The Book of Death by Heart Poison

Fenglan City, Xingyue Lane.

This alley is no different from most of the old streets that Hua Chong has been to—crowded, noisy, and there are many people who are struggling to make a living. Their eyes are either full of guard, or they are ignorant. Know what social distance is.

In the morning, the sun has just risen, and the sky is shrouded in bright gray. Although the horrific female corpse was discovered not long ago, the people living in Xingyue Lane still get up early to make a living, and the breakfast stalls still quarrel and fight over the territory. , in the same way, there are old farmers who sell vegetables.

The more prosperous places are still sleeping at this time, while Xingyue Lane is already full of annoying fireworks.

It was early morning when the special operations team arrived in Fenglan City last night because of the flight delay. Hua Chong asked the team members to rest for a while, but he and Liu Zhiqin woke up early and rushed to Xingyue Lane just after dawn.Fenglan City is close to the sea, so seafood is plentiful and cheap, so the two found a breakfast stand at random, ordered shrimp wontons, and listened to the boss talk about the female corpse while eating.

"That woman's lower body is completely gone, it's scary! When the police came, I followed to see, tsk tsk, isn't she broken here?" As he spoke, the boss gestured twice on his stomach, "then they When carrying the corpse, oh! The intestines and stomachs all fell out! Hey, I have seen a lot of beatings and killings. It is not uncommon to kill people, but it is the first time I have seen it like this. This girl It's also pitiful, I don't know who I offended."

Hua Chong paused holding the spoon, looked at Liu Zhiqin, "Kill?"

Liu Zhiqin said in a low voice: "I remember that more than ten years ago, this place was one of the most chaotic places in Fenglan City. Some local hooligans gathered here, and some even colluded with the police, so it was difficult to manage. What he said Beating people to death should be a fight between gangsters."

Hua Chong nodded.This kind of situation is indeed uncommon in less developed cities, especially when there was no anti-crime campaign in the past few years.

The boss continued to say to another table of guests: "But my old lady said that this woman may be sold."

The guest was curious, "A prostitute?"

"Isn't it?" The boss was mysterious. "Not only her, but also the one who was in that pool last time. Think about it, both of them were broken from here."

The boss scratched his stomach again, "What's there for a woman? Isn't it the uterus? What's below..."

Several guests laughed wretchedly, and one of them said, "What else is there, Dongbai!"

"Crack! The murderer chopped off both of them." The boss said again: "It's always been said that if a man is unfaithful, the bottom will be chopped up? If the woman is unfaithful, do you think it makes sense?"

The guests all said, "That's the reason!"

The boss became complacent, and there was a bit of contempt in his words, "I think they have moved out all the half-gods, what is this? , who still believes in half-gods? If they were not talking about half-gods, I would never have heard of such a god! You listen to me, those two women are out for sale, unlucky to meet a pervert ,At once--"

The boss clapped his hands with a slap, and said with a smile, "It's dead!"

The crowd laughed.

Hearing this, Hua Chong frowned.

He chose to come to Xingyue Lane for breakfast, and his purpose was indeed to hear what the people nearby had to say.But hearing such words made me feel a little uncomfortable.

Many people think that doctors are used to seeing diseases and terminal illnesses, so they become indifferent to the suffering of patients, and that policemen are used to seeing all kinds of strange corpses, so they become indifferent to the death of life.In fact, they are just calmer, and their profession and responsibility require them to be calm.

Hua Chong had never disregarded any life, and when he heard others mention the victim in such a disdainful, even slightly insulting tone, his gaze deepened, and he hastily settled the last few words, and said to Liu Zhiqin, "Let's go?"

Liu Zhiqin nodded and got up to pay the bill.

The boss took the money, turned around and chatted with the guests again, "Hey, have you heard of half-gods before..."

The place where the body was found was guarded by the police from the police station in turn. The narrow alleyway was surrounded by a cordon. The blood stains on the ground had not been removed for the time being, and there was a faint smell floating in the air.

