Eyes that are the same as those of evil

Chapter 22 Ghost Hotline - Serial Murder Case 2
Seeing the Criminal Investigation Team 2 leave, Tan Jia relaxed his furrowed brows, turned around and left the crowded area outside the cordon, walking back against the flow of people.

She was kneading dough in her hands, thinking about the current situation as she did so.

The criminal investigation team must have a lead?

I wonder if the clues she got from her dream can still help them.

If the criminal investigation team can solve the case today, that would be ideal.

If she can't, what reason should she use this time if she wants to provide clues?
She couldn't just expose the secret of "sharing the same perspective as the murderer at the same time" like that; she didn't want to be a 24/7 murder alarm machine.

Let's just say she dreamt of the scene after seeing the corpse. Once tonight is over, she'll go find Tan Ming... She had originally decided to ignore those dreams, but the victim's face was so young, and the death was obviously strange. If she didn't lend a hand, she wouldn't be able to calm down no matter how many dough figurines she made.

By the end of the dough sculpting session, Tan Jia still didn't know what he wanted to make, but he did feel a bit more at peace. He let out a sigh of relief and looked back at the residential building surrounded by police tape.

The way she fell to her death was gruesome. Fortunately, the dream was from the killer's perspective, so she couldn't see the horrific state of the body. Otherwise, if she had dreamt this a couple more times, she would have gone insane.

-

The wine company is located on the seventeenth floor of a newly built office building, five kilometers away from the Shizi Garden residential area.

When the criminal investigation team arrived, it was already past 11:40. All the workers in the building were eager to get going, just waiting for the time to arrive so they could rush downstairs to eat.

A bald, middle-aged man was about to leave early when he saw them and frowned: "Are you also Xiao Liu's family? I've already said, his matter has nothing to do with our company, and there's nothing we can do about it even if you go for a work injury assessment."

Xiao Chen showed his identification: "Don't worry, this isn't a work injury investigation. Is Qu Li an employee of your company?"

Police officers, or plainclothes officers!
The middle-aged man wore a bitter expression, as if he were having a run of bad luck, and immediately ushered the person inside: "Qu Li... something happened? No wonder she didn't come to work today."

Then, cautiously, he asked, "What happened to her?"

"She fell to her death this morning in Cross Garden. Do you know who she was close to or had conflicts with at work?"

He really didn't know, so he waved to the person in the same office as Qu Li. The person thought he had received an urgent task just before the end of the workday and was feeling hopeless. He only realized what was going on when he heard her name.

"Qu Li? She's been with the company for less than a year, and her relationship with everyone is just so-so. She doesn't socialize much and just quietly does her job. People's impression of her is that she dresses rather strangely."

"What's so strange about it? Wearing very old-fashioned clothes and covering yourself up completely?"

"Yes, yes, I've never seen her wear short sleeves or a skirt."

Tan Ming asked, "Has she always been this strange since she joined the company, or did the change happen in the middle? Or can you recall if there was a period of time since she joined the company when she suddenly became different? Not just her clothes, for example, she didn't drink before but suddenly started drinking one day, or she was normal before but suddenly started to be mentally confused one day."

The employee recalled, "There really was. A few months ago, there was a period when she made frequent mistakes at work, and her complexion and mental state looked like she had suddenly become seriously ill. She rarely made mistakes at work before. And it seems that her unusual dressing style also started around that time; before that, she would at most dress more conservatively."

Having reached a turning point, Tan Ming continued to guide him patiently: "Do you remember what happened during that time? Job transfers, new employee onboarding, leadership talks, certain activities, team building events, and so on."

That makes it hard to recall. There are daily onboarding conversations with managers, and after several months, how can one remember anything strange?

However, the power of the masses is immense. The employee stopped several colleagues who were about to go to lunch and asked them about this issue. One of them said, "Does attending training at headquarters six months ago count?"

"Oh right, right! Qu Li also attended that training session at the Haicheng headquarters. I think she even took leave after she came back."

Tan Ming nodded. It seemed the deceased had met someone at that headquarters training session—perhaps the one with the nickname "Embrace the New World." Having finished questioning, Xiao Chen showed the chat history and WeChat profile picture, asking, "Do you know whose WeChat name this is?"

Everyone passed it around and looked at it, but several people didn't know that they usually only communicated using work software.
The middle-aged male manager seemed to remember something and went out to call out to the HR: "Xiao Chen, come and take a look."

The man thought for a moment and recognized the WeChat profile picture: "Is that Manager Peng?"

"Manager Peng? What's his full name?" Xiao Chen asked.

“Peng Siyan, but he’s not from our branch. He’s the background check manager at the Haicheng headquarters, and he’s in charge of background checks on management.”

"Was he also there when you went to headquarters for training six months ago?"

"Yes, I have a list of personnel."

"Did this person come to your branch later? Or was he on good terms with anyone here?" The other party knew that the deceased was occasionally not at home, knew what clothes she was wearing, either because they had seen her or had someone take photos and inquire about her.

But this claim was denied.

"He hasn't come back since, and he doesn't have any close relationships with anyone. His position is sensitive, and the person he contacts most often is me, the HR person. But... Qu Li seems to have asked me about Manager Peng, asking which department he's in. It sounds surprising that he's in our company too."

As for whether he had any private contact with Qu Li, no one knows.

Based on this, we can make a preliminary inference: the deceased Qu Li and this Manager Peng probably knew each other before and had some bad dealings. After their chance encounter in Haicheng, Manager Peng started harassing Qu Li again.

Zheng Yan said to HR, "Check Manager Peng's information."

The HR system panel directly displays all of Peng Siyan's information: 28 years old, a graduate of Haicheng University, his place of origin is different from the deceased's, he currently resides in Haicheng, and—

"He didn't come to work today?"

"Yes, it shows as a sick leave application. The process was completed yesterday afternoon."

That would give them just enough time to commit a crime.

Xiao Chen immediately asked for Peng Siyan's address, intending to chase after him and bring him to justice.

With a suspect, shoe prints, and the time of the crime, this case is remarkably simple compared to the Zhao family murder case, which is a huge relief.

After a quick lunch, Xiao Chen and Tan Ming set off in their car.

Zheng Yan stayed at the police station to give reports and answer the phone at any time. At 7:30 p.m., Xiao Chen said on the phone that Peng Siyan was not at home. He called Peng Siyan's parents and they also said they had not seen him. They guessed that Peng Siyan was still staying in Jiujiang and had not left.

They had anticipated this and had already instructed other members of the criminal investigation team to cooperate with the police in checking surveillance footage near the Cross Garden.

Around 8 p.m., Zheng Yan was about to go to Lao Li's office, who was working overtime, to urge him to submit the autopsy report. Just as he stepped out of the office, the music from his phone vibrated in the corridor. He had received a call from an unknown number.

The voice on the other end was low and menacing, carrying a faint, crackling sound of malice.
"Are you ready? The game has only just begun. Another person will die tomorrow."

(End of this chapter)