"Did you really pick up that bag of monkfish from the trash? Can you even find something like that in a garbage can?" The manager was shocked by the procurement officer's words.
While monkfish prices may not compare to those of luxurious seafood like Australian lobster and king crab, they are still far from cheap.
Who would throw a bag of monkfish into the trash? Especially when the fish were still relatively fresh and not yet spoiled, it was practically the same as throwing money away.
But soon, the manager figured it out.
There were human hands inside the monkfish!
The fish were problematic, which was why they were discarded in the trash. Any normal monkfish would never be thrown away like that.
Once he understood, the manager's lungs nearly exploded with anger. The hotel was now involved in this mess, and the procurement officer would have to take the blame!
If it weren't for him picking up these suspicious monkfish, would this have happened?
"Damn it, I'll fire that idiot later! What a jinx!" The manager glared viciously at the procurement officer.
Xu Mo and the other officers also realized this after the procurement officer spoke.
The bag of monkfish was thrown into the trash because the seller knew there was something wrong with the fish. They didn't dare to sell them openly.
"Be more specific, where did you find them?" Xu Mo asked again.
The procurement officer thought for a moment, "I can't really describe the place, but I can take you there. I remember the way."
Xu Mo looked at Chen Ke and said, "Take two people with you and go with him. Check the area."
Afterward, he turned to the manager, "Do you have gloves and sealable bags?"
"Yes, yes! I'll go get them for you!"
After Chen Ke left with two officers and the procurement officer, Xu Mo put on gloves and placed the hand found on the cutting board into a sealable bag. He then instructed the manager to pack the remaining monkfish to take back to the police station.
Since a murder case was involved, the hotel's kitchen needed to be sealed temporarily. The hotel would not be able to operate until the case was resolved.
The hotel manager and all the chefs were taken to the police station for routine questioning.
...
At the police station.
In the autopsy room.
The forensic examiner was cutting open the monkfish one by one, while Xu Mo watched from the side. He wasn't keen on getting his hands dirty.
"I've never had to 'autopsy' fish in an autopsy room before... This is really bizarre. After so many years as a forensic examiner, I've never seen such a method of disposing of a body. Who would chop up a person and feed them to fish? How twisted must someone be to do something like this?" The forensic examiner remarked.
The autopsy room was filled with a nauseatingly strong fishy smell.
The forensic examiner had seen many gruesome scenes, and while the smell was unpleasant, it wasn't the worst he had encountered. So, despite the pungent odor, he continued working without flinching.
Xu Mo smiled wryly, "I've never seen such a method either."
After half an hour, the forensic examiner had finally cut open all the monkfish brought from the hotel. Inside, they found more fragmented body parts and managed to piece together as much as possible.
"We've only found these body parts, mostly chopped-up limbs. There isn't much of the rest of the body, so we can't fully reconstruct the corpse. But based on what we have, the victim appears to be a young female, slender, and petite. She looks like she might not even be an adult yet."
Xu Mo nodded. What the forensic examiner said was consistent with what he could see.
However, this information wasn't particularly useful. With only limbs, they couldn't even identify the victim's identity.
From the fragmented body parts, neither Xu Mo nor the forensic examiner could find many clues. They couldn't even determine where the fatal injury was.
To find more clues, they would have to rely on Chen Ke's progress.
Just as he was thinking this, Xu Mo's phone rang. It was Chen Ke.
After answering, Chen Ke's voice came through the phone.
"Captain, I'm at the location now. I've taken a quick look. The trash can where the procurement officer found the monkfish is by the seafood market. There's a surveillance camera right across from the trash can. Maybe we can find something from it. I'm about to check the footage now."
"Okay," Xu Mo responded.
If there was a surveillance camera by the trash can, they might be able to find out who threw away the monkfish, and the case could move forward.
Ten minutes later.
Chen Ke finished checking the footage and sent the copied video to Xu Mo, along with a voice message.
"This person threw the fish away around 2:00 AM. He was well-wrapped, so we can't see his face, but based on his build, he seems to be a man."
Xu Mo watched the video Chen Ke sent and found that, as Chen Ke said, the person who threw away the monkfish was indeed well-wrapped, and his face couldn't be seen.
Chen Ke could only find this much. Afterward, he returned to the police station with the officers and the procurement officer.
Meanwhile, the officers in charge of interrogating the hotel chefs and manager had also finished their questioning.
The results of the interrogation matched their initial suspicions. The chefs were completely unaware of the situation and had no involvement. They only discovered the body parts inside the fish during the process of cleaning them.
Since they had no use keeping the chefs at the station, Xu Mo decided to let them go after instructing them not to disclose the case.
Aside from the chefs, the procurement officer also had little suspicion. The surveillance footage could prove his innocence.
