He prodded the contents with his tongs until the tips seemed to stab into something. Then he squeezed hard and pulled something out.

The moment he saw it clearly, he screamed.

"Ah!"

The tongs instantly slipped from his hands. He sprang backward, nearly lost his footing, and half-crouched against the garbage cart for support as cold sweat broke out all over him.

Lan Mu saw it clearly. A long-haired human head had been pulled out. The sanitation worker's tongs had happened to stab into one of its eyes, which was how he had lifted it out.

The sanitation worker was clearly terrified. He might never have seen a corpse in his life, much less a severed head from a dismemberment case!

He would probably remember this day forever—using tongs to stab an eyeball and pull out a human head. He would never dare clamp things carelessly again.

The call connected, and Ma Xiang's familiar voice came through.

"Brother Mu, what's up? Buying me a drink? I can't get off work today. The higher-ups gave us another task and have me staking out places all over the city."

"Come over. There's a major case—a Corpse Dismemberment Case!" Lan Mu said solemnly.

Ma Xiang froze and actually said, "You know?"

"Huh? Know what?" Lan Mu asked in surprise.

"Ahem... What Corpse Dismemberment Case? Where are you? Explain it clearly!" Ma Xiang sounded extremely anxious.

"Don't panic. I'm at the scene, east of Minsheng Square. There aren't any turns here, so just follow the road and you'll see me. The body is in the trash can, and I'm right beside it." Lan Mu hurriedly gave him the address first. Just as he was about to describe the details, Ma Xiang cut him off.

"I'll be right there! Brother Mu, don't leave! You have to secure the scene, and you must keep this confidential!"

With that, Ma Xiang hung up.

Noticing Ma Xiang's unusual reaction, Lan Mu immediately realized this was not a new case. Ma Xiang seemed to know what had happened.

The sanitation worker recovered somewhat and shouted at Lan Mu, "Call the police! There's been a murder! Murder!"

"Don't shout!"

Lan Mu took a large step to his side, supporting him with one hand while covering his mouth with the other.

Natural Power enveloped his hands, firmly restraining the man. The sanitation worker could not make a sound at all.

"I've already called the police. Officers will talk to you about this shortly. Don't shout or make a scene. This is confidential!"

In truth, Lan Mu did not know what exactly was going on either. But since Ma Xiang had told him to keep it secret, he naturally made something up to calm the sanitation worker down first.

It was rush hour, and there were many people on the street. Several had already noticed the situation and wanted to watch the spectacle.

Lan Mu panicked and quickly kicked over the garbage cart, overturning it to cover the black plastic bag.

Several people who had wanted to gather around jumped in fright. This guy was fierce—he had kicked over a garbage cart with one foot.

Lan Mu glared at them, and they did not dare approach.

Still, from two meters away, they took out their phones to film and chatted among themselves.

Lan Mu ignored them all. As long as no one discovered the head, it was fine.

Not long after, Ma Xiang appeared.

This time, he had arrived even faster than usual. Only a little over two minutes had passed!

And because rush-hour traffic was jammed, he had actually come on a motorcycle! It even looked like a street racer's bike. Who knew where he had requisitioned it from?

The big fat man ran up to Lan Mu, panting heavily. He flashed his police ID and shouted in a booming voice, "Stop looking! Stop looking! Disperse! Disperse!"

Unexpectedly, his shout only drew more onlookers. Seeing that he was a police officer, they became even less willing to leave.

Lan Mu was speechless. He released the sanitation worker and said to Ma Xiang,

"Why did you come alone?"

"The main force will be here soon. I rushed over first to secure the scene! This is a great opportunity to perform well in front of the higher-ups!"

"Huh? Did you change sexes?" Ma Xiang stared at Lan Mu's face, finding it hard to believe that this beautiful youth was his Brother Mu!

"You're the one who changed sexes! Look carefully, it's me!" Lan Mu snapped, lowering his voice roughly.

Ma Xiang examined him carefully. He still looked like Lan Mu, but his skin was far too good, his chin had become sharper, and his neck was slender and pale. No matter how he looked at him, he resembled a pretty boy.

