Chapter 285 -283: Could It Be the Work of an Acquaintance?

The body showed signs of being moved after death, so the search area on the mountain was expanded.

The mountainside was dotted with the beams of flashlights.

Lu Zhishen stood on a small hill, his flashlight beam aimed down the slope.

Su Miaoyi walked to his side and looked down as well.

“Brother Lu, what is it?” Chu Xingrou asked.

“The grass here has been trampled,” Lu Zhishen said.

It was completely dark by now. Su Miaoyi and Chu Xingrou shone their flashlights on the impressions in the grass, following the trail with their eyes into the distance.

“The grass is bent this way. Something was dragged here from over there,” Lu Zhishen said.

“Let’s go take a look,” Su Miaoyi said, walking down the slope while avoiding the trampled areas. When she reached the bottom, she turned back. “I’ll go myself. You two stay here.”

“It’s fine,” Lu Zhishen said, heading down as well. “I’m not dizzy anymore now that I’m out of the car.”

“I’m fine, too,” Chu Xingrou said. “I’m all better now. Besides, moving around will warm me up.”

The three of them followed the trail of trampled grass down the slope.

After walking for quite a distance, they finally stopped in front of a cornfield.

“They grow corn here, too?” Chu Xingrou said, shining her flashlight around. “I didn’t know you could grow corn on a mountain.”

“Apparently so. You can grow corn on a mountain,” Lu Zhishen said.

“There are signs of disturbance here,” Su Miaoyi said, pointing her light at the ground.

Chu Xingrou approached and took a few photos.

Lu Zhishen crouched down to get a closer look. “It looks like someone tried to erase some tracks.”

Chu Xingrou picked up a stick from the side and scuffed the ground with it a few times. The marks were similar to the ones on the ground.

“There are some here, and over here,” Lu Zhishen said, his flashlight on the ground. He followed the marks for a short distance until they disappeared into a patch of weeds and scattered rocks.

“Footprints,” Su Miaoyi said.

The marks on the ground were in patches.

“These are two sets of footprints,” Chu Xingrou said.

The patches were too dense.

Two sets of footprints was the only explanation that made sense.

“Only the killer would erase their footprints. Two sets of prints… does that mean two killers?” Chu Xingrou asked.

“The placement suggests it’s more likely the killer returned to the scene specifically to clean up the footprints,” Su Miaoyi said.

“Mm,” Lu Zhishen said. “I agree. It looks like footprints left by the killer when they returned. They came from over there to this spot… and with the rocks and weeds, they wouldn’t leave any more prints.”

“So, could this be the primary crime scene?” Chu Xingrou asked, shining her flashlight around the area before starting to retrace their steps along the trail.

Su Miaoyi and Lu Zhishen also scanned the surroundings before heading back.

“If the killer deliberately erased the footprints, it means they knew the police had information on them,” Lu Zhishen said. “They knew we were using the prints to find them. The killer must be a local.”

“But if the police already have the footprint information, what’s the point of erasing them now?” Su Miaoyi’s flashlight beam swept across the area.

The path was uneven, and they had to stumble along carefully to avoid disturbing the tracks.

Lu Zhishen thought she had a point.

“Sister Miaomiao, there’s a sickle here!” Chu Xingrou called out to them.

The two of them hurried over.

The sickle had been tossed into the cornfield. Chu Xingrou kept her flashlight on it but didn’t go in.

And there were no footprints visible inside the cornfield.

“Looks like it was thrown in,” Lu Zhishen said.

After looking at the sickle, Su Miaoyi turned to inspect the grass behind them.

A large patch was trampled down.

Some of it had also been cut.

“If the victim was standing here cutting grass,” Su Miaoyi began, aiming her flashlight back in the direction they had just come from, “the killer would have approached from that way…”

“Judging by the trampled grass, it seems the victim didn’t struggle much,” Lu Zhishen said, looking at the small area of flattened grass.

The victim might have struggled, but not significantly. It was likely she was killed very quickly by the attacker.

Chu Xingrou slipped into the cornfield and retrieved the sickle. “Definitely no footprints inside,” she confirmed.

“Based on the scene, it looks like the killer approached from over there, killed the victim right away, dragged the body up the slope, hung it, and then came back to erase the footprints before leaving the same way they came.”

“This place isn’t exactly wide open, but if you were standing here cutting grass, an approaching person would be obvious. You could see them from ten meters away,” Chu Xingrou said. “If the victim saw someone in a black robe and a ghost-face mask, wouldn’t she run?”

Su Miaoyi shook her head. “What if it was someone she knew?”

Chu Xingrou froze for a moment.

“The appearance of the number ‘4’ might be related to the ghost-face mask killer, or it might have no connection at all. It could be a misdirection, a number the killer planted to link this case to previous ones so he could escape suspicion,” Su Miaoyi said.

Chu Xingrou nodded.

“If it was an acquaintance, that would explain everything,” Lu Zhishen said. “The victim, Wan Shuang, would have had her guard down. The killer got close and killed her when she wasn’t paying attention.”

Chu Xingrou nodded again.

“Wan Shuang wasn’t a light woman. Dragging her body up that slope and hanging it from a tree would require considerable strength,” Lu Zhishen said. “In that case, doesn’t that point toward a male killer?”

“I could probably manage it,” Chu Xingrou said.

Lu Zhishen glanced at the two women, then nodded. “Alright, we’ll investigate both men and women then.”

“Let’s go. We need to check the sickle for fingerprints,” Su Miaoyi said.

After the search on the mountain concluded, Su Miaoyi and the others went to Tian Wu’s house.

Just the two of them lived in the house.

Their child was married and lived far away, and wouldn’t be able to get back until tomorrow at the earliest.

Tian Wu kept three sheep at home.

According to Tian Wu, Wan Shuang had gone out that morning to tend to the fruit trees.

The place where the body was found was their family’s orchard.

It was their land.

She would usually get up early to work on the fruit trees and would cut some grass for the sheep before coming back.

This matched what they had discovered at the scene.

Duan Wenrui asked Tian Wu if he or Wan Shuang had any enemies in the village or if they had offended anyone.

Tian Wu said no, they got along well with everyone.

Afterward, the police went to question the neighbors.

Everyone said the couple were good people and got along well with the other villagers.

“They’re a great couple. We’ve all been neighbors for years and get along really well; there’s never been any trouble. Tian Wu is known around the village as a classic good guy. His wife was a good person, too—sharp tongue, but a soft heart. She was always willing to lend a hand if anyone was in trouble. She wouldn’t have made any enemies.”

“Sharp tongue, but a soft heart?” Su Miaoyi repeated, looking at the neighboring woman.

The woman met her gaze, and her heart skipped a beat. She was a little intimidated by Su Miaoyi’s intense eyes.

“What do you mean by ‘sharp tongue’?” Su Miaoyi asked.

“She just liked to nag. It was a habit she’d had for years—she’d even nag a dog on the side of the road,” the woman said. “In a village like ours, talking about this person today and that person tomorrow… you talk about my family, I talk about yours… it’s all completely normal.”

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