Chapter 27 [VIP] The Extermination Case (11)

Chapter 27 [VIP] The Extermination Case (11)

Meng Siqi ran breathlessly to the library, which was not far from her home. The library closed at nine-thirty, and she had less than half an hour left.

By this time, many people had already left the library. She quickly entered the reading room and began searching through the rows of bookshelves. After flipping through several books on feng shui, legends, and mysteries, she finally found the one she wanted.

As she opened it, her fingers slowly became uncontrollable, trembling slightly as she turned the pages...

"It's about to close!" a staff member came to remind her.

Meng Siqi immediately grabbed the book and went outside to fill out the borrowing slip. After successfully borrowing the book, she followed the crowd out of the library's door. At the entrance of a nearby convenience store, she squatted down.

The light from the convenience store shone directly onto her book.

After deciphering all the doubts, Meng Siqi realized she had been squatting outside the convenience store for an hour. When she stood up, her legs were cramping, and she had to lean against the wall for a while to recover. The convenience store owner seemed accustomed to her behavior outside the library.

She bought a bag of dry instant noodles.

To be honest, she was quite hungry. As she walked back home, she started eating the noodles.

Calling the bureau so late was inappropriate, and she didn't feel entirely confident in her interpretation. She still needed to review the book when she got home.

The next morning, Meng Siqi woke up very early. She quickly returned to the bureau and wrote down her thoughts on the crime board.

Just as she finished writing, she noticed someone standing behind her. It was Captain Han.

Han Changlin's gaze was fixed, his eyes intently focused on the words she had written, not moving away for a long time.

Because of Ye Xiuhui's complaint about "the eighteen layers of hell," Meng Siqi connected it to the clues of the case. She believed that the key to this mass murder was the eighteen layers of hell.

There are eighteen punishments in the eighteen layers of hell, and she verified each one, eventually finding correspondences.

Zhu Gongyou matched the Iron Tree Hell; he was nailed to the head with iron nails, which almost fit perfectly.

You Meihua matched the Tongue-Pulling Hell; her tongue was cut out, fitting perfectly.

Zhu Xinting matched the Oil Pot Hell; some of her fat tissue was fried.

Qi Xiaowei matched the Knife Mountain Hell; two knives were inserted into his face after death.

As for Ning Xiangjuan, there seemed to be no corresponding hell, perhaps due to some reason the murderer did not follow through.

Meng Siqi stood aside, waiting for Han Changlin's response. After a moment, Han Changlin looked at her, "Is this your idea?"

"Captain Han, I read a book at the library yesterday and thought it might match..."

Han Changlin's frozen expression slowly relaxed, even showing some excitement. "Good, very good!"

He rubbed his hands, feeling a surge of motivation and direction.

At this moment, Feng Shaomin and others entered one by one.

Han Changlin immediately clapped his hands and said loudly, "Guys, let's get to work. Investigate all unsolved murders in Jinyang City over the past three years."

Tang Xiaochuan stepped forward, "Captain Han, what are the key features?"

"The eighteen layers of hell!"

Not only Tang Xiaochuan but even Feng Shaomin was taken aback. Tang Xiaochuan asked, "Captain Han, what are the eighteen layers of hell?"

"I knew you'd ask that. If you don't understand what the eighteen layers of hell are, come take a look!"

Everyone gathered around, looking at the words Meng Siqi had written on the crime board. Han Changlin said, "Meng, explain your thoughts briefly."

Meng Siqi hurriedly picked up the book she borrowed from the library and succinctly explained her deductions based on the descriptions of the punishments in the eighteen layers of hell.

Everyone seemed to understand immediately.

Zhao Leiting's gaze shifted from the crime board to Meng Siqi, full of praise: "Siqi, impressive! You made these connections!"

Meng Siqi humbly replied, "I'm not sure if my connections are correct."

Han Changlin immediately said, "Regardless, this is a great investigative direction. Meng's discovery is valuable!" He slowly looked at Meng Siqi, his eyes filled with affirmation.

Captain Han did not often praise his subordinates. This was the first time he had praised her in front of the entire second team. Meng Siqi felt a surge of emotion, like a string being plucked that couldn't stop vibrating.

