HLnovel Chapter 191 The Stink Was Strange
Chapter 191 The Stink Was Strange
Sensing footsteps approaching, Deng Xiuzhen tensed up, feeling as if the rope binding her was digging into her flesh, but she could no longer feel the pain.
Li Zhigang walked up to Deng Xiuzhen, grabbed her, and turned to walk towards the window.
"Zhigang, what are you doing?" another person asked.
"Let's see if this woman can still stand. I'm going to try something new." Li Zhigang said, starting to untie the ropes binding Deng Xiuzhen.
The ropes binding his body and legs were untied, but one hand was still bound.
Li Zhigang wrapped the rope around the window frame and pulled. Deng Xiuzhen felt like her hand was about to break; the pain was too much to bear.
She used her untied hands to rip the cloth out of her mouth and screamed for help.
"That's a good height!" Li Zhigang looked at Deng Xiuzhen, who was hanging there with only her toes touching the ground, and a wicked smile appeared on his face.
He reached out and pinched Deng Xiuzhen, leering as he said, "You feel pretty good. Cooperate a little, and if I'm in a good mood, I might just put you down."
As he spoke, he reached out to pull at Deng Xiuzhen's clothes, and Deng Xiuzhen used her free hand to slap him with all her might.
Li Zhigang simply dodged it.
"Bangzi, this woman's got a strong personality, you should come too..."
With a loud thud, Li Zhigang fell to the ground.
Cai Bang sensed something was wrong and quickly ran towards the door, but as soon as the door opened, he was knocked down and handcuffed.
"Xiuzhen! Xiuzhen!" Tian Guoqiang climbed into the room and untied the ropes binding Deng Xiuzhen's hands.
"Tian, Tian..." Deng Xiuzhen really fainted.
I woke up the next day.
"How are you feeling?" The policewoman who was accompanying Deng Xiuzhen quickly stepped forward to ask when she saw her wake up.
"Where's Director Tian?" Deng Xiuzhen looked around blankly, then noticed the IV drip, the needle in her hand, and the hospital bed and sheets. She calmed down, remembering that she thought she saw Tian Guoqiang before she lost consciousness, and quickly asked.
"Director Tian is away on a case. How are you feeling now? Can you speak? If you can speak, tell us what happened." The policewoman held Deng Xiuzhen's hand to prevent her from accidentally moving and dislodging the IV needle.
"Could you please call Director Tian for me? I need to talk to him." Knowing she was in the hospital and had police officers with her, Deng Xiuzhen felt safe. But she didn't dare trust strangers, even if those strangers were police officers.
Tian Guoqiang arrived quickly after receiving the call. He told Deng Xiuzhen that Li Zhigang and his gang had all been arrested, as well as Li Xiaomei and Cai Bang.
But they all said they only caught you; as for Liu Youzhen and Qin Yanlin, they said they didn't see them.
"Yanlin hasn't been found?" Deng Xiuzhen panicked. Wasn't Qin Yanlin also arrested by them? They had all been wiped out, so how could Qin Yanlin not be found?
“Those guys are repeat offenders; it’s hard to get the truth from them. It’s just that the woman is a bit timid; she told us everything she knew, but nothing of value. If we can’t find Liu Youzhen and Qin Yanlin, we can’t confirm that this group harmed them, so we can only convict you based on this incident, which won’t be too severe.” Tian Guoqiang frowned, feeling quite troubled. Those guys were very good at counter-surveillance and weren’t afraid of death; they simply couldn’t get anything out of them.
"Didn't they see Qin Yanlin?" Deng Xiuzhen asked, unwilling to give up.
"Li Xiaomei said she saw the two of you enter the alley, and then she called people over. Then they tied you up, and I didn't see Qin Yanlin during that time."
She said she really just wanted to teach you a lesson, but who knew these people were completely inhuman and had no intention of letting you live. Tian Guoqiang looked at Deng Xiuzhen worriedly.
He continued, "I tried calling you, but your phone was off, so I went to your house to look for you. I found someone rummaging through your house and then going to the bank to withdraw money."
I suspected something must have happened to you, so I secretly followed them and watched them go to the old alley of West Street.
I remembered you saying that Liu Youzhen also disappeared after leaving the old alley of West Street.
We quickly dispatched police to quietly surround the house. "We were a step too slow, and you've suffered so much because of that," Tian Guoqiang said, feeling somewhat guilty.
What he didn't say was that he could have rescued Deng Xiuzhen much earlier, but when he saw Cai Bang coming, he thought he might be able to catch a few more fish, which delayed the rescue.
Only after hearing Deng Xiuzhen's screams, fearing something bad might happen, did he give the order to act. He himself punched Li Zhigang directly through the window.
Deng Xiuzhen recounted in detail how she got to the old alleyway on West Street, what they did there, how Qin Yanlin disappeared, and the old man's complaint about the stench.
Speaking of the stench, Deng Xiuzhen suddenly remembered something, something she had always overlooked: the stench came strangely and coincidentally.
"Director Tian, please send people to search that area thoroughly, making sure no one is missed!" Deng Xiuzhen said anxiously.
"What's wrong?" Tian Guoqiang asked.
“A few days ago, the old man said that someone used a pressure cooker to press meat, which was around the time Liu Youzhen disappeared. Then came this stench. I suspect they disposed of the body by another means! And I heard Li Zhigang say that the body was dismembered…” Deng Xiuzhen hurriedly told the story she had heard.
Even though Tian Guoqiang was incredibly brave, he still felt a chill run down his spine: dismembering a person and then pressing them down in a pressure cooker—it was horrifying! He couldn't believe that such a perverted and vicious person existed in the world!
However, almost every story Deng Xiuzhen told became the key to solving the case.
He quickly got up and prepared to dispatch police to the old alleys of West Street to check each house one by one, as long as there was a house frame.
"Director Tian, let me go with you!" Deng Xiuzhen called out.
“You are weak and need to rest, so you shouldn’t go. Just get some rest!” Tian Guoqiang said.
"No! I have to go!" Deng Xiuzhen ripped off the IV drip from her hand, got out of bed, and put on her shoes.
"Quickly press down, it's bleeding!" Tian Guoqiang warned.
Deng Xiuzhen quickly pressed the needle prick, looked up at Tian Guoqiang and said, "Director Tian, let me go. I have a feeling, but I just can't quite grasp it. Let me go and take a look, maybe I can remember what it is."
"Alright then!" Tian Guoqiang said after a moment's thought.
Soon everyone arrived at West Street Alley, where Deng Xiuzhen saw the police conducting a thorough search.
She hurried towards the old man's house, wondering how he was doing. It seemed the old man had been released when she was arrested; she wondered if those people had harmed her.
"Grandma Liao! Grandma Liao!" Deng Xiuzhen called as she went inside.
"Is that Xiao Deng?" The old man's aged voice came from the inner room.
Deng Xiuzhen quickly replied, "Grandma Liao, it's me. How are you? Are you alright?"
"I'm fine, how about you? Are you alright? Who were those people who came that day? Why did you leave with them without saying a word?" The old man lay on the bed, his voice low but clear.