The Underlying Reasons 2 Chapter 8

The investigation of Liu Yuxing's classmates and friends yielded almost nothing. All the suspects either had an alibi or no medical background, so the "criminal motive" line was basically broken. Therefore, the serious case team focused all their energy on the clue of "surgical instruments", but what they didn't expect was that after a few days, this clue also yielded nothing.

"What?! We can't find these instruments?!" Sean was incredulous when he heard this conclusion. These surgical instruments are not like gauze and iodine, which can be bought at any pharmacy. There are only a few places in the city that can get these professional instruments. Who would have thought that there would be no clues.

"Yes, it's so weird." Chris also looked unwilling. "We have asked all the hospitals, pharmacies, surgical instrument factories, and equipment agents, and they all said that no suspicious people have bought these things! The hospital also said that no related equipment has been lost! Isn't it weird?"

Sean's brows were twisted into a knot as he stood there looking through the investigation records.

"There are two possible reasons why we haven't found anything," Jason said. "One is that the murderer's weapons may not have been obtained locally. China is so big that it is not difficult to bring some things from other places. Another is that the murderer's weapons may have been obtained through illegal means, so we can't find them through formal channels."

Sean frowned. Jason's analysis made some sense, but it also made some sense. No matter which way it was, why did he target Liu Yuxing? Although Liu Yuxing was a useless person, he had rarely been out of the city and had no real criminal behavior, so how could he be related to those people? ...

This case is unexpectedly difficult.

Just as they were all frowning in thought, the phone in the office suddenly rang. Felix, who was closest to the phone, picked it up and his expression changed as soon as he heard it.

"What? Really? Well, we'll be there."

He put down the phone and said to the other people in the room with a serious expression: "The West City Branch received a report that another person claimed that his kidney had been removed..."

The person who reported the case to the West City Police Station was a father and son. The father was in his forties and looked uneducated from the way he dressed. The son was about sixteen or seventeen years old, with short hair dyed light yellow and wearing a half-worn T-shirt and jeans. When they heard that the person standing in front of them was a criminal policeman from the Municipal Bureau's Serious Crime Unit, both father and son showed surprised expressions on their faces.

"Comrade police, you really have to help us and catch those who harmed our son!" The father reacted first and immediately shouted at Sean.

"Don't be anxious. Tell me slowly what's going on."

The man nodded, calmed down a bit, and then spoke: "My name is Yu Youhai, this is my son Yu Jinlong, he is 17 years old. I work on the construction site, and my son is an apprentice in the city. A few days ago, my son came home for vacation, and I suddenly found a big scar on his waist. When I asked him, he said that he went out for dinner one time, and he didn't know how he got confused, and then he woke up and found a scar on his waist. People at our construction site said that he might have had his kidney stolen, and I immediately brought my son to the police! Police comrades, you must help me catch the bad guy who hurt my son!"

The man didn't know where he was from, and he spoke with a strong foreign accent. He held Sean's hand and kept yelling. Sean tried to calm him down for a long time. Then Sean looked at the boy sitting next to the man: "Your name is Yu Jinlong?"

"Yeah." The boy nodded, seeming a little nervous. Sean said gently: "Don't be afraid. Your father said you have a wound on your body. Can you let us take a look?"

The boy nodded and lifted his clothes. As expected, there was a knife wound more than a palm long on his waist, which was very similar to Liu Yuxing's in both position and length.

Sean glanced at Ryan, who had a serious expression on his face. He nodded slightly at him.

Sean asked the boy to put on his clothes, and then continued to ask: "How did you get this knife wound?"

The young man clutched his hands and stammered, "I went out drinking with someone, and when I woke up I found myself in the bathtub of a hotel, and then I had this scar on my body..."

"When did it happen?"

"More than a month ago..."

"Can you remember the exact date?"

Yu Jinlong shook his head.

At this time, a cell phone rang. It was Yu Jinlong calling. He took out his phone, took a look at it, and quickly put it back in his pocket.

Sean waited for him to finish fiddling with it, then asked, "Which hotel were you in at the time?"

The boy still shook his head: "I don't know, I don't know."

"Can't you see it when you come out?"

A trace of uneasiness flashed across Yu Jinlong's eyes. He shifted on the stool and whispered after a while: "I don't remember..."

"Where is that hotel?"

"...right next to the barber shop where I work..."

"Do you remember the exact address?"

The young man glanced at Sean quickly, then lowered his eyes and shook his head again.

Seeing that he couldn't really say anything about the crime scene, Sean changed the topic: "Where is the barber shop where you work?"

The boy gave a name and address, and Quentin beside him immediately wrote it down.

Sean winked at Quentin, who immediately handed over the portrait of the female suspect in the Liu Yuxing case.

"Take a look," Sean handed the portrait to the boy, "Have you seen this person?"

The boy took the portrait and looked at it, seeming a little hesitant. After a long while, he whispered, "I think I've seen it before..."

When they heard that the young man had seen it, everyone immediately became more alert. Sean also asked: "Where did you see it?"

The young man seemed to be frightened by the expressions of Sean and the others. He shrank back for a moment, and after a while he stammered, "It seems to be the place where I had dinner... But it was many days ago, and the man was quite far away from me at the time, so I can't really say..."

"Is this the hotel where you were drugged?"

"It seems...right..."

