But if that were truly the case, then all my previous deductions had led me down a false path, and the dust-like substance certainly couldn't be some kind of knockout agent.

A sudden wave of impotence washed over me—a feeling entirely new, yet undeniably present as I stood before a series of impenetrable mysteries that were nevertheless starkly real. My spirit flagged, and every step felt like wading through thick mud.

I lifted my head to the vast, star-dusted night sky, so purely immaculate it felt untainted by the slightest impurity. The night wind brushed across my face, bringing a slight tickle to my nostrils. Sitting there alone, my thoughts flowed slowly, like water moving from the heavens down to the earth, from the past into the present...

The next day, as soon as I arrived at the precinct, I pulled out the hard drive and handed it to Gao Jianning, instructing him to review it at top speed. Then, I summoned Xiao Cuo into my small office.

Looking at my modest little office space, and then thinking of Hong Yang’s office, my heart felt tormented like that of a young bride. I secretly resolved that once this case was successfully closed, I would absolutely put in a request to the superiors; surely I deserved something less dismal.

Having feasted well the day before, Xiao Cuo was noticeably more respectful toward me, the acting team leader. He waited for me to sit down first before plopping down heavily. "What's the matter? Just say it. If I can handle it, I guarantee the mission will be completed flawlessly."

I put on a stern face and said, "I need to acquire a batch of corpses. Do you have any contacts in that area?"

"Acquire? What!? Acquire corpses? You must have eaten too much yesterday and are hallucinating, right? What kind of joke is this?" Xiao Cuo yelled out loud.

"Don't get excited. It’s not your corpse we need, what’s with the fuss!"

"Cut it out. Acquiring anyone’s corpse is illegal, and you’ll have your ancestors’ graves dug up!" Xiao Cuo said with a serious expression.

After some teasing, we got down to business. I sobered my expression. "This is work. I need to find the person who does this to use as a lead for our investigation. Think about it: the killer's anatomical skill is so proficient, it’s impossible to achieve without practicing on hundreds of bodies. And hundreds of bodies must have a source. So, if we can locate the source of the corpses, it will directly aid in cracking the case."

After a night of careful thought yesterday, I concluded that the dust-like substance in the Jia Da murder case was highly suspicious. However, since the sample was lost, it was impossible to know what it truly was, making it difficult to determine a line of inquiry. But the killer’s surgical precision was beyond doubt. Therefore, by following this thread, we were bound to discover his whereabouts.

The reason I sought out Xiao Cuo was that I figured anyone who studied the supernatural would inevitably have come into contact with dead bodies, perhaps leading to some unexpected breakthrough from him.

Xiao Cuo conceded that my reasoning made sense. He tilted his head in thought for a moment, then said, "I really don’t have any contacts in that area. Who on earth deals with those kinds of people? However, I do know about the corpse drivers in the Xiangxi region of the South; they frequently have large numbers of zombies in their possession. Should I try to inquire about them?"

The corpse drivers of Xiangxi were famous throughout the country, even the world—a mysterious group of specialists. Legend held that their skills were passed down through generations, encompassing arcane powers untouched by modern science, allowing them to reanimate the deceased and guide them across mountains and rivers, traveling a thousand li back to their ancestral homes.

Although many people today express doubt and attempt to expose them as hoaxes, the corpse drivers have existed for over a millennium. If it were truly a sham, then our ancestors must all have been fools, and now the descendants of those fools are trying to overturn a thousand-year-old established fact. I don't know how to articulate my feelings about that.

Of course, I am a criminal investigator. I believe in science; I believe there are no gods or ghosts. But I also believe that current science is not the end of the universe—or perhaps, current science is merely at the starting line of unveiling the universe's mysteries. Only the arrogant would claim that human science has reached its pinnacle; surely any discerning person would agree with that.

Given this, we can calmly face the possibility that corpse driving exists. Perhaps a thousand years ago, some local man from Xiangxi accidentally stumbled upon an equation unattainable even by modern science—an equation capable of generating a magical force—and he passed this knowledge down, leading to today’s corpse drivers.

In summary, I have no desire to involve myself in the controversy of right and wrong right now. I only know that the corpse drivers possess vast numbers of bodies, perhaps exceeding my imagination. That fact alone is sufficient for my purpose.

I considered that if the killer purchased large quantities of corpses from the corpse drivers, it would eliminate the troublesome step of transportation. This is because all forms of modern transport are deeply averse to carrying bodies, believing it brings bad luck, and large quantities are even more unthinkable. Furthermore, if any number of dead bodies were discovered in a vehicle during a traffic stop, the trouble would be immense.

The killer might have sought out the corpse drivers specifically to bypass this hassle. This possibility exists, and it is quite high.

Xiao Cuo's suggestion was a massive revelation. I slapped him on the shoulder. "Not bad. You won't go short on free meals in the future."