Hua Chong showed his ID, and the policeman on duty stared at him in surprise, "You, you are the person in charge from above?"

Hua Chong looked at the young policeman.

"No, I didn't think you didn't mean that you were not in charge." The young policeman straightened his back nervously and explained, "I just thought, it's just dawn, why did you come here so early..."

"Major murder cases should be solved as soon as possible, so that everyone can do business easily." After Hua Chong finished speaking, he got into the cordon and left the young policeman where he was.

An older policeman patted the young policeman on the shoulder, "I've never seen a leader like him, how could such a big case happen in a small place like ours, and all the people from the Ministry of Public Security were recruited?" gone?"

The body had been brought back to the bureau long ago, and there were not many things left at the scene.The main purpose of Hua Chong's visit this time is not to look for traces left by the murderer - that is Haizi's job, he wants to see what kind of structure this Xingyue Lane is, and who are the people coming and going. What can be used and what cannot be used in the surrounding surveillance, these large and miscellaneous things can help the police follow a basic direction in the early stage of investigation.

The Fenglan police have determined that Xingyue Lane is just a place where corpses are dumped, not the first scene. The case on August 8, Happy Garden is also not the first scene.Walking all the way from the periphery to the corpse dumping place, Hua Chong noticed that although Xingyue Lane has an alley in its name, it is not an ordinary alley. It is actually a not-so-small community. There are three main alleys, two The roads are inserted obliquely into the house with a messy layout, forming a "Y" on the plane.There are surveillance cameras outside the alley, but apart from the three main alleys, there are many small exits in Xingyue Lane, and there is no wall to enclose it.

The corpse dumping site is located in the upper right corner of "Y", where a dead end has just been formed because of the demolition.People who are familiar with the situation in Xingyue Lane will basically not go there.

The murderer knows Xingyue Lane very well?

But after another understanding, Xingyue Lane is full of people after all. If you want to dump the corpse, choosing Xingyue Lane is actually a very risky thing.Go out from the upper right corner of "Y" and walk another half a kilometer, and you will be in a very desolate place.For the murderer, it is a more ideal place to dump the body.

But the murderer seems to like lively places?

The Happy Garden in the previous case was, and so is Xingyue Lane in this case.

Hua Chong closed his eyes, exhaled lightly, and took the initiative to pull himself out of this comparison.

The idea that "the murderer likes a lively place" is itself a distraction. The victims in both cases were women, and only the top half of the corpse remained.But this does not mean that the two cases are related, let alone that the murderer is the same person.

In the special operations team yesterday, Hua Chong heard that the Fenglan police intend to join the investigation, and the people of Fenglan also think that this is a serial murder case.

But the decision to merge or not is not something that can be made casually.Once the case is merged, it means that the direction of investigation is initially determined.Judging from Hua Chong's many years of criminal investigation experience, the more similar the cases are, the more cautious the decision to merge the cases should be.

"I walked around this trail just now." At this time, Liu Zhiqin came back with a tablet. On the tablet was a three-dimensional map with many annotations just written on it. "This is not only a road A dead end, or a blind spot in sight."

Hua Chong didn't react for a while, "Monitoring blind spot?"

Liu Zhiqin shook his head and narrowed the map into a panoramic view, "There is no surveillance around, so it's not a blind spot. The blind spot I mean is that you can't see it from a high place. The houses on both sides are built with their backs to this corner. There are no windows on one side, and the farther side cannot see here."

Hua Chongdao: "In other words, when the murderer placed the corpse, the possibility of being witnessed is very low?"

"Yes. Of course, there are also cases of flying drones." Liu Zhiqin said: "But given the economic conditions here, the possibility of flying drones in the middle of the night is extremely low, basically negligible. Also, you Watch this way."

As he spoke, Liu Zhiqin enlarged the map again to show the details.

