At 6 o'clock in the morning, the sky had just broken and the pale blue sky was still studded with a few sparse residual stars. The newly appointed head of the criminal police detachment dragged his tired body out of the interrogation room, yawning and taking the cigarette handed by his colleague, with an unconcealable tiredness on his face.

His name is Xia Shi, the son of the director of the R City Public Security Bureau, and his mother is the president of a state-owned bank, and he also enjoys a high social status, but he can sit in the position that many people dream of at a young age, not relying on the relationship between his parents, but going to the most dangerous "battlefield" again and again, in exchange for his life.

Last summer, while on a mission to arrest people on the Yunnan border, he nearly died at the hands of drug traffickers. Although he was later rescued by his companion who arrived in time, he suffered a gunshot wound to his leg, and he still limps when he walks, and the wound will be faintly painful when it rains on a cloudy day.

In fact, in his heart, there was originally a more suitable candidate for the position of captain than him. Whether it is the ability to solve crimes, fighting skills, marksmanship, meritorious performance, etc., that person is never below him, it's a pity......

A ringtone of the mobile phone brought back the thoughts that the summer time was about to drift away. He snuffed out the cigarette butt in his hand, picked up the phone nervously, and only heard the other party say the word "murder" in a deep voice, and his brows were tightly locked.

Forty minutes later, Xia Shi and the main investigators of the "9.16" task force came to the scene of the crime. Because it was still early and the location of the crime was relatively remote, there were not many onlookers outside the cordon, which saved the trouble of the police handling the case to maintain order at the scene.

The crime took place in an old-fashioned residential area in Xuanyang District, R City, more precisely, in a narrow alley sandwiched between residential buildings and filled with garbage and debris.

Early this morning, at the dawn of the day, an old man who often picks up garbage in the neighborhood was the first to find the victim's body. After receiving the report, Director Li of the police station in the jurisdiction quickly led people to the scene to verify the situation.

has been a police officer for nearly 30 years, and Director Li has been exposed to many murder cases, but it is rare for him to see such a bloody and cruel crime scene. Thinking of another homicide case that happened in R City not long ago, he suspected that the two cases were likely to be committed by the same murderer, so he sent someone to cordon off the scene and report the case to the city bureau task force.

After a brief understanding of the situation, Xia Shi followed Director Li through the cordon, and just took a few steps into the alley, a strong smell of blood came to his face. Xia Shi hurriedly covered his mouth and nose, forcibly enduring the nausea in his stomach to prevent himself from vomiting, but somehow, before he saw the victim's body, he vomited up the breakfast he had just eaten on the road.

"I'm sorry for making you laugh." After a moment of relief, Xia Shi looked at Director Li with some embarrassment, and was about to explain something, but the latter waved his hand at him, smiled very understandingly, and said, "Team Xia, I know that you are tired and unwell these days. In front of your Uncle Li, you don't have to be strong. ”

"yes." Xia Shi cleared his throat and said with a wry smile, "As soon as I took office, I encountered such a difficult case, and my pressure was indeed quite high. To tell you the truth, Uncle Li, I haven't slept well for more than a week, and I have stomach problems in the morning. I had just come out of the interrogation room when you called me. ”

"It seems that God is deliberately making things difficult for you, the new captain, and not giving you a chance to breathe. I don't know if this case will give you hope to solve the case, or if it will be more torment......"

As they spoke, the two of them had already walked into the depths of the alley.

The victim's body lay on its back in a messy pile of garbage, and the killer stabbed him dozens of times all over his body. Blood soaked through his clothes, staining the ground and surrounding debris red, and at first glance it looked like someone had splashed a bucket of dark red paint.

How much hatred does it take for a murderer to inflict such a brutal atrocity on his victims? You know, it takes a lot of time and physical strength to stab a person dozens of times in the body. If it weren't for the extreme of anger, why would the murderer go to such lengths to destroy the body? What kind of grievance was he trying to express?

Xia Shi carefully looked at the excessively mutilated corpse in front of him, and finally looked at the victim's face. The uniqueness of the case lies not only in the brutality of the murderer, but also in some kind of "criminal mark" that does not know how to interpret it. Like the victims of the 9/16 case, the male victim's upper and lower lips were pierced by the killer with four steel nails, as if to prevent the victim from speaking.

When the "9/16 case" first happened, Xia Shi vaguely felt that there were great doubts about the murderer's motive for committing the crime. Although he could feel the anger and dissatisfaction of the murderer from the bottom of his heart, it was not necessarily only against a certain victim, but perhaps at a specific group or even the entire society, and the case in front of him just verified Xia Shi's speculation.

