Chapter Seventy-Two: Investigating the Villa!

Li Xingchen pointed at someone named "Sun Lili" and said, "This person owns a property in the Longshan Villa District."

Sun Lili was the ex-wife of Officer Wang, the criminal investigation expert. The property had once been registered under Officer Wang's name, but after their divorce, it was transferred to Sun Lili, and Officer Wang moved out.

"Could it be a case of a wife killing her husband? A crime of passion?" Li Xingchen mused.

In truth, this wasn't much of a lead. In an ordinary case, it wouldn't even be investigated. But since we had nothing else to go on, we could only grasp at straws. Old Lin immediately said, "Let's go check out this place. At this point, we have nothing to lose."

Many cases, after all, are cracked thanks to such "nothing to lose" details.

We quickly arrived at Sun Lili's residence, but the villa's gates were tightly locked. We called out for a long time, but no one answered. Old Lin had no choice but to ask the chief commander for Sun Lili's contact information so we could call her.

But I stopped Old Lin and said, "Old Lin, maybe it would be better if we sneaked in quietly. If we call Sun Lili, she might prepare her story in advance and cloud our judgment."

Old Lin considered this and nodded, "You have a point! All right, Li Hong, you and Xiao Yang sneak in and see if you can find any important clues."

Li Hong nodded and led us around the villa. The security was tight—burglar bars on the windows, the only way in would be to break them, risking charges of unlawful entry.

But Li Hong was resourceful. He found a small window leading to the basement, which wasn't barred. After kicking in the glass, we squeezed through the narrow opening one by one.

Everything in the basement seemed normal. Once Li Hong confirmed no one was in the house, he led me into the living room.

The interior was lavishly decorated, furnished with high-end brands—so much so that the furniture and renovations could rival the value of the villa itself. The room was so spacious that finding a clue seemed almost impossible. I felt at a loss, and Li Hong looked the same, pacing restlessly, scratching his head.

Since we couldn't find any details, I decided to step back and look at the bigger picture.

It was then I noticed something significant.

The arrangement of the room wasn't like that of a single woman living alone—it looked instead like a couple's home. Toothbrushes, toothpaste, pillows, utensils—all came in pairs. Even the cosmetics included both male and female brands.

I quickly checked the toothbrushes. They'd been used recently, but the male toothbrush hadn't been used for about a week.

I called Old Lin at once to report: "Old Lin, this isn't a woman's solo residence. Two people live here—a man and a woman!"

Old Lin was surprised. "Could it be that Sun Lili has a new partner? I'll check with the chief commander."

"All right, please do. I'll keep looking," I replied, and began searching the house for other clues. But apart from that discovery, there was nothing else.

As we were about to leave, Li Hong suddenly tugged at me. "Xiao Yang, have you noticed anything strange?"

I looked at him, puzzled. "What do you mean?"

"There's something missing from this room," Li Hong said. "I'm not sure, but in my own place—whether I live alone or not—I always display some favorite photographs. Even casual decorations would include a few pictures."

His words immediately made me realize there was indeed something off. We searched the living room, bedroom, even the bathroom, but found not a single photograph.

But in the trash, we found several empty picture frames, and on many spots on the walls, the color was slightly different, forming rectangular shadows—clear signs that photos once hung there.

Li Hong and I began searching the house with a single goal: find the photos.

It seemed someone had deliberately removed all the pictures. Even if there had been wedding photos, there should've been solo portraits too. No one would throw out all their solo photos.

We searched everywhere—under the bed, in drawers, in the smallest nooks and crannies—but found nothing.

Strange indeed.

Since we found nothing and Sun Lili was likely on her way, Li Hong and I exited through the basement.

Near the basement was a trash bin. Inside was a tightly sealed black plastic bag that caught my attention. I ran over, pulled it out, and tore it open—inside, it was filled with ashes.

I immediately called Old Lin and the others over.

Old Lin squatted down, grabbed a handful of ash, and said, "This is the kind of ash produced by burning photographic paper. And it's recent, too."

