Chapter 213: Murder Memories

Detention center, interrogation room.

Xiao Yu once again met with the suspect and took him straight from the detention center to the villa.

Handcuffed in the police car, Yu Shaoyang asked, “Where are you taking me?” 

“To the murder scene you described,” Xiao Yu said coldly, sitting beside him.

“…”

Yu Shaoyang fell silent, his face gradually turning pale. 

Xiao Yu glanced at him, recognizing the signs of avoidance. 

There were many things people didn’t want to face—embarrassing moments, evil deeds, guilty acts… the list goes on.

At the villa, Xiao Yu and Guo Qiang brought Yu Shaoyang straight to the bedroom.

“According to your statement, you strangled Wang Mei here?” 

Xiao Yu pointed at the bed, staring coldly at Yu Shaoyang, who had his head lowered.

“Yeah…” Yu Shaoyang responded quietly, “It was… here.”

“What did you use?” Xiao Yu asked again.

“A telephone cord.”

Yu Shaoyang’s eyes instinctively shifted to the nightstand, landing on a landline phone. When he saw it, his gaze froze.

That landline was intact.

Xiao Yu was also looking at the phone. 

Through his Eagle Eye, he could see that the landline was in perfect condition. There were no signs of force or pulling, and the cord was neatly in place.

Guo Qiang handed Xiao Yu a pair of latex gloves. Once he had them on, Xiao Yu picked up the phone and held it to his ear.

Beep… Beep…

A strange glint flashed in Xiao Yu’s eyes.

A phone cord can indeed strangle someone, but if used with enough force to kill, even if the outer layer didn’t break, the inner copper wires should be damaged.

Was the quality really that good?

The forensic team arrived to test the phone cord.

What could they be testing for? Fingerprints? No, not fingerprints. They were testing for oil.

Everyone knows that human skin secretes oil. If this phone cord had been used to strangle someone, wouldn’t there be some trace of skin oils left behind?

The result… nothing.

Xiao Yu’s expression grew cold. There were two possibilities. 

First possibility, Yu Shaoyang really did use the phone cord to strangle Wang Mei and the phone had been swapped out.

Second possibility, Yu Shaoyang was lying, and he didn’t use the landline cord to kill anyone. The entire murder process was fabricated.

Which of the two possibilities was more believable?

Xiao Yu turned his head and stared intently at Yu Shaoyang’s face, trying to read his expressions carefully. He saw confusion, disbelief, and shock. Yu Shaoyang looked just as baffled as to why the phone cord was intact. Xiao Yu observed his expressions in detail and finally concluded. The first possibility seemed more likely.

***

In the villa’s kitchen.

“I panicked after strangling her. But… at that moment, I felt this rush, like all the blood in my body was boiling. I can’t explain it, but there was this thrill. I knew I had to deal with the body. Then, I came up with a plan. I went and bought a large suitcase. I was going to hide her body in it, but… her body had gone stiff. There was no way to bend her limbs or fit her into the suitcase.”

Yu Shaoyang’s face was pale as he recounted the events of the murder, trying to recall every detail.

“Stop.” Xiao Yu interrupted, frowning. “Her body was stiff? So, you strangled Wang Mei, but then waited a long time before deciding to deal with the body?”

After a person dies, rigor mortis usually starts to set in after 3 to 6 hours. 

From the time of death, the body begins to lose heat gradually, until it cools down to match the surrounding temperature. External factors influence the rate at which the body cools and stiffens. The greater the temperature difference between the body and the environment, the faster the body cools, and the quicker rigor mortis sets in.

So, what was Yu Shaoyang doing during those 3 to 6 hours?

“I think… I might have…” Yu Shaoyang hesitated, unsure. “…fallen asleep?”

Xiao Yu, “???”

‘Wait, you killed someone and then fell asleep?’

Even Guo Qiang, an experienced investigator, was left speechless at that statement. 

What kind of mental state was that?

“You’re sure you fell asleep?” A sharp gleam flashed in Xiao Yu’s eyes.

“Yeah.” Yu Shaoyang racked his brain, finally confirming, “I did. When I woke up, her body was lying next to me, and it scared the hell out of me.”

Something was definitely off. 

Xiao Yu and Guo Qiang exchanged glances, both sensing the same unease. A normal person wouldn’t just fall asleep in that kind of situation. But Yu Shaoyang did, which was a huge red flag.

Of course, there was also the possibility that Yu Shaoyang had some serious psychological issues.

“Go on,” Xiao Yu asked coldly, “What happened next?”

“Next…” Yu Shaoyang whispered, “The body wouldn’t fit in the suitcase, so I had to come up with a solution. In the end… I thought of dismembering it.”

“A kitchen knife? You used that to dismember?” Xiao Yu frowned.

“Yes, that’s right,” Yu Shaoyang nodded, looking pale. “I started by cutting into her skin with the kitchen knife… but I don’t really remember how I did it. It’s like… I felt exhausted? But also weirdly excited? Kinda hazy. When I sort of came to, the body was already chopped up. Her arms, legs, head… all lying in front of me, stuffed into the suitcase.”

A strange gleam flashed in Xiao Yu’s eyes.

No way. A kitchen knife couldn’t have realistically been used to dismember a corpse, especially a body that had already gone stiff.

It would be nearly impossible.

Tired? Excited? Hazy? And then suddenly clear-headed?

Those keywords spun around in Xiao Yu’s mind, rapidly combining, analyzing, and piecing things together.

At the same time, he recalled how the forensic experts and detectives hadn’t found any trace of dismemberment at the scene.

From the moment Yu Shaoyang claimed to have killed Wang Mei, things had been off. Then the whole dismemberment process became even stranger.

So, was it possible that someone else was involved during the time Yu Shaoyang killed Wang Mei? 

Maybe this person used some method to put Yu Shaoyang to sleep, then killed Wang Mei themselves?

And when Yu Shaoyang woke up, thinking he needed to dismember the body, this person returned and somehow put him in a dazed state again.

They took the body, chopped it up, placed it in the suitcase, and left it in front of Yu Shaoyang.

Afterward, they woke Yu Shaoyang from his dazed state, making him believe he had done it all himself?

Xiao Yu’s mind was blown.

Was that even possible?