You're supposed to be a security officer, what case are you solving?

Chapter 307 My Name is Crimson! (Bonus Chapter, Please Vote!)
The Deyang Criminal Investigation Detachment acted swiftly after receiving the information.

In a case involving the massacre of an entire family, a new lead suddenly emerged. Moreover, the previous suspect, Huang Xiaolan, was ruled out, and the re-emerging suspect, 'Yin Hong,' turned out to be the same suspect that Yang Jinwen and his team were looking for.

Therefore, under the leadership of Captain Li Wei, the entire criminal police team was mobilized, driving several vehicles to Gaowa Township.

Yang Jinwen and his group only drove halfway up the mountain. There was no road behind them, so they had to walk up the mountain.

After climbing for half an hour, they finally arrived at their destination.

The area is surrounded by high mountains, and the villagers live along the mountainside.

Li Fuzhong's house was at the highest point, and the site had become a ruin, with only the unburnt beams and bricks piled up together.

Duan Yi explained to him, "There are three corpses, and they all died in different places. Li Fuzhong died in his own bed, and his neck was cut off."

Li Mian also died in bed, with eight cuts to his face and chest, presumably while he was asleep when he was suddenly attacked.

Li Mian's son, Li Jun, died in the main room. He was wearing thermal underwear at the time, which suggests he discovered the murderer.

The child is not yet an adult, so it's unknown whether he fought with the murderer.

He was stabbed three times, and the forensic doctor found smoke residue in his throat, suggesting that he was not dead when the fire started, but was burned alive.

The weapon used was a wood-chopping knife from the mill, with a wooden handle, the kind that was polished very bright; it was easy to use to cut someone.

Yang Jinwen wasn't quite sure about the layout of the room at the time, so Duan Yi pointed out the location where the body was found.

He then asked, "It was late at night when the incident occurred, and all three members of the family were asleep. How did the murderer get into the house?"

Yao Weihua said, "'Yin Hong' lived here before, so she must know how to get into the house."

Yang Jinwen nodded and glanced at the mill on the right.

The mill was built of stone, and the open space in front of it was not burned down.

The mountains in this area are clearly visible.

Behind the mill are rolling mountains, a deep, almost blackish green under the summer sun.

Yang Jinwen asked, "Zhang Chen was abducted and trafficked, so where is her hometown?"

Duan Yi shook his head: "I don't know. This clue is very important. We will investigate it later. I'm just afraid that she will continue to retaliate and kill, or that she will hide in her hometown."

After staying on the mountain for a while, Yang Jinwen and the others decided to go down the mountain.

A person's whereabouts cannot be completely concealed; they need to eat, drink, and sleep. If the murderer is truly 'Yin Hong,' she couldn't possibly leave no trace.

As the criminal investigation team and the local police station searched the area, news kept coming back that evening.

Yang Jinwen and his team rushed to the Gaowa Township Police Station, where the small meeting room was already packed with people.

Because of the poor conditions, there was no whiteboard or blackboard in the police station, so Li Wei could only speak.

Upon seeing Yang Jinwen arrive, he nodded slightly and said, "With the help of Yang Jinwen and Captain Yang, and after another day of investigation..."

One thing is certain: in the 125 murder and arson case, the murderer can be identified as a woman named Zhang Chen.

We found that she took a train from Anan City back to Deyang on January 23, and then took a bus back to Gaowa Township on the morning of January 24.

Zhang Chen stayed at the guesthouse in Gaowa Township for a day, during which she did not leave the guesthouse until the afternoon of January 25th, when she ordered three dishes at a stir-fry restaurant.

After she finished eating, it was already dark, but some people in the town saw her walking along the road, heading towards Bacun.

The route from Gaowa Township to the Eighth Village where Li Fuzhong lives is entirely mountainous, a total of five kilometers.

There weren't many people on the road at the time, so we didn't find any witnesses.

At 10 p.m. that night, Li Fuzhong and his family of three were murdered, and the killer burned their bodies to cover up the crime.

According to the guesthouse owner, Zhang Chen returned to the guesthouse around 1 a.m.

The proprietress noticed that her leather shoes were covered in mud and that she looked very tired, so she asked the proprietress for a pot of hot water.

The proprietress said she noticed that Zhang Chen's clothes were wet, which might be because blood splattered on her when Zhang Chen committed the murder.

The reason I didn't notice was because Zhang Chen was wearing a red wool coat, and it was early morning, so the lights in the guesthouse were dim.

After daybreak, on the morning of January 26th, Zhang Chen paid her bill and left, taking a bus back to Deyang. This was her itinerary.

As for where she went, whether she might be hiding in our city, we need to investigate one by one, a thorough investigation!

The case is now clear, and the municipal bureau is going to issue an arrest warrant to seek the help of the public to find the person.

"Check all the train and bus stations and taxi drivers in the city. I'm giving you three days. I need the results in three days!"

Yang Jinwen had something to say, but Li Wei didn't give him a chance to speak, so he had to give up.

The next day.

A large-scale search began, and the Deyang City Criminal Investigation Detachment mobilized all its resources, with officers from various departments searching for the whereabouts of "Crimson".

