Victims

Although Su Ran had killed Li Ming in self-defense, she couldn’t help but feel a little nervous now that a security officer had actually come to her door.

When facing Li Ming, Su Ran had primarily used her witch abilities, leaving behind very few traces of magic essence.

Even if they tried to find her through the residual traces at the scene, without a tracking potion as effective as Isa’s, it would be impossible for them to find any leads on her.

“Oh? Is there something you wish for me to know, Officer Li?”

No matter how tense she was inside, Su Ran’s incredibly beautiful face showed only calm; she absolutely could not reveal any weakness in front of the security officer.

Su Ran displayed just the right amount of confusion, mixed with a hint of curiosity.

Based on her past visits to the police station, she had only been there twice, and no one had ever mentioned a homicide to her, so showing curiosity was appropriate.

“Please come in and have a seat, Officer Li. It’s not right to stand at the door.”

After speaking, she stepped aside, using the maid etiquette she had just brushed up on the previous night to invite Li Shanhai into the room for a detailed talk.

Once inside, they both sat down, and Su Ran poured a cup of tea and placed it before him.

“Do you mind if we listen in as well?”

Winnie and Yuan Shirui also walked over, taking the opportunity to learn the purpose of his visit.

“They are also Blood Hunters,” Su Ran said, leaving the decision to him.

“That’s fine. If the Blood Hunters are interested in this matter, that’s even better.”

After taking a sip of tea, Li Shanhai indicated that he didn’t mind and slowly began to recount the course of events to Su Ran.

Two days ago, a woman’s head was discovered in the Xingfu apartment building.

There were no obvious external injuries on the head, the body was missing, and the room was filled with chaotic slash marks.

Li Shanhai and his team were unable to find the victim’s body anywhere near the crime scene.

If no new clues appeared, the case would most likely become a cold case.

Then, just as luck would have it, Su Ran was attacked by Li Ming the very next day.

Upon learning of this, Li Shanhai’s sixth sense told him that the two incidents might be related.

So yesterday, Li Shanhai went through all the relevant surveillance footage from both scenes and, as expected, found traces of Li Ming.

He then pulled an all-nighter, compiling all the data on the homicide and the parts of Su Ran’s attack that were connected, preparing to hand it over to a specialist.

Just this morning, as he was preparing to hand over the files, he received a piece of news that left him utterly stunned.

“Li Ming is dead,” Li Shanhai said, his voice heavy.

Imagine finding the likely culprit, just one step away from making an arrest, only to be suddenly told the suspect is dead.

In that instant, Li Shanhai felt as though all his preparatory work had been for nothing.

Hearing Li Shanhai mention Li Ming’s death, Su Ran’s heart skipped a beat.

Winnie, however, quietly glanced at Su Ran.

Seeing that her face remained a perfect mask with no cracks, she felt much calmer inside.

“Li Ming was found dead this morning in an abandoned sports field on the outskirts of the city. His entire body was in a deep pit, completely charred, with only his two severed arms remaining intact. Based on the information gathered from both bodies, we can confirm it’s the same person, and we can confirm that it’s Li Ming.”

“Completely charred?”

Su Ran couldn’t help but ask when she heard that word.

The way she killed Li Ming didn’t involve fire at all.

Where did this description of being “completely charred” come from?

Perhaps sensing her disbelief, Li Shanhai passed his phone around to show a photo to everyone present.

Looking at the photo on Li Shanhai’s phone, the charring on the somewhat familiar corpse was still visible and uncovered.

Before she left, Su Ran hadn’t used any fire-related magic or magic essence skills whatsoever.

‘In other words, after I left, someone else did something to Li Ming’s body?’

“There’s one more thing. Our people detected the aura of a vampire on it.”

Li Shanhai’s words reached Su Ran’s ears, and her aura flared for a moment, unable to be controlled.

Vampires were her enemies.

If her Sequence level were high enough, she might have already left for the Northern Border Defense City to hunt vampires.

If a vampire was the one who destroyed Li Ming’s corpse to cover their tracks, did that mean vampires were pulling the strings behind everything?

Among the four people present, Yuan Shirui was completely lost, having no idea what they were talking about.

With all this talk of homicide and Li Ming, she alone wore a vacant, thoughtful expression.

And Winnie, who knew everything that had happened behind the scenes, had no way of telling them the answer right now.

The only two people seriously pondering the situation were Su Ran and Li Shanhai.

“I came today to ask Miss Su Ran if you have any memory of encountering this man, Li Ming, anywhere before?”

Since the one who killed Li Ming was a vampire, Su Ran was naturally cleared of suspicion.

The focus of Li Shanhai’s visit today was still on Li Ming; he wanted to know what Li Ming was doing and understand his motives.

After carefully thinking over her recent activities, Su Ran saw no possibility of having met Li Ming before and shook her head.

“No.”

“Officer Li, could it be that the victim of the homicide was in the same situation as me, having had no prior contact with the killer?”

Su Ran carefully timed her question.

She also wanted to know more about Li Ming and find out why he had targeted her.

“That’s right. I’ve checked Miss Dai’s records for the past half-month and found no trace of Li Ming either.”

At this, Li Shanhai gave a wry smile.

After all, compiling half a month’s worth of records had taken a considerable amount of time.

“Miss Dai? The homicide victim from the Xingfu apartment building has the surname Dai?”

“Correct. Is there a problem?”

“No, nothing. I just wanted to confirm since you suddenly mentioned the victim’s surname.”

The speaker may be careless, but the listener pays attention.

The moment Li Shanhai mentioned the victim’s surname, Su Ran knew with one hundred percent certainty that Li Ming was the killer.

The two slips of paper she had found in the burnt-out fire pit—one with her name and the other with the character “Dai”—were ironclad evidence pointing to Li Ming.

However, Su Ran still hadn’t figured out Li Ming’s motive.

Judging by his tone, it wasn’t a random crime but a premeditated, targeted attack on her; otherwise, he wouldn’t have said her name.

Both she and Miss Dai must have something in common, something out of the ordinary, to have provoked Li Ming’s killing intent.

Now that Li Ming was dead, following the lead of the unburnt papers from the fire pit seemed like a promising direction to find new clues.

“If you recall any more details, you can contact me again.”

Li Shanhai didn’t stay for long.

After getting the answers to his questions, he quickly took his leave.