Zhou Haohui (周浩晖) claims to produce the best suspense novels in China, and many readers agree. The 36-year-old writer has published over 10 books, two of which have been adapted into films. At the center of Zhou’s creations is the intelligent crime solver, officer Luo Fei (罗飞), who appears in the novel series: The Death Notice (《死亡通知单》Sǐwáng Tōngzhīdān),The Inauspicious Painting (《凶画》Xiōng Huà) , The Ghost Watch Slope (《鬼望坡》Guǐwàng Pō),The Soul Capture Valley (《摄魂谷》Shèhún Gǔ), and The Evil Hypnotist (《邪恶催眠师》Xié’è Cuīmiánshī), which was released this June. Soon, the series will be translated and published in France. This short story features one of Luo Fei’s early cases, giving you a glimpse into the crime fighter’s genius.

Author’s Note: Back in 2007, a television documentary about a particular crime caught my attention. Through an extraordinary scheme, a cunning criminal successfully committed a crime and garnered huge profits.This gave me the inspiration for this piece. Enjoy!

…………………………..

The case began unremarkably. The Longzhou People’s Hospital emergency room received a patient around one o’clock in the early morning. Accompanied by a male friend; the patient was unconscious and appeared to have drowned, hanging onto life by a thread. Over 10 minutes of resuscitation from the hospital staff was all in vain. There was nothing else the doctor could do, and the patient passed away. As the hospital began to prepare the death certificate, they noticed that the man who brought the deceased in had disappeared. So, the hospital called 110 to reach the police.

First to report to the scene, Liu from the local police station didn’t immediately notice anything that suggested foul play, and he felt the obvious thing to do was to find out the deceased’s identity and inform his next of kin. At this point, things began to get complicated. The next day, after Liu hit a number of dead ends and was unable to identify the nature of the case; he decided to pull some strings and called in a personal favor from his friend, officer Luo Fei.

Luo Fei headed for the hospital as soon as he got the call and inspected the unidentified body in the morgue. The corpse was male, mid-30s, lean, and muscular. He was grimy, soaking
wet, and covered with mud. Dirty water poured from his mouth and nostrils.

“The cause of death is drowning, the doctor concluded as much,” Liu told Luo Fei.

Luo Fei nodded; it was consistent with his own opinion. He bent down, pressed his nose close to the body and drew in a deep breath. Liu gawped in surprise, but Luo Fei explained: “My preliminary assessment is that he did not drown in a river. River water in
Longzhou City, as you know, more or less reeks of pollution.”

Liu agreed, but frowned instantly: “Not in the river? Where else could he drown?”

“Could be in a well, a pool, even the water tank of a tall building,” Luo Fei listed the possibilities. “But I suggest you focus on construction sites in the city. Their water tanks are most likely to produce such cases.”

“Construction sites? Why? ”

Luo Fei’s eyes raked over the body like a pair of hooks:
“The deceased’s apparel and bodily features suggest he was a man of arduous labor, possibility a migrant worker. Check out these details: his shirt is wrinkled at the bottom, very likely due to a strap frequently secured at his waist.”

“So you think he was a construction worker?”

“It’s just a guess,” said Luo Fei as his eyes flicked to something new, “Look at the serious abrasions on his elbows and knees; it looks like he was often in a crawling position. But it seems contradictory to a secured strap to prevent falling.”

Following Luo Fei’s deductions, Liu pondered but couldn’t make any connections.

“That’s all we can draw from the body,” Luo Fei rubbed his chin and said, “Now we need to change direction.”

A few minutes later, the two sat down with the doctor from the previous night. Luo Fei didn’t inquire much about the deceased. Instead, he asked after the disappearing companion.

The doctor recalled: “That man looked a few years older than the deceased, taller, too—square-faced with dark skin, messy hair. As I recall, he was very concerned at the time, but for some reason he left without anyone noticing after the patient died.”

“Did you recognize him as a local from the way he spoke?”

“No,” the doctor firmly shook his head, “He had a strong accent, like Shaan’xi dialect.”
“Shaan’xi?” Luo Fei contemplated for a while and said to Liu, “It would be impossible for him to carry the patient to the hospital alone. Some kind of transportation must have been involved. You should look into that.”

“I already sent out an APB this morning and found the taxi driver who brought them here.”

“Good,” said Luo Fei, immediately moving on to the crucial question:
“Where did they get in the taxi?”

“Mingta Road. I already went there and checked. Something’s not right, that’s why I called you.”

“What exactly?” said Luo Fei, intrigued.

“In order for him to drown, they would have to be near a body of water, but there’s no river, well, pool, or any water within a one kilometer radius, not even a water tank; it’s not a residential area.” Liu scratched his head as he explained.

“Really?” Luo Fei said, then suggesting, “Take me there.”

The road is the widest locally, a two-way highway with eight lanes. Mingta Road was first built to facilitate Longzhou’s Chinese medicine wholesale market on its east side, a market renowned nationwide. Traffic from customers and wholesalers bustles during the day, and, across the road, a row of small shops sit side by side—small restaurants, grocery stores, tailor’s shops and others—a bazaar with everything one might expect.

According to the taxi driver, the two people got in midway through the market, the busiest area. Indeed, there is no body of water in a wide area, a curious place for a drowning.

“What do you think?” Luo Fei asked Liu, gazing into the traffic.

“I believe there are two possibilities,” Liu said, ready to add his deductions to the proceedings. Words poured out of him, “First, it could be a murder.”

“A murder?”

“Yes. If the person was forcibly drowned, not much water was needed—a bucket could do the job. Imagine that the murderer subdued the victim and dunked his head under the water until he drowned. As to the mud and water on his body, it could be a cover up.”

“If it were true, the man who accompanied the deceased to hospital would be the main suspect, right?”

“He should be, yes.”

“It doesn’t make sense though.” After a moment of reflection, Luo Fei shook his head, “You can’t explain why he sent the deceased to hospital and then left without a word. Tell me the second possibility.”

“The other possibility is that this is not the primary scene, which, for some reason, the other man wanted to hide. He walked a long way here to hail a taxi. As a matter of fact, I was inspired by your comments in the hospital to mature an idea.” By now, Liu seemed very pleased with himself, “Could this be an industrial accident? The deceased was a construction worker. His employer would have been keen to escape responsibility.”

“More plausible than your first idea, but questions remain: first, only one man accompanied the deceased. To transfer an adult male is difficult and time consuming. If it was an industrial accident, the employer would have acted urgently to prevent the death, thus avoid responsibility that way. Therefore, your speculation is not quite logical,” Luo Fei deduced.

“Well, then,” Liu’s mouth pursed with disappointment, “Forget about my ideas. You’re the expert; what’s your opinion?”

Luo Fei was not in a hurry to explain but replied: “Let’s take a tour first.”

They entered the market to join a busy crowd. A very large shop taking up nearly a thousand square meters captured their attention. Its name was “Wang’s Caterpillar Fungus Shop”. Located by the Mingta Road, the shop occupied a prime spot in the market, indicating the owner’s wealth.

At the door, a buyer seemed to be having a small argument with the shop assistant. Luo Fei stopped to observe. It turned out that the buyer wanted 20 kilograms of caterpillar fungus, but the shop didn’t have enough in store. Since the boss happened to be away, no one could open the warehouse to retrieve more—thus the fuss. The young shop assistant was cornered. Trying not to upset the customer, he explained: “Yes, the warehouse is only next door, but, you see, only our boss can open it.”

Luo Fei followed the shop assistant and spotted the warehouse. It’s a customized small house with steel plates installed on all four walls and the roof. The door was secured with a combination lock. It was definitely not easy to break into.

Caterpillar fungus was sold for 50 thousand per kilogram. What the warehouse held was worth tens of millions of RMB, so such strict precautions were not unreasonable.

They passed the caterpillar fungus shop and walked around the rest of the market. No special discoveries were made. When asked if they knew anywhere that a drowning could take place, shop owners shook their heads without exception, and no witnesses were found. After a hard day’s work, the people of the market were sound asleep when the incident occurred.

Coming out of the market, Luo Fei paced the roadside with his hands crossed behind his back. Liu knew he was deeply engrossed, so he stood by without interrupting.

“I still believe the primary scene is near here,” said Luo Fei after thinking for awhile. “According to the doctor, when the man arrived at the hospital, he still had vital signs. However, asphyxiation due to drowning will usually cause death pretty quickly—no more than an hour. Given the time limit, we can basically rule out the possibility that he drowned somewhere else.”

“That would just be too odd, wouldn’t it?” said Liu.

Seeing the confused look on Liu’s face, Luo Fei laughed, “Odd is not necessarily bad. Bizarre questions will narrow down the possible answers. I’m actually afraid of the ‘ordinaries’ in an investigation, with which it’s harder to make a breakthrough.”

“But it’s not just odd, it’s nearly impossible,” murmured Liu, “drowning without any water?”

“We haven’t found any water, which doesn’t mean there is none,” Luo Fei’s eyes narrowed.

“Things should be simple now. Once we find the water, the answer will follow.”

“Where is the water anyway?” Liu looked around aimlessly—at a loss.

“Stop looking. There’s one place you missed. Maybe I should remind you,” said Luo Fei. The look on his face suggested that he was on to something.

