heart poison

On the hillside of Xulu Mountain, the main stage was empty, with huge speakers, lighting equipment and steel frames scattered all over the place.Light sticks, fans, and banners were trampled into the soil, and a few well-made clothes were crumpled on the ground, with footprints overlapping on them, showing how hurried their owners were when they ran away.Under the stage, the plastic stools were trampled to pieces, and the tables and chairs were thrown all over the place without anyone cleaning them up.The main fire not far away left a lot of fuel, and the ashes burned in the night were being scattered in the morning wind.

The air in the mountains is as fresh as ever, not turbid because someone has been burned to death.Hua Chong took a deep breath, and the slightly cool air soaked into the lungs along the trachea, dispelling the boredom that had accumulated for a long time.

The temperature in the countryside is several degrees lower than in the city, especially in the early morning.

This business trip was urgent, before boarding the helicopter, Hua Chong only wore a shirt and even forgot his coat.At this time, I was in the forest, and when the wind blew, I sneezed several times in succession.

The shoulders were suddenly covered by a very heavy temperature.He looked back, only to see that it was Liu Zhiqin who had put a thick-knit sweater on him.

"Wear it, leave me alone. I brought a jacket." Liu Zhiqin said as he pulled out a dark gray jacket from his backpack, and directly blocked the "you wear it yourself" that he hadn't said yet.

He looked down and saw that it was the one that Liu Zhiqin wore occasionally. It was of good quality and looked very warm, suitable for autumn.When Liu Zhiqin was wearing it, she looked refined and gentle, and her aura was much softer.

He liked the sweater a lot, but he didn't expect to wear it on himself one day.

After a moment of distraction, Liu Zhiqin had already put on the jacket, with the zipper pulled up to the top and the sleeves rolled up below the elbows, looking like an outdoor athlete.

"It's best to button it up, otherwise it won't block the wind." Liu Zhiqin approached, stretching out his hand while talking, intending to help him button the sweater.

He was stunned for half a second, never thinking of refusing, and only realized after Liu Zhiqin had buckled the third one, "I'll do it myself."

Liu Zhiqin gave a "hmm" and pointed to a corner near the dense forest, "Go, go and have a look."

Police tape was drawn near the fire where the accident occurred, and the location of the three victims when they died was marked with white lines on the ground.

Hua Chong looked around carefully, and after half a minute he sighed, and gradually understood why Xiao Chengxin was so anxious when he called at night.

The murderer is really too cunning, and his modus operandi can be called tricky and bold.This fire is located in a remote place, far away from the main stage and the main venue of the barbecue banquet.The atmosphere of the concert was so intense that visitors didn't even notice the fire, which was far from the central area.And it is in the blind spot of monitoring, and it is difficult for anyone to do anything here.And three of the ten fires added by the staff are also located in relatively remote locations. They occupy several corners of the open space on the mountainside, and none of them is visually obtrusive.

"Xulu Mountain is very large, and only the halfway up the mountain has been developed for nighttime activities." Liu Zhiqin said, "Now it's getting dark earlier than in summer, and it's not too bright on the mountain before the concert. The murderer is probably in the During this period of time, in some way, Fan Miao and the others were lured to a place where there was no one to fight."

Hua Chong looked at the messy footprints on the sand and gravel, "'he' has a set of overalls, and after wearing it, he is no different from the staff who set up the fire. 'He' is probably wearing a hat that can cover his face. The staff brought the fuel. By this time, it was completely dark. The concert started, and all the attention of the tourists was on the main stage. Shuttle among the crowd to maintain order, no one noticed that 'he' fixed three people who had lost consciousness due to sevoflurane in the accelerant. After making preparations, 'he' ignited the fire like other staff, and then pushed Pushing the cart, he left calmly. 'He' doesn't have to worry about leaving his footprints and traces of the cart on the gravel, because there are too many tourists, and once someone finds someone who was burned to death in the fire, the scene will Uncontrollable riots occurred, panicked tourists screamed and fled, and people who feared that the world would not be chaotic flocked, taking pictures and videos, and getting as close as possible. At this time, the traces of "him" committing crimes will be seen by countless pairs of people. His feet are completely covered. And he can also admire his 'masterpiece' among these people, pretend to be surprised or afraid or curious, and even take out his mobile phone to take pictures of everything he sees as a 'trophy'."

"The murderer's ability to do this shows that he is very familiar with Xulu Mountain and Luoguan Village. 'He' is unlikely to be a tourist here for the first time—this can be used as a screening condition." Liu Zhiqin withdrew a few steps , "'He' is either a villager, or an outsider who has been in and out of Luoguan Village several times. I am more curious, why does 'he' kill people in such a ritualistic way?"