Hua Chong looked down, then looked to the right.He used to be a special police officer and had undergone special training in urban anti-terrorism. One of them was to memorize the intricate road network in the city in a very short period of time. A strange city, a strange neighborhood, he can quickly draw a detailed map in his mind.The street that Liu Zhiqin showed him was on the right side of the corpse dumping place.

"This is connected to the vegetable market and the restaurant. Many people passing by are carrying burdens and bags." Liu Zhiqin said: "The murderer is carrying half of the corpse. It has to appear at night, and it is also possible to come during the day."

Hua Chong suddenly said: "Looking at it this way, the possibility of him living here is not low."

"I thought so too just now, but I also felt that the murderer would expose himself too easily by doing this." Liu Zhiqin said: "Although there are many residents in Xingyue Lane, it is also very mixed, but the place is not so big after all. It's hard to hide from yourself."

The young policeman rushed over and said, "We have already started the investigation."

Hua Chong nodded and said "hard work".

Hua Chong and Liu Zhiqin were not the only ones who got up early. Everyone in the criminal investigation team was thinking about the case, and they all woke up when the alarm clock rang. Pei Qing went directly to the Fenglan City Forensic Medicine Center, while Haizi and Xu Xiaozhou rushed to the scene.Hua Chong briefly explained his observations to them, and then rushed back to the Municipal Bureau with Liu Zhiqin.

The person in charge of the two cases of half female corpses in Fenglan City is Meng Qiyou, the captain of the Criminal Investigation Detachment. He is in his 40s. When he saw Hua Chong came back, he quickly invited him to the meeting room of the Criminal Investigation Detachment. In 20 years, I have never encountered such a difficult case, let’s say the 825 case, the murderer has serious psychological problems, she is obviously provoking our police.”

Hua Chong listened patiently.

"The behavior of throwing the corpse is behind the murderer's fear of crime. Why throw the corpse? Isn't it because he is afraid of being discovered and wants to hide the corpse in a place he thinks is safe?" Meng Qiyou continued: "But what he chose was It is the easiest place to be found, and the Sphinx is even within the surveillance coverage!"

Hua Chong said: "I have seen the surveillance you obtained from the Happy Garden. From the closing of the park on August 8 to the opening of the park on August 24, no one has opened the Sphinx, not even anyone close to it. "

Meng Qiyou sighed heavily, "Yes, we were all relieved when we knew there was a camera pointing there. Think about it, there are no ghosts in this world, and even the most powerful murderer cannot be invisible! But stretch the video from the beginning to the end. , unexpectedly not! We pushed forward again..."

"Wait a minute." Hua Chong interrupted, "The murderer couldn't have put the corpse in a few days in advance."

Meng Qiyou choked, "Yes, you're right. In that environment, the corpse could only be put in in the early morning of the same day. But the monitoring didn't find anything, and we didn't give up, so we pushed forward three times. sky."

Hua Chong frowned, "Have you found anything?"

Meng Qiyou said: "In the early morning of August 8, the monitoring did not work."

"What do you mean?" Hua Chong asked, "The park is closed? Is it just this camera, or all of them?"

Meng Qiyou said: "All the cameras in the water park are turned off. A staff member said that he was sleepwalking at night and turned off the surveillance."

Sleepwalking?This is too ridiculous.Hua Chong's first reaction was that this statement was not credible, "What about the monitoring room? There are cameras in the monitoring room, has he turned off the monitoring, and has anyone else entered during the period? Can this be captured?"

"This is the strange thing." Meng Qiyou said, "The camera in the monitoring room is turned off before the water park, and the place where the camera is turned on and off happens to be in the blind spot."

Hua Chong asked to see the inquiry record at that time.

The on-duty officer was very nervous and wiped his sweat during the entire interrogation process. The policeman asked if he had turned off the surveillance. He said very firmly that it was not him. He had never done such a thing. After preliminary investigation, the police had confirmed that Since the opening of the Happy Park, the monitoring of the water park has never been closed. In the early morning of August 8, the monitoring was closed for no reason. On August 24, tourists found half of the body in the Sphinx. These two things cannot be ignored. together.

