"Given the urgency of the case," the middle-aged policewoman drew a line under the photos of the four victims killed by the second murderer with a black marker, "these eight bodies won't be investigated jointly this time. We need to focus on solving these four cases first and apprehend the second killer before he strikes again."
"Let me summarize the leads we have so far," the middle-aged policewoman tapped lightly on the photo of the fourth victim with her pen. "This victim is named Tian Junming, male, 17 years old. According to our investigation, his mother is the marketing director of a corporate group and frequently travels for work. His father is an archaeology professor who is also often away on business. As a result, he was raised by his retired maternal grandparents until they passed away when he was 15. After that, he lived alone, with daily care provided by a live-in nanny."
The policewoman continued, "We interviewed his teachers and classmates at school. According to them, although Tian Junming came from a wealthy family and lacked parental supervision, he wasn’t a bad person—just a bit playful. His academic performance wasn’t outstanding, but he consistently ranked in the upper-middle tier. He was also known for his generosity and kindness. At least two-thirds of his class considered him a good friend."
She added, "His classmates listed numerous good deeds he had done. For example, once after playing pool with friends late at night, he saw an elderly man still selling fruit on the street. Without even asking the price, he bought everything, even though most of the fruit turned out to be spoiled. He didn’t get angry—just picked out the fresher pieces to share with his friends. Another time, knowing a classmate was struggling financially, he pretended he wanted to sell some of his old toys for extra cash and let that classmate run a stall for him, giving them a cut of the earnings."
Guan Xia listened attentively, thinking that despite the victim’s young age and absent parents, his grandparents had raised him well. Even after living alone at 15, his character remained upright.
The policewoman went on, "He was reported missing on the morning of the 12th. The live-in nanny was the one who called it in. According to her statement, she had taken a day off on the 11th because her granddaughter was sick and her son and daughter-in-law were at work. She returned on the morning of the 12th to make breakfast as usual but found the victim wasn’t home at 6 a.m. His bed was still neatly made as she had left it. At first, she assumed he was out late enjoying summer vacation and only called him twice before letting it go. But around 10 a.m., the victim’s best friend called to ask if he was awake yet. That’s when she realized something was wrong and alerted the police."
The policewoman pinned a few more photos to the whiteboard. "We later reviewed the residential surveillance footage from before his disappearance. The footage shows Tian Junming leaving the neighborhood at 1:29 p.m. on July 11, accompanied by several classmates and close friends. However, there’s no record of him returning. We questioned the friends who were with him before he went missing. According to them, they arrived at his place around 10 a.m. on the 11th. He had just woken up, and they brought some bread and instant noodles. After eating, they played video games at his place until after 1 p.m., when they all left to play pool."
Her handwriting was quick and slightly messy as she jotted down key timestamps. "They went to his usual pool hall, where he had a membership, and played until around 8 p.m. Their parents kept calling, urging them to come home, so they eventually dispersed. They saw Tian Junming take a taxi and leave first. Since they’d been playing hard at the start of summer break—and with senior year of high school approaching—they got scolded when they got home and had their phones confiscated. That’s why they didn’t follow their usual habit of checking in the group chat to see if he’d gotten home safely. It wasn’t until the next morning, after their parents cooled down and returned their phones, that they tried contacting him. When he didn’t answer, they called the nanny and learned he never made it back—hence the disappearance."
The policewoman continued, "Based on the timeline provided by his friends, we pulled surveillance footage from the pool hall and the taxi he took, confirming their accounts. According to the taxi driver’s statement, Tian Junming initially gave his residential address as the destination. But when they were about 2 kilometers away, near Ningping Road, he suddenly asked to stop, paid the fare, and got out."
"After that, we reviewed the surveillance footage from Ningping Road during that time frame," she pointed at a photo of a boy who looked about 15 or 16. "We identified this minor, Xu Anjia, who was likely the last person to have contact with the victim before his death."
The policewoman spoke rapidly, delivering a flood of information. Guan Xia had to concentrate hard to keep up.
"From further investigation," the policewoman said, "we learned that Xu Anjia is actually a scammer. He uses sob stories—claiming his father is disabled, his mother abandoned him, and he can’t afford school—to beg on the streets. It’s possible Tian Junming took pity on him, which is why he got out of the taxi early, giving the killer an opportunity to abduct and murder him."
She added, "According to Xu Anjia’s statement, around 9 p.m. on July 11, Tian Junming gave him 500 yuan in cash and left his contact information before walking away. He didn’t take the main road, which had heavier traffic, but instead a small side path about 50 meters away. I walked it twice today—it’s definitely a shortcut. For someone of Tian Junming’s height, it would take about 15 minutes at a normal pace to reach his neighborhood."
The policewoman concluded, "I examined the area closely. That path used to be an internal road for a residential complex, originally closed off with walls. But in 2020, the land was requisitioned, and by 2022, the entire complex was vacated. Locals later broke a hole in the wall to use it as a shortcut. I checked with the local precinct—while the complex’s surveillance cameras were never removed, most stopped working due to lack of maintenance. I’ve retrieved all the remaining functional footage, hoping it might help us track the suspect."
Finally done speaking, the middle-aged policewoman exhaled slightly—a movement so subtle that Guan Xia still noticed it. Just as she was about to sit down, the woman suddenly remembered something and added, "Oh, right, and that sketch."
She turned to Captain Yang and said, "Captain Yang, after you sent me the sketch of the suspected perpetrator, I forwarded it to Little Chen. I asked him about it as soon as I got back, and he’s already running it through the database with the tech team. We should have results by tonight."
