Previously, it was only Sang Tong’s guess, but now the test results have come out, and it can basically be confirmed that the murderer cut out the victim’s organs and chopped them up.

At 7:30, after drinking at his coworker Li Xingfa’s house, Yun Yun arrived at the victim’s home at 10:30. She left at 11:30. If Yun Yun didn’t lie, then it indicates the murderer might have committed the crime between 11:30 PM and 4 AM.

Now, there are two possible scenarios to consider. The murderer could be a woman. After all, Lu Yongyuan had a habit of seeing women, which might make him lower his guard and easier to attack. But a woman wouldn’t have the strength to hang Lu Yongyuan up by herself. Without tools, this would be very difficult.

If that’s the case, then the woman would need an accomplice, who is very likely a man. So there’s still a possibility of a man and woman working together.

Besides that, there’s another possibility: the murderer is a man. This way, he could hang the victim alone with his own strength. But then, why would he chop up the victim’s organs?

What puzzled Sang Tong even more was that only the victim’s footprints were found inside the house. Not even Yun Yun’s footprints were seen, which means the murderer cleaned up the crime scene. But then how did all those footprints of the victim get there?

When Ye Jinchen came out of the interrogation room, Sang Tong shared her thoughts with him.

“You mean the murderer cleaned the scene and then wore the victim’s shoes to leave footprints inside the house?” Ye Jinchen repeated.

“Yes, that explains why there are no Yun Yun footprints inside,” Sang Tong said.

“What if Yun Yun lied? What if she didn’t show up at the crime scene at the agreed time yesterday?” Ye Jinchen suddenly asked.

Sang Tong... couldn’t respond to that. If Yun Yun lied, then all the assumptions would collapse. After all, no one knows when the victim’s room started to be cleaned.

“We checked the victim’s phone. He did make a call around 10 PM last night,” Xu Ran said as he came over.

Yun Yun didn’t lie about that, but whether she actually went to the victim’s room remains unconfirmed by anyone.

The forensic results came quickly: the victim’s body contained a large amount of alcohol. He was hung up while unable to resist, and the murderer cut off his organs before he died.

“Tsk, tsk, what kind of hatred is this to go to such lengths?” Le Qiwen couldn’t help but sigh.

This was no ordinary grudge. If it was just hatred, killing the person would be enough. But the murderer obviously wanted to torture the victim—making him cut his own organs while still conscious. This was more than just wanting him dead.

“The victim’s private life was messy. Could it be that he owed a debt to a woman?” Ding Jianxiu added on the side.

The victim’s close friends were mostly his coworkers. Sang Tong and Ye Jinchen planned to visit those coworkers again, choosing the time after work in the evening since it’s hard to ask during the day at the construction site. They planned to ask them one by one.

They couldn’t be sure if the murderer was among these coworkers, but asking separately might expose cracks if there was something suspicious.

The first person they went to see was Li Xingfa, who had invited several workers to eat together that day. Li Xingfa had a wife and could cook. Usually, if they didn’t eat out, they liked to gather at Li Xingfa’s home with food.

“Oh, he didn’t drink much that day but got so drunk he couldn’t tell a poplar tree from a willow tree, and was staggering home by 9,” Li Xingfa said.

Sang Tong frowned. According to the forensic results, the victim definitely drank quite a bit. Either Li Xingfa was lying, or the victim drank more later with someone else.

“Does Li Xingfa have any female companions?” Ye Jinchen asked.

“No... haven’t heard of any,” Li Xingfa thought for a moment and said.

“Yeah, we haven’t heard anything either. But we’re not that close, so even if he had someone, we might not know,” Li Xingfa’s wife added.

Li Xingfa’s wife, Zhu Yinghe, looked like a family-oriented person. Their home was small but well-kept and clean.

“Your hand, how did you get injured?” Sang Tong noticed some cracks at the base of her thumb and asked.

“It’s nothing, I just scratched myself while weeding in the vegetable garden these past couple of days,” Zhu Yinghe laughed softly and hid her hand.

“I have some band-aids with me. Let me help you put one on—if it gets infected, it’ll take longer to heal,” Sang Tong said as she pulled out an adorable band-aid from her pocket.