Xiao Cuo’s face broke into a wide grin, and he nodded repeatedly.

"Oh, right. Tell me immediately if you see Elder Jiang later."

"More good news?"

"Always good news for you! I'm going to ask him for money to pay back Zhang Jiewei. We can't just let that kid treat us for free."

"If he really has money, getting treated for free wouldn't be bad," Xiao Cuo added, licking his lips with lingering desire. That thick, long appendage gave me a sudden impulse to cut it off with a scalpel.

I warned him sternly, "Enough of that. Remember this: freeloading off superiors is acceptable, but not off colleagues. If I catch you, it will be treated as a disciplinary violation!"

Hmph. If this kid really had money, guys whose appetite outweighs their willpower, like Xiao Cuo and Gao Jianning, would surely be bought off by him. Could I still lead this team then? Therefore, on this matter, I did not hesitate to adopt an iron-fisted approach, absolutely forbidding the spread of corrupt practices like reckless spending and eating on the job within our special task force.

Xiao Cuo grumbled reluctantly, "You're also a superior; can you freeload too?"

"Of course, but only when I genuinely feel like it."

"Saying that is the same as saying nothing. By the time you 'genuinely feel like it,' the Yellow River will have turned into zombies."

Xiao Cuo uttered this nonsensical analogy to express his strongest internal protest, but this was a matter of principle. No matter how much he protested, it was all utterly ineffective.

"Wake up Gao Jianning too; he needs to be informed about this. He’s another unstable element prone to weakness of will."

"Lan Jinxuan is also outside. Should I call her in as well?"

"There's a difference between men and women. Do you think she’s like you lot? Go on!"

Around noon, Xiao Xuan and I were eating in the internal cafeteria when Gao Jianning rushed over, saying, "We have a lead."

I set down my bowl and ran back to the office. Gao Jianning clicked a few times, and a man in a blue plaid shirt appeared on the screen.

Gao Jianning reported, "I've watched all the recordings. Aside from this one person, I haven't found any other suspicious anomalies."

Since it was daytime, the light was good, and the blue plaid man's features were relatively clear: a long face, slightly thick lips, and somewhat high cheekbones, suggesting he might be from the South.

The blue plaid man walked to the staircase and went up. Gao Jianning explained from the side, "He’s on the third floor now; going higher leads to the roof."

I immediately understood. The forensic office building roof had no surveillance cameras installed. So, after going up there, he could easily manipulate something—perhaps dropping a thin, transparent fishing line down, and then, under the cover of darkness, sneaking outside the forensic office to haul up the thick rope using the fishing line...

This wasn't just speculation on my part. Just last month, the Criminal Investigation Brigade solved a burglary case in a commercial office building where the criminal used this exact method.

"Hurry and come with me to the forensic office," my face flushed with excitement, and my voice rose noticeably.

The two of us rushed to the forensic office and scrambled up to the roof. We searched the entire perimeter along the parapet walls, but the result was deeply disappointing.

Using something like a fishing line requires an intermediate object—a low post, or a single upright object, even a discarded piece of rebar would suffice—so the line can loop around it before being dropped down to replace the thicker rope below. However, the parapet wall on the forensic office roof was smooth as glass; there was no upright object whatsoever. Therefore, that method was impossible; meaning the killer did not climb up from here.

The sky, which had shown a glimmer of dawn, became overcast once more. The case had hit a deadlock again. The next step would only be a tedious background check on all visitors—undoubtedly the most cumbersome and time-consuming method.

Of course, I wasn't going to do that. The Special Task Force only had five people. If I carried that burden every day, even if the Yellow River turned into zombies, I wouldn't find the criminal. That sort of job was best left to those guys in the Criminal Investigation Brigade; they had plenty of personnel and numerous external contacts, rumored to even include informants among the underworld figures. They were perfectly suited for such drudgery. Thus, I immediately reported the situation to Elder Jiang, leaving the entire matter for him to handle.

Just as I thought the case had reached a stalemate, Zhang Jiewei delivered an unexpected piece of news that afternoon.

He had been secretly monitoring the movements of the Jia Da faculty and students, focusing primarily on Huang Yang and the male student who had been closely connected to Li Yalian. The news he relayed concerned Huang Yang. Even more unexpectedly, this information brought another familiar stranger into the picture: Gu Hengming, who had briefly surfaced and disappeared after Ouyang Jinglan’s death!

We had questioned Gu Hengming after the Ouyang Jinglan murder; he was the owner of the modeling agency where Ouyang Jinglan worked. Following questioning and investigation, he showed no suspicion of committing the crime, although we suspected he was withholding information, so we did not place him under tight surveillance.

His reappearance caused a fascinating shift in the entire case. In this series of crimes, there were three victims, all young, fashionable women with striking beauty—one a model, the other two students. These two disparate identities created a fissure in the case, making it impossible to fully unify the three murders. If the murder techniques hadn't been so strikingly consistent, we never would have linked the three cases.

