Yore Descry (昔日的描述)

Glimpse 12; Gather Attention

"An anonymous person sent this to you?" Mr. Liu came to Yore Antiques the next morning to check out the feet and heel in a box that Haoyu had sealed up in double layer of clear plastic wrap.

"Obnoxious, no?" Haoyu seemed to be incensed by the package, his arms cross in front of his chest as he spoke with a solemn scowl on his face.

"Do you know who might've sent this to you?"

"I was supposed to have a friend help me find out who, but refused the minute she saw this monstrosity." Haoyu replied in a bitter tone, "I speculate it to be someone from Shandong University, Weihai Campus. Since he got my personal number and said to be from a friend of mine at campus,"

"Did they give them your number?"

"No, none of them remember giving away my personal number." Haoyu shook his head, "I couldn't do anything this time, the box didn't give me any clues within the last 24 hours. And I don't think I can touch that,"

"Worst part is, I was about to come to you for a chain of murders happening around Shandong recently." Mr. Liu said, "This morning, we found a dead body left at an alleyway downtown. And an anonymous package was sent to the office, it was a severed hand."

"A chain of murders? A serial killer is on the loose?" Haoyu was taken aback.

"Yes, and it appears that they target young women between 18 to 25. There's been 5 bodies so far, counting the one we discovered this morning." Mr. Liu took out a folder from his bag, handing it to Haoyu for him to see. There were pictures of the identified victims, the last one, the victim discovered that morning shocked Haoyu.

"She's..." it was none other than the drunken young woman he met the previous night, a regular at Xiayan's bar, Lan Keqing.

"Do you know her?" Mr. Liu furrowed a brow.

"I met her last night, at a bar downtown."

"A bar??" Mr. Liu sounded shocked.

"Why are you surprised? I'm not a kid, I'm 22." Haoyu reminded him with a deadpan.

"I know, but... I just didn't expect you to be that type of person..." the detective admitted.

"A friend of mine runs that bar, I go there to hang out from time to time." Haoyu sighed lightly, "This woman was there during 11:40, she left at midnight in a taxi." He recalled seeing Xiayan taking Ms. Lan to a taxi outside the alley from the balcony of the two-story building.

"Did you get a license plate?" Mr. Liu took out his notepad, pressing the end of the pen to push out the point.

"鲁H·4A3781," Haoyu remembered the exact license plate of the taxi, "If I can get access to the car, I might be able to see what happened, it hasn't been 24 hours."

"I'll secure it for you,"

"Just bring me the car's rear-view mirror,"

"Alright, I'll work on it as soon as possible." Mr. Liu nodded, but he paused to think for moments.

"Mr. Liu?" Haoyu tilted his head slightly.

"I'm just worried..." Mr. Liu seemed genuinely concerned and puzzled, "If the one who sent this package to you really is the murderer, why did he send it to you? Where did he know you from?" Mr. Liu's questions got Haoyu thinking.

"He did mention the rumours about my powers, so I'm guessing he's the taunting type."

"Lao Haoyu, curious of the mysterious caller, I assume?"

"I guess Xiayan told you?"

"She did, especially of how revolting the package was." Zhiming was standing at the corner of the shop, a few feet away from Haoyu. "I came home to a dreadful stench, to say the least, particularly for my nose. But despite so, I caught a familiar smell that didn't belong to either you or Xiayan."