The Bizarre Serial Cases

Old Zhao is the owner of a restaurant next to Star City Second Hospital.

He runs it for dinner and late-night snacks.

Especially the late-night snacks, thanks to its prime location next to Star City Second Hospital, have earned Old Zhao quite a bit of money over the years.

He works until two or three in the morning every day. Although he's tired as a dog, a net profit of two to three thousand a day is an income many corporate slaves wouldn't even dare to dream of.

Lately, there seem to be a lot more patients at Star City Second Hospital, and his business has improved considerably. His daily net profit has even broken through three thousand, making Old Zhao even more motivated.

He even thought in his sleep about whether to take over the two adjacent storefronts and expand his business.

Just as he was happily counting money in his sleep, the door was kicked open with a bang.

Two people rushed in like wolves and tigers, pinned him to the bed, not even caring that Old Zhao's wife was lying there naked.

"Who are you? What do you want?"

Old Zhao was groggy from sleep. By the time the cold handcuffs were on, he hadn't snapped out of it yet. He was directly dragged to a police car downstairs.

"Officer, I'm a vulnerable individual running a restaurant. I've always operated with integrity, have all my permits, and meet hygiene standards. I just earn an honest living. It's not right for you to treat me like this," Old Zhao said pitifully, feigning weakness.

Slap!

Officer Han slammed his hand on the table. "Playing dumb, are we?"

He pointed to the large screen on the wall, and a surveillance video began to play.

In the video, Old Zhao was seen carrying a portable electric hydraulic shear. He crept to the door of the morgue at Star City Second Hospital, cut through the chain in a few moves, tore off the seal, and tossed it aside.

Then, the video switched to the inside of the morgue.

Old Zhao used the hydraulic pliers to break the key, pulled out a body drawer, turned the corpse inside over, and then pushed the drawer back.

After completing all these actions, he leisurely left the morgue.

The two videos combined were less than ten minutes long. Old Zhao's movements in the video looked a bit clumsy, and he never looked up. However, the video clearly identified him, and the facial recognition system also locked onto him.

"Speak up. Who ordered you to do such a wicked deed?" Officer Han's face was clouded with gloom. A human life was lost because of Old Zhao's bizarre actions!

Old Zhao raised his cuffed hands, wanting to smash them against his forehead, but he was restrained and couldn't.

He shook his head frantically, trying to clear his head. He still felt like he was dreaming.

"Stop messing around!" Officer Han snapped.

Old Zhao's face crumpled. "Officer, this wasn't me. I'm not possessed, why would I do such a wicked thing?"

"The evidence is clear, and you're still arguing?"

"It really wasn't me! I swear, it really wasn't me! Investigate further! I closed up shop yesterday and went home to sleep! My wife can testify! Oh, right, after I got home, I took a shower, and my wife and I... you know. You can check at my place!"

"Officer, you can't wrongly accuse an innocent person!"

"If Old Zhao can make this money, it's thanks to the hospital's business. How could I possibly go to the hospital to cause trouble? Our Zhao family would never do something so wicked and heartless!"

Officer Han sneered. "The surveillance video is right here, and you won't admit it? It's fine. There are fingerprints at the scene, and other subtle clues. Technology is so advanced now. If you don't admit it, science and technology will speak for themselves and leave you speechless!"

"Then I request an identification, right now! I'm being framed, I'm not afraid. I request an identification right now! I got home at three last night, took a shower, and after... we were intimate, I didn't fall asleep until after four. Don't try to frame me!" Old Zhao said emotionally, his words tumbling out like a machine gun.

Officer Han remained unmoved.

He had seen too much of this kind of pretense. Wasn't there a similar case yesterday?

Speaking of which, it was a teacher from the prestigious Yangfan Middle School, the homeroom teacher of the gifted class. He looked so refined and cultured, who would have thought he was a beast in human clothing?

Once the DNA comparison results came out, facts were facts, and there was no room for argument.

Of course, these heinous criminals would still cry injustice even when faced with ironclad identification results. They were simply incorrigible.

Walking out of the interrogation room, Officer Han returned to his office.

Jiang Yue was gone, but Director Luo had appeared.

"Where's Xiao Jiang?"

"He's still a student," Director Luo reminded him.

