Chapter 1399: Senior Investigator
Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
“This here is the senior investigator from the Special Bureau’s headquarters, Faran Liang,” the military officer with the triangular eyes introduced him. “My name is Huang Rong, a special commissioner of the Military Intelligence Bureau. Me and Old Liang here have already decided to conduct this investigation together. Please inform Dad that there’s no need for you two to take part at this time.”
A senior investigator from the Special Bureau’s headquarters?
Xia Fan gave Faran Liang a once-over. He was a middle-aged man with a broad mouth. Though it was still daytime, he was wearing a pair of wide sungla.s.ses, and his hair was neatly combed, with not a strand out of place.
“This is Brenia, and every special ability criminal case that happens on Brenia is within our branch’s jurisdiction!” Cheyenne protested.
“Hmph,” Faran Liang snorted, the expression on his face somber. He stared at Cheyenne’s chest and remarked coldly, “The two of you are just a junior investigator and a trainee investigator; neither of you have the qualifications to speak to me. Scram! Get Jerry out here if you wish to discuss this!”
!!
What an arrogant att.i.tude! Xia Fan could see that Cheyenne felt humiliated, her fair neck flus.h.i.+ng red as her breathing became labored.
It was at that moment that Xia Fan heard the voice of Candy Dad Jerry, “Asking my men to scram? I think you’re the one who ought to f*ck off…”
Xia Fan was shocked, as this was the first time he had heard Jerry swear.
Turning around, he saw as Jerry was squarely in the center of the entry hall, his rotund body taking up the entire corridor. Behind him were ‘Rock’ Qin Zimo, ‘Prince’ Ge Chenchen, and ‘Man in Black’ Dunn.
Every investigator from the Brenia brunch had already been a.s.sembled. Starting with Candy Dad Jerry, everyone had their own nickname, except for Xia Fan. Because he was still a trainee, he was only considered half an investigator, so he had not received his nickname yet.
Faran Liang stared at Dad, and before he even spoke, Jerry changed his previously ambivalent tone and aggressively hissed, “Faran Liang, Senior investigator of the Seventh Division from the headquarters. You were still a child the last time we met. Who would have thought that so many years would have pa.s.sed since then. If I remember this correctly, you ought to be forty this year, right?”
It turned out that Dad also knew how to wield his seniority; Xia Fan found that quite amusing. He could see Faran Laing wrinkle his brow and unwillingly correct him, “I turned 43 this year.”
Dad chuckled and asked him, “How is your rascal of a division head, Zhang Weiyuan, doing?”
Xia Fan could feel his heart shudder. Dad actually called the division head of the Seventh Division from the headquarters a rascal? That was some impressive bravado!
Farn Liang answered, “Division Head Zhang has already been transferred to become the chief of the Cla.s.sified Bureau.”
“Oh, then what about Old Cai, who was originally the Cla.s.sified Bureau’s chief?” Dad asked.
“The elder is now in the headquarters’ Law Enforcement Committee,” Faran Liang answered hesitantly.
Jerry laughed, “Law Enforcement Committee you say? He must have succeeded Liao Qingshan. When I was still in the headquarters, Old Liao was already in a bad shape, barely hanging on the entire time. It must have been really hard on him. It’s good that he’s retired now, giving him time to enjoy happiness with his daughter. I remember when her daughter Liao Qingqing was first born, I had even hugged her, and the cheeky little girl p.i.s.sed in my arms…”
Xia Fan was completely speechless. The daughter of someone on the Law Enforcement Committee in the headquarters had p.i.s.sed while in Jerry’s arm before? It was almost as if he knew everyone in the headquarters. Just what was the history of this fat and chubby old man?
Faran Liang pursed his lips, “Dad, please don’t use your seniority to oppress me. The past is no longer the present, and as a senior investigator of the bureau, I have the qualifications to take over the operations of a local bureau. Of course, I can’t help it if you wish to snitch on this to the headquarters.”
“Hahaha!” Dad laughed out loud, as he pulled out a bag of hazelnut chocolate and distributed some to everyone. Seeing how large his bosom was, there was no doubt plenty of delicious snacks hidden in his pockets.
