heart poison

The case was reported to the Provincial Public Security Department, and the Provincial Department took immediate action.After verification, in the list of 21 people provided by Liu Zhiqin, the three missing are Liang Ruier from Zhang Province, Qi Lichao and Zhou Zihan from Qu Province.They disappeared in January of this year at the latest, just before "Wang Chuang" came to Los Angeles and rented a house in the commercial village.

"It has become a nationwide case, and a task force will definitely be set up soon. If there is no accident, someone from your 'hometown' will come to supervise our handling of the case." After hearing Xu Kan's report, Hua Chong said to Liu Zhiqin: "The missing It turns out that Los Angeles was not the murderer's first stop, before he killed Zheng Qi and He Yitao, he had already killed three people. No wonder he was able to handle the scene so cleanly."

When Liu Zhiqin just woke up, he let out a low "hmm", opened the window halfway, and squinted his eyes due to the wind.

Xu Kan glanced in the rearview mirror, and then said, "During the autopsy, I found that he was agile. Now that I think about it, it turned out that he had 'experience'."

Hua Chong rested his head on the back of his hands and leaned on the back of the chair, "Do you think the other three people will also have their hearts gouged out?"

"Flower team, you are wrong." Xu Kan said: "Now they are just missing, and they are not confirmed dead. The brothers in the two provinces of Zhangqu are doing their best to search and rescue them. Don't be clumsy."

"It's not called Crow's Mouth, do you think they are still alive?" Hua Chong shook his head, "Impossible."

"As long as no corpse is found..."

"Don't lie to yourself, old Xu, you are inconsistent in what you say." Hua Chong tapped on the back of the chair: "The last sentence said that the murderer has 'experience', and the last sentence said that I have a crow's mouth. If the murderer hadn't been killed Where did he get the experience after killing those three people?"

Xu Kan froze for a moment, then sighed, "Three lives again. Killing for life, killing for life, their behavior is indeed very hateful, but it is far from the point of 'paying for life', right? I feel sorry for Lin Xiaofei, but I don't think Zheng Qi and others People deserve to die. What punishment they receive should be determined by the law, not by the murderer."

"But the law can't punish them?" Hua Chong coughed: "I have to put it another way. Team Chen warned me last time, saying that I shouldn't speak directly in the tone of a murderer."

Liu Zhiqin turned to look at him.

"The murderer thinks that the law cannot punish them. Similarly, they take chances, thinking that the law does not punish the public, and insulting people online is not a serious criminal case." Hua Chong said: "But for the murderer, the most important thing in life An important person is gone."

Xu Kan pursed his lips, "Then he shouldn't..."

"Don't use your normal thinking to think about the murderer's behavior, which is fundamentally meaningless." Hua Chong sat in a loose posture, but his words were not loose. He is not a normal person long ago, and you still use 'should' and 'should not' to analyze him?"

Speaking of this, Hua Chong shook his head, his expression couldn't tell whether it was indifference or hotness, "He thinks those people deserve to die, and only death can wash away their sins. They stabbed Lin Xiaofei recklessly, and after five years, all the knives were stabbed Into their own hearts. We are all just ordinary spectators. For us spectators, cyber violence and "human flesh" are not worth advocating. Those who inflict cyber violence on others should be punished, but the crime is not death. What about Lin Xiaofei's relatives? Zheng Qi and others are probably 'murderers'. The most indispensable thing in this world is a lunatic, and the reason they didn't get revenge is because they didn't offend the lunatic, Zheng Qi and the others did. "

After two seconds, Xu Kan breathed out, "You are right, the murderer is a lunatic, I really shouldn't think about him from the perspective of a normal person."

Liu Zhiqin suddenly said: "Is this the reason why you insist on listening to the murderer's confession every time you solve a case?"

Hua Chong didn't expect him to mention this, he was slightly startled for a moment, "Huh?"

"Last time you said that serious crime police officers are no better than ordinary people. Ordinary people don't need to know the murderer's mental journey, but serious crime police officers should understand them. This will help in handling cases in the future."

