"Oh? It seems you do have some money after all!"
"Don't I? I've had a few girlfriends before!" Li Hongzhuo said proudly.
"Get to the point, and then what?" I urged.
"Then, of course, I didn't want to be with Jiang Qing, that troublesome woman, so I thought about leaving. Who knew that after I rented this place, I heard she had an accident. I was terrified at the time. I know how you police investigate, you'll definitely look for people who had a relationship with Jiang Qing, and she's been too close to me recently. I'm an influencer, right? If the police investigated me, it would affect my reputation, so I decided to hide and hope you wouldn't find me!"
Although Li Hongzhuo's reason was a bit far-fetched, I found his reaction normal. However, thinking about it, what he said wasn't unreasonable. For an influencer, reputation is very important.
I pondered for a moment and continued to ask, "Did you notice Jiang Qing being close to anyone else, or has she been taking any medication recently, or bought anything online?"
"This? Actually, we were together, but we usually didn't inquire much about each other's private lives or interests. It's just, well, our intersection was usually in bed, you know? She had a lot of suitors, more than ten fingers could count, how would I know about that!" Li Hongzhuo chuckled awkwardly.
"When was the last time you saw Jiang Qing? Did she say anything to you?" Liu Yuning asked.
"She didn't say anything, just went to work as usual, probably on the day she had the accident. I saw her leave, and I started my live stream on my computer. If it weren't for her accident, I wouldn't have moved here."
"You don't want your things anymore?"
"What the hell, no time! I bought everything new here, even a computer!"
"Uh, alright, Mr. Li, it's best you don't leave Guangming City recently. We'll come to find you at any time!"
"Okay, I'll cooperate. Just don't let my fans know!"
I ignored him and let Xia Hou release his handcuffs. We left.
As we walked out, Xia Hou said, "Are we just letting him go?"
"Don't worry, he's not the killer!" I said, and then told Xia Hou to drive. We didn't talk much on the way back until we reached the provincial department. Before I went in, He Xin sent me a text message, and I replied that I was almost there.
When we arrived at the technical department, He Xin told me, "Found it. Both of them simultaneously bought a medication called Kangfuning from an online store called Futai Lai."
"Kangfuning? Is it a cold medicine?" Liu Yuning asked curiously.
"No, the box for this medicine is very crude, as if it was privately processed. It says it can make people extremely excited and forget all their troubles!"
"Uh, isn't this a recreational drug?" Xiao Yuande said with a wry smile.
"I'm not sure. The sales are quite high. This is bad! If all these people bought Kangfuning..."
Before He Xin could finish, I cursed, "This online store is highly problematic. We need to shut it down immediately!"
"I investigated it online, but couldn't find its physical address."
"Why?"
"It seems to be heavily encrypted. What a cunning fellow. He must have good hacking skills. Such a person is difficult to deal with. I need to contact some colleagues to help find a way to crack it!"
"Then I'll trouble you. Please do it as quickly as possible, no matter what!" I said sincerely.
"Yes, Team Leader He!" He Xin gave a formal salute.
I ignored it, feeling a sense of desolation. Just now, I saw the sales reached 15. If 15 people received the same medication, their consequences...
I dared not imagine it further. That was 15 lives.
At this moment, Shao Zhengzhi exclaimed excitedly, "Another person has placed an order!"
"What?" Liu Yuning and I nervously leaned our heads in front of Shao Zhengzhi's computer screen.
"These people are too strange. Why would they buy this kind of medicine?" Shao Zhengzhi mumbled.
Liu Yuning said, "People buy everything. The price is 423 yuan per box. That's quite expensive for a box of medicine."
"Yes, this price is significantly higher than usual medicine. Alright, we are investigating the users who bought Kangfuning, their addresses!"
He Xin said, typing furiously on the keyboard. Soon, addresses were printed out. Armed with these addresses, we immediately notified the police force, and hundreds of criminal investigators set off. We had to find these people as quickly as possible.
Hopefully, they haven't taken the medication yet. Even if they have, we need to get them to the hospital for a stomach pump as soon as possible.
Liu Yuning and I found the first address, No. 15, Hexing East Road. It was a single-story house with a mailbox outside. I opened the mailbox and found nothing inside. I nervously knocked on the door. The house was silent. I took out my lock-picking tools. Liu Yuning said, "You again?"
"No time, he might have already taken the drug!" As soon as I finished speaking, accompanied by a familiar click, I pushed the door open and indeed found a woman lying on a Simmons mattress.
The woman showed no reaction at all. She looked at most 22 years old. Beside her, there was a crudely labeled box of Kangfuning. We hadn't found this at the homes of the previous two victims.
I picked up the medicine and put it in an evidence bag. Liu Yuning touched the deceased's pulse and sighed, shaking her head.
I dialed for support and also inquired about the situation of others. Several criminal investigators said they had found other bodies, and another woman had gone on a trip and hadn't returned yet. Her package was still outside her house.
That woman was quite lucky. The police took the medication away.
We investigated the scene. Upon checking the deceased's computer, we found that she had indeed bought this medicine from the online store called Futai Lai. It seemed everything was adding up. The culprit was definitely connected to this online store.
Xie Chuchu arrived, inspected the scene, and had the body taken away. We searched the house but found nothing unusual. The work of interviewing neighbors was assigned to other officers. We returned to the provincial department and found five female corpses in the morgue.
These were all victims who had received Kangfuning. We don't know what they experienced after taking the drug, and they probably didn't know they were being tricked before they died.
Now, the total number of deceased girls had reached seven. We didn't realize it until we investigated, but they were all in the same profession – young models.
"This is undoubtedly the killer's modus operandi, targeting young models. Was he perhaps bullied by women in this profession before?" Liu Yuning mused.
"This woman is either his lover, or his mother or sister or something," I continued.