Nine Chapters of Strange Cases

Chapter 150 The Biggest Doubt

"The third victim was an elderly woman in her sixties. She had been stabbed three times in the abdomen and was wearing a simple cloth outfit. When the sack was opened, in addition to the smell of blood, there was a strong smell of oil. It is very likely that her family owned an oil mill or that she was exposed to a lot of oil on a daily basis."

As Zhou Zhao spoke, he placed a white piece, "Of course, it could also be the place where she was killed, where there is a lot of oil."

As she spoke, she placed two more black stones in succession. "The next two victims were both men. The fourth was an old man, also over sixty years old. He was stabbed twice, once in the heart and once in the abdomen."

Zhou Zhao took out a pile of items from a basket beside him, including a wolf-hair brush, a small piece of ink, a sachet, and seven or eight small gold beans. Clearly, this fourth deceased was a scholar from a relatively wealthy family.

Seeing this, Min Cangzhi stretched out her hand to Zhou Zhao, "Let me see that pen and ink. I know a little about these, and the sachet too."

Zhou Zhaoru handed it to Min Zangzhi.

He was a renowned scholar in Chang'an, a figure who stood out from the crowd and far surpassed others in this field.

Min Cangzhi took it in his hand and looked at it, then smelled it one by one. After a while, he said with a smug look, "It is the new ink from Manmoji with a fragrance of orchids. This sachet is also made by the same perfumer."

Min Cangzhi clicked his tongue twice and shook his head, "I forgot to mention, I'm the one who blended the perfume."

Good heavens! He got his act together!
This guy is definitely trying to make up for the embarrassment he suffered before!

"It seems that this fourth deceased person was a man of refined taste who knew how to appreciate things. See the gold thread at the bottom of this ink stick? The ink stick is full of ink with various fragrances, but the quantity is not large, and gold, silver and copper threads are used to distinguish between the superior, middle and inferior grades."

This person is not only highly cultured but also quite wealthy, and must be someone who appreciates orchids.

This can also be seen from those little gold beads; even though Zhou Zhao comes from a distinguished family, she wouldn't carry these around with her.

Seeing that Min Zangzhi had put the things back, Zhou Zhao then brought up the fifth deceased.

"The fifth victim was a man in his early twenties. This time, he was stabbed three times: once in the abdomen, once in the neck, and once in the chest. Did you notice? The killer was trying to use the method of killing that would be most comfortable for him."

As Zhou Zhao spoke, his expression became somewhat grave. "At first, he desperately stabbed people in the abdomen, but with this method of killing, the victim usually bleeds to death, which takes quite a while."

Our Great Qi Dynasty has a curfew; it's only convenient to commit murder after dark. If too much time passes, the curfew might be in effect, making it difficult for the killer to escape the scene or move the body. Therefore, the murderer tried slitting the throat, but failed.

So he abandoned the young men and chose two elderly men, attempting to stab them in the heart and slit their throats. His technique was still somewhat clumsy at this point, but clearly, the more people he killed, the bolder he became.

"The sixth victim was a woman in her early twenties. She was wearing jewelry and was not an ordinary citizen. She was killed by having her throat slit. She was wearing butterfly-shaped earrings and had a butterfly-shaped birthmark under her eye on the right side of her face."

"The seventh victim," Zhou Zhao placed the last black stone.

"It was the owner of the hand we found in the pigsty. He was a strong, fat man. This was the seventh time he had come. The dog hadn't barked the first two times, but yesterday the body was so heavy that it made a loud thud, and the dog got scared and started barking wildly."

The hand bones we found were enormous, and the joints of his fingers were noticeably thick, suggesting he was a manual laborer. Because yesterday was the first time Dai Shi dismembered a body, the Dai family remembered clearly that the man had a snake tattoo on his chest.

He had a thin copper plaque strung on his chest with a red string, on which a snake was also carved. "Based on their description, I drew a portrait." Zhou Zhao said, taking a white cloth from her bosom and pulling it open to show everyone a portrait.

The man looked fierce and menacing, with a full beard and a mole between his right eyebrows. He had large nostrils and looked like an angry bull.

After all seven deceased had finished speaking, Zhou Zhao looked around at everyone present.

Even though Xu Jin listened attentively, his rusty brain seemed to start working again. Seeing Zhou Zhao looking at him, he snorted coldly and raised his head high.

"As for the appearances of the other victims, it's been too long to describe them clearly. Besides, ordinary people don't dare to look at the faces of the victims when dismembering or killing them. I pieced together the details of the wounds on each victim from the testimonies of each witness."

The exact number may not be entirely accurate, but one thing is certain: the killer had transformed from a novice murderer into a seasoned professional.

Zhou Zhao looked at everyone with a solemn expression, "Usually, serial killers like this will choose people with common characteristics. For example, in the previous case of the ghost bride we investigated, the killer chose women who had hurt him before, and they had to be very delicate."

So far, we have found nothing in common among these seven victims. They include men, women, young and old, and range from nobles dressed in fine silks and satins to ordinary people in simple, coarse clothes.

As soon as Zhou Zhao finished speaking, the group of Court of Justice colleagues who had come to listen in at the back of the room couldn't help but start discussing among themselves.

How did the killer choose these victims?
"It's strange, isn't it? Seven people died in total, and it looks like they were just randomly picked off on the street. But if they were just randomly picked off, how come he did it seven times and wasn't caught by the Northern Army patrols even once?"
However, this is not the strangest thing.

Zhou Zhao paused here, leaving everyone in suspense.

Chen Jiyuan blinked his not-so-bright big eyes and asked curiously, "What's the strangest thing?"

Zhou Zhao glanced at him and continued, "The strangest thing is that none of the families of these seven victims reported it to the authorities."

Seven living people died just like that.

Why is no one paying attention?

"Could all seven of them be orphans?" Chen Jiyuan thought to himself, seeing everyone else lower their heads, afraid Zhou Zhao would ask them questions. He cursed them inwardly for being cowards. Even though everyone had agreed not to step forward, they had quietly taken a step back, making it seem like he was the only one who had moved forward.

Now we have no choice but to bite the bullet and go for it.

Zhou Zhao nodded to Chen Jiyuan, "That possibility cannot be ruled out."

Chen Jiyuan's eyes lit up instantly.

"But even if all seven of them were orphans, didn't they have neighbors and relatives? Even if they didn't, the murderer killed seven people and no one noticed anything unusual. If it weren't for fate that the little girl named Chunhua was playing in the alley with a finger bone and happened to be seen by the Northern Army, who would have known about this murder case?"

As Zhou Zhao continued, he asked, "There's another point. According to Gan Lin's confession, Qian Liu'er only came up with this method of disposing of the body because he heard them talking about pigs eating bones. So, he had already killed people and disposed of bodies before, and the number of victims wasn't just seven..."

Or did he premeditate the murders, only beginning after confirming he could dispose of the bodies? If it's the second scenario, what does his offer of one silver ingot for each body disposed of to Gan Lin and his wife signify? It indicates he anticipated he would continue killing.