"Oh, you're talking about that." Hua Chong smiled lightly, "That's right."

Liu Zhiqin nodded, and brought the topic back to the case itself, "When the murderer committed the crime in Los Angeles, he hardly disposed of the body of the deceased. Although Zheng Qi was dismembered, he was not buried, and was just discarded in the North District Elementary School of Luo University. He Yitao was directly thrown in the flower shop. Then why did he hide the body in the previous three cases, creating the illusion that the three of Liang Ruier were missing?"

"His mentality has changed. At first he was afraid of being exposed, so he disposed of the body, thinking that it would be a day if it could be delayed. After committing crimes three times, he began to think that even if the body was not disposed of, the police would not be able to catch him." Hua Chong said: "Many serial murders have similar characteristics. The killing gave him 'confidence' and made him more and more crazy. He will definitely speed up the frequency of committing crimes and present more ritual things on the corpse. Fortunately, you have already The person who may be killed has been locked. Once the criminal police from all over the country exchange information and start to cooperate to arrest the murderer, it is only a matter of time before he is arrested. By the way, who are the three missing people on the Internet?"

"Liang is a woman. If I remember correctly, she is a small 'leader' of E Zhihaolang's fan group. She is the one who called on netizens to 'human flesh' Lin Xiaofei. Later, the video of Lin Xiaofei selling books at the subway station was picked up. , she cut a funny short video to satirize Lin Xiaofei, her words were vicious, and it was reposted a lot. Objectively speaking, her behavior is more extreme than that of He Yitao." Liu Zhiqin paused, and continued: "Qi, Zhou and Zheng Qi are almost the same. None of the fans around. As "passers-by", they scolded harder than fans. They were younger than Zheng Qi, and they were students in vocational high schools at the time, and it was the time when their mental state was the most unstable. Maybe for them , participating in an online orgy is more fun than fighting and picking up girls in real life."

Xu Kan held the steering wheel tightly, and sighed after a long while, "They may not realize how much harm their words can cause to a stranger."

"No, Lao Xu, you have the heart of a bodhisattva again." Hua Chong said, "They realize it."

"what?"

"You don't mean to say—they're all children?"

"I……"

"Children's malice sometimes exceeds our imagination." Hua Chong folded his arms, "Murder is against the law, and I hide behind the Internet, with thousands of 'teammates', destroying a person does not need to wield a knife or a gun, just The need for constant insults - it gives them great, indescribable pleasure."

Xu Kan took a deep breath.

Liu Zhiqin said thoughtfully, "People's hearts can be either good or evil."

Hua Chong was silent for a while, and said softly: "I don't know if I can find clues when I go to Lin Xiaofei's hometown this time. The 'Wang Chuang' was captured by the camera, but due to the angle, no part of his face was captured. "

"The key is that I don't know his real information. This person gives me a feeling that he is completely out of touch with society." Liu Zhiqin said.

"Out of touch with society..." Hua Chong rested his elbow on the window frame, and suddenly had a flash of inspiration, "Could he also be an Internet author?"

"Internet author?"

"His DNA information has not been entered into the database, which proves that he has not been to the hospital for many years, and he has not even participated in the routine physical examination." Provide him with annual medical benefits. And his lack of a social circle to go out to work, isn't he out of touch with society?"

Liu Zhiqin thought for a while, "It makes sense. But if he is just an Internet author, what is his reason for killing Zheng Qi and others?"

"Among Lin Xiaofei's relatives, is there anyone else who is also engaged in writing?"

"This..." Liu Zhiqin said: "The search is rather urgent, and this piece has not been found yet."

"It's okay." Hua Chong patted him on the shoulder, "We'll be in Zecheng soon."

Zecheng is a small city, half the size of Los Angeles City, with an underdeveloped economy.In the era of the planned economy, Zecheng was barely considered an industrial city. After the reform, a large number of factories were transformed and closed down, leaving a mess.

