Chapter 21: The Serial Dismemberment Case
Chapter 21: The Serial Dismemberment Case
Lan Mu grew more and more excited as he thought about it, even imagining himself transforming into an even more powerful being in the future.
“I could explore the deepest secrets of the primeval forest, or get up close with the world’s most dangerous animals.”
“If the White-maned Lion’s invisibility still worked, I could go film in the world’s most dangerous thieves’ dens, explore mysterious ancient ruins, or even brave the dragon’s lair alone, sneaking into any country’s top-secret, locked-down areas.”
All of this would be built upon his unique superpowers.
As for where to go for his first documentary, he hadn’t decided yet.
The immediate task was to buy the equipment first. He went to a familiar physical photography equipment store.
There were lots of home video cameras and professional HD cameras.
Home and professional filming effects were completely different. The full price of a home video camera setup might not even cover the cost of a stand for a professional filming kit.
Lan Mu looked at the Red One professional camera he had always dreamed of. The stand alone cost over twenty thousand. Two batteries and a charger cost twelve thousand. The batteries were more expensive than the full set of bow and arrows he had bought!
The viewfinder was twenty-two thousand. The lens adapter was twenty-six thousand.
All sorts of high-end storage media, even including a 160GB professional hard drive in RAID form, were priced at thirty-three thousand.
Additionally, the Red One’s two super lenses cost thirty-seven thousand and seventy-one thousand respectively.
For this whole set, even a conservative estimate came to over two hundred and thirty thousand!
All of Lan Mu’s savings combined couldn’t buy such a set of equipment.
And this wasn’t even the most expensive. Compared to the large cameras used for filming movies, this price was really quite small.
Thinking about his remaining savings of only one hundred and fifty thousand, the absolute highest, he absolutely could not buy equipment exceeding one hundred thousand.
But he also needed the equipment to be waterproof and suitable for long-term outdoor filming. After picking and choosing, he selected a Panasonic model.
The full set cost about seventy-seven thousand. It came with a matching waterproof housing and two sets of batteries and a hard drive.
After swiping his card with a pained heart, he took the equipment back like a treasure.
From now on, earning money to buy better equipment would depend entirely on this.
Seeing that it was getting late, already 5:30 in the afternoon, he hurried back. Su Yue had been home alone all day.
But just as he hadn’t walked very far, he suddenly smelled a familiar scent.
An Elf’s five senses were far stronger than a human’s. Their sense of smell could rival that of the White-maned Lion.
He had smelled this scent many times before. Perhaps for humans, it was just a faint fishy smell, but to him, it was a strong smell of blood!
“Where?”
He searched for the source of the smell, finally locking onto a trash can over ten meters away.
Lan Mu slowly approached. As the distance closed, the smell of blood grew stronger.
“In the trash can? What is it? This familiar smell of blood.”
However, just as he was only five meters from the trash can, a city sanitation worker walked over, dragging a garbage cart.
Lan Mu immediately took out his phone, pretending to play with it.
His attention remained fixed on the trash can.
Soon, the sanitation worker opened the trash can’s rear cover and used tongs to pull out piles of garbage.
Lan Mu quickly spotted a very strange black plastic bag among them.
This black plastic bag was very large, bulging, with its opening tightly tied. All the smell of blood was leaking from it!
Lan Mu thought for a moment and walked over. Seeing that the sanitation worker hadn’t noticed anything unusual, he spoke directly.
“Big brother, don’t you smell the blood?”
The sanitation worker said, confused, “What smell of blood?”
After saying that, he even sniffed specifically and said carelessly, “Maybe a little. What’s up? Might be a dead rat.”
Lan Mu shook his head and pointed at the black garbage bag. “It’s not the smell of a dead rat. The smell of blood is coming from here.”
“Here?” The sanitation worker still didn’t understand. He was tired enough from a day’s work and couldn’t figure out what this strange young man wanted.
“Please, poke this bag open and take a look,” Lan Mu said seriously. He seemed to understand what this familiar smell of blood was.
“Poke it open? Kid, go play somewhere else! If the garbage spills, will you pick it up?” The sanitation worker shook his head and tried to put the garbage bag into the cart with his tongs.
But the bag seemed very heavy. The uncle tried to grab it several times with the tongs but couldn’t lift it.
