In that moment.

Jiao Hu was somewhat confused about what Chen Xiao was saying.

But Xie Wensheng understood instantly!

“Garbage dump! Garbage dump!” Xie Wensheng shouted twice.

Chen Xiao nodded: “That’s correct, a garbage dump! Only the complex smell of a garbage dump can achieve the effect of masking odors, and the clothes of the three male corpses have absorbed the smell after being in the garbage dump for a long time!”

Xie Wensheng: “That’s the only explanation, which is something he had planned all along! But there are quite a few workers at the centralized garbage processing plant, and the garbage needs to be processed regularly, so how did he manage to cover it up?”

“That’s right, under normal circumstances, to cover up the stench of so many corpses would require a lot of garbage smells to interact and cover it. But, we must not forget that a garbage dump has a natural advantage!”

“Which is, when ordinary people see a garbage dump, they avoid it from afar and don’t bother to examine it. Of course, at large garbage dump sites, quite a few people who pick through garbage might search for trash, and if someone does, it would be easy to discover!”

As Chen Xiao spoke, Xie Wensheng nodded, knowing that Chen Xiao hadn’t finished.

“But I want to ask, are there many people in Shencheng City who are in the business of scrap recycling?”

“Of course, there are many, it’s also a way to make a living!” This time it was Jiao Hu who spoke, and Chen Xiao responded:

“If so, then if there’s a place that looks like a scrap recycling station on the outside, but inside it’s filled with all sorts of garbage, would people become suspicious no matter how strong the smell is?”

Xie Wensheng looked at Jiao Hu.

Jiao Hu also looked at Xie Wensheng.

Then, Xie Wensheng said, “If it’s people like us who frequently deal with corpse odors, perhaps we would be suspicious. But, ordinary people wouldn’t; even just seeing the surface garbage and smelling the odor would make them steer clear! Moreover, if it looks like a scrap recycling station from the outside, scavengers would instinctively think it’s someone else’s territory and wouldn’t enter easily!”

“Exactly, ordinary people are too unfamiliar with the smell of corpses, even if they smell something strange, they rarely think of dead bodies!”

Jiao Hu understood completely and seriously instructed Xie Wensheng:

“Wensheng, immediately investigate, and count all scrap recycling stations in the district!”

“I know, Director Jiao, Chen Xiao… let’s go!”

Of course, Xie Wensheng would have someone conduct the counting, but if he and Chen Xiao were to do it themselves, it would be a waste of time.

Xie Wensheng directly pulled Chen Xiao into his office, wiped the whiteboard clean, and wrote down key points with a series of quick strokes.

As he wrote, he said, “Now that the case has been investigated this far, most of the clues have been found by you, but I’ve also kept them in mind. Let me go over them, and you can remind me which are true and which are false.”

The killer likes to hint, which means he is very likely someone who gains pleasure from this.

But such a killer often mixes truth and lies, reality and illusion!

Chen Xiao nodded silently, and Xie Wensheng continued: “First clue, the profession extrapolated from facial features — Face Reader.”

“Second profession: Doctor (Traditional Chinese Medicine, Western Medicine), which do you think is true and which is false?”

“The first is false, the second is true.” Chen Xiao offered his suggestion.

Xie Wensheng immediately crossed out Face Reader, asked again: “Second clue, the team salute extended to events behind the case, but after checking, even if pushed to the time of Xiong Ruru’s arrival in Shenzhen, no such homicides occurred, so is it true or false?”

“Temporarily considered true.” Chen Xiao replied, leaving Xie Wensheng a bit surprised, but he didn’t express any opinion, and continued:

“The third is not quite a clue, but I think we need to discuss it thoroughly, which is why does the killer use a long nail to pierce through a person’s skull? And why were the six victims’ eyes, eyebrows, nose, ears, tongue gouged out and their mouths smashed after they were killed.”

“Is this really just a method the killer uses to confuse and hint?”

“Of course not, this method of killing is very rare. Moreover, his killing technique is clean and neat, yet after killing, he digs out or destroys their facial features, which is illogical.”

Xie Wensheng fell silent, and after a while, he said, “Let’s continue sorting, Xiong Ruru lost her eyebrows and nose.”

“Xue Xiangdi: eyes, nose.”

“Hu Caixia: ears, mouth.”

“Luo Yan: eyes, throat.”

“You You: tongue, ear.”

“Wu Rui: eyebrow, mouth!”

“These are the facial features destroyed after each person’s death, but if we simply look at eyebrows, noses, eyes, ears, mouths, tongues, throats, there doesn’t seem to be a pattern.”

Right when Xie Wensheng said this, Chen Xiao interrupted: “No, there is a pattern. Through autopsy, it can be determined that Hu Caixia and Wu Rui, who had their mouths smashed, had the most stomach contents remaining, which can also mean they ate the most at their last meal!”

Saying this, Chen Xiao added: “Of these six people, according to my investigation, Xue Xiangdi wasn’t that bad, did you investigate Luo Yan?”

“Also not considered very bad.”

“Then they both relate to the eyes. Is the killer hinting at something by gouging out their eyes?”

Xie Wensheng: “Does it mean encountering inappropriate people, blind in judgment?”

“Very likely! But how do you explain the ears cut off of You You and Hu Caixia, and what’s the reason behind Xiong Ruru and Xue Xiangdi’s noses?”

As Chen Xiao asked, he walked to the side and picked up another marker, drawing lines on the whiteboard.

Xie Wensheng didn’t understand, so he asked: “What are you doing?”

“Drawing.”

“At a time like this, what are you drawing? Are you trying to draw the killer?”

“Trying, the case has been investigated more than halfway already, we just need to figure out the last question, which is, what caused all these events to happen!”

As Chen Xiao spoke, he drew bit by bit on the whiteboard with the marker.

Seeing this, Xie Wensheng could only politely chuckle and step to the side.

He knew of a forensic investigation technique called simulated portrait.

But this technique is mostly used in cases where there are eyewitnesses.

Eyewitnesses describe the appearance of the suspect, and then a sketch artist can draw a rough likeness based on the verbal description.

Detectives can use the sketch artist’s portrait to conduct checks and find suspects!

But Chen Xiao’s technique is completely different from normal simulated portraits!

Others use eyewitnesses to draw a suspect’s looks, but Chen Xiao is talking about drawing from the case!

Xie Wensheng found this incredible!

But when half of the back figure appeared, Xie Wensheng was stunned again: “You drew a back view!”

“Otherwise, do you think I can draw his facial features? Captain Xie, this also counts as a type of simulated portrait, but not at a magical level, and more accurately speaking, I’m drawing my impression of the killer based on the clues in the case!”

Chen Xiao explained, leaving Xie Wensheng a bit embarrassed with an ‘oh’.

But then Chen Xiao said: “It’s still missing something, he shouldn’t have that overly solitary feeling I drew; if he were too solitary, how could he prepare that final meal?”

“So what exactly is missing?”

As Chen Xiao spoke, he moved to the side and drew half of a face!

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep