Crazy Detective

“This is the lab report from the forensics office,” Miao Ying said, passing her phone to Zhao Yu. She opened the bag and broke off a piece of chocolate for him. “Apart from traces of alcohol in the fire, there was also potassium permanganate and oxyacid compounds. These two compounds cannot be burnt directly, but under high temperatures, they produce a large amount of oxygen, which would have made the fire stronger! Forensics said that during the 1970s and 1980s, people used this method in crematoriums, but it was phased out as technology advanced.”

“Holy sh*t, crematoriums?!” Zhao Yu was shocked. “It’s obvious someone wanted to burn everything to ashes! No wonder the fire was so strong!”

“That’s not all,” Miao Ying said. She fed Zhao Yu the chocolate and pointed at her phone. “During the fire, there were large amounts of alcohol placed everywhere. Forensics said there were at least six spots that had been doused with a high alcohol percentage liquor. At those kind of temperatures, these liquors explode like what you saw!”

Oh… it was liquor… It was no wonder there were mini explosions at the scene. Since it was liquor, Zhao Yu’s searching device wouldn’t have picked it up, which is why there were no warnings.

“The extent of the explosions was enough to damage the corpses and make sure the fire wouldn’t be able to be extinguished!” Miao Ying said, taking a bite of the chocolate. “So, no matter who this arsonist was, he was an expert. A normal person wouldn’t have been able to pull this off, much less come up with the idea!”

“So, there was nothing left from the fire?” Zhao Yu asked as he swallowed the piece of chocolate.

“Yes and no!” Miao Ying said.

“What do you mean?” Zhao Yu asked.

“At the location of the largest fire, which is also where you said the secret hideout was, everything was burnt to a crisp! The explosions, along with the fire, destroyed everything, and even the forensics office couldn’t accurately determine the death count.”

“But…?” Zhao Yu was only interested in the ‘but’ that was inevitably coming.

“But…” Miao Ying smiled. “Apart from the secret place, there were spots that were not entirely burnt. Like the garage and the boiler rooms.”

“Oh!” Zhao Yu’s eyes sparkled with expectation.

“The boiler room had the most evidence!” Miao Ying opened the photo app on her phone. “The boiler room was big, and there was even a large truck used to transport cows. Even though it caught fire, the firefighters arrived just in time to put it out, and there was minimal damage. Look!”

Zhao Yu saw a motorbike sitting on top of a huge semi that had been burnt black. “This bike…” Zhao Yu said. It looked familiar.

“That’s right! It’s an electric bike, the same model as the one caught on CCTV at the scene where Wu Fangfang was killed!” she answered.

“The motorbike was found on the semi, which also means that when the motorcyclist disappeared it was probably because the semi fetched him. And if there were cows on the truck… who would have expected this?!” Zhao Yu said, eyes widening. He suddenly felt giddy. It occurred to him that while he was impersonating Jiang Ke, he had escaped on a truck that was ferrying lambs. Little did he know that the suspect had escaped using this same method. Was it a coincidence?

“It’s possible! I have sent Zeng Ke to reinvestigate the footage. It was the seventh day of the new year and there weren’t many cars on the road, so we can confirm all of this as long as we find it! But this isn’t the biggest piece of the puzzle we found. Scroll down, the important things are at the bottom!”

“Oh?” Zhao Yu pushed whatever he was thinking about to the back of his mind and listened attentively.

“The forensics team found hair on the motorbike, and after running it through the database…” Miao Ying swiped to the next page. “It belongs to a lady named He Yubing!”

“He Yubing?” Zhao Yu shook his head. He had never heard of this woman before.

“This woman is also a famous fugitive. She’s been charged in at least three murder cases and is a demonic femme fatale! Apparently, she had interacted with Yu Fusheng a long time ago, but who knew they were still in cahoots!”

“Oh…” Zhao Yu couldn’t help but nod. The truth was out. “Looking at this, could the person who killed Wu Fangfang be this He Yubing woman? And was He Yubing working under Yu Fusheng’s orders?”

“And…” Miao Ying continued. “Apart from He Yubing’s hair, the forensics team also found other interesting things in the boiler room. Through this, they have found multiple other people that may be involved. If it wasn’t for the results, it wouldn’t have taken me so long to return. Look at this, it’s a house of criminals!”

“The f*ck…” Zhao Yu only saw the first person, but he immediately recognized him. “This is Zhu Sunfeng! He’s the one who killed Jiang Ke… uh… the one who wanted to abduct Jiang Ke! I followed him to the barn!”

“His surname isn’t Zhu, but Yu! Yu Sunfeng is Yu Fusheng’s nephew. He’s followed Yu Fusheng since he was young and has committed many crimes. But according to our records, this guy is already dead. Are you sure he’s the person you saw?”

Zhao Yu nodded, his face pale. It was clear that the police records weren’t accurate. Because he had mistakenly keyed in Zhu Sunfeng, he had found fake news about him being a merchant.

“If that’s the case… then he pretended to be dead.” Miao Ying said, nodding. “These people sure are sly!”

Zhao Yu quickly swiped through to find a photo of Buzzcut. “This guy and Zhu… Yu Sunfeng went together. He was driving the car and didn’t like to talk!”

“Uhm…” Miao Ying raised her eyebrow. “It’s not that he doesn’t like to talk. He’s actually mute…”

“Mute? I heard the people extinguishing the fire talking about some mute guy, don’t tell me it’s him…?” Zhao Yu asked.

“That’s correct! The mute is called Tu Lekai, and he is in charge of the barn. He was once in jail and since his release, he’s been working feeding cows. Does this mean he was also burnt to death?”

“Yes!” Zhao Yu nodded. “Oh, no wonder he was so familiar with the barn! He was the one who had the keys to the door, and the big yellow dog stopped barking after seeing him. Tu Lekai… right. I actually heard it with my own ears. Yu Sunfeng shouted his name before the fire!”

“Yes, and at the back… is Liu Guangxin! He’s an expert hacker and computer engineer. He has been sued over the many types of fraud he has committed. This is Yao Wenming, he’s notorious for being an expert with bombs. There are a few others we couldn’t pull up matches for. But one thing is for sure, there’s no Yang Zebiao or Jiang Ke!”

“What the hell!” Zhao Yu sighed. “Miaomiao, Yu Fusheng’s place is not only a house of criminals but a club of evildoers!”