Chapter 4. Giant Cadaver

Numerous bizarre and extraordinary murders have taken place in the subway.

In 1974, in New York, the United States, a group of masked gangsters hijacked subway passengers as hostages. They killed one passenger every hour, threatening the authorities to fork out a huge ransom. Facing the tightly - encircled police, the masked gangsters vanished mysteriously underground after getting the ransom. Later, a subway track - inspection worker discovered a pre - dug concealed passage.

In 1982, a tragic incident occurred on the London Underground. The train came to a halt midway due to a power outage, and six passengers had their throats slit. A drunk passenger who was asleep managed to escape the catastrophe. He took pictures of the murder scene with a camera, and when these pictures were published in The Times, it created a worldwide sensation. This is also a well - known case in the history of crime, the "Subway Maniac Throat - Slitting Case", which remains unsolved to this day.

The woman on the surveillance footage was none other than Miss An Qi!

In the surveillance video, her posture was extremely odd. She was hunched over, head lowered, and hands dangling. Beneath her body, there was another person who was carrying her and walking past the platform.

Due to the dim lighting, the image appeared rather blurry. The person carrying Miss An Qi revealed less than half of their head, and it was obscured by Miss An Qi's hair, making it difficult to discern the hairstyle and physical characteristics. Amy enlarged the image a hundred - fold and processed it with computer - based image - sharpening technology. The result showed that the person was wearing a helmet!

Professor Liang called the sub - bureau chief, asking him to conduct focused interrogations among the captured subway perverts to see if any of them were construction workers or firefighters, and to inquire about who frequently entered and exited the subway wearing a safety helmet.

Philip Sofia added, "Bring the man who sells newspapers on the subway too. Maybe he can offer some clues."

Before long, the subway safety supervisor brought the middle - aged newspaper vendor into the Special Case Team's office. The middle - aged newspaper vendor, handcuffed, grumbled, "I'm just selling newspapers. I haven't done anything wrong. Is it really necessary to arrest me? Goodness, so many people."

Philip Sofia stepped forward and removed the handcuffs, saying, "Sorry, we wanted you to assist the police in solving the case. We intended to invite you, but they ended up arresting you instead."

The middle - aged newspaper vendor was still a bit irate and said impatiently, "I don't know anything. Don't ask me."

The safety supervisor snapped, "Behave yourself and cooperate properly."

Philip Sofia picked up the middle - aged newspaper vendor's bag and inspected it. Inside, there was a stack of newspapers.

"We'll buy these newspapers," Philip Sofia said. "However, there's something we'd like to ask you. Have you noticed who wears helmets on the subway? Have you seen any suspicious individuals, like perverts or thieves?"

The middle - aged newspaper vendor's tone softened somewhat, and he began to chatter. He provided an important clue. This middle - aged newspaper vendor sells newspapers on the subway every day and has seen many people wearing helmets. Most of them are migrant workers. There's also a street - singing vagrant who wears a motorcycle helmet. And there's another person who rides the subway every day. He looks like an electrician or a subway staff member. He seems to be missing an ear and always covers his ear with a safety helmet. He doesn't seem to be going to work; sometimes, he spends the whole day on the subway.

The safety supervisor brought over a helmet. The middle - aged newspaper vendor said, "Yes, that's the kind of helmet the person wears."

After a technical comparison, this helmet matched the one in the surveillance video.

Professor Liang said, "The suspect is likely a subway staff member. As can be seen from the surveillance video, he tries to keep his head down, consciously avoiding the surveillance, indicating that he's quite familiar with the layout of the surveillance cameras in the subway."

The safety supervisor introduced, "The staff members who wear this type of helmet include inspectors, repair workers, and electromechanical workers. Almost all of them work night shifts, and some are temporary workers. After the subway's daytime operation ends, they repair locomotives and inspect the tracks at night."

Professor Liang said, "The suspect may be disfigured, with a withdrawn and introverted personality. He may not like communicating with others, holds a menial job, and is often looked down upon. He's likely single and has a private space where he can easily imprison the victim."

The safety supervisor said, "I do recall someone. A sewage treatment worker. He's rather ugly, has no wife, and was once fined for soliciting prostitution. Strangely, after Miss An Qi disappeared, he stopped coming to work. We couldn't find him when we were paying out the wages these past few days."

There are six sewage transfer stations in the subway sewage treatment center, all located within the tunnels. One of them is close to the Airport Subway Station.

Miss An Qi should have emerged from the Airport Subway Station, yet she disappeared mysteriously.

On that day, she posted a journal entry online. The full text is as follows:

"This noon, the French chef at home cooked. Ugh, I'm on a diet, and my weight has already exceeded 90 pounds. My boyfriend and I only had a little bit of Château Lafite wine. The price of this bottle of wine could support a farmer for several years. I really want to go to Prague to have ice - cream or eat chilled sago pudding on the beach in Hawaii. I wandered into the dressing room, took out the pomegranate - infused toner, poured it onto a Shu Uemura cotton pad, and wiped it on my face. Then I applied a bit of La Mer facial cream. After that, I called the home makeup artist downstairs to come up and do a simple nude makeup for me.

