Hunting down the Northwest Wilderness

——This article has nothing to do with any real cases or real locations.The story is purely fabricated and any similarity is purely coincidental.

The midsummer of 2015 was as hot as ever for Chang'an City.The scorching sun of midsummer shrouded Chang'an, and the dry and hot land breeze blew through this ancient city, bringing with it the sand from the Han Dynasty and the soil from the Tang Dynasty, and left a whole day's dust on the Zhuque Avenue in the present and present.

Fang Zhengjun rode his bicycle, heading east from Zhuque Street all the way to Cuiwei Garden in Qujiang.This road needs to bypass the Big Wild Goose Pagoda first, and then pass through the Furong Garden. Gradually, gradually, the horizon rises and tall buildings can be seen. That is to say, the boundary of the ancient capital ends here, and then to the east is today's Chang'an.

This is a wonderful route——for everyone who walks on this road, it is a land river of time. From it, it is the countless landmarks of the Han and Tang Dynasties. From it, it is Xijing in the prosperous age. Ordinary but rich daily life.Countless locust trees and willows sway on both sides of this land river, weaving the time of the past and the present into a piece of brocade - this brocade is full of quiet embroidery, people walk on the road, and walk in the brocade, What is embroidered on the brocade is the breath of the whole Chang'an that breathes out the old and absorbs the new.

If you were like Fang Zhengjun, walking on Furong Road in September of that year, you must be amazed by this ancient city.

But Fang Zhengjun had no time or intention to be amazed. It was not the first day he saw the city, and his eyes were not used to discover the charm.In the eyes of this old criminal policeman, this beautiful road is now stained with blood, it vomits life and death, contains crimes, and it leads to the murder scene.

It was getting closer and closer to Cuiwei Garden, and it seemed that the smell of blood and even rancidity was coming from the wind—that was the smell of a murder scene, and no one liked such a smell.As long as he thought that the murderer might have walked this road, Fang Zhengjun felt an unspeakable loathing in his heart.

He got off the car at the gate of the community, the gate has been cordoned off, the yellow line was drawn, and the police were evacuating reporters and onlookers outside, and someone from inside had already picked it up. It was Liu Chen, the deputy director of the Qujiang Police Station: "This is the criminal policeman. The room team of the detachment."

Fang Zhengjun pointed to the work card on his chest: "They are all my own people, if you know them, go in and talk."

Liu Chen led him upstairs, and first handed him a cigarette: "The main reason is that the situation is special, otherwise I wouldn't have called you here. I heard that you have all arrived at the train station. Now, sister-in-law I'm going to be mad at you even more."

Captain Fang and Mrs. Fang have been divorced for two years. Although the marriage is divorced, the relationship has not.The husband and wife live separately, Captain Fang is in Chang'an, and Mrs. Fang is in Baoji. The two usually communicate on the phone by quarreling.

It was just such a coincidence that Captain Fang was carrying the popular tonic Wuji Baifeng Pills and the Olay gift pack blindly selected by the straight man. He had just arrived at the high-speed rail station when he got up early in the morning when Liu Chen called.

He put it simply on the phone: "An accident happened in Qujiang. Three people may have died for several days."

Without saying a word, Fang Zhengjun threw away the train ticket, turned around and ran towards Qujiang.

For criminal police, time is not just money, it may also mean more human lives.

At this moment, Liu Chen was watching his face from the side, from the first floor of the elevator to the ninth floor, both of them were silent.

Liu Chen tried to break the embarrassment: "I see you still have black-bone chicken and white phoenix pills in your car pocket outside? Aren't you looking for scolding? Sister-in-law's forty is not considered menopause, right?"

The closer you are to the scene of the incident, the more you need to say something to ease your mood.

Fang Zhengjun didn't want to gossip with him, so he asked him straight to the point: "What's the name of the dead man?"

Liu Chen was silent for a moment: "Lu Shigang."

Fang Zhengjun's footsteps paused for a moment.

"That Lu Shigang who came to our bureau last month?"

Liu Chen nodded and said, "It's him, his wife and son, three people."

"How did he die, how long did he die, and who found out."

"It's his family's part-time worker—hey, my house captain, you can see for yourself."

Liu Chen pressed his temples, his face full of headaches, and he didn't want to say anything.

The elevator opened, and the stench was mixed with the heat wave in the corridor.People from the forensic doctor and the city bureau were all busy, squatting on the ground to greet them: "Suo Liu, Team Fang."

The body has not been covered up, photographed and examined, so the scene remains as it was when it was found.There were no obvious bloodstains or footprints at the murder scene, obviously it had been carefully cleaned.The deceased was tied up with thin ropes behind his hands, and the three corpses were in the shape of "Pin", and they knelt down towards the gate separately.In the hot summer, the corpse had already swollen and turned a gray color, and the carrion swelled outward from both sides of the string.

Fang Zhengjun silently stared at the male corpse in the middle, which wore an old-fashioned Citizen watch on his wrist.

