Silver Snow Line [Criminal Investigation]

As soon as Wei Cheng arrived at the door of the police station, he saw Xu Siruo waiting eagerly with a bouquet of flowers in his arms from a distance.

Xie Qingfei didn't show up. Xu Siruo saw Wei Cheng had called someone properly, and asked hurriedly, "Uncle, I called Officer Xie but she didn't answer. Do you know where she is?"
Wei Cheng was forced to take a sniff of the flower scent, thinking it was so vulgar, and said indifferently: "She is busy."
"Okay." Xu Siruo was sensible. He knew that Xie Qingfei was not a professional, so he did not argue. "The security guard wouldn't let me in. Uncle, can you help me bring the flowers to Officer Xie?"

Just as Xi Ming was about to pick up his chopsticks and prepare to enjoy his lunch, he saw his brother aggressively push open the door of Xie Qingfei's office and slam a bouquet of gorgeous red roses in his arms onto her desk.

The chopsticks fell on the table with a "bang". Xi Ming glanced at Lu Shaohui who was concentrating on eating, and nodded at Wei Cheng who had just put down his food and came out.
When Lu Shaohui saw the overly eye-catching bouquet of flowers, he was stunned for a moment.
Xi Ming swallowed his saliva and asked cautiously, "Are the flowers for my master?"
Wei Cheng sat down, picked up the file and covered his face with it, saying "hmm" sparingly.
Xi Ming immediately came over and smiled obscenely: "So what is your relationship now?"
Wei Cheng's voice came through a pile of documents, as stiff as the printed words in front of him: "I will help her suitor send her flowers."
Xi Ming: “Ah?”

Lu Shaohui was eager to gossip, and he had already nimbly rushed to the captain's desk. He picked up the card on the bouquet, flipped through it, and then recited affectionately: "All happiness is virtual. If I have seen, pursued, and obtained beauty, it was all - and only - a dream of you."

"There are two more tickets. What...cello candlelight concert?" Lv Shaohui said with a "tsk". "A concert is a concert, but 'candlelight' is so ambiguous."

Xi Ming understood immediately: "Could this suitor you are talking about be Xu Siruo?"
Wei Cheng looked at him with his eyes wide open: "It can't be me."
"Then you should reflect on yourself. How come everyone knows that you should give flowers to girls when courting them? What did you give?" Xi Ming patted him on the shoulder in frustration. "You are so disappointing. You are worse than a child."
Wei Cheng: “…”
"Hey, you can't say that," Lu Shaohui jumped out to smooth things over, "How can these little brats be compared with Doctor Wei?"
Wei Cheng keenly caught his words: "'These'? Were there other people before?"
"That's a lot," Lu Shaohui scratched his forehead with his fingers, and said hurriedly, "But they are all passers-by, don't take it to heart. Captain Xie didn't pay attention to any of them, and you are still the only wife."
Xi Ming: “In the past.”

"..."

Wei Cheng didn't want to talk about this bad thing anymore, so he put the document in his hand on the table and said, "What does it mean? Li Mu, is he the newly identified suspect?"
"Oh, about this." Xi Ming stopped laughing and explained, "It was a colleague who was temporarily seconded to help. After reading the basic situation of our case, he said that the murderer's method of committing crimes is the same as the villain boss in a suspense novel he has been reading recently. He would give the victims a number and leave an '×' symbol. Isn't it a coincidence? What's even more coincidental is that after we checked the author's identity information, we found that he is from Shengzhou, and even from our Tianning District."

Wei Cheng looked at the information. The name of this suspense novel is "Versetti Nightmare". The protagonist Versetti is a righteous detective who has handled a serial murder case. The murderer X always leaves a symbol of his name at the crime scene and carves numbers on the bodies of the dead, which is exactly the same as the murderer they are investigating. The police did not reveal too much information about the crime, and the serialization of the novel began long before the death of the first victim Qin Haiyang. It is not the case that the author borrowed the case to gain popularity.

Lu Shaohui leaned against the table and continued, "Li Mu is currently attending a writers' exchange meeting in the province. We have called him and asked him to come back quickly to cooperate with the investigation."

