We asked you to solve cases, and here you are sharing your criminal experiences?

Song Qianxia was squatting on the ground, shining her phone flashlight under the bed, when her stomach let out a very timely, thunderous rumble.

She clutched her stomach defiantly: "If you calculate the working hours, this counts as working all night, right? Does the Municipal Bureau provide late-night snacks?"

Lin Wan pulled two compressed biscuits from her tactical vest and threw them directly into Song Qianxia's arms.

"Eat this, it'll keep you full." Lin Wan rolled her eyes at her. "What time is it and you're still thinking about food?"

Song Qianxia tore open the packaging without any hesitation. The biscuits were dry and crumbly. She took a bite and was just about to drink some water.

Just then, the walkie-talkie on Gu Tingchen's waist suddenly went off.

From inside came Old Zheng's anxious, hoarse voice.

"Captain Gu! Come to the outer ring road of Xingang District immediately! A female corpse has been found in the drainage ditch here!"

The walkie-talkie crackled with static. Old Zheng, panting, added, "Judging by her build and age, it's very likely that she's the missing Meng Xiaoqing!"

Gu Tingchen's face instantly turned frosty.

"Get in the car." He grabbed Song Qianxia by the back of her coat collar and dragged her out of the room.

The off-road vehicle drove with the ferocity of a rally race on the bumpy roads of the old town.

Song Qianxia sat in the passenger seat, gripping the overhead handle tightly.

The compressed biscuits were churning in my stomach, and this time I didn't even have the energy to curse.

Half an hour later, the car executed a beautiful drift and came to a stop on the desolate side of the outer ring road.

This used to be Jiangcheng's heavy industrial area. Later, the factories relocated, leaving only a wasteland overgrown with weeds and a few abandoned sewage ditches.

The area has been cordoned off with yellow police tape. The flashing lights of several police cars illuminated the wasteland.

As soon as Song Qianxia opened the car door, a strong, fishy stench mixed with the putrid smell of the ditch hit her head.

She quickly covered her nose; the smell was so refreshing.

Gu Tingchen strode across the cordon. Qin Zhenhai, the head of the technical department, was wearing a mask and directing two technicians to take photos of the footprints in the mud.

"Old Qin, what's going on?" Gu Tingchen stepped forward.

Qin Zhenhai straightened up, pointed to the bottom of the drainage ditch, and his voice was muffled by his mask.

"Just now, a truck driver who works night transport got out of his truck to urinate. When I shone a flashlight on him, he was terrified."

"Zhong Qinian from the forensic center has gone down; the situation is very complicated."

Gu Tingchen put on shoe covers and slid down the muddy slope. Song Qianxia quickly followed.

The bottom of the drainage ditch was filled with blackish-brown, foul-smelling water.

A woman's body lay face up in the shallow water. She was wearing ordinary sportswear, which was soaked through with mud and water.

Chief forensic pathologist Chung Chi-nien was squatting beside the body. He was wearing a full set of white protective clothing and holding a powerful flashlight, examining the deceased's face.

Zhong Qinian was a notorious workaholic. He treated corpses much better than living people.

Hearing footsteps, Zhong Qinian didn't even look up.

"The time of death is no more than forty-eight hours. The body was soaked in sewage, showing early signs of gigantism." Zhong Qinian spoke very quickly, as if he were giving an academic report.

Old Zheng stood to the side, wringing his hands anxiously: "Forensic Doctor Zhong, can you confirm that it's Meng Xiaoqing, the cashier of the Xinghai Foundation?"

Zhong Qinian then looked up and shone the flashlight beam onto the corpse's hands.

"Unable to confirm. The fingertips of all ten of the deceased's fingers were corroded by a high concentration of acid. The fingerprints were completely destroyed."

Old Zheng gasped.

Zhong Qinian then used his gloved hand to pry open the deceased's chin, his voice tinged with surprise.

"Not only that, the victim's teeth had been forcibly pulled out. Even the gums were completely destroyed."

There were no fingerprints or dental records. The face was also swollen and deformed from being soaked.

