boyutpedia Chapter 69 Corpse
Chapter 69 Corpse
Many audience members gradually became restless, wondering why the actors hadn't come on stage yet, but some of the veteran employees had already sensed that something was wrong.
Sun Tiemei took the microphone from the host: "A major safety incident has occurred in the bureau. Director Liu has ordered everyone present to remain seated and not move, and to wait for the investigation to be completed."
Sun Tiemei's words were like water poured into a hot oil pan, instantly causing an uproar in the auditorium. Many people began whispering and discussing among themselves, wondering how many unbelievable versions of the story would circulate later. Those who were originally preparing to leave obediently returned to their seats under Sun Tiemei's stern gaze.
Meanwhile, the security team from the bureau moved into the monitoring room and began reviewing all the bureau's surveillance footage from the very first second of the gala. Not long after, Zhao Lei appeared on the monitor. Just as the makeup artist had said, Zhao Lei walked out of the temporary dressing room and leaned against the wall in the corridor to answer a phone call. The time on the monitor was 7:23 PM.
He seemed very relaxed, just like any other person chatting on the phone. Zhao Lei stood there making a call for two or three minutes, then slowly walked towards the corner of the corridor, phone in hand, without appearing to do anything unusual.
He disappeared after turning into a blind spot in the surveillance footage. The security team reviewed all the subsequent videos and confirmed that this was the last time Zhao Lei appeared on camera.
In addition, Zhou Peng, the captain of the security brigade, stated: "Director Liu gave me orders that the security brigade must diligently perform its duties during tonight's performance. Therefore, starting thirty minutes before the performance began, two security personnel were stationed at all exits of the Supernatural Abilities Bureau, including fire exits."
All personnel on duty confirmed that no one left the Superpower Bureau after the party began. This means that Zhao Lei did not leave the Superpower Bureau and must still be inside.
The Municipal Bureau of Supernatural Abilities is not large, consisting of only three main buildings: the administration building, the technology center, and the field operations center. The field operations team and the security team jointly conducted a thorough search of the entire bureau premises.
Fatty and Chang Biao, along with Su Xiaohe, were responsible for checking the administration building. Su Xiaohe activated her spatial detection ability and scanned each floor from top to bottom, checking offices, corridors, stairwells, underground equipment rooms, and all kinds of storage dead spots, but found nothing. The subsequent checks of the other two buildings yielded the same result.
Everyone present wore a somber expression. Since the Red Falcon case, many people had come to know about Su Xiaohe's supernatural abilities, knowing that nothing, no matter how alive, could escape her spatial detection scan.
Therefore, a terrible guess immediately surfaced in everyone's mind.
Zhao Lei has not only been hidden, but is also most likely dead. Only a corpse completely devoid of vital signs can escape Su Xiaohe's investigation.
With this in mind, Director Liu directed everyone to focus on searching all the hidden corners where a body could be concealed. Previously, everyone's search relied on Su Xiaohe's special ability; as long as she pressed the button and didn't find anything, everyone naturally stopped searching in detail. But this search was different; every space needed to be carefully and thoroughly searched.
Chen Shi did not continue the large-scale search with the main force. He followed the route Zhao Lei had disappeared along, comparing it back and forth with the terrain at the scene, repeatedly simulating the other party's movement trajectory.
The corridor was open at one corner, with no rooms or storage rooms on either side. Chen Shi moved slowly along the wall, his fingertips lightly tracing the smooth paint.
The wall was a uniform, clean color, without cracks or any markings. People who had previously investigated it had instinctively skipped over it. But Chen Shi remained convinced that people couldn't simply vanish into thin air. So he continued to search the wall, and finally, in a hidden crevice on the far side, he found a tiny, recessed clip.
This was a hidden access door, without a handle or any markings. If he hadn't discovered it himself, Chen Shi would never have known that there was such a concealed entrance in the bureau. He fastened the latch and gently pushed it inward, revealing a narrow, dimly lit passageway leading directly beneath the auditorium stage.
"There's a passage here!" Chen Shi shouted, and people around him gathered around.
"Isn't this the place where the stage is being repaired?" An older comrade recognized the location.
The group bent down and squeezed into the passageway, where a faint musty smell filled the air. Reaching the end of the passageway, they discovered they were directly beneath the auditorium stage.
The auditorium stage is very high. When it was built, the interior was elevated to store steel frames and equipment.
Security personnel turned on their flashlights and crawled inside, revealing the scene below the stage. Zhao Lei's body lay quietly between two steel frames, covered with an oilcloth.
The most bustling and conspicuous places often conceal the most extreme secrets. No one could have imagined that beneath the brightly lit stage, under the spotlight, a corpse lay hidden without a trace.
The forensic team received instructions and immediately brought their equipment to examine the body. The surface of the body was very clean, with no signs of struggle, except for a clear ligature mark on the neck. The body was still warm. Based on the body temperature and the degree of rigor mortis, the time of death was determined to be no more than an hour ago. In other words, Zhao Lei died shortly after leaving home at 7:23 PM to answer the phone.
After everyone calculated, they realized that at that time, the propaganda department's skit "First Encounter with the Supernatural Bureau" was being performed on stage. Xu Man and Zhang Yue were waiting on the side of the stage. Their performances were consecutive, and since it was their first time performing on stage, they had arrived early to wait. Many people had seen them, so they both had solid alibis.
While taking inventory of Zhao Lei's belongings, they discovered that his cell phone was missing. Zhuang Wen immediately instructed the technical staff to retrieve the call records, which revealed that the last call he received before his disappearance was from an unregistered black SIM card with no registered information.
As clues are pieced together, the outline of the truth gradually becomes clear. The mole inside the bureau used an anonymous black card to call Zhao Lei, luring him out before committing murder in this hidden maintenance passage. Perhaps Zhao Lei cried for help at the time, but because he was performing, his voice was too soft to be heard.
The murderer then temporarily hid the body under the stage. Chen Shi believed that this was probably just a temporary place for the murderer to store the body, and that he would move the body after the party ended.
Once Zhao Lei's body is taken away, no one will know whether Zhao Lei is alive or dead, and he may be identified by the bureau as a fugitive.
Someone whispered, "The culprit is most likely not someone present at the scene. Tonight, the audience seating was fixed, and apart from our investigators, everyone else stayed in their seats the entire time, and the number matches up. However, each checkpoint was manned by two people, and no one left their post without permission. It's unlikely that an outsider came in to commit the crime, unless they came in very early in the morning."
The fat man immediately nodded in agreement: "I checked all the security personnel on duty one by one. No outsiders entered or left after the party started, and there is no record of any personnel leaving the bureau."
Outsiders can't get in, and insiders have no chance to act. Who killed Zhao Lei? Could it really be that an outsider infiltrated the station early on and then waited for an opportunity to kill him?
But that doesn't make sense either. Places like the stage maintenance passage are so secluded that not only outsiders, but most people in the bureau don't even know about them.
Just then, Chen Shi suddenly looked up: "No, there was a period of time during which a large number of people left their seats."