"There must be clues on the victim." Hua Chong squatted on the ground, half-closed his eyes, and almost said to himself: "Last night, when 'he' set up a fire in this place, what was he thinking?"

Liu Zhiqin's eyes fell on Hua Chong's hair, knowing that he had replaced himself as the murderer again, thinking about the motive and psychology of the crime.

"Burning to death is the most painful way of death. The murderer chose to burn to death instead of burning the body after death, which means that it is not to remove traces, but to make the victim feel severe pain. 'He' doesn't seem to be worried about exposing himself because of this, or that , 'his' desire to do this has outweighed his worries about exposing himself. 'He' may have some deep hatred with Fan Miao, Sheng Feixiang, and Zhou Liangjia." Liu Zhiqin said: "But what happened in Luoguan Village , I always feel that it may have something to do with the case ten years ago."

Hua Chong half-closed his eyes, "If it was just burning to death, 'he' could find a hidden place. But 'he' chose to burn them to death under countless pairs of eyes. Why? When the victim was burned, his consciousness had already Sober, they struggled frantically, but couldn’t break free from the shackles on their bodies. They tried their best to call for help, but the music and shouts were so loud that no one could hear their voices. They saw countless people, but their eyes couldn’t see Seeing them, it was like being blind. In the end, they died in despair and unbearable pain. This is what the murderer wanted to see."

After finishing speaking, Hua Chong stood up, the madness in his eyes did not fade, but his tone was extremely calm, "I only think of this possibility for the time being, the murderer may have other ideas. Let's go and see how Zhang Mao and his investigations are going. .”

??

The noisy police station has turned into a smoky vegetable market.

According to Hua Chong's request, Xiao Chengxin gathered all the tourists on the empty dam outside the police station.

When they heard that they could not leave after dawn and had to stay for questioning, everyone quarreled and became angry, scolding the police for being incompetent and unreasonable, and treating innocent people as murderers.

"We are also victims!" A woman in her fifties took the lead and shouted: "We paid you to travel here, what did you do? You let us see the people who were burned to death, and we are not allowed to leave now , What's the reason? You are so capable, why don't you catch the real criminals? Why do you embarrass us ordinary people? Are we ordinary people easy to bully? You don't allow us to leave, what if the murderer comes out again? A torch Are we all burned to death? Why should we be buried with you!"

People yelled and cursed at the women, Xiao Chengxin was overwhelmed, his face was flushed, and his legs and feet were a little weak.

Although he is a criminal police officer of the city bureau, he has never seen such a scene before. He paddles in other departments and then dawdles in the backlog team. If it wasn't for the order from his superiors to solve the backlog, he would have almost forgotten that he is also a criminal policeman.

The crowd was arguing violently, and he wished he could yell "leave if you want", but he didn't dare to make his own decision and let these people go back.Hua Chong was right, the murderer must be among the tourists and villagers.Moreover, the murderer is thoughtful and has anti-investigation awareness. He must know that leaving in the middle of the night is easier to expose himself, so there is a high probability that 'he' is still in the village.

Never let the thief go back to the mountain!

Xiao Chengxin kept cheering himself up, endured no matter how harsh the scolding was, no matter how uncertain he was, he never backed down, and he didn't let anyone leave halfway.

In doing so, he actually had his own selfish motives.Didn't Liu Zhiqin say that this case may be related to Qian Maojiang's case, if this case is solved, the accumulated case ten years ago will also be solved?Taking a step back, even if the two cases are actually unrelated, he helped Hua Chong this time, and Hua Chong should stay and help him solve the accumulated cases. In the future, he will have more confidence to ask the serious crime team for help .

When Hua Chong and Liu Zhiqin returned to the village, they saw Xiao Chengxin leading the police officers from the accumulated case team to organize tourists and villagers to enter the inquiry room one by one.Although everyone looked anxious, and Xiao Chengxin was sweating all over, the order was finally maintained.

"Flower team, Brother Xiaoliu, this way!" Zhang Mao just came out of a police room, and ran over as soon as he saw them: "Yuan Feifei and Xu Sheng are inside, and their emotions are not stable, and they keep saying no. Knowing why something like this happened, and saying they were afraid the same thing would happen to them.”

Yuan Feifei and Xu Sheng are Fan Miao's companions.

Hua Chong raised his eyebrows, "The same thing happened to me?"

"Not only are they from Xiancheng, but they also went to the same school in junior high school, called Xiancheng No. [-] Middle School." Zhang Mao said: "They think that the murderer may be killing the students of No. [-] Middle School."

"Bullshit."

