The text on the system interface remained displayed for a few seconds before an expected video clip abruptly flashed onto the screen.
This time, the footage was longer and fragmented, as if it had been edited into segments.
The first segment was timestamped July 9th, 2:07 PM. A middle-aged man dressed in sanitation worker attire—wearing a cap and a mask, with only a sliver of his face visible—could be seen sweeping the sidewalk near a residential complex with a broom.
This time, not only was the sanitation worker’s head highlighted in a red frame, but the timestamp in the top-left corner was also marked conspicuously. Guan Xia had to split her attention, glancing at the time a few extra times before refocusing on the footage.
To a passerby, nothing would seem amiss, but from the elevated angle of the surveillance camera, it was clear that while the man continued sweeping, he occasionally tilted his head slightly, casting sidelong glances at people exiting the complex. It was as if he were waiting for someone—or selecting a target.
About ten seconds later, the fourth victim, Tian Junming, emerged from the complex with three classmates, arms slung over each other’s shoulders as they waited for a taxi by the roadside. The group horsed around noisily. The sanitation worker checked his watch, then subtly adjusted his stance to face them, sweeping dust off the pavement while keeping them in his peripheral vision. Even after the four hailed a cab and left, the man didn’t move on. Instead, he swept faster, gradually distancing himself from the complex entrance without any further furtive looks.
The second segment was timestamped July 9th, 8:19 PM. This time, the sanitation worker wasn’t sweeping. Instead, he held a long garbage picker, his movements no longer covert. He looked around openly, as if searching for trash—a perfectly ordinary sight that drew no attention.
Again, about ten seconds later, a taxi pulled up to the complex. Tian Junming hopped out from the passenger seat, casually tossing a basketball in his right hand as he swaggered toward the complex entrance. The sanitation worker checked his watch once more, straightened briefly to watch Tian Junming’s retreating figure, then hunched back over and resumed his search for litter along the roadside and greenery.
The following segments—third, fourth, and fifth—were timestamped July 10th, 1:35 PM; July 10th, 8:38 PM; and July 11th, 1:27 PM. Each showed the same scene: the complex entrance, the same sanitation worker in identical attire, and the same watch-checking gesture. The pattern was undeniable—the killer had used this inconspicuous profession to stalk and observe his victim up close, brazenly and methodically.
Admittedly, the killer had a cunning streak. Though he was surveilling his target, his hands never stopped moving. He swept at varying speeds, occasionally glancing around, but because he lingered long enough, he simply looked like a lazy worker dragging out his shift—nothing that would raise suspicions of murder.
The system’s playback was disjointed, so Guan Xia didn’t wait for the interface to disappear. The moment the footage paused, she excitedly typed a quick "Got it" to Xu Nian, then swiftly created a document to note down the timestamps before rewinding the surveillance footage frame by frame until it matched her first recorded time. She hit the spacebar with a decisive tap.
"Look, it’s him," Guan Xia said, unable to hide her excitement as she pointed at the screen. "The same person we saw this afternoon on Xiaocui Peak. My gut isn’t wrong—it’s the same figure."
No one disputed her. Even Captain Yang and the others pressed closer to the screen, scrutinizing the footage intently.
After a few minutes, Zhong Xiaoyu spoke up with certainty. "My eyesight isn’t as sharp as Guan Xia’s—I only saw a silhouette this afternoon, not a face. But judging by the build and movements, it’s almost certainly the same person."
The others remained silent, still glued to the screen.
Two minutes later, Captain Yang finally said, "No doubt about it. He looks familiar. Guan Xia’s right—this is the bastard we saw earlier. Who’d have thought such a brutal killer would be a sanitation worker? Or maybe he’s just using the job as cover to stalk his victims."
The question hung in the air. Until they confirmed the suspect’s identity, no one could answer. After a brief silence, Xu Nian suddenly remembered the timestamps Guan Xia had noted earlier. "You wrote down five time points just now. Are they all instances where the suspect and Tian Junming appeared together in the footage?"
Guan Xia nodded and had just started to say "Yes" when Captain Yang’s phone rang.
After a brief exchange, his expression darkened.
Everyone in the room, including Guan Xia, felt a sinking dread. As much as they didn’t want to believe it, they knew—another body had likely been found.
Sure enough, after hanging up, Captain Yang gritted his teeth and said, "Dispatch just got a report. A body was discovered at the foot of the Dadong Mountain hiking trail near Dacui Peak. The scene is extremely gruesome—likely connected to our case. Captain Geng’s team is already en route."
He summarized the situation in a few terse sentences before turning to Yan Ran. "We’re heading out too. But Yan Ran, with your sprained ankle and the crime scene being in the mountains, you’re staying here. Hold down the fort, and I’ll take you tomorrow once you’re better."
Without waiting for a response, he assigned two others to remain behind before leading the rest out in a hurry.
Guan Xia and Pang Le exchanged glances, hesitated for half a second, then quickly followed.
The moment they jumped into the car, Pang Le said, "We’ve got some nerve, huh? Last night, we couldn’t even stomach looking at photos, and now we’re rushing to a crime scene. I’m half-expecting us to puke on the spot."