Officer Han smacked his forehead. "Right, he has school today."

"Director Luo, this matter is quite strange! Our police department is stumped. I suspect you'll have to take over."

"Heh heh." Director Luo let out a slightly arrogant chuckle, as if he had expected this.

"Don't act so smug. You handled the first part of this, and you didn't exactly wrap it up neatly," Officer Han said, clearly disliking Director Luo's "I'm not targeting anyone, but everyone present is trash" attitude.

Director Luo shrugged. "I handled my part perfectly. Your police force didn't follow up, and the criminals took advantage of the time gap. So, did that person confess? Who ordered him?"

"He's tough-mouthed and won't admit anything. We'll wait for the identification results."

"Wait? That's the concrete manifestation of your incompetence. By the time you wait, it'll be too late," Director Luo said coldly.

"Do you have a better solution?"

"To get him to confess, shouldn't you use some methods?" Director Luo said sinisterly.

"Impossible!" Officer Han had been in the force for many years and had never resorted to torture.

"I don't have time for your nonsense. We've taken over the case. Hand it over. The body from New Moon Bay today goes to our people." Director Luo tossed over a handover document. "Sign it."

After signing, Officer Han looked up. "Director Luo."

"Spit it out if you have something to say."

"When you're not doing the autopsy, make sure the body is face down, back up." This series of bizarre events had truly taught Officer Han a lesson.

His previous firm beliefs were clearly shaken.

Director Luo paused for a moment, then finally managed to say, "Got it."

As Director Luo reached the doorway, he heard Officer Han's phone ring.

After answering, Officer Han's expression changed drastically within a few sentences.

"What did you say? Another rape-murder case?" Officer Han's voice was on the verge of breaking. What was going on?

Even though Star City was large, two consecutive days of rape-murder cases within his jurisdiction was pushing it.

Director Luo, who had been about to leave, turned back and instructed:

"Send me a copy of the case files immediately."

A single, isolated case wouldn't usually spark much speculation.

But when multiple cases kept happening, the situation inevitably became complicated.

Now, the case wasn't just complicated; it was also imbued with a great deal of mysterious and eerie color.

Only two-thirds of the students were in the classroom. The remaining third had their physical examinations scheduled for the morning. The rest of the third were scheduled for this afternoon.

This meant that all students in their class had to complete their physical examinations by today.

Since not everyone was present, the class was mainly for self-study. Teachers from various subjects would be available on rotation, and students could ask questions if they didn't understand anything.

Jiang Yue sat in the classroom, but his mind was wandering outdoors.

With the college entrance exams just a few months away, he had long since mastered and exceeded all the necessary knowledge. Even if he took the exam now, he could easily pass, perhaps even clinch the top spot.

But what then?

Entering the best university and graduating with a perfect job offer?

Under normal logic, that would be ideal.

But was everything still normal?

Year Eaters, vengeful spirits...

There were definitely many more undiscovered mysterious powers and creatures lurking in the dark corners, ready to bare their fangs at any moment!

Furthermore, yesterday's physical examination also hinted at one thing: humanity's developmental trajectory might truly have reached a turning point.

Old ways of thinking, old social orders, might become worthless in the face of such turbulent and significant changes!

Jiang Yue was sketching and writing on a sheet of A4 paper, reorganizing all the events of the past few days.

His deskmate, Li Yue, was as quiet as ever, causing no trouble and staying out of it. Occasionally, she would pause her writing and glance silently in Jiang Yue's direction.

No matter what Jiang Yue was doing, she never asked, nor did she interfere. Even if Jiang Yue were... well, doing something under the desk, Li Yue probably wouldn't have a strong reaction.

The title of "eternal background character" wasn't given for nothing.

In Li Yue's opinion, whatever the top student did seemed perfectly natural.

Top students could afford to be so willful.

Han Jingjing was separated from Jiang Yue by a large group and was three or four rows ahead of him.

The downside was that every time she wanted to steal a glance at Jiang Yue, her movements had to be quite large. She had to turn her head, twist her body, and peer through the obstruction of so many annoying heads just to see the handsome top student.

And she could only see half his face.

Of course, even with just that half-face, Han Jingjing could stare for half a class without getting tired.