Big Case Arrives

Hang City Police Station.

After ending the call with Han Fei,

Director Wang shook his head, staring at his phone while muttering to himself.

"This old Han, his words are becoming more and more unreliable. Five or six homicide cases... Does he think I'm a three-year-old?"

In Director Wang's view, Han Fei was exaggerating. He probably just wanted to express that Xu Mo had some talent in this field.

As for Xu Mo solving five or six homicide cases, that was pure nonsense. How long had it been since the program ended?

Five or six homicide cases would mean one case per day! What a joke!

In today's society, a jurisdiction barely sees five or six homicide cases in a year. Take his district for example - there had been only one homicide case this year, and probably wouldn't be any more until year's end.

However, at that moment,

The police station's dispatcher received a report that someone had discovered a body in the shantytown...

This kind of case was completely different from petty theft - this was a major case!

As such, the dispatcher didn't hesitate to report it up the chain.

Director Wang, sitting in his office, quickly learned of this matter. His voice involuntarily rose several octaves: "Someone found a body!?"

"Yes, in the shantytown, at the hideout of Li Fei who fled here from Ram City."

"I understand," Director Wang's brows furrowed into a deep crease. He immediately got up and left his office, preparing to lead a team to investigate.

Before leaving, he called Xiao Li, who had been sent earlier to assist Xu Mo and his team with their cross-jurisdictional arrest.

...

In the shantytown.

Xiao Li's phone rang.

Seeing it was Director Wang calling, he thought the director was checking on their mission progress. He answered immediately and reported that they had caught their target.

"Director Wang, we just caught the suspect and were about to call you with our report. Didn't expect you to call first."

The next second, the smile on Xiao Li's face suddenly disappeared: "What? Someone found a body in the shantytown?"

He couldn't help but look at the handcuffed Li Fei.

"Did you kill someone else after coming to Hang City?"

The latter was startled, then shook his head: "No."

"Really? Tell the truth!"

"No," Li Fei shook his head again.

From Li Fei's micro-expressions, Xu Mo determined he wasn't lying: "He's not lying."

Then pointing towards the shantytown, he looked at Officer Xiao Li.

"There's... been a murder here?"

"Yes, Director Wang just called me. Someone reported finding a body here. Since we've caught our suspect, he wants us to check out the situation first," after a pause, Xiao Li looked at Xu Mo and his two colleagues: "Sorry, but with this sudden case, we need to investigate, and won't have time to take you to the airport. Why don't you take a taxi there?"

The cross-jurisdictional arrest mission was now complete, and this newly discovered case was within Hang City's jurisdiction. It had nothing to do with these three officers from Ram City, and no one would say anything if they left now.

However, after hearing about the case, the three exchanged glances, seemingly reluctant to leave and considering whether to stay and help.

Chen Ke and Li Chen were thinking that Director Wang and Hang City's officers had helped them so many times, it might not look good if they just left when their colleagues were facing trouble. Even if they couldn't directly help solve the case, lending whatever assistance they could would be good - at least it would repay the favor.

Xu Mo wasn't concerned about that aspect; he was thinking about whether he could earn some rewards from this case.

Though they each had their own motivations, their goals were surprisingly aligned - they all wanted to stay and help.

Of course, whether they could stay or not would require a call to Han Fei for permission.

After exchanging glances for a moment, they all understood each other's thoughts.

The next second, Chen Ke said: "I'll call Captain Han and ask him about it."

Taking out his phone to call Han Fei, he briefly explained the situation. Han Fei expressed that he was happy to let them help.

Of course, besides returning the favor, Han Fei also thought this would be an opportunity to show off Xu Mo's talent and prove Director Wang wrong...

So his response was to have Li Chen escort Li Fei back to Hang City, while Chen Ke and Xu Mo would stay to help.

Afterwards, Li Chen escorted the handcuffed Li Fei in a taxi to the airport, while Chen Ke and Xu Mo caught up with Xiao Li and the other officers.

"We got permission from Captain Han. The two of us will stay to help, while Li Chen takes the suspect back alone."

"This... isn't that inconvenient? Won't it interfere with your work?" Xiao Li was surprised; he hadn't expected Chen Ke and his colleagues to come back to help, given they had their own duties.

Chen Ke waved his hand dismissively.

"What's inconvenient about it? Haven't you helped us before? We're all part of the same system, helping each other is normal. More hands make light work, right?"

"That's true. On behalf of Hang City's officers, I thank you both," Xiao Li immediately felt these two were reliable - they really stepped up when help was needed!

...

The group entered the shantytown and arrived at the location where the witness had discovered the body, according to what Director Wang had told Xiao Li on the phone.

To be precise, it wasn't a body but body parts, stuffed in garbage bags and thrown into a trash bin.

The person who discovered these body parts was an elderly woman. She had been going through the trash bin as usual, looking for discarded bottles and cardboard, when she accidentally tore open the garbage bag containing the body parts.

After seeing what was inside, she immediately called the police.

When the group arrived, they immediately set up crime scene tape to prevent anyone from approaching and contaminating the scene.

Xu Mo put on gloves and took out the body parts from the garbage bags, laying them on the ground and piecing them together one by one.

"Another dismemberment case... This method really looks like Li Fei's work. Are you sure he didn't do this?" Chen Ke felt sick looking at the scene.

Even as an experienced criminal investigator, he could barely handle such a gruesome sight. It was too disturbing!

"It's not him. I've examined the body - the fatal wound is on the back of the head. The victim has multiple blunt force trauma marks on the back of their head. Based on the wound pattern, the murder weapon was likely a hammer. The victim was dismembered after death. I'm guessing the killer is either a woman, a child, or an elderly person... definitely not an adult male," Xu Mo made a quick assessment: "If it were an adult male, one hammer blow would have been enough to kill. They wouldn't need to strike so many times."