Yes, he is Lu Shigang, Fang Zhengjun thought, he also wore this watch when he came to the bureau last month.

The watch is still running, but human life has stopped forever.

"Is it exactly the same as the Jinchuan case?" Liu Chen said, "After hiding for five years, this murderer has come out again."

Fang Zhengjun didn't speak. He carefully extinguished the cigarette, squeezing all the ashes in his palm.

This was the seventh time he had witnessed the same scene.The same extermination, the same posture of the corpse, the same clean crime scene.

The door was wide open, and from the outside, the room looked like a terrifying stage, displaying a skillful and exquisite carnage.Corpses can't speak, they can only use distorted expressions to express to the whole world the feeling of despair before death.

When Fang Zhengjun came back from the scene of the crime, his heart was as heavy as his steps.

This is not a simple murder case - if you are a local who has lived in Guanzhong for a long time, you will have extremely terrifying associations with it.

As far back as 15 years ago, in Jinchuan County, [-] kilometers away from here, there were several serial murders that shocked the whole country.The murderer is almost in a fixed form, breaking into the house once a year.He didn't rob property or insult women. He came silently and went secretly. The moment he entered the victim's house, it seemed that he just wanted to kill everyone.

Regardless of gender, age or age, kill them all.

Leave a corpse.

For a moment, people were panicked, and the whole country was rumored that there was a murderer who wiped out all the families in Guanzhong.It was still an era when the Internet was not well developed. Under the control of public opinion, the case was spread by word of mouth in the form of embellishment, and the more it spread, the more outrageous it was. corpse.

Each corpse has its hands tied behind its back with a thin rope, and it rots in a kneeling posture.

The murderer seemed to be a punisher, although he didn't know what crimes these innocent dead had committed.

The case has lasted for ten years and has never been solved. The murderer has a strong sense of anti-reconnaissance, and the crime scene will always be cleaned spotlessly.The most difficult thing is that there is almost no connection between the victims, and the police cannot investigate at all.

Not afraid of vendetta, not afraid of robbery, all profitable and sympathetic murders can be traced, and the most feared is such an indiscriminate attack.

Fang Zhengjun participated in the investigation of the original case and the subsequent six serial cases, initially as the main person in charge, and later as an assistant in the investigation.The hardships and hardships involved will not be repeated, because for him, the hardships without solving the case are worthless hardships.

The investigation finally ended in an embarrassing way-since five years ago, the Jinchuan Murderer suddenly died down.

He is like a drop of water or a handful of salt, melting into the vast Qinghai, and like a grain of sand, disappearing in the rolling yellow sand waves in Guanzhong.It just fell silent.

A year passed, and two years passed, and the police guessed that the murderer might be dead, or that there were some irresistible circumstances that forced him to stop.

Maybe it's a disease, or any other reason that's hard to fathom.His initial motivation is elusive, and his washing his hands and going ashore is even more difficult to scrutinize.

But Fang Zhengjun couldn't let go of this case, it was like a thorn, a black, wriggling flesh thorn, stuck in a certain city in the Guanzhong Plain, and also stuck in Fang Zhengjun's heart.You can't see exactly where it punctured, but it's not dead, it seems that there will always be another blow.

It has been 15 years, and Fang Zhengjun can hardly sleep or eat at the thought of this murderer still dormant in the world.

Now this thorn finally came out, and it pierced the tranquility of Guanzhong Province again, like a needle walking in the blood, it broke through the ground from Chang'an, and pierced the police's sight in the sharpest form.

The special preparatory meeting of the serious crime team was going to be held that afternoon - note that it was a "preparatory" meeting, and it was held in "preparation".

The case came too suddenly. According to the instructions sent by the Ministry of the Ministry that afternoon, the method was extremely cruel and the impact was extremely bad. It must be treated with caution and handled properly.As for how to "properly dispose of", the method can be large or small.

If it is handed over to the provincial department, it is "to show importance to the rapid establishment of a command center headed by the provincial public security department", and if it is investigated on the spot, it is to "stabilize public opinion and minimize adverse effects."

Either one can be adopted, but the leaders above need a little time to consider.

Their embarrassment was not unreasonable: it happened to be in Qujiang, and the Yanta branch was above it.Scenic spots, high-priced locations, places where safety and security are most needed, there are homicides.

It is still a classic method, and the old case is repeated.

The entire Guanzhong Province is engaged in the Year of Tourism Culture, and the upcoming Chang'an Golden Autumn International Tourism Festival is the top priority of this event.Propaganda and investment promotion started in spring, and the top authorities made repeated orders to ensure security.That's good, there are no terrorists, but there are murderers.

Too difficult to do.

At this time, when the serial murder case broke out, it was no longer a matter of considering who's political performance. If the situation got out of control, the impact on Chang'an, and even the entire Guanzhong, would be fatal.

