Crazy Detective

"Phones!" Gao Facai asked one of his beautiful assistants to place the mobile phones of several of the deceased victims in front of them.

He then said, "We found some abnormalities in the mobile phones of several of the deceased victims. Their screen saver pictures had all been changed! My assistant will show you the pictures. I have to go examine the bodies." 

After that, Gao Facai left the camera's view, while his beautiful assistant opened one of the mobile phones in front of the camera. She then began introducing their findings, "Evidence number 0049, a Samsung mobile phone. Officers, this mobile phone was found on the deceased victim named Qian Jin. After checking it, we were able to confirm that it did belong to him. But, when we turned on this mobile phone, we found that the screen saver had become like this..."

Zhao Yu and others watched carefully as she brought the phone closer to the camera. Then, they clearly saw that the screen saver had three numbers on it… 2-5-5!

Zhao Yu frowned slightly, feeling a little strange.

"It's a calculator screen shot," the assistant explained. "Someone turned on the calculator function on the deceased's mobile phone, pressed those three numbers, and then took a screenshot of it before replacing it as the new screen saver."

She continued, "Normally, people seldom use such a picture as their screen saver, so we suspect that it may have been intentionally left by the killer! Also, we are checking to see what time the screen saver was switched. If it really was the murderer who changed it, we may be able to calculate the time of death accordingly!"

Even though Zhao Yu repeated the figure in his head over and over, he was unable to understand its meaning.

"Evidence number 0050, a Meizu mobile phone." At this time, the assistant picked up the second cell phone and spoke in front of the camera, "This cell phone was found on the dead person named Xie Hao, and it has also been confirmed that it belonged to her. But, when we opened it, we found that the screen saver had been replaced by... Um... This..."

When everyone looked at it carefully, they were shocked. "No... Again?" Wu Xiumin flushed with embarrassment.

Unexpectedly, the screen saver was a racy picture of a man and a woman in bed, both naked. The man was obviously the actor Xie Hao, while the long-haired woman was only shown from behind, so they had been unable to be identify her so far.

"Holy shi*! Who would use this picture as a screensaver? What a pervert! This reminds me of ..." Zeng Ke shook his head, but didn't blink at all as he stared at the picture.

"No!" Zhao Yu looked more carefully than Zeng Ke, then pointed to the picture and said, "Look at Xie Hao's face carefully. It's obvious that he has makeup on! And... His moves are too exaggerated. It's almost impossible to act like that... Um..."

Zhao Yu didn't feel in the mood of offer a detailed explanation, so he stated his conclusion simply, "In other words, I think this is actually footage for a real scene! They're clearly filming a real, professional scene!"

"Oh..." Zeng Ke suddenly realized this as well. "If it is indeed a real film scene, I should be able to search for it. Assistant, please send me these pictures as soon as possible!"

"Okay, we'll upload them to your cloud immediately," the assistant said, but she didn't turn off the video. Instead, she continued to share their findings, "Officers, please pay attention to evidence number 23. It is a signal gun!"

"Oh?" Zhao Yu motioned for Zeng Ke to open the case folder and find the signal gun.

The assistant then pointed to the signal gun and said, "Mr. Gao has guessed that Xu You, the prop artist who was burned on the dock, was probably burned by the signal gun!"

"No way? A signal gun can kill people? Ordinary signal guns can only produce 200 joules of heat. If you wanted to burn a person..." Zeng Ke immediately voiced his doubts.

"Signal guns can shoot signal flares up to 50 meters. If they hit the human body at close range, it's can be more than 200 joules!" the assistant politely corrected him. "Moreover, as the ignition point of magnesium is low, it can ignite human's clothes, causing them to burn to death!"

"Well, let's keep our video call connected, and if you have any updates, please tell us immediately!" Zhao Yu said.

"Okay! I'm going to send the files now!" After that, the assistant disappeared from the camera's view.

Zeng Ke was still staring at the screen, as if he was thinking about something. Wu Xiumin saw his gaze and patted Zeng Ke's head as she giggled.

She then teased him. "Hey! So... You like her? Don't be silly! Don't you see that wedding ring on her finger?"

"Really? I... Why didn't I see that?" Zeng Ke remained speechless for a few seconds, then his eyes dimmed and he looked very disappointed.

"Idiot! I'm just messing with you!" Wu Xiumin laughed heartily.

Then, she turned to Zhao Yu and said, "Leader, Zeng Ke has fallen in love! As you friends with Mr. Gao, could you help our poor Zeng Ke out?"

"No problem," Zhao Yu said with a smile.

He then pointed to Xie Hao's picture and said, "But... I think the woman in this picture is in pretty good shape. So, she may be more suitable for Zeng Ke!"

"Don't make fun of me!," Zeng Ke said, clearly a little embarrassed.

"Okay, enough silliness. Back to work! Let's hurry up to find out who this woman is." Zhao Yu faked an angry face, while Zeng Ke, having been reminded of his duties, began typing on the computer keyboard.

"Wu Xiumin, please call the hospital," Zhao Yu said to Wu Xiumin. "Ask the police officers there to see if there are any special marks on the seriously injured person, and also ask them to check for signs of any more mobile phones. Maybe the murderer left a clue on him, too!"

"Oh... Yes!" Wu Xiumin agreed at once.

"If the murderer leaves clues on everyone, then..." Zhao Yu thought carefully for a moment, then suddenly said to the local policemen present, "You guys, bring the two survivors here right now. I want to talk to them personally!"

The police officers were surprised by his request, and one of them said, "Leader, those two are important suspects. If they leave the interrogation room without permission..."

"Just do as I say." Zhao Yu pointed to the many computers and said, "I can't take these things to go see them, can I? So, hurry up and bring these two people to me. Go!"

"Oh... Okay..." The police officers dared not resist, so they quickly did exactly as Zhao Yu instructed.

As he was waiting, Zhao Yu reorganized the clues, then wrote on the white paper:

USB, cefuroxime, mysterious cross, 255, racy photos...

When he finished writing these items, although these clues still seemed pretty unclear, a thought occurred to him...

Oh? Maybe the murderer left these things not to leave clues for the police, but to show something to the police?