After repeated questioning by the police, the officer on duty changed his words again, saying that he could not remember whether the monitoring was turned off.After that, he changed his words again, saying that he had the habit of sleepwalking, maybe he got up in the middle of the night and turned off the control.

"I really can't remember. I went to bed very early that day, and I checked the monitor before going to bed, and there was no problem. I, I thought it might be my sleepwalking attack, and then, I accidentally turned off the monitor. But The matter of the dead really has nothing to do with me. You can check my background in detail, I just came out of the fishing village to work, and I don't know the murderer at all..."

Meng Qiyou said: "There is no problem with the front and rear surveillance, but he was locked up in the early morning of the 24th. The watchman is very suspicious, but my team members have checked his family and interpersonal relationships, and they really did not find any clues. But there are One doubtful point is that his family and friends don’t know that he can sleepwalk, and sleepwalking is probably a lie made up by him.”

"I don't have any contact with this person, but just watching this video, I think he may have tried to justify himself with lies." Hua Chong sat at the edge of the table with his left hand resting on the edge, " Many ordinary people who are forced to be involved in the case will be like this. The initial statement is often the truth, but the truth is not believed by the police. Under pressure and fear, he has to make up a lie, which seems very untrue. Also very fake."

Meng Qiyou scrunched up his face in embarrassment, "We didn't torture him to extract a confession."

Hua Chong said: "Team Meng, you misunderstood, I don't mean to accuse you. This case is placed in any city. In the initial investigation, this duty officer is the focus of investigation, because the surveillance did occur during his duty. Question. There is no problem with your interrogation, I just mentioned the process of psychological changes of the watchman."

Meng Qiyou smiled and rubbed his hands on the police pants, "That's good. Well, I haven't cooperated with your special operations team before. Fenglan City is just a small city, and even the provincial department doesn't come down very often."

"Understood." Hua Chong nodded and said back to the case itself, "There was a problem with the monitoring in the early morning of the 24th. The murderer may have done something with some means that we have not yet grasped. But I still think that the body was released on the 24th." The possibility of entering sculpture is too low.”

Meng Qiyou was silent for a long time, "I personally think the same way. If the corpse was in the sculpture before the park closed on the 24th, tourists would have discovered it long ago, and they wouldn't have to wait until the 25th. Moreover, on the afternoon of the 24th, the staff still had to pay attention to the sculpture on the water. The various pools in the paradise have been inspected, and if there is any problem, they should have found it. But..."

"But the surveillance in the early morning of the 25th didn't capture anything." Hua Chong expressed Meng Qiyou's doubts.

"Not only is there no one there, but the Sphinx itself has not moved." Meng Qiyou said: "There is only one way to open the sculpture, and that is through the side door. We even checked the base, because it is suspected that the murderer was in the water." I tried to make moves, but there was no problem. The early morning of the 24th was the murderer's only chance to do something."

Hua Chong stood up, put his hands in the pockets of his trousers, and lowered his head in thought.

Meng Qiyou added: "Because of the monitoring, people have been in panic for a while. All kinds of ghosts and ghosts have come out. The common people are willing to believe that half-gods are in trouble. Many young people feel strange when they hear half-gods for the first time. , I find it unbelievable, and some even went to Fanglong Island for tourism, and there were no outsiders there in autumn and winter, and this incident brought a tourist..."

Hua Chong said, "Is it possible that there is a problem with the video itself?"

Meng Qiyou was taken aback for a moment before realizing, "You mean the monitoring has been dealt with?"

Hua Chong asked: "I only thought of this possibility."

"There is no problem with the video." Meng Qiyou said: "We let the experts watch it, there is no grafting or editing. I don't understand these technical aspects, but the technical investigator said it was the original video."

Hua Chong raised his eyebrows slightly.

Is there really no problem with the video?Or is it just that the experts here don't see the problem?