I had never seen such a completely clean specimen before. Judging by some of the marks on it, this fellow must have shaved it off deliberately.
Something suddenly occurred to me. I abruptly pulled all the previous male corpses out of the freezer and uncovered them. Good heavens!
The moment I discovered that astonishing secret, I was struck by an inexplicable sense of disbelief.
Could this be the killer's criminal signature? But how did he know that particular spot on the victim...
No! I re-examined the area. Judging by the length of the hair, it had been shaved off after the victim’s death.
This meant that after killing the victim, the killer had removed the victim's trousers and done this deliberately.
Just thinking in this direction made me feel the killer was unprecedentedly perverted.
A thought struck me. I quickly took off my rubber gloves, handed over the subsequent work to Xie Chuchu and the others, and then shot off to the Information Department like a rocket.
As soon as He Xin saw me, she handed me a file. She had probably already investigated Liu Kangcheng's information.
Liu Kangcheng, 39 years old, was the head of Kendō Karate in Guangming City, essentially the boss. This guy was outstanding in karate, yet he was strangled to death by the killer? Could it be that this killer was even more skilled than him? No wonder the previous two victims were so easily subdued. After all, Liu Kangcheng was a black belt.
The different colors of karate belts symbolize different ranks. White belt signifies no rank, orange belt signifies 10th to 9th kyu, green belt signifies 8th to 7th kyu, blue belt signifies 6th to 5th kyu, purple belt signifies 4th to 3rd kyu, brown belt signifies 2nd to 1st kyu, and black belt signifies 1st dan and above.
As I was looking at the file, He Xin told me, "The place where the incident occurred was the locker room of the Kendō Karate dojo."
"Mm, have the interviews with his acquaintances been conducted? Have the surveillance cameras been reviewed?"
"The surveillance cameras seem to be of no use. We've been watching them all night and found nothing!"
"Take another look at the entry and exit times. Examine them meticulously!"
"Understood, Father. Neither Heguo-ge nor I will be so careless!"
Yuan Hezhi clicked his fingers at that moment, preparing a bottle of eye drops, likely to brace himself for another round of surveillance review.
I didn't have the mental energy to watch the surveillance footage. Liu Yuning had gone out to investigate Liu Kangcheng's family and friends, while I intended to go to Liu Kangcheng's workplace.
Driving to the Kendō Karate dojo, I checked the time. It was daytime now, with high visibility all around. Even from outside, I could see the police cordon set up by the Guangming City police.
After crossing the cordon, I put on my shoe covers and a head covering, carrying my forensics kit, and approached the locker room door. The surveillance cameras here should have captured the situation in the corridor.
Upon entering, I found the surroundings to be quite tidy, except for near a blue locker where police markers and number signs were placed. Liu Kangcheng must have been lying here. The body was discovered by a coach at the dojo who was the first to arrive to change and start work. As soon as he entered, he saw his boss dead in front of the locker.
I observed carefully. There were no signs of damage, fingerprints, or other traces on the locker itself. However, one spot looked like it had been opened before. On the handle, I didn't notice anything at first. But with the sunlight from outside, when I shone my forensic lamp on it, individual fingerprints were miraculously revealed.
Heh, theoretically, there should be many fingerprints in a place like this, as many people open lockers daily. If there were none, it would indicate the killer had wiped them clean. But due to my actions, these erased traces reappeared.
Moreover, because these were the most recently left fingerprints, they had covered the older ones. After collecting the fingerprints with adhesive tape, I thought that if these weren't the victim's fingerprints, they were likely the killer's.
Especially when I carefully opened the locker, I found signs of someone having been inside, and some damage within. All this proved the victim had been inside the locker but was later pulled out by the killer. It was likely that the victim was attacked by the killer and hid in the locker, attempting to escape pursuit. However, the agile killer still discovered his whereabouts, opened the locker, and forcibly dragged him out. This explained the scratches on the victim's left shoulder. Combined with the footprints leading forward below, it appeared the killer was left-handed.
But there was still another question. Why did this guy strangle the victim a few more times? And then shave the hair off that particular spot?
If we consider germophobia, then this killer could also be a woman.
Scratching my head, I crossed over a window near the victim's locker and went to the back of the locker room. There was an alley here with several surveillance blind spots. If I were the killer, leaving from here after committing the murder, I probably wouldn't have been caught on camera.
After returning to the locker room and observing again, I felt there was no need to stay there any longer. I took the collected fingerprints with me and left the locker room.
Upon returning, I immediately asked the technical team to conduct a comparison to see if the fingerprints could be matched in the database.
During this process, He Xin and I watched the surveillance footage again. After about an hour, Liu Yuning and Xiahou returned. They informed me that they hadn't heard anything significant from Liu Kangcheng's family and friends. Everyone just said that Liu Kangcheng was very unfilial. Although he wasn't short of money, he didn't take care of his father who was recuperating in the hospital. In the end, his father died.
"Again? It seems the killer strongly detests unfilial people. When did Liu Kangcheng's father die?"
"Recently. The timing fits the killer's crime window. The killer must have found out about this recently and therefore targeted Liu Kangcheng!" Liu Yuning said, taking a sip of water, looking somewhat tired.
"Yuning, you go and rest. I'll look at the surveillance footage again. The motive and other aspects are basically confirmed now. We must quickly identify the killer's characteristics!"
"I've interviewed people around the dojo and the internal staff. No witnesses have been found."
"Sigh, I understand!"
If the surveillance footage was useless, it was indeed quite tricky.
However, I didn't give up. On the contrary, I became more invigorated because I refused to believe that such a formidable killer truly existed in the world.
People leave their names behind, and geese leave their calls. No matter where the killer has been or what they have done, there will always be a day when it is exposed!
And this was merely a matter of time.
I watched intently, almost repeating the work He Xin and the others had done. But this time, I noticed that during the time of the victim's death, he had, as usual, come to the dojo. On that day, he arrived earlier than anyone else. However, according to Liu Kangcheng's usual habits, he wouldn't return until at least 9 o'clock.