Chapter 397 - The Death of Westerly

Xu Ke’s investigation made no progress by the afternoon. Although the young men of the service company were full of energy, they had not found any valuable clues.

So far, the basic investigation had reconstructed Zhang Qianniu’s route after leaving the base. The only thing that could be confirmed was that he was still alive after leaving the tavern after 4:30 p.m. After the 5 p.m. whistle, someone last saw him by the fishing boat dock on the commercial street—he was vomiting by the sea, according to the witness, but there was no one with him.

After that, no one had seen Zhang Qianniu again.

Now, the service company and the police station were checking everyone who had had contact with Zhang Qianniu to see if they could find any new clues.

Xu Ke himself took the materials back to his office. He needed to reorganize his thoughts and “string together” the materials he had.

During this time, Lei En called and said that according to his re-examination of the body, Zhang Qianniu had defensive wounds on his arms and hands. He should have fought with the murderer before being killed.

He knew very well that the screening would not be of much use. More than 24 hours had passed since the incident, and the murderer had had enough time to escape.

But this incident had always puzzled Xu Ke. So far, the murderer’s motive was still unclear.

From his years of experience in criminal investigation, 99% of murder cases had a motive—so-called indiscriminate killings were a drop in the ocean. The murderer who killed Zhang Qianniu must have had a purpose.

He had already ruled out a crime of passion or robbery-murder, so revenge-killing became the biggest suspect. Many people in the navy were former pirates, and if their history were to be investigated carefully, they might not be clean. It was very likely that they had blood debts and feuds. The murderer might have been spurred to kill after accidentally discovering him in Kaohsiung.

But why did the murderer strip him of his clothes? This puzzled him. It was understandable that the murderer cut off his head—to vent his anger—but stripping off his clothes was a bit strange.

In his opinion, stripping off the clothes and cutting off the head had only one explanation: the murderer did not want anyone to be able to identify the body. From the perspective of a revenge killing, this was somewhat illogical.

Why did the murderer strip the clothes?

Xu Ke was deep in thought when a thought suddenly flashed into his mind. He was instantly jolted: right, how could I have not thought of this earlier!

He immediately jumped up, picked up the telephone on the desk, and cranked it a few times. “Connect me to the Qijin Base Headquarters.”

A few minutes later, the steam whistles at the port and in the commercial district sounded simultaneously. This was the navy’s “emergency return to base” signal. Upon hearing this signal, all navy officers and soldiers on leave had to return to their units.

Xu Ke had a new theory: the murder was very likely related to Zhang Qianniu’s uniform!

He then ordered the orderly from the service company who was on standby, “Run to the company commander immediately and tell him it’s my order: starting from 5:30 p.m., arrest all navy soldiers active in the commercial street, Kaohsiung city, and the port. Concentrate them at the base for screening!”

“Yes, sir!” The orderly saluted, turned, and ran out.

Xu Ke took the holster hanging on the wall and was about to go out when the phone rang again. He quickly picked it up.

The call was from the police station. The news they reported completely confirmed his deduction.

About an hour ago, the police station received a report from a navy soldier: his uniform was missing!

This soldier had taken leave from the base a few hours ago, found a “yellow card” (prostitute) on the commercial street, and went to the “inn” on the upper floor of the cooperative’s shop. After finishing his business, he fell asleep as usual. When he woke up, he found his uniform and navy dagger were gone.

The “yellow card” herself was not a problem—these yellow cards were all individual prostitutes “diverted” from Lingao. The selection criteria was that they had practiced in Lingao for more than a year to ensure there were no spies among them. The police station initially thought it was an ordinary theft case, so they only questioned the “yellow card,” but she had also fallen asleep and could not provide more information. An investigation of the scene found that the thief had climbed up the drainpipe behind the cooperative’s shop and then pried open a window to get in.

The police who went to investigate then discovered a puzzling problem: the prostitute’s own clothes, jewelry, and even money were all there. Only the sailor’s things were missing.

The head of the police station was transferred from Lingao and had received police training at Fangcaodi, so he was considered a professional. This strange theft case immediately made him think of Zhang Qianniu’s murder: also a sailor, also missing a uniform. He immediately called Xu Ke to report the matter.

As Xu Ke listened to the police chief’s case report on the phone, his brows gradually furrowed. Before the chief had finished speaking, he had completely confirmed his own speculation.

These were two related cases—the murderer’s purpose was to obtain a sailor’s uniform. They obviously had some political motive!

Xu Ke hung up the phone and quickly cranked the handle again.

The steam whistle did not disturb the leisurely mood of the group at the cooperative’s restaurant. After finishing their tea, the group saw that it was getting late and decided to go back for dinner first—Dr. Zhong was said to be making “cold food dishes” today. Everyone was ready to have a taste. When they were leaving, Zhong Xiaoying and Kretia fell behind because they had decided to buy a new piece of clothing. Westerly and the priest strolled down the street.

