Shen Qiang immediately stood up, and half an hour later, when Shen Qiang drove to the frozen food factory on the outskirts of the development zone, he immediately saw the tall and slender Qian Shanxue, standing grimly by the roadside.
Shen Qiang got out of the car, showed his credentials, and then crossed the police barricade into the frozen food factory.
"A cultivator did it, ordinary people couldn't have done this," Qian Shanxue said directly upon seeing Shen Qiang.
Shen Qiang was puzzled: "What on earth happened?"
Qian Shanxue let out a breath, sighed, and said, "Come with me." With that, she turned and led Shen Qiang into the factory building of the frozen food factory, saying, "The person who reported it was the driver of a small truck parked in front of the food factory."
"He comes to this food factory to pick up goods at 4 a.m. every day, transporting them to the city to sell. This morning, when he arrived here, he found the factory gates closed and everything inside eerily quiet without a soul present. Feeling something was off, he called the factory manager."
"But the phone was off, and there was no one in the guardroom."
"So he had to wait outside. By 5:10 a.m., many people had gathered outside, concerned about business loss due to undelivered goods. Therefore, a few of the drivers mustered the courage to climb over the wall to enter the food factory, hoping to find someone available to get some goods."
At this point, they had entered the workshop.
Shen Qiang saw that the ground and equipment were very clean, as if they had been tidied up.
And at the far end of the workshop stood Ye Xiaolei and Ali.
"They found no one in the entire food factory. Since they had previously signed food agency contracts with the factory and paid varying amounts of deposit, some began to suspect that the factory owner had run off with the money."
"Thus, they rushed in and forced open the food factory's cold storage to see if there were any goods left to minimize some losses."
Arriving in front of the cold storage door, Qian Shanxue stopped and said solemnly, "But what they saw was this scene."
Listening to Qian Shanxue's words, Shen Qiang looked into the cold storage and was stunned.
At this time, officers were carefully examining the scene inside the cold storage.
What truly shocked Shen Qiang were the numerous corpses suspended on iron hooks inside the cold storage.
Judging by their clothing, shoes, hats, and ages, Shen Qiang's first reaction was to ask, "Are they all workers from this factory?"
"Yes," replied an officer nearby, glancing at Shen Qiang, then said, "From the night guard to the cleaning staff, up to the factory director and accountant, none were spared. Plus some additional people, likely those coming to pick up goods or having business dealings with the factory. In total, sixty-three bodies have been found. Our team is currently searching the area; there might be more victims."
Hearing this, Shen Qiang frowned.
Qian Shanxue said solemnly, "According to the initial autopsy, they were attacked around noon yesterday. However, a detailed autopsy can only be conducted after their bodies have thawed, which naturally would take about two days."
"It was done by a cultivator," Ali said telepathically from the side. "These people clearly didn't put up effective resistance, some were even hung up alive."
Shen Qiang's eyes turned cold as he asked, "What about surveillance? Any clues?"
Ali shook her head and said, "The police have reviewed the surrounding street surveillance but found no one entering or exiting. Yet from the scene's traces, the perpetrator's height is approximately between 1.75 meters and 1.78 meters, and he is left-handed."
Shen Qiang turned silently to look at Ye Xiaolei.
Understanding Shen Qiang was asking if she had any leads,
Ye Xiaolei immediately said, "Peanuts, when I arrived here, I smelled a strong scent of salty dry peanuts, but on closer inspection, none of the bodies in the cold storage had peanuts on them, and they hadn't consumed peanuts beforehand either."
Hearing this, Shen Qiang immediately picked up the phone.
"Find me a cultivator at once, with a height of approximately 1.75 to 1.78 meters, left-handed, who likes eating peanuts. Yes, whoever appeared around the Provincial City within the last three days, I'm waiting for your call."
After giving the instructions,
Shen Qiang said to Ali and Ye Xiaolei, "If a cultivator committed this, there's no way he'll get away with it. Don't just stand here helplessly, get back to the car and continue your sorting, because even if we solve this case, it won't be enough for a sudden turnaround."
Hearing this, Ali and Ye Xiaolei agreed and left.
Watching their retreating figures,
Qian Shanxue said, "Don't let your competitive nature cloud your judgment."
Shen Qiang raised an eyebrow and said, "I am very calm because this case is straightforward. It should have been a cultivator descending from the sky, committing the crime, and then leaving the same way. That would explain why the street surveillance left no trace whatsoever."
"This means the cultivator planned everything beforehand and came here with a clear agenda of revenge. He should have a vendetta against this factory. If it was a personal feud, killing the factory owner and his family would have made more sense."
"Instead, he didn't do that; he killed everyone inside the factory, hung them on hooks, and froze them, indicating he harbored hatred towards everyone in this factory. Therefore, the perpetrator likely had an enmity with the factory itself."
"Therefore, the police investigating from this angle should quickly yield results." Shen Qiang looked at Qian Shanxue and said, "The police are more experienced and skilled at this type of investigation, so leave it to them."
"What we can do now is, based on the information from Ali and Ye Xiaolei, to first find suspects fitting the profile, left-handed, peanut-loving, cultivator. Combined, these traits should quickly lead us to him unless he's never appeared before the members of Heshenghe."
Qian Shanxue furrowed her brow and said, "We must catch him as soon as possible; otherwise, I worry the number of victims will increase."
Seeing Qian Shanxue's serious expression, Shen Qiang sighed inwardly, because from a competitive standpoint with Wenren Meiqiao, more victims would mean more points. But clearly, neither Shen Qiang nor Qian Shanxue could accept endangering more lives for a temporary grudge.
So naturally, the sooner they nabbed this guy, the better.
Just as he thought that, Shen Qiang's phone rang.
"Boss, I've sent out a mass message to all Heshenghe members you wanted: left-handed, peanut-loving, with a height between 1.75 and 1.78 meters cultivator. Someone said in a WeChat group this person is currently on the Route 102 bus. Judging by his attire and what he's carrying, he seems to be heading to the train station."
If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.