In this desolate wilderness without surveillance, this is a perfect unidentified corpse.

"That's fucking ruthless!" Old Zheng cursed. "Those bastards, Night Owls, won't even leave him a whole corpse just to destroy the evidence."

Gu Tingchen stared at the corpse, the coldness in his eyes growing stronger.

Clean and efficient, leaving no traceable biological characteristics, this certainly fits the way the owl does things.

Song Qianxia stood behind Gu Tingchen, craning her neck to look down.

His gaze swept quickly over the deceased's hands and legs.

"She is not Meng Xiaoqing."

Song Qianxia suddenly spoke, her voice standing out starkly in the empty drainage ditch.

All eyes were immediately fixed on her.

Zhong Qinian turned his head and stared at the intern who wasn't even wearing protective clothing, his tone very unfriendly.

"Which department are you from? This is a crime scene, not a place for you to make wild guesses. Even I can't confirm your identity, so what makes you think you can draw conclusions?"

Song Qianxia completely ignored Zhong Qinian's question.

He walked straight up through the mud, squatted down next to the corpse, and pointed at the victim's hands, which were horribly corroded by the acid.

"Although the fingerprints are gone, look at her finger joints. The joints are large, accompanied by obvious bone deformities. Although the base of her palms is white from being soaked, you can still see thick calluses."

Zhong Qinian was stunned for a moment, then immediately squatted down to examine it carefully.

"And here too." Song Qianxia lifted the leg of the deceased's tracksuit and pointed to the knees, "There are pigment deposits left from years of kneeling and rubbing. The tilt of the pelvis also matches the characteristics of strain from long-term bending and carrying heavy loads."

Song Qianxia stood up and dusted off her hands.

"Meng Xiaoqing is a 24-year-old college graduate who works in finance, which involves typing on a keyboard all day."

"No matter how many part-time jobs you do, you can't get these hands that have been soaked in mops and dish soap all the time."

A glint flashed in Gu Tingchen's eyes. He immediately turned to look at Old Zheng.

"Does the Xinghai Foundation have any missing cleaning staff?"

Old Zheng slapped his thigh: "Oh! I remember now! When I went to check the accounts this afternoon, the vice president of the foundation casually mentioned that Aunt Liu, the cleaning lady in charge of the finance office on the top floor, didn't come to work."

The entire room fell silent for three seconds.

Qin Zhenhai's gaze towards Song Qianxia was different now.

"Immediately send someone to investigate this Aunt Liu's social connections and bone age record!"

If the cleaning lady died, then where is Meng Xiaoqing?

If the owl wanted to eliminate the financial personnel, why would he kill a cleaning staff member?

Zhong Qinian put aside his contempt for Song Qianxia and picked up the flashlight again to examine the deceased's fatal wounds.

There were no obvious sharp object wounds on the deceased's body, nor any signs of poisoning.

Zhong Qinian carefully lifted the deceased's chin and parted the layers of swollen soft tissue.

The flashlight beam was focused on the deceased's neck.

Zhong Qinian gasped.

A thin red line, almost invisible to the naked eye, was deeply embedded in the deceased's carotid artery.

The incision was perfectly smooth, and the subcutaneous tissue was neatly severed.

"Mechanical asphyxiation, accompanied by massive bleeding from a ruptured carotid artery. The murder weapon was a very thin, specialized metal wire. The method was brutal, resulting in a single, fatal blow."

Upon hearing this, Song Qianxia subconsciously leaned closer to take a look.

With just one glance, the nonchalance and smugness on his face vanished completely.

His pupils contracted, and what churned in his stomach was no longer compressed biscuits, but a chill mixed with shock.

That thin red line, others may not recognize it, but it is the face of Cyril!

This is not how Night Owl works!

The owl's kestrels prefer to break necks with brute force. The silver finch prefers to use a scalpel. The smaller fry on the periphery only know how to use guns and explosives.

Using extremely fine alloy wire, a single line of marks was left. This was the mark of those lunatics at the archives.

The archives have come to Jiangcheng?!