Investigative Instinct

The police swiftly collected the body, searched Yu Hetu's residence, and reassured the nearby residents.

By the time the series of tasks had been carried out in an orderly fashion, dawn had broken.

When they had first arrived, someone had been seen near Yu Hetu's body, but the figure vanished in a flash. Despite an extensive search of the area, the police found no suspicious individuals and had no choice but to temporarily abandon their pursuit of the mysterious person.

Yu Hetu's body, personal effects, and even the voice recorder were all taken back to the city bureau.

After listening to the recording and combining it with nearby residents' accounts of hearing the words "Heaven's Punishment," rumors of a mysterious person calling himself Heaven's Punishment began spreading through the police station.

The police were deeply conflicted about the mysterious person, and everyone had their own opinion.

Some officers believed that the mysterious person was simply a murderer. He had killed an important suspect. Although the recording proved that Yu Hetu had been one of the murderers in the Corpse Dismemberment Case, the mysterious person's use of vigilante justice was still a crime.

Other officers took a more ambiguous stance. They believed that while the mysterious person was indeed a killer, he had made a tremendous breakthrough in the major Corpse Dismemberment Case that had been stalled for over a month. The case was now becoming clear, and with the contents of the recording, they would soon be able to locate the main culprit, a man surnamed Qu, who had been responsible for dismembering the bodies. No matter what, the mysterious person was at least on the police's side—on the side of so-called justice. Even if his methods had been somewhat extreme, they were understandable.

Of course, to the police, whether his actions were understandable or utterly unforgivable, the mysterious person was still classified as a criminal.

The director listened to the recording over and over. Whenever Lan Mu's detached voice appeared, his brow twitched.

Suddenly, the director slammed his palm onto the desk and roared at his subordinates, "What are you all standing around for? Everyone works overtime today! We have to catch the murderer!"

The officers looked at each other. One of the bolder ones forced himself to ask, "Director Ye, wh... which murderer?"

"Which murderer? Which murderer do you think?" Director Ye was furious.

The officer shuddered in fright and quietly asked, "Both of them?"

"Of course! That bastard killed an important criminal of ours! He even called the police and killed him right in front of us! How is that any different from slapping us in the face? This is a provocation against the police emblem over our heads! And he dares call himself some damn Heaven's Punishment? Someone like that is even more heinous than the murderer in the Corpse Dismemberment Case!"

"I even suspect that he killed Yu Hetu to silence him for some ulterior motive. I refuse to believe he really carries out Heaven's Punishment to cleanse evil."

Director Ye clearly hated evil with a passion, especially lawless maniacs like this. Lan Mu's act of replacing the law and passing judgment on criminals had thoroughly enraged him.

The officers immediately understood Director Ye's position. They mobilized at once and began searching for both murderers.

One was the main culprit in the Corpse Dismemberment Case, suspected of kidnapping, murder and dismemberment, illegal human experimentation, and a string of other crimes.

The other was the mysterious person who had murdered Yu Hetu, provoked the police, disregarded the laws of the nation, and called it Heaven's Punishment.

At last, the police had a lead. Though it had come from a criminal, it was better than being completely in the dark.

The city bureau was roughly divided into two teams. The first was responsible for apprehending the man surnamed Qu. They investigated based on his surname and his Shandong hometown. There were not many people surnamed Qu from Shandong in Modu, especially with the additional clue that he might have studied surgery.

The other team was personally led by Director Ye and focused solely on investigating the mysterious person. Based on the autopsy and the contents of the recording, they could determine that the killer had used a bow and arrows.

Judging from the scene and various traces, the killer was also highly skilled physically. An ordinary person would find it difficult to jump from the rooftop onto the external air-conditioning unit on the third floor. One slip, and he could have fallen straight to his death.

Even Director Ye, a former Soldier King himself, admitted that he would have found it difficult to pull off.