“Why would I?” Dad peeled the wrapper off a chocolate and popped it into his mouth, relis.h.i.+ng it as he said, “Snitching isn’t my style. But I do feel that this case isn’t unremarkable, and ought to be handed off to someone who could better crack the case.”
Faran Liang did not accept the chocolate Dad offered him, excitement was clearly in his eyes when he said, “Dad, are you serious? Have you forgotten that I’m a senior investigator from the headquarters?”
“I’m positive,” Dad nodded. “Tell us what you deduced.”
Faran Liang nodded and his expression turned stern and serious. He squatted down and carefully examined the victim’s bodies, stroking his chin from time to time as he lost himself in deep thought.
Cheyenne brought Xia Fan to a corner of the living room and said, “While Dad and that Liang person have it out, there’s nothing for us to do, so let’s just watch the show.”
The baffled Xia Fan asked, “Dad has an amazing background, huh.”
“Yeah!” Cheyenne answered happily. “I heard that Dad was a gold-rated investigator when he was with the Headquarters in the past. Something happened later that caused him to be sent over to Brenia. That Liang person dares to act pretentiously in front of Dad, so he’ll now be teaching him how to properly be a man in a matter of minutes.”
‘Prince’ Ge Chenchen interjected, “Dad isn’t the sort that enjoys pulling rank, either, and is more than happy to show obeisance if he can get away with it. However, Dad is someone that cherishes his wards the most. When that Liang person mocked you two, Dad heard it, and that is a great taboo for him. He is fine if others ill-treat him, but he will not stand it if others bully his men, and that means all of us.”
Xia Fan felt touched hearing this. Jerry’s style was quite similar to the scoundrels that Xia Fan had grown up with. They too would protect Xia Fan to the best of their abilities, even until the end when they exchanged his freedom with their lives.
—
After about a dozen or so minutes pa.s.sed, Faran Liang finally got up and laid out his plausible speculation, “Obviously, this is a premeditated robbery-c.u.m-murder case. According to the stiffness of the body, I judge that the time the crime occurred is between 10 PM and 11 PM last night.
“There’s no signs of damage in the entire villa, which means that the culprit must have first gained the confidence of Wu Jie and his family, and upon entering the room, suddenly committed the murder. At that moment, Wu Jie and his wife were accompanying their three grandchildren watching television, which is why their bodies are gathered here in the living room.
“The safe on the second floor in Wu Jie’s study has been busted open, and the belongings inside are all missing. This clearly shows that the culprit could very well be someone the family is acquainted with, as they knew the location of the safe and the daily routines of the family.
“It’s apparent that the scene of the crime had been professionally cleaned, and there’s no remnants that would serve as clues to shed light on more details. Adding to the fact that Wu Jie was once a special ability user, I dare posit that there should at least be two culprits to this crime, wielding Star Domain rank combat strength…”
Faran Liang gave his deduction from a professional point of view, judging this to have been a robbery and murder case.
Living up to the t.i.tle of a senior investigator from the headquarters, Faran Liang’s deduction was reasonable, with a clear line of thinking. He concluded it thusly, “According to what we can gather from the scene of the crime, the murderer should be two or three Stealth special ability users, unregistered. However, as long as we conduct a residential survey within a thirty kilometer radius from the site of the murder, we ought to be able to locate the suspects. Focus on the local property companies, electric and utilities company, police and other such jobs that could easily gain the victim’s trust.”
Clap clap clap clap…
Huang Rong from the military applauded loudly, “When a senior investigator turns up, they sure demonstrate just how extraordinary they are. I do believe we’ll be able to locate the culprit if we follow this line of thinking. What are your thoughts, Dad?”
Candy Dad Jerry had a half-smile on his face and turned his gaze to Xia Fan, “Xia Fan, do you have a different take on the matter?”
Xia Fan was startled. He had not expected Jerry to just toss the hot potato to his corner. He had been led to believe that it was Jerry who was about to personally take on this case.
The face of Faran Liang turned green as he said through gritted teeth, “What do you mean by this, Dad? He’s just a trainee investigator who isn’t even wet behind his ears yet!”
Jerry thought nothing of his protests, “How do you know without giving it a shot? When I first met you twenty years ago, you weren’t anywhere better than Xia Fan now, either.
“It’s fine, Xia Fan. Boldly tell us what your thoughts are.”