The footage showed that the monkfish were thrown into the trash at around 2:00 AM, while the procurement officer picked them up at around 6:00 AM. Comparing the footage, it was also clear that the procurement officer was slightly smaller in build than the person who threw the fish away, so he was not a suspect.
...
The police station was filled with smoke.
The large office area was eerily quiet, with only the sound of cigarettes burning in the officers' hands.
The officers were all focused on reviewing the surveillance footage, not a single word spoken.
Since the victim's identity couldn't be determined, to solve the case, they had to start with the man captured by the surveillance camera near the trash can.
The monkfish containing body parts were thrown away by this man, making him the primary suspect. It was highly likely that he was the killer!
Although the surveillance footage only captured his figure and not his face, that wasn't a problem. At 2:00 AM, the seafood market was nearly empty, so it was easy for the officers to track him down in the various surveillance videos without needing to match his face.
After half an hour of tracking through the surveillance footage, the officers found where the man went after leaving the seafood market—an old residential area.
"This must be his home!" Li Chen perked up.
"Probably. Let's go check it out!" Xu Mo decided.
The group immediately set off for the old neighborhood...
nd fell into a coma while saving his younger sister from an out-of-control car. He became a vegetable. No one knew that his consciousness had crossed into a world of cultivation. Over the course of sixty years, he began as the lowest kind of mine slave, struggling to survive amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood. By sheer chance, he eventually obtained the complete memories of a fallen Immortal King. Alchemy, medicine, formations, feng shui, physiognomy, artifact forging… Every great inheritance of the cultivation world was now his. But when he opened his eyes again, he discovered that ten full years had passed in the modern world. To pay for his treatment, his father had sold the family’s shop and house, leaving himself covered in lasting injuries and illness. His mother had cared for him day and night, and more than half of her hair had already turned white. His younger sister, who had been only fifteen back then, was now twenty-five. To help repay the family’s debts, she had been forced to lower her head and put on a smiling face in places of glittering lights and endless revelry. Only then did Chen Xuan understand that what he had lost was not merely ten years. He had lost the life his entire family was meant to have. The good news was that he had brought back the memories of an Immortal King’s entire lifetime. The bad news was that his soul had returned alone—his cultivation had not come with him. Spiritual energy was scarce, resources were depleted, and the modern world still had firearms, surveillance, capital, and laws. If he wanted to protect his family, break free from everyone’s control, and become truly invincible beneath the heavens, he would have to start all over again.
] This is a dark fantasy-themed dating simulation game. The main gameplay involves containing various monster girls and investigating the truth of a world shrouded in mist alongside your companions. However, due to his love for the dark and bizarre atmosphere, Luo Wei ended up turning a dating game into a detective mystery game. Women? Women only slow down his quickdraw! To Luo Wei, the female leads in the game are more like tools to perfectly clear levels and squeeze out rewards. For Luo Wei, flirting with every girl he meets and then discarding them is standard procedure. Worried about characters losing affection points? No need. With his maxed-out charm stat, Luo Wei is practically a "human incubus." A little psychological manipulation and those points come right back. It's a bit scummy, but the paper cutout heroines in the game won't actually come at him with real cleavers. However... Luo Wei has transmigrated. He's accidentally entered the second playthrough of this game. His past actions have caused all the girls to transform into terrifying yanderes. Due to the game's setting, most of the heroines he once contained are "troubled girls." Obsessive, twisted, mentally unstable, all aggressive yanderes... The type who will kill you if they can't have you... Luo Wei wants to cry but has no tears left. "I really just want to survive..." In short, this is a story of battling wits and engaging in a love-hate relationship with yanderes.
with countless casualties. As a top-tier gamer, Liu Xuan volunteered to join the fight, intending to dominate with his skills, but instead he obtained the hidden class: [Pacifist]. Unable to attack. Unable to use active skills. Fortunately, with each level gained, he acquired a new passive skill. And so, armed with a body full of passives, Liu Xuan slaughtered his way through the battlefield of ten thousand races! [You attacked Liu Xuan] [You gained the debuffs: 'Poison', 'Fear', 'Burning', 'Bleeding', 'Freeze', 'Silence', etc.] [Your attack speed has been reduced by 99%] [Your armor and magic resistance have been reduced by 99%] Warriors of the Ten Thousand Races: How the hell am I supposed to fight this?!
ions, keeping it grounded and realistic】 After quitting his job, office worker Su Yang accidentally binds with the "Enjoy Life System." As the name suggests, simply by indulging in life's pleasures, he can earn random rewards from the system—no need to spend money on beautiful women or grovel before anyone. Just enjoy, and the money follows, making it all about effortless fun. The system comes with a scanning feature, allowing him to establish a favorability bond with women rated 85 points or above. Every 20-point increase in favorability unlocks additional rewards. After suffering through over twenty years of hardship, Su Yang trembles with excitement, his dull eyes suddenly gleaming with newfound hope. "Enjoy life? How hard could that be?"
