In the mountain road of Lotus Mountain, Liu Nanhe, Chi Wei, Liu Qiang, and Zhao Hongyan are walking forward with one foot deep and one foot shallow. On the snow-covered mountain road, there are some pits that are not visible at all. Liu Nanhe and Chi Wei are very good, and the situation is better, but Liu Qiang and Zhao Hongyan suffered a big loss, and as soon as they walked out of Erlidi, they fell with a blue nose and swollen face, and they were embarrassed.

They also didn't understand why Liu Nanhe insisted on going to the scene to take a look, because it has been nearly half a month since the incident, and the Zhengzhong City Police and the Xinzhong District Police have already inspected the scene.

Liu Nanhe did not deny their claims, but the site he was looking at was not quite the same as the traditional on-site exploration. Every time the murderer kills on a snowy night, he makes the deceased look like a snowman, indicating that he is used to traveling on snowy nights. Liu Nanhe needs to judge the route and distance taken by the other party by being immersed in the scene, and then judge his approximate range of activities.

Although he has only been here for a few days, he has already locked the identity of the murderer in his heart. If the estimation is correct, the murderer must be from Lianhua Mountain Village. Because only the people here will be familiar with the roads and conditions on the mountain, they will have the opportunity to kill Zhao Cuilan and Shi Wanying, and have plenty of time to build the two into the shape of a snowman. As for Lin Yurong, who died in Zhengzhong City, the murderer naturally rushed over to do it, and this person is very familiar with Lin Yurong and knows most of her activities in Zhengzhong City.

It was a small, isolated mountain village, and except for a few families who had moved to the city, everyone else lived in the village and knew each other well, and it was difficult to determine who would attack the victims.

After walking for more than two hours on the rugged and steep mountain road, I finally came to the place where Zhao Cuilan was killed. Under the guidance of Liu Qiang and Zhao Hongyan, Liu Nanhe came to the raised rock.

Zhao Cuilan's cause of death was the same as Lin Yurong's, she was stabbed multiple times and died of a large amount of blood loss. But Lin Yurong's corpse was only wearing underwear, while Zhao Cuilan's clothes were worn properly. The Zhengzhong City police also checked the whereabouts of Lin Yurong's clothes, but unfortunately they didn't find anything. At that time, Shi Yimu was still very cooperative, saying that her wife wore a white down jacket when she went to work that day, a pair of slim jeans on the lower half of her body, and a pair of white snow boots under her feet.

Liu Nanhe looked around, this position is the bulge of the mountain road, and there are downhill roads on both sides. If you pile a snowman here, no matter which direction someone else comes from, you will see it at first sight. Liu Nanhe frowned and said, "The file you issued says that it was a local old man who called the police, isn't it?"

Zhao Hongyan nodded and said, "Yes." ”

"Who is this man?"

Zhao Hongyan said: "It was created by Hu, an old mountain man in Lianhua Mountain Village. He did not have a phone and used the victim's mobile phone to call the police. His fingerprints were also found on his mobile phone, and after investigation, he did not have the time to commit the crime. And when Shi Wanying was killed, others were playing mahjong at home, and several people can prove it. ”

Liu Nanhe said: "When he found this snowman, did he see anything else?"

Zhao Hongyan said: "He said that there are still a few rows of wide footprints on the ground, about 50 sizes of shoes. However, several surrounding villages have been investigated, and no one has such big feet. ”

Liu Nanhe said: "This is easy to fake, you just tie something to your shoes, and stepping on it is a big footprint." I read that the file says that there are a lot of wild boar and gray wolf footprints next to the corpse, right?"

Zhao Hongyan said: "Yes." The gray wolf's footprints are similar to those of a dog, but they are a little larger, with claw marks on the front of the footprints. The footprints of the wild boar are small at the front end and large at the back end, with obvious scars. And there are traces of arching next to it, if it weren't for Hu Laohan calling the police in time, maybe the snowman and the corpse were destroyed by the beast. ”

Liu Nanhe asked slowly: "Under normal circumstances, will the beasts in the mountains take the initiative to go to the area of human activities?"

Liu Qiang and Zhao Hongyan glanced at each other and said, "Generally, no, but when it snows, it will." ”

Liu Nanhe said: "When Zhao Cuilan was killed, how long did it snow?"

Zhao Hongyan thought for a while and said, "There was a light snow the night before, and the snow on the ground was not thick, only two centimeters. ”

Liu Nanhe nodded and said, "In this case, neither wild boars nor gray wolves will come to the mountain road because they are hungry, so what is the reason for attracting them here?"

Chi Wei was also stunned and said, "Boss, are you saying that these animals were specially attracted by the murderer?"

Liu Nanhe said: "Of course. Beasts also have a tendency to seek advantage and avoid harm, and this place is so high that they would not have exposed themselves to such a conspicuous place unless they had smelled some special smell. ”

"Why did he do that?" The police officers of the two police stations were directly involved in the detection of a homicide for the first time, and they only felt that there were clues everywhere, and they felt that they did not know how to do it at all.

Liu Nanhe sighed and said, "Because the murderer himself knows that he actually left a lot of flaws, and only with the help of these beasts can these traces be erased naturally." ”

"What flaw?" the two policemen asked at the same time.

Liu Nanhe shook his head and said, "I don't know." But think about it, why did Zhao Cuilan appear on this mountain road in the middle of the night?"

Zhao Hongyan said: "We have investigated her call records, and the day before the accident, she did not receive any calls or text messages on her mobile phone. According to her wife, no outsiders had ever been in the house that day. ”

Liu Nanhe said: "Has her wife been at home all the time?"

