The door to Song Baicheng’s house was closed.
When he arrived at the door, Xia Lei’s left eye twitched a little. He used his X-ray vision to survey the room.
There was no one in the living room. The television was turned on and playing a reality show. There was no one in the kitchen to the left of the living room either. There was only a pressure cooker on the gas stove. Steam rose from the pressure cooker meaning that there was something being prepared. To the left of the living room was a hallway.
There were three bedrooms located on one side of the hallway, all three doors were shut. At the end of the hallway was a balcony. The glass door was open but no one was on the balcony either.
Just as Xia Lei prepared to refine his vision, to dwell deeper into the contents of the three rooms, Liang Siyao was already using her lock picking tools to force the door open.
“Be careful, he has a gun. Follow behind me,” instructed Liang Siyao as she pulled out her gun.
Normally in a situation like that, the man should have taken the lead but she was adamant in making sure she was the first line of fire.
Xia Lei was not a man who would hide behind a woman. With a swift movement, he pulled her behind then walked down the hallway himself. He pulled out his gun, both arms stretched in front to prepare for anything.
Liang Siyao did not cut in front of him. She understood where he was coming from.
When they arrived at the first door, he stopped and put down his gun.
Without opening the door, he could already see the situation inside the room. Song Baicheng was lying motionless on the bed, clad in underwear. He was definitely not sleeping because he was not moving. Even a person in deep sleep would have movements from breathing. Plus, his face was colored a greenish-purple. Living people were not that color.
At that moment, a surge of anger rose in his heart. He found Song Baicheng but someone else had got to him first. With Song Baicheng’s death, how could he continue with investigations?
“What’s the matter?” Liang Siyao asked gently. She couldn’t see what was in the room.
Xia Lei snapped back to reality. He stopped for a moment then slammed into the door suddenly.
The door was thrown open.
She rushed inside with her gun.
He followed suit.
“What is going on here?” Liang Siyao was shocked, quickly noticing that Song Baicheng was already dead.
Suppressing his anger, he said, “Someone got to him before us to get rid of any traces.”
“Let’s search the room to see if the killer left any clues.” She started to search the room.
Xia Lei stood quietly at the edge of the bed, staring at Song Baicheng.
He had no wounds or signs of strangulation. The possibility of a gunshot, knife and strangle as the cause of death could be eliminated. His expression was peaceful as if he died in his sleep with no signs of suffering.
Xia Lei’s brows furrowed slightly. Song Baicheng was a man who had undergone training. He possessed skills above the average person. How was it possible that someone killed him without leaving a trace?
His gaze fell on Song Baicheng’s stomach, using his X-ray vision to check its contents.
His stomach was clean, with no food inside. There was food cooking in the kitchen, so this meant that he hadn’t eaten yet. There were no injuries, eliminating the possibility of a weapon assault. His stomach was empty with no medicine or food residue, so he definitely did not die from poison. But he couldn’t have died with no cause.
“Damn it, the culprit was careful enough to not leave anything behind.” Liang Siyao returned to his side. With her experience and training, she didn’t need to search for a long time like regular police.
He smiled bitterly. “We have met a master.”
“Who do you think it is?”
Xia Lei shook his head. “Anyone desperate enough to kill him could be prime suspects. But it’s difficult to tell who his murderer was.”
“I’ll give Boss Shi a call.” She slid out her phone.
His gaze fell unto Song Baicheng’s head. Like a blade, it was as if his left eye shaved the hair off so his vision could penetrate through the scalp.
The scalp was smooth and shiny with no obvious marks. However, he had a purple birthmark on his head.
He continued to stare at the purple birthmark and quickly found something odd. On the birthmark, there was a damaged hair pore. There was a slight hint of blood oozing out from it. It was very inconspicuous due to the purple birthmark. It was impossible for a regular person to notice it.
This discovery was a breakthrough.
His eyes locked on the pore, zooming in a hundred times. He saw that the skin had been damaged by something sharp. Perhaps something like a needle forcefully jammed into it. Following that, his left eye switched into X-ray and microscopic vision mode. He zoomed in and slowly penetrated through layers to reach Song Baicheng’s brain.
The truth was slowly emerging.