"Did the woman speak to you?"

"...I don't remember..."

Sean then asked the boy a few more questions, but the boy couldn't answer nine out of ten questions clearly. Seeing that the boy was getting more and more nervous, Sean knew that it was useless to ask more questions, so he patted Yu Jinlong on the shoulder and said to Yu Youhai on the side: "How about we leave it at that for today? Your son's condition has been recorded and we will investigate. You haven't taken your son to the hospital for a check-up yet, right? So, take your son to the hospital for a check-up to see what's going on in his body. Our forensic doctor will accompany you. As for us, we will contact you if there is any progress."

Yu Youhai nodded repeatedly, hugged his son and followed Ryan to the door.

"By the way, Yu Jinlong," Sean suddenly remembered something and asked, "Do you know a man named Liu Yuxing?"

Yu Jinlong turned around and shook his head in confusion: "I don't know..."

Sean nodded, and Yu Jinlong followed his father away.

After the three left, the others in the room gathered around Sean, and Jason asked, "Do you suspect this is a serial assault case?"

"That's possible." Sean said with a serious expression, "From what Ryan said, Yu Jinlong must have had his kidney removed. He also couldn't remember the details of the crime, but he had a vague impression of the female suspect. This is very similar to Liu Yuxing's situation."

"Boss, you just asked him if he knew Liu Yuxing. Do you suspect that the murderer deliberately targeted them two?" Chris asked.

Sean shook his head: "It's hard to say now, but as we analyzed before, removing a kidney is not that easy, it requires precise arrangements. The murderer would at least do some research on the whereabouts of these two people. It's impossible to just pick someone on the street and kidnap him." Sean said, his expression became more solemn, "But we don't know now, whether the murderer has a grudge against these two people, or chose them for some other reason."

The room was quiet for a while. If the murderer really chose his target randomly, then he would be the legendary kidney-slicer. Could it be that this legend that has been made up for hundreds of years has come true? ...

Finally, it was Jason who spoke first: "Anyway, now that there is one more victim, we have more clues to investigate. He looked at Sean: "Captain Shen, shall we take over this case?"

Sean nodded, turned around and ordered: "Quentin, go tell the people at the branch office to bring this case over. Let's put it together with Liu Yuxing's case for the time being and see if we can find some new clues!"

"yes!"

Quentin quickly completed the case handover procedures, and Yu Jinlong's case was officially handed over to the serious crime team. Sean immediately led people to investigate. They first found the barber shop where Yu Jinlong worked, and then used it as the center of the circle to start searching all the hotels around.

"The map shows that with the Red Star Hair Salon where Yu Jinlong works as the origin and a radius of five kilometers, there are 142 hotels and inns of all kinds," Henry concluded after searching on his computer. "The hair salon where he works is near the long-distance bus station, where there are many hotels."

Looking at the map on Henry's computer screen that was densely marked with red marks, Sean couldn't help but frowned, and the others around him also frowned.

"It would probably take too much time for just a few of us to investigate." Felix suggested to Sean, "Let's get some outside help."

Sean nodded and began to make arrangements: "Felix, Quentin, this matter is troublesome for you two. Please contact the Chengxi Branch and ask them to arrange for the local police station to assist us. Yu Jinlong said that there was a bathtub in the room he was in at the time. There won't be many hotels that meet this requirement. You should be able to narrow down the scope quickly if you follow this clue. Xiaohao, you should go with us and see if you can help. Jiang Li, Chris, go to the hair salon where Yu Jinlong works to learn about Yu Jinlong's personal situation, and pay special attention to whether he has anything in common with Liu Yuxing, and see why the murderer chose them."

The five people nodded and went out to get busy. Meanwhile, Sean's phone rang.

"Hello, Ryan," Sean answered the phone, "How is Yu Jinlong doing?"

"The ultrasound results are out, and his left kidney was indeed removed." Ryan's voice came from the other end of the phone. "And the ultrasound also found a foreign body in his abdominal cavity. I don't know if there was something left inside during the operation. The doctor recommended surgery to open the abdominal cavity and remove the foreign body. I am discussing this with Yu Youhai now."

"Ryan," Sean asked, "Do you think the two of them had their kidneys removed by the same person?"

"We can't be sure yet, but we can't rule out this possibility," Ryan said. "From the outside, the incisions on the two people are very similar, and the suturing techniques are also very similar, but we can't be sure that they are the same person based on these alone. We can only have a more accurate conclusion after the abdominal cavity is opened during the operation. I will follow up on the operation."

"Okay. Call me anytime if there's any progress. Keep in touch."

Yu Youhai quickly agreed to the doctor's suggestion for surgery. Because the foreign body had been in Yu Jinlong's body for nearly two months, in order to prevent a greater impact, the surgery was scheduled for 10 a.m. the next day. At about 12 p.m., Sean received a call from Ryan, informing him that the surgery had been completed.

"Yu Jinlong's left kidney was indeed removed. The surgical technique was very similar to Liu Yuxing's, but the quality of the operation was higher than Liu Yuxing's. It was a relatively standard kidney removal. There was a piece of gauze and a metal clip in his abdominal cavity, which should have been forgotten during the operation." Ryan introduced the situation and gave the most important conclusion: "The two operations are very similar. Even if they were not performed by the same person, they are probably related to each other."