Yang Jinwen and his team also spent the whole day searching, but they didn't find a single clue.

Then came the second day and the third day.

Three days later, no trace of 'Yin Hong' was found at either the bus station or the train station.

When the case reached a stalemate, Yang Jinwen took Yao Weihua and the others to the post office in Gaowa Township.

"Hello, I'd like to ask you something." Yang Jinwen looked at the staff member inside the iron fence and asked with a smile.

Two girls were on duty at the post office. Having lived in this remote and impoverished area for so long, they had never seen such a tall and handsome man as Yang Jinwen. He was not only refined but also spoke pleasantly.

"Please tell me."

What do you want to ask?

The two girls spoke in unison, one in Mandarin and the other in Sichuan dialect, both with smiles on their faces.

Yang Jinwen took out a photo of the deaf-mute woman and showed it to them: "Do you recognize this woman?"

The other person held out their hand, took the photo, glanced at it, and replied, "Isn't she...that person?"

"you know?"

The girl nodded: "I know her. She's deaf and mute, but I don't know her name."

Yang Jinwen showed his identification: "We're from the Public Security Bureau, can we talk?"

"Officers from the Public Security Bureau, okay."

The girl stood up from the chair, walked around the counter, opened the iron door next to it, and came out.

Another girl wanted to join in the fun, but since it was work time and her colleagues had already left their posts, she couldn't slack off and could only grit her teeth in frustration.

"Would you like some water? I'll pour you some."

Yang Jinwen waved his hand: "Excuse me, we've disturbed you. We should be the ones offering you water."

After he finished speaking, he said to Cat, "Brother Cat, go out and buy a few bottles of soda."

Maozi responded, and when he returned, Yang Jinwen and the others were already sitting in the chairs by the window.

Yang Jinwen gave the soda to the girl, and the girl inside the iron fence, who spoke with a Sichuan dialect, also received a bottle, her face beaming with joy.

Yang Jinwen asked, "You just said you know her?"

"Yes, we know each other." The girl bit her straw.

"How did we meet?"

“She would come to collect her mail every six months. She couldn’t read, so she would open the letter and have me read it to her… no, she would use gestures, which was very difficult for her.”

I don't understand sign language at all. Every time she asks me to read a letter, I have to gesture for her for ages. I only do this because I feel sorry for her; she's a kind person, and she even gives me eggs.

"Every six months? When exactly does it start?"

The girl tilted her head, thought for a moment, and replied, "It seems to have started in 95, when I had just started working at the post office."

"Where did the letter come from?"

"They all have the same postmark from An'nan City, Qin Province."

Yang Jinwen nodded. The reason he came to the post office was because the deaf-mute woman was able to accurately take the train and find 'Yin Hong's' address in Dannan County. It was impossible for the two of them not to be in contact.

Since phone calls are out of the question, we can only communicate by writing letters.

Gaowa Township only has one post office, and mail is sent and received in one place. So, when Yang Jinwen couldn't find 'Yin Hong', he immediately thought of this place.

"Can you tell me what was written in the letter?"

Hearing this, the girl hesitated: "Isn't this a bit inappropriate? What exactly are you investigating?"

Yang Jinwen thought for a moment and honestly replied, "The deaf-mute woman's name is Huang Xiaolan, and she is from the eighth village of Gaowa Township."

She suffered terribly, and she's dead. We need to find the person who wrote to her; this woman is connected to a major criminal case.

"what!"

The girl was startled. She swallowed hard and said, "Then I'll tell you."

"Okay, please go ahead." Yang Jinwen took out the recorder, turned it on, and placed it on the table.

The girl hesitated for a while before saying, "I can probably remember the most recent letters because I read them aloud while gesturing to the deaf-mute woman, so I remember them fairly clearly."

"Okay." Yang Jinwen encouraged, "Try to reproduce the contents of the letter as accurately as possible, without adding your own thoughts. It's okay if you can't remember them."

The girl nodded and began to dictate. The tape recorder on the table slowly turned, connecting the fates of the two women and unfolding their lives through a series of letters.

"…Xiao Lan, don't worry, I'm doing well. I have someone who loves me, and I'm going to marry him."

Without your help in escaping that place, I wouldn't be who I am today.

Although I encountered many things here, and several times I thought about ending it all, I gritted my teeth and persevered, and everything is over now.

I've changed my name and started a new life. I will get married and have children, and I will live a happy life. The same goes for you; I hope you are happy. Thank you for taking care of my daughter, Mengmeng.

Once I've settled down here and the time is right, I'll come back to take Mengmeng away. If I hadn't given birth to her, I wouldn't have gritted my teeth and persevered until now.

Xiaolan, if there's a chance, I hope you can bring Mengmeng to find me, or I'll come back to find you guys after I've settled down...

By the way, my current name is 'Yin Hong'. If something happens to me and you and Mengmeng can't find me in the future, you can try looking for me in Shaping Town, Jiangcheng.

If you can't find me here either, then I might no longer be in this world...

(End of this chapter)