He glanced at Zhong Xiaoyu, who was driving, and added, "You’re probably fine, though. Ex-armed police—your nerves are steel. But seriously, I’m curious… have you ever killed anyone?"
The question snapped Guan Xia out of her nervous recollections from the night before. Her attention shifted, and she found herself staring at Zhong Xiaoyu with equal curiosity.
It was already past midnight, and the streets were nearly empty with very few cars in sight. Zhong Xiaoyu drove swiftly behind the Tong'an District police car, almost flying down the road, and remarked casually, "Of course I’ve killed before. I even earned a second-class merit and two third-class merits. That second-class merit was for successfully taking down a criminal and protecting civilians. If I hadn’t been discharged due to injury, I might’ve even gotten a first-class merit in my lifetime."
Guan Xia caught the implication and asked carefully, "Your injury that led to your discharge—was it from that mission?"
Zhong Xiaoyu hummed absentmindedly. "Just bad luck. But it’s fine. I got hurt, but that bastard probably reincarnated already. Who knows what he came back as? Given his track record of taking so many lives, I’d bet he’s a pig now."
Zhong Xiaoyu was a bit of a chatterbox, and once Pang Le got her talking, the two bantered nonstop during the ride. They barely noticed the time passing, and before they knew it, they had arrived at their destination.
As soon as they stepped out of the car, Captain Yang urgently waved them over. "Everyone’s here. Let’s move, quick. Watch your step—don’t trip."
With that, Captain Yang led the way. This time, the team was even larger than the one from the afternoon. Guan Xia found herself sandwiched in the middle of the group, pushing herself to keep up and not slow anyone down.
Luckily, the crime scene was at the foot of the mountain. Just as Guan Xia started feeling the strain and was about to grit her teeth and push through, she spotted several flashlight beams shining in the distance.
As they approached, Guan Xia saw Captain Geng, whom she’d met earlier that day, crouching on the ground in shoe covers. In front of her, partially obscured by her body, was a corpse—only the upper torso and below the knees were visible.
Guan Xia could vaguely make out the gruesome wounds on the victim’s neck and chest. Blood had soaked the surrounding ground, though in the pitch-black night, the red was barely discernible unless you were close.
Perhaps due to the dim lighting and the fact that part of the body was blocked by Captain Geng, Guan Xia—who had felt nauseous just looking at crime scene photos the night before—now faced the corpse with little reaction. She stood a few meters away, staring at the victim’s face, which looked oddly familiar.
Just as Guan Xia frowned, trying to recall where she’d seen that face, Captain Geng stood up and said to Captain Yang, who had walked over to her, "You’re here. Bad news—we’ve found another body. Good news—it’s someone we know. It’s the same guy you were chasing at Xiaocui Peak this afternoon. I’ve cross-checked with the sketch you sent me. Based on facial features alone, it’s him. We’ve already collected biological samples. If they match, this case is pretty much solved. But then again, there’s another piece of bad news."
Captain Yang’s back was turned to Guan Xia, so she couldn’t see his expression, but his voice sounded lighter than before—though still grave. "The bad news is that the first killer, dormant for five years, has resurfaced. The question is whether he only killed the second killer, who was copying his methods, or if he has new targets and the second killer was just collateral."
Instead of examining the scene first, the two captains stood by the corpse, discussing the case.
Meanwhile, Guan Xia, Pang Le, and Zhong Xiaoyu, standing a few meters behind them, gaped in shock.
It took Pang Le a full minute to snap out of it and blurt, "Holy shit, what kind of plot twist is this? We just found some leads on the killer this afternoon and were planning to confirm his identity tonight before setting up surveillance tomorrow. How the hell did he end up dead in just a few hours—and killed by the first killer? Did the second killer piss him off by framing him, so he finally snapped and took him out?"
Once Guan Xia shook off her initial shock, she suddenly remembered something Captain Yang had said earlier. Hesitantly, she added, "Do you remember what Captain Yang mentioned during tonight’s case briefing? He said that even though the suspect left blood traces in the gaps of the chair at the scene, the autopsy report on the fourth victim, Tian Junming, showed no defensive wounds on his arms or biological traces under his nails. That suggests the second killer was already injured before attacking Tian Junming. Could that injury have been from the first killer? Maybe he failed to kill him the first time and had been tracking him ever since, finally finishing the job at the foot of Dacui Peak."
After a pause, she continued, "Dacui Peak, Xiaocui Peak—the names suggest they’re both part of the Dadong Mountain range, probably not far from each other. Is it possible that after escaping our pursuit this afternoon, the second killer tried to flee through Dacui Peak, only to be killed by the first killer? But there’s one problem: the chase this afternoon was unexpected, and Dacui Peak is in the middle of nowhere. Unless the first killer was tailing the second, there’s no way he could’ve predicted or coincidentally run into him to commit murder."
Guan Xia trailed off, the implications sending chills down her spine.
She never would’ve imagined that while they were at the crime scene with Captain Yang that afternoon, not only had the second killer returned—but the first killer had also been lurking nearby, silently watching everyone, including the second killer.
What unsettled her most was that the system interface hadn’t been triggered. That meant the first killer had stayed in a position where he could see the second killer and them without exposing even the slightest identifiable feature.
Guan Xia’s mind raced, and the more she thought about it, the more her hair stood on end.