It was afternoon when the three of Hua Chong arrived in Zecheng, and quickly rushed to Lin Xiaofei's home with the cooperation of the local city bureau and the police station.

The area where the Lin family is located is a group of tube buildings and brick houses, which looks even worse than Daoqiao Road in the most dilapidated Fukang District in Los Angeles.Because it had just rained, the ground was muddy, the smell of the sewer kept rising, and there was a stench in the air.

When approaching a tube building, Xiao Xiang, a policeman from the police station, pointed to a closed wooden door on the second floor, "Here, that's Lin Xiaofei's home. Now his old mother, Granny Chen, is the only one in the house."

A group of people climbed upstairs, the corridor was dark and narrow, and there was a damp smell unique to old houses in disrepair.

Standing in front of the wooden door, Xiao Xiang knocked twice.Soon, the sound of slow footsteps came from the room with extremely poor sound insulation.An old voice said, "Here it is, who is it?"

Xiao Xiang said, "Grandma Chen, it's me."

The door opened, and Lin Xiaofei's seventy-year-old mother stood by the door.She was old and short, with wrinkled face and cloudy eyes. Even if she was not crying, there seemed to be tears in her eyes.

Hua Chong's heart suddenly felt depressed.He understood why the old man's eyes were like that.

These are the eyes of a man who has wept for a long time.

When he had just returned to Los Angeles from the Northwest, he went to visit the mother of a teammate who had died. The eyes of the other party were like this—tears glistening, hiding endless grief.

Seeing a stranger coming, Mother Lin stepped back and nervously pushed the door back.

Xiao Xiang hurriedly said: "Grandma Chen, it's my colleagues who are here, they are all policemen, don't be afraid!"

Only then did Mother Lin open the door again suspiciously.

On the way here, Xiaoxiang told another police officer, Lao Qiu, that Lin Xiaofei was an employee of a chemical factory, and the factory implemented a "replacement" system, that is, when one of the parents retired, the children would take over.Lin Xiaofei's father died of illness when he was still a teenager. Lin Xiaofei had good grades at that time, and he was studying in a key middle school in the city. He planned to go to university, but the pillar of the family collapsed, and his father owed a large amount of debt for his medical treatment. Well, his mother alone can't manage the whole family, so he had no choice but to give up his desire to go to college, take his father's class, and become a worker.This house was allocated to his father by the chemical factory, and he lived with his mother for decades.

Hua Chong and Xu Kan entered the house and saw that the furnishings in the room were extremely simple and old, with one bedroom and one living room, and the kitchen and bathroom were shared.There is an old desk next to the balcony, and a "big head" computer is placed on it.Hua Chong walked over, only to find that there were several stacks of books behind the computer.The covers of those books have been yellowed, and they don't seem to be official publications.

Xiaoxiang confessed a few words to Lin's mother, and when Lin's mother turned around, she happened to see Hua Chong picking up a book.

"Young man, do you want to read it?" Mother Lin said, "That's a book written by my son. It's very well written. If you like it, you can take a copy back. He used to tell me that if one day The bookstore was willing to sell his books, so he took me to take a group photo. Hey, I don’t know when the bookstore will collect these books.”

Hua Chong saw the unreserved pride and the deep sadness in her eyes.

He turned the book sideways and saw the signature on the book—Fengfei 78.

Xiao Xiang smiled and said, "Grandma Chen, how many times have I told you that this is a book printed by Brother Lin himself. Without an ISBN, it cannot be sold in bookstores."

"What is a book number? Can I enter a bookstore with a book number?"

"It should be. I'm a rough person, and I haven't read much."

"Then how can I get the ISBN?" Mother Lin said: "Xiaofei has wanted to sell the book in bookstores all his life, but unfortunately he couldn't realize it in the end. My old bones have not been strong for a few years, and I don't know how to do it." I can't help him fulfill this wish before going to see him."

Xiao Xiang probably heard similar words from Lin's mother many times, so he said perfunctorily, "Yes, I can."

