67: Chapter 67 A Familiar Feeling

Chapter 67: Déjà Vu (Seeking Follow-up Reads)

"It's the Dark-Faced God, what bad luck!"

"His home is right around here, he's definitely going to be in charge of the case..."

Neighbors familiar with this person's style of action immediately gave him a wide berth.

Zhou Yongnian frowned, looking at the young police officer standing at the door and vomiting endlessly.

"First day in the Major Crimes Unit? Never seen a dead body? Big-Head Cong, are you a little girl?"

Seeing the young police officer lowering his head and not daring to speak, he subsequently softened his tone a bit and asked:

"What's the situation inside?"

The young police officer nicknamed "Big-Head Cong" immediately raised his head, straightened his posture, and replied:

"The coroner is examining the body, and A-Bang is taking statements."

Hearing this, Zhou Yongnian nodded, walking inside while continuing to ask:

"Has the murder weapon been found?"

"This..."

Big-Head Cong, following behind him, glanced at him, hesitated for a moment, seemingly finding it hard to put into words.

"Spit it out. I'm no rookie; what haven't I seen?"

Zhou Yongnian grew somewhat impatient.

"It seems to have been done with hands and teeth..."

Big-Head Cong answered stammeringly once more.

Hearing this, Zhou Yongnian was slightly stunned, though he didn't seem very surprised or incredulous.

"Quickly wipe your mouth clean and maintain a bit of a police officer's reputation and image for me."

He sternly glared at the young detective.

Then, under the slightly reverent gazes of his subordinates, he strode up the stairs and walked towards the room on the second floor.

Less than half a minute later, the sound of vomiting seemed to drift down from above once again.

Following closely, hurried footsteps came from top to bottom.

Meeting the puzzled gazes of everyone at the door, Zhou Yongnian touched the corner of his mouth, coughed, and sighed:

"I had too much of the black-bone chicken soup my wife boiled for me last night, it was a bit too nourishing for me to handle, and my stomach feels a bit uncomfortable."

As he spoke, he paused and waved toward the stairs: "A-Bang, bring people down to talk!"

...

At the first-floor foyer.

A heavily made-up woman draped in fur held a cigarette between her fingers, her expression looking somewhat impatient.

Standing beside her was a little girl wearing tattered and thin clothes with a timid expression.

"Is she your daughter?"

"How could I have such a burden? Her mother is lying inside."

"She's dead too?"

"She was hooked on drugs, you know."

A-Bang held a notebook and a ballpoint pen, continuously recording statements.

Zhou Yongnian stood aside to listen in, his brows furrowing slightly.

Matters like taking drugs seemed rather insignificant in the face of a homicide case.

According to the situation obtained from the crime scene investigation, four people unexpectedly died consecutively in this inconspicuous small hotel last night.

One of the corpses was mangled beyond recognition, completely lacking human form when discovered.

Right now, they could only confirm through statements that the deceased was a female tenant who had lived here for a long time.

The other three male deceased also belonged to the tenants.

Their manners of death were slightly more decent, except that their heads were missing, or their limbs had been torn off raw.

That tragic scene was as if a ferocious beast had broken in, wantonly venting its brutal killing desires.

In the end, only three survivors remained in the entire hotel.

Perhaps more than that!

There should be other travelers who braved the rain to escape overnight.

Thinking of this, Zhou Yongnian flipped through the registration roster in his hand, his thick brows involuntarily furrowing even tighter.

Despite the city's repeated and strict orders that all accommodation service providers must register with real identity cards,

there were still some irregular businesses that deliberately ignored this, casually filling in a name; as long as the money was paid, they could get a room card.

If calculated based on the number of people registered on the roster, obviously other witnesses had been missed.

The hotel proprietress was standing in front of a group of police officers at this moment, naggingly giving her statement while deliberately evading some key questions.

"It's always raining lately, not much business comes knocking, and last night was a rainstorm weather too, so I just left Xiao Zheng alone to look after the shop. Who would have expected him to... sigh..."

She sighed, and then said with a pretense of mystery:

"Officers, let me tell you, this mother and daughter are very suspicious. They've only been staying at my place for a few days, and they already dare to steal things from other guests. I feel this case definitely has something to do with them..."

Hearing this, Zhou Yongnian nodded in deep thought and instructed several subordinates beside him.

"Wake that woman up, and bring this little girl and the guy who was scared out of his mind back to the police station together."

Then he reached out and pointed at the flashily dressed proprietress.

"Take her away as well. Treat her as the prime suspect and interrogate her rigorously."

"Oh my, Brother Zhou!"

The proprietress was startled on the spot, hurriedly waving her hands to explain:

"We run a legitimate business, we would never dare do anything illegal..."

Zhou Yongnian's gaze abruptly turned sharp as he glared at her:

"Do you think I don't know? Your husband is a gang leader, and you're a madam. Do you want me to say anything more?"

"I... I want to see your superior and sue you for defamation and abuse of power!"

"Check every single error, first release, inner content, view them one by one!"

"The people suing me could line up from Jiangbei all the way to Xiguan; it wouldn't be your turn."

Dropping this sentence, Zhou Yongnian took the lead in walking outside while urging the other police officers:

"Quickly clean up the scene, don't miss any clues, and question the surrounding residents as well. Someone else definitely heard or saw something last night..."

"If reporters come over, keep your mouths tightly shut, or you'll get chewed out again!"

"Yes, sir!" "Yes, Team Leader."

Amidst the saluting responses of the various police officers, Zhou Yongnian strode out of the hotel entrance.

Glancing at the vehicle parked on the roadside, he prepared to wrap his head in his clothes and run over.

Suddenly, he caught sight of his daughter holding a floral umbrella, walking out from the crowd.

Beside her was also the figure of a very familiar young man.

"Dad."

"Uncle Zhou."

Zhou Xiumei hurried up to meet him, with another umbrella tucked under her arm.

Fang Cheng also held an umbrella, following closely behind and greeting Zhou Yongnian.

Just now when he went downstairs, he was preparing to go to the scene to check out the situation.

He happened to run into Zhou Xiumei, who was delivering an umbrella to her father.

The two of them then walked together.

"Xiumei, stay obediently at home lately, don't run around everywhere, and don't open the door to strangers."

Zhou Yongnian took the umbrella and admonished his daughter with a sentence.

Turning his head to glance at Fang Cheng, he said again:

"A-Cheng, you need to pay attention to safety as well."

Fang Cheng nodded in response, and after hesitating slightly, couldn't help asking:

"Uncle Zhou, is the killer a serial killer?"

Zhou Yongnian's gaze flickered slightly as he shook his head in denial:

"This case is different from the past, don't think too much about it."

Yet Fang Cheng still said:

"Uncle Zhou, I might have seen what the killer looked like last night."

Hearing this, Zhou Yongnian was stunned for a moment, then patted Fang Cheng's shoulder:

"Then get in the car with me and come back to the police station to make a statement together."

Turning around, he dove into the car, turned the ignition, and started it.

Without even having time to return home, he hurried off to the police station to handle the case.

The other two detectives took the three eyewitnesses and the hotel proprietress and headed back in another patrol car.

Under the drizzling rain, amidst a group of adults, one figure appeared exceptionally small and slender.

As that little girl lifted her leg to get into the car, she suddenly turned her head and glanced at Fang Cheng standing nearby.

Her eyes were like bright amber, deep in color, yet clear and flawless.

Fang Cheng also noticed that she was peeking at him.

He didn't care too much, just feeling that this little girl seemed somewhat familiar.