Eyes that are the same as those of evil

Chapter 57 The Ungrateful Wolf 14
The investigation into Qi Sufen yielded results quickly.

In the group of suspects, her photo was posted in front of Fan Licheng.

"Qi Sufeng, 51 years old, lived next to Fan Licheng, near the plantation hillside. She was an only child. In 1993, at the age of 19, Qi Sufeng married and moved to another province. In 1996, at the age of 22, she gave birth to her son Zeng Hao. In 2004, a fire broke out at Zeng's house. Except for Qi Sufeng, who had fled due to domestic violence and survived, everyone else, including her eight-year-old son, was burned to death."

"In 2007, she returned to Jiuqu Village to live with her parents. In 2009, her parents passed away, and at the age of 35, she began to live alone."

Officer An stared intently at this information: "She also owns a bayberry grove and works at a fruit orchard. She cooked dinner on the night of the incident. Eleven years ago, she had been married off for many years and was not familiar with Fan Yan. After her parents passed away, she lived alone, which made it difficult to be discovered when she had the space to commit the crime... Why didn't we find such an obvious suspect back then, and why did we miss her in this screening as well?"

Zheng Yan: "Because she did not meet the criteria for both screenings."

“Not many people in the village know about her. They all think she just went back to her parents’ home because of her divorce and the fact that the child was awarded to the father. Moreover, our main focus is on people who appeared eleven years ago, whose children are between seven and twelve years old, and who hate children. But she has been living in the village for eighteen years, living peacefully for several years without making a move. No one knows the age of her child. She also loves children very much and is visibly good to Fan Xiaojun to everyone in the village.”

Another point is that Qi Sufen's appearance is too deceptive. She is a gentle old lady with white hair, as if she has no mobility. Who would suspect that she is a murderer who killed several children?
Xiao Chen shook his head and sighed, "Serial killers are indeed very difficult to identify. If I hadn't been provoked and given myself away, it would have been difficult to trace it back to her."

When it comes to excitement, Officer An gets all fired up again: "She definitely has some kind of obsession with Fan Xiaojun! As soon as she heard that Fan Xiaojun lied to cover for Fan Licheng, she immediately showed her hatred."

"We need to investigate what exactly happened during the fire at her husband's house 21 years ago."

This matter is difficult to investigate using technical means because the fire more than 20 years ago was not investigated and therefore not recorded.

It took several attempts to contact several veteran police officers from other provinces to visit the area before they were able to get back a few words.

“A few neighbors still remember her. They said that Qi Sufeng’s life was not good after she married into the family. Her husband and mother-in-law often scolded and ordered her around. Things only got a little better after she gave birth to her son. But unexpectedly, her husband felt that she couldn’t bear to leave when the child was a little older, so he became even worse and started to abuse her.”

“She was often beaten so badly that she couldn’t go inside, so she would lie down and hide by the neighbor’s yard wall. The night of the fire was the same; after being beaten, she lay down at the neighbor’s door and didn’t realize that something was wrong until the neighbor saw smoke coming from her house and ran over to call for help to put out the fire.”

"She rushed in to try and save the child, but the fire was too big. Before the fire truck arrived, the entire bungalow was burned down. No one inside escaped. In the end, only a few bodies were found. The child was charred and only his torso remained. Qi Sufeng fainted on the spot and has been somewhat mentally unstable ever since."

Officer An leaned closer to the phone and asked, "How did the fire start? Were there any accelerants?"

"It's unclear whether there were any accelerants, but the people there said the fire was started by the child because Qi Sufen couldn't save the child. She cried and said the child did it for her, saying he wanted to burn his father to death to protect his mother."

This doesn't match the profile of the murderer.

"If Qi Sufeng really loves children so much, why would she hate an unfilial child? Even if she wasn't the murderer, her expression of hatred and disgust after hearing Fan Xiaojun defend her father is definitely not right."

But nothing suspicious could be found out about this; it happened more than twenty years ago, and very few people can remember it.

Zheng Yan let out a breath: "It seems we'll have to pry open Qi Sufeng's mouth to find out."

