Eyes that are the same as those of evil

Chapter 21 Ghost Hotline - Serial Murder Case 1
It was 8 a.m. on Monday morning, and there was wind but no rain in Jiujiang.

The sound of sirens echoed through the intersection, and police tape was laid out around the old residential buildings.

The police officers pulled back the barriers and let Zheng Yan and the others in.

“Around 6:20 this morning, the girl fell from the building and landed on a car parked on the side of the road. A group of people on their way to work saw it and called the police. At first, we thought it was suicide, but during our investigation, a witness said that there seemed to be a figure above the building when the girl fell, so we suspected it was murder. That's why I called you.”

Zheng Yan nodded, looked at the girl who had crashed onto the roof of the car and died before she could even receive any rescue, and then looked up at the rooftop.

Xiao Chen sighed beside her, "The car window was shattered, and shards are stuck in her eyeballs..."

The criminal investigation team deals with all kinds of corpses every day, but the loss of young lives always weighs heavily on their hearts.

"Do you know the identity of the deceased?" Zheng Yan asked.

The police officer shook his head: "She had no identification information on her. We asked the person who reported the incident, the security guard at the gate of the community, and the owner of the car, and they all said they didn't recognize her."

"The security guard at the gate of the community doesn't recognize her? She was able to walk in and climb up the stairs, so she must live in the neighborhood."

The police officer shook his head: "This is a very old community. The gate is always open from 6:00 to 24:00. The gatekeeper is also a resident, a 63-year-old man. Because it is very close to the city center, most of the residents here are young people working in nearby companies. The turnover rate is very high, and the gatekeeper can't remember many faces at all."

That's true. Just across the street is the largest commercial plaza. The biggest reason this community still exists is that it's waiting for demolition.

"She must have had a phone; it might have fallen out when she fell. Xiao Chen, you and some others go look for her. Tan Ming... Tan Ming?"

Tan Ming looked up, pointed at the deceased, and said, "My mother also has a dress like that. But she was very young, why would she wear something so mature that it makes her look old?"

Any suspicious detail needs to be investigated. Zheng Yan walked closer to take a look, and then, through his gloves, lifted the deceased's collar.

"All three layers of clothing are this old-fashioned color."

"There are also burns," Tan Ming said in a deep voice, lifting the hem of his shirt slightly. "There are circular burns of varying ages on my abdomen."

The deceased may have been abused before his death, but the perpetrator was unknown, whether it was a relative, friend, lover, or colleague.

Zheng Yan observed the deceased's face for a while: "He should be in his twenties, someone who has only been working for a year or two."

However, this clue did not narrow the search area at all. There are countless companies in this area, and dozens of businesses can be located in an office building. It is not easy to find out the work address and identify the identity.

Tan Ming sighed, "It's not easy."

"And there's another problem." The police officer gestured with his chin to the crowded people outside the cordon and the heavy traffic at the intersection.

With so many people seeing the body, the news will spread quickly, easily causing public opinion problems and panic among citizens.

They must hurry and solve the case as soon as possible.

Zheng Yan and Tan Ming watched as the body was taken away, and then followed the forensic examiner to the top floor of the residential complex.

The rooftops of each building are separated, and someone has built a tin shack on it and fed pigeons there; the food isn't very pleasant.

"The place where the person fell is here." The forensic team found scratches on the waist-high wall, with peeling plaster lying on the moss, and several shoe prints next to it.

“The toes of their shoes were facing each other, meaning the murderer and the victim were face to face,” Tan Ming said. “They should know each other. The victim most likely rented a place here, and the murderer might also be a tenant here, or someone the victim brought with them. A crime of passion?” In homicides involving young people, the possibility of a crime of passion remains high.

"It could also be a dispute between friends, where someone accidentally pushed someone down."

To determine which possibility it is, we first need to know the deceased's identity and social relationships.

Fortunately, Xiao Chen found the deceased's phone, but it was too badly damaged to turn on and was being taken to a technician for repair.

By the time they finished investigating the scene, the technical repair results had just come out, and they had successfully identified the deceased.

"Qu Li, 24 years old, from Liuxiang County, works as a clerk in a wine company. The delivery address she filled in was apartment 502, fifth floor, building 2, Shizihuayuan residential area where she fell to her death. She moved in five months ago. Other information is still being investigated."

Investigating more in-depth information would take time, but Zheng Yan and his team couldn't wait indefinitely. They had no choice but to take the address information to the landlord, who had also heard about the incident. The couple came together, opening the door and exchanging pleasantries.

"This girl is quite quiet and doesn't cause much trouble. She basically doesn't contact us except to pay the rent. I was even planning to talk to her about the rent for the second half of the year."

Zheng Yan asked, "Do you know if she sometimes brings people home? Does she have a boyfriend?"

"No, that's what she said anyway. I don't know if she brought people home, but I guess not. Because she's actually a bit...too introverted. After we rented the house to her, we only came once. The gas stove broke and we came to replace it. She opened the door and turned the lock three times—she added two locks herself. Then my wife and the installer brought it in, and she just stood at the door watching without coming closer. She looked like she didn't like strangers coming to her door."

Tan Ming thought of the deceased's strange clothing and realized that the deceased may have had sexual problems before his death.

Xiao Chen then came in and said that he had already called the deceased's parents.

“They didn’t know which district their daughter worked in, where she lived, how she was doing lately, or whether she had a boyfriend. They knew absolutely nothing. They just asked her what was wrong. Then I told them what happened, and they burst into tears.”

That's outrageous! Are being a parent really that easy?

The parents' lead yielded no useful information, so they searched the house twice, taking a bunch of things with them, but they still couldn't find any clues about who the deceased had conflicts with or who he frequently interacted with.

However, there was more good news from the technical side.

"The deceased had a male contact in her contact list who frequently harassed her, sending her a lot of messages with a sense of self-satisfaction."

"Harassment?"

"Yes, he keeps sending messages like 'You're not home again,' 'How's your injury?' 'I heard your mom opened a stationery store at the street corner,' 'Your clothes look nice today, did you buy them at the Lulu Shiqing Road store?' There aren't any obvious harassing words, but it seems like he's been targeting her for quite a while."

Zheng Yan asked, "What's that person's name?"

"There was no name or nickname, just a username, 'Embrace the New World.' I added her as a friend three months ago. The deceased only replied to two messages from beginning to end. When she first added me, she asked, 'What do you want?' The night before last, she replied, 'I give up,' and that was it. She set this chat window to 'Do Not Disturb,' but why didn't she just block me?"

The profiler analyzed: "It could be a company client, a boss, a powerful colleague, or a high-ranking man with whom you have a past relationship."

Yes, the life of a working person is about holding your nose and wading through mountains and seas of excrement.

Having finally obtained some useful information, Zheng Yan handed the evidence bag to the forensic investigators and said, "Let's go then. Let's go to her company and ask who this 'Embracing a New World' is."

Ugh, the second story is already over in just nine chapters? Isn't that a bit too fast? (Scratching head)


(End of this chapter)