"I also think it's quite nonsense, but they insist on saying that." Zhang Mao sighed, "That Xiancheng No. [-] Middle School is a well-known Hunzi Middle School in their city, just like our Los Angeles No. [-] Middle School. Fan Miao and Sheng Feixiang did not get good grades when he was studying, so he stopped studying after graduating from junior high school and went to a technical school. Zhou Liangjia did go to high school, and later went to university."

Liu Zhiqin patted Zhang Mao on the shoulder, "Okay, let's talk to them, and you can help Xiao Chengxin."

??

Yuan Feifei is 27 years old this year and works as a kindergarten teacher in a kindergarten in Los Angeles. Her eyes are swollen from crying, but she looks more frightened than sad.

"I really don't know why Liangjia and the others were killed and died so badly." She wiped her tears, her shoulders flinching, "We have known each other for many years, and we often played together when we were young. We both work in Los Angeles, so we got acquainted again. On weekends and holidays, we sometimes get together, but this is the first time we travel together, oh, who knows that this kind of thing will happen..."

"Who organized this event?" Hua Chong asked.

"Who organized it?" Yuan Feifei thought for a while, "I can't explain it clearly. Every time we meet up, everyone will mention going out for a trip, but the time has not been able to get together, so it has been delayed for a long time. I, I can't remember Who was the first to say that they would come out to play?"

Hua Chong nodded, "Among the five of you, who do you have the best relationship with?"

"Of course it's Liangjia. Fan Miao and I don't know each other very well. If Liangjia didn't pull me every time, I might not have played with other people."

"Last night, you were also on Xulu Mountain?"

Yuan Feifei was very nervous, "I didn't go up."

"They all went up, but you didn't go up?"

"No, I don't like rap music. I think it's too loud. And after coming here, we've been playing for a few days. I felt tired, so I didn't follow it."

"Where were you before and after the concert?"

"I..." Yuan Feifei lowered her head and rubbed her fingers quickly.

Hua Chong's eyes deepened slightly, "Answer me."

"I'm walking in the village."

"Which street and alley? Which store do you pass by?"

Yuan Feifei frowned, and said anxiously: "You don't think I'm the murderer, do you? How could it be me? I'm a woman, how can I have the ability to kill the three of them? And they are my friends!"

"Relax." Hua Chong made a downward movement of his right hand, "I will ask this question with others."

Yuan Feifei's eyes were a little wandering, and she thought for a while before saying, "I just walked around casually, and I didn't remember which street or alley."

Hua Chong didn't continue to ask, and made a record in the notepad.

Since Luoguan Village has become a tourist attraction, every farmhouse has installed surveillance cameras, and there are public cameras on many streets and alleys.Although blind spots are unavoidable, if Yuan Feifei really "walked around casually", she should have been captured by some of the cameras.

"When was the last time you saw Zhou Liangjia and the others?" Hua Chong asked again.

"After 4 o'clock in the afternoon, Liangjia and I ate shaved ice at a dessert shop." Yuan Feifei said: "There is a barbecue banquet on Xulu Mountain in the evening, so we haven't had dinner for the past few days. After leaving the dessert shop, Liangjia returned to 'Shanwei Tang' met Fan Miao and the others, but I didn't go back with her."

"You've been walking since then?"

"No, I don't go up the mountain, I can't eat the barbecue on the mountain, so I went to find a place to have dinner." Yuan Feifei shook her head, "I ate a mushroom rice noodle at a mushroom shop at the entrance of the village, and the proprietress even talked to me, she should remember me."

Hua Chong thought, the house at the entrance of the village should be the one he and Liu Zhiqin visited last time.

"When I returned to 'Shanweitang', Liangjia and the others had already gone up the mountain." Yuan Feifei continued: "I took a rest before going out for a walk."

Hua Chong wrote down all the time points and closed the notepad, "Do you still have any memories of studying in Xiancheng No. [-] Middle School?"

Yuan Feifei was puzzled, and hesitated, "It's been more than ten years."

"Ten years is not short, but it is not too long." Hua Chong said, "Did Fan Miao, Sheng Feixiang, Zhou Liangjia do anything out of the ordinary?"

"Liangjia shouldn't be there, let me think about it." Yuan Feifei frowned, lost in thought, "She is one year older than me, she was a class flower in the previous class, she is beautiful, and her grades are also good. She did very well in the high school entrance examination." Well, I went to the best high school in Xiancheng."

"What about Fan Miao and Sheng Feixiang?"

"Does gang fight count?"

Hua Chong stroked his chin and didn't speak for a while.

