The woman in black was stunned for a moment.
“What did you say?” she asked tentatively.
“It’s nothing. Please continue.” Lu Siya extended a thin and long finger to tap on the table. She changed the direction of her questions and asked, “Has Mr. Jin said anything related to money recently? Such as the company competing for a major deal or something like that?”
“No.” The woman in black shook her head. “Old Jin was old. He couldn’t understand the newest spirit energy magnetic fields, and he often complained that the current runic symbols look like multiple earthworms squirming about. He couldn’t understand them. He was marginalized by his company, and even if it managed to get a major deal, it would have nothing to do with him.
“But now that you said this, I remember something. He did mention something about money. One night, he came back drunk but really excited and happy. He wanted to have sex the moment he got into bed.
“I was angry at him for being a gambling addict, so I kicked him out of the bed. Then, we ended up arguing.
“After arguing for a long time, he grew angry because of his shame, and he told me that in a month or two, he would have cleared all his debts, and he would even get rich. He told me to not come and beg him to keep me around anymore when that happened.
“But once he said those words, he looked really regretful. No matter how much I pestered him later, he refused to say anything about how he’ll clear his debt.”
“Did he?” Lu Siya’s eyes lit up. “I remember that Mr. Jin had quite a large debt; otherwise, he wouldn’t have pawned off the house. What could he do in a month or two that would allow him to clear all his gambling debt and even earn some money? Could it be that he planned to hunt Hell Beasts?”
“Him? Forget it!” The woman in black scoffed. “He was just a support-class superhuman. When he was young, he didn’t train hard, and many of his spirit meridians were in a mess because of his cultivation. His bones were even damaged because of the tremors from the heavy construction machines. Once he grew old, he couldn’t fight anymore. How would he dare to go to the wild and hunt monsters?
“Besides, the apartments in Blessed Paradise aren’t cheap. You cannot redeem them by just killing a monster or two.”
“Hmm…” Lu Siya appeared contemplative. She asked a few other inane questions before she finally said, “Ms. Zhou, aside from you said already, do you think that Mr. Jin has been acting strange recently?”
The woman in black thought about it seriously for a long time. She was just about to shake her head when Lu Siya brought out another thick envelope from her pocket. But she did not place it on the table. She just pushed it against her chest and watched her patiently.
The woman in black gulped. She thought about it for a moment before she said, “Recently, Old Jin has been acting strange in every way possible. Let’s just focus on how he acted half a month ago. There were a few times when he came back while stinking. It was not the smell of sweat that comes from working hard. It was a very pungent smell. I asked him what he did, but he said nothing about it and just went off to bathe. Does that count?”
“There are plenty of types of stenches,” Lu Siya said. “There’s the stench of corpses, excrement, monsters, something burnt, and the stench of rotting trash. Think about it properly. Did Mr. Jin’s stench resemble any of the stenches I just mentioned?”
The woman in black thought about it and answered firmly, “It was the stench of garbage. I remember complaining at that time that he seemed to have come back after rolling around in the trash.”
Lu Siya nodded and asked, “Then, which happened first? Mr. Jin coming back with that strange smell of garbage or him buying a biochemical pet while ignoring the fact that he’s allergic?”
“The smell came first,” the woman in black said. “After two or three days, he brought that creature.”
Meng Chao asked a few questions as well.
The woman in black stared at the envelope Lu Siya pressed against her chest and answered.
However, she only knew a limited number of things and she had already mentioned everything that she knew. Soon, she started repeating her answers incoherently.
“Thank you, Ms. Zhou.” Lu Siya finally pushed the second envelope forward slowly. “After a person dies, they will not come back to life. You have to be strong.”
“Thank you, I will.”
The woman in black took the envelope happily and started counting the money in delight.
With the help of money, she quickly and bravely left the trauma of her gambler boyfriend dying behind.
“I know what I need to do.” Once she finished counting the thick stack of cash notes, she smiled obsequiously at Lu Siya and Meng Chao. “I won’t tell anyone all that I told you two just now.”
“Please don’t.” Lu Siya said. “First, if the other investigators want to know anything, you won’t be able to hide the truth from them. The more you try to hide, the more you will reveal the truth. It’ll be easier for them to find out the answer that way.
“Second, we’re all good citizens who obey the law. It’s impossible for us to ask you to hide the truth and put a stop to the progress of the case.
“Third, and listen carefully to this. If anyone comes to you to investigate the case, you should tell them the truth. But if you don’t tell them that we came to find you, ten days later, I will send you an envelope as thick as this one, understand?”
“Yes, got it!”
The woman in black thanked her profusely and stuffed the two envelopes into her pockets before she left like a thief.
Meng Chao and Lu Siya closed their eyes and thought about all they heard for five minutes.
Then, they opened their eyes at the same time and saw the sparks in each other’s eyes.
“Just now, when Ms. Zhou was answering the questions, her breathing, heartbeat, and the minor expressions were all very normal. I don’t think she was lying,” Lu Siya said. “Let’s say that all she said is the truth. What do you think? Why did the third victim buy a Contest Tiger half a month ago?”