“Huh? What’s so heavy?” This time, without Lan Mu saying anything, the uncle poked the bag open himself, planning to carry it away in several trips.
After poking the bag open, the first thing seen was a clump of messy, black hair.
Lan Mu was startled and raised his hand to call Ma Xiang.
This smell of blood was something he had smelled many times before—the smell of a dead person.
The sanitation worker uncle still didn’t seem to understand what it was. He poked at the contents with his tongs until the tongs seemed to pierce into something. Then, with a strong pull, he dragged something out.
When he saw it clearly, he screamed.
“Ah!”
The tongs instantly fell from his hand. His whole body jumped back a step, even unsteady on his feet. He half-squatted, holding onto the garbage cart, and cold sweat broke out immediately.
Lan Mu saw it clearly. A long-haired human head had been pulled out. The uncle’s tongs had pierced right into one eye, which was how he had lifted it out.
Seeing the sanitation worker uncle was terrified—he had probably never seen a corpse in his life, let alone a dismembered head like this!
Probably when he looked back on this day, having personally used tongs to pierce an eyeball and pull out a human head, he would never dare to grab things carelessly again.
The phone connected, and Ma Xiang’s familiar voice came through.
“Brother Mu, what’s up? Buying me a drink? I can’t get off work today. The higher-ups assigned another task, making me stake out places everywhere.”
“Come over. There’s a big case, a Dismemberment Case!” Lan Mu said gravely.
Ma Xiang was stunned and actually said, “You know about it?”
“Huh? Know about what?” Lan Mu asked, surprised.
“Ahem… what Dismemberment Case? Where are you? Speak clearly!” Ma Xiang seemed very anxious.
“Don’t rush. I’m at the scene. Head east from MinSheng Square. There are no side roads here. Follow the road and you’ll see me. The body is in a trash can. I’m right beside it.” Lan Mu quickly gave the address first. Just as he was about to explain the details, Ma Xiang cut him off.
“I’ll be right there! Brother Mu, don’t you move! You must control the scene! You must keep it secret!”
After saying that, Ma Xiang hung up directly.
Lan Mu noticed Ma Xiang’s unusual behavior and immediately realized this wasn’t a new case. Ma Xiang seemed to know what had happened.
The sanitation worker uncle caught his breath and shouted at Lan Mu, “Call the police! Murder! Murder!”
“Don’t shout!”
Lan Mu took a big step to his side. One hand held him, the other covered his mouth.
Natural Force wrapped around his hands, firmly restraining the uncle. The uncle couldn’t make a sound.
“I’ve already called the police. The police will talk to you about this matter later. Don’t shout now. This is a confidential matter!”
Actually, Lan Mu didn’t know what the situation was, but since Ma Xiang told him to keep it secret, he naturally had to make something up to calm the sanitation worker uncle first.
It was peak rush hour. There were quite a few people on the road. Several had already noticed the situation here and wanted to see what was happening.
Lan Mu grew very anxious. He quickly kicked over the garbage cart, making it tip over and cover the black plastic bag.
The few people who wanted to watch were startled. This guy was too fierce, kicking over a garbage cart with one foot.
Lan Mu glared at them, and they didn’t dare to come closer.
But they stood two meters away, pulling out their phones to take various photos and talking among themselves.
Lan Mu ignored them all, as long as they didn’t discover the head.
Before long, Ma Xiang arrived.
This time he came faster than ever, arriving in just over two minutes!
And because traffic was heavy during the rush hour, he had actually come on a motorcycle! It looked like a biker’s bike, and no one knew where he had commandeered it from.
The big, heavyset man ran up to Lan Mu, panting heavily, flashed his police badge, and shouted in a loud voice, “Stop looking! Everyone, stop looking! Move along! Move along!”
Unexpectedly, his shouting drew even more onlookers. When they saw he was a police officer, they became even more reluctant to leave.
Lan Mu was speechless. He let go of the uncle and said to Ma Xiang,
“Why are you the only one who rushed over?”
“The main force will be here soon. I came ahead to control the scene! This is a great chance to show off in front of the leaders!”
“Huh? Did you change your gender?” Ma Xiang stared at Lan Mu’s face, hardly believing this beautiful youth was his Mu brother!
“You’re the one who changed gender! Look closely, it’s me!” Lan Mu roared, his voice rough with anger.