Han Changlin then looked at Feng Shaomin, "Feng, your apprentice did really well this time!"

Feng Shaomin's lips curled slightly upward.

In Meng Siqi's eyes, Feng Shaomin rarely smiled. This subtle smile added to her pride, already stirred by the praise.

However, the case was not yet solved, and she could not show any arrogance. She immediately said, "Master, I will work even harder."

Unexpectedly, Feng Shaomin responded for the first time, nodding, "Good."

Han Changlin's voice rang out, full of confidence and determination: "Now that everyone understands this feature, find all the murders that match the punishments of the eighteen layers of hell!"

"Yes!"

Zhao Leiting raised his hand, "Captain Han, is it possible the murderer committed similar crimes in other places over the past few years?"

"Good point, Zhao Leiting. You should contact the police departments in other cities and ask them to help find similar cases..."

"Okay, Captain Han."

Han Changlin clapped his hands, "Dismissed. Get to work now, and don't miss a single suspicious case file!"

In the archive room, Feng Shaomin led the team in searching through the unsolved case files from the past three years. Due to the large number of files, they needed to verify each one carefully. Han Changlin also assigned two additional investigators to assist with the verification.

Everyone circled around several bookshelves, some standing and flipping through files, others squatting. Meng Siqi had been squatting for so long that her legs started to ache. She leaned against the wall and pulled down stacks of case files from the shelves, examining each one before stacking them up again.

To avoid any omissions, they expanded the time range of the case files to cover the past ten years. The day passed quickly, but there was hardly any new information found.

Han Changlin entered and exited the archive room several times throughout the day. As the end of the workday approached, his face showed signs of anxiety. He asked Tang Xiaochuan, "Have you found anything yet?"

Tang Xiaochuan replied, "Nothing matches the obvious characteristics."

"Ah, this one looks somewhat similar," Feng Shaomin said, holding a file and walking over to Han Changlin.

Everyone hurriedly gathered around. Meng Siqi, feeling drowsy, suddenly perked up at Feng Shaomin's discovery and walked over immediately.

Han Changlin read from the file, "The victim’s heart was removed... Is there such a punishment?"

Tang Xiaochuan asked, "A punishment involving heart removal?"

"I don’t think so," Meng Siqi recalled clearly.

Tang Xiaochuan nodded, "Then I must have remembered wrong. I’ve been watching CCTV’s *Strange Tales* recently, which is why these things keep coming to mind."

After a moment of silence, Feng Shaomin suddenly said, "The perpetrator has strong anti-detection abilities and extensive knowledge of obscure facts, which he uses effectively. He must have received a good education. He likely planned this year and meticulously executed it starting recently. The Zhu Gongyou case might be the first."

In other words, no new clues would be found in these case files.

Han Changlin said, "He could also be an extreme antisocial personality type, not targeting specific victims but acting out of a mental illness, believing himself to be a judge using the eighteen levels of hell to punish others."

Feng Shaomin and Han Changlin’s analysis left everyone deep in thought. This insight undoubtedly helped the investigation.

Meng Siqi had been reading about criminal psychology, which described antisocial personality disorder, also known as a dissocial personality disorder. People with this condition are often cold, lack empathy and guilt, and commit crimes without specific hatred, simply enjoying the act itself. They are meticulous and brutal.

Feng Shaomin closed the file and continued along Han Changlin’s line of thought, "Captain Han, now that you mention it, I think it’s possible. Zhu Gongyou’s company arson, You Meihua embezzling her brother’s compensation money, Qi Xiaowei’s prostitution—these actions might all be seen by the perpetrator as deserving of hell, making him the judge..."

This analysis weighed heavily on everyone's minds. Of the eighteen levels of hell, only four had been identified, suggesting that fourteen additional forms of punishment could be looming on the horizon.

Thinking about this, Meng Siqi felt a chill run down her spine.

"Alright," Han Changlin sighed, seemingly uncertain about the current leads or anxious about the case’s progress. He slowly said, "I’ll go brief Commissioner Liu... You continue..."

Meng Siqi realized that today was the deadline set by Captain Han and Commissioner Liu. It seemed Captain Han would have to break his promise.

