Street Hustler and His Policewoman Wife-Chapter 154: The Master of the Skull

Holding the necklace for a long time, Chen Xiao finally continued to put it on Lin Xi without any cover-up.

At this time, Lin Xi was already asleep. She just twisted her body and snuggled into Chen Xiao's arms like a little kitten.

No more words were exchanged that night.

Early the next morning, just as Chen Xiao got up, he heard Li Hui's voice outside the house:

"Mr. Chen, are you up yet? Please help, all the archived missing persons cases from 1991 till now are here!"

Li Hui had come to pick up a pen.

Over the phone, Chen Xiao had also told him to come and get it this morning.

He just didn't expect that Li Hui would bring along all the archived missing person files from over the years while picking up the pen.

After a night's rest, Chen Xiao's mindset had returned to calmness.

Upon viewing those files and associating them with the note found in the pen, Chen Xiao increasingly felt that these files were very important.

Soon, Chen Xiao handed over the preserved pen and the note to Li Hui.

"Take a look at it, Captain Li."

Li Hui, puzzled, took it, and when he saw the content of the note, his expression changed drastically:

"Where did you get this note?"

"I scraped it out from inside the pen barrel," Chen Xiao replied.

Li Hui immediately became solemn, and after thinking for a moment, he asked in shock:

"Could it be that the person mentioned on the note is the owner of the skull?"

Chen Xiao did not nod, nor did he shake his head.

He said calmly, "It's very possible, but we still haven't found a missing person that matches yet, so…"

Before Chen Xiao could finish his sentence, Li Hui began flipping through the files he brought without further ado.

All the files were copies.

They were urgently copied after he retrieved the original files.

Although this was against the rules, which police in Dongzhou didn't know Chen Xiao's special status now?

Li Hui wanted to take a chance to see if he could learn anything from Chen Xiao.

To ask without shame is a traditional virtue.

So he brought the copies, with some of the special ones already memorized in his mind.

Seeing his actions, Chen Xiao understood why.

"Captain Li, do these missing person files have similarities?"

"Yes, there is one person of a matching age, and before I came, I also received a call from Director Wu of the forensic department of Hongshan Branch. She told me on the phone that based on the skull, the deceased's age should be between 18-20, and their height between 160-170 cm."

"In this pile of files, there is someone named Cheng Qing who even has a disappearance time that matches the note!"

Even Chen Xiao's expression changed at this information.

Although the file Li Hui mentioned wasn't absolute proof, for Chen Xiao now, having such a file was enough to basically confirm it.

Very quickly, Li Hui found that particular file.

Opening it, he read aloud: "Cheng Qing, male, 19, senior student at Chang Hua Middle School! Height 163 cm, weight 52 kg, disappeared on April 5, 1991…!"

"April 5, 1991, that's Qingming Festival!" Chen Xiao said solemnly.

Li Hui nodded emphatically: "Yes, that's the day! Cheng Qing's parents reported him missing that evening. He hadn't been found for an entire day. The reason for his disappearance was that, due to Qingming Festival, Cheng Qing's father had fractured a bone in an earlier fall and was recuperating, so Cheng Qing went to the tomb sweeping alone."

"In the record, Cheng Qing's parents initially wanted him to go with the other elders. But Cheng Qing was a bookworm, not fond of social interactions. So, early that morning, he left with the offerings."

"His parents, worried about his late return, suspected he might have encountered some wild animal in the mountains, so they organized villagers and searched for a long time. Finally, in desperation, they reported to the police. The township station, after failing to find him, reported the case to the county bureau."

At this point, Li Hui spread his hands: "You know how it was back then, the county bureau didn't have many means to investigate, so they could only try several cumbersome methods to look for him, eventually ending up with no results."

Chen Xiao acknowledged seriously: "Anyway, the date on this file and the note align closely, and the cases share certain overlaps. Uncle Wan De said he saw someone committing murder in the mountains, and that person was from our Songshanping. And now, a skull has fallen out of the stone lion at Chen Yuan's place. The stone lion was only placed there during the Dragon Boat Festival in '91. Despite the two-month gap, it's still very possible!"

Li Hui's mind wandered quickly, almost immediately continuing: "I'm going to summon Chen Ding right now, no… also the descendants of the artisan responsible for the stone lion at that time, we need to question all of them."

Saying this, Li Hui couldn't help but curse: "Damn it, that artisan has passed away several years ago, Chen Yuan got into trouble, and these people are very critical!"

Li Hui's cursing isn't unwarranted at this moment.

Everything is too coincidental.

Chen Yuan, who bought the stone lions, is dead.

The expert who suggested the placement of the stone lions is deceased.

Even the artisan who made the stone lions is gone!

The time span was already massive, and crucial figures kept dying one after another.

Even Chen Xiao felt like swearing.

Seeing Li Hui rush off.

Lin Xi couldn't help but ask, "Aren't you going with him?"

Old Chen was also anxious: "Yes, Chen Xiao, you should go and check it out too."

The case now seemed to become very clear.

The clarity was all thanks to the note left by Uncle Wan De.

But Chen Xiao wasn't in a hurry.

He felt he needed to sort things out himself! 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

Because there were too many problems involved!

"Xiaoxi, get me a notebook and a pen," said Chen Xiao.

Lin Xi nodded and immediately went to get them. Old Chen and mom, bewildered, could only anxiously watch.

But they didn't dare disturb Chen Xiao.

Soon, Lin Xi brought the items Chen Xiao asked for, and he immediately wrote down the first question:

"Why did Wan De leave a note instead of delivering the pen to the police station?"

Seeing this first question, Lin Xi answered on his behalf: "Because the murderer was threatening you with your life."

"I was only seven years old at that time; I have no memories of that age. But if someone wanted to harm me, I shouldn't have no memory at all, right?"

As Chen Xiao said this, he wrote down the second question: "What kind of threat frightened Uncle Wan De from reporting to the police?"

Lin Xi thought hard, pondering for several minutes without an answer, and finally, Chen Xiao wrote down two words: "Scene!"

"Scene? What kind of scene?" Lin Xi asked.

Chen Xiao answered: "This is just my guess, because Uncle Wan De said that person looked for him. That word 'looked,' I find it debatable. So, let's assume the murderer created a scene, one where though it doesn't directly involve me, it's enough for Uncle Wan De to see that person might harm me at any time!"

As he spoke, Chen Xiao performed a demonstration: "There were just three people, one murderer, me, and Uncle Wan De. If Uncle Wan De discovered someone committing murder, his first reaction should be to report to the township police station. If he said he didn't dare report, it indicates that he did consider it."

"So we assume, let's assume Uncle Wan De already set out for the township to report. But as he was on his way, the murderer discovered him as a witness. Thus, the murderer waited for Uncle Wan De midway. There's one condition here, I must have been appearing on the way to the township at that time."

Finishing, Chen Xiao looked at Old Chen and mom.

He had made it so clear; Old Chen surely knew he had to think back to when in 1991 would Chen Xiao appear on the route to the township.

"The sand field!"

"Yes, the road to the township had to pass Fengshan River back then, and I happened to be working at Fengshan River sand field! Chen Xiao used to wait for me at Fengshan River as a child, playing on the bridge with other workers' children."

Chen Xiao exhaled a long breath, saying: "There's a river and a bridge, Fengshan River was deep and fast due to all the annual sand mining. If an adult were to throw me into the river back then, I'd have no chance of survival!"