Chapter 42: A Hole on the Grave
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The second victim of the Lost Hand Case, Yuan Lili, had her hand chopped off while she was sleeping at home. The chances of solving burglary attacks like this were usually quite high, but only Yuan Lili’s case was unsolved. There were numerous security cameras in the surrounding district, but there was no sign of any suspects, which had perplexed the police. What method had the culprit used?
When Zhao Yu saw Li Dan’s detailed plan, he finally realized how she had done it! If the keyword for Gao Tian’s case was "vent," then the keyword for Yuan Lili’s case would be "ladder!"
Last month, Li Dan had taken a retractable ladder, and climbed up to the building next to Yuan Lili’s house. There was a distance of five meters between that building and Yuan Lili’s apartment. After the ladder had been set up, it could be placed between the two buildings, acting as a bridge.
Li Dan had not only meticulously planned her use of the ladder, but had gathered food and water as well, which she had hidden on the rooftop. On April 23rd, after Li Dan chopped off Gao Tian’s hand and left the stadium, she did not return home, but went straight to the district where Yuan Lili stayed. With the help of the morning work crowd, she went to the rooftop and hid there. As she had entered from the unit of another building, and had done so few days ahead, the agents who checked on the security camera did not notice her.
Li Dan waited patiently on the rooftop for three days until the night of the 25th, where she set up the ladder and climbed over to Yuan Lili’s building. The corridor of Yuan Lili’s apartment did not have direct access to the rooftop. Li Dan had dropped a rope down to enter the corridor from the window.
Yuan Lili stayed on the third floor. Not only had Li Dan duplicated her house key in advance, but she had also planted a listening device in her house months in advance. Therefore, she had already known that Yuan Lili would be home alone that night.
Li Dan’s next steps were the same as with Gao Tian. First, she knocked out victim, then gave her anesthesia, and finally chopped off her hand. After chopping off Yuan Lili’s hand, Li Dan kept the listening device, and damaged the door lock on purpose to create a false impression of forced entry.
Thereafter, she climbed back to the rooftop using the rope, and returned to the neighboring building using the ladder. What happened next made Zhao Yu’s hair stand on end. In order not to be caught by the security camera, Li Dan hid on the corner of the rooftop and stayed there for a week with Yuan Lili’s chopped hand!
Zhao Yu would never have imagined that when the police had been investigating Yuan Lili’s case, the culprit was hiding on the rooftop of the next building! Li Dan’s confidence and boldness were on a completely different level! During that time, there were police officers who checked the rooftop of Yuan Lili’s apartment, but since Li Dan was hiding in the corner of the neighboring building, she had not been discovered.
It was only after one week that Li Dan went downstairs and left the district. The ladder was removed from the rooftop after a long period of time. From duplicating the key to planting the listening device, followed by preparing the ladder and food, and then finally committing the crime, the whole process took several months. The meticulousness of Li Dan’s plan made one speechless! When she was hiding at the rooftop, she had even prepared a waste bucket to collect her own waste, and did not leave a single trace. Such a carefully planned crime had made it impossible for the police to investigate. Moreover, the motive of the crime was unclear, resulting in the case being unsolved for a long time.
Looking at the information before him, Zhao Yu felt perplexed once again. Li Dan’s modus operandi, her meticulousness, and her endurance was a precise reflection of her deep hatred for the victims! To exact her revenge, she had created the perfect crime, but if Li Dan was doing this on behalf of herself, could she be overly blinded by her own hatred? There was probably only one person behind her injury during the piano competition. Did she really have to take revenge on so many people? Did she have to chop off the hands of all the competitors in top ten positions?
At that point, Zhao Yu was not in the mood to find out Li Dan’s plan for Luo Meina. He looked at the end of the document to look for Li Dan’s other targets. Who would it be this time?
Once he found his answer, Zhao Yu was astonished once again. Other than the three victims, there was detailed information of another person on the paper! This person was likely to be Li Dan’s next target!
The photo was of a stylish and very tall woman! Beside the woman’s photo was a printed document, and there was a black and white photo on the document. Zhao Yu took a glance and suddenly felt nervous. The photo was actually of a tall burial mound! In front of the burial mound was a black gravestone. The strange thing was that there was a big hole caved between the gravestone and the burial mound.
"Hmmm? What does this mean? What does a grave have to do with Li Dan’s plan? What does she want to do?" Zhao Yu wondered. He quickly looked at the information below the photo. He had thought that Li Dan’s next target would be Li Xinhua, whom he and Li Beini had predicted; however, the information did not show Li Xinhua, but a woman named Shao Jiaying.
Zhao Yu did not recall such a person on the competitors list. "What is this?" Doubtful, Zhao Yu continued reading and understood why. The information showed the woman named Shao Jiaying was a female entrepreneur in international trade and had moved to Australia! "Oh! So it’s her!"
Zhao Yu suddenly realized that Shao Jiaying was actually Shao Lulu, and that Shao Lulu had placed third in the Grand Piano Competition! The information that Li Beini had gotten showed that after the competition, Shao Lulu was the first to be accepted by the National Conservatory of Folk Music, and later to study abroad. After that, she started a business in musical equipment, and became a well known entrepreneur. It had been smooth sailing for her, and she was indeed very successful.
"Don’t tell me...she is Li Dan’s next target?" Zhao Yu tried to suppress his inner agitation and read on. He quickly realized there was no information on other people behind Shao Jiaying! There was nothing on Li Xinhua, and also nothing on the champion that year, Lu Tao!
Was Li Dan planning to wait until next year to exact her revenge, or did she think that those two people were not her enemies, so there was no need for revenge?
"Wait!" Zhao Yu seemed to have realized something. He quickly turned back and looked carefully at the document with the gravestone photo. Although the words on the gravestone were not clear, the caved-in hole in the middle of the grave was very clear.
After he read the general meaning of the document, he was startled. "Holy Sh*t! It’s actually like this? This is gonna be terrible!"