Hua Chong flipped through the inside pages of the book. The paper was rough and dazzlingly white, and the layout was too dense, making it uncomfortable to look at.He closed the book and smiled gently at Mother Lin: "Old man, tell us about Brother Lin, okay?"

Liu Zhiqin did not follow Hua Chong and Xu Kan into the house, but walked around the door twice.

The exterior walls have clearly been repainted and are a different color than the rest of the house.He asked Lao Qiu softly, "Is there something written on this wall?"

"Someone came here before and wrote a lot of nasty words." Lao Qiu couldn't help shaking his head, "Calling Lin Xiaofei a thief, he deserves to have cancer and die a terrible death."

Liu Zhiqin knew what was going on as soon as he heard it, and asked again: "This is a security incident, right? Is the street not in charge?"

"It's fine, why not." Lao Qiu said: "If they don't, those young people can tear down the whole tube building. But you also know that we grassroots policemen can't do anything with the masses, just in case It was photographed and posted on the Internet. Once the hat of "beating the masses" is taken off, it will be over. Fortunately, the surrounding neighbors couldn't bear to see it. Several men fought with them and stood guard at the door of Lin's house. No, they bullied Lin Xiaofei and Granny Chen because of the large number of people, and then when the neighbors came forward and someone had a kitchen knife in their hands, they didn't dare to come."

Liu Zhiqin imagined the situation at that time, feeling sad and angry in his heart.

A group of young people holding the banner of "justice" on the Internet actually came in groups to bully an old man who was powerless and a patient suffering from cancer, thinking that what he was doing was defending morality.

This simply swayed the evil of human nature to the fullest.

"Lin Xiaofei did his duty, and we don't know where he provoked those people. Lin Xiaofei was hospitalized at that time, and there was only Granny Chen at home. Hey, bullying honest people! If the neighbors weren't bloody, we wouldn't know them When will the troubles last? You see, Grandma Chen is still afraid of strangers, she subconsciously hides when she sees you facing each other." Lao Qiu continued: "She is a widowed old man with no one to rely on, widowed in middle age, widowed in old age. My son. Lin Xiaofei got cancer at the time and wiped out his entire family, I felt miserable when I saw it."

Seeing that Lao Qiu had something to say, Liu Zhiqin simply continued to ask: "Does the Lin family have any relatives? When Lin Xiaofei fell ill, Granny Chen was the only one to take care of her, right?"

"Really not!" Lao Qiu said: "When Lin Xiaofei's father passed away, there were no relatives around. I guess there may be distant relatives, but at that time, everyone was living in hardship. Who would help their orphans and widowed mothers? Besides, cousins How can they be considered relatives? Anyway, I haven’t seen any relatives here, but the neighbors in the neighborhood have helped their family a lot. As the saying goes, distant relatives are not as good as close neighbors! Oh, by the way, after Lin Xiaofei fell ill, his coworkers helped a lot. Cancer can’t be cured by ordinary families? When he was hospitalized, the chemical plant organized donations, and employee representatives usually came to visit him.”

Liu Zhiqin frowned slightly upon hearing this.

He originally thought that the murderer would be a very close relative of Lin Xiaofei - young, strong and capable of committing crimes.But according to Lao Qiu, Lin Xiaofei didn't have such relatives at all.

"Have you seen this person?" He took out his mobile phone and called up the surveillance video of "Wang Chuang". Lao Qiu saw it and shook his head decisively: "I haven't seen it."

"Then after Lin Xiaofei passed away, did anyone visit the Lin family?"

"I don't know about that." The policeman smiled: "Although I am a street policeman, I don't know what every family does every day."

Liu Zhiqin thanked him and walked into the house.

Lin's mother was talking about the book that Lin Xiaofei printed at his own expense, and Hua Chong sat beside him, like a listener who didn't care about the case.

Liu Zhiqin stood aside calmly, and understood why Lin Xiaofei went to the subway station to sell self-printed novels.

