SS Chapter 4

Rao Xian hurriedly asked the waiter to take Sha Rou and him to the wine cellar, the manager also hurriedly followed behind.

Luo Pingping was a celebrity, and hotel staff who had heard the news were already taking pictures with their cellphones at the entrance of the wine cellar.

Without Rao Xian needing to instruct her, Sha Rou quickly asked the manager to call security to maintain order at the scene, stop the employees from taking pictures, and demand that everyone delete the photos.

Rao Xian then called the team to call for police officers and a forensic doctor. He also called Duan Yisong, telling him that after collecting evidence from the parking lot, he could come to the wine cellar.

After Rao Xian hung up the phone, he and Sha Rou, with the cooperation of the manager and security, dispersed the onlookers.

Soon, the police officers arrived, and Duan Yisong also brought the forensic officers who had collected evidence from the parking lot to provide support.

Rao Xian could now safely examine the body and the scene.

Rao Xian took a few steps forward, asking the forensic doctor, who was taking pictures of Luo Pingping’s body, to make way, and that eerie sense of ugliness appeared again.

Rao Xian called Duan Yisong and Sha Rou over and asked them for their feelings.

Duan Yisong nodded beside her.

Realizing that he had unconsciously thought of Long Xinyu, Rao Xian shook his head. He thought that Luo Pingping was a celebrity, and it was unlikely that she would run to the wine cellar alone. And the wine racks here were relatively dense. If the murderer attacked Luo Pingping here, it would be impossible for none of the wine bottles to be broken–or, was Luo Pingping already unconscious when she was brought here?

Luo Pingping’s head was chopped off and then placed back on, which was an excessive act of killing. Considering Min Jun’s head, which had been smashed out of shape, Rao Xian felt that the two cases might be related.

Duan Yisong was puzzled: “Then what about the crushed diamonds in Min Jun’s head? What kind of murder weapon would be inlaid with diamonds?”

Sha Rou guessed: “Luo Pingping’s dress has a lot of diamonds on it. Could it be that the perpetrator attacked Luo Pingping first, and the murder weapon was stained with crushed diamonds?”

Hearing Sha Rou say this, Rao Xian retrieved the photos of the crushed diamonds from his phone for comparison and felt that the size and shape were not very similar. Could the diamonds on Luo Pingping’s dress not be real diamonds?

Sha Rou and Duan Yisong couldn’t determine the material of the diamonds either, so Rao Xian reminded the police officers to make a note and test whether the diamonds on Luo Pingping’s clothes were consistent with the diamonds found in Min Jun’s skull…

It seemed that the news of Luo Pingping’s murder had already been known by the media.

Once the case was hyped up, the difficulty of solving it would increase. Rao Xian frowned, his face turning as pale as the floor tiles inside!

For a time, the police faced unprecedented public pressure.

However, Bureau Chief Huo Lenggang specifically called Rao Xian to his office, telling him not to be disturbed by external factors, and to solve the case according to regulations, procedures, and the proper pace.

At 9:35 p.m., a hooded person appeared in the employee elevator on the 5th floor and drove Long Xinyu’s car to the back of the pillar in the underground parking lot.

At 9:49 p.m., Min Jun took the employee elevator to the parking lot dedicated to guests and was attacked by the hooded person. The hooded person put Min Jun in the trunk and left.

At 10:03 p.m., the waiters drove away the cars of Long Xinyu, Li Guang, and Wenren Ying respectively. At this time, Min Jun’s body was already in Long Xinyu’s car.

At the same time, Sha Rou and Duan Yisong, after verifying and visiting the hotel staff, determined that the person who lured Luo Pingping away on the night of the incident was the hotel waiter Xu Ming. After the incident, Xu Ming never went to work again.

Based on the clues already obtained, it could be preliminarily determined that the perpetrator of the two cases was the hotel waiter Xu Ming.

Because Min Jun’s watch and Luo Pingping’s jewelry were missing, Rao Xian suspected that Xu Ming’s motive was robbery and murder.

However, diamonds were found in the wound on Min Jun’s head. These diamonds did not match the glass diamonds on Luo Pingping’s clothes, and according to the order in which the cases occurred, Min Jun was killed before Luo Pingping, so these diamonds did not come from Luo Pingping or her jewelry, but from the murderer, presumably dropped from the murder weapon. As for what the murder weapon was, it would only be known after finding Xu Ming and interrogating him.

Now that it had been confirmed that the perpetrator was Xu Ming, the next step was to arrest him and interrogate him thoroughly.

