Chapter 233 - 155: I Know Now! Baihan Clubhouse

"They’ll either produce it themselves or use it on the deceased under some official guise."

"But if it’s under an official guise, it’ll be even harder to investigate..."

’Why would it be impossible to investigate if it’s official?’

’Because it *is* official!’

’How are you supposed to investigate something that’s used officially and legally? There could be hundreds of thousands of legitimate usage records in the archives...’

’As for chemical manufacturing... that can be ruled out entirely.’

’And why is that?’

’Anything related to chemical manufacturing has a pungent odor. Prolonged close contact would inevitably leave a chemical smell on someone, and it would last for a long time.’

’It’s like the smell of disinfectant you notice when you’re near a doctor.’

’But there wasn’t the slightest trace of a smell left at the scene.’

"A strange stench, an expert flaying technique, the legitimate use of anesthetics..."

Xu Huo murmured to himself.

"Prostitutes, students..."

For a moment, the three of them were lost in thought.

It wasn’t long, however, before a voice crackled to life.

"Chief, I’ve caught the kids!"

The voice belonged to Zhao Gang, coming from the walkie-talkie on Zhang Liang’s hip.

Startled, the three of them immediately pushed open their car doors and got out.

THUMP!

As soon as they got out, they saw Zhao Gang in the distance, muttering and cursing as he walked toward them.

Zhao Gang had marks on his knees and his shirt was a little damp—the obvious signs of a fall.

"Chief, does this count as a work-related injury!?"

Zhao Gang rolled up his pant leg, pointing to a bruise and a scrape on his face as he asked.

Zhang Liang nodded. "It counts."

Li Jianye, standing to the side, couldn’t help but stare at the two of them.

’The Special Fifth Bureau is so bizarre.’

’There was the incredibly petty Zhang Liang, and Zhao Gang, who was always asking if something counted as a work-related injury...’

’It seemed you couldn’t join the Special Fifth Bureau unless you had a few screws loose.’

’Or maybe you had to have issues to become a leader?’

But he didn’t dwell on it. He refocused and looked at the people with Zhao Gang.

They were a few kids, held aloft by several Special Fifth Bureau members, their legs kicking as they struggled in mid-air.

Their clothes weren’t tattered; in fact, they looked rather new.

"These kids were hanging around, watching the police from a distance. At first, I just thought they were somebody’s children."

"But they smelled a bit off. I went over, and one look confirmed it."

"I’m guessing they thought we were here for a prostitution raid that might sweep up Lin Miao, so they were keeping an eye on us."

Zhao Gang, happy to hear his injury counted, cheerfully went on about the kids.

The children’s clothes weren’t dirty, but their faces and hands were filthy, giving them the perfect appearance of street urchins.

It had been ridiculously easy to find them; they’d been hanging around the police perimeter the whole time.

"Let me go! Let me go! Keep this up and you’ll be sorry!"

The kids thrashed their legs, furious.

"Heh, and what are you going to do to me?"

Zhao Gang chuckled and flicked Xiao Douding on the head.

That just made the kid even angrier, and he kicked Zhao Gang’s hand.

Zhao Gang looked up at Zhang Liang.

Zhang Liang sighed. "It counts as a work-related injury."

Zhao Gang nodded, satisfied.

"Do you know Lin—" Li Jianye began to ask, but Xu Huo cut him off.

"Lin Miao is in our custody now. If you don’t want her to get hurt, you’d better answer our questions truthfully."

Xu Huo’s voice was ice-cold. His eyes locked onto the child, who instantly froze.

But then, remembering something, the boy nodded forcefully.

"Then you have to let us go first," the street kid said.

Zhao Gang let go, setting him down.

Xiao Douding immediately stomped on his foot.

Zhao Gang glanced at Zhang Liang, mentally calculating his injury compensation.

"Fine!"

"The twenty-first... just four days ago. When Lin Miao got off work, she left with a strange-smelling man. Did any of you see it?"

The Xiao Doudings thought for a moment, then said:

"Yeah, I remember. He was fat."

"What did he look like?" Xu Huo asked.

"’About this tall.’ The street kid gestured with his hand. The surrounding adults fell silent."

"What about his face?"

"’He was a guy. A fat guy,’ the street kid added after a moment’s thought."

"What kind of stench did he have?"

"Huh? There are different kinds of stenches?" The street kid looked bewildered.

"You kids..." Now even Zhang Liang was at a loss for what to ask.

It was like getting blood from a stone, no different from getting no answers at all.

Until...

"One last question."

Xu Huo suddenly spoke up.

He pointed to an indigo-colored smear on one of the boy’s clothes.

"This... where did you get this from?"

"It rubbed off that fat man."

The child answered timidly.

Zhang Liang also looked at Xu Huo, confused.

’Getting a dye stain is perfectly normal.’

’The man reeked, which meant he couldn’t have been clean.’

"This dye..."

Xu Huo crouched down, his brow furrowed. He stared at the indigo smear on the white shirt for a moment.

He took off his own jacket and gestured for the boy to take off his shirt.

With his jacket off, Xu Huo, now in just a slim-fitting fleece, was hit by an immediate chill. Still, he draped his jacket over the boy, not caring that it touched the grimy ground.

He held the boy’s shirt and fell silent for a long moment.

Then, he grabbed a handful of snow, packed it onto the stain, and began scrubbing vigorously as it melted.

"It’s not washing out?" Li Jianye asked, puzzled.

He was right. Despite the rough, forceful scrubbing, the stain didn’t change in the slightest.

Xu Huo leaned closer and sniffed it.

[Wang Die’s Scent!]

A faint, extremely weak scent of printing ink emerged.

’This is...’

’What kind of dye is this!?’

"Let me try."

Zhang Liang took the shirt and got some warm water from the Baihan Clubhouse to wash it.

But the result was the same. The dye stain couldn’t be removed at all. It looked exactly as it had before!

"This is from the culprit’s..."

As he spoke, Xu Huo froze.

The next second, it was as if a jolt of electricity shot through his brain. His pupils instantly dilated, then contracted to pinpricks.

"Wait."

"A strange stench, an expert flaying technique, the legitimate use of anesthetics..."

For a moment, Xu Huo stood motionless as several theories began to form in his mind.

"The unwashable dye..."

"I’ve got it!"

"I know where those sons of bitches are!"

He knew. The clues had been chaotic, but the appearance of the dye connected them all to a single place.

A place that used a very specific kind of dye...

...a dye that, if it so much as touched your skin, couldn’t be scrubbed off even with steel wool.

The only way to get rid of it was to wait for your body to metabolize it—a process that took a full thirty days!

And that place...

The others froze, then a shudder ran through them.

Location is context, and context reveals identity.

And identity...

...is the key to solving this case!

The culprit flayed a young girl alive with their own hands and took her delicate skin. But why?

Zhang Liang and the others didn’t know the answer to that question.

But if they knew who the culprit was...

...then they could find the answer!

...

Time: 11:50 PM, December 25th.

Six days remained until the New Year.

In front of the Baihan Clubhouse.

Everyone stood in the snow and ice, their eyes fixed on Xu Huo as his lips parted.

A voice cut through the cold.

"The culprit..."

"Where the hell are they!?"