Ma Xiang examined him carefully. He still looked like Lan Mu, but his skin was too perfect, his chin was much slimmer, and his neck was slender and pale. He looked exactly like a cross-dressing boy.
“No way? Mu brother, is that your thing now? I’ve heard it’s trendy to be a cross-dressing boy—are you wearing makeup?”
“Get lost! My skin has always been good. It’s your eyes that are the problem!”
Ma Xiang didn’t believe him. How could he not know if his own eyes were working or not?
Lan Mu had no choice but to say, “Never mind about that. I’ll explain it to you later.”
Changing the subject, he then asked seriously, “What’s really going on? Why is this being kept secret?”
Ma Xiang finally shifted his attention back and said, “Since you already know and are a witness, I won’t keep it a secret from you.”
Leaning close to Lan Mu’s ear, he whispered, “It’s been a month since the Dismemberment Case started. This is the fourth one this month, averaging one per week. Each time, the victim is killed and dismembered, then dumped in a trash bin. As soon as you described it, I knew it was this case again.”
Ma Xiang didn’t say more, but Lan Mu understood. Just that bit of information was enough. From Ma Xiang’s urgency and the police’s high level of concern, it was clear.
“You don’t have any clues, do you? After over a month, you don’t even know what the murderer looks like?”
Ma Xiang sighed and replied, “Exactly. The higher-ups are going crazy over this case. We’ve been working overtime, staking out every possible crime spot in the city, trying all sorts of desperate methods, but we have no leads.”
“And because the case is so gruesome and there’s been no progress for a month, it’s being kept under wraps?” Lan Mu pieced it together.
“Sigh… I’ll tell you about it later. For now, let’s protect the scene, brother.” Ma Xiang sighed.
Lan Mu nodded and asked, “Can I take photos and videos later?”
Ma Xiang glanced around, noting that his police colleagues hadn’t arrived yet, and whispered, “I doubt it. Our leader will be here soon. Since you’re not related to him, he definitely won’t agree.”
“If you want to film, do it now! I’ll cover for you. Don’t spread the footage around. Once the case is solved, you can be the first to publish it.”
Lan Mu indicated he understood. He kicked the garbage truck aside, quickly opened his camera, and spent a moment adjusting it since it was newly purchased before he could start filming.
Ma Xiang, tall and heavy, stood in the way, doing his best to let Lan Mu secretly film.
About three minutes into the recording, Ma Xiang urgently yelled, “Stop filming! The leader is here!”
As soon as Lan Mu heard this, he swiftly put away the camera, stuffed it into his bag, and slung it over his shoulder—his movements clean and efficient.
He saw six police cars arrive at the scene. Over a dozen officers quickly surrounded the area and began dispersing the crowd.
A man who looked like a leader, with rough, tanned skin and a straight, soldier-like posture, exuded an authoritative aura.
Since Ma Xiang was the first to arrive, the leader immediately approached him.
“Confirmed? Is it the same case?”
Ma Xiang reported the situation in great detail. The leader nodded but remained stone-faced as he crouched down to examine the black garbage bag.
Then he said, “Where’s the forensics team? What are you all standing around for? Collect the clues, now!”
A short while later, an officer reported, “Chief…”
The chief cut him off, “Still no good?”
“Yes, just like the previous three times. No clues were left behind. The garbage bag has been here for at least three hours. As for the exact time of the victim’s death, we’ll need to examine it in detail back at the station.”
The chief nodded. He had already prepared himself for this and immediately said, “Clean up the scene. Do I need to teach you? Hurry! Don’t wait for the journalists to arrive.”
Hearing that last sentence, Lan Mu froze, feeling somewhat awkward.
“You’re the ones who discovered the body? Alright, come with us to the station. We need to gather some information.”
The chief’s tone was firm and left no room for refusal.
Lan Mu himself wanted to learn more about the situation, so he naturally cooperated with the police.
This time, the police acted very quickly. The scene was soon cleaned up completely. All the trash, including the garbage truck, was hauled away, not even the trash bin was left behind.
Watching the police depart, the scene was left spotless.
The onlookers, not knowing what had happened, whispered among themselves for a bit before indifferently dispersing.
They had no idea what was going on, and such matters hardly stuck in their minds.