The woman wanted to refuse, but Sang Tong had already torn the wrapper open. She had no choice but to extend her hand. Sang Tong carefully applied the band-aid, a pair of hands used to hard work, somewhat rough with calluses.

Sang Tong quietly withdrew her hand. The tip of her ring finger brushed some blood. Without a word, she tossed the band-aid’s packaging into the trash and looked up to meet Zhu Yinghe’s gaze. A smile immediately appeared on Zhu Yinghe’s face, and Sang Tong smiled back.

It had already been half an hour since they left Li Xingfa’s house. Ye Jinchen had asked detailed questions, and Li Xingfa had answered thoroughly.

Sang Tong stepped out into the hallway and glanced back. The couple had already gone inside, but Sang Tong’s expression was somewhat heavy. She looked at her ring finger—there was no more blood, but… she had just seen something.

“Get in the car first,” Ye Jinchen urged. Sang Tong replied with a nod, and they walked toward where the car was parked.

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Inside the house, Li Xingfa watched the two figures recede. Then he looked back at Zhu Yinghe, who was trembling on the sofa, his face darkened but he said nothing.

“Li Xingfa’s wife is hiding something from us,” Ye Jinchen said first as soon as they got into the car, even before Sang Tong spoke.

“You noticed it too!” Sang Tong replied. “Weren’t you just chatting with Li Xingfa?”

“Although his wife tried her best to cover it up, our arrival clearly made her anxious,” Ye Jinchen said.

Even if she tried to hide it, her body’s reaction gave her away. From start to finish, Zhu Yinghe had been tense, and though she smiled, she didn’t relax at all.

“There are marks on Zhu Yinghe’s wrist, looks like bruises from grabbing,” Sang Tong added.

At first, she hadn’t noticed, but when she was applying the band-aid, she saw it. At first, she thought it was a trick of the light, but Zhu Yinghe quickly tugged her sleeve down, and the way she covered it was very suspicious.

Though Sang Tong discreetly looked away, she knew she hadn’t been mistaken.

“Any thoughts?” Ye Jinchen’s gaze landed on Sang Tong’s face. After spending some time together, he understood her better. He used to think she was just the troublesome junior sent down from above, but now he thought they actually worked well together.

“Let’s go talk to the others. I have some ideas, but they need verification,” Sang Tong said. Since she spoke so openly, Ye Jinchen didn’t press further.

Sang Tong and Ye Jinchen went to see Wang Pengyi. It was the same as what they learned yesterday: they went to Li Xingfa’s house to drink around 7 pm and left around 9 pm.

“How do you know it was 9?” Ye Jinchen asked.

“Oh, their TV was playing that historical drama, the one that airs at the same time every day. That’s a reliable marker,” Wang Pengyi explained.

“How’s Li Xingfa’s relationship with Lu Yongyuan usually?” Ye Jinchen asked again.

“Pretty normal, just work buddies who call each other brothers,” Wang Pengyi chuckled. For people like them, as long as there was no fighting on site, everyone was friends. Changing construction sites meant new groups and new friends. It wasn’t a particularly close relationship, just enough to get by.

“What about Zhu Yinghe and Lu Yongyuan?” Sang Tong suddenly asked.

Wang Pengyi hesitated but didn’t rush to answer.

“Old Li’s wife is indeed virtuous and takes care of the family, and looks okay…” Wang Pengyi rambled on, avoiding the main point, while Sang Tong waited patiently.

“Old Li knows how to operate the excavator, and there were two nights he had to work overtime on site. Lu Yongyuan would stop by their place to notify Mrs. Zhu,” Wang Pengyi’s voice dropped lower. “Later, I heard someone saw those two hugging and cuddling... I don’t know if it’s true or not…”

But since the rumor was already out, Wang Pengyi thought it was probably true. When Wang Pengyi said this, Sang Tong knew her earlier suspicions were probably right—Zhu Yinghe did have something going on with Lu Yongyuan.

After leaving Wang Pengyi’s house, Sang Tong kept her head down, lost in thought. She had indeed seen Lu Yongyuan with Zhu Yinghe together. What she really wanted to know was whether Li Xingfa knew. Since the rumor was already out, Li Xingfa should be aware.

Just as she was thinking this, Sang Tong suddenly felt her throat tighten, her collar being grabbed, and one of her feet lifted off the ground.

