Chapter 112

Fu Linjiang received instructions from Song Wen and contacted the 110 Emergency Center, pulling up all incidents reported after eight o’clock last night.

One report from the West Huaishu Police Station caught his attention.

This incident was basically the same as what Song Wen had mentioned. The Emergency Center received a call at half-past eleven in the evening from a young woman claiming to have been attacked by a stranger.

At that time, this matter was treated as an emergency. Ten minutes later, two policemen arrived at the scene. Since the assailant had escaped on the spot, they could only take the girl to the police station to make a record.

The girl’s injuries were not severe, so the incident was classified as an attempted robbery.

Later, the girl’s boyfriend arrived and took her away.

Fu Linjiang communicated with the West Huaishu Police Station and obtained the girl’s contact information. He then arranged for her to come to the municipal bureau.

At three o’clock in the afternoon, the girl arrived at the Nancheng City Bureau. She had been restless throughout the night and had suffered some minor injuries. Today, she took the day off from work.

Fu Linjiang led her to the interrogation room and summoned both Song Wen and Lu Siyu.

The three of them sat opposite the girl. Song Wen raised his head to examine her. She was wearing a simple white blouse and a knee-length blue skirt, with flesh-colored stockings and a thin, long coat.

The girl was quite pretty, with shoulder-length hair and fair skin. She had almond-shaped eyes and a petite nose, giving her a youthful appearance with a hint of innocence from her school days.

Seeing the people across from her staring at her, the girl reached up and smoothed her hair, covering a bruise on her forehead.

Lu Siyu glanced at the name on the girl’s registration form, Zeng Minyi.

Before they could begin, there was a knock on the door of the interrogation room. Captain Tian Ming poked his head in from the doorway and gestured to Song Wen, indicating that he was needed.

Song Wen walked to the door, and Tian Ming said, “Song, you’re really something. I heard you found a witness so quickly.”

Song Wen knew this information must have come from Tian Ming’s side. He had originally planned to communicate with him after confirming the situation. Since Tian Ming had come to him first, Song Wen could only explain, “It’s just a suspected eyewitness. It’s not confirmed whether it’s the work of the same perpetrator. We’ll have to wait until after questioning to know the specifics.”

Tian Ming cleared his throat, opened his mouth, but his face turned red. He hesitated and then got to the point, “Um, it’s all for the case. Can I listen in?”

Their team had been investigating for so long without finding any substantial eyewitnesses. Thinking about how Song Wen had taken the lead this time, Tian Ming felt a burning sensation on his face, as if he had been slapped.

During the last meeting, he was singled out by Commissioner Gu. Now, eager to find some clues and make up for his shortcomings, he finally swallowed his pride and approached Song Wen.

Song Wen didn’t mind: “Captain Tian, don’t be so formal. Pull up a chair.”

So Tian Ming also came in. Zeng Minyi looked up at the four police officers sitting across from her and was clearly intimidated by the presence. She didn’t know if she was somehow involved in some major case. She became nervous for a moment and said, “Um… I…”

Fu Linjiang sensitively noticed the girl’s apprehension and comforted her softly: “Don’t be afraid. Because the incident you experienced last night may be related to other cases, we called you here to ask about the situation.”

Zeng Minyi recoiled slightly and blinked her eyes: “So, I won’t be retaliated against, will I?”

Fu Linjiang replied, “The assailant acted randomly. You should pay attention to your safety recently and avoid going out alone, especially at night. There shouldn’t be any issues.”

Song Wen already had a copy of Zeng Minyi’s statement from last night in his hand and asked her some basic information.

Zeng Minyi answered each question, speaking softly and delicately.

Then Song Wen got to the point: “Can you recount what happened yesterday?”

The girl recalled, “Last night at eleven o’clock, I returned from overtime and found that my boyfriend hadn’t taken the dog for a walk. So I took the dog downstairs. There isn’t much greenery in the neighborhood where we rent. I took the dog to the small park next to the community.”

Zeng Minyi paused here. She seemed to be transported back to the small park behind the neighborhood last night. The woods there weren’t too large, just beside the road, with some simple sports equipment. During the day, children and elderly people played nearby.

After nine o’clock, when the square dancers nearby dispersed, it became a bit secluded. There were no streetlights, and it was pitch black there.

She originally planned to take the dog for a walk and then return, but the dog, who had been kept indoors for a long time, ran into the woods upon seeing them.

In her search for the dog, she ended up going deeper and deeper into the woods. When she realized it, she had already walked to the depths of the small park, and she started to feel a bit scared.

At that moment, she heard an eerie sound…

Recalling the terrifying experience from last night, Zeng Minyi’s eyes widened suddenly. “I heard a kind of sound, heavy breathing, as if… as if struggling to breathe…”

Lu Siyu furrowed his brow slightly upon hearing this and made a note of it. This sound should be one of the perpetrator’s characteristics.

