When Lu Junchi and Su Hui returned home, it was already one in the morning and both of them were tired, so they quickly went inside to rest.

Lu Junchi slept for a while but woke up and couldn’t fall back asleep.

When he got up, it was still dark outside, but he could see the stars in the sky by opening the curtains.

Lu Junchi turned on his phone and checked the time, which was five in the morning.

He decided not to sleep anymore and got up to sit at the table and turned on his computer.

The city seemed to still be asleep at this time, and it was quiet outside. Su Hui’s room was also silent.

To avoid waking up Su Hui, Lu Junchi didn’t turn on the lights. He kept thinking about what happened last night and replayed every detail in his mind.

Then he looked at the screen, opened the file, and the documents had already been scanned. Dozens of electronic files had been sent to his email a long time ago.

The light from the screen reflected on his face, and Lu Junchi looked serious and focused.

He looked through each document one by one. He had been studying these cases for days and had memorized the names of the deceased and details of the cases.

Lu Junchi was very focused, and then he suddenly felt something touching his foot.

He looked down and saw that Aristotle had woken up without him noticing. The kitten hooked his furry paws onto Lu Junchi’s slippers and looked up at him with his big eyes, as if he wanted to be held.

Lu Junchi’s heart moved, and he picked up the kitten and held it in his arms, stroking its fur.

The kitten was warm and fluffy, and a bit heavy. After spending so much time together, Aristotle had finally accepted his presence and did not reject his touch. He even closed his eyes and enjoyed being stroked.

After a while, the kitten licked Lu Junchi’s finger and rubbed its head against his palm before lying down on his lap.

Lu Junchi looked at the documents for a while, then lowered his head and saw that the kitten had fallen asleep on his lap, with its belly rising and falling with each breath.

In the morning, Su Hui got up on his own without asking Lu Junchi to wake him up, which was rare.

Su Hui walked into the living room and saw Lu Junchi opening his computer and hesitating for a moment. “Did you not sleep last night?” he asked.

Lu Junchi replied, “I slept for a few hours.”

Both of them were thinking about what happened last night. When they had something on their minds, they couldn’t sleep well.

The fruitless interrogation made them feel like they were back to square one.

Lu Junchi handed the cat to Su Hui, got up and made a simple breakfast of bread, eggs, and milk. They sat facing each other, eating breakfast.

“Besides investigating the unexpected death of Liu Mengying’s mother, what’s your next move?” Su Hui asked Lu Junchi.

Lu Junchi said, “I took another look at those files and found that we were misled. The city bureau noticed an increase in accidental cases last year, so they started having the review team look for cases from June of last year to June of this year. So we were also limited to this time frame. If we really want to find hidden culprits or cases with problems, I don’t think we should limit ourselves to this one year.”

Just like Liu Mengying’s mother’s case, it was not within this time frame.

Lu Junchi organized his thoughts and continued, “There may be some suspicious serial cases hidden among these cases. So we should look back in time to find the origin of everything, the so-called first case, in order to make the criminal motive clearer. We should focus on the present, because serial killers are evolving, and the perpetrator’s behavior patterns are becoming more fixed. Now, the current cases will also leave more clues…”

Serial killers evolve, and cases continue to escalate, with the criminal characteristics becoming more obvious.

This was the lesson taught to him by the poet back then.

Lu Junchi was blinded by his position at the moment, and didn’t think of these things for a while. As it was a case sent by the review team, their starting point was directly stuck in those details, and then they followed the information on the dormant forum.

This behavior was like peeking into a tube.

Many small cases were like scattered puzzles, each with its own characteristics, mixed with many unrelated cases that would disturb their vision. Until they found more pieces, they wouldn’t know the whole picture.

At this point, Lu Junchi made up his mind, “Besides those past cases, I also want to investigate the cases that have occurred in the last two months.”

Su Hui nibbled on his bread, having only recently learned about the process by which the city’s serious crime squad received cases. He expressed some concerns, “The approach is correct, but most newly reported cases have not yet reached the review team. The cases are still with the criminal investigation department and various sub-bureaus. Are you planning to initiate a joint investigation?”

In the routine criminal investigation, due to jurisdictional issues among various support teams and sub-bureaus, related cases cannot be merged immediately. This phenomenon is called “chain blindness”.

However, launching a joint investigation hastily is also risky. If we cannot be sure that there is a problem, then it will be difficult for Lu Junchi to end the investigation and we won’t be able to justify it.

Lu Junchi looked into Su Hui’s eyes and asked, “Do you think there is a problem with these cases?”

Su Hui instinctively wanted to shake her head.

Lu Junchi added, “We don’t need evidence right now, just your intuition.”

Then he raised his head and said seriously, “Finding evidence is my job. I won’t just blindly believe you and I hope you won’t ignore your intuition. I won’t waste my time trying to prove your theory and I won’t let those things confuse me. But sometimes, your suggestions can save us a lot of time and help us get closer to the truth and make the right judgment.”

Police officers have to speak with evidence, and this approach is not wrong, but he believed that Su Hui should not give up her intuition.