Wei Cheng’s expression was a little hard to describe.
Xi Ming asked, "What's wrong?"
"If Captain Xie knew about this, he would definitely say: This murderer is too old-fashioned. In this era, he still imitates the plot of novels to kill people." Wei Cheng said, and then he opened the web page and read a few chapters. He was surprised and said, "This book... doesn't seem to be famous."
The number of clicks is almost non-existent, and the only two comments are mechanical.
"But you certainly wouldn't have thought that this book has sold several copyrights and won the Outstanding Drama Novel Award in a certain literary competition. The animation adapted from this novel was officially announced to start production not long ago." Lu Shaohui said, "The author is indeed not a big shot, but he has a big shot uncle, so he just needs to pursue his writing ideals. No matter whether it is good or bad, there will always be people willing to support him with money."

Wei Cheng smacked his lips and said, "After all this time, the murderer was actually targeting Li Mu, and the other four victims were just tools he found to imitate the plot?"
Xi Ming sighed: "The good news is that based on Li Mu's personal situation we can more accurately determine the suspect's identity."
"Where's the bad news?"
"The bad news is that the murderer X in the novel committed five crimes before he was finally caught by the protagonist Vansetti. We have only found four victims so far, and we are not sure whether there is another No. 5 who has been killed or is about to be killed."

As they were talking, Xie Qingfei and Zhao Chongyun had already returned. Xie Qingfei had just taken off his coat and was about to hang it up in the office when he saw the bouquet of dazzling red roses as he entered the room.
She glanced at Wei Cheng: "Why are you sending these useless things?"
After hearing this, Wei Cheng smiled and said, "It wasn't given by me."
After reading the card, Xie Qingfei knew that he had wronged him, so he didn't say anything more. Zhao Chongyun also leaned over to take a look, with a sour expression on his face, and whispered to himself: "The handwriting is really ugly."

Xie Qingfei thought that this thing took up too much space. There was not much space on her desk to put her hands, so she simply picked up the flowers and put them in the corner.
Wei Cheng's mood suddenly brightened up, and he jokingly said, "It's a candlelight concert, don't you want to go and listen?"
Xie Qingfei said casually: "If you like, you can go with him."
Wei Cheng said in a sly tone: "I would like to, but I know nothing about cello, unlike you two who have a common language with me."
Xie Qingfei turned around and looked at him with amusement: "Who did I learn the piano for in the first place?"

"Wow, it turns out that Master learned the Qin for my brother." Xi Ming held his chin with both hands and said to Zhao Chongyun with satisfaction, "Look, how well they match each other."
Lu Shaohui took a curious look and said, "Why does Xiao Zhao look so bad? Are you in a bad mood?"
"No," Zhao Chongyun said stiffly, "I guess I was frozen by the wind outside just now."

Wei Cheng didn't buy it: "For me and for 'winning' me are not the same concept."

Wei Cheng had a very free education environment since he was young. His parents did not force him to get in touch with fine arts. He asked teachers to teach him whatever he was interested in, so he had some talent. When he was in high school, the school had an activity and he was asked by his class teacher to sign up for a program. He stood on the stage and played "Butterfly Lovers" on the violin. That was the first time Xie Qingfei knew that this person also knew music, but she did not have the corresponding talent to compare with him. In order not to lose to him in vain, she chose to learn the cello, mainly for the "big".
She learned everything very quickly and could play difficult pieces in less than two months. She even invited him to her home to listen to her performance.
She still remembered the surprise that appeared on Wei Cheng's face at that time, so she was very complacent and didn't notice the love that was almost overflowing in his eyes.

Xie Qingfei deliberately said: "You are right. After all, the skills are my own. I think it is still necessary for me to go to concerts and chat with people who have a common language with me."
Wei Cheng: “…”

"No, you don't have time." Xi Ming's security radar was activated. He felt his mission calling him, and immediately explained the news about Li Mu. "Our current goal is to catch the murderer as soon as possible. Don't even think about the concert!"