How do I pry it open?
Should we first convict her with solid evidence and then get her to explain the cause and effect, or should we directly provoke her to talk about it?

Officer An suggested direct stimulation.

Serial killers have excellent mental fortitude; they are indifferent, calm, and unconcerned. Ordinary shouting, crying, or emotional appeals have no effect on them.

But there's something abnormal about this kind of person; exposing their feigned strength often yields good results. "But what if she's not the murderer?" Tan Ming was cautious. "She was staying with Fan Xiaojun on the day of the incident. If she was coming and going at night, wouldn't Fan Xiaojun have noticed?"

"Perhaps it's true, as Qi Sufeng said, that the child sleeps very soundly. But we can't rule out other shady dealings. Have Wu Yang ask Fan Xiaojun again, but be careful. He might lie to protect his family. We need to ask him in a different way and make sure Qi Sufeng doesn't have any contact with him. In Qi Sufeng's eyes, he's the next unforgivable ingrate."

Some murderers, even when imprisoned, would rather harm themselves than miss an opportunity to kill their last victim; they are impossible to guard against.

Everyone quickly took their positions, leaving Tan Jia still in shock.

She recalled her impressions of Qi Sufeng and compared them with the "her" in her dream. They were similar yet not identical, so it was quite possible.

There were two cookie sticks left. She took one out, held it between her two fingers, brought it to her mouth, took a bite, pondered for a few seconds, and then took another bite.

Tan Ming came back to get something and saw her posture. He was about to frown and tell her not to smoke, but upon closer inspection, he realized it was cookies.

"...You're so bored it's unbearable. If you're feeling restless, go to the cafeteria and get something to eat."

The police station's cafeteria has excellent service, with a wide variety of delicious dishes. She took Tan Ming's card to use it, promising not to max it out.

It's been maxed out, but this isn't a credit card.

After a brief respite of two minutes, Tan Ming gulped down a mouthful of cold water to regain his composure before returning to the tense interrogation room.

Inside the interrogation room, Qi Sufeng reverted to her gentle and kind demeanor, looking bewildered as she faced the stern interrogators.

"I don't know what you're talking about. How could I kill someone? How could I possibly kill those children?"

Zheng Yan: "I also want to know why you killed those children. Maybe it's because your own son was unfilial and disobedient, like Yu Dong did to his parents, and he beat you. So you hate bad kids who are similar to him?"

Qi Sufeng shook her head repeatedly, her eyes glistening with tears as she thought of her son: "My son... Hao Hao, he's a good boy. He was willing to hurt his father to save me... It's all my fault for not noticing at the time and not being able to save him... He's a filial son!"

"Oh, then why are you supporting Fan Xiaojun? Your son is an only child, and he has always enjoyed the exclusive love of his mother. Do you think it's fair to him to find someone else to rely on after all the sacrifices he has made for you? If he knew that you would transfer your love for him to someone else, he might regret all the sacrifices he made for you."

Qi Sufeng lowered her head and cried, seemingly oblivious to the verbal attacks, as if her grief over losing her son had been rudely exposed.

Officer An looked at her gray hair and added fuel to the fire: "Is Fan Xiaojun a filial son? I don't think so, do I? You've taken care of him for so many years, but he still chose to forge evidence for that rotten father. Is that betrayal? It seems you're not a good person. The children you gave birth to and the children you raised are all unfilial and ungrateful."

Qi Sufeng's brow twitched slightly beneath her gray hair, but she still didn't jump into the trap. Instead, she shook her head and cried, seemingly shocked by their harsh words.

"How can you slander me and my son like this? I am indeed a bad person, I am a failure, but they are both filial children! Xiaojun has helped me with chores since he was little, washing dishes and picking vegetables for me. He would endure not going out to play all day so that I would wash fewer clothes. Haohao is also filial. He would even help me when his father hits me..."

"Was it really to help you? Or not to help his dad? Why did you specifically smash their feet and kick their heads when you tortured those kids eleven years ago? Was it because Zeng Hao was helping his dad kick your head back then?!"

This story only has a few chapters left.

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(End of this chapter)