After carefully examining the photo for a moment, Guan Xia turned her attention to the suspect's personal details.
Name: Wu Xiaozhen. Gender: Female. Address: Dongrao Village, Shanrao Township, Yongning County, Jianyang City, Dingyuan Province. Age: 42. Marital status: Unmarried. Occupation: Unemployed. Her parents run a small livestock farm, and she usually helps out there. During holidays, she earns extra income by slaughtering pigs for villagers. On December 28, 2019, she was involved in a physical altercation that resulted in minor injuries to multiple people, leading to her arrest and a nine-month prison sentence. Due to good behavior in prison, she was released on August 2, 2020.
As for the scar on her face, it was caused when Wu Xiaozhen was eight years old. While napping at her grandmother’s house, a group of mischievous village children accidentally set fire to a haystack nearby. Falling embers burned her face.
Given the urgency of the case, the suspect’s profile was not very detailed, with most information summarized briefly—except for the 2019 altercation, which took up a significant portion of the report.
The team huddled together, scrutinizing the few thin sheets of paper.
According to the report, the reason behind Wu Xiaozhen’s violent outburst in 2019 was this: During her niece’s first birthday celebration, a male relative—technically the child’s uncle—took the little girl away to "play." Wu Xiaozhen later grew suspicious and went looking for them, only to discover the uncle molesting the one-year-old in a secluded corner. Enraged, she attacked him.
During the fight, the uncle’s family members rushed in to intervene but ended up getting beaten as well. By the time the police arrived and separated them, multiple people had sustained minor injuries, and the uncle himself had suffered a ruptured kidney. That was why Wu Xiaozhen was sentenced to nine months in prison.
After reading the incident, Pang Le couldn’t help but comment, "I know it’s not the right thing to say, but in this case, Wu Xiaozhen did the right thing. If it were me, I might’ve hit him even harder. What kind of monster does that to a one-year-old? A ruptured kidney is getting off easy—I’d have probably castrated him on the spot."
Zhong Xiaoyu was equally furious. "Murder is wrong, but just looking at this incident alone, Wu Xiaozhen handled it perfectly."
Guan Xia stayed silent but nodded in agreement. Putting herself in Wu Xiaozhen’s shoes, she knew that even though she wasn’t physically strong, she’d probably lose control and grab the nearest object to strike the perpetrator.
"Now the motive for the murders is clear," Xu Nian said once Pang Le and Zhong Xiaoyu had calmed down. "Wu Xiaozhen was a victim of similar abuse as a child, which is why she sympathized with the current victims and took extreme action."
"I have another theory," Wang Yu added. "Normally, victims seek revenge against their abusers. But Wu Xiaozhen didn’t—she targeted the abusers’ fathers instead. I suspect something else happened after her injury. Maybe the fathers of her abusers did something so terrible that her hatred for them surpassed even her hatred for the abusers themselves."
Guan Xia nodded thoughtfully, her mind conjuring up scenarios—perhaps the fathers had bullied, threatened, or even bribed their way out of consequences, leaving Wu Xiaozhen with a deep-seated grudge.
Xu Nian agreed. "That’s a plausible theory. But we won’t know for sure until we bring her in. Now that we’ve confirmed her identity and have solid evidence, reviewing more surveillance footage won’t help much. I’m going to interrogate the suspect we already have in custody. Anyone want to join?"
The team was too absorbed in the current case to care much about the mentally unstable middle-aged man they’d already arrested. After a few seconds of silence, Jiang Yingyao spoke up. "I’ll go. Given his state, he’ll probably confess easily. Let’s wrap this up quickly—we might even have Wu Xiaozhen in custody by the time we’re done."
Handing the documents to Wang Yu, Xu Nian left with Jiang Yingyao.
Zhong Xiaoyu watched them go, curiosity getting the better of her. After two minutes, she tugged at Pang Le’s sleeve. "I’ve never seen a police interrogation before. Wanna come with me?"
Pang Le shook his head, uninterested. "I’ve seen plenty, especially with male suspects. They all say the same thing—‘I was forced,’ ‘I had no choice.’ Not worth my time. Go ahead if you want. I’d rather stay here, enjoy the AC, and play games."
Left with no choice, Zhong Xiaoyu was relieved when Wang Yu agreed to accompany her.
With four people gone, the once-bustling office fell quiet.
Pang Le checked his phone’s charging status and, seeing it wasn’t full yet, sprawled lazily in a chair. "First time we’ve had downtime during a case. Everyone else is busy—what should we do? Anyone tired? Maybe take a nap?"
Only then did Guan Xia realize how exhausted she was. After barely sleeping the night before last, she’d pulled an all-nighter. But the case had been so intense, with constant updates, that she hadn’t noticed the time passing.
Stretching, she walked to the window and gazed at the distant scenery. "I’m fine. Think I’ve pushed past the tiredness—I’m wide awake now."
Ji An settled into a chair. "Used to staying up. Better sleep at night, or my schedule’ll be ruined."
It was still morning, the sun not yet at its peak, but the heat was already rising. Guan Xia watched the shimmering air in the distance, letting her eyes relax and her mind wander.