Xia Fan had no choice. Giving a slight nod, he smiled at the seething Faran Liang and met his angry glare, “I think this isn’t a robbery and murder. It was an execution.”
Execution?!
The word Xia Fan used was very specific, and everyone was stunned after hearing it.
Jerry stroked his fat chin and gestured kindly, “Go on.”
XIa Fan made his way to the center of the living room. He stood in front of the five corpses and pointed below with one hand, “Have none of you realized that the method of death Wu Jie’s entire family experienced is very strange? Their heads are all pointed to the center of the living room, and their faces are all planted on the floor, with slit throats.
“It is my belief that after the murderer entered the villa, they restrained all the vicitims in the living room and made them kneel down in a circle, before using a knife or something sharp to slit their throats.
“Such an execution style of killing the victims demonstrates just how deep-seated the hatred the killer had. From the wounds on their necks, you can tell that the cuts were all done with the left hand, because the right side of the gash is clearly deeper. Meanwhile, for all five of the victims to sport the same left hand slit of their throats means that there wasn’t a group of killers, but just one.”
“After all, the chances of there to be many killers all being left-handed is far too low.”
“What nonsense!” Faran Liang could not contain his outrage. “Wu Jie is a retired military man, a special ability user! If there was just a single killer, why didn’t he put up a fight?!”
Xia Fan chuckled, “Perhaps Wu Jie knows the killer, and when he or she came knocking on their front door and appeared inside his home, he already knew that he was going to die, and so did not put up any resistance whatsoever.”
“Ridiculous!” Faran Liang glared at Jerry. “Is this your underling? We of the Special Bureau rely on the strength of our evidence, not whimsical conjectures!”
Jerry was unmoved, but asked Xia Fan, “He’s right. You need proof.”
Xia Fan nodded, “I’ll try.”
With that, Xia Fan walked over to the floor-to-ceiling gla.s.s door and donned a pair of gloves. He proceeded to push open the door and rolled up his tongue, as if he was going to whistle, but the sound he made was something no one present could hear.
In no time at all, a few orioles came chirping up and landed beside him. These orioles were not in the least bit afraid of Xia Fan, perching on his arm and shoulder, before finally moving to XIa Fan’s palm, to eat the bits and pieces of chocolate.
“Is that a Beast Control Technique?!” Faran Liang was stunned. He was looking at Xia Fan with completely different eyes right now. They no longer had contempt, but great shock.
After all, Xia Fan was quite young. It was rare to even find anyone actually able to grasp a high level Beast Control Technique and be able to control the little animals around them at his whim. Normally, even if someone was proficient with the technique, they ought to be some elderly man who was advanced in his years.
Huang Rong squinted and also re-examined Xia Fan.
Turning around, Xia Fan said helplessly, “Originally, the mouse living beneath the sewer under the kitchen was an even better choice, but it’s a pity that someone used some powerful insecticide containing benzene that sent all the mice scurrying away.”
“Fortunately, these little guys were staying nearby, and they told me that only one person visited last night.”
“Hmph!” Faran Liang said morosely, “Even if you have a Beast Control Technique and could obtain information from the animals, you still can’t explain the safe on the second floor being robbed As a retired special ability user, the wealth that Wu Jie owns is sure to be far greater than that of the average citizen. This isn’t a revenge kill, but a premeditated robbery turned murder!”
“Achoo!” Xia Fan sniffed the air and sneezed suddenly, scaring the orioles away.
Powerless, Xia Fan had no choice but to toss the chocolate out onto the gra.s.sy lawn in the courtyard and return to Jerry’s side, whispering a few words into his ears.
“Are you sure?” Dad was startled, the fat on his chin trembling.
“About fifty percent. After all, the smell of disinfectant in this room has severely inhibited me, which is why I need you to make the final decision,” Xia Fan shrugged.
Dad nodded his head slightly, studying Xia Fan, who maintained his smile.
Jerry first looked at Faran Liang, and then turned to Huang Rong, before finally resting his gaze in the corner of the room on that black briefcase with the Military Intelligence Bureau’s insignia.
Lifting his head, Candy Dad Jerry raised his voice and spoke in an imposing manner, “Right now, I suspect that the items stolen from the second floor safe are in that black briefcase. Please open it and show us its contents!”