Chapter 347: The Hidden 5th Person! Human or Ghost!?

“No.”

“Not a single one?”

Li Jianye was taken aback, a suspicious look crossing his face.

“Within the last two years, but sometime before six months ago. Please think about it again, Village Chief.”

If Wang Wei had really gotten his hands on money through illicit means, he wouldn’t spend it right away, not if he had any sense at all.

And why not?

One day you’re broke, and the next you’re spending money like water. Wouldn’t that be a dead giveaway that you’re the culprit?

But if you lay low for a year or so, as long as no one’s actively investigating, you can pretty much spend it however you want with no one batting an eye.

“Really, there’s no one,” the village chief said again. “Shuangyue Village is a small place. Everyone’s related in some way. We know exactly which families have promising kids and which have hooligans.”

However…

“Well, there was someone six years ago, but his situation is a bit different from what you described, Officer. I don’t know if you’d be interested…”

Six years ago!?

The officers paused, frowning.

Six years ago was 1998. That was a long time ago.

‘Could this really be related to the case?’

“Tell us about it,” Xu Huo said.

“Six years ago, there was a young man in our village who’d made a fortune opening a restaurant. But a fire broke out at his house. After the firefighters put it out, they determined he might have caused the fire by accident. The blaze also killed his wife.”

“He disappeared afterward, presumably out of guilt.”

The village chief said after a long, thoughtful pause.

Disappeared out of guilt…

After a moment’s thought, Li Jianye asked, “How old was he?”

“He was only about nineteen at the time. A graduate from a vocational school, but he was really going places. Became a big boss at such a young age,” the village chief lamented. “Who would’ve thought an accident like that would happen…”

‘Nineteen then… so he’d be twenty-five in ’04.’

That matches the ages of Wang Wei and his friends.

Xu Huo and Li Jianye exchanged a look.

‘Let’s assume this person who supposedly fled out of guilt is the killer. In that case…’

‘Does that mean he wasn’t the one who started the fire?’

‘Was it Wang Wei and his friends?’

‘And now, six years later, he’s come back for revenge against them…’

‘But then how did he pull off that incredible trick—the ‘ghost’ that only the four victims could see?’

Before they could puzzle it out, Xu Huo suddenly stopped walking. He looked up at the old house before them.

“This is Wang Wei’s old family home. Feel free to search anywhere you like, Officer. That animal won’t be coming back,” the village chief said.

‘It’s not that he won’t be coming back, he literally can’t come back…’

Li Jianye snarked silently.

Xu Huo wasn’t dwelling on it. He simply pushed open the front door.

“CREAK~”

The old door let out a piercing screech.

The scene inside, a tableau of thick cobwebs and layers of dust, was revealed to them all.

It was a house made of mud bricks with a tiled roof.

The walls, built from a mixture of straw, mud, and stone, had the feel of something from the 1960s or ’70s.

The house had only been vacant for six years, yet it had fallen into a shocking state of decay.

“Search the place. See if you can find any connection to the case from six years ago.”

As Xu Huo gave the order, several police officers immediately moved inside. A police dog went with them, sniffing intently as it paced around the area.

Jiangsan City now had its own medical examiners and police dogs.

And not just on loan!

They didn’t have many police dogs yet—only three, which made up a small K-9 unit. They were also short on medical examiners, with only one full-time M.E. You could maybe stretch that to one and a half if you counted the intern.

“What was the name of the man who fled out of guilt six years ago?”

While they waited, Xu Huo casually questioned the village chief for more information.

“Zhang Jiayu. He was an orphan, raised by the whole village. His name sounds quite refined, doesn’t it?”

The village chief seemed to grow sentimental just mentioning him. He sighed and said,

“He was a good, honest kid. Simple and kind-hearted, and not bad-looking either.”

“And his relationship with Wang Wei and his friends?” Xu Huo asked.

“I don’t know… I imagine they bullied him.”

The village chief thought for a moment, then shook his head.

“Those little punks were always causing trouble, bullying people from dawn till dusk. If they weren’t extorting protection money, they were wasting time at internet cafes. God only knows how many people they picked on.”

Li Jianye grew pensive.

‘From the looks of it, Zhang Jiayu is definitely the prime suspect.’

‘Do quiet people not get revenge?’

‘No, that’s not it. It’s not that they won’t get revenge; it’s that they won’t until you’ve crossed a line.’

‘But if you really do cross that line…’

‘…they can be more ruthless than anyone.’

‘They’ll tear out the problem by its roots.’

Wang Wei and his friends being hounded to their deaths certainly fit that description.

Right now, the only thing missing was proof linking Wang Wei to the fire six years ago.

Li Jianye was about to ask another question, but in the next instant, a dog barked.

“WOOF WOOF WOOF!!!”

The police dog had its nose to the ground for a long time, then it suddenly sat up straight and started barking insistently at a particular spot.

“Chief, we’ve got something!” the officer shouted after a moment of searching.

Li Jianye and the others stopped and quickly headed over.

“What’s the situation?”

“A knife. There’s blood on it.”

The officer took out a clear evidence bag, placed the knife inside, and handed it to Li Jianye.

It was a butcher’s knife, the kind used for slaughtering pigs, with a triangular blade and a sharp point that could easily pierce skin and flesh.

However…

This one was covered in bloodstains.

“Wang Wei wasn’t a butcher; he would have no reason to own a knife like this. But Zhang Jiayu owned a restaurant. His kitchen staff might have done their own butchering…”

Li Jianye’s mind raced, instantly connecting the dots to the knife’s origin.

“This is Zhang Jiayu’s knife. And the blood on it…”

“It’s human blood!”

Li Jianye declared, his gaze fixed and intense.

Why was he so sure?

Because the primary purpose of this type of butcher’s knife wasn’t for slaughtering.

It was for carving the carcass *after* the animal was already dead and bled out. Just like the knives you see at a butcher’s stall, they don’t get bloodstained no matter how much they’re used—greasy, yes, but not bloody.