My chat group members are all legendary criminals.

Chapter 24 The Truth

Late at night, in the hospital morgue.

Lu Yiming stood in front of the iron platform, the air filled with the pungent smell of formaldehyde.

All the limbs from the dismemberment case were laid out on the table.

Some of the muscle had turned olive green, while others were relatively fresh, retaining a dark red color.

Marcus was somewhat worried.

"Ming, why don't we rest for the night? There's no rush. The chief just called us. He's very satisfied with this operation. Cult den, child rescue, recovered stolen money... we've done enough. There's no need to rush the body-piece case."

Lu Yiming didn't turn around, staring at the limbs.

Tomorrow, Hannibal's powers will expire. This is his last chance to solve the mystery.

He believed the answer to all the mysteries lay in these corpses.

We must hurry.

"It's alright, boss, you should go back and rest."

Marcus patted him on the shoulder and walked away.

Lu Yiming put on his gloves, took a deep breath, and began to work.

The bodies have been rearranged according to the parts belonging to the same person.

"The forensic report can only tell me how you died; now let me know how you lived."

The first body is of Indian descent, presumably Elsa, with a torso and legs, but missing a head and a mutilated face.

"He has a pre-existing musculoskeletal injury and a minor disability, so walking is probably not very easy for him."

The second body: a white male homeless man. The body is found to be the torso, right arm, and left leg.

The severed part of the left arm was mangled beyond recognition, as if it had been repeatedly chopped and cut with a blunt instrument.

He previously thought it was because the killer was technically incompetent.

But now he has to change his perspective.

Lu Yiming recalled that Elsa's head was removed from her body in order to hide the fact that Elsa was already disfigured.

Could the excessive destruction here be the same?

"What information is the killer hiding?"

You've already cut off his hand, what are you trying to cover up?

"Is it possible that... this white homeless man was born without a left arm?"

He felt he was getting closer and closer to the truth. All he had to do was continue verifying it.

Lu Yiming then proceeded to the third platform.

There are only the dark left arm and right leg here, which belong to the black woman who was rescued.

She is still in the ICU, but there are many photos from all angles.

Lu Yiming noticed that the severed area of ​​the right arm in the torso in the photo had the same excessive damage as before.

"She might... never have had a right arm to begin with." A chill crept up her spine.

He strode toward the remaining two iron platforms.

The fourth group of limbs: the left arm, right arm, and right leg belonging to a Black male. The torso is not shown.

He picked up the right arm.

There are unusually thick calluses and old and new wounds on the tiger's mouth and palm.

He initially thought it was caused by strenuous manual labor.

Now, he has a more plausible explanation: the black man used a wheelchair for a long time, and the friction caused by pushing the wheel rim with his hands created the rim.

The fifth group of limbs: the arms and left leg of the earliest deceased but undiscovered Asian male.

A person who works from home for a long time finds it inconvenient to go out and has no social circle.

The presence of pressure marks on his arm muscles suggests that he may have been using crutches for an extended period of time.

"He may not have a right leg."

hum-

Lu Yiming felt a wave of dizziness and took a step back to steady himself on the metal table.

Everyone was wrong.

Including himself.

Because the victim's identity was hidden.

Everyone believed that the excessive damage was due to the killer's lack of professionalism.

In fact, beheading and destroying the cut were all done to conceal their identities.

This discovery sent chills down his spine.

Police, media, and even the lunatics within the legendary criminal group all held preconceived notions:

The killer kidnapped five able-bodied people, cut off their complete limbs, a total of 20 parts, and then rearranged them.

A total of five bodies will be pieced together and disposed of.

But the truth is:

These five victims were very likely disabled before they died!

They didn't have 20 complete limbs to begin with, so they couldn't piece together five complete corpses.

Lu Yiming swallowed hard, his mind racing with conflicting thoughts.

"Elsa was kidnapped willingly..."

"Your goal is to create humankind..."

The purpose of these five disabled people doing all this was—

They are donating parts of their own mutilated bodies in an attempt to piece together... a few complete human beings.

"Your purpose is like a declaration of war and a provocation..."

Moriarty's words popped into Lu Yiming's mind again, and now it seemed that Moriarty was not wrong.

That's their real goal.

A group composed of people with disabilities.

A distorted belief or a desperate plea.

By voluntarily donating their own disabled body parts...

In order to become complete human beings, who are they challenging and declaring war on?

Lu Yiming recalled the family photo at Elsa's house.

「Fremont Handicapped Fellowship」

—Fremont Disabled Persons Mutual Aid Association.

The smiling face in the photo and the cold, broken pieces in front of me gradually overlapped.

"I think I've uncovered the secret of your identities."

He wanted to call someone immediately to go to Elsa's house to find the photo. But then he glanced at his watch: 3 a.m.

"Forget it, let's just wait until dawn."

He closed his eyes wearily, rubbing his throbbing temples.

He walked out of the morgue, intending to find a place to rest.

Then he saw a cup of Mixue Ice Cream lemon tea on the bench by the door, with water droplets clinging to the cup.

There was a note under the cup; the handwriting was a bit messy, but it was clearly a girl's:

I owe you one.

P.S.: Don't kick so hard next time!

It was unsigned, but Lu Yiming knew who wrote it.

"Wow...you really went more than ten kilometers to buy it?"

Lu Yiming muttered to himself, inserted a straw, and took a sip.

I don't know if it's because it's been sitting for too long, or if the ingredients in America are different, but it doesn't taste as refreshing as I remember it from back home.

"Your life is only worth a cup of lemon tea? Tsk, it's really worthless."

Holding the lemon tea, I hadn't walked far when I heard an unusual, subtle noise coming from the stairwell.

Lu Yiming subconsciously slowed his footsteps and peered through the crack in the door.

In the dimly lit stairwell, a familiar figure with a round face and a full beard, wearing a leather jacket, was pressing someone against the wall and making out intimately.

Extremely aggressive.

The two people's heads kept shaking.

Leo? Σ(ﾟдﾟlll)

Lu Yiming was startled. Who was the person he had pinned against the wall?

It can't be...

The cat peeked out and realized it had been overthinking things.

Uh... no, I was just thinking too little.

……

Bro, your ancestral home isn't...

Shocked, I felt a surge of relief.

Cough cough, looks like there's no need to worry. Turns out this guy has unique tastes. He probably isn't interested in Chen Ruoyan.

Wait, then why did he tell me to stay far away from Chen Ruoyan?

Could it be that he has taken a liking to... me?

Lu Yiming felt a chill run down his spine.

Holding a glass of lemon tea, I tiptoed away with lightning speed and the lightest movement...