When the alarm clock rang, You Mingxu woke up in agony. Turning her head, she saw the man beside her sleeping deeply.
After all, he had been exhausted last night! Much more so than the night before.
You Mingxu got up to wash up and saw her reflection in the mirror with two large dark circles under her eyes, which only added to her frustration. Returning to the bedroom, she packed her things and prepared to leave. Yin Feng was still asleep.
He remained lying on his side with one arm outstretched—the same arm You Mingxu had been using as a pillow earlier. The blanket barely covered his chest, revealing his well-proportioned shoulders. His handsome, sharply defined features showed no trace of the ruthless dominance he had exhibited the previous night.
The phrase "feast for the eyes" popped into You Mingxu's mind.
She walked over again, gently pulled the blanket up to cover his shoulders, and then tiptoed out of the room.
—
At the station, everyone had gathered, including Ding Xiongwei. They held the first briefing for the case.
The large conference room was filled with over a dozen key detectives working on the case. The atmosphere was extremely serious, as everyone understood just how heinous and challenging this serial case was.
After exchanging updates and opinions, You Mingxu said, "We've basically clarified the situations of both victims. We've ruled out the possibilities of crimes of passion, revenge, or robbery. So far, we haven't found any obvious connection between the two victims. Therefore, I suggest we proceed with the investigation from three angles:
First, the bathhouses. Although the two victims worked at different bathhouses, they were less than one kilometer apart. The people they interacted with might have overlapping connections. We should focus on investigating the clients and colleagues they had contact with before their deaths to identify any potential suspects."
Everyone nodded in agreement.
You Mingxu continued, "Second, surveillance footage. We've determined that the killer followed the victims into their homes and most likely completed the entire crime before dawn. Besides the time frames around the incidents—Luo Ting's case from 2:30 to 5:30 a.m., and Zhou Dan's case from 2:00 to 4:30 a.m.—we need to check the surveillance footage around the crime scenes during those periods. The killer clearly knew their routines and living environments, so he must have stalked and observed them before the attacks. We should also review the surveillance footage along their daily routes in the days leading up to their deaths.
Third, eyewitnesses. Even though the killer operated at night, the victims' residences weren't particularly remote. By carefully searching and questioning nearby residents and passersby, we might find eyewitnesses."
No one raised any objections.
Ding Xiongwei made the final decision with satisfaction: "Proceed according to this plan! You Mingxu, come to my office."
You Mingxu thought Ding Xiongwei had something confidential to discuss, but as soon as she entered, he said, "Your investigative approach is correct. However, this case is quite peculiar. The killer is likely a random murderer with meticulous methods, making it difficult to uncover clues through conventional means—why isn't Yin Feng here today? What's his opinion?"
You Mingxu lifted her eyelids slightly. "He just got out of the hospital and is resting at home." Feeling that her words might sound like she was blaming Ding Xiongwei for overworking Yin Feng, she added an explanation: "When I left, he was still asleep."
Ding Xiongwei fell silent for a moment.
Even with his thick skin, he felt a bit awkward hearing this from his female subordinate.
He also had a strong sense of "a daughter grown up is a daughter married off." What time was it already, and she was still letting that criminal psychologist sleep in?Ding Xiongwei cleared his throat and said, "Given the special nature of the case, we can consider opinions from criminal psychology. However, we shouldn't blindly follow them either."
You Mingxu replied, "I understand."
——
Unlike the imaginative strokes of genius in criminal psychology, traditional investigative work often reveals the truth through meticulous details. The work of criminal investigators lacks dramatic twists but involves sifting through vast amounts of monotonous, repetitive tasks to seize one or two critical, inconspicuous clues.
By noon on the second day after Luo Ting's case broke, Xu Mengshan, his eyes strained and weary, presented a precious piece of surveillance footage to the team—a major breakthrough in the case.
Originally, there were only a few surveillance cameras near the crime scene. Two of them had captured the victim but showed no trace of the suspect. However, Xu Mengshan persisted, collecting dashcam footage from nearby vehicles and privately installed surveillance cameras from residents. His efforts paid off.
He discovered footage from a surveillance camera privately installed at the entrance of a resident's home downstairs. Though slightly distant, it directly faced a route Luo Ting had to take to return home. No matter how meticulous the killer was, they couldn't have anticipated everything. Thus, this brief but invaluable video came to light.
On the night of the incident, at 2:34 a.m.
The quiet courtyard was illuminated only by two dim streetlights, with tree branches swaying gently and the buildings standing in silence.
A girl walked into the frame from the right foreground. Perhaps because she was near her home, her pace was unhurried and steady. Her silhouette and clothing identified her as Luo Ting.
About ten seconds after she went upstairs, a male figure swiftly emerged, climbing the stairs in just a few steps.
Everything happened quickly, leaving the watching detectives stunned. Xu Mengshan paused, rewound, and played the footage in slow motion. The man retreated, and the frame froze as he reached the bottom of the stairs.
The detectives fell silent momentarily.
A person's physical characteristics are easily discernible to experienced detectives. They quickly reached a consensus:
The man was between 20 and 30 years old, approximately 180 cm tall, weighing around 70 kg, with a shoe size of 42-43.
He wore a black tactical jacket and pants, a baseball cap, and a mask, making it impossible to discern his facial features from the camera angle.
Undoubtedly, this person was almost certainly the killer they were searching for. Though his face remained hidden, the footage narrowed down the suspect's age and physique and revealed his clothing that night, making it easier for the police to review additional surveillance and seek eyewitnesses.
The team grew excited, discussing animatedly. You Mingxu, however, stared intently at the man in the footage, her expression turning grave. Despite the suspect's slender build, which differed entirely from Gu Tiancheng's, and the fact that Gu Tiancheng had long been confirmed dead before her eyes, the sight of the black tactical jacket immediately reminded her of Gu Tiancheng and the Punisher Organization.
Nevertheless, she had discussed this very point with Yin Feng the previous night, so her thoughts remained focused—ready to confront whatever challenges arose.
Additionally, You Mingxu felt a slight sense of strangeness, as if she had seen the man's back somewhere before. But she wasn't entirely sure.
After the meeting adjourned, You Mingxu thought for a moment, sent the video to Yin Feng, and then called him.The phone rang only twice before Yin Feng answered, his voice carrying a light, cheerful tone: "Hello?"
You Mingxu said, "Did you see the video I just sent you?"
"I saw it."
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