When I thought about it, there wasn't anything unspeakable about the cause of death. Could it really be unidentifiable?
Thinking of this, I suddenly became excited. Could it be that the "Jiangbei Mutilator" had appeared again!
"Take me there quickly!" I said.
"Alright, follow me," Huang Xiaotao nodded.
We took the elevator to the fourth floor of the hotel. There were several policemen standing in the hallway. Squatting there was a fat black guy wearing shorts, hotel slippers on his feet, bare chested, with a long thick gold chain around his neck. Next to him squatted a girl wrapped in a blanket, hands holding her head down, long hair draped over her chest.
If you added a reporter carrying a camera, the scene would look just like a vice raid captured live on the news.
The police were questioning them. The fat black guy said worriedly, "Officers, I already told you, she and I truly love each other, just like the Butterfly Lovers, not what you're imagining.
"Just talking is useless, take out your ID and driver's license for us to see!" the cop said.
"I told you I didn't bring them!"
"Who are you kidding? How could you stay at a hotel without ID?" The cop sneered repeatedly.
Wang Dali pulled me in shock, "Damn, Yangzi, did we come to the wrong place, a vice raid scene?"
Huang Xiaotao said they were the ones who discovered the corpse. They got a room at the hotel to have sex, and when they were in the middle of it, the mattress suddenly shook violently. When they lifted it up, there was a dead woman's body underneath! Scared them half to death, they immediately called the police.
When the police arrived, they found this pair looked like a john and prostitute, and refused to show their ID no matter what, so they had been at a standstill. The vice squad had already been called to take over.
I laughed, "This fat guy is really unlucky, coming out to fool around and running into this. I bet it left psychological trauma and he won't be able to get it up for months."
Huang Xiaotao couldn't help laughing, "Who isn't? What are the odds of running into this at home?"
Hearing what Huang Xiaotao said, I was certain the killer wasn't the "Jiangbei Mutilator." That shameless killer didn't even have the word "hide" in his dictionary. He not only didn't hide the bodies, but brazenly displayed them to taunt the police!
The fat black guy was still arguing with the police. We passed him and entered the room where the body was discovered.
Several officers were busy at the scene. Huang Xiaotao said they had collected over a dozen fingerprint samples from the furniture and walls, but it didn't mean much since different people stayed in the room daily.
I glanced at the bed. The whole mattress had been flipped open, the female corpse hidden underneath.
The dead woman had a slender figure and fashionable long hair. She only wore a bra and panties. Her skin was ghastly pale, not a natural pale, but a white like paper.
She had died a horrible death. Eyes bulging wide, hands stiff like chicken feet, all signs indicating the agony she endured before death.
Seeing this, Wang Dali immediately hid behind me. Huang Xiaotao scornfully said, "Why did you bring this fraidy cat? Here to lighten the mood by tying his shoelaces?"
Clearly Wang Dali's move of stopping to tie his shoelaces while catching the criminal last time had left a deep impression on Huang Xiaotao.
Wang Dali explained, "I'm Yangzi's indispensable assistant, he can't do without me!"
"Right, right!" I nodded helplessly. Then I asked Huang Xiaotao, "Has the corpse been moved?"
"Xiao Zhou from the tech team scanned it with a UV light just now to look for prints. Nothing else touched."
"Did you find any prints?" I asked.
Just as Huang Xiaotao was about to answer, a young cop with glasses and an oiled hairdo walked over. He looked scholarly, but his brows betrayed arrogance. "There are no prints on the corpse, not even skin cells under the nails."
Huang Xiaotao introduced him, "This is Xiao Zhou, a whiz kid from the tech team who has cracked many homicide cases."
Xiao Zhou nodded smugly, then turned to me, "So you're Song Yang. I heard Group Leader Huang say you use some unheard of ancient forensic techniques. I'm dying to see them in action!"
"You flatter me."
Xiao Zhou suddenly sneered, "But I dare bet you won't detect anything, because this clearly wasn't done by a person."
His provocation irritated me. Cops were human too, and came in all types. Xiao Zhou was clearly the competitive sort. I raised my eyebrows, "You're so sure?"
"Take a look yourself and you'll know. Hey, gloves for them!" Xiao Zhou waved contemptuously.
An officer brought two pairs of rubber gloves. Wang Dali and I put them on. I went to the corpse. Huang Xiaotao prepared to shine a flashlight for me, but I said it wasn't necessary.
The corpse's neck had a terrifying bite mark, two large bloody holes visible in the teeth imprints.
I pried it open to discover the holes were very deep, meaning the teeth that bit the victim were extremely long, piercing right through the neck.
"Flip her over!" I ordered.
When the corpse was turned on its side, I discovered there were no lividity patterns on the chest or abdomen. Lividity patterns were what ancient coroners called blood pooling after death. In modern terms it was livor mortis.
Since there were none, it meant all the blood had been drained from the victim's body. No wonder the face was so pale!
Wang Dali was so frightened he covered his mouth, "Good lord, this wasn't done by a person, but a vampire!" He then retched repeatedly.
"Don't jump to conclusions before an examination." I said.
At this time Xiao Zhou walked over and said, "Well, great detective Song, I just scanned it with a UV light and laser spectrometer. Not a single print on the skin or clothes. I think you're just wasting your energy..."
I found his barbed words irritating. "That just means you didn't find any. Doesn't mean they don't exist."
"Then detect something for me to see!" Xiao Zhou said defiantly.
"What if I do? Want to make a bet?" I sneered.
"You're on!" Xiao Zhou readily agreed. He looked around and suddenly pointed at the ashtray on the bedside table, "If you detect something, I'll eat what's in there. If you don't..."
"If I don't, I'll eat the whole ashtray!" I shouted.