Hunting down the Northwest Wilderness

Now let’s go back to 12 years ago——Fang Lingshu only guessed the key to the matter, but the specific year, month, and day can only be remembered by those who experienced it back then.

Fang Zhengjun was like a ossified walking corpse. He sat there, meditating for a long time, and thick phlegm sounds came out from his chest, which were the complicated emotions he had suppressed for too long.

He was breathing, and time flowed back in his heavy breathing. He left Chang'an, returned to Zhichuan, and returned to Jinchuan. His old comrade-in-arms Liang Feng was resurrected.If not for himself, maybe Liang Feng is still fighting for glory on the shooting range at this time.

Everything is back to that morning 12 years ago.

For Fang Zhengjun 15 years ago, and for the Guanzhong police at that time, the "Jinchuan case" was still a major and important case that was very promising to be solved.

Let's start with the first homicide.

This murder happened in Jinchuan, Lu Shigang's home, in the summer of [-].The deceased was Hu Mou, the deputy director of the County Demolition Office, and his relationship with Lu Shigang was only acquaintance-to be exact, they almost had an enemy.

The Public Security Bureau rushed to the scene after receiving the report, and the situation at the scene was palpitating.Hu was already dead. His body was tied up and knelt on the head of the bed. Lu Shigang's wife Zhang Qiuyu was seriously injured and was also tied up and knelt under the bed.

At that time, Shachang Village in Jinchuan County was being demolished, and Hu was in charge of the demolition project. Because he was not kind, the masses had great opinions on him.As the director of the neighborhood committee, Zhang Qiuyu has always been very close to Hu.

It was none other than Zhang Qiuyu's husband, Lu Shigang, who made the report.And as the leader of the nail households in the village who opposed the demolition, he had several disputes and even fights with the demolition office where Hu worked.

There were even more rumors among the masses that Lu Shigang killed the adulterer and adulterer because Zhang Qiuyu had an affair with Hu.But after all, Lu Shigang was not willing to kill his wife for one night, and Zhang Qiuyu was rescued again.

Zhang Qiuyue was still pregnant with a child, and of course the child had a miscarriage.Everyone said, I don't know whose seed it was, but Lu Shigang's tactics were cruel enough to leave the mother, an unclear wild seed, just kill it.

Lu Shigang obviously had a strong motive for committing the crime.Chen Guohua, the director of the Jinchuan County Police Station, and Fang Zhengjun, the deputy director, immediately reached a consensus to arrest Lu Shigang and interrogate him.

The result of the interrogation was a bit embarrassing - Lu Shigang was detained for a conversation because of the previous fight against the demolition. On the night of the incident, he had just been released from the detention center and was held and educated by Fang Zhengjun for several hours.

The autopsy report showed that Hu had been killed long before Lu Shigang left the detention center.

Lu Shigang had no time to commit the crime.

In the detention center, he blamed himself deeply, crying bitterly for his seriously injured wife, looking for death and life, and only shouted, "Let me die." The needles prevented him from committing suicide in the detention center.

Because Hu's style of work has always been bad, the public has great opinions on this case. After several petitions, everyone felt that the murderer was simply killing the people. In addition, the Public Security Bureau could not produce conclusive evidence, and could not detect fingerprints and Footprints, the crowd was furious for a while.

Chen Guohua and Fang Zhengjun were devastated.They did not dare to release Lu Shigang, and they could not prove that Lu Shigang committed murder.We can only detain him first and take him into custody as a suspect.

At that time, the interrogation process was not very rigorous, and Lu Shigang stayed in the detention center for more than half a year.

As if to prove his innocence, half a year later, another murder case broke out in Jinchuan County. The deceased was Du Mou, director of the demolition office.This time, the murderer simply perfected his modus operandi—it was still a mess, but the scene was cleaner, and all three members of Du's family were killed.

Lu Shigang is not under any suspicion. He is in the detention center.

The angry voices of the people are getting louder and louder. Everyone thinks that this unknown killer is really a hero who specializes in killing people.The demolition and relocation conflicts in Jinchuan County were extremely intensified in those years, so this case has risen from a serial murder case to an issue of party-mass relations.

Fang Zhengjun originally insisted that there should be no suspicion of crime. At this time, he persuaded Chen Guohua: "Lu Shigang is indeed innocent. Although he has a motive for committing the crime, he has no time to commit the crime. Now that there is such a big disturbance, let him go."

Fang Zhengjun still remembered the day when Lu Shigang left the detention center, he turned his head every step of the way.

"Qingtian, Qingtian." He said with tears in his eyes, "Return my innocence."