"So Sun Lili must have burned the photos," I replied, unwilling to give up. Searching through the ashes, I found a few photos that hadn't been completely destroyed.

They were odd—apparently group photos, but the faces in the pictures were cut out. The same was true of the other photos we found.

Old Lin placed the remnants in evidence bags and asked us all for our opinions: whose group photos could these have been?

Tang Jingjing guessed they were of Officer Wang and Sun Lili.

Old Lin shook his head. "If the photos were of the two of them, she would have burned them at the time of the divorce, not after Officer Wang's incident. That would only draw suspicion."

Li Xingchen suggested they were of Sun Lili's lover.

Old Lin disagreed. "That would also be suspicious."

Li Hong thought they might be photos of Officer Wang and his colleagues. "Maybe she just noticed them today, found them inauspicious, and burned them."

Old Lin shook his head again. "Unlikely."

Grabbing a handful of ashes, I said to Old Lin, "Maybe we should look at this from a different perspective."

Old Lin looked at me with interest. "Oh? What do you mean by that?"

"We've been so focused on the photos—what if they're not the point? Or maybe the photos themselves were never important."

Old Lin's eyes lit up. "You're sharp! Perhaps the photos were just a cover—the real purpose of the fire was to destroy something else. Burning photos to distract us from the fact that important documents, for example, were being burned at the same time."

I smiled and agreed.

"But what do you think they were trying to destroy?" Old Lin asked.

I thought for a moment. "Could it have been... bugs?"

"You mean corpse insects?" Old Lin clarified.

"Yes," I nodded. "I read the report by Sun Lao, the entomology expert, and he said this environment is suitable for raising insects. To erase evidence of insects, they could only burn them. To keep us from finding insect remains, they used the photos as cover."

Old Lin nodded. "You're right."

Soon after, the chief commander called. Sun Lili had been instructed to return to the villa and cooperate with the investigation. We were told to wait at the entrance.

Not long after, a middle-aged woman heavily made up approached, striking provocative poses that left us all uncomfortable. Old Lin frowned in distaste.

Sun Lili glared at Old Lin, "Why did you call me here?"

Tang Jingjing flashed her police badge and paperwork. "Police business. Please cooperate and let us in to search the premises. This is a search warrant."

"Being a cop makes you so special?" Sun Lili sneered. "I don't have the key. I can't let you in."

"Please cooperate," Tang Jingjing said, getting angry. "If you don't, I won't hesitate to arrest you for obstructing justice!"

Tang Jingjing was furious and was about to take Sun Lili away, but I quickly stopped her. I understood that having a policeman as an ex-husband could make a woman like her resent law enforcement. It wasn't her fault.

This phenomenon exists everywhere. An authoritative journal has dubbed it the "Dubby Phenomenon."

Li Xingchen was best at handling women who tried to act younger than their age. I glanced at him. He rolled his eyes at me but stepped forward, putting on a charming smile. "Come on, lady, we're just trying to do our job here. It's not easy for us. Please understand! I'll treat you to a meal sometime."

Sun Lili looked at Li Xingchen suspiciously. "Are you a cop?"

Li Xingchen replied at once, "No, no, I'm a psychology expert. They brought me in to help with the case."

Only then did Sun Lili drop some of her resistance, though she still said coldly, "I don't have the key."

Li Xingchen pressed, "What do you mean? Aren't you the owner of this villa?"

Sun Lili retorted, "Who says I'm the owner? The villa is only registered in my name. The real ownership still belongs to that dead man."

"Oh?" Li Xingchen was puzzled. "But if it's in your name, you can reclaim it any time. Ownership or not, the law doesn't protect that."

Sun Lili pulled out a document and handed it to Li Xingchen. "Take a look! See if this contract has any legal effect."

We all looked at it. It turned out to be a legally binding agreement.

The document stated that although the villa was registered under Sun Lili's name, the ownership remained with Officer Wang. The agreement was valid for five years, after which the villa would revert to Sun Lili.

I was puzzled—why would they sign such an agreement? And why did Officer Wang retain ownership for only five years?