Xie Qingfei listened and said: "So unsophisticated?"
Lu Shaohui looked at Wei Cheng in surprise.
"That's easy," Xie Qingfei said quickly, "The murderer is not Li Mu, nor is it someone close to him. Find out about Li Mu's lifestyle and see if he has done anything to 'bully others'."
Zhao Chongyun was depressed for a long time, and now he asked: "Why can't it be Li Mu?"
Xie Qingfei turned the file to that page and pointed his finger at the name of Li Mu's powerful uncle mentioned by Lu Shaohui: "This person is the former director of Tianning Police Station."

Xie Qingfei finished reading the entire "Versati Nightmare" within an hour after lunch. X was a ruthless murderer. He did not choose his victims like the murderer they were investigating, who only looked for immoral people to "enforce justice on behalf of heaven". Instead, he targeted vulnerable groups. The five people he killed were all innocent, honest and poor people. Therefore, Versati, as a detective, hated this murderer so much. The two fought wits and courage, and justice finally defeated evil. At the end, Versati stood under the spotlight and announced to the crowd that X had been executed on the spot. He received flowers and applause, and his deeds were passed on by word of mouth, becoming a world-famous "super detective".

Versace is the god of truth and justice in mythology, and the author did not give the murderer X a proper name until the very end, as if to imply that only those who are upright and just can be remembered through the ages, and those who do evil will eventually be wiped out by history.

Over there, Xi Ming had already confirmed that Li Mu was on the high-speed train back to Shengzhou. Before he arrived, his uncle Li Guangming called the director's office.

When Xie Qingfei was called over, Director Huang pointed at the landline and motioned for her to answer it. As soon as the person on the other end heard her voice, he called "Xiao Xie, Xiao Xie".
"Yes, yes, yes, it's nothing serious, just a few questions. I know he is your nephew, but even if he is your father, you still have to go through the necessary procedures, right?... Don't worry, Xiao Li looks exactly like you, and you can tell at a glance that you are both decent people who won't use backdoors. I will definitely handle things impartially and not give him any special treatment..."

After hanging up, Xie Qingfei faced Director Huang's complicated gaze and said, "I didn't say anything wrong, did I?"
Director Huang snorted and said, "Have you ever worked under Li Guangming before?"
Xie Qingfei responded vaguely: "Why, are you also afraid that I will be partial to you?"
Director Huang just said, "Don't be so aggressive when talking to your elders next time. He is about to retire, not dead. If he really wants to deal with you, do you think there is no way he can do that?"
"I don't have anything that people can use against me, do I?" Xie Qingfei was afraid of hearing another nagging, so he said hurriedly, "I have a meeting there, so I'm leaving first. Next time, if you reject this kind of call, I won't have to offend anyone."
Director Huang was furious when he heard her nonchalant tone: "Go away."

“He was also brain dead after being attacked, and all his clothes were stripped off.” In the conference room, after looking at the photos of the scene, Lv Shaohui’s brows were twisted into a knot. “You say this murderer is not a pervert, right? He even took off people’s clothes. The victim’s clothes were not found at several crime scenes. Did he take them home and keep them?” The surveillance camera was playing the video of Qin Haiyang the night before he disappeared. He came out of the staff dormitory and was the only one on the street late at night.

"Qin Haiyang's right leg is lame, but judging from the footprints left by the murderer when he climbed over the wall, his left leg should be the problem." Xie Qingfei took a closer look with a teacup in hand, "Stop, check what he just put in his pocket."

Dai Lin rewound the video and enlarged the frame she pointed to. The night surveillance footage had poor color, but fortunately the clarity was good enough for them to see that Qin Haiyang was holding a small blue plastic bottle in his hand.
"It must be filled with hydrofluoric acid," Xi Ming picked up the little chemistry knowledge he had left, "This stuff can only be stored in plastic bottles. Was it him who brought the poison into Kang Wenxia's wine?"

Zhao Chongyun had a headache. "The other three murderers were all related to him. This was the only intersection of the four people in their social networks. He had every reason to kill Kang Wenxia and Zheng Yuxuan for revenge. Qin Guodong was not a big deal. But he had all the tools ready, and he died in the first one. Who else could do it?"

