Eyes that are the same as those of evil

Chapter 5: The Elopement Murder Case
The interrogation room was empty, but the slogans on the walls, the fixed chairs, and the distance between the interrogators all created a strong sense of unease and oppression.

Tan Jia lowered his head and recounted his "crime process," kneading a lump of dough in his hand.

"...She fell to the ground, flattening a patch of grass. I grabbed her neck tightly, silencing her screams. I don't know how long I choked her, but her eyes bulged out, her face like a glaring demon. I was a little scared, but mostly angry. Then I picked up a stone and smashed it into her face... That red mole was so annoying. I repeatedly hit her forehead, blood splattering onto my face... She stopped breathing. I hit her one last time, hard, and blood splattered again... I was terrified, and fell backward to the ground, my breathing like asthma..."

The two police officers in the interrogation room began to question the time and place of the incident in a random order.

But Tan Ming, watching the indoor surveillance footage from outside, was ashen-faced: "She can't be the murderer!"

Xiao Chen glanced at his face: "But why would she know so many details and still turn herself in?"

Zheng Yan pressed, "Did you go home and tell me about the case's progress?"

"of course not!"

"How could she know? She was the first to provide clues and reveal the victim's identity. Even if she wasn't the murderer, she must have known something."

Tan Ming has no idea why; he is the most incredulous and bewildered person right now.

But he still testified for Tan Jia first: "She has only been in Jiujiang for a month. Before that, she had been studying and living abroad. She did not know Mi Junfang at all. Moreover, I was at home the night Mi Junfang was killed. It is impossible for her to quietly run out in the middle of the night to kill a stranger and smash the other person's face in anger!"

Coincidentally, Tan Jia also mentioned this point in the surveillance footage.

"...I don't know Mi Junfang, and I didn't know the Luo family before I went to Luo Mei's house to mediate on February 28. At first, I thought it was just a dream because I was at home when I woke up. Maybe it's because I had a car accident a month ago and I have some psychological problems. But I only heard about Mi Junfang's disappearance the day before and dreamed that she was killed the next night. It felt so real."

“I was worried that the dream was real, so I came to provide clues when you found the body. But I thought the case would be closed soon. I thought, if you can’t find evidence that Mi Junfang’s lover or the Luo family is the murderer, is it possible that the murderer is someone else? Like me, a mentally ill person who sleepwalks out and kills people in the middle of the night.”

Tan Ming, who was outside the surveillance camera, breathed a sigh of relief: "She said that she dreamed that she had killed someone after meeting the Luo family on February 28, but Mi Junfang's real time of death was the night of February 27. The murderer could not be her."

The police officer in the interrogation room asked, "On February 28th, you were mediating a marital dispute between Luo Mei and Wang Yong at Luo Mei's house. At that time, Mi Junfang had already disappeared. How did you immediately confirm that the deceased in your dream was Mi Junfang? Had you seen her?"

“When I heard that Mi Junfang had run away with someone, I thought it might not be true. Cases of women disappearing with pornographic rumors are not uncommon in various countries. So I asked around about what she was wearing and looked like when she left. I originally planned to report it as a clue after the Luo family confirmed that Mi Junfang was really missing.”

The police officer asked again, "Repeat what time and under what circumstances you had this dream."

"On the evening of February 28th..." Tan Jia said smoothly. For her, it was like reconfirming her social media password, a secret known only to her. Even if the time was changed, no one else would know.

She came to "turn herself in," not because she really wanted to be branded a murderer.

As for other questions, she answered that she didn't know.

The interrogation was repeated three or four times, and with the time spent on verification, it took most of the day to finish.

After speaking with the people in the pre-trial department, Zheng Yan confirmed the final result: "She is not the murderer."

Tan Ming sat back down in his chair with a thud.

Xiao Chen asked curiously, "How did she manage to dream about so many details?"