After getting all dressed up and ready to go shopping, I walked to the garage and picked a pink Porsche Cayenne. Oh, I bought seven Porsche Cayennes and painted them in my favorite colors. Today's outfit goes well with the pink one.

I drove to Wanlong Square. To be honest, I really don't like Wanlong. The goods here are always behind those abroad. But I still bought some things, spending only a bit over 300,000 yuan. I really bought less today. I'm not happy about it.

I was feeling a bit tired, so I took a break at Starbucks in Citic Square. I had just lit a reasurer cigarette when a clerk came over and told me that smoking wasn't allowed inside and that I should go to the outdoor seats. What kind of logic is that? I was so angry that I slapped her and said, 'Do you know who I am?' Then I took out my Swiss Bank gold card and threw it in her face, saying, 'I'm renting this place today. And get your manager here. I want him to fire you.' She ran out of my sight, crying and rubbing her face. Humph, anyone who dares to oppose me is doomed.

Okay, I won't write anymore. I have to catch a flight tonight to attend an international fashion week in Japan. Goodbye, my fans!"

Miss An Qi got caught in a traffic jam and had to take the subway instead. It was the last subway train. After arriving at the Airport Station, this cleanliness - obsessed woman first went to the subway station restroom to wash her hands. The restroom was empty. Because the floor was slippery, she accidentally fell. A man wearing a helmet came over to help her, but she said in disgust, "You're filthy. Get away. You're so repulsive."

She washed her hands again. Looking up in the restroom mirror, she saw the man in the helmet standing behind her, his eyes glinting with malice.

Miss An Qi was so frightened that she shuddered. She rushed to leave but felt a numbing pain at the back of her head. She convulsed and then fainted.

When she regained consciousness, Miss An Qi found herself in a pitch - black subway tunnel. A man was carrying her. Miss An Qi let out a terrified scream and struggled frantically. However, her hands and feet were bound with tape. The man put her down, taped her mouth shut, then hoisted the whimpering Miss An Qi onto his shoulder and strode deeper into the tunnel.

The man's singing reverberated in the darkness. He was singing an old song:

"Are there vows of eternal love? There are so many romantic tales. Who can write one for me? If Heaven has emotions, it too would grow old. I'm only worried that I can't wait. How should I face this conflicting state of mind? Love has never had an excuse, nor any sense of guilt. Everything about you will always be mine. If you are my legend..."

Miss An Qi fainted again!

There are also some people living in the subway, such as beggars and the homeless. They find a corner and sleep on a few sheets of newspapers. No one pays them any heed. The sewage treatment worker lived in the transfer station within the tunnel. He was a hired migrant laborer. That dark little room equipped with a water pump was his temporary abode.

The deputy director and the safety supervisor each led a team of police officers. They all made their way in a grand procession along the subway tunnel towards the sewage transfer station. Philip Sofia and Matt both had a premonition that the case was on the verge of being solved. Amy didn't have to participate originally, but her curiosity got the better of her, and she was eager to see how Miss An Qi, the wealthy young lady, was being held.

As they neared the transfer station, everyone became impatient and started running.

Professor Liang reminded everyone via the walkie - talkie in the Special Case Team's office, "There are five factors that can most easily contaminate a crime scene. Let me just mention the most crucial one - the police."

This made everyone slow down and approach the transfer station door cautiously. Under the illumination of the searchlights, the small room seemed unremarkable. It was dark inside, as if no one was there.

Matt stepped forward and delivered a side kick. The iron door wasn't locked. It banged open and then slowly swung back.

As the door opened, everyone clearly saw a person lying on the ground!

A massive person!

To be precise, a massive corpse!

The door opened again, and several police officers in the front crouched down and retched. Amy took one look and then turned away, feeling so nauseated that she vomited.

The corpse was in an advanced stage of decomposition. The face was swollen, the eyes were bulging, the lips were turned outwards, the chest and abdomen had swollen into a spherical shape, the limbs were thick and plump, the skin was a dirty green color, and the entire body's muscles were in a state of emphysema. Philip Sofia exclaimed, "Putrefactive cadaveric bloat." Five to seven days after death, the body swells into a massive form, as large as a giant. This phenomenon is known as putrefactive cadaveric bloat in forensic medicine.

The deputy director and the safety supervisor fought back the nausea in their stomachs and stepped forward to examine. A police officer took pictures for evidence. Suddenly, the decomposed giant corpse exploded! With a loud bang, liquid splattered everywhere, and a revolting stench filled the air.

The putrefactive gases caused the pressure in the corpse's abdominal cavity to increase, sometimes resulting in a corpse explosion. There was a case in South Korea where a pregnant woman's body with putrefactive cadaveric bloat exploded and ejected a baby!

Although it was difficult to identify the corpse's features, from the clothes at the scene, along with the blood type and fingerprints, it could be determined that the deceased was the sewage treatment worker. After a preliminary autopsy by the forensic doctor, the cause of the sewage treatment worker's death was determined to be being knocked unconscious and then strangled. The time of death was approximately five days ago, which was the day Miss An Qi disappeared.

At this point, the case became extremely convoluted. The only suspect had actually died, turned into a massive corpse, and then exploded.

Who killed him?

And where was Miss An Qi?