At that time, some people applauded Fang Zhengjun.That's it, it's so satisfying, the scourge deserves to die, why should innocent people be locked up.

But Fang Zhengjun became suspicious of Lu Shigang's performance.He acted too much, and his whole face was overjoyed.It seems that his ecstasy did not only come from being wronged, but seemed to be a kind of luck.

These inside stories, because they involve the image of the government and relations with the masses, are strictly sealed up, and news organizations are strictly prohibited from reporting them.Over the years, no one mentioned the story behind the case, and it gradually faded.In addition, the Internet was not developed at that time, so no one knew about it.

Looking back on what he did at that time, Fang Zhengjun can only describe it with the word "regret".He doesn't regret insisting on never suspecting the crime, but he regrets that he let people go too lightly.

He was still young at that time and had a heroic complex, so he always felt that he had done something to save the innocent.

And more innocent lives taught him a bloody lesson in the following years.Those who applauded him at the beginning were quickly shocked by the next few murders. They turned their lips and began to criticize the incompetence of the police.

Who is to blame?Isn't it the director of the house who let Lu Shigang go?Oh, he got promoted and made a fortune, and was transferred to another place. I don't know if he took Lu Shigang's money back then.

Fang Zhengjun doesn't care about fame and infamy, he just can't bear his inaction.The whole meaning of his life seems to be to chase the murderer.

And the murderer disappeared without a trace.

Fang Zhengjun was very nervous in those few years. He walked on the road and looked like a murderer to everyone.

Fang Zhengjun still remembered the morning when he received the report, which was the beginning of autumn in [-].Before receiving the call, he already had a bad feeling.

At that time, he had already transferred to Zhichuan, and the call was from Chen Guohua.

"Old Fang, come to Ah Ling quickly, something has happened."

As the main coordinator of the first three cases, Fang Zhengjun was duty-bound, and immediately drove to Aling after reporting.

Serial murder, still the same method, is already the fourth case.The victims this time were three people, a husband and wife and mother-in-law.

Fang Zhengjun entered the scene, his head hurt like a needle prick.The murderer cleaned up the crime scene so cleanly, and the scene was so familiar.

He was laughing at the police.

Yes, you can't catch me.Yes, you don't understand me at all.

The corpse had begun to swell, and the room was filled with a stench.Fang Zhengjun put on his gloves without saying a word, and checked each room to see if he could find any evidence left behind.This house was a self-built house, and the victims were all concentrated in the main room on the second floor, and Fang Zhengjun searched them bit by bit.

Suddenly, he smelled another strange smell in the smell of corpses.It was different from the corpse smell of the dead, it was a living person's smell of defecation.

The toilet is on the first floor, it's not the smell coming from the toilet.

Following the smell, he walked around the room, and finally came to a low cabinet—it was so low, it was hard to believe that there would be people hiding here, maybe it was just a cat or a dog.Fang Zhengjun thought for a moment, then knelt down and opened the door.

"..."

A child was curled up inside the door. He had been in the cabinet for an unknown amount of time. If he had been in the cabinet at the time of the crime, he had been squatting in the cabinet for two full days and two nights.

His lower body was terribly filthy. His thin shorts were covered in feces and urine. After being wet and dry, they turned into streaks of yellowish brown.The person has passed out, curled up in the cabinet, as if dead.

Fang Zhengjun urgently went to test his breath and his pulse—he was still alive!still alive!

As soon as he carried the child out, he almost opened his mouth to shout "There are still people alive", but in the next second, he closed his mouth.

No one should know that the child is still alive.

Because the murderer may be hiding very close.

He took off his shirt casually and wrapped it around the child's face. Another person came over. They quickly and carefully carried the young "corpse" out of the crime scene like a dead body.

The other person carrying this "corpse" is Chen Guohua, the current deputy director of the Chang'an Public Security Bureau.

This child named Zhang Xiaobing is the only survivor and perhaps the only witness in the entire Jinchuan serial case.He was only 11 years old at the time.

He was treated in the Armed Police Hospital. After waking up, he neither spoke nor cried, but stared at the ceiling with his eyes wide open.

Fang Zhengjun asked him patiently, "Son, what did you hear and see two nights ago, tell uncle."

Zhang Xiaobing seemed to have lost his ability to speak, he made a small "ahhh" sound, and seemed to be struggling even to move his eyes.

In that month, all the personnel involved in the A Ling case reached a consensus: to protect the witnesses and not disclose them to the public.

Once the murderer knows that this child is alive, he will probably kill people regardless of the consequences—yes, this child is an excellent bait, but how can he use human life to catch criminals?