At this moment, a drunken soldier came towards them and bumped into Westerly. The soldier shouted at Westerly, “Hey! Red-hair, are you blind?”

Westerly didn’t answer—he just shrugged his shoulders apologetically. “Why don’t you say something?”

The soldier still wouldn’t let it go and approached him.

Father Dermot shook his head, signaling Westerly not to bother with the drunkard. The two of them continued to walk forward, but unexpectedly, he suddenly drew his navy dagger and stabbed Westerly twice in the lower back. Westerly cried out in pain and fell to the ground. The street immediately erupted in chaos. The drunkard, after stabbing Westerly, swung his dagger at Father Dermot, who also cried out and fell.

Kretia and Zhong Xiaoying were walking towards them and were stunned by what had just happened. Zhong Xiaoying had learned martial arts at home and was very agile. She rushed forward and saw the troublemaking soldier trying to escape.

Zhong Xiaoying drew her 1630 model revolver—Dr. Zhong, to ensure her safety, had had someone teach her how to shoot and had even applied for a pistol for her. But she didn’t fire: there were too many people on the street, and firing rashly would injure innocent people. She gritted her teeth and chased after him.

Kretia saw all this. When she came to her senses, she hurried to check on Westerly, who was lying on the ground. She saw a large pool of blood spreading from under him. When she touched his mouth and nose, he was no longer breathing. Kretia immediately collapsed to her knees.

Zhong Xiaoying chased after the murderer. By now, the piercing sound of police whistles had filled the entire commercial street. Zhong Xiaoying knew that the gates at all the entrances and exits of the commercial street were now being closed. Even if he could escape the gates, outside was just wilderness, and walking at night was courting death.

The murderer ran towards the fishing boat dock at full speed, with Zhong Xiaoying in hot pursuit. She didn’t know why this navy soldier would kill someone—but she had a gut feeling that this person was not a sailor.

I must capture him alive!

The other party ran to the fishing boat dock, dived headfirst into the bay, and swam for more than ten meters before surfacing. He immediately began to swim with powerful strokes, showing excellent swimming skills. Zhong Xiaoying dared not follow him into the water—her swimming was not bad, but she was no match for him. In the sea, she might not be his opponent. She stomped her foot in frustration—there were navy sampans on patrol at the harbor entrance, but she had no way to notify them to intercept him.

There were many fishing boats in the bay, and the commotion had already attracted many people to come out of their cabins to “watch.” Zhong Xiaoying shouted, “Catch him!”

But the fishermen saw that the swimming person was a soldier, and the one shouting was a young girl in “short-hair” (Australian) clothes. They didn’t know what was going on and no one dared to act rashly.

Seeing that the murderer was almost out of the effective range of her pistol, she could no longer care about “capturing him alive.” Following the shooting posture she had learned at the Feiyun Club, she raised the gun with both hands, squatted slightly, aimed, and pulled the trigger.

Almost at the same time, the swimming person’s hands went limp, and he immediately sank.

“Murder!” a scream came from a fishing boat. The entire fishing boat dock also descended into chaos.

Zhong Xiaoying had a hard time getting off the dock. The public security soldiers on duty at the dock couldn’t speak Chinese and wouldn’t let her go. It wasn’t until the police arrived that she was finally able to leave. She hurried back to the scene of the crime and saw Kretia kneeling on the ground in a daze, tightly holding Westerly’s head in her arms. Looking at the priest, he was also motionless.

The public security soldiers and police who had rushed to the scene had already formed a human wall around them.

Unexpectedly, Father Dermot swayed and got up from the ground. Zhong Xiaoying hurried over to help him.

“Father, how are you?”

The priest fumbled around for a while and found that he hadn’t been hurt at all. He couldn’t help but take out the cross around his neck, kiss it, and make the sign of the cross on his chest.

“God bless…” he said, and then he quickly checked Westerly’s breathing and shook his head helplessly. “My poor child…”

Then he began to murmur scriptures.

At this moment, Xu Ke and Dr. Zhong also arrived. They saw the priest praying for Westerly. Xu Ke’s face was extremely ugly—he couldn’t believe such a major case had happened right under his nose!

Zhong Lishi asked Zhong Xiaoying, “Why aren’t you sending him to the hospital? Is there still hope for Westerly?”

“The foreign monk said he’s already gone. He’s praying for Westerly’s soul… Such a good person, gone just like that…” As she spoke, Zhong Xiaoying’s nose tingled, and tears streamed down her face. They had been together day and night these past few days and had become good friends. She never expected him to die like this.