Free Web NovelChapter 690: Chapter 690: Blood Butterfly at the Church
After a brief rest, the members of the major crimes unit disbanded on the second day and returned to their respective units.
This investigation inadvertently helped the Criminal Investigation Team of Haizhou City with a task.
After the arrest of Cao Zhian and others, there was new progress in the suicide case in Penghu County, Haizhou City.
After being captured, Cao Zhian showed no fear and refused to say anything or confess.
However, his two other accomplices confessed in detail all the crimes their criminal gang had committed over the years.
Besides the already discovered cases of five missing persons and the two lovers’ corpses found by Lu Chuan in the mountains, they were also involved in other homicides.
Additionally, the remains of two missing female college students were not found by Lu Chuan and his team.
They still need to take Cao Zhian and other suspects into the mountains to identify the site and find the two individuals’ remains.
As a result, the investigation by the Beizhou City Criminal Investigation Team is expected to take longer.
Moreover, Li Pengcheng was developed as a subordinate by Cao Zhian and his gang in these two years.
Li Pengcheng followed them into the mountains several times and participated in some of their criminal activities.
For instance, Li Pengcheng’s ID was found with the two lovers’ bones discovered by Lu Chuan.
At that time, Li Pengcheng was indeed involved in that murder case.
However, he was not the one who dealt the fatal blow.
He only participated in the scheme.
Li Pengcheng was not actually the direct target of Cao Zhian and his gang; their ultimate goal was to connect with the richest man in Penghu County.
However, a mishap occurred in the middle; Li Pengcheng threatened to report them, so Cao Zhian and his gang dealt with him.
Although he did not die, he became a vegetable and there was no further action taken.
It was Penghu Mansion’s owner, the richest man in Penghu County, who blocked Sun Jun and others from investigating the case.
He could not allow anyone to find out about his connection with the poachers.
Thus, he utilized his connections in Penghu County to make the Li Pengcheng case untraceable.
If Cao Zhian and the others hadn’t been caught, the Li Pengcheng suicide case might have remained unsolved.
However, now that they’ve been caught, the truth naturally came to light.
The subsequent cases will be followed up by the Beizhou City Criminal Investigation Team, leading the cases involving other locations.
Sun Jun received the news and informed the Penghu County Public Security Bureau.
The following work will cooperate with the investigation by Beizhou City Criminal Investigation Team.
When Lu Chuan returned to Haizhou City, the New Year’s holiday was already over.
This business trip took quite a long time, and they were in the mountains all along.
To be honest, the scenery inside Beiliang Mountain is indeed beautiful, especially the places Old Chen took them, which were rarely visited.
The scenery there retained its original appearance to the greatest extent.
But no matter how beautiful the scenery is, it becomes mundane after a while.
Moreover, Lu Chuan and others went into the mountains for the purpose of excavating remains.
So, there was no mood to appreciate the surrounding beauty.
During these ten-odd days of the trip, Lu Chuan was really exhausted.
But upon returning to the Criminal Investigation Team, he didn’t even have a chance to take a break or have a meal with Forensic Doctor Shen before being dragged to the scene.
Mingde Road Church.
Haizhou City doesn’t have many churches, and the one on Mingde Road is just a small church among them.
There’s usually no staff stationed there, and people only come for prayers on weekends.
Today is Sunday, the day for prayers at Mingde Road Church.
Li Pingzhang wasn’t very educated.
By chance, he came across the act of prayer.
He didn’t have to do anything, just recite from a scripture every Sunday.
However, earning 3,500 a month from this was quite a decent deal for Li Pingzhang.
Without having to do anything, merely guiding prayers at Mingde Road Church once a week could earn him such income, prompting Li Pingzhang to decisively quit his security job.
As a security guard, working hard every day without weekends, he earned only 2,800 a month.
This new job was much more comfortable.
Moreover, recently, some female bosses frequently invited him to preach.
Among them were several single wealthy women.
Indeed, Li Pingzhang had some very close encounters with a few of them.
Thus, he found the job increasingly appealing.
Today was the first Sunday after the New Year.
Li Pingzhang arrived earlier than usual to open the Mingde Road Church doors.
He planned a two-hour morning prayer session, followed by a private appointment.
A female fruit business owner wanted him to visit her store.
In fact, Li Pingzhang wanted to say he didn’t understand feng shui.
The West doesn’t even believe in feng shui.
But he couldn’t refuse, since she was paying.
Moreover, this female business owner was about the same age as Li Pingzhang and attractive.
She was a potential girlfriend candidate whom he had been eying for a long time.
If possible, he wanted to pursue a deeper relationship with her.
Humming a tune, as Li Pingzhang opened the church doors, he was almost scared to death by the scene before him.
...
When Lu Chuan arrived at the scene, Qin Yong and the others were already there.
They were arranging for Yang Sen and Yang Lin to conduct a site investigation.
Upon Lu Chuan’s return, Qin Yong’s tense expression loosened up.
"Lu Chuan! You came back just in time, I’ll leave the scene to you."
Lu Chuan nodded, started wearing his gear, and then went over to understand the situation with Yang Sen and Yang Lin.
"The person who reported the incident is named Li Pingzhang; he discovered the deceased when opening the doors this morning."
"Moreover, he knew the deceased, and Zhang Hui has already gathered some information."
"We haven’t gone inside the scene yet, but took a general look..."
Yang Sen looked disturbed, Yang Lin even more so.
Since being transferred to the Criminal Investigation Team, this was Yang Lin’s first real crime scene visit.
The result was a scene he would never forget.
Standing at the church entrance, Lu Chuan also frowned at the situation inside.
Because the scene was indeed quite horrifying.
At the front of the prayer seats, originally there was a two-meter-tall wooden cross.
The Jesus statue on the cross had been removed and its whereabouts were unknown.
In its place was a woman’s corpse.
The corpse was fixed to the cross in the manner Jesus was nailed, mimicking his pose.
Not only that, the assailant had completely flayed the skin in front of the victim’s chest.
It extended out from under the ribs.
It looked as if the assailant had given the victim wings.
From a distance, it resembled a blood butterfly nailed to the cross.
The scene was gruesome and terrifying, hard to accept at once.
But at the same time, due to the high symmetry of the assailant’s positioning, the skin on both sides seemed meticulously arranged.
From the church entrance, Lu Chuan felt there was no difference between the left and right sides.
This gave a particularly eerie aesthetic.
"Lin, are you okay?"
Having encountered similar flaying murder methods multiple times before, Lu Chuan was somewhat shocked but not as disturbed as expected.
Yang Lin, on the other hand, had never dealt with such cases at the police station previously.