A very important blood vessel in his brain was damaged. It was a major artery, causing internal bleeding in his head.
Xia Lei thought to himself. “For someone to kill like this, two things must be achieved. One, this person must be very close to Song Baicheng so he’ll let his guard down around the culprit. Then, this person must be very experienced in murder, a professional killer. Which of his contacts fulfilled these criteria?”
Naturally, he thought of Ling Han but quickly brushed the thought away. Ling Han had never shown his abilities and certainly nothing close to this. Even if he had undergone military combat training like Song Baicheng, this could not prove that he was the killer. It was impossible for him to meet the second criteria too, to be a very experienced killer.
Other than Ling Han, he did not know anyone else who could be the mysterious killer.
Liang Siyao selected Shi Boren’s number, turning on her speak so Xia Lei could hear.
“Boss Shi.” When the call went through, Liang Siyao chose not to beat around the bush. “I’m already at Song Baicheng’s house but…”
“But what?”
“He’s dead.” She continued, “The murderer is very experienced, no evidence was left behind. There are no wounds on the body either. Please send a doctor here to deal with his body.”
“Stay on-site, don’t move. Protect the scene, I’ll send people over immediately,” came Shi Boren’s voice.
“Yes, Boss.”
“Xia Lei, is he with you?”
“He…” she hesitated.
“Don’t you dare lie to me. Pass the phone to him.” There was anger in his tone.
She shrugged then passed the phone to Xia Lei.
He took the phone then forced himself to say, “Boss Shi, it’s me. What’s the matter?”
Shi Boren’s voice rang from the other side of the phone. “You punk, I made you stay at the Thunder Horse Military Factory for your protection. What are you doing at Song Baicheng’s house? You think you haven’t caused enough trouble?”
“I couldn’t let her operate alone, so I came. Also, Song Baicheng almost killed me and Tang Yuyan. I wanted to personally capture him,” said Xia Lei.
“I knew you would have your excuses. Go back, immediately, now!”
“Song Baicheng is already dead, I want to help Siyao…”
Shi Boren interrupted Xia Lei. “This is an order!”
“Alright, alright. I’ll return immediately.” Xia Lei hung up.
Liang Siyao said, “You should go back. Leave this to me.”
“No, I will stay until the doctor comes. I want to know the autopsy results.”
“But Boss Shi had already given you the order, are you going to disobey him?” She looked at him with concern.
He grinned. “His orders are only effective on you all, I don’t care much for it. If I disobey him, would he discharge me?”
Liang Siyao shrugged. “He won’t discharge you but he will punish me. I’m just a tiny pawn in this game.”
Xia Lei was puzzled.
And because of this sudden remark, the atmosphere of the room turned awkward and silent.
Footsteps rang outside the door and chatters could be heard.
“Mom, Dad said he’s cooking chicken for us. He even said he’ll bring me to buy some toys after dinner. Are you coming with us?” A boy’s voice resounded through the hallway.
“You only care about food and your toys. What will you do when you grow up? Don’t forget, you have your piano lessons in the afternoon, you need to practice,” replied a woman.
“Mom! I don't want to learn piano, I want to buy toys!”
“Behave!” warned the lady. “Eh, why is the door open?”
In the bedroom, Xia Lei and Liang Siyao looked at each other then rushed out of the room. They met a middle-aged woman with a little boy aged around seven or eight.
The lady’s skin was fair and she was elegantly built. The boy was chubby, resembling Song Baicheng. It was obvious that this woman was Song Baicheng’s wife and his son.
“You…” The lady was stunned for a moment, then suddenly screamed. “Help! Thieves!”
“Don’t shout!” Liang Siyao quickly stepped forward.“We’re not thieves, we’re the police.”
The lady saw Liang Siyao’s gun in her hand then shrieked again. “Help! They’re trying to kill me!”
The boy ran out of the door, screaming and sobbing as he ran. “Help! There are bad people here!”
Xia Lei said, “Siyao, keep that gun away, let them be.”
She kept her gun.
The lady suddenly thought of something then rushed back into the bedroom. After a few seconds, there was a shriek that resembled a dying cat. “Baicheng! Baicheng…Ahhh! Wake up!”