However, he cannot make a hasty judgment without conducting an in-depth investigation into the background information of the new victims and the social relationships between the two victims. After all, he is now the head of the criminal police team and the head of the task force, and every decision he makes is crucial and has to bear the corresponding responsibility.

"I heard you know this victim?" Summer asked.

"Yes." Director Li nodded, looked at the victim's body and said, "His name is Xu Zilin, 47 years old this year, he has been divorced from his wife for many years, and he has been living alone in Room 202 of Building 46. ”

"Do you know him? Tell me about him. ”

Lao Xu used to do health food business, and he had a good life in the early years, but unfortunately he was deceived by an unreliable friend and went bankrupt, and his wife divorced him in a fit of anger. In recent years, he has been selling egg scones on the street and living a very simple life. He is a warm and upright person, and he gets along well with his neighbors. I often passed by his stall and occasionally took care of his business, and I became acquainted with each other. Lao Xu is a good person, it's a pity to die, I really don't know what kind of person would be so cruel to him......"

After listening to Director Li's introduction, Xia Shi's mood became heavier, and in addition to the regret for the deceased, anxiety and uneasiness gradually occupied his heart. "Uncle Li, where is the stall where the victim sells egg scones? Where was his snack truck parked before he was killed? ”

"Lao Xu's stall is not far from here, and it takes about fifteen minutes to walk." Director Li said and pointed out of the alley, "The snack truck is parked at the corner on the south side, and I have already asked someone to pull up the cordon and stand next to the car." Under normal circumstances, Lao Xu will park his car in the open space downstairs of his house after returning home to take care of it. I guess I encountered an unexpected situation when I went home last night, and I didn't have time to stop the car......"

"Do you mean that the victim was attacked by the killer on the way home and then taken by the killer to the alley to inflict further harm?"

"I think it's possible, otherwise there's no way to explain why he threw the car in the middle of the road."

Xia Shi nodded approvingly and continued to ask, "What time does the victim close the stall and go home every day?" ”

"It's usually past 10 p.m."

"How could it be so late?"

Because there is a middle school where he has set up his stall, the third-grade students will study at exactly 10 o'clock in the evening. In order to make more money, Lao Xu always waited for the students to go home when they were almost gone. ”

"Did the victim have a grudge against anyone during his lifetime?"

"As far as I know, no, but it's not easy to jump to conclusions."

"Okay, since you are familiar with the victim's situation, please continue to assist us in our work."

"No problem, if you need help, just ask." Director Li readily agreed, and then said to Xia Shi half-jokingly, "Although I have known you for many years, and it can be said that I have watched you grow up since childhood, but you are now the superior leader of our old guys, and you have to adapt to your new identity as soon as possible." ”

"Uncle Li, don't tease me." Xia Shi said modestly, "When you were a police officer to catch bad guys, I wasn't born yet, and I still have to learn a lot of experience in handling cases from you old-timers." ”

"Team Xia, let's merge the case." Forensic Doctor Chen interrupted the conversation between the two, she preliminarily examined the victim's body, and said to Xia Shi with great confidence, "The murderer's modus operandi is the same as the '9/16 case', and it is almost certain that the same murderer committed it." ”

"Are you sure it's not a copycat? That case has already been poked out by the media. Xia Shi asked cautiously.

"Probably not, because the steel nails used by the murderer are exactly the same size and size as the '9/16 case', and they also used four steel nails to penetrate the victim's upper and lower lips. We have never released the details of these crimes, except for the investigators and the victims' families, only the murderer himself knows this information and what it represents. It seems too far-fetched to explain it by coincidence. ”

"It's troublesome now, the nightmare has come true...... Xia Shi pinched his temples and said to Forensic Doctor Chen with a miserable smile, "We're going to have to be busy next." It's not me crow's mouth, once such a case starts, it won't end easily. ”

As an excellent forensic doctor with more than ten years of experience in solving cases, Chen Zhu certainly knows how difficult this case is. She looked at the detachment leader who was nearly ten years younger than herself distressedly, and sincerely suggested: "In the summer, I appreciate your spirit of hard work, dedication, and competitiveness. But recently, seeing that you don't want to eat for the '9/16' case, and your body is getting haggard day by day, whether as a colleague or a friend, I hope that you can reflect your difficulties and needs to the leaders above, and don't do everything alone. ”

"I understand. Actually, I just want to fight a good fight, so that those who don't think well of me don't think about me will talk a little less. ”

"Why care what those people think, people who understand you will understand you and support your work no matter what." Forensic Doctor Chen paused for a moment, smiled meaningfully, and said, "In my opinion, you should 'invite' your unobtrusive partner back as soon as possible." With him, he can take some of the pressure off for you. ”

"Well, let me think about it......" Xia Shi seemed to agree casually, and he was already thinking about how to talk to the partner who "left the team without permission" when we met later.