Chapter 104 Unraveling the Mystery

Everyone present stared fixedly at the black, gaping pit in the earth. They even forgot the stench of rotting pig carcass that saturated the air. All attention was riveted by the two police dogs, barking madly as if possessed. Ignoring their handlers’ tugs, they hurled all their strength into furious, warning howls directed at the empty bottom of the pit.

This was absolutely abnormal.

Yan Zheng was no fool; he immediately sensed something was off. Forcing himself out of his rage, his tiger-like eyes locked onto Chen Yu, the veins at his temples still throbbing.

Chen Yu returned his gaze with a look full of meaning—the certainty of a hunter who has spotted his prey.

“Keep digging!” Chen Yu barked.

The two agents wielding shovels glanced at Yan Zheng in confusion, their faces clearly saying, “Captain, is this guy insane? Dig more? What could possibly be down there—another pig for a matching set?”

Yan Zheng and Chen Yu stared at each other for a full three seconds. He couldn’t read the young man, but instinct told him he had to trust him.

“Didn’t you hear?” Yan Zheng snapped, turning sharply to the agents, his voice low and commanding. “Dig!”

The order was absolute. The two agents jolted, no longer hesitating, grabbed their shovels, and jumped back into the pit.

The clash of metal against earth once more became the only melody in the hall.

Standing at the edge of the pit, Su Qingzhu’s beautiful eyes were locked on the bottom, her lips pressed tight, her chest rising and falling gently.

She didn’t understand. Chen Yu’s logic was a mystery to her. She hated this feeling of confusion.

Every time she thought she had seen through this man, he would reveal something deeper, more unfathomable.

Time ticked by.

The pit grew deeper.

One meter.

One and a half.

When the depth was nearly above the agents’ heads—

A dull thud!

The shovel seemed to strike something soft yet resilient.

The agent digging jerked, looked up sharply, voice trembling: “Captain! There’s something here!”

Every heart skipped a beat.

“Careful, bring it up!” Yan Zheng finally understood; all previous uncertainty crystallized into certainty.

With everyone’s help, another burlap sack, identical to the one holding the pig carcass, was hauled out of the pit.

This sack did not emit the overwhelming stench of pig rot. But its oppressive presence was a hundred times stronger than the dead pig’s.

The forensic examiner, gloves on, face pale, glanced at Yan Zheng and then Chen Yu. Seeing both nod, he steadied his trembling hands and sliced open the sack with a scalpel.

A slit was made.

A swollen, deathly pale face, eyes wide in terror, was suddenly exposed to all.

It was Zeng Chen.

It really was Zeng Chen.

He had been dead for some time; buried in the earth for who knows how long, his skin now a strange, bluish-gray.

“Ugh…”

A few young agents, just recovered from the earlier shock, saw the face and their stomachs roiled once more, darting to the corner to vomit violently.

The rest stood frozen, as if under a spell.

First they stared in shock at the corpse on the ground, then, as if seeing a monster, their eyes collectively turned to the man standing aside, hands in his pockets.

Chen Yu.

The villa’s hall was dead silent.

Everyone’s mind held only one thought.

Incredible…

Absolutely incredible!

When all were confused, when every clue had broken off, to pinpoint the corpse’s location more than a meter underground…

This was beyond deduction.

It was prophecy—a divine revelation.

“You…”

Su Qingzhu finally could not hold back, forcing herself to speak.

“How… how did you know?”

She voiced the question in everyone’s heart.

Chen Yu, hearing her, drew himself out of his calm, chessmaster demeanor.

He turned, looking at Su Qingzhu’s incredulous, perfectly beautiful face, and his lips curled into a roguish smile.

He raised a hand, scratching his head as if troubled.

“Well, you might not believe me if I say this.”

“Actually, I just guessed.”

Guessed again?

Damn your guesses!

If he relied on guesses, what did the uniformed police amount to? Teletubbies?

Su Qingzhu bit her lip in fury; if not for the situation, she would have kicked his annoyingly handsome face.

Seeing her frustrated but helpless expression, Chen Yu felt a surge of delight.

Teasing this icy police beauty was far more entertaining than solving cases.

“Ahem,” Chen Yu cleared his throat, knowing he couldn’t push it further or she’d explode.

He dropped the smile and spoke earnestly.

