131 — Serial Murder

This was a corpse that was very badly rotted.

It lay on the edge of the island, very dry, untouched by water. It had a lot of black, thick hair, and after spending too much time in the violent waters, it was no longer possible to see what hairstyle the victim wore. One could only conclude that the victim was a woman from the hair accessories still stuck to the side of her head, her earrings, and her beautiful dress.

A lot of the flesh under her skin had already liquefied, most of her head and neck were decomposed. Her skin was tightly wrapped around her bones, and she did not look soft and beautiful at all. Her fingernails had fallen off, so one could see a little bone. Her abdomen had collapsed in from decomposition, her liver was clearly soft and shrunken, her stomach was damaged. She had lost most of her other internal organs, and anything left was infested with maggots and other flies.

The victim’s eye sockets, nose, mouth, heart and digestive tract were crawling with maggots.

These white, damp, sticky little things that wriggled nonstop climbed boldly over the body, declaring that this was their territory. The flies flew and danced proudly, leaving behind the puparium they had broken out of.

This person was once a living, breathing human…

And now, she was their food.

The headache inducing buzzing of the insects, the intense stench of the rotting corpse that would make one retch, the unforgettable image of the exposed internal organs…

It was no wonder that nobody dared to take a closer look, and nobody was willing to give a more detailed description of the body.

As a coroner, such a situation was not rare. Unlike the others who were either puking or on the verge of puking, she made her way forward and squatted down next to the body.

She quickly focused again, scanned the body rapidly a few times, then nodded to Zhao Zhi. “I’ll start the inspection now.”

Zhao Zhi pointed casually to a subordinate, “You. Write the autopsy report for her.”

A case had been snatched away from him again and there was nothing he could do, so Governor Li was very indignant about it. The body was gross, but he was also curious about it. As a result, he couldn’t help but toddle over, pinch his nose and pull a long face as he reluctantly watched Song Caitang examine the body.

Song Caitang’s long brows were slanted like a butterfly’s wings, her gaze bright but focused as she said, “The victim is a woman with black hair, clothes untidy, and about… 5’3” tall.”

“There is a white mark on the third left rib left behind by a sharp object.”

“Her wrist bone is fractured. There are severe bruises on the remaining skin on it, so the victim was probably tied tightly with rope or something like that.”

“Her ankles have similar bruises, so she might have been hung from her feet…”

Song Caitang inspected each area, and the more she observed, the more she was certain that the victim had been badly abused before she died.

The body was severely decomposed, so it was pointless to dissect her organs now, given the current environment and tools on hand. Part of her skeleton could be seen as a lot of her skin was gone, but it was still possible to see what sort of tragedy the victim had gone through from the little that was left.

In that instant, Song Caitang was reminded of Yuetao’s case.

Yuetao’s body had been discovered in water, had clearly been abused before she died, plus her hands had clearly been bound together.

Adding on the fact that a sharp object had also been stabbed into the chest area…

Was this a coincidence?

Song Caitang shook her head to get these unrelated thoughts out of her head. She refocused her energies and continued examining the body carefully.

Yuetao had been sexually abused, but she couldn’t tell if that was the case with this victim. This victim had been soaked in water, then left to dry in the blazing sun, and the presence of flies and maggots made things worse, so she couldn’t tell from a basic examination. The cause of death was quite clear, though. That wound to the heart was very obvious. The problem was the time it occurred.

When did the victim pass away?

Governor Li kept his nose pinched and had a look of disdain, “It’s so rotten, she must have died for at least a month or two…”

“No,” Song Caitang shook her head, “take a look at the traces left behind by the insects on the ground.”

“Usually in summer, a fresh corpse would attract flies an hour after death. This body has been soaking in the water, so that would happen later, but it wouldn’t take very long either. The remaining skin on the victim does not show that she had been soaking for a very long time.”

“Flies have their own life cycle. After a body has been exposed for an hour, flies will come and lay eggs on the moist parts of the body, like the mouth, the nose, the eyes, and wounds. Take a look, sir – there are many white lumps made from the eggs sticking to one another even between her hair.”

Governor Li didn’t look at where she was talking about. He was afraid he might end up vomiting.

“In about eight hours, the eggs would hatch and become maggots, that would grow every day by about…” Song Caitang paused to convert her modern measurement units to the units of their time¹, “0.3mm or so. Four or five days later, the maggots mature and become pupae in the body as well as the soil around it. After another seven days, they will break out of their puparium as flies. The body we have here has both maggots and flies, as well as many, many puparium. That means that the victim must have died at least ten days ago.”