But after a night of relentless updates, her thoughts kept racing, chaotic.
One moment, she was speculating why Wu Xiaozhen had chosen the latest victim. The next, she imagined the massive manhunt unfolding as more officers joined the search. Just as she was lost in thought, a beat-up van suddenly sped straight toward the Tong’an Police Station’s front gate.
It was moving so fast that even after slamming the brakes, the vehicle skidded forward, snapping the barrier that hadn’t been raised in time.
The security guard in the booth instinctively stepped out to investigate but froze when he saw the scene. Keeping his distance, he barked, "Who are you? Get out of the car—now!"
Hearing the commotion, Pang Le and Ji An hurried over. "What’s going on?" they asked, curious.
Guan Xia watched the minivan and vaguely felt something was off. She answered casually, "There's a car trying to drive in. It broke the gate barrier, and the security guard is questioning them."
As they spoke, the driver swiftly stepped out of the vehicle. When everyone, including Ji An, caught sight of the person's height and appearance, they collectively gasped.
The reason was simple—the person was none other than Wu Xiaozhen, the suspect Captain Yang and his team had been hunting across the city.
Photos hadn’t done her justice. In person, Wu Xiaozhen stood nearly six-foot-three, gripping a butcher's boning knife, her left cheek marred by a large scar. Her expressionless face radiated an overwhelming intimidation. Even from a distance and at an elevated vantage point, Guan Xia felt her legs weaken.
But having weathered some intense situations before, Guan Xia steadied herself and reacted quickly, turning to grab her phone and call Xu Nian.
Pang Le immediately contacted Captain Yang, but Ji An had already sprinted outside.
Anxious, Guan Xia feared Ji An might get hurt. Though she knew she’d be of little help, she instinctively followed, running while waiting for the call to connect. As soon as Xu Nian picked up, she rushed out, "Wu Xiaozhen is here—right at the police station’s entrance. There’s only one security guard on-site, and Ji An just charged out. Get here fast."
Pang Le also gave a concise report before hanging up and overtaking Guan Xia to chase after Ji An.
Guan Xia was slower. By the time she reached the first-floor lobby, both had already dashed outside and disappeared from view.
Her heart pounded with worry, but the sound of chaotic, hurried footsteps from upstairs reassured her—Xu Nian and the others were coming.
At first, Guan Xia assumed Wu Xiaozhen had come armed, possibly to launch an attack while Captain Yang’s team was distracted elsewhere.
But when she burst through the doors, she saw Wu Xiaozhen toss the knife aside and drop to the ground, hands behind her back, waiting to be cuffed.
Ji An had already left the force, and Pang Le wasn’t a police officer, so neither had handcuffs. Still, they lunged forward, pinning Wu Xiaozhen down on either side.
Even with her restrained, Guan Xia kept her distance, wary of Wu Xiaozhen’s size and strength. From a few meters away, she asked, "What’s going on? Did she turn herself in?"
Before Ji An or Pang Le could answer, the security guard, beaming with excitement, chimed in, "Yeah, she surrendered! I thought she was gonna storm the station—scared me half to death! But then these two showed up, and she just dropped the knife and flopped down. Damn, that height—terrifying!"
Guan Xia didn’t buy his claim of being scared, given his animated retelling and curious stares at Wu Xiaozhen.
The others arrived swiftly. Before much else could be said, Xu Nian and his team took over, cuffing Wu Xiaozhen. As Jiang Yingyao and Wang Yu escorted her inside, Xu Nian turned and asked, "She came willingly?"
Guan Xia opened her mouth to respond, but the security guard eagerly cut in, rehashing the scene with gusto.
Ji An pulled gloves from her pocket, slipped them on, and picked up the discarded knife. After inspecting it, she said, "There’s blood on the blade—just dried. Probably the murder weapon."
The guard gasped. "Damn! Turning yourself in with the murder weapon still on you? First time I’ve seen that in years."
Though chatty, he knew his limits, sticking to general remarks without prying into the case.
Xu Nian also gloved up, took the knife from Ji An, and examined it closely. He rubbed a finger over the bloodstain before heading inside with the weapon.
Only when they were safely in the lobby, away from outsiders, did he speak. "I checked—the handle has fresh prints, and the blood’s barely dry. Looks like Wu Xiaozhen came straight from the crime scene. If it were the scene Little Chen mentioned earlier, the blood wouldn’t be like this. She must’ve killed a fourth person."
Guan Xia glanced at the time—11:02 a.m. Less than twelve hours had passed since the second victim’s body was discovered the night before. Yet there were already four dead. Wu Xiaozhen was the most ruthless, decisive killer Guan Xia had ever encountered.
Her curiosity about Wu Xiaozhen’s past deepened. Guan Xia recalled that Wu Xiaozhen’s first known murder was on October 1, 2009. At 42 now, she would’ve been 27 then—nineteen years after the childhood injury at age eight.
What had driven her to kill at 27? And why had her first victim not been the family of the child who’d hurt her all those years ago?
Or perhaps the 2009 case wasn’t her first. Maybe she’d killed before—just never been caught.