Liu urged him to continue: “Come on!”

Luo Fei smiled in silence and lightly tapped the ground with one foot.

Liu became still and immediately seemed to understand: “You mean—”

“Yes, the water underneath.”

“Underground water?” Liu gasped. “But how can anyone drown in underground water?

“The doctor said the man had a Shaan’xi accent. It’s very possible that the deceased was from the same region.”

“How does that have anything to do with the case?” Liu grew even more confused.

“You haven’t been on the crime beat. It’s only normal for this stuff to seem obscure to you,” Luo Fei explained. “You see, many criminal activities are regional. For instance, more drug trafficking is found in Yunnan, frauds in Fujian, and grand theft auto in Guangdong. Similarly, there’s one crime that’s unique to Shaan’xi.”

“What is that?” Liu couldn’t wait to know.

“Grave robbery.”

“Grave robbery?”

“That’s right, especially around Xi’an, ‘the Ancient Capital of Eleven Dynasties’, where grave robbery is rampant. Robbers here are regarded as the best in this profession across the country. They are highly experienced. Digging and drilling are their stock-intrade,”
Luo Fei gazed at Liu sharply, apparently trying to stimulate his friend’s mind.

“You mean they dug an underground tunnel?” Liu was shocked by this bold hypothesis.

Luo Fei nodded: “Remember his features? Try to picture this: with a strap secured at the waist, a person crawled in a narrow tunnel, making hard and slow advancements. These activities were consistent with our earlier observations. However, this time, they dug
through the aquifers by accident. The shorter man was in the tunnel at the time and drowned. His accomplice was afraid of exposure, so he fled.”

“Yes, it does make sense, but there’s surely no ancient grave here. What did they dig a tunnel for?”

“The answer is right over there,” Luo Fei pointed to the medicine market not far away, “That warehouse of caterpillar fungus is protected by steel plates all around. The only way to break in is through an underground tunnel, what else? The cargo inside is extremely valuable, enough to motivate them to commit such a bold and reckless crime.”

Luo Fei’s analysis was reasonable and fair, but Liu was still a little unsure. He looked around and couldn’t imagine a secret tunnel under the busy pathway.

“You must want to know where the entrance is,” Luo Fei smiled as if he could read Liu’s mind. “Look across the road, notice anything that’s out of place?”

Liu’s eyes were wide open. Under the bright sunlight stood the neat row of small, bustling shops. What could possibly be out of place?

Luo Fei waited for a while. He sighed when Liu remained clueless and said: “Looks like the profession of detective would not suit you. It’s 11 in the morning, the busiest hour of the day, but the shop to the left of ‘Yuelai Restaurant’ is still closed. Don’t you think that’s weird?”

“But it’s not the only one closed. There are others out there. Also, shop owners in the market often rent space for storage. How can that be weird?”

“Look at the location of that shop. It’s directly opposite the Wang’s Caterpillar Fungus Shop warehouse…”

“Oh!” Liu was finally hit by answer. “The tunnel entrance is inside that shop!”

Luo Fei explained quietly: “It’s definitely what I would do if I were a grave robber. When faced with difficult problems, twice as much can be accomplished with half the effort if we assume the criminal’s perspective.”

“Ah, that was amazing,” Liu expressed his admiration and added, “but let’s go over there for some hard proof. Although your analysis was brilliant, the truth could very well be different.”

With the assistance of the property manager, Luo Fei and Liu accessed the closed shop. What they saw inside proved Luo Fei’s theory; in an area of about 10 square meters, there were neatly stacked bags of mud. A hole the width of 30 to 40 centimeters was clearly present in one corner. Further down the entrance, underground water had flooded the narrow tunnel. Pickaxes, straps, air pumps and other digging tools were found scattered
around the little room.

The rest of the investigation was relatively easy. According to the property manager, two men from Shaan’xi rented the place a month ago under the pretext of keeping a warehouse. Ever since then, they seldom showed up, and their door was tightly closed most of the time. No one had any idea that they were planning a heist of caterpillar fungus.

Luo Fei called in archeologist to examine the tunnel. It turned out the project was already half complete; the tunneling technique was astonishing. However, in order to bypass the roadbed of Mingta Road, the robbers had to risk digging deeper, which eventually led to their failure.

Liu regretted that he didn’t put the pieces of the puzzle together sooner in order to catch the other culprit. Luo Fei, on the other hand, was not worried at all: “With such
bold ideas and a high skill level, these two are definitely not first time offenders. Just send their sketches to Shaan’xi police and check the relevant criminal records. I believe their true identities will soon be revealed.”

A week later, the man who fl ed the hospital was picked up in his home village in Xi’an. Luo Fei did not participate in the search, but he was confident in the outcome.