“Fresh puparium are brownish red, and it will take at least ten days for them to turn black. The ones around the body… are mostly not black.”

“Considering how it’s been very hot this summer, there’s been no rain for a long time, and there are many insects on this island. With such weather, having a body exposed like this for two weeks will be enough for a body to reach this stage of decomposition, no problem…”

If her guesses were right, the victim should not have died more than 14 days ago, but she needed to analyze the clues on hand to be certain of exactly which day it was.

Her words opened a new horizon for the people around her.

These maggots and flies… could actually be used to determine a body’s time of death!

This Miss Song truly had the hands of the devil but the heart of buddha – was there anything she didn’t know?!

Everyone stared in awe at Song Caitang, whose skirt and hair blew in the wind, her dress hugging her figure more tightly as a result to show her curves, yet she had no idea that everyone was staring at her because she was still focused on the corpse in front of her.

Zhao Zhi turned his bright gaze away from her, frowned, and glared steely at the people around them.

Everyone… quietly bowed their heads.

It was silent for a long time.

Song Caitang had mentioned the fact that the body was exposed, which reminded Zhao Zhi, “When I came, I asked when the island was exposed, and apparently that happened around the Double Seventh Festival.”

The Double Seventh Festival…

It was now the 21st day of the seventh month. The Double Seventh Festival was 14 days ago!

Song Caitang immediately turned to look at him. “Did anyone come near to the island?”

Zhao Zhi shook his head. “This island is very shallow and hard to get to. There’s no reason why anybody would come here.”

In other words, nobody had come here.

Until today, that is. So, nobody could say for sure when this body had appeared.

But the Double Seventh Festival…

The timing had given Song Caitang a little inspiration.

Projecting the time of death did not solely rely on the signs on the body itself. The clothing of the victim and the time of the year were helpful clues too.

“Water caltrops, the complex and intricate embroidery on her dress, the five color thread bracelet hung on her belt, the tassels on her skirt hem…” Song Caitang named each item quietly and even bent over to smell the victim’s clothes and hair. “There’s fragrance too!”

The Double Seventh Festival was also known as Chinese Valentine’s Day, so it was a significant day to many women of this era. According to the legend, this was the day that the star crossed lovers, the weaver girl and the cowherd, could finally meet, so the weaver girl had to make sure she was beautifully made up and dressed up. She had to use the best cosmetics and the best fragrances that wouldn’t fade even after many days. Many women who were hoping to meet a man they liked would do the same on this day.

Making little snacks was a must on this day, and water caltrops was one of the popular flavors.

This day was also a day where crafts were celebrated, since one of the main characters of the legend was a weaver. The community would often have competitions among crafters, and making these five color bracelets was one of such competitions. Threading needles was an even more popular game.

Everything on this body seemed to be shouting Double Seventh Festival.

The murderer could change her clothes, but there were certain special characteristics that they wouldn’t be able to change.

Every single thing on the victim’s body was clearly arranged by the mind of a woman. So, this dress probably belonged to the woman and she might have been killed on the night of the Double Seventh Festival.

“AHHHH! A MAGGOT! IT’S ON YOUR FOOT!!!”

The maggot was crawling up Song Caitang’s shoe, but Governor Li was even more frightened of it than most women. The way he hopped about and screamed was hilarious.

“Oh, it’s alright. They’re only interested in dead things.”

She kicked her foot slightly and it flew off her shoe.

The white little thing flew in a beautiful arc in the air, and of all the places to land, it landed on Governor Li’s leg.

“AHHHHHH!” Governor Li didn’t dare to move anymore. He stared in horror at the white, wriggling thing on his leg and squeaked, “Help… help me get it off…”

Zhao Zhi found him very noisy, so he grabbed the older man by the back of his collar and flung him further away.

“AHHHHHHH! It’s been crushed by meeee…”

As Governor Li’s voice faded into the distance, Zhao Zhi dusted his hands off and squatted next to Song Caitang, his gaze grim. “The night of the Double Seventh Festival?”

Song Caitang nodded, then pointed to the earring on the victim, “This one… doesn’t seem to be one set with any of her other accessories.”

A teardrop shaped crystal shone brilliantly, the sun making it seem even more transparent than usual. It was rather pretty, and a stark contrast to the rotting body and barren island it was found on.

But only this earring was made from crystal. The victim’s other hair accessories were mainly gold, with some jade and rubies.

