Chapter 13: The Speculation of the Prompt Box

Watching the team members disperse, the captain also fixed his gaze on Tang Jianing.

“We truly apologize for what happened to your father. The decision by the Major Crimes Unit was beyond our knowledge; had we known, we definitely would have stopped it.”

“It’s alright, it’s all part of the job. Besides, didn’t you already compensate me for this?” Tang Jianing gestured toward the warehouse in front of them, turning the moment into a small consolation for the captain.

Although her father had spent the night inside, he hadn’t really committed any crime. They were treated well, fed and entertained, and it even gave her an excuse to be involved in the case.

“Thank you for your understanding, Miss Tang!”

“Allow me to introduce myself properly—the Captain of the Shancheng Criminal Investigation Unit: Liu Yufeng!” The captain suddenly took on a serious tone, causing Tang Jianing to arch an eyebrow.

“Tang Jianing of Datang Group!” she replied after the introductions.

Liu Yufeng then pulled out a small notebook from inside his clothes and activated the body camera on his shoulder.

“I’ve reviewed the scene thoroughly. Now, is it alright to formally take your statement, Miss Tang?”

Seeing the glance Liu Yufeng gave her, Tang Jianing immediately understood the implication. The Criminal Investigation Unit was swamped with work, especially after what had just happened with Tang Liqian, making it difficult to ask her to come back for a statement.

As long as the body camera had footage and she had a complete written statement, that would be sufficient as a witness account.

“Name?”

“Tang Jianing.”

“Gender?”

“Female.”

“Age?”

...

Within ten minutes, the entire statement was completed with a series of questions and answers.

“The brothers can come back to the unit later to file their statements. I’ll assign someone to follow up.”

“Dahu, did you hear that? When you’re free, don’t forget to take the team there.”

“Got it!”

With the formalities done, Liu Yufeng turned off the body camera and leaned against the wall.

“From my experience, sixteen buckets likely mean sixteen sets of remains.”

Seeing the somber expression on Liu Yufeng’s face, Tang Jianing nodded in agreement.

This had been her suspicion as well; she only wondered why the buckets were separated—was there some hidden purpose or a disturbing preference behind it?

“Hand me some gloves—I want to take a look inside.”

Looking at Liu Yufeng, who was waiting for the results, Tang Jianing spoke up suddenly.

“Just be careful not to disturb the remains.”

After so many footsteps and years of exposure to wind and rain, it was almost impossible to extract anything useful from the scene.

As long as she didn’t interfere with the site or damage the bones, Liu Yufeng was glad to have help.

Moreover, this case had forced the city bureau to shamefully send the provincial department away, and the biggest contributor to that was none other than Tang Jianing herself!

Having someone so sharp-minded and influential locally involved was a boon for the entire unit.

Tang Jianing took the white gloves handed to her by Liu Yufeng, put them on, and stepped back into Warehouse No. 1.

Thanks to the professional tools brought by the police, the exterior of the buckets had already been partially broken down.

Judging by the exposed bones, her guess was correct: a person had been bent in half, placed inside the bucket, and filled with cement.

From the skull, it was evident the remains belonged to a young woman.

Tang Jianing, wearing gloves, picked up a hand bone cleared by the investigators.

A blue prompt box instantly appeared before her eyes.

[From the hand bone of a 20-year-old woman; faint marks suggest she frequently held a pen; time of death approximately three years ago.]

Her eyes lit up as she saw the prompt box.

Indeed, this feature wasn’t exclusive to the Liao family case!

After a moment’s careful observation, Tang Jianing picked up an arm bone nearby.

[From the arm bone of a 20-year-old woman; the short length indicates she was a petite girl; time of death approximately three years ago.]

This prompt box was white in color. Based on prior experience, Tang Jianing roughly understood the color coding.

White likely indicated ordinary clues—things anyone with basic forensic knowledge could infer.

Blue, by contrast, represented subtle hidden details that were difficult to detect without extensive experience.

Although she didn’t yet know if there were other colors, the blue prompt boxes alone were enough to piece together a lot.

After arranging the bones, Tang Jianing quickly typed on her phone.

“Warehouse No. 1 remains: female victim, age 20, time of death three years ago, likely a university student.”

Having recorded this, she turned her attention to the chunks of broken cement.

She reached out and picked one up, but this time no prompt box appeared.

Likewise, the discarded buckets aside from the bones did not trigger any prompts.

After pondering for a moment, Tang Jianing had a rough idea.

These two items held no value to the case, so there was no need for any prompt boxes.

The red buckets were common in the market, sold in countless numbers each year, making tracing impossible.

As for the cement, it was just ordinary cement, and even knowing it was poured with a mixer offered no help to the investigation.

After wandering around Warehouse No. 1 for a while, Tang Jianing found Dahu.

“Take me on a tour of all sixteen buckets, in order.”

“Alright!” Dahu nodded and quickly led the way.

The second bucket was in Warehouse No. 3, just to the left of Warehouse No. 1.

Work there was slower; so far, only a skull and a hand bone had been uncovered.

Without hesitation, Tang Jianing grabbed the hand bone.

[From the hand bone of a 21-year-old woman; clearly also frequently held a pen; time of death two years ago.]

After reading the prompt, she touched a skull placed nearby, and a blue prompt box appeared immediately.

[Look at the dents here—doesn’t it look like the marks were made by a hammer?]

“The victim is female, 21 years old; cause of death unknown, but preliminary suspicion is blunt force trauma to the head by a hammer; time of death two years ago; presumed identity: university student.”

“What did you say, miss?”

“Nothing, next warehouse!”

After recording the details in her notebook, Tang Jianing followed Dahu to the next warehouse.

Having visited all sixteen warehouses, Tang Jianing leaned against the wall, reviewing her notes.

With the aid of the prompt boxes, she had already uncovered many useful details even before the detectives officially began their work.

The killer’s occupation could almost certainly be linked to the construction industry.

But what troubled Tang Jianing was the timeline of the deaths.