In the following years, these people slowly scattered in the sea of ​​people. Some people were overwhelmed and resigned and left, and some people stayed without pay, and then they simply went to sea to do business.

The Jinchuan case is an indelible scar in their hearts and a sign of failure in their lives.And Zhang Xiaobing was the last straw that crushed them—he was alive, and he would always whip and condemn the consciences of these participating police officers.They always think at night that it is their own incompetence that ruined the child's family.

No one can forget Zhang Xiaobing's eyes at that time, big and dark, they should have been full of innocence and laughter, but he was lying on the hospital bed, as if his soul had been completely sucked out.

Life is like death.

Only Fang Zhengjun and Chen Guohua remained at their posts.

The murder case is not solved, never give up.

Zhang Xiaobing couldn't stay in the hospital for a long time. The advice given by the doctor and the forensic doctor was the same: "He is psychologically traumatized, so he refuses to speak."

The forensic doctor gave a clearer suggestion: "If it is to solve the case, of course it is better for him to tell the truth as soon as possible, but if it is for the sake of the child's health, it is better not to mention these things."

Fang Zhengjun wanted to take this child away from Jinchuan County. After all, it was dangerous and there were too many acquaintances, which was not good for protection.After much discussion, he brought Zhang Xiaobing to Zhichuan, which he governed, and placed him in the Zhichuan Orphanage.

"What should I do? I don't eat, I don't play games, I don't talk, and I keep wetting the bed at night." The director of the orphanage had a headache: "Eleven years old is still a big kid, isn't it mentally handicapped?"

The dean really didn't know where the director of the room got this silly boy. Fang Zhengjun refused to say, but told him sternly that this child was very important.So she could only complain softly: "How can I take it with me? Just changing his bed sheets every day is enough to dry the whole yard."

Fang Zhengjun didn't say a word. The next day, the orphanage received twenty bed sheets and a passbook from the head of the room: "This is my one-year bonus, Dean Tao. Anyway, help this doll. He's so pathetic."

...This is an illegitimate child. It doesn't look alike. If it is said that the two have nothing to do with each other, the head of the house loves this child too much.

Dean Tao had nothing to say and just nodded.

For half a month, Fang Zhengjun sneaked to the Chengbei Welfare Institute every day.He has never been so careful with his own son.

Not just pity, but also because of self-blame, because of guilt.

He didn't know how to ask Zhang Xiaobing.Zhang Xiaobing couldn't even accept the news of his parents' death. He was in a daze and circled around in the orphanage, as if waiting for his parents to pick him up, but Fang Zhengjun was the only one he was looking forward to.

Fang Zhengjun knew that he was sorry for his son. Fang Lingshu never got the things he bought for Zhang Xiaobing. Fang Lingshu never enjoyed the diapers he changed for Zhang Xiaobing. Shu probably never saw it in his life.

He couldn't forget that day when Fang Lingshu was dragging his schoolbag and looking for him crying on the road, he was almost hit by a car and died. Fang Zhengjun was so anxious and angry that he beat his son on the head a few times, and then asked, "What are you doing?" What? Didn't I ask you to wait at school?"

Fang Lingshu burst into tears like a little girl: "You promised me! The schools are closed!"

"Fifteen! It's an older child! Lingling, when will you grow up so that I don't worry about it?"

Fang Lingshu cursed angrily: "Have you ever worried about me? You deserve it too!"

They didn't go to the playground that day. Fang Zhengjun bought Fang Lingshu a decorated cake, and Fang Lingshu threw it on the road in front of him.

"Children eat, thank you, I don't want it."

From then on, Fang Lingshu became more difficult to speak than before, and he grew up overnight.He dragged his childhood helplessly until he was 15 years old, and Fang Zhengjun ended it all.

Childhood completely disappeared from his life, he was forced to usher in a late and rebellious adolescence, and he became a weird teenager, flamboyant and eccentric.

Loyalty and filial piety are difficult to have both, Fang Zhengjun thought, Lingling still has his own mother, but Zhang Xiaobing has nothing.

Perhaps because of his sincerity, Zhang Xiaobing finally started to eat by himself, and gradually, he stopped wetting the bed.He gradually recovered the physical functions that a teenager should have, but he was still taciturn.

On that day, Fang Zhengjun came to take care of Zhang Xiaobing after work. He sneaked in through the back door, and Zhang Xiaobing was sitting alone in the yard, playing with crayons.The other children are playing games in the front yard.

Seeing Fang Zhengjun coming, he didn't react at all, just playing with crayons.He didn't have black, so he smeared vigorously on the paper with ocher, which was mixed with a shocking bright red.