“Not just that,” Zhao Zhi opened his palm to reveal something, “I found this by the water too.”

A small, intricate butterfly hair pin was in the middle of his large palm.

The butterfly’s wings were spread out, and the feelers moved slightly.

It was very intricately made, so most people would not be able to afford such an accessory. But more importantly, it was a butterfly!

When Yuetao was discovered, a butterfly was also found in her hair.

There were more and more similarities between the two cases and Song Caitang dared not rule out the possibility anymore. Could this really be a serial murder case?

The murderer liked butterflies and this was his trademark?

What did it mean?

“We always need more than two cases to classify them as a serial murder case…” Song Caitang muttered the rules to herself. She really didn’t want this to turn out to be a serial murder case.

Because if it were, then there would be more victims. A very dangerous killer was hiding among their midst.

She was fearless when it came to criminal investigations, but she didn’t want more people to get hurt.

Zhao Zhi’s gaze grew even more grim upon hearing these words, like the sea just before a storm. An intense level of violence was hidden behind this gaze, “There have been more than two cases.”

Song Caitang was a little caught off guard. “Huh?”

Zhao Zhi closed his eyes for a moment, calmed himself down, and went on, “I’ve been busy with some matters recently, and when I followed the clues for one of them, I found this person. Her name is Qinglian, she’s a woman, and she’s dead.”

“When did she die?”

“A year ago.” He looked at Song Caitang, “The body was thrown into a mass grave and it’s impossible to find any traces. I couldn’t gather much information from the people who knew her, but this butterfly…”

Song Caitang got it immediately. “Qinglian also had a butterfly hair accessory when she died?”

Zhao Zhi nodded.

“Qinglian has something that’s very important to me, but after she passed on, I couldn’t find it at all. I found out that she wrote a letter to a friend before she died, and that friend was in Luanze…”

So that was why Zhao Zhi had returned.

“So, what about this friend? Did you manage to find this friend?”

Zhao Zhi shook his head. There was a strange glint in his eye. “That friend’s name is Wenxiang.”

Wenxiang…

She was a top courtesan at Miaoyin Court!

A rival of the last corpse they found, Yuetao!

Out of the three victims so far, two of them, Yuetao and Qinglian, had something to do with Wenxiang. What role did Wenxiang have to play in this case?

Was she… someone who knew what happened? Or was she an accomplice?

Song Caitang frowned slightly. “What was written in Qinglian’s autopsy report?”

“It’s not very detailed, but there are notes on abuse, death by a knife, a butterfly hair accessory…” Zhao Zhi’s knuckles cracked loudly and his stare was murderous. “What a bastard!”

This case was a serial murder after all.

Song Caitang slowly got up. “For such cases, there is usually a pattern in the way the killer chooses their target. Perhaps the person you were looking for happened to match these characteristics and appeared in front of the killer. But it’s also possible that… the killer is targeting the people your clues lead to.”

If this case was solved, Zhao Zhi might find what he was looking for. But he might also not find it.

“The former is more likely, though.”

Song Caitang was trying to tell Zhao Zhi that it was more likely that he wouldn’t get anything out of this case.

“It doesn’t matter, as long as we catch this bastard.” Zhao Zhi narrowed his eyes into two murderous slits. “I have my own ways of making him talk.”

When one was about to die, especially when they were in a very terrifying situation, they were very likely to reveal some things. If the killer needed the same things, then Zhao Zhi would get more information. If the killer didn’t need the same things or said he forgot…

Zhao Zhi had a million and one ways to force him to remember!

He wasn’t letting off even the smallest clue.

The wind blew in Song Caitang’s face and she bent her head slightly, so her voice sounded a little further than usual, “A serial murderer is more dangerous than other murderers and would be very good at concealing themselves. Many times, they are no different from ordinary people and some are even charming. They seem approachable, so people are willing to come close to them. But the killer might not actually be a friendly person. They might be used to objectifying their targets, treat human life like they’re merely ants, and have no basic morals, so it’s no surprise that they would commit such an outrageous crime. I’ll have to count on Surveillance Commissioner Zhao to keep Luanze safe.”

Zhao Zhi nodded. “I take my responsibilities seriously, so you don’t have to worry about that, Miss Song.”

Also…

The most important thing right now was to find out who this victim was.

The body was badly decomposed, so it was impossible to recognize her face. But any special physical characteristics, her clothing, her accessories, the time she went missing… someone would know who this woman was!

Zhao Zhi turned sharply, causing his sleeves to flap loudly in the wind. “Get cracking!”