The Urban Abyss

The Ghastly Skull

Detective Chief Nathan listened to Vivienne's phone reports every evening. On the fourth night, after the call, he was clearly dissatisfied. "Vivi, what's going on? I asked you to gather clues and break the case. The entire police department is waiting for valuable information from you. What have you given me, entertainment gossip?"

Vivienne stuck out her tongue, disagreeing with the chief's perspective. She believed that within these bits of gossip, there might be hidden clues, like pearls shimmering in the dark, only needing a fine thread to string them together. That thread, she was confident, was her logical analysis capability. She assured the chief, "Boss, good news will come soon!"

Nathan could only sigh, "Alright, just step it up, and let's hope Director Christopher doesn't regret choosing you for this."

The next day, Vivienne, in her guise as Daisy, was energetically running up and down the office building, bustling from one department to another. Ela, surprised, commented, "Daisy, you seem very busy. Is your workload too saturated?"

Upon returning to the administrative department's office, Daisy saw Jennifer, looking serious, knocking on Deputy Rebecca's door. Shortly after, Nathan texted her: "A decaying skull was dug up at the Max Property construction site, and Rebecca was notified three minutes ago."

This meant Rebecca had immediately summoned Jennifer after receiving the call. It appeared Jennifer played a crucial role as Rebecca's advisor.

More than ten minutes later, Jennifer returned discreetly and locked herself in her office to make a lengthy phone call.

Two hours later, Daisy received another text from Nathan: "The skull was soaked in concentrated sulfuric acid, leaving only residual muscle tissue. DNA results have confirmed it belongs to the same person as the female body found in the water tank on Max Property's office building."

Daisy felt a chill. The victim's limbs were discarded at the Max Property office building, and her skull was buried at its construction site. Who would do such a thing, and for what purpose? It seemed as though the perpetrator intended for the body to be found, linking the gruesome murder to Max Property...

Daisy thought the direction of the investigation might be slightly off. Why not broaden the scope to include individuals outside the company who have interests or conflicts with Max Property?

News of the incident at the construction site quickly spread to the company headquarters. Mira, the saleslady, told Daisy via MSN that a recent client had asked, "I heard a human head was found at your construction site? That's not a good omen." Some potential buyers even hesitated, reluctant to invest their life savings in a property associated with a corpse.

Ela also mentioned to Daisy, "It seems like the company is having a run of bad luck. Just a few days ago, there was an incident that made everyone nauseous at the sight of a faucet. Now, with the construction site accident, everyone's secretly meeting on MSN, speculating about the relationship between the skull and the water tank corpse..."

Daisy's eyes sparkled with a realization: This atmosphere of panic was precisely what the perpetrator wanted to achieve.

With two incidents linked to the company and no sign of the chairman's return, Daisy found this highly unusual. Was Maximilian too confident in Rebecca, or was he simply indifferent to these events? She considered the latter unlikely, as during Maximilian's decade-plus tenure, the company had never experienced such severe incidents. Logic suggested he should be even more anxious than Rebecca. What could be holding Maximilian back?

That morning, Rebecca called Jennifer to her office multiple times, each time Jennifer returned looking more solemn. Given Rebecca's competent handling of the previous incident, Daisy believed the current situation alone couldn't have rattled the adept Rebecca. There must be another significant issue at hand, requiring urgent advice and support from her confidant.

Upon joining the company, Daisy brought a full set of surveillance equipment, including the latest international spy gadgets. However, she soon found herself dismayed to discover that all senior offices were equipped with effective anti-surveillance measures. Their security awareness was so high it seemed less like a business and more like a spy agency, with no cameras in hallways, elevators, or meeting rooms. 

Nathan had once asked Rebecca for surveillance footage, to which she had replied with a light smile, "We're a people-oriented enterprise, fully respecting employee privacy. Our eighteen-story building has no surveillance devices." Nathan was surprised, "Even if you skip other places, having no cameras in the elevators doesn't meet fire safety standards." Rebecca responded airily, "We have other equipment to fulfill fire safety requirements."

Yet, this wouldn't deter Daisy. If she couldn't access the senior executives' offices, she could at least infiltrate the mid-level managers', finding a perfect entry point—Rebecca's confidant, Jennifer.

After a work lunch, while bringing Jennifer her coffee, Daisy discreetly placed a stick-on listening device inside the pen holder at the center of Jennifer's desk.