“Of course, it’s not all guesswork. Because now, I understand our mysterious friend very well.”

“He’s not committing a crime—he’s playing a game. A game where he sees himself as God, and all of us as NPCs.”

“To win a game, the first step is to grasp the designer’s way of thinking.”

Chen Yu held up a finger.

“First, the killer needed an absolutely safe, undisturbed window of time and space to bury the body. When was that?”

He glanced at Su Qingzhu.

Her breath caught, a dreadful realization dawning. Her face darkened as she answered, “Last night… Zeng Chen drove around the city in circles. We thought he’d gone mad, so we pulled all surveillance off the villa and sent them to intercept him…”

“So, there was at least a three to four hour gap.”

“Bingo!” Chen Yu snapped his fingers, looking flamboyant.

“But wait!” Su Qingzhu immediately countered, “We watched Zeng Chen get into his own car before we started the chase! He was alone! How could he have ended up here, buried?”

“Good question.” Chen Yu nodded approvingly, like a patient teacher.

“Did you really see Zeng Chen?”

“This mysterious man loves misdirection. If he can hijack every screen in the city, making a lifelike mask or recruiting a similar build to act is hardly difficult.”

“I suspect Zeng Chen was killed as soon as he left the club, perhaps even inside it!”

“The one cruising the city, drawing your attention, was the killer himself!”

All the agents drew in a sharp breath.

The deduction was audacious.

But damn if it wasn’t perfectly logical.

“He drove around, making all the police in River City chase their tails, but the real target was you—the elite squad posted at Zeng Chen’s home.”

Chen Yu’s tone held a trace of mockery, making Su Qingzhu’s face flush and pale.

“Then he timed it and plunged into the city river. What’s your instinctive reaction? Rescue! Retrieve the car! Seal the river!”

“But he had already slipped away, perhaps even took a cab back to this now-empty villa.”

“That was his construction window.”

Chen Yu walked to the pit, glancing down.

“He dug a deep enough hole, buried the real Zeng Chen.”

“Then, on top, he placed a dead pig, already rotting and stinking, covered it with earth.”

“You might think the pig was just to disgust us, to openly mock the police.”

Chen Yu shook his head, a smirk twisting his lips.

“Yes, he was mocking us. But there’s another, more crucial purpose.”

“Interference.”

“Interfering with our judgment, most importantly, the police dogs’ sense of smell.”

“On the surface, the pig’s powerful stench would let the dogs quickly find the ‘target.’”

“You dig it up, see a pig. What do you think? Oh, just a prank. Case closed, we’ve been played.”

“All your attention, all your anger, would be focused on the pig!”

“No one would imagine, or want, to keep digging. That stench is the perfect psychological barrier.”

“Who would guess, beneath the guise of a prank, a real corpse lay hidden?”

“Why did the dogs keep barking after the pig was unearthed?”

“Because they smelled both odors! The strong rot above, and—deeper, buried by earth—the scent of Zeng Chen’s death.”

“He exploited your habitual thinking, your emotions, and the dogs’ expertise, weaving this trap, layer upon layer.”

“That’s the mysterious man’s entire plan!”

Chen Yu’s voice echoed through the silent hall.

Everyone was stunned.

They stared at Chen Yu, minds blank.

Was this logic even humanly possible?

Did the Resurrection Guy crawl inside the mastermind’s mind?

How else could he predict every thought so perfectly, not even missing a punctuation mark?

Yes—after the pig was unearthed, the dogs did keep barking.

But who would notice?

Who, in the midst of anger and disgust at being played, could remain absolutely calm and analyze the deeper reason for the dogs’ abnormal behavior?

Who would imagine, beneath more than a meter of foul earth, another corpse lay hidden?

How meticulous was this man’s mind?

Terrifying.

Utterly terrifying.

Especially for Su Qingzhu, whose gaze at Chen Yu kept shifting.

From initial contempt and disdain, to curiosity and rivalry, then shock and confusion…

Now, all those complex emotions settled into something she herself could not name.

It was the feeling that arises when an utterly proud person, in a certain domain, is crushed by another’s overwhelming prowess—an intricate mix of defeat, reverence, and even… admiration.

This man, with his inhuman intellect, was steadily shattering every shell she had ever prided herself on.