With the stomach removed, determining the time of death through gastric emptying was impossible. Gu Yuan could only roughly estimate the time of death to be between 2 PM and 5 PM based on the degree of food digestion in the small intestine.

The body was severely charred, making facial and fingerprint identification impossible. The deceased’s identity became a mystery, and now the only way to clarify it was through the criminal police’s questioning of the landlord and surrounding individuals.

“The deceased is male, around 55 years old, 167 cm tall, and weighs about 50 kg. The respiratory tract is clean, indicating he was already dead before the fire. The time of death is between 2 PM and 5 PM. There is a blunt force trauma to the head, and based on the shape of the injury, the murder weapon is likely a tool similar to a hammer. The deceased had a total gastrectomy, and from the healing, it is estimated that the surgery occurred between two months to half a year ago.”

Li Meng reported the autopsy findings to Xiao Ze. By 11 PM, there was still no substantial progress at the scene. On one hand, the fire had almost consumed all physical evidence; on the other hand, no one could confirm the deceased’s identity so far.

“You mean… you didn’t know someone was living in the house?”

Wang Yue was skeptical of the landlord’s response. Even if the house was vacant, shouldn’t he check on it regularly? How could he not know someone was living there?

“This house is a bare shell, not renovated, small in size, and hard to rent out. I’m usually busy with work, so I just posted the information on a rental platform. No one asked for a long time, and I was planning to sell the house. I’m really shocked by what happened!”

The landlord seemed very regretful: “If I had known it would be such a hassle, I would have sold it earlier!”

Wang Yue glanced up at the exploded room, located at the far left on the fourth floor.

This building is a commercial property, all connected in a row, only built up to the fourth floor.

The first floor has shops selling goods and snacks, with two small supermarkets in between. The second to fourth floors are guest rooms of the Ruyi Hotel. The second and third floors each have 10 rooms available for accommodation, while the fourth floor only has 7 rooms, with two used for storage. The remaining room, the one that exploded, does not belong to the Ruyi Hotel.

There are enclosed external staircases on both sides of the row of houses. The right staircase was renovated by the hotel and is now for hotel use only, while the left staircase remains in its original state, with much of the outer wall peeling off.

To prevent anyone from entering the hotel via the left staircase, the hotel sealed off the passage connecting the second and third floors to the left staircase. The room at the far left on the fourth floor does not belong to the hotel, so they sealed it off from the edge of the second room on the left, excluding the first room on the left.

In other words, the only way to enter the bare shell room on the fourth floor is through the dilapidated left staircase.

Xiao Ze stood at the door of the room at the end of the fourth floor and noticed something was off before even entering. The door looked very dilapidated; the old wooden door had shattered due to the explosion, and after being burned, the incomplete door was on the verge of falling off. A slight touch would cause it to fall from the door frame. The lock was long gone, and even the lock hole was missing.

The room at the tail end of the fourth floor looked particularly out of place, already giving off an eerie vibe, and after the murder, it felt even more oppressive.

The trace inspection team was trying their best to extract physical evidence, but based on Xiao Ze’s experience, the chances of finding useful evidence were slim.

Everything that could burn had burned clean, leaving only a rough view of the house’s previous state.

The 40-square-meter house was divided into a one-bedroom, one-living-room layout. Although the walls were charred black, the original cement walls were still visible. The house had not been renovated, and besides ashes, the floor was covered with a large amount of accumulated sand and mud.

The house did not have aluminum window frames, leaving the window openings empty. When the fire broke out, flames leaped out the windows, blackening the walls above the fourth floor. At that time, it was like a stove with oxygen continuously rushing in, making the fire burn even more fiercely.

In the corner of the room lay a pile of charred porcelain bowl fragments, possibly broken before or shattered during the explosion, but none were spared.

The scene also had a charred iron basin, deeply dented and lying upside down on the ashes, likely dented when it was thrown against the wall during the explosion.

A meter away from the iron basin, there was a one-meter diameter pit on the ground, formed by the explosion.

Looking down through this pit, the third floor was a scene of devastation. Below was probably a living room layout, with a shattered coffee table crushed by cement blocks, its glass surface shattered into pieces. Burnt ashes kept falling, igniting the third-floor sofa, and the fire gradually spread to the bedroom.

Fortunately, room 301 was unoccupied during the explosion, or else there would have been casualties.

“From the traces at the scene, the explosive is likely a small gas cylinder, as we found parts of a gas stove in the room. The items were very poor quality and were blown apart during the explosion. Some parts landed in the room’s corner, while others likely flew out the window… Moreover, the deceased doesn’t seem to have lived here long, as there are very few signs of life.”

