Reborn in 1995, Criminal Investigation Records

The registration form was for an individual aquatic product vendor, and the registrant was Hong Guochang—the same Hong Guochang who had worked as a helper for Zhao Jun at the Pingqing City Medicinal Herbs Market.

He is also the cousin of Ruan Jinyin's father-in-law.

The registration date was August 1989.

Wait, at this time!

Zhou Yang stood up and quickly found the case files of the victims he had just looked through. The date Liu Hanlu got her dentures was August 1989.

Is there any connection between these two times?

Zhou Yang immediately informed Liu Chengyu of his discovery, and then they rushed to the registered address together. As expected, the place was deserted and had been turned into a steamed bun shop.

The faint lettering on the signboard suggests that it used to be a barbershop.

It seems that doing business here is really not easy. Sure enough, the owner of the steamed bun shop had only rented the place for less than two years. As for its previous use, he didn't know.

The two then found a place to rent, where an old man was relaxing in the shade not far away.

Speaking of this shop, the landlord had a lot of grievances to share. He said that the house was originally rented to a fruit wholesaler, but the business was doing well and he ran away with a woman.

Then, finally someone rented the place to run a seafood business, but it also stopped after only two months. However, this tenant was more considerate than the previous one, at least he paid the rent.

Then, another person came to rent the space to run a hair salon, but it turned out to be unregulated and was shut down after being raided by the police twice. In the end, it turned into the steamed bun shop it is today by offering low prices, but recently the other party has been making trouble to terminate the lease.

"Officer, I didn't say I wouldn't pay the rent. It's just that I don't want to rent this place anymore. This old man is ruthless. This is the first time I've been ripped off by him in business. I paid two years' rent in one go, and now he says he won't refund it if I don't want to rent anymore. But is it really necessary to call the police?"

Seeing the bitter look on the boss's face, Zhou Yang joked, "Business was so good, why aren't you renting anymore?"

"You wouldn't believe it, this old man cut corners when building the house. Look, it's damp and bulging. Last time someone bought steamed buns for Chinese New Year, they kicked it and hit their head. I had to pay them a hundred or so yuan in medical expenses during the holiday!" The boss was furious as he said this.

"Look, this...this...and this!"

Zhou Yang initially found it somewhat interesting, but as the shopkeeper pointed to a certain spot, his brows furrowed and his expression grew increasingly gloomy.

"What's wrong?" Liu Chengyu asked with concern when he saw the other person's expression.

"Master, we might need to call the technical team!" Zhou Yang said, then looked at the steamed bun shop owner: "You'll need to cooperate with us!"

"Huh?" The steamed bun shop owner's mouth dropped open.

......

"I didn't realize you knew so much!" Wang Zhenhai gave Zhou Yang a thumbs up. "That layer of cement on top was probably used to seal the enclosed space below. It was caused by the freezing and expansion of moisture inside, which, after several years of this process, led to the ground cracking, bulging, and eventually complete destruction!"

"But why did you call our technical team to do this?"

Looking at Zhou Yang's expression, Wang Zhenhai felt a chill run down his spine: "No way!"

"What kind of riddle are you two playing?" Liu Chengyu asked, leaning closer as he noticed Wang Zhenhai's mysterious expression.

"You're still asking me? Don't you know why your own apprentice called us here?" Wang Zhenhai glared at Liu Chengyu, exasperated. He pulled gloves from his pocket and shouted outside, "Get to work!"

Liu Chengyu was bewildered by the referee's accusation. He looked at Zhou Yang and asked uncertainly, "A corpse?"

"Based on Professor Wang's deduction, the structure below should be that of an old-style cold storage..."

"I hope I'm wrong!" Upon hearing this reply, Liu Chengyu sighed, knowing that it was probably true. If he wasn't absolutely certain, given Zhou Yang's personality, he probably wouldn't have called the technical team directly.

"Master, do you have any photos of Li Hanlu with you?" Zhou Yang asked.

"Why would I carry that thing around with me!" Liu Chengyu said, and immediately started looking for a public phone so he could call the police station and have it delivered.

"No need, I have one with me!" Zhou Yang said, pulling a photo out of his notebook. Ignoring his master's ashen face, he went to the landlord, who was already terrified by the scene.

"Landlord, look, isn't this the girl who rented your place to open a hair salon?"

The landlord initially thought the issue was about the rent refund, but judging from the current situation, he realized that something serious had happened.

"Officers, are you going to dig it up..." The landlord said bitterly. He knew that after what happened today, it was highly unlikely that he would be able to rent out his shop again.

"Sir, I can't tell you much right now, but could you please take a look and see if this girl is the one who rented your house to run a barbershop?" Zhou Yang pondered for a moment, then held up some more photos of Li Hanlu in front of the old man.

"...It looks a bit like her, yes, it's her, but she was dressed more flamboyantly back then. I had no idea her hair salon wasn't legitimate..." the old man said, quickly trying to distance himself from the situation.

......

"We've dug it out!" came a suppressed exclamation from the technical team, and Zhou Yang rushed forward.

A strong, pungent stench wafted out first.

Sure enough, a yellowish-white, slippery humanoid figure was found curled up inside the damaged insulation material.

His skin clung tightly to his bones, giving it a semi-transparent, leathery appearance. Although his facial features were sunken, their outlines were still discernible, and he appeared to be a man in his fifties.

"You little rascal, really... sigh!" Wang Zhenhai stood to the side, looking at Zhou Yang and sighing deeply, not knowing what to say.

Liu Chengyu's expression was similar to the other person's. Who would have thought that while they were investigating the case of the nude model, they would discover a new corpse? Fortunately, they should be able to combine the cases.

Although it was not appropriate, the police still arranged for the landlord to identify the body.

The old man's experience today can only be described as dramatic; he had never encountered anything so exciting in his entire life.

The old man trembled as he approached the deceased. After a brief look, he turned away and began to vomit. If it weren't for the support of the technical team members, he would have collapsed.

"He... knew... the fruit shop owner who ran away!" Although he was somewhat incoherent, Zhou Yang still managed to make sense of it. The deceased was the fruit shop owner he was talking about who had run away.

If anyone could understand the landlord's feelings, it would probably be the owner of the steamed bun shop. However, he did gain something, since with this incident, there's a high probability that the rent will be refunded.

He's already considering changing jobs; nobody wants people to say that a dead body was dug up in his steamed bun shop...

Liu Chengyu called out to Zhou Yang and then led the landlord and the steamed bun shop owner away. After all, the purpose of their visit today was to investigate the seafood shop that the women ran together, and the current situation was not suitable for questioning them.

We have to bring it back to the station first to get relatively accurate information.

As soon as Zhou Yang returned to the station, he saw Wang Chao and Xiao Jiale coming back together. Unlike Wang Chao's ill intentions, Xiao Jiale quickly stepped forward and grabbed Zhou Yang's arm the moment he saw him, his tone anxious.

"How did you know? Where did you find out?"