Eyes that are the same as those of evil

Chapter 25 Ghost Hotline - Serial Murder Case 5
The doctor was more familiar with the channels through which patients with depression could access information than others, and was also familiar with which medications could control Chen Yingying. This was consistent with the murderer's habit of wearing gloves, because no other people's fingerprints were detected on either of the victims.

Moreover, psychiatrists certainly know how to break through the defenses of patients with depression.

So they rushed to the hospital where Chen Yingying was being treated and found the head of the psychiatry department.

This is an industry leader in his fifties, with both a son and a daughter, healthy parents, a happy family, and wealth and status.

In my otherwise smooth-sailing life, the only time I've ever experienced bloodshed was when I got slashed while trying to stop a mentally ill person from stabbing someone's buttocks in the toilet.

But what if overworking leads to mental illness?

Tan Ming dutifully asked, "Where were you between 3 and 4 a.m. on March 31st, and during the same time period on the morning of April 1st?"

“I’m at home. I have two children. I have to get up at 5:30 to prepare breakfast for them, then drive to work and arrive at the hospital at 7:30.”

His family and colleagues he met on the way can attest to this.

"Where were you between 8 and 9 pm on March 31st?"

"At the hospital. There were patients admitted that day."

He had alibis for both murders and for the ghost call made by the killer.

Therefore, it can be basically determined that the doctor is not the murderer.

After working on it for a while, we eliminated one incorrect answer.

However, it wasn't all for naught; they learned from doctors about online communication channels for people with depression.

“They don’t like talking to people, especially girls who have been persecuted. They are very wary of strangers, but the internet allows them to hide their identities and talk about their past.”

"Those kinds of mutual help group chats?"

However, Qu Li's phone did not contain such a group, and Chen Yingying's records were even less so, because her phone had not yet been found.

The doctor shook his head: "It's not just group chats. They usually don't like to build close relationships with people, including adding friends and chatting in a group for a long time, so it's more likely that it's in some places where information can be shared without verifying identity. If they are self-aware like Chen Yingying, they will also find some online psychologists and listen to their accounts late at night."

Tan Ming wasn't familiar with it, so he called the technical team and learned that such a channel did indeed exist.

For example, long-term sharing posts on a certain software, or super topics and psychological treatment radio stations.

"We will focus our investigation on these types of channels next."

This will just take more time.

What they lack is time.

After several busy hours, it was already evening.

A group of people returned to the police station one after another with a pile of investigation results. They had only taken a few steps after getting out of the car when their attention was drawn to a figure leaning against the entrance of the police station, who was idly kneading a dough figurine in his hand.

Tan Jia turned her head, and the evening glow shone on her profile. Her beautiful, almost aggressive features, along with the striking green at the ends of her hair, were incredibly captivating.

“Jiajia? What brings you here…” Tan Ming stepped forward from behind, then paused for a second, realizing a certain possibility, “You…”

"I'm dreaming again."

Time is of the essence; those four words were practically written on everyone's face.

Therefore, when Tan Jia was invited into the interrogation room, he only said two sentences.

“I saw the body downstairs at Cross Garden. Last night I dreamed of the girl being pushed off the building.”

“I know things aren’t simple. There are already posts online discussing the connection between the two cases. It’s a waste of time to just be a narrator. I’m applying to join this case. Maybe one of you can remind me of more details with a casual remark.”

……

The debriefing meeting in the evening was quite different. A cool girl sat next to Zheng Yan, arms crossed, looking at the photos of two deceased people on the whiteboard. Even though her flight jacket was wrinkled, it still looked expensive.

"Ignore her, just tell me the clues you found, be detailed from beginning to end." Zheng Yan got up and wrote down the timeline on the whiteboard.

Everyone shifted their attention from Tan Jia to the case analysis.

Xiao Chen said, "The first victim, Qu Li, fell to her death at around 6:20 a.m. on March 31 in the Shizi Garden residential area. She was 24 years old and worked as a clerk in a wine company."

According to eyewitnesses, when the murder occurred, they vaguely saw a figure leaving the rooftop, but they could not identify whether it was a man or a woman or what it looked like.