“Then, I thought I must have misheard. I hadn’t found the dog that had run into the woods when suddenly, a man ran out from behind me. He grabbed my hair and punched me on the head. I screamed for help, and he started covering my mouth and hitting me. I was confused at that moment, almost passing out, feeling dizzy. The man dragged me deeper into the small park…”

Zeng Minyi lowered her head. “My dog sensed something was wrong and started barking wildly in the woods. The man hesitated for a moment, then kicked my dog. My dog bit him on the leg. At that moment, a taxi passed by. The driver probably noticed something was amiss and shouted ‘Who’s there?’ Then he turned on the high beams, illuminating the man. I struggled free and ran to the road with my dog, stopping the taxi…”

“Later, I made the emergency call and called my boyfriend… Thanks to the kind taxi driver, I don’t know what would have happened otherwise.” Zeng Minyi recalled the events of yesterday, her heart still pounding, her chest heaving. She still felt a lingering fear.

The people sitting across exchanged glances for a moment. Zeng Minyi’s account matched the characteristics of the perpetrator in this case, and the location wasn’t far from where Wang Xiaopei was murdered.

She had a wound on her forehead, similar injuries had appeared in previous cases. Most importantly, the clue of being bitten by a dog matched the gauze they found at the scene. The gauze was currently being examined in the forensic department, awaiting comparison.

The girl Zeng encountered last night was likely the perpetrator!

Song Wen took out pen and paper and continued questioning her. “Did you see the man’s face clearly?”

If the girl had seen it, he could attempt a facial reconstruction, greatly increasing the chances of finding the culprit.

“I… I saw it…” Zeng Minyi nodded. She seemed cold and hugged her arms around herself, trembling slightly.

“Do you remember any other details?” Lu Siyu asked.

Zeng Minyi bit her lip, seemingly recalling the terrifying ordeal. She lowered her head and her voice choked with tears. “That man… when the high beams shone on him… I screamed for help, trying to break free, but… he had calluses on his hands… When I turned around, I saw… he was… smiling…”

In the pitch-black night, encountering such a deranged man felt like a nightmare to Zeng Minyi. As she recalled, when she screamed for help and struggled to break free, the man showed no signs of panic. His grip on her hand was rough and cold. His expression was a smile, seeming satisfied with her struggle…

That eerie smile, Zeng Minyi would probably never forget it in her life.

Fu Linjiang comforted her. “It’s okay, it’s okay. You’re safe now… Tell us what he looked like, and we’ll try to sketch him.”

“That man… wasn’t tall, about 1.75 meters. He had very short hair, almost shaved. His face was long and thin, very pale, with small eyes and single eyelids. He had almost no eyebrows. I can’t describe his smile. His lips were thin, and the corners of his mouth were upturned, showing uneven teeth. Just a smile made all the hairs on my body stand up. I’ve never seen anything more terrifying in my life…” Zeng Minyi described, almost on the verge of tears.

With these descriptions, Song Wen formed a basic concept of the perpetrator in his mind. The image of a pale face appeared in his mind. The man looked ordinary, with small eyes. When he didn’t speak, he seemed dull, but once he smiled, he seemed terrifying.

Song Wen picked up a pencil. “I’ll try to reconstruct his portrait now. Do you remember any other relevant details, like what he was wearing or any distinctive features?”

Zeng Minyi nodded in cooperation. She mentioned some characteristics of the perpetrator and then asked, “Will you catch him?”

“We’ll do our best.” This time it was Tian Ming speaking. He had been tracking this perpetrator for months and finally had a breakthrough.

Zeng Minyi raised her head, looking timidly at the police officers in front of her, then lowered her head again, gazing at her intertwined fingers. “Yesterday, when I was at the police station, some officers… they said my situation was difficult to resolve… They also said…”

At this point, she hesitated whether to continue speaking, pursed her lips, then continued, “They also said such incidents are quite common. I didn’t lose any money, nor was I seriously injured. There was no surveillance at the time. I was just beaten a few times. It’s very likely that the man won’t be caught. Many similar incidents in the past… all ended without resolution…”

The detectives sitting across from each other fell silent for a moment, but they also understood the helplessness of grassroots police officers. With fewer personnel at the grassroots level and heavy workloads, in cases where there was no loss and the situation was not severe, there was no guarantee that the suspects could be traced.

If it weren’t for Lu Siyu’s intelligence and vigilance, they would have almost missed this witness, missed these clues.

If this suspect wasn’t a deranged killer with several lives on his hands, but just an ordinary, lecherous man following a girl, even if the police traced him and found the man, with the victim and perpetrator sitting face to face in the mediation room of the police station, based on the fact that the girl only suffered minor injuries, in the end, they would have to sign a mediation agreement and release him.

Such injuries didn’t even warrant detention.

Such situations likely occurred countless times every day in the country. Perhaps among them, there were some men with malicious intentions, maybe they didn’t commit crimes this time, but they might do even more terrifying things in the future.

However, neither the police nor the law had any effective measures to curb such situations.

People often say that we need more heroes who stand up for justice, but most people hope that when they are helpless, they are the ones being helped by heroes. How many people are willing to step forward when faced with someone in need of help?

To change these situations, it requires more people to take action.