"Footprints!"
"What about the footprints?"
Zheng Zhaoyang and Bai Ling exchanged glances, completely missing Master Duo's meaning.
"Master Duo, stop keeping us in suspense. Just tell us, what's wrong with the footprints?"
Master Duo looked at the roguish Zheng Zhaoyang, then at the curious Bai Ling, and finally said with a mysterious tone:
"The footprints are too light."
Too light!
What kind of talk was that!
Bai Ling still didn't understand.
Zheng Zhaoyang, however, rubbed his chin as a flash of insight crossed his mind.
"Master Duo, I get it!"
"You're a teachable one!"
Master Duo bobbed his head.
Their playful back-and-forth left Bai Ling thoroughly exasperated.
"Zheng Zhaoyang, since you know the reason, why don't you spit it out? The sooner we figure this out, the sooner we can catch the killer."
Seeing Bai Ling put her hands on her hips and glare at him unhappily, Zheng Zhaoyang shrank his neck and chuckled.
"All right, all right, I'll tell you..."
Right then and there, Zheng Zhaoyang explained the whole thing.
Gasp!
Once Bai Ling understood what was going on, she drew in a sharp breath.
No wonder Master Duo called the culprit a martial arts expert.
Carrying a fat man weighing over two hundred catties with both hands, leaping straight over a two-meter courtyard wall, and leaving behind footprints even lighter than those of an ordinary person walking—
In Bai Ling's mind, a vivid image involuntarily took shape.
After a moment, she snapped back to reality.
"Master Duo, have you ever seen an expert like this before?"
"No!"
Master Duo's expression turned grave. He hadn't seen an expert of this caliber in a very long time—perhaps decades ago.
But that was ancient history, and mentioning it wouldn't help solve the case.
You haven't?
Bai Ling was somewhat disappointed.
When dealing with figures from the Jianghu underworld, Master Duo was usually the most knowledgeable, but if even he was in the dark, things were going to be tricky!
Just then, Hao Pingchuan walked over.
"Old Hao, any clues?"
Seeing Hao Pingchuan, Bai Ling felt as if she had grabbed onto a straw. There were simply too few clues, and they had zero direction.
Aside from Master Duo's deduction that the perpetrator might be a martial artist, they had nothing useful at all.
"Nothing. I questioned everyone in the Quadrangle Courtyard. No one knows how Liu Haizhong met his fate, and nobody heard a peep. Last night, no one saw Liu Haizhong go out. Even the victim's son, Liu Guangyuan, stated that Liu Haizhong went to bed at nine o'clock last night, and the door was bolted from the inside by him."
Hao Pingchuan gave a brief report on the investigation he and Qi Lala had conducted.
Sigh!
Zheng Zhaoyang and Bai Ling sighed. They hadn't noticed that detail.
They had expected Hao Pingchuan to turn up some clues, but it seemed they had been too optimistic.
The door!
While Zheng Zhaoyang and Bai Ling had missed that detail, Master Duo's expression shifted. He hurried toward the Liu family's home.
Master Duo's sudden movement naturally caught everyone's attention.
Bai Ling's people exchanged glances, completely baffled by what madness had seized Master Duo this time.
However, Zheng Zhaoyang, who knew Master Duo well, lit up and hurriedly followed.
Seeing Zheng Zhaoyang leave, Bai Ling and Hao Pingchuan realized something was amiss and hurried after them.
By the time they reached the entrance of the Liu family home, Master Duo had already stood up with a smile.
"Master Duo, did you discover something else?"
Zheng Zhaoyang walked up with a smile.
Master Duo had a fairly decent impression of Zheng Zhaoyang. Unlike Bai Ling and Hao Pingchuan, Zheng Zhaoyang's personality suited Master Duo's tastes.
Therefore, facing Zheng Zhaoyang's question, Master Duo didn't play hard to get and pointed straight at the door bolt.
"Look at the marks on here. The culprit must have made them. The reason the residents didn't notice Liu Haizhong leaving the Quadrangle Courtyard is because he didn't leave on his own accord. The culprit took advantage of the quiet of the night and abducted him."
Zheng Zhaoyang looked closely at the door bolt. There was a clear mark on it, showing fresh white wood underneath, obviously made recently. Judging by the trajectory of the fresh wood, it looked like someone had used a small dagger or similar blade to gently slide and lift the bolt.
Bai Ling and Hao Pingchuan walked over as well. Hearing Master Duo's explanation, their eyes lit up.
"If that's the case, it explains why the victim suffered such severe injuries without a single person in the entire courtyard hearing anything. The perpetrator's objective was very clear: to abduct the victim and harm him elsewhere."
"Combined with the extent of the victim's injuries, we can deduce that the culprit harbored deep hatred for the victim—and a serious grudge at that."
"He clearly had the chance to kill the victim on the spot, but chose not to. Instead, he crippled him. What kind of hatred could drive someone to commit such a cruel act?"
Killing someone!
Actually wasn't the cruelest thing.
Turning a victim into a cripple and leaving him to live out the rest of his days in despair—that was the most vicious.
Just as Hao Pingchuan and Bai Ling grasped this line of reasoning, Zheng Zhaoyang walked off to the side.
"Hello there, how should I address you?"
Zheng Zhaoyang looked at Yi Zhonghai, Yan Bugui, and the others with a gentle smile on his face.
"Ah! Hello, comrades from the Public Security Bureau. I am Yi Zhonghai, the First Uncle and manager of this courtyard."
"I am Yan Bugui, the Third Uncle and manager of this courtyard."
Yi Zhonghai and Yan Bugui answered hastily. Even though Zheng Zhaoyang was all smiles, for some reason, both of them felt a wave of tension.
Perhaps because they had done too many shady things and had a guilty conscience!
"So you're the courtyard managers!"
Zheng Zhaoyang's eyes lit up. The victim, Liu Haizhong, was also a manager of this courtyard. Since all three of them held the same position, these two ought to know more about the victim's situation.
"First Uncle, let me ask you something. Did Liu Haizhong have any enemies?"
"Or anyone he didn't get along with or had serious conflicts with?"
While Zheng Zhaoyang was asking, Bai Ling and Hao Pingchuan, who had followed over, also walked up, fixing their piercing gazes on Yi Zhonghai.
They hoped to find a breakthrough from him.
"Enemies?"
Yi Zhonghai's heart trembled violently, but on the surface, he put on a troubled expression.
"Comrades from Public Security, I'm not really sure if Liu Haizhong had any enemies. But if we're talking about someone he had a conflict with, I can think of one person."
"Who?"
Before Zheng Zhaoyang could say anything, Bai Ling beat him to it.
"Chen Feng from the Rear Courtyard. He lives right across from Liu Haizhong."
Yi Zhonghai pointed toward another direction, indicating a locked door.
"Just yesterday morning, that Chen Feng had a clash with Liu Haizhong, and he even threatened to kill him. A lot of people in the Rear Courtyard saw it."
"Yes, I can vouch for that too."
Yan Bugui nodded as well.
"Chen Feng has a violent temper, and his interpersonal relationships in the courtyard are terrible. He doesn't get along with others at all. You can tell at a glance he's a backward element."
"Why, a month ago, Chen Feng even threatened all of us with a knife! If you ask me, chances are he's the one who did this."
Yan Bugui's certain tone made Bai Ling and Hao Pingchuan's hearts leap with joy.
Could this case really be solved just like that?!