How long has it been? Woke up in a cold sweat, sat on the bed, the light was not on, and Zhao Ming, who was staring at the darkness like this, thought that there was still half a month, to be precise, there should be seventeen days to be exact, and it would be two years.

Nearly two years have passed, and Zhao Ming still wakes up from his dream in the dead of night from time to time.

And every time he woke up, he always felt that he was still standing in that abandoned factory, standing in that dusty aisle, and in front of him was still the familiar person, the familiar police uniform, and the warm blood slowly flowing on the ground.

Two years ago, on September 13, 2007. Zhao Ming still vividly remembers the day when he and his partner Song Tao received a credible call from a hoarse voice telling them that the suspect was most likely hiding in an abandoned steel factory in the east of the city.

At that time, the entire municipal criminal police detachment was already nervous in order to investigate the vicious serial murder case. I don't know my appearance or identity, but I only infer that it should be a middle-aged man, and the murderer committed five murders in just three months, and all five victims were brutally murdered and then discarded in a trash can in a dark alley.

The whole city was panicked, and the media even gave the murderer the strange title of 'trash can murderer'. Although it was a brutal homicide, it would not have caused such a big commotion.

Until the body of the third victim was found, the same murder method, the same garbage can, from that moment on, the fact that there was a serial murderer in the city was presented to Zhao Ming and Song Tao.

At that time, the two of them were the main persons in charge of the serial murder case. However, the commotion was not caused by what was characterized as a serial murder.

Rather, it is because, no matter how Zhao Ming, Song Tao and other colleagues investigated, the three victims had no connection with each other at all, and it could even be said that the three victims did not know each other at all.

In view of the fact that some of the co-workers are not too strong-mouthed, the news of a random serial murderer in the city has spread, and it is no surprise that the city residents are in danger and no one wants to be the next victim of the trash can murderer.

However, the next victim appeared soon. The same garbage cans, the same no eyewitnesses at all, and after investigation, the same no contact with other victims.

During that time, the entire criminal police detachment was under tremendous pressure, and as the person in charge of that case, the pressure on the shoulders of Zhao Ming and Song Tao was unimaginably heavy.

As a criminal policeman, everyone knows that random murderers are the most difficult to find, because there is no logic or thinking in them, and to put it mildly, the murderer can find an alley in the whole city and wait for the next victim to appear.

Because of this fact, coupled with the fact that the previous four homicides all occurred in remote alleys in the dead of night, and there were no eyewitnesses, all the police could do at that time was to remind the public to pay more attention to safety, stay away from remote alleys, and pay attention to their own safety.

Zhao Ming turned on the bedside lamp in the end, he leaned his body against the bedboard, he was obviously thirty-five years old, but he was still single, so naturally he didn't have to worry about anything, he lit a cigarette.

That's when the memories continue to surge.

I remember that there was a point that caught the attention of Zhao Ming, Song Tao and some other colleagues, the murder weapon that the murderer used every time was a fruit knife of similar specifications, and several fruit knives were different, as if the murderer had no preference for the murder weapon at all.

Therefore, after the murder, the fruit knife will be left in the victim's heart. This is a very important common denominator among the four homicides.

Another thing in common is that there are no fingerprints. Yes, no fingerprints were found on the murder weapon. It means that the murderer was wearing gloves to commit the murder.

Summer had just ended, and the temperature hadn't dropped much. Wouldn't an adult man, with gloves on his hands, attract attention?

But the truth is that no one notices the existence of such people. This made Zhao Ming very puzzled, because if it was a random killing, the murderer could not always wear a pair of eye-catching gloves and a brand new fruit knife to walk around in that season.

Even if you don't go around, find an alley and squat, and wait for the victim to show up, it is too incredible. Could it be that the murderer must have been sure that someone must have passed through that alley that night, and even if he saw his presence, he would not turn around and flee, but continue to walk through?

But if it is not a random homicide, the four victims who have no contact at all are ironclad facts in front of him.

Zhao Ming was very distressed and troubled, he had a premonition at that time that if the murderer was not caught as soon as possible, the number of victims would definitely continue to increase.

It turned out that his hunch was not wrong, but it was a pity that on that occasion, he could not feel the slightest taste of joy.

A fifth victim appeared, stabbed to death with a brand-new fruit knife, and the last stab was stabbed in the victim's heart.

When he saw the corpse, Zhao Ming really felt hopeless, he became a criminal policeman at the age of twenty-five, and he was already a veteran criminal policeman with eight years of work experience, even so, in the face of the murderer who couldn't know any information, he still felt desperate.

At the crime scene, Zhao Ming asked Song Tao that Song Tao became a criminal policeman two years later than him. "You say, how can this kind of murder make sense, the murderer is wearing obvious gloves and a fruit knife, and in order to hide the fruit knife, the murderer may have to wear an overcoat."

Zhao Ming continued helplessly, "What I can't understand the most is that every victim, the murderer stabbed so many knives like crazy, stabbed in, pulled out, looking at the blood splattering at the scene, the murderer must be full of blood." Since it's all blood, he definitely won't swagger out of this alley, so could it be that he even brought a special set of clothes to change into after killing people? ”

There were too many suspicions, and Song Tao was also helpless, they couldn't figure out how to explain everything they saw.

Of course, they didn't expect that there would be a witness to the fifth murder case unexpectedly, and the old woman witness directly pointed out Zhao Ming and Song Tao as soon as they came up.

"I saw it, I saw a homeless man covered in all kinds of tattered clothes kill that man!" That's what the old woman said.

Vagabond! Trash can! Hearing the words of the witnesses, of course Zhao Ming was about to swell his forehead, how could he hate himself for not thinking of that possibility?

In fact, it wasn't that he didn't think of it, in fact, a fellow criminal police officer raised this possibility at the beginning, but that possibility was quickly denied.

The reason is simple, several homicides occurred in various parts of the city, and there is no restriction on the area. What kind of homeless people will run around the city to kill people. Unless it's a neurosis!

Of course, there were no fingerprints on the murder weapon, and the possibility of neuropathy was also denied, and even the possibility of carrying a homeless man could not be established.

But according to the mistake of the only eyewitness, the murderer was a homeless man, or a very typical homeless man, covered in clothes, not caring about the temperature at all, his uncombed hair and beard were extremely long, and a face could not be seen except for the mouth, eyes and nose.

is such a normal person who would not want to take a second look at Zhao Ming and Song Tao, and even the entire criminal police detachment, who would have thought that Zhao Ming and Song Tao, and even the entire criminal police detachment, would have gone around?