And judging from the fact that the man had found Yu Hetu before the police did, he either possessed a unique source of intelligence or had more exceptional investigative methods. Otherwise, how could one person have located Yu Hetu faster than the entire city's police force?

Given where Yu Hetu had been hiding, the police would have found him if they had been half a day later. But the mysterious person had beaten them to it. He had beaten them to it, and he had done so silently, without anyone noticing. It was truly impressive.

Taking these points together, Director Ye began by investigating people with military backgrounds. He pulled up records of all veterans living in Modu. Every discharged special forces soldier had been registered with the police, and their detailed information was all there.

But after searching again and again, they found no veteran proficient in archery.

"Could it be that his archery isn't actually that good? Could using such a weapon have been a deliberate attempt to throw us off? Maybe he isn't skilled with a bow at all?"

The more Director Ye considered it, the more plausible it seemed. The killer had clearly committed premeditated murder. How could he have failed to prepare thoroughly? Why deliberately use such an easily identifiable weapon? Wasn't he afraid of exposing himself? Perhaps he had deliberately chosen a bow to mislead the police.

"Even if that's possible, we can't abandon the clues related to archery. We have to investigate them to the end."

Director Ye had his men gather a great deal of information, eventually narrowing the list down to the three best archers in Modu.

"Yang Li, national first-class athlete, bronze medalist in the Olympic ninety-meter archery event, ranked first in Asia for seventy-meter archery? Impossible. He's a national team athlete. How could he be playing at Heaven's Punishment?" Director Ye had watched Yang Li compete before. Someone with such a promising future would generally not be a murderer.

"Zhang Kairui, national first-class athlete, third prize in the International Archery Performance Competition, champion of four consecutive national archery exhibitions? Even more impossible. He doesn't have the physical skills." Director Ye ruled Zhang Kairui out at a glance from his photo. Someone who worked out purely for appearances had hollow muscles. How could he escape from a tight police encirclement right under their noses?

After taking a sip of water, Director Ye looked at the final file. The man was a founding member of Modu Forest Club and publicly recognized as the foremost combat archer.

"Hmm? Fang Moqi, wilderness survival expert, doctor of zoology, runner-up in the International Amateur Shooting Competition, top member of the National Hunters Association?"

"The Ecuadorian Amazon rainforest, the TSNY African savanna, the Borneo wetland jungle, Brazil's Pantanal wetlands, the Greater Khingan Range primeval forest, Kaidal, the Pacific Ocean's Island of Venomous Snakes?"

Director Ye looked over Fang Moqi's extensive résumé. This man was only thirty-two, yet his wilderness survival experience was extraordinarily rich—enough to call him a master.

He had shot packs of wolves, fought male lions barehanded, eaten giant pythons, slaughtered crocodiles, and even escaped unscathed after encountering a rampaging black bear.

After being bitten by a venomous snake, he had survived for three days before being rescued.

After being badly injured by a hippopotamus, he had crawled twenty kilometers through the wilderness to survive.

After being surrounded by thirty-nine hyenas, he had fought his way out of their encirclement, covered in wounds.

The more Director Ye read, the more alarmed he became. Was this really a human being? No wonder he was called the Extreme Hunter. Every challenge he faced had pushed the limits of humanity.

A man who could survive in all kinds of extreme environments was bound to be agile and experienced in combat. His archery, in particular, was completely practical. From every angle, he fit this murder case.

He could secretly find Yu Hetu ahead of the police, interrogate and kill him, then slip away unnoticed even after the police cars had arrived.

Perhaps only a man known as the Extreme Hunter possessed the ability to do something like that.

Smack!

Director Ye slapped the desk, grabbed the file, and strode out of his office.

His name was Ye Jinghong. He came from the military, then served as a police officer for twenty years after leaving it. He had handled countless major and serious cases, and he had long developed an instinct for investigations.

This time, after seeing Fang Moqi's file, he had a premonition.

"This case must be connected to Fang Moqi!"

"My instincts can't be wrong!"