"What is particularly noteworthy in the investigation is that Qu Li met Peng Siyan from the same company when she attended training in Haicheng six months ago. After returning, her clothing style changed drastically, and Peng Siyan began to harass her with messages. It is speculated that she and Peng Siyan knew each other for a long time and that something very unpleasant had happened between them, such as sexual assault or abuse."

"But the latest forensic report shows that the pair of shoe prints found on the rooftop where Qu Li fell did not match the shoes in Peng Siyan's home, and no other person's biological information was found on Qu Li's clothes."

"As for Peng Siyan, he has disappeared. No one has heard of him for three consecutive days."

"The remaining clue is the circular burns on Qu Li's body, which can be confirmed to be caused by cigarette butts. The earliest one is seven or eight years old, and the most recent one is in the last two weeks. We also found that Qu Li probably has depression. She started taking medication four months ago, but did not go to the hospital for treatment."

Tan Ming continued, "The second victim, Chen Yingying, died by hanging. The time of death was this morning, April 1st, between 6:30 and 7:00. She was 23 years old and from Sanqu Township."

“She is unemployed, lives alone, and was diagnosed with moderate depression three months ago after seeking medical treatment for self-harm. She is also suspected of having paranoia. The earliest self-harm marks on her body can be traced back to three years ago, and the most recent ones are from three months ago.”

“We have examined Chen Yingying’s home, and all indications suggest that she must have left home last night or early this morning. Given that the crime scene is 30 kilometers away from Chen Yingying’s home, we speculate that the murderer must have been very trusted by the victim to be able to call her out.”

"Then we interviewed people in the neighborhood, and no one saw her leave with anyone, but a restaurant owner said that she had been unusually cheerful two days before she left."

"In addition, I suspect that Chen Yingying must have taken some kind of drug, which is why she showed no signs of struggle when the murderer hung her up with a rope. Lao Li is still investigating this. Moreover, no other people's fingerprints were found on her body, so the murderer may have been wearing gloves and had counter-surveillance awareness."

"In addition, our analysis suggests that the murderer must have had a special channel to know that both victims suffered from depression, so we suspected that he was a psychiatrist, but the doctor had a solid alibi."

"However, the doctor reminded us that the murderer may have identified the victim through online forums and posts. But Chen Yingying's phone has not been found yet, so we don't know the specifics of her contact with the murderer."

The timeline and key points were recorded, and Zheng Yan connected them with several lines.

It was marked with an "X" again.

"I have two messages here."

"First, the technical team confirmed that there is no social interaction between Qu Li and Chen Yingying."

"Second, around the bus stop where Chen Yingying hanged herself, someone discovered a suspected murderer."

The printed surveillance screenshots show that around 7 a.m. this morning, when the people on the bus discovered the body and called the police, a person wearing a hoodie and a mask was standing opposite the crime scene.

There were many onlookers at the time, and no one expected that the murderer was watching all of this happening right there in the crowd.

"The killer's appearance and the profiling results are quite similar—"

“A thin male or female, between 160-170 cm tall, not very strong, with no criminal record, perhaps very good at persuasion, confident, and aware of counter-surveillance.”

"Furthermore, the murderer was very familiar with the area around the bus stop, and may be someone from that neighborhood, because no surveillance camera captured his face until he disappeared from the scene."

"He was confirming whether things were unfolding as he imagined. Perhaps he was also at the scene watching from the time Qu Li fell to our arrival," Zheng Yan said solemnly, recalling the utterly unemotional calmness in the phone call last night.

Will they call again tonight to announce another murder? Whose voice will it be this time?
A third murder may already be taking place, and despite their investigation, they have yet to make any significant progress.

The group of people looked grim; this was a very difficult killer.

At this moment, Zheng Yan looked at the "outside help" he had invited.

Since paranormal events are not good to publicize, he didn't introduce them and asked directly, "Tan Jia, you've heard all the information about the case so far. Do you have anything to say?"

Everyone turned their heads, and their gazes were once again focused on Tan Jia.

(End of this chapter)