Su Hui stared at Lu Junchi for a moment, then lowered his head and fell silent for a moment before saying, “I think there is a problem.”

Before them lay an incomplete puzzle, a difficult problem with no clear description. Although they had not found the key to solve it, Su Hui could feel that there were strange aspects to the case, and he believed that there were unknown connections among some of the cases.

There was a hidden thread between the people, one that they had not yet found.

Lu Junchi said firmly, “I also think there is a problem. I will apply for a joint investigation to uncover the truth.”

Behind each case lies a truth that has been shrouded in layers. Finding those truths is their duty as police officers.

The law and human life are more important than anything else.

An Yuci held a bunch of pure white lilies in his hand and walked on the street, listening to the girl on the other end of the phone crying.

He comforted her in a low and gentle voice, “I know, everything will be okay. Yes, since you came out, there will be no problem, you did a good job. It was me who didn’t see it earlier…”

“It sounds like it’s just a normal procedure.”

“Don’t worry too much, remind Qin Zhihua to be careful too.”

“Yes, I remember what day it is today.”

An Yuci comforted her for a long time before hanging up the phone.

The intersection happened to be a red light. While waiting for the traffic light, An Yuci looked around and realized that he had reached the gate of Yizhong Middle School during the phone call.

Although it was summer vacation, it happened to be the day when the middle school students returned to school.

A group of middle school students walked out of the school gate, both boys and girls wearing school uniforms. An Yuci adjusted his glasses and saw a familiar figure in the crowd.

It was a tall and thin girl with short hair, walking alone with her head down in silence.

Several boys approached her, teasing and pulling her backpack and even trying to lift her skirt.

The girl turned her head and looked at them with a cold and indifferent expression, which only made those boys laugh more recklessly.

An Yuci saw this and ran a few steps forward, standing beside the girl.

The girl was surprised to see him and lifted her head slightly, “Dr. An…what a coincidence…”

“Thank you.” An Yuci had just helped Fang Jiayue drive away a group of mischievous male students, and Fang Jiayue was very grateful.

Then she looked at the white lilies in An Yuci’s hand and asked, “Dr. An, are you going on a date?”

An Yuci shook his head and said, “No, today is a friend’s birthday.”

Fang Jiayue looked envious and said, “You’re giving her flowers, she must be very happy.”

An Yuci smiled but didn’t explain further.

Fang Jiayue asked him again, “Dr. An, how is your little bird doing?”

An Yuci replied, “It’s alive now, although it can only hop around, it’s much livelier. I bought it a small cage and feed it. I think it might be able to fly soon.” He then turned to the girl and asked, “Is everything okay at home recently?”

“It’s okay…” Fang Jiayue said, lowering her head.

An Yuci could hear a hint of helplessness in her voice.

Indeed, she could only say it was okay. As time passed, Fang Jiayue found that her mother seemed to have forgotten that she was sick and that her stepfather had evil intentions.

But that was her biological mother, she couldn’t just be dissatisfied and find a new one…

Soon, they arrived at Fang Jiayue’s house. She said, “Thank you, Dr. An.”

An Yuci waved goodbye to her and continued walking ahead.

He waited at a nearby bus stop for a while before boarding a bus and heading to a cemetery.

An Yuci walked into the cemetery, climbed a few steps, and turned to face a tombstone with a black and white photo of a smiling girl on it. He placed the pure white lilies in front of the tombstone and whispered, “Happy Birthday.”

The cemetery was very quiet as dusk approached, and the setting sun cast a long shadow under his feet.

An Yuci stood there for a while before leaving. He waited at the bus stop for the return trip, but the bus didn’t come for a long time. He sat on the platform and watched as people came and went.

Suddenly, he looked up and saw a familiar man.

An Yuci remembered him as a former patient who had seen him for treatment two years ago. He had helped him a lot and they used to talk about everything.

However, the man came less and less often, and An Yuci had been worried about him for a while. Seeing him now, his heart stirred, and he accurately called out the man’s name, “Zhuang Shiqing?”

The man stiffened for a moment, then turned to look at him and said, “Ah…Dr. An…”

An Yuci asked him, “Are you doing okay recently?”

The man seemed to be surprised to meet his former therapist on the road. Cold sweat appeared on his forehead as he replied, “I’m doing okay…”

“You haven’t been to my office for a long time,” An Yuci wanted to say more.

But the man turned around and got into a car that had just arrived. “Dr. An, I have some urgent business to attend to. Let’s talk later when I have time.”

The whole process happened so quickly that An Yuci didn’t react. The man seemed to be avoiding something and fled in a hurry.

An Yuci stood on the platform for a while, not taking the train. Instead, he turned around and walked into the crowd.

There were so many people in the city, coming and going with their own destinations. But suddenly, she seemed to have lost the place he wanted to go.

TN:

“连锁失明” is a Chinese idiom that can be translated as “chain blindness” or “chain of blindness”. It refers to a situation in which multiple law enforcement agencies or departments fail to cooperate and share information in a criminal investigation, resulting in a lack of coordination and the inability to see the complete picture of the case. It is similar to the English idiom “the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing”.