Group fights are very common among junior high school students. Boys are at their most rebellious and naughty when they are fourteen or fifteen years old. In schools where the quality of teaching is not so good, it is rare for a boy to have never fought in groups. thing.

Fan Miao and others did something that the murderer still hates. It should not be just a group fight between boys.

"I don't know about the others." Yuan Feifei lowered her eyes and began to tremble again, "Who is so cruel..."

??

In another police room, Xu Sheng also sighed in the same way.

He is also 27 years old this year and works as a bartender in a nightclub. He is tall and big, but his eyes are quite flustered.

This was normal. Before the accident, he and Fan Miao went up the mountain together. After the accident, he, together with many tourists, saw the burnt corpse beyond recognition.

Liu Zhiqin asked: "You went up the mountain together, why did you separate?"

"There are too many people on the mountain, and I can squeeze them away, and I like hip-hop culture very much." Xu Sheng said: "Before the concert started, I told them that I will go to the front in a while, if there is a chance I went on stage to compete with the guests. Fan Miao agreed to videotape me below, but after I squeezed into the first row, I didn’t see them again.”

"That is to say, you parted before and after the concert?"

"Yeah. I called Fan Miao later, but I couldn't get through. I thought it was too noisy, but he didn't hear it. I didn't expect that he might have..." Xu Sheng covered his eyes and sighed heavily. Take a breath.

"Give me your mobile phone." Liu Zhiqin said, "I'll check the time of your call."

Xu Sheng unlocked his phone and put it on the table, "I remember it was around 8 o'clock. The concert officially started at 8 o'clock, but the heat had already started at 7 o'clock. I didn't know where they went, and I was in a hurry to compete on stage. Only then did I call Fan Miao."

Liu Zhiqin saw that at 8:12 and 8:13, Xu Sheng called Fan Miao twice.

With the level of noise at the scene, it is indeed possible not to hear the bell.But at this time, the staff had already started setting up the fire, so Fan Miao couldn't hear the bell because of the noise.Together with Sheng Feixiang and Zhou Liangjia, he has been placed in the combustion aid.

"Have you been staying together these few days?" Liu Zhiqin asked.

Xu Sheng said hesitantly, "That's right. When I come out, I just eat and play cards."

"Did they have any unusual behavior?"

"Actually, I don't know what kind of behavior is abnormal." Xu Sheng hesitated for a while, "We are just ordinary friends. We went to a junior high school. Now we both work in Los Angeles. We are from the same hometown and classmates, so we only get together occasionally. We can’t say we know each other very intimately. Especially me and Yuan Feifei.”

"How to say?"

"Yuan Feifei and Zhou Liangjia have a good relationship; I only know Fan Miao well; Fan Miao and Zhou Liangjia are very good, and they usually make appointments at parties."

Liu Zhiqin took care of the relationship between these five people in his heart - schoolmates, fellow villagers, but there are differences in closeness, and the central characters are Zhou Liangjia and Fan Miao.

"Are Zhou Liangjia and Fan Miao pure friends or lovers?" Liu Zhiqin asked.

"I heard that Zhou Liangjia talked with Fan Miao in high school." Xu Sheng said, "I'm not sure, I was not in the same school as them at the time. They should be just ordinary friends now. Fan Miao has changed a lot of girlfriends. Zhou Liangjia has had several boyfriends in recent years."

Lovers break up and become friends.Liu Zhiqin pondered for a while, "I just heard from my colleague that you are very scared?"

Xu Sheng's back was tense, cold sweat poured down, and his voice trembled, "Can I not be afraid? They were burned to death for no reason, or they were burned to death when they were traveling with me and participating in activities together. Will the murderer's target return?" With me? If I didn't go to the stage to PK with the guests, would I have been burned to death?"

Liu Zhiqin raised his chin slightly, "Why do you think that you will also be the murderer's target?"

"How do I know? But Fan Miao and the others were burned to death! Me, Yuan Feifei and I are their companions!"

"Like Fan Miao, what have you done that can't be forgiven by others?" Liu Zhiqin's voice was very soft, but somewhat bewildered, "Did this incident cause serious and irreversible harm to someone?"

Xu Sheng was stunned for a few seconds, then stood up suddenly, his eyes widened, "I don't! I don't!"

"Sit down." Liu Zhiqin knocked on the edge of the table, "Think about it again, have you offended anyone with Fan Miao and the others?"

Xu Sheng panted heavily and shook his head desperately.

Liu Zhiqin threw him a pack of napkins, and suddenly smiled, "The murderer wants revenge only on Fan, Sheng, and Wednesday, and it has nothing to do with you or Yuan Feifei."

Xu Sheng calmed down a little, wiped off the sweat from his face, and glanced at Liu Zhiqin warily.

