Stepdaughter of a wealthy family? The little darling of a Beijing tycoon

The young police officer who stepped forward to stop him was named He Ming. He was an outstanding graduate who had just graduated from the police academy less than a year ago, and he was also the youngest member of the special task force.

He strode up to Li Hanting, a hint of concern in his eyes, and lowered his voice, saying, "Director Li, this is full of key information about the murder case and photos from the scene. The scene was far too gruesome. Perhaps I should take Miss Shen to your office to wait?"

Li Hanting suddenly came to his senses, his heart tightening.

Although Shen Jingshu possessed mystical arts, she was still just a teenage girl. The murderer in this serial case was extremely brutal, and the photos of the crime scene were bloody and bizarre. He was afraid of frightening her.

Thinking of this, Li Hanting turned to look at Shen Jingshu, his eyes filled with worry.

But when his gaze fell on the girl's face, he was slightly taken aback—Shen Jingshu's expression was calm, her eyes were indifferent, and she did not show any fear or panic, nor did she even frown.

Her calm demeanor was completely unlike that of a girl her age.

Li Hanting was unaware that Shen Jingshu was no longer an ordinary young girl.

After her death, she became a disciple of Xuanjizi and devoted herself to studying esoteric arts for many years. She had seen countless wandering ghosts and tragically deceased souls. She was not afraid of even evil spirits and demons, so how could she be afraid of photos of the dead?

Recalling when she first entered the Taoist sect and saw a person who had died violently for the first time, she was also frightened and uneasy. Her master, Xuanjizi, advised her: "Since you have entered the Taoist sect, you will inevitably encounter all kinds of dead people and wronged souls in the future. After seeing many, your mind will naturally calm down. There is no need to be afraid. Just uphold the righteous path, help wronged souls, and punish evil."

Over the decades, she has traveled far and wide, seen victims of all kinds of gruesome deaths, and dealt with countless bizarre murder cases. These murder photos in front of her no longer stir any ripples in her heart; all that remains is a calm scrutiny.

Seeing that Shen Jingshu was completely fearless, Li Hanting finally felt relieved. He immediately addressed the crowd in a deep voice, his tone firm: "Everyone, please be quiet. Let me introduce you. This is Ms. Shen Jingshu, the special consultant I specially invited for this case."

These words immediately caused an uproar in the police station lobby.

He Ming was the first to speak up, his face full of disbelief. "Director Li, are you kidding me? Miss Shen looks like a teenager, still a student. How can she be an advisor to our special case team?"

Not only He Ming, but the other criminal police officers present also showed doubt and looked at Li Hanting. They clearly did not approve of letting a young girl participate in such a major serial murder case.

Li Hanting remained calm, suppressing the murmurs of the crowd: "I have already reported this matter to my superiors and received formal approval. They have granted us special permission to request external assistance in this case, and Miss Shen is the designated external assistant for this case."

In one sentence, he silenced all doubts.

He then turned to Shen Jingshu, his tone softening: "Jingshu, please sit down first. I'll have the colleague in charge of the case give you a detailed account of the case."

Shen Jingshu nodded slightly and quietly sat down on a chair to the side.

At this moment, a veteran detective with a resolute face and rich experience stood up. He was the main person in charge of this case. Although he also disagreed with Li Hanting's decision to ask the girl to be his consultant, he had no choice but to comply since his superiors had approved it.

Clearing his throat, the veteran detective picked up the case files, ready to begin explaining all the details of this serial murder case.

The captain in charge of this serial murder case was surnamed Chen and named Chen Wei. Everyone in the team respectfully called him Captain Chen.

He is a veteran criminal investigator who has been working on the front line of criminal investigation for more than 20 years. He is experienced and knowledgeable. He will retire honorably in two years. He has handled countless major cases in his life, but he is stuck in this case.

After everyone was seated, Captain Chen spoke with a solemn expression, revealing the truth behind the serial case and explaining why Li Hanting was in such a hurry to find Shen Jingshu.

This is an extremely heinous serial murder case. The killer's targets were very clear: he specifically targeted young, beautiful, and well-built single women, and the timing of the crimes was fixed—he only committed the murders on rainy nights.

The current weather forecast for Beijing is accurate; it predicts heavy rain all night tomorrow.

All members of the task force knew that, based on the killer's modus operandi, he was very likely to commit another crime tomorrow night. However, after months of investigation and exhausting all criminal investigation methods, they still had not found any useful clues.

The killer possessed extremely strong counter-surveillance capabilities and was so meticulous that it was appalling. He committed four murders in succession, and the crime scenes were cleaned up spotlessly, leaving no fingerprints, footprints, hair or other indicative evidence. Even the surveillance cameras could not capture any suspicious figures, as if he were a ghost that appeared out of thin air and disappeared into thin air.

A recent murder occurred on a rainy night about two weeks ago. The victim was a female college student at a local university.

The killer's methods were extremely cruel and inhumane: after each crime, he would cruelly cut off the victim's head and discard it in a busy downtown area with heavy foot traffic, deliberately making it easy for passersby to find and create panic; while the victim's torso would be dumped in a remote suburb ten kilometers away from where the head was dumped.

The locations where the head and body were disposed of were far apart, and both scenes were carefully handled. Each time, the police would first receive a report from the public and discover the victim's head, and then spend a lot of police resources and several days to find the mutilated body in a remote area.

All four cases were like this: the murderer used this cruel and perverse method to provoke the police time and time again, causing panic throughout the city, especially among women, who dared not go out on rainy nights. The pressure from public opinion also made the entire task force feel suffocated.

At this point, Captain Chen gripped the case report tightly, his eyes filled with anger and helplessness: "We investigated the social relationships of all the victims, and there was no connection between the four of them. It was a completely random crime. The killer is like a ghost, hiding in the shadows of the rainy night. We can't find any trace of him. If we can't find a breakthrough, another victim may appear tomorrow night."

What's even more perplexing is that the murderer's crime locations were completely random, and the places where he disposed of the bodies also seemed to be randomly chosen, with no discernible logic.

Yet he deliberately threw the victim's head into the bustling city, openly challenging the authority of the police, wantonly trampling on life, and his arrogance reached its extreme.

Captain Chen recounted the entire case, his brows furrowed, his face showing exhaustion and anxiety. After finishing, he looked at Shen Jingshu and Li Hanting, his eyes filled with a hint of unspoken expectation, yet he dared not hold too much hope.

Li Hanting then turned to Shen Jingshu, his tone urgent: "Jingshu, with your metaphysical skills, can you find the killer's trail from these clues?"

Shen Jingshu stared intently at the four photos of the deceased on the blackboard. The four girls were all in the prime of their youth, their eyes still showing traces of naivety. They should have been in the most beautiful years of their lives, but they were brutally murdered by the killer, ending up with such tragic fates. It was truly heartbreaking.

She withdrew her gaze and looked at Li Hanting, her tone calm: "I need the complete identity information of these deceased individuals, as well as their birth dates and times."

"They're all here."

As soon as he finished speaking, a burly man with a neat buzz cut handed him a stack of well-organized detailed information.

He is Fang Hai, a key member of the task force. He has been a police officer for many years and is very experienced. He has always worked with Captain Chen and is Captain Chen's most capable right-hand man.