“Didn’t you mention it just now?” Meng Chao had intense fire burning in his eyes. “It’s to blend into the circle of neighbors keeping Contest Tigers as pets.”
“Then, why did he want to blend into the circle of people who keep Contest Tigers as pets, and especially during the time when he has accumulated a huge debt and is in a terrible fix? Also, mentioned that he would only keep that biochemical pet for at most two months before he sent it away or sold it off. He also said that he would clear all his gambling debt and even earn a large sum of money in that timeframe. These two things seem to be connected together.”
“I think that our thoughts are pretty much the same,” Meng Chao said. “If the third victim didn’t exist and we just looked at the case based on the first two victims in the murder case by pets in Blesseed Paradise, it would look as if someone maliciously injected rabies into the pets.
“They injected mutated rabies into the deepest part of the biochemical pets’ ear canals. Even though they did it really elusively, which makes it difficult for normal harvesters and forensic scientists to discover it, such an action is actually very difficult.
“The virus was clearly not injected into the pets by their owners, and normal people usually have no chance of coming into contact with other people’s pets. Even if their owners are not around, if they’re too close, the pets would become wary, and it’s impossible for them to be manipulated.
“I have to say this. The virus for mutated rabies does not have a long incubation period. It’s only five days at most. During this period of time, I don’t think any outsider could get close to two biochemical pets, stun or hypnotize them, and use a special tool to inject a virus into their ear canals. The only people who could do it are the security guards and the residents in Blessed Paradise.
“… No, not even your average security guard or resident would be able to do it. Only the people who are in the circle of Contest Tiger owners, who walk their dogs together, often gather in groups, and have become close to each other would have the chance to do this.”
Lu Siya’s eyes shone with admiration. “Are you hinting that the third victim is the one who injected the virus into the first two biochemical pets?”
“I don’t know, but he does have a motive,” Meng Chao said. “Spirit Creations Creatures and Heavenly Works Machines are fighting for the deal for Subway No.20. The company who gets the deal will decide the mode of construction of the newly developed areas in the northern frontlines in the future. They will get more deals and an astronomical profit.
“If it’s revealed that the pets modified by Spirit Creation Creatures can go out of control and kill, such a terrifying and bloody case would definitely affect who would get the deal.
“Heavenly Works Machines is able to benefit from the case of pets losing control and killing people the most, so based on the principle of whoever benefits from this is the suspect, they have the strongest motive and are the main suspect!”
Lu Siya nodded slowly and said, “Let’s say that your train of thought is correct. Why then did he do this in Blessed Paradise?”
“If he chose a downtown area, where there is a larger flow of people or a normal area with more citizens and a noisier atmosphere, it would have been easier to create a scandal. After all, if the mysterious person had not posted this online yesterday, this matter would have been suppressed.”
Meng Chao’s eyes shone with a light suggesting that he thought that Lu Siya understood him because great minds thought alike. “At the start, I couldn’t understand it, but once I thought about it carefully, I realized that the suspect could only choose places like Blessed Paradise.
“Choosing a downtown area or normal areas like Blessed Heavenly Garden would make it easier to create major news, but the problem is, how is he supposed to act if that’s the case?
“Contest Tigers are large hounds with a certain degree of fighting strength. They have a lot of carnivorous monsters’ genes implanted in them, and they can even switch to fighting mode. So, the management for the buying and selling of these creatures is very strict. You need to register if you want to buy and keep these creatures as pets. If they die or are lost, you need to go and file a report at the related departments.
“In other words, the suspect can’t buy a Contest Tiger casually, inject it with mutated rabies, and throw it into a downtown area while waiting for it to go wild. If he did it, it would be the same as him surrendering to the police.
“Of course, he can’t wait for Contest Tigers to pass by with their owners in the downtown area and follow them to look for a chance to stab a long needle into the pets’ ears, either.
“In comparison, Blessed Heavenly Garden is a small and old area with a lot of residents. The families living there have stayed there for decades. They know each other’s backgrounds, and even if they have an emergency which makes them unable to walk their pet, they would not entrust them to a newbie who just joined the circle.
“But even if they did, there are neighbors all around the place, and when there are a lot of people in the area, there are a lot of eyes watching you, so it’ll be difficult to find a chance to take action.
“But Blessed Paradise is a new, high-end residential area. First of all, it has fewer residents, and the environment in the small residential area is good. There are all sorts of man-made bamboo forests, fake mountains, ponds, winding paths leading to secluded areas, pavilions, and other similar places.
“Second, most of the residents there have a certain status in society. The security measures are tight, so they trust each other a lot. They are not wary of each other.
“Let’s say that the third victim is the suspect who caused the first two cases to happen. He was a resident in Blessed Paradise, and he had bought his apartment long ago. On top of that, he is a middle-rank manager in Heavenly Works Machines and is an elite in society who has fame and prestige. Aside from a handful of neighbors, very few people in the other blocks would know that he has a large debt, so they would not be suspicious of him.
“He knows the terrain in the area as well, so he knows the blindspots of the CCTVs.
“So, as long as he can find an excuse and send the owners of the two biochemical pets away, he could inject the virus as he pleases.”