Liu Zhiqin guided patiently: "Recall again, who did the three of them offend?"

Xu Sheng closed his eyes and frowned. After thinking for a long time, he shook his head and said, "I really don't have any impression. If you offend someone, you will be burned to death. Well, that's too much."

Liu Zhiqin leaned back, "Then you take a rest first, and once you have an idea, even if it's a trivial matter, tell me right away."

Xu Sheng looked confused.

Liu Zhiqin smiled coldly, "This is not only to help us solve the case, but also to protect yourself, understand?"

Xu Sheng was obviously frightened, and kept nodding, "Ming, I understand."

??

At the same time, other surveys and inquiries are also proceeding quickly and orderly.

In the evening, Hua Chong convened a meeting of members of the Serious Case Team and the Accumulated Case Team.

Luoguan Village is small, but the police station is big and stately. There are a large group of people sitting in the conference room, but it doesn't look crowded.According to Xiao Chengxin's words, the people in this place suddenly became rich when they became poor. Not to mention the police station, even the toilets had to be turned into palaces.

A member of the accumulated case team first reported the list of tourists who drove away at night. There were 27 people in total, and only 7 of them did not go up the mountain to participate in the activities. However, before and after the incident, they were all captured by the village cameras, and their alibi was sufficient; The 20 people are always near the main stage, and there is no possibility of committing a crime.

This result is not surprising.The murderer stayed in Luoguan Village not only to watch the follow-up, but more importantly to hide himself among the tourists.

"The last time the camera captured Fan Miao was at 6:47. At that time, he was talking to Sheng Feixiang next to an open-air water bar." Yuan Hao said while playing the video, "There are many people around, but Zhou Liangjia was not seen."

"Why did Zhou Liangjia get separated from them?" Xiao Cheng asked sincerely.

Yuan Hao touched the bridge of his nose.Obviously, he couldn't answer this question.

"Continue." Hua Chong said.

"I found Xu Sheng in the surveillance. He didn't lie. Before the commotion happened, he was on the sidelines of the main stage." Yuan Hao said: "But the flower team, you asked me to check Yuan Feifei's whereabouts, I only saw her I left 'Shanweitang' at 5:58, and it was 10:23 when I was photographed again, on the street opposite to 'Shanweitang'. At that time, something happened on the mountain, and a large number of tourists were rushing to the village .”

"She disappeared for more than 4 hours?" Zhang Mao looked at Hua Chong, "This is not right, if she walks in the village to enjoy the scenery as she said, there is no reason why she should not be caught by the camera! She deliberately avoided All the cameras turned on? She wasn't in the village at all, but went up the mountain? Both of these situations are very suspicious!"

Hua Chong gave a "hmm" and then asked, "What else? How many people have been ruled out as possible criminals?"

"When the incident happened, most of the tourists and villagers had alibi." Yuan Hao said: "According to preliminary investigation, a total of 26 people were missing, and Yuan Feifei was among the 26 people."

"Then can the rest of you go back?" Xiao Chengxin asked without any confidence, and gave Hua Chong a sneaky look.

"Let's make arrangements." Hua Chong wasn't as strict as when he came here at night, and even smiled, "Captain Xiao, you've worked hard today."

Xiao Chengxin opened his eyes wide, flattered.

Hua Chong said: "It is not an easy task to appease so many people and get them to cooperate with the investigation. You have done a good job."

Xiao Chengxin's nostrils bulged, a little proud and a little wronged.

Hua Chong didn't continue to praise him, and turned to others, "Now that we have drawn out the range of suspects, let's investigate them one by one. The murderer is cunning and has anti-social personality. As long as you find anyone suspicious, report to me immediately."

After the meeting, the team members left while discussing.Xiao Chengxin walked in the front, looking very motivated.

Liu Zhiqin also stood up, and as soon as he moved his footsteps, his wrist was grabbed by Hua Chong.

"Huh?" He lowered his head, a little surprised.

Hua Chong withdrew his hand, "Don't rush away."

There was a burst of heat from the touched wrist, Liu Zhiqin instinctively lifted it up and touched it.

Just now, he didn't intend to leave, he just sat for too long and wanted to stand up and move around.

Hua Chong actually thought that he wanted to slip away first.

"I'm not going," he said, "I still have something to tell you."

Hua Chong immediately entered the state, "What did you find?"

"I checked the recent communications and Internet records of the five of them." Liu Zhiqin said, "This group trip was strongly promoted by Yuan Feifei. She booked a room at the 'Shanweitang' a month ago." .Moreover, this is the fourth time she has come to Luoguan Village."