Who will take the lead in setting up the command center, the provincial department or the municipal bureau, and which supervisor will be in charge? These official matters may have to be entangled all night. Everyone knows that this is a hot potato. It is a great achievement if it is cracked. Greater than.Fang Zhengjun didn't doubt how much the higher authorities attached importance to this case, but he didn't expect the speed of response from the higher authorities.

The City Council has the same idea.

So everyone doesn't worry about who is in command, the pawns go first before the car cannon arrives - the city bureau first holds a case analysis meeting, wait for the task force to give instructions, and then sort out the case to the participants.This is the only way to do it, and it is also the most efficient way.

"The deceased Lu Shigang, the legal representative of Guangyuan Building Materials Company, his wife Zhang Qiuyu, a housewife, unemployed, and his son Lu Tianjiao, a sophomore in high school, studied at Chang'an Experimental Middle School before his death."

The small conference room was full of people. The heads of the Qujiang police station and the police stations in several other districts were present, as were all the leaders of the city bureau.Fang Zhengjun is in charge of introducing the case.

"The person who reported the case was a part-time worker at Lu Shigang's house. She went there every three days to assist Zhang Qiuyu in cleaning."

Fang Zhengjun showed the photos of the scene brought back in the morning, and also showed the Jinchuan case file that was drawn at noon: "When the body was found, it was already looking like a giant. It is preliminarily inferred that the time of death was three days ago, that is, on August 8. Preliminary deduction from the condition of the corpses, the cause of death of the three people was cutting their throats and being stabbed in the heart by a sharp object—this is very similar to the method and circumstances of the Jinchuan case.”

Everyone's eyes turned to the two very similar photos in unison.

On the left is the Qujiang case, and on the right is the Jinchuan case. The death scene looks like a reprint.

"It is not ruled out that the same person committed the crime, and it is extremely possible."

The person who spoke was Chen Guohua, deputy director of the Municipal Public Security Bureau.

There is no difference between saying this and not saying it. The meaning is to let the secretary make a record.

Fang Zhengjun nodded slightly.

"The murderer had a strong sense of anti-detection. A discarded air-conditioner blanket was found in the bedroom of the deceased with splattered blood on it. It should be that the murderer used the air-conditioner blanket to block the victim's body before committing the crime. No fingerprints or footprints were left at the scene , and no effective footprints can be extracted in the corridor."

"What about monitoring?"

"On the day of the incident, the area where Cuiwei Garden is located was cut off from [-]:[-] p.m. due to the commissioning of the transformer, so the surveillance could not be retrieved. We have mobilized the police force to ask the people in the community whether there were any sightings of the suspicious person, but we have not received any response yet. .”

"Surveillance and residential electricity are on the same line?!" Chen Guohua couldn't sit still.

"The rules shouldn't be the same. The city surveillance at the main gate did not have a power outage, but the surveillance cameras in the community violated the regulations." Liu Chen stood up sweating. He is the person in charge of the Qujiang Police Station. Evasion of ties: "This is a dereliction of duty in our management. Community monitoring is done by civilian electricity."

Everyone stopped talking.

After a long time, Chen Guohua asked, "When did the power come back?"

"In summer, the power company is also considerate of people's feelings. There is a power outage at 28 o'clock, and the call came at [-] o'clock in the morning on the [-]th."

Perfect crime conditions, late at night, power outages, people dispersed.

"The current situation is that many owners of Cuiwei Garden left their residences in the afternoon in order to escape the heat that night. The power outage notice came down half a month ago. This is not a commissioning of a single area. The entire Chang'an City is doing power substations. Adjustment."

Everyone felt very fucked, the crime nodes were stuck so precisely that the monitoring was completely meaningless, and the number of witnesses was also reduced to a minimum.

"It cannot be ruled out that the murderer interfered with the power company's situation, and the Chang'an City Power Company and the substation staff in the Cuiwei area should also be included in the scope of investigation." Chen Guohua instructed, and the clerk quickly recorded by his side, "Of course, Cuiwei All residents in the community must be screened, this is the minimum responsibility, and it is also effective in stabilizing the mentality of the masses."

Fang Zhengjun pondered for a while, nodded, and turned to Chen Guohua: "Chen Bureau, what you said is very reasonable, but there is an even more strange doubt that Lu Shigang was still working in the company of Zhonglou that afternoon, and his wife He and his son were not at home either. Why did the family return home when they knew there was going to be a power outage?"

Midsummer in Chang'an is not just for fun.

The male host is the boss of a building materials company, and the family's income is not in distress. It really doesn't look like the type who endures the heat to save money.

"Actually, this is not the only doubtful point."

Suddenly a clear voice came from the door: "Lu Shigang is the original suspect in the Jinchuan case. He was acquitted for lack of evidence. Uncle Chen, why didn't you mention this after talking for a long time?"

Everyone looked at the door, it was a smiling baby face.

Fang Zhengjun felt a little dizzy, it was none other than his son, Fang Lingshu.