The next day, only Tang Xiaochuan and Meng Siqi were still reviewing the case files. On the third day, only Meng Siqi was left checking them while the others went to the crime scene for further investigation.

Zhao Leiting had been contacting other city public security bureaus regarding the case files. With their full cooperation, on the third day at noon, Zhao Leiting received a call while alone in the office.

A few minutes later, he appeared in the archive room. Meng Siqi, feeling tired, saw Zhao Leiting rush in, visibly excited. "Found it, found it."

"Found what?" Meng Siqi looked up and asked.

"There was a case in Qin Dong City last year where the victim’s ten fingers were cut off..."

"The scissors hell?" Meng Siqi’s fatigue vanished instantly, and she became excited. The scissors hell was the punishment of cutting off ten fingers in the eighteen levels of hell. She put down the file and said, "We should tell Captain Han right away."

"Captain Han is on his way back... Stop looking, let’s wait for him."

"Okay."

Within half an hour, Han Changlin and the others returned to the office. While waiting, Meng Siqi wrote down the key points of the case based on the information Zhao Leiting received on the crime board.

Han Changlin’s eyes lit up when he saw the crime board. Zhao Leiting recited the details, "Captain Han, this is the information we have collected so far. The victim, Wei Xingping, died with his wife at home last year. The weapon was a 13 cm long, 3 cm wide single-edged blade. All ten fingers were cut off, the cuts were neat, fitting the scissors hell characteristic..."

Han Changlin asked, "What about the victim’s identity?"

Zhao Leiting drew a line under the word "photographer" with chalk, "A photographer for the Shixin Evening News in Jinyang City. He lived in Qin Dong City and commuted daily between the two cities. He had worked at the newspaper for over five years."

Not only did this connect to Jinyang City, but it also matched the crime profile perfectly, giving everyone renewed hope.

Zhao Leiting added, "According to Qin Dong Public Security, the initial assumption was that Wei Xingping was killed out of revenge. As a photographer, his reports were often documentary in nature, potentially touching on someone’s interests, leading to his murder. His fingers were cut off, but no specific leads were found."

Han Changlin was confident, "Contact the Shixin Evening News immediately and review all reports Wei Xingping participated in over the past five years."

Feng Shaomin reminded, "Captain Han, Wei Xingping worked for a long time, so there might be many newspapers. Should we bring back all the newspapers from the past five years and assign people to check them at home?"

"Agreed," Han Changlin nodded, "Our priority is to filter quickly!"

Tang Xiaochuan said, "Captain Han, I’ll go to the newspaper office and bring back the newspapers from the past few years..."

In the afternoon, Tang Xiaochuan and a few others brought back a large pile of newspapers. Due to limited space, the newspapers were stacked against the wall. Five years’ worth of newspapers filled up an entire wall.

Han Changlin opened a newspaper and quickly scanned it, "Let’s work together to filter these. First, sort out the newspapers Wei Xingping worked on."

Unexpectedly, this task kept them busy until evening. When they looked back, they found that Wei Xingping had participated in at least half of the newspapers.

Seeing the mountain of newspapers, everyone stood silently, knowing the next task would be even more daunting: finding suspects among the newspapers Wei Xingping reported on.

This seemed like a monumental task, given the sheer number of reports and the difficulty of verifying each one. Even if they put in tremendous effort to identify all potential suspects related to the reports, the perpetrator might already be long gone, free to commit new atrocities.

Han Changlin pinched his lower lip, deep in thought. Zhao Leiting wiped his forehead, glancing at Meng Siqi, who was exhausted after working all afternoon.

"Feng, how long do you think it will take to investigate all these?" Han Changlin asked.

Feng Shaomin pursed his lips, "Hard to say. If we narrow it down to the past three years and focus on reports with conflicts of interest, it might take at least one to two months."

Even this was a conservative estimate. There was little reaction from the team. Han Changlin sighed softly, "But we have to do it... There’s no better way, right?"

Clearly, there was no better method. According to Qin Dong Public Security, Wei Xingping had no enemies or financial disputes. His strong career focus made it difficult to find other reasons for his murder besides conflicts arising from his reports.

Seeing no response, Han Changlin said, "Let’s start investigating then."