Chapter 109

At ten in the morning, in the conference room of the Nancheng City Bureau, Song Wen brought Lu Siyu and Fu Linjiang to the meeting. Tian Ming and Zhang Ziqi from the second team sat across from them, while Lin Xiuran and Xu Yao sat on the side. Commissioner Gu presided over the meeting personally, indicating the importance attached to this case.

What surprised Song Wen today was the presence of a new face beside Commissioner Gu. He looked at Tian Ming with some confusion, who apparently didn’t recognize the person either, indicating his ignorance with a slight gesture of his right index finger, followed by a shrug of his hands.

The man appeared to be around thirty-five or thirty-six, wearing glasses and having slightly curly hair. He seemed gentle and scholarly. Song Wen felt like he had seen this person before and couldn’t help but glance at him a few more times.

Seeing everyone’s gaze on the man, Commissioner Gu cleared his throat and introduced, “Due to the uniqueness of this case, I’ve invited Mr. Zhuang Yi, a criminal psychology professor who has recently been recording programs here, to help us analyze the case and see if we can find more clues.”

The man named Zhuang Yi modestly responded, “I’m just an ordinary researcher here to discuss and learn with everyone.”

Song Wen finally remembered why the man looked familiar. Zhuang Yi was different from the experts like Zhou Yining who only evaluated police psychology. He specialized in criminal psychology and was said to be adept at analyzing the behavior of criminals.

Over the years, Zhuang Yi had also appeared on quite a few legal programs and had become a regular on several variety shows. Song Wen had watched some of those programs, and every time Mr. Zhuang threw out astonishing viewpoints. While initially shocking, upon closer examination, they often made sense. He had a good eloquence and a distinct personal style, earning him quite a few fans on the internet.

However, Zhuang Yi’s style had attracted opposition from some old scholars. They argued that Zhuang Yi’s psychological foundation was not solid, and many of his statements were just for sensationalism, speculating wildly and pandering to the audience. They saw him as a clown succumbing to the media, incapable of applying his theories to actual crime-solving.

Some even pointed out that Zhuang Yi’s academic credentials were fake, and his analyses were based on television scripts. They claimed that many of his astonishing analyses were just for the sake of the show, and some viewpoints were plagiarized or adapted from foreign programs and papers.

However, despite the criticism, Zhuang Yi remained popular. His visit to Nancheng this time was to participate in a new legal education program at Nancheng TV Tower. With the serial murder case happening here, and with Commissioner Gu’s team at a loss, they invited this expert to see if he could help with the case.

The meeting began, with Lin Xiuran and Xu Yao presenting various pieces of evidence from the scene of the third victim and the results of the autopsy, which were identical to the first two cases, all victims having been strangled to death.

In conclusion, Lin Xiuran summarized, “We have collected the fingerprints, semen, and DNA of the perpetrator. They have been compared with existing databases, but we have not yet identified any suspects.”

The lack of matches in the existing database indicates that the suspect has no prior criminal record on file, and their fingerprints have not been entered into the system.

In theory, anyone with a criminal record should be traceable in the database. However, due to the vastness and complexity of our country, coupled with high population mobility, the accuracy of this database can only be considered as a reference.

“I believe the perpetrator of this case has a certain tendency toward violence and may be a repeat offender. Although we haven’t found anyone in the database, you shouldn’t let your guard down. It’s best to also investigate civil litigation and non-criminal judgments to be thorough,” Commissioner Gu turned to ask, “Tian Ming, your team has been pursuing this case for several months. Please give everyone an overview of these three cases.”

Tian Ming nodded and gestured to his deputy, Zhang Ziqi, who then projected images and information of the victims onto the screen.

One after another, the images of the crime scenes where several female victims had been murdered appeared on the projector. While not overly gory, the scenes were chilling enough to send shivers down one’s spine, leaving a profound impact.

“The first victim, Li Ling, thirty-eight years old… The second victim, Zhang Yajie, twenty-seven years old… The third victim, murdered this morning, has just been identified. Her name is Wang Xiaopei, twenty-two years old…”

Tian Ming introduced the circumstances of the victims, including their ages, family situations, detailed times and locations of the murders, and the process of their deaths. Most of it matched what Lin Xiuran had previously described. Lu Siyu watched the projection attentively while recording all the information in her notebook.

“… All victims were female, with long hair, wearing stockings, and were alone at night when they were attacked. There are signs of assault on the victims’ bodies, although semen was not found inside the bodies but on some personal items. Currently, we consider the possibility that the perpetrator may have some functional impairment. There is no apparent connection between the three victims. Our investigation results indicate that this is a series of random crimes targeting young women…”

At this point, Commissioner Gu interrupted Tian Ming’s report with a displeased expression. “Tian, is this the result of your team’s investigation over the past few months? We all know the details already. You can refer to the case files and highlight the key points.”

