Rebirth: He Decides to Lie Flat
Chapter 211 - 211 208 Nobody Believes It

Chapter 211: Chapter 208 Nobody Believes It Chapter 211: Chapter 208 Nobody Believes It “The skeleton assembly is complete, consisting of three sets, one big and two small. The larger one is of an adult woman, estimated to be around thirty years old based on the bone age. Her skull was split in two, and from the junction, it can be seen she was injured by a sharp weapon while she was alive, preliminarily speculated to be a large cleaver or a big watermelon knife. The other two sets consist of a male child of about three years old, and an infant around six months old. The time of death…”

At noon, the gentle and soft sunlight shone upon the Earth, and in the courtyard in the northwest corner of the old city district, police officers were coming and going, and the clicking sound of cameras was incessant.

“Xu Qian?”

Zhou Youming couldn’t help but pull at the young girl who had been squatting in a corner of the courtyard, in a daze all morning, as still as a statue with a deathly pale face—it was quite worrying.

The assembled skeletons were placed in the yard, covered with white cloths. Xu Qian’s gaze unerringly fixed on the largest one in the middle.

Upon hearing Zhou Youming’s call, she moved her eyes, finally showing a reaction.

“Uncle, is that…really my mother?”

That would depend on the identification results. A forensic expert had already come to take two of Xu Qian’s hairs for DNA identification with the female corpse.

Zhou Youming tried to comfort her, “It might not be.”

He could understand her feelings; facing the death of a loved one was one thing, but such a brutal manner of death was quite another, difficult for anyone to accept.

“Uncle, can they catch that person?”

“They definitely will!”

“Thank you…”

Zhou Youming sighed softly, “Go sit in the police car, it’s too cold here.”

Xu Qian slowly stood up, feeling a little dizzy from squatting for too long, with her legs also a bit stiff. So she closed her eyes for a good while before starting to step out.

“Uncle, may I ask, the little sister, who is she to you?”

“She’s my sister.”

“If there’s a chance, can I meet her?”

Zhou Youming nodded, “I’ll pass on your words to her.”

“Thank you, Uncle!”

…

“Zhao Youshun, male, 45 years old, never married. He hasn’t returned to Yunzhou since leaving fourteen years ago, but his mother, Widow Zhao, denies that Zhao Youshun committed murder. She claims the man was killed by a friend Zhao had brought with him. She detailed the man’s appearance: medium height, slightly overweight, with a scar at the corner of his left eye, a flat nose, and thick lips. She heard her son call the other ‘Old Pan,’ but she’s not clear about his full name. She said this man would often sharpen knives in their courtyard, a very long watermelon knife…”

“Both male children died of suffocation, initially deduced to have been smothered. Widow Zhao said she didn’t know why the children died. Her son found the two children’s constant crying annoying, and then the knife-sharpener went inside for a while, and soon after, there was no more crying. She discovered the children were dead after the men had left, and out of fear, she reopened the hole her son had dug under the bed in the west room where the female corpse was buried, and stuffed the two children inside. Afraid of their vengeful spirits, she reattached the door gods and burned incense and ‘Ingot’ papers, continuing this ritual every year…”

“According to Widow Zhao’s recollection, the woman was killed at midnight. First, she set fire to the curtains in the west room and then tried to escape with the two little girls amidst the chaos. Later, the scar-eyed fat man cut her down with a knife. Widow Zhao said that woman was uncanny, even with her head split in two, she clung tightly to the fat man’s leg, making it difficult for him to move. The others were also startled, and in the end, they failed to catch up with the two small children in time.”

“Because they were afraid the noise from the first night would alarm others, the next day the group hurriedly left with a few children. The woman’s body was buried by Zhao Youshun under the west room’s bed…”

“Seventeen years ago, the earliest case of a watermelon knife decapitating someone’s head into two halves occurred in a small mountain village at the border between Northern Province and Dong Province. The victim, surnamed Li, was decapitated into two halves with an axe by Pan Dalong for cursing at him after a sheep nibbled on his vegetables. Afterward, Pan Dalong went into hiding and his whereabouts were unknown. Fifteen years ago, in an abandoned factory on the outskirts of Lingzhou, the corpse of a woman with her head chopped in half was found. At that time, the Lingzhou police deduced that the weapon used was a watermelon knife, similar to the case of a female corpse from fourteen years ago…”

“The identification results are out, the mother-daughter relationship between Xu Qian and the female deceased is established…”

….

December 6th, Thursday.

Jiang Yan was leaning against the railing of the balcony, one hand holding a cell phone to his ear and the other with a cigarette pinched between his index and middle finger.

“Pan Dalong has been a fugitive from the get-go, and now Zhao Youshun is also wanted nationwide. Moreover, according to Zhao’s old mother, her son inadvertently revealed to her that their boss is in Beijing, someone capable of making them big money. So, the initial speculation is that Zhao Youshun and Pan Dalong are likely in Beijing. Yunzhou police have already made contact with the Beijing police. What happens next is up to them.”

After Zhou Youming explained the whole story, Jiang Yan asked, “Do you know what that auntie’s name is?”

“Xu Qian only remembers that her mother’s name contained the character ‘Fang,’ but she can’t remember the full name.”

“And what about her biological father? Any news?”

“No information yet. Over a decade ago, computers were not widespread. It wasn’t easy to search the system for missing persons, so it’s still unclear if, fourteen years ago when Xu Qian and her mother went missing, her father filed a report. Of course, the main issue is that Xu Qian can’t recall where her hometown is.”

“Jiajia can now vaguely recall the appearance of that auntie. She has drawn a sketch. It’s not very clear, but the facial features and shape should be accurate. I’ll send it to you later. She also wants to draw the human traffickers. The psychologist will hypnotize her again this week to see if she can remember anything.”

Zhou Youming frowned, “Why must she be hypnotized? Can’t she just not think about it? The police will solve the case on their own; they don’t have to rely on a child.”

In his view, it was already quite an achievement that Jiajia was able to grow up without succumbing to the childhood trauma from that experience. At the age of three, it’s better to forget some things if possible.

If only forgetting were that easy!

Jiang Yan didn’t explain to Zhou Youming about her ongoing nightmares and poor sleep; she simply said, “Don’t worry, Jiajia is stronger than you think.”

The two exchanged their information and only after a while did they end the call.

Jiang Yan maintained his posture leaning against the railing, slowly exhaling a puff of smoke into the cold air outside the window.

Last time at the train station, when the group was caught, a couple who claimed to be the foster parents of a girl came to the criminal police team to take her away. The adoption procedures were complete, mentioning the particular date, month, and year, in a certain orphanage.

In this situation, by law, they had to release them.

However, before letting them go, Deputy Captain Lin Fei of the Criminal Police Detachment had ‘the family of three’ separated and questioned individually. After the questioning was over, the couple were also held back.

The reason was simple; they couldn’t even get the little girl’s nickname, her favorite foods, her likes, or even her grade in school… everything they said was inconsistent with what the little girl said.

Claiming that they were family, ghosts wouldn’t believe it!