Rao Xian felt that the hotel should verify the employee’s information when hiring employees, but according to the hotel manager, this Xu Ming had worked at the hotel for less than two months. He was very taciturn, and he was not close to other people. Min Jun arranged for him to work as a waiter at the hotel. Because Min Jun was relatively arbitrary, the manager didn’t dare to ask Xu Ming for details. So almost no one at the hotel knew Xu Ming’s detailed information, except for one waiter who said that he heard Xu Ming talking on the phone in a very gentle tone, as if he was talking to his boyfriend.

Following this clue, Rao Xian and the others checked the phone records and found a cell phone number that Xu Ming frequently dialed. However, the registered owner was a woman, and the phone was already turned off. This cell phone number only had contact with Xu Ming’s phone. Other numbers on Xu Ming’s phone included Min Jun’s, the hotel manager’s, and relevant staff’s, as well as some telemarketing harassment calls, but nothing else relevant.

Min Jun’s secretary and Min Bocai didn’t know who this Xu Ming was or why Min Jun arranged for him to go to the hotel. People around Luo Pingping also didn’t know this Xu Ming. The clues ended there!

The case seemed to have found a motive and identified a suspect, but it fell into a stalemate because of the perpetrator’s false identity.

From the incident to the identification of the suspect, Rao Xian and the others had been checking, comparing, and visiting for three days. Seeing that they had already found the perpetrator, they were unable to progress because of Xu Ming’s identity. Shao Hui, who was following Min Bocai, reported that Min Bocai seemed to have found out about Xu Ming even faster than the police and was sending people to look for him. It was said that Min Bocai had also hired private detectives for a hefty sum, but they probably hadn’t found anyone either.

It was frustrating for the team to identify the murderer but not be able to find him, but there was nothing they could do. They could only distribute Xu Ming’s photo to the grassroots police officers and traffic police, expanding the search area, hoping to gain something.

Seeing that there were no clues, Shao Hui, Sha Rou, and Duan Yisong were sent by Rao Xian to the break room to take a nap and recover their energy.

Rao Xian was still in the office looking at the case briefing board, comparing evidence, and looking for clues, and he fell asleep without realizing it.

He was awakened by the vibration of his cell phone. Rao Xian groggily answered the phone. It was his fiancée, Ye Yuning, calling him to dinner.

Ye Yuning was Rao Xian’s junior high and high school classmate. Although the two were not in the same school in elementary school, they had always kept in touch. After graduation, Ye Yuning became an illustrator, while Rao Xian became a police officer. The two had been in a relationship for almost two years. Because Ye Yuning had taken on a relatively large illustration project, she had been very busy. She planned to prepare for the wedding with Rao Xian after she finished her work.

Ye Yuning’s illustration project was coming to an end and she was very busy, it was rare for her to find him. Rao Xian looked at the time and wanted to clear his head, relax his brain, and change his thinking, maybe he could have a new breakthrough, so he agreed.

Rao Xian also tried to put aside his work troubles and returned a smile, but when Ye Yuning saw his tired face and lack of sleep, she knew that there was only one possibility, that he had encountered a case, and a very tricky one!

Rao Xian was led to his seat by the waiter. Ye Yuning didn’t ask him, lest it cause him to be agitated. She deliberately blinked her big eyes, trying to coax Rao Xian to care about her, saying that she had submitted all her drafts today, and asked Rao Xian if he wanted to praise her.

Rao Xian smiled, stretched out his hand, reached over the table, and rubbed Ye Yuning’s head: “Xiaoning is excellent, very good, and very diligent. Does this count as praise?”

Rao Xian smiled softly again at her sulky appearance. Just as he was about to ask Ye Yuning if she had ordered, he heard someone call him.

“Captain Rao?”

Rao Xian responded and turned around, only to find that Long Xinyu was at a table not far from him. He was a little surprised – Long Xinyu also came here to eat?

Ye Yuning looked at Long Xinyu curiously, finding that she didn’t recognize him.

Long Xinyu nodded. He had just passed by with his assistant and saw Rao Xian, so he had the whim to say hello.

Seeing the girl at the same table with Rao Xian looking at him, but Rao Xian obviously had no intention of introducing his female companion to him, he nodded politely and then focused on asking Rao Xian how the Luo Pingping case was going. He didn’t ask about Min Jun, which was a little funny. This person’s likes and dislikes were too direct and obvious.

Rao Xian just smiled and said that they were still investigating, but he was sorry that he couldn’t reveal the details.

Long Xinyu also knew that the police wouldn’t casually announce the details of the cases they were investigating. He was just asking. Anyway, his assistant had gone to the restroom, so he just came over to say hello.

Just as Rao Xian was about to thank him for his understanding, he noticed a red dot appear on Long Xinyu’s forehead.

“Danger!” Rao Xian reacted almost subconsciously. The moment the red dot appeared, he threw himself on Long Xinyu.

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