According to Lin's mother's description, Lin Xiaofei liked to write since he was a child, and he wrote many stories when he was in middle school.After becoming a worker in the evolution factory, he also squeezed time every day to write novels.He doesn't make a living writing novels, it's just a hobby, so he never makes a penny.But one year, there was an accident in the chemical plant, and an employee who was seriously injured and admitted to the hospital happened to be his closest worker.He wanted to help that worker, and he gave out all the money he could, but it was far from enough, so he printed the novel he had written into a book and sold it in places with a lot of traffic, such as subway stations, bus stations, shopping malls, and schools. , All the money in exchange was given to the worker.But in the end, the workers still couldn't make it through, and these books were kept at home and never sold again.

Liu Zhiqin can distinguish which of Lin's mother's words are facts and which are wishful lies.

Selling books to save workers should be true. Lin Xiaofei doesn't understand marketing, unlike other authors who can sell books online, and can't follow normal publishing channels. They can only choose to sell them at subway stations. One of them was photographed and placed in On the Internet, when the "plagiarism" incident broke out, it was picked up and became the laughing stock of countless netizens.

"Writing books is a hobby, and I haven't made a penny" is probably untrue.In the era of online literature, the root cause of Lin Xiaofei's inability to make money from writing is that he lacks some talent, and no one wants to read what he writes, not because he is unwilling to make money from novels.

But when such words came out of Mother Lin's mouth, no one would, could, or could not bear to refute them.

That is a mother's unreserved love and trust for her son.

Lin's mother tremblingly walked to the bedroom, took out a few soft-sided notebooks that could be rolled up, and a stack of stapled drafts, with a smile on her lips, "This is what Xiao Fei wrote before he left. For the last novel, he was in the hospital at that time, without a computer, my wife was useless, she couldn’t use a computer, she couldn’t type, otherwise she would type the contents of these notebooks on the computer for him. He told me, this A novel was published on a website, and some readers left him a message, praising him for his good writing. When he was not so sick, he asked me to read the message together. He was happy, and I was also happy. He said , reading the messages readers wrote to him every day, he has the courage to continue to receive treatment."

Xu Kan who was sitting on the side turned his face away, his eyes were red.

"But I don't know why, he didn't let me read the message with him." Mother Lin said again: "After he left, I sorted out his belongings and asked the young man next door to help me turn on the computer. I want to help him read it." I read what his readers wrote to him, copied it, and read it to him while burning paper for him in his first seven hours. But the website can’t be found. I remember when he asked me to read it in a website called The 'Favorites' was opened, but the young man opened the 'Favorites' for me, and there was nothing in it."

Hua Chong took a deep breath, and a strong sadness came straight to his heart.

That website must have been deleted by Lin Xiaofei, he didn't dare to let his elderly mother see those malicious words.

And his mother was still thinking about the kind messages she had seen, and wanted to read them to him one by one after he passed away.

Mother Lin touched the notebook and blamed herself, "It's all my fault. I don't understand anything. He has finished writing, but I can't help him continue to publish."

Hua Chong took the notebook, opened it and saw that it was indeed the manuscript of "The Shining Place of Eternal Night".

Liu Zhiqin also took a few copies, looked at the serial number, found the last one, and turned to the end. When he saw the postscript with extremely ugly handwriting, he said softly, "So this novel has already been completed."

Lin's mother wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes, "It's finished, there is no chance to publish it. Don't think Xiaofei's handwriting is poor, his handwriting is very beautiful. It's just that he couldn't hold the pen at the end."

Hua Chong patted Mother Lin's back lightly, "We understand."

Lin's mother covered her eyes with her withered hands, and suddenly became emotional, "Poor my son, he said this is his most satisfying novel, and there are still people who want to buy it from him at a high price. Why did he leave in such a hurry? ? Why can't he wait a little longer? Why don't those people who told him to buy it come again? If there is that income, he, he..."

Liu Zhiqin's eyes froze, "You mean, someone wanted to buy "The Shining Place of Eternal Night" from Lin Xiaofei at that time?"