“Walking around at night without watching where you’re going, do you want to fall flat on your face?” Suddenly, Sang Tong snapped back to reality. For a moment, she was dazed, then realized she had almost stepped right into an open sewer.

“Who’s so wicked to pry open a manhole cover like that?” Sang Tong said nervously, still shaken.

Ye Jinchen glanced at her, pulled her back, then took out his phone and made a call. Sang Tong touched her neck, thinking next time she’d better wear something with a lower collar—this one felt so tight it was choking her.

After finishing the call, Ye Jinchen’s gaze returned to Sang Tong, who was standing aside kicking at some stones.

“Wang Pengyi didn’t lie, Zhu Yinghe really did have an improper relationship with Lu Yongyuan,” Sang Tong said, looking up at him. “But Zhu Yinghe was probably forced into it.”

“Li Xingfa has some health problems,” Ye Jinchen said.

“What?” Sang Tong didn’t quite understand the sudden change in topic.

“There’s some tonic tea for male vitality on their tea cabinet, and the room still smells faintly of pig kidneys after being stir-fried,” Ye Jinchen said without hesitation.

Sang Tong: ...

She had smelled it but hadn’t thought much of it. After all, the barbecue place outside still sold pig intestines. What’s wrong with eating pig kidneys?

“That makes Li Xingfa a big suspect!” Sang Tong thought Li Xingfa had the strongest motive to kill so far.

First, he already had health issues. Then, not only was his wife involved with Lu Yongyuan, but rumors were spreading outside as well, which was a huge blow to his masculinity.

Combine that with Lu Yongyuan’s manner of death, and Li Xingfa was undoubtedly the prime suspect in the case!

“If he was cheated on, it wouldn’t be impossible for him to kill Lu Yongyuan in a fit of rage. And do you remember? There was only one set of shoe prints in the victim’s room,” Sang Tong said.

The shoe prints matched the victim’s own shoes. It was very likely the killer wore Lu Yongyuan’s shoes and walked around the room to create confusion. That made sense.

Besides, Sang Tong had already observed that the workers on the construction site all wore the same brand of work shoes, mostly size 42—a common size. Most of Lu Yongyuan’s coworkers were about that size. If this was really Li Xingfa’s doing, his shoe size would match perfectly.

“Li Xingfa is indeed a suspect, but… don’t you think it’s a bit too obvious?” Ye Jinchen said.

“Hm?” Sang Tong was a little confused.

“Lu Yongyuan’s alcohol tolerance was average at best. Li Xingfa could have easily gotten him drunk quietly, especially with a crowd around—there was no need to drink with him. So, who was Lu Yongyuan drinking with later?” Ye Jinchen asked.

Sang Tong had the words on the tip of her tongue but held back. Ye Jinchen was right: if Li Xingfa wanted to do him harm, this wouldn’t make much sense. Besides, Lu Yongyuan had just finished drinking at Li Xingfa’s house, his suspicion seemed too high.

But it could also be the opposite, this case didn’t look like a crime of passion. If Li Xingfa had planned this in advance, it wouldn’t be impossible.

For now, Li Xingfa remained the main suspect, both in terms of motive and evidence at the crime scene, which matched him closely.

If Li Xingfa was the killer, what was the point of staging a locked-room scenario? To confuse the police? That didn’t seem likely, since the trick was too easily exposed and could backfire.

“We should go back and see Yun Yun again. I feel like she hasn’t told us everything,” Sang Tong said after some thought.

According to Yun Yun, aside from the killer, she was the last person Lu Yongyuan saw alive. There must be some details they missed.

Yun Yun was still detained and would be held for a while for selling silver illegally.

“When I saw him, he was a bit incoherent, but still somewhat conscious—not too drunk, maybe sobering up,” Yun Yun explained.

This made Sang Tong and Ye Jinchen even more certain: after Yun Yun, someone else must have come to see Lu Yongyuan, drank with him—probably quite a bit, until Lu Yongyuan lost consciousness, and then attacked him.

But... how did this person time it so perfectly?

Moreover, they didn’t find any bottles of alcohol at Lu Yongyuan’s house. In fact, not only were there no bottles, but even the trash cans were completely clean.