Zhao Hongyan said with a wry smile: "In addition to picking mountain goods in winter, people here basically get together to play cards and mahjong. Zhao Cuilan's wife is no exception, but the place where he plays cards is next door, and they have a dog at home, if an outsider enters the house, the dog will bark. ”

Liu Nanhe didn't ask anything more, because these things were recorded in the file, and he deliberately asked again, just to verify whether his memory was wrong. Standing on the high place where the snowmen are piled up, looking around the left and right sides, the snow-capped mountains are covered in silver, and you can only see that the sky and the earth are integrated, revealing an indescribable mystery and majesty. The branches of the trees were covered with snow, and they hung down one by one, and the dried weeds were covered with snow, and only a faint sprout could be seen.

Liu Nanhe stared into the distance, close to the side of the tall mountain, the peak of Lotus Mountain was within reach, but it seemed to be on the horizon. Although there was no sunlight, the light reflected from the snow surface still stabbed Liu Nanhe's eyes. Liu Nanhe squinted his eyes and pointed to the wall of Lotus Mountain, and said, "Is that a river?"

Zhao Hongyan nodded and said, "Yes, the locals call it the Lotus River, which flows from the side of Funiu Mountain." ”

Liu Nanhe seemed to think of something, and quickly walked down from the high place and walked in the direction of the river. Heading towards the river means leaving the mountain trail, which is covered with trees and weeds along the way. If you are not careful, you will roll down the cliff, and the policemen of the two police stations have not walked thirty meters before they are in distress, Liu Nanhe glanced back and said, "I and Weizi went over, you just stay where you are and wait for us." ”

Liu Qiang and Zhao Hongyan still wanted to insist, but they were stopped by Chi Wei: "Okay, safety first, listen to our leader." ”

As the saying goes, Wangshan runs a dead horse, and the sea is abyss, and the Lotus River seems not far away, but it took more than half an hour to walk over. Seeing the backs of Liu Nanhe and Chi Wei getting farther and farther away, Zhao Hongyan sighed and said, "They are both policemen, and other people's criminal policemen work much harder than us." After a few years as a small policeman, the sharpness in the police academy is almost worn out, and it is really ashamed to see them about the same age as us. ”

Liu Qiang didn't speak, but asked silently: "Hongyan, do you think they can solve this case?"

Zhao Hongyan did not hesitate at all, and said: "It must be broken, otherwise wouldn't all this hard work be in vain?"

Liu Qiang said: "Not all hard work is rewarding. ”

When Liu Nanhe and Chi Wei came to the bank of the Lotus River, they found that the river here was also the same as the road in the mountains, with a high point in the center and flowing to each side. Most of the river flows from the mountain wall, and there must be a strong undercurrent there. Liu Nanhe estimated that the width of the entire Lotus River was only a little more than two meters, and it was better to say that it was a river than a ditch in the mountains. However, due to the topography, the river flows at a very fast speed. Although there was a thick layer of snow on the ground, the water was still not frozen and solidified.

"Chief, chief, look. Chi Wei suddenly pointed to the riverbank not far away and shouted.

Liu Nanhe followed his finger and saw two wild wolves standing on the snow over there, looking at them with solemn eyes. Liu Nanhe was shocked in his heart and said, "Don't be nervous, slowly retreat." ”

Chi Wei said: "This time it's over, we don't have guns on us." ”

Liu Nanhe said: "Don't worry, it's not a pack of wolves, they won't attack without permission." ”

Chi Wei said: "How do you know?"

Liu Nanhe said calmly: "Guess." ”

Just a few steps away, Chi Wei patronized and observed the movements of the wild wolf, and he didn't pay attention to the slipping of his feet, and his body rolled down the mountain. Liu Nanhe gritted his teeth and chased after him, just grabbing Chi Wei's arm, but saw that the two wild wolves also rushed down to the high place with great speed and ran straight towards the two. Chi Wei kicked on the root of the tree next to him, and Liu Nanhe also hooked a big stone over there, so as to stop the trend of continuing to decline. Chi Wei touched his forehead, he had just hit the stone, and he had already touched blood. Wild wolves have a keen sense of smell, and it must be the smell of blood that induces their bloodthirsty wildness.

Liu Nanhe grabbed a ball of snow and smashed it into a snowball towards the wolf. The wild wolf dodged away, but at the same time stopped, squatting only twenty meters away from the two, still looking at the two of them coldly. Chi Wei smiled bitterly: "Boss, if you want to smash it with a stone, what's the use of snowballs?"

Liu Nanhe suddenly realized and said, "I was anxious just now and forgot." ”

The weather is cold, and the stones and the ground have long been frozen and solid, and they can't be dug out at all. Liu Nanhe had no choice but to venture close to the Lotus River to collect stones. Due to the impact of the river, the stones here are relatively loose, and after a few hard pulls, a few fist-sized stones were knocked off. But to do so is also to risk your life, if you stumble into the Lotus River, soak in the icy water for five minutes, people will completely stop eating.

"Give me a few stones. Chi Wei said.

Liu Nanhe didn't speak, his eyes were fixed on the border between the river and the mountain wall. The branches and weeds that extend there show signs of destruction, indicating that there has been activity in the river in recent times. Looking down along the mountain wall, the situation was exactly the same as far as the eye could see, Liu Nanhe took a breath and said, "I know how the murderer came and went freely in the snow. ”