Captain Yang nodded. Only after the middle-aged policewoman sat down did a young male officer stand up and take her place at the front to continue the briefing.
The young officer said, "According to the coroner’s report, the victim’s time of death was between 4:00 AM and 6:00 AM on July 12th. The victim sustained three wounds: a blunt force injury to the back of the head, a fatal slash to the throat that severed the windpipe, and repeated cuts to the abdomen postmortem to remove internal organs. Notably, the injuries to the head and throat were inflicted while the victim was still alive. The assailant first struck the victim’s head to render him unconscious before proceeding. The abdominal mutilation occurred after death, with the perpetrator removing the heart, liver, lungs, and kidneys. So far, none of these organs have been recovered."
He slid a stack of documents toward Captain Yang and continued, "The tech team also extracted blood traces from the crevices of a chair at the scene, which the suspect had presumably used. After comparing it with the victim’s biological samples, we confirmed it doesn’t match. We suspect it belongs to the perpetrator and are running it through the database. Results should come in by tonight."
"As for other evidence," he went on, "the clothing fibers collected from the scene have been analyzed and consist of common synthetic materials. Beyond suggesting the suspect is financially strained, they don’t provide much investigative value. The shoe prints were too badly damaged, but provincial experts concluded the suspect is likely male, heavily built—though not obese—with a fitness routine. Beyond that, no further details. The fingerprints collected were all traced back to thrill-seeking youngsters who visited the site earlier, none with motive or opportunity."
Once the young officer sat down, Captain Yang spoke up. "Yan Ran and I revisited the scene today and made some discoveries. Yan Ran will brief you shortly, but first—we spotted a suspicious middle-aged man as we were leaving. That’s the sketch I sent to Captain Geng earlier. We strongly suspect he’s the perpetrator. During pursuit, we also recovered a cigarette butt he dropped, which Little Chen has sent to the tech team. If it matches the blood from the chair, we can start setting up surveillance tomorrow."
The team had barely known anything about the suspect beyond a basic profile, yet in just a day, they were already considering a takedown. The news left everyone momentarily stunned before excitement took over.
"You made huge progress today!" the young officer beamed. "I knew with Yan Ran on the case, we wouldn’t come back empty-handed."
He gave Yan Ran an enthusiastic pat on the shoulder, grinning.
But Yan Ran shook her head urgently. "It wasn’t me. It was Specialist Guan from Yongquan City."
She turned to Guan Xia. "She and Miss Zhong were the ones who found the suspect. Specialist Guan even memorized his facial features from a distance, which led to the sketch—and the cigarette butt."
All eyes in the room shifted to Guan Xia, who was still processing the flood of information. Suddenly thrust into the spotlight, she stiffened like a student called on in class, cheeks flushing as she ducked her head. No matter how many times it happened, the title "Specialist Guan" never failed to make her cringe.
True to form, the Anping Branch erupted in praise and discussion over her crucial contribution before refocusing.
Captain Yang interjected, "One detail from Little Chen’s report stood out to me. The tech team found blood in the chair, but the autopsy didn’t mention defensive wounds or biological traces under the victim’s nails. Could that mean the suspect was already injured before attacking? Was the victim’s clothing tested? If blood transferred to the chair, it’s likely some got on the victim’s clothes too."
He glanced at Yan Ran. "If I recall correctly, your scene reconstruction suggested the suspect carried the victim over his shoulder, headfirst, to the second floor of the abandoned villa. To stabilize himself, he might’ve pressed down instinctively—possibly leaving handprints on the victim’s back."
Little Chen replied, "The victim’s clothes are with the tech team. They’re working overtime, and we’ll be notified if anything turns up."
Captain Yang nodded. "This case is tough, but we’ve got plenty of leads. Even without the murder weapon, the evidence we have could be enough to nail the suspect if it matches."
After the concise but productive meeting, Captain Geng bid farewell to Guan Xia and Xu Nian before striding off with two colleagues.
Captain Yang, all smiles, warmly assigned them their spots. As expected, it was the same familiar conference table—but this time laden with snacks, tea, and even coffee and milk tea.
Before sitting, Guan Xia checked the caffeine content of the milk tea. Finding it four to five times stronger than coffee, she smirked. Perfect. Half a cup would keep her awake all night.
Pang Le hesitated but downed a third of his cup in one go, then perked up and opened the laptop provided by the Anping Branch.
Another round of reviewing surveillance footage began. While Zhong Xiaoyu watched with curiosity, the others wore expressions of calm resignation.
Before diving in, Guan Xia mentally organized all the known details. She selected footage from the victim’s residential complex, theorizing the killer must have stalked him extensively to strike at the right moment. With better camera coverage there, the suspect might just be visible.
As Guan Xia had anticipated, shortly after midnight, the figure of the suspect appeared in the surveillance footage at the south gate of the residential complex where the victim had lived.
This discovery was largely thanks to Xu Nian’s habit of frequently checking in with Guan Xia.
At first, Guan Xia hadn’t noticed anything unusual—her intuition hadn’t been triggered. But when Xu Nian returned with a glass of water and casually asked, "Guan Xia, found anything yet?" something clicked.
Before Guan Xia could even respond, the system interface suddenly flashed before her.
Prompted by the officer’s question, you suddenly recall that at 00:17 on July 16th, while reviewing the surveillance footage, you inadvertently noticed something odd about a sanitation worker who often appeared near the victim’s residential gate. Even though he wore a cap and kept his head down the entire time, his build struck you as eerily familiar—nearly identical to the shadowy figure you’d spotted earlier that afternoon on the slopes of Xiaocui Peak. Sensing something amiss, you decide to report this to the police.