Even after the cases were merged, the fissure remained. Now, Gu Hengming’s appearance bridged that gap, connecting the three victims, and Huang Yang served as the intermediary bridge!

Huang Yang, a woman destined to live in the shadows, had been mysterious from the start, yet watertight. We always assumed she was concealing facts due to her personality or perhaps some aspect of a student-teacher relationship. We never imagined that the person she was so fiercely hiding and protecting was actually Gu Hengming!

According to Zhang Jiewei's intelligence, their relationship was extremely close. If that was the case, then the three victims now shared a common contact point, and this commonality would cause an unexpected reversal in the entire investigation.

Perhaps the killer was right beside us!

Without overthinking, I immediately instructed Xiao Xuan and Xiao Cuo, "Xiao Xuan, go to Zhang Jiewei’s location. Bao Qiang stays with me. We’re going to pay Gu Hengming a visit."

Originally, I intended for Xiao Xuan to accompany me—not just for the advantage of proximity, but because I always sensed that Zhang Jiewei harbored some vague feelings for Xiao Xuan. Such feelings are normal in most people: merely the natural reaction of a young, spirited man seeing a beautiful young woman. But in my eyes, that reaction was a needle, a thorn. Nevertheless, I sent Xiao Xuan to Zhang Jiewei because I considered that Huang Yang was female, and a female officer would be needed for certain tasks.

Alas, I regretted making that decision as soon as she left the office. I was left with Xiao Cuo, whose very appearance was unappetizing, and we set off toward Gu Hengming’s modeling agency. Before leaving, I made sure to instruct Gao Jianning to be ready to provide backup at any moment.

Before joining the Special Task Force, Xiao Cuo worked entirely in the archives, buried among documents, so he lacked much practical combat experience. Fortunately, he was naturally energetic, meaning chasing down a fugitive wouldn't be an issue concerning stamina. Moreover, I heard he knew a little about Daoist arts, which was naturally the result of his long-term research into the supernatural. Otherwise, running into even one vengeful ghost might result in him being swallowed whole, bones and all.

In the car, I told him, "When we get there, we'll try the official channel to see Gu Hengming first. If he refuses entry, then we force our way in. Remember this when forcing entry: be mindful of boundaries. First, do not resort to firearms easily. Second, try not to injure anyone. Third, do not give them a chance to call for reinforcements. Do you understand?"

Xiao Cuo's greatest asset was his photographic memory, which naturally extended to auditory retention. I only had to say it once, and he repeated the entire statement verbatim, even mimicking my tone flawlessly.

I glared at him. "This is a mission, not a children's game. Remember, if there are any big bodyguards or the like, you rush forward immediately to engage them."

This guy, who hated to be at a disadvantage, immediately protested, "Then what will you be doing? You're clearly much bigger than I am."

I snorted through my nostrils. "Naturally, I will use that opportunity to leap past you all and move with maximum speed through the numerous rooms to find and subdue Gu Hengming. So you must cooperate with my work." No matter how I phrased it, it made sense to this combat rookie.

Xiao Cuo nodded seriously. In that respect, he was qualified. As long as he believed something fell within the scope of his work, he was absolutely a dedicated comrade who would follow orders precisely. This was the only way I could control him; otherwise, how could someone who couldn't even subdue sprites and ghosts ever submit to me?

The Mercedes police car, carrying two passionate hearts, arrived at the entrance of the modeling agency. After getting out, I gave a couple more instructions, then led this rookie into the spacious and brightly lit modeling agency.

"Hello, we are from the Municipal Bureau. We need to see Gu Hengming immediately. Please take us to him now!" My tone was utterly unyielding. While there was no direct evidence linking Gu Hengming to the case yet, his suspicion had reached a critical point; just a little more, and I could authorize his arrest immediately.

The person facing us was a delicate young woman. Overwhelmed by my imposing presence, she became flustered, and her speech faltered: "The m-m-manager isn’t in the office."

Xiao Cuo suddenly poked his head out from behind me. His strange face startled the already anxious young woman, making her speech flow more smoothly: "He hasn't been here all day; he might still be at home. If you need to find him, I can give you the address."

The young woman then glanced fearfully at Xiao Cuo, as if she wanted to add, Please disappear quickly.

I told Xiao Cuo, "Note down the address. I'll go upstairs and check."

The young woman, perhaps frightened by Xiao Cuo, dared not say another word. I walked right past her toward Gu Hengming's office. Upon entering, I found it empty, save for a cleaning lady. A quick inquiry confirmed what the young woman had said: Gu Hengming truly hadn't come in.

Coming downstairs, I found Xiao Cuo standing there, staring blankly at the young woman. The little girl was frozen in place; if I had been delayed any longer, I would have suspected she had stopped breathing. When we left, the young woman let out a long sigh, nearly passing out from relief.