Fang Zhengjun carefully identified the painting. The long-haired one may be a woman, representing a mother, the yellow-haired one may be an old man, representing a grandmother, and the two blue-haired ones crossed their linear hands.

That may be the symbol of the murderer.

But where is the father?Does it mean that when Zhang Xiaobing spied on the murderer, his father had already been killed?

This simple graffiti contains an indescribably terrifying atmosphere.It deviates far from the painting skills that a ten-year-old child should have, and appears too clumsy, even a little low-minded, but it is so strong that it makes people think of the scene of the A Ling case at a glance.

There is no lighting performance in the picture, but the furniture layout of the murder scene is carefully restored.The chaotic expression of the characters may be the projection of Zhang Xiaobing's heart.

Fang Zhengjun could see it.

He bent down: "Son, what are you painting?"

Zhang Xiaobing trembled all over, he covered the painting, and began to scribble on the paper.

Fang Zhengjun then took out a bag of oranges, went to wash the towel first, wiped Zhang Xiaobing's hands, and then wrapped him with a dry towel: "Don't look at it, don't look at it, uncle doesn't look at it, uncle will feed you oranges, okay? This orange It's delicious."

Zhang Xiaobing let him manipulate him, but he didn't open his mouth.

Fang Zhengjun said patiently: "Open your mouth, ah, open your mouth, you see Aunt Tao said that you can eat, and eating oranges is good for your health - be obedient, open your mouth."

Zhang Xiaobing suddenly turned to look at him.

Fang Zhengjun's heart trembled when he saw him suddenly with dark eyes.

"Uncle, my father...my mother... is dead."

The orange rolled down from Fang Zhengjun's hand.

"Also, my grandma."

Fang Zhengjun picked up the orange in a panic, and asked him loudly, "Son, what do you remember?"

Zhang Xiaobing looked at him without moving. After a long time, tears gradually flowed from his eye sockets. The child's eyelashes were extraordinarily long. The tears hung on the eyelashes in a zigzag way, and then fell down in big drops.

Fang Zhengjun couldn't control anything anymore, he knelt on the ground and hugged Zhang Xiaobing: "Son, what did you see that day, you tell uncle everything, you have to say it."

Zhang Xiaobing was frightened by him, opened his mouth, stared, unable to cry.

Fang Zhengjun was anxious and painful: "Tell me, what did you see, my good boy, you can't just cry, you tell uncle!"

Zhang Xiaobing was really scared to cry by his ferocious eyes, the two of them messed up, and the aunt ran over from the front: "My life, what are you doing, director of the house? What are you doing here when the child happens to be here?!"

Fang Zhengjun yelled, "Go ahead! Don't come over!"

Aunt was scared away.Here Fang Zhengjun coaxed and persuaded: "Good baby, Xiaobing, don't cry, don't cry, you see that uncle is stupid and can't speak, wipe your tears, think about it, why are you squatting in that cabinet, Who came to your house?"

Zhang Xiaobing was sobbing, and Fang Zhengjun vaguely heard him say in his heart-piercing crying, "He's laughing, it's scary."

—is he laughing?

"Who is laughing?"

"I played hide and seek...and he came in."

Fang Zhengjun was at a loss, so he could only continue to ask: "Who came in? Did you see his face?"

Zhang Xiaobing shook his head.

So he didn't see the murderer's face—that's right, if the child had met his eyes at that time, he would probably be dead by now.

"He pushed me, Dad, over the neck..."

Zhang Xiaobing said intermittently.

Fang Zhengjun summed up these fragments urgently, so Zhang Xiaobing was playing hide-and-seek at the time, the murderer broke in, Zhang Xiaobing didn't move, so he was saved from being discovered by the murderer.

The murderer committed a crime in front of the child and killed all his relatives.

"Then think about it carefully, how many people are they, how many people come to your house? Two people, three people?"

"One..." Zhang Xiaobing cried and said, "One."

"Man or woman?"

Zhang Xiaobing cried for a long time, and said hoarsely, "Yes, it's uncle."

"How tall? How tall are you making gestures with your uncle?!"

Zhang Xiaobing looked at him for a long time, then stretched out his hand to Fang Zhengjun's ear: "Shorter than you."

"..."

The child may have suffered a great shock at the time, and his description of the prisoner's physical characteristics may not be entirely accurate.But the murderer committed the crime alone, which is absolutely unmistakable.

Fang Zhengjun sketched out the image of this killer in his mind, and couldn't help but look at the ruined graffiti - gender, height, it was really too similar to Lu Shigang.

Coincidentally, Zhang Xiaobing's dead mother was also pregnant at the time, just like Zhang Qiuyu.