19 The Skinning Murder Case

"Eh?"

Tang Qi raised his head in surprise to see a huge crowd of students, both male and female, and even several teachers swarming towards the area adjacent to the main school zone. The mix of excitement and fear on their faces was evident even as they ran.

Something has happened!

This thought had only just crossed Tang Qi's mind when the loud voices of a few boys running past him informed him of what exactly had happened.

"Hurry, hurry! I heard that there's been a murder in the school dormitory zone."

"It's true, a few girls have died. Supposedly, all of them are hot chicks from the cheerleading team."

"And the way they died is really awful. The skin all over their bodies was peeled off by the murderer."

Tang Qi, who was about to walk straight ahead, suddenly stopped in his tracks when he heard the last line.

With a shift of his feet, he followed the crowd towards the school dormitory zone too.

The geographical layout of Holy Thorns High School was such that other than the main school zone, there was also a large section occupied by the school dormitories.

This was, after all, the best high school in Moses City. The student population was fairly big, so there were students who chose to live on campus too. Ninety-nine percent of these students lived in the school dormitories, with students sharing a room usually.

People such as Tang Qi who rented a small building by himself belonged to the minority after all.

What was he to do now that he could do as he pleased with that huge amount of inheritance money after all? As for other people, even if their families were pretty well-to-do, they might not do the same.

When Tang Qi reached the school dormitory zone, he immediately noticed a huge crowd gathered at a red brick building.

The place where the murder had occurred was the sixth room on the ground floor. The police had already reached there beforehand and barricaded the room with police tape. Several muscular police officers formed a human wall to block a few crazy students from trying to dive into the room.

The strong odor of blood wafted out from the room.

Even with a swarm of people in front of him, through a few gaps, Tang Qi could still see the blood, which had already blackened and coagulated by now, that trickled out from the open door of the room.

This horrific scene, however, didn't stop these adolescent students who sought out novelty as a pastime.

All the teachers in the crowd had an awful look on their faces.

In contrast, the students were speculating enthusiastically. From the way they were discussing the tragedy in high spirits and how there was barely anyone crying, Tang Qi could determine a few things.

Firstly, the victims were probably not very well-liked.

Secondly, the cause of their death, or rather, the way they died, was very scary.

After standing for a second at the outer boundary, Tang Qi suddenly squeezed his way into the crowd of spectators. He didn't use any brute force but only exerted a bit of force at his feet. In no time, he managed to squeeze his way to the front successfully.

At the best position — right in front of the door that stood ajar.

Tang Qi's eyes flicked towards the room. Almost the whole room entered his sight.

There were a total of four victims. All of them were female.

None of them were dressed. Each of them lay respectively on their beds, covered by a thin white cloth. Only their arms and ankles were exposed, just that all the skin on the surface was gone.

An exceptional amount of blood, beyond one's imagination, soaked through the mattresses and dripped onto the floor. They formed little streams of blood that trickled towards the door before they finally dried up and coagulated at the doorway.

As for the way they died?

According to the speculations he heard earlier, it seemed like the skin all over their bodies had been peeled off. So they died from being skinned alive?

It was fortunate that they were covered by the white cloth. Otherwise, if it were really like what Tang Qi was imagining, this group of novelty-seeking students speculating excitedly would probably throw up everything they had eaten in the last three days after seeing it.

This was evident from the few cleaning staff in the corner who had vomited so much that they were close to passing out.

Unlike most of the students, Tang Qi didn't stare at the corpses being transported away. Instead, he swiftly took a good look at the layout of the entire room and all the details inside.

Very quickly, Tang Qi seemed to have spotted something. His pupils contracted, and his face turned a little grim at once.

Although he resumed a normal expression very quickly, a hint of doubt remained in the depths of his eyes.

This was, after all, a brutal murder scene and had even taken place in a place like Holy Thorns High School. Once news of the case got out, it was easy to imagine just how badly this would affect Moses City.

Because of this, both the police and school authorities were under immense pressure.

With great rapport, the efficiency of both parties shot through the roof. The police barricaded the crime scene. Specialist after specialist hurried over. At the same time, the old principal with a head full of white hair also went over to the students and announced that classes would go on as usual for the day.

The reason for doing this, other than being able to temporarily prevent the news from spreading and thereby earning them more time, was more likely for the sake of investigating the murder.

The ones who first discovered the scene, as well as the students who lived in the same building as the victims, went directly into the stage of "being questioned".

The other students were dispersed and told to go for their classes.

Tang Qi belonged to the latter. Before leaving, he narrowed his eyes slightly. However, he didn't bother looking at the crime scene again. Instead, his eyes swept across the crowd of spectators, as if he was trying to discover something.

Unfortunately, he didn't.

A faint hint of disappointment flashed across the depths of his eyes. Turning around, he prepared to head to the main school zone with the other students.

But right at this moment, he suddenly heard a voice coming from behind him.

"Wait!"

"You, wait a second."

Tang Qi turned around with a puzzled look at being halted suddenly. A tall and slender female police officer walked over to him with a few subordinates.

The female police officer donned a wine-red leather jacket and tight jeans. Her figure that could pass off as a model's, however, didn't hide the brave and courageous aura around her. Framed by auburn hair was an exquisite and beautiful face, her eyes mature and containing a keen edge.

"Hello, I'm Sergeant Stana. I have a few questions that I'd like to ask you. If you don't mind, is it alright if we go over there for a chat?"

The woman brandished her credentials the moment she approached him. Then, she pointed at the temporary resting area in the main hall and made the above-mentioned request.

As a student being treated like this, a look of resignation flashed past Tang Qi's face. He knew the reason why without even needing to wonder about it.

He was probably being treated like this because of his heavily bandaged arm.

Any police officer would stop someone with an injured arm immediately for questioning if they discovered one at the crime scene.

Tang Qi didn't think that he could be exempted from this even with his ordinary student appearance.

However, without even waiting for Tang Qi to open his mouth, the principal at the side came over. He took a close look at Tang Qi and, after affirming something, turned to the female officer and said, "Sergeant Stana, this student doesn't have a guardian anymore. If you'd like to speak with him, you can only do so in the presence of a school guardian representative."

Naturally, the principal said what he did because he knew about Tang Qi.

This was likely due to Mr. Curry back then.

However, the favor only extended as far as the principal taking the trouble to say this. Tang Qi would never think that the principal of an elite high school would protect him fiercely just because of this bit of relation, especially not when a murder case with such negative influence was involved.

Being able to strive for the accompaniment of a guardian representative was already pretty good.

As for being exempted from questioning, judging from the serious expression on the female officer's face, this was probably impossible.

The moment he thought of that, a calm-looking Tang Qi stopped the principal from calling for a guardian representative. He said calmly, "It's fine. I can represent myself. I'm also willing to cooperate with the police. After all, the ones who were murdered were my classmates too."

After saying that, Tang Qi took the initiative to walk into the main hall.

Behind him, upon seeing Tang Qi's actions, the look in Sergeant Stana's eyes became even sharper.