Yan Ji carefully examined the scene and came to this conclusion.

The criminal police questioned the people living nearby and were surprised to find that no one knew the person living in the corner of the fourth floor. Some even started talking about superstitions…

“Ten years ago, when this building was still under construction, a construction worker lived inside. Later, this worker was beaten to death by debt collectors, right in that room on the fourth floor. That single room was originally intended to be a guesthouse, but because of this incident, it remained vacant.

Business people care about feng shui and believe that since someone died in that room, the energy is off, so no one wanted to rent it. It remained a bare shell for many years without renovation, with no protective facilities… About five years ago, a woman somehow fell from the window of that room on the fourth floor. They say it was suicide, and since then, no one dared to go near it.

The owner of the Ruyi Hotel installed a wooden door and a lock on that room to prevent anyone from entering that area. Three years ago, the room was finally bought by someone, but no one knows what for, as it remained empty… No one even checked on it…”

“You must have seen someone entering or exiting from the left staircase!” Wang Yue asked the shop owner opposite the Ruyi Hotel.

“There’s so much foot traffic here, and the staircase is at the back of the building. Even if someone passed right in front of me, I wouldn’t know they lived inside… Besides, if someone wanted to secretly live there, they’d definitely wait until no one was around to come out. Maybe you should ask someone else; I really don’t know…”

The shop owner was in a hurry to close up and didn’t want to waste more time.

Wang Yue thought for a moment: “Who can see the staircase entrance?”

“That’s hard to say… There are a few cars parked behind the building; maybe someone parking their car saw something.”

Seeing the shop owner was in a hurry to close up, Wang Yue glanced at his phone for the time. It was already 11:30 PM, so he decided not to bother the owner any longer and to ask someone else.

Without confirming the deceased’s identity, further investigation was impossible. Xiao Ze had no choice but to call Gu Yuan to see if there was any other information he could provide.

“The deceased had a total gastrectomy, and the hospital’s gastrointestinal surgery department should have surgical records, but the range is too broad. There are five hospitals in Yan Hai City alone that can perform such surgeries, and patient turnover in hospitals is high.”

Finding medical records from the hospital was indeed not a good approach, as it might take a lot of time and manpower without yielding any answers.

Gu Yuan hung up the phone, his hair still dripping from a recent shower. He casually dried it with a white towel draped over his shoulders, making his hair even messier but adding an inexplicable touch of allure. The water droplets on his eyelashes added a bit of spirit to his gloomy eyes.

Suddenly, Mo Lin texted: [Open the door.]

Gu Yuan: [?]

Mo Lin: [I’m at your door.]

Gu Yuan’s fingers unconsciously tightened around his phone: [I’m asleep.]

Mo Lin: [The deceased’s identity is still unknown; you probably can’t sleep. How about we sit down and chat?]

Gu Yuan hadn’t even opened the door, but his heart was already racing. He walked to the security door and looked through the peephole, finding that Mo Lin had changed his clothes.

He was wearing a black shallow-neck sweater, his hair looking freshly washed, softly hanging over his forehead, making him look a few years younger.

Taking a deep breath, Gu Yuan opened the door.

Mo Lin looked at the “little friend” in front of him, who had just showered and hadn’t even dried his hair, and helplessly frowned, his eyes full of affection: “I remember telling you that you need to dry your hair before sleeping.”

Gu Yuan lowered his head, stepped back, and made way for Mo Lin to enter.

Mo Lin, as if returning to his own home, sat unceremoniously on the sofa and then looked at Gu Yuan, who was still standing at the door: “Why are you standing so far away… I’m not going to eat you…”

Gu Yuan was deliberately keeping his distance from him, always believing that this sudden infatuation would eventually fade.

When facing the unknown, people always carry a bit of curiosity. Once the curiosity passes, everything will return to normal, so Gu Yuan didn’t think he should respond to this feeling.

On the contrary, he felt he should maintain some distance from Mo Lin.

Gu Yuan walked over, grabbed a small stool, and sat opposite the sofa: “Weren’t we going to discuss the case?”

Gu Yuan was eager to see if Mo Lin had any new insights from his perspective.

“Who said I’m here to discuss the case today… I’m here to talk about emotional issues…” Mo Lin lay back on the sofa, arms crossed behind his neck, his eyes slightly closed, and his expression suddenly not as bright.

“When you were disinfecting Li Meng today… you were too close… I wasn’t happy…”

Mo Lin’s expression was serious when he said this, but his tone carried a rare childishness, making it impossible for Gu Yuan to get angry with him.

Author’s Note: Ah, it’s hard to explain, but today’s little red flower is safe!