Tian Ming, being held accountable by his superior, lowered his head and said, “This case lacks eyewitnesses, and there is very little useful information. We have been treating it as a long-term investigation. We have obtained the suspect’s DNA, fingerprints, footprints, and other information. We have also identified some suspicious individuals, but none of them match…”

Hearing this, Song Wen understood the difficulties Tian Ming faced. Due to the perpetrator’s actions taking place late at night, despite leaving behind plenty of physical evidence, there were very few eyewitness accounts. Tian Ming couldn’t narrow down the suspects, with millions of men in the city and tens of thousands of eligible candidates. Finding the perpetrator among them was akin to finding a needle in a haystack.

Commissioner Gu snorted. “What about the perpetrator’s movements? They must have encountered the victims at certain locations. Have you analyzed the behavioral logic behind these encounters?”

The occurrence of the cases indicates that the perpetrator must have encountered the victims at some point in the past. Identifying these meeting points is one of the ways to crack the case.

In the past, due to the lack of surveillance cameras and imperfect forensic techniques, many cases remained unsolved for years. But now, with surveillance cameras everywhere and DNA results available within hours, the fact that no suspect has been found after such a long time, and no effective leads have emerged, is somewhat unacceptable.

Tian Ming felt even more aggrieved. “After the first case occurred, we spent a month searching for various surveillance cameras. However, due to the remote location of the crime scenes, only two segments of footage showing individual victims were found. It was impossible to infer their meeting points. After the second victim appeared, we conducted further investigations but still found nothing…”

Then Tian Ming projected a series of route analysis diagrams, superimposing them onto the map of Nancheng, revealing three intersecting routes with no common points.

“Commissioner, the travel routes of these victims are completely different. The first victim was attacked on her way home, the second victim was attacked after leaving home following a quarrel with her boyfriend, who has an alibi. The third victim was returning home after a night shift on a bus when she was attacked. Except for the first victim, the other two had impromptu plans, and there’s a possibility they wouldn’t have gone out that night. They were all attacked at different locations in the city…”

These three cases exhibit a strong element of randomness.

Commissioner Gu realized that despite the efforts of the second team, there was little progress. He rubbed his temples and softened his tone. “Among these three cases, there must be some commonalities you haven’t found yet.” Turning to Song Wen, he asked, “Song Wen, you were at the scene today. Did you discover anything?”

“At the scene this morning, we found a piece of gauze that the perpetrator had dropped. It had dried bloodstains on it, forming an arc shape, suggesting the perpetrator may have been bitten by an animal not long before. The specific evidence has been handed over to the forensic center,” Song Wen continued, “As for the rest, we’ve just gotten involved in this case, so we don’t know much about it yet… But we find it peculiar that the victims were masked and dressed up, a very unusual phenomenon.”

While Tian Ming and his team had been investigating for months with little success, Song Wen’s team had only been involved for a morning, so they had made little progress.

Commissioner Gu took off and replaced the cap of his pen, momentarily silent. He knew he was getting impatient. Over the past few months, the second team had been working tirelessly, and the deadlock in the case was something no one wanted to see. That was also why he had brought in Song Wen and her team.

With that in mind, Commissioner Gu sighed, “I hope there won’t be any new victims.”

At this moment, Zhuang Yi, who had been listening attentively on the side, spoke up, “Commissioner, after hearing the details of this case, I have some preliminary thoughts, though they are not yet fully developed.”

Commissioner Gu’s expression softened at Zhuang Yi’s words. “Professor Zhuang, please don’t keep us in suspense. Your expertise lies in psychological analysis. Even if your ideas aren’t fully mature, they might provide some insights and could lead us in the right direction to solve the case sooner.”

Zhuang Yi then stood up and said to Tian Ming, “Captain Tian, please project the initial scene photos again.”

Tian Ming quickly projected those photos. The three female victims were lying flat on the ground, their poses almost identical, with their faces covered by clothing and visible red marks on their necks, their skin pale and lifeless.

Zhuang Yi cleared his throat and began his analysis in a serious tone, “Death by asphyxiation. This is a method completely different from other deaths. It’s not as bloody but is still sufficiently violent. Especially for a male perpetrator, it’s a display of power.”

“Throughout history, such a method of death has been attributed to various serial killers, with countless cases of similar patterns, such as the recent series of murders in Huacheng, H Country. There’s also the infamous Rainy Night Butcher case. However, the current case is somewhat different from the past conventional cases. I’ve been thinking, what does the masking of the face and the grooming of the victims’ appearance indicate?”

Tian Ming interjected, “Guilt?”

Such behavior is commonly interpreted in criminal psychology. Song Wen had mentioned this viewpoint before.

Lu Siyu stopped her notes, biting her thumb nail and looking at Zhuang Yi. She was also curious to hear how he would analyze this point.

Zhuang Yi nodded. “Yes, but I think this guilt may not necessarily belong to the brutal killer. I believe there are other possibilities.”