"No way, Brother Mu. You're into this? I heard pretty boys are trendy now. Are you wearing makeup?"

"Get lost! My skin has always been good. There's something wrong with your eyes!"

Ma Xiang did not believe him. Wouldn't he know if there was something wrong with his own eyes?

Helpless, Lan Mu could only say, "Don't worry about it. I'll explain it to you later."

After distracting him, Lan Mu turned serious again and asked, "What exactly is going on? Why does it have to be kept secret?"

Ma Xiang finally redirected his attention and said, "Since you already know, you count as a witness, so I won't hide it from you."

He leaned close to Lan Mu's ear and whispered, "This Corpse Dismemberment Case has been going on for a month. This is the fourth case this month. One every week on average. They're all murders followed by dismemberment, then the bodies are dumped in trash cans. The moment you mentioned it, I knew it was this case again."

Ma Xiang did not say much, but Lan Mu understood immediately. That information alone was enough. Seeing Ma Xiang's anxiety and the police's level of concern, he understood the seriousness of it.

"You don't have any leads at all, do you? It's been over a month, and you don't even know what the killer looks like?"

Ma Xiang sighed. "Exactly. The department has gone crazy over this case. We've all worked overtime, staked out every place in the city where the crime could have happened, and tried every stupid method we could think of, but we still have no clues."

"And the impact of the case is too terrible. There's been no progress for a month, so you've kept it secret?" Lan Mu said, understanding.

"Sigh... I'll tell you afterward. For now, let's protect the scene, brother," Ma Xiang sighed.

Lan Mu nodded, then asked, "Can I take photos and videos later?"

Ma Xiang looked around. His police colleagues had not arrived yet, so he quietly said, "I doubt it. Our leader will be here soon. You're not related to him, so he definitely won't agree."

"If you want to film, do it now! I'll block for you. But don't spread the footage around. Once the case is solved, you can be the first to publish it."

Lan Mu indicated that he understood. He kicked the garbage cart aside, quickly turned on the camera, and spent a moment adjusting it since it was new before he could start filming.

Ma Xiang was tall and fat. Standing there, he did his best to block the view while Lan Mu secretly filmed.

Lan Mu recorded for roughly three minutes before Ma Xiang urgently shouted, "Stop filming! The leader is here!"

Lan Mu immediately put the camera away, stuffed it into his bag, and slung it over his back in one clean, swift motion.

He saw six police cars arrive at the scene. More than a dozen officers quickly surrounded the area and began dispersing the crowd.

A man who looked like a leader approached. His skin was dark and weathered, his build straight and strong, and judging by his bearing, he had probably once been a soldier.

Because Ma Xiang had been the first to arrive, the leader questioned him as soon as he came over.

"Is it confirmed? The same case again?"

Ma Xiang explained the situation in great detail. The leader nodded, but his face remained stern as he crouched down to inspect the black garbage bag.

Then he said, "Where are the forensic technicians? What are you all standing around for? Collect the evidence, now."

After a while, a technician reported, "Director..."

The director immediately asked, "Still nothing?"

"Yes. Just like the previous three times, no clues were left behind. The garbage bag was dumped here at least three hours ago. As for the victim's exact time of death, we'll need to conduct a detailed examination back at the station."

The director nodded. He had been mentally prepared, so he immediately said, "Clean up the scene. Do I need to teach you how? Hurry! Don't wait until reporters get here."

Hearing that last sentence, Lan Mu froze, feeling a little awkward.

"You two found the body? Fine, come back with us. We need to understand the situation."

The director's tone was firm and left no room for refusal.

Lan Mu himself wanted to learn more about the case, so he naturally cooperated with the police.

The police acted extremely quickly this time. The scene was soon cleaned spotless. All the garbage, including the garbage cart, was taken away, and even the trash can was removed.

As the police left, the scene was completely clean.

The onlookers had no idea what had happened. They exchanged a few words, then dispersed indifferently.

They understood nothing about the situation, and such a matter would not stay on their minds.