The surveillance video continued to play. Qin Haiyang turned along the sparsely populated avenue, entered an even narrower path, and finally sat down on a bench next to a street lamp. The winter night was particularly cold, and he looked around anxiously, rubbing his red and swollen hands.

Soon, a shadow was cast down by the street lamp.

Xi Ming was so nervous that his butt had left the stool. He wanted to see who was meeting Qin Haiyang in the middle of the night. However, the gradually shortening shadow did not disappear in the end. This person maintained a distance of about five meters from Qin Haiyang and just stayed outside the screen.

Lu Shaohui exclaimed, "Oh my god, did he calculate it? There is only one blind spot on the whole road, and he stood there accurately. Is there any video footage from other angles?"
Dai Lin shook his head helplessly: "The surveillance here was originally installed by the glass factory itself. Usually, no one comes to where they are. We are lucky to have this view."

"A crew cut, wearing a leather jacket with a stand-up collar." Xie Qingfei said, "Slow down the speed and play it again."

Dai Lin did as she said.

"'I brought the things out,'" Xie Qingfei said slowly, "'Promise... promise me, when will you do it?'"

Several people looked at her at the same time, and Zhao Chongyun's eyes almost popped out of their sockets: "Master, can you read lips?"

Qin Haiyang handed over the plastic bottle. A flash of fire flashed across the screen, and smoke seemed to flow beside the black shadow on the ground that was so dark that it was impossible to see a human figure.

"He was smoking, and maybe we could find discarded cigarette butts along the way."
After Xie Qingfei finished speaking, he continued to identify Qin Haiyang's lip shape.
"'I'll wait for your news, and I'll share it with you after the job is done...' or something like that." Qin Haiyang covered his mouth when he said this, leaving only the upper half of his face with a wink. Xie Qingfei pondered, "This person might be the murderer we are looking for. For some reason, he established a business relationship with Qin Haiyang. Qin Haiyang provided him with contraband and asked him to help him do things. As a reward, he will share a part of the profits he gained from this matter with the other party."

Zhao Chongyun asked suspiciously, "Qin Haiyang's body was buried in the backyard of his hometown, but he had clearly cut off contact with Qin Guodong. What was he planning to do by suddenly returning now?"
Xi Ming thought for a moment and said, "I asked Qin Haiyang's roommates, and they said that Qin Haiyang has a long-term habit of buying lottery tickets. After work, he would study the winning numbers of each issue in the dormitory, hoping to make a fortune every day. In fact, if nothing happened back then, he would not be an ordinary assembly line worker now. Not only is he penniless, but he is also disabled. For a top student to fall to this point, he must be extremely unwilling in his heart, and the only thing that can help him break through the status quo is probably money."

But how could a man with such a bad criminal record create wealth with his own hands? Once any respectable company heard about his experience, they would not let him in.

After repeated disappointments, Qin Haiyang thought of his father.
No matter what, he is his only son and deserves everything. The house in his hometown can be sold and the old man's savings can be taken. He must be stupid to have lived such a hard life alone for so long.

Xi Ming gestured to his neck: "What he wanted that person to do, could it be that he wanted to kill me so that he could get my inheritance more easily?"

After the meeting, everyone left one after another. Xie Qingfei was alone in the meeting room with three different locks in front of him. They were replicas of the door locks that had been pried open at the homes of the four victims.

In the four cases, the murderer entered the victims' homes as if he was home. He had superb lock-picking skills, cleaned the scene, left almost no personal traces, and had strong anti-detection capabilities.

A middle-aged man, agile, strong and smart.
Xie Qingfei was poking at the keyhole while thinking in his heart, if this man hadn't committed a crime, he would be very suitable to be a...

"Xie Qing..." The door was opened and Wei Cheng was stuck in the middle of his words.

The keyholes in Xie Qingfei's hand opened at the same time, and the "click" sound was particularly obvious in the echoing room.
She looked up and saw Wei Cheng looking at the lock in her hand in astonishment.

(End of this chapter)