“There are always strange things in the world that cannot be explained. There was even a case in 2014 where a murderer was caught through a dream. That was even more unbelievable,” Zheng Yan tapped the table. “We will investigate Tan Jia’s dream more carefully later. The most important thing is to solve the case first. Her dream mentioned a few new clues. Let’s try to investigate them.”

"When the murderer smashed the victim's face, blood splattered on the murderer's clothes and face. It may have been wiped off instead of washed off. When the assisting police officers searched the trash cans near the first crime scene, they were asked to also check for blood-stained tissues."

“In each of her accounts, she emphasized that the killer was very scared and angry. If Liu Guanhua were really a serial killer, he wouldn’t have collapsed to the ground in fear. Either we’ve misjudged him and he’s not the killer, or this is his first time killing someone. The suspicion against the Luo family has increased a bit, and we need to revisit and investigate them. This time, don’t summon them; just go to their door to ask them.”

"Also, the murderer's breathing sounds like asthma, so he might have bronchitis or something similar. Tan Ming, go check the medical records of the Luo family and Liu Guanhua to see if anyone has this kind of problem." As the tasks were assigned one by one, the second team members had almost all left.

Tan Jia was led by Zheng Yan to the first crime scene.

This is also the first case in which the person who identifies and recreates the crime scene is a member of the public who is unrelated to the murderer.

The "dead body model" that Tan Jia had requested from the lab was placed in the grass. Tan Jia bent down, grabbed the model by the neck, and then used one hand to grab a stone and smash it against the face.

The profiler stands by and observes, revising the previous profile results.

During this time, Zheng Yan received a call from a technician, who delivered a message from a long time ago.

"A year ago, the deceased commented on a short video that she was unhappy in her marriage and did not want to live anymore. At that time, she did not know Liu Guanhua."

"Something serious must have happened at the time. Did Luo Zhiyong commit domestic violence?"

"But the interviews didn't reveal that the deceased's husband had abused her. Instead, they were all negative comments about the deceased, saying that she started to show her true colors two years ago and started having affairs everywhere. But that doesn't make sense."

"Neighbors won't tell us everything they know."

Zheng Yan hung up the phone and waved in Tan Jia's direction: "Come here for a second, yes, it's you, Green Wolf."

Tan Jia: "..."

I should have known better than to dye my hair before going back to China. Here, I'm constantly being treated like a non-mainstream person.

Zheng Yan asked, "Did you hear anyone mention what happened to the deceased a year ago during the mediation on February 28th?"

Tan Jia never followed other people's questions, only answering what she knew: "I don't know. We just went to mediate the marital conflict between Luo Mei and Wang Yong. The biggest problem is that it is said that Wang Yong and Mi Junfang are having an affair. Wang Yong often calls Mi Junfang and says disgusting things. Even after this happened, Luo Zhiyong still doesn't want the two families to divorce."

After thinking for a moment, Zheng Yan took Tan Jia to Luo Zhiyong's house in the evening.

This area is already quite remote from Jiujiang. The alleys twist and turn, there are no building entrances, and you have to squeeze onto the stairs to the fifth floor with a group of elementary school students after school.

When I climbed to the third floor, I happened to hear a group of boys making a drawn-out, mocking noise about someone, saying some very unpleasant things.

Luo Zhiyong's eleven-year-old daughter, carrying a large schoolbag, climbed uphill with her head down.

Tan Jia frowned, kicked the boy in front of her, making him stumble: "Your voice is awful, shut up."

A group of elementary school students turned to look at her, seemingly stunned by her trendy and unbelievable appearance. They obediently shut their mouths and quickly ran upstairs to their own homes.

Zheng Yan glanced at her, then called out to Luo Xiaomin and asked her about Mi Junfang's character.

Surprisingly, Luo Xiaomin had a very good opinion of Mi Junfang and did not agree with the claim that she had been exposed for her true colors two years ago.

When asked about the unusual events of the past year, Luo Xiaomin, with tears in her eyes, hesitantly recounted one incident.

“Last year during the Spring Festival, one night I heard my mother crying, and my father and uncle were kneeling on the ground kowtowing.”

(End of this chapter)