Reborn in 97, I solved a cold case at the Municipal Bureau

Chapter 418 A Word to Awaken a Dreamer
"I wasn't planning on bringing this up. I was thinking of seeing the results of the investigation into Xiao Bing's relationship status first. But since Brother Yan brought it up earlier, I'll say it anyway."

Zhou Yi said, "That means we cannot rule out the possibility that Xiao Bing's girlfriend has gone missing or been murdered."

These words startled everyone, and finally gave Xiang Jie a sense of enlightenment.

"Is there any logical basis for this?" he asked.

"That's right. When Yan Ge and I finished investigating Xiao Bing, we discussed our suspicions about him. He did show unusual concern for Lu Xiaoshuang. At that time, Yan Ge suspected that Xiao Bing might have some mental problems and possibly have dissociative identity disorder."

Chen Yan nodded in agreement.

Zhou Yi continued, "The medicine boxes found in the basement later also proved this point."

"Just now, Brother Yan said that it's possible that Xiao Bing's split personality isn't directed at Lu Xiaoshuang, but rather at the girlfriend who hurt him back then. I think that possibility is much greater than Lu Xiaoshuang."

"Because Lu Xiaoshuang only started university last September, it would have been impossible for her to have had any contact with Xiao Bing before that. But Xiao Bing's basement was obviously not dug in the last year."

At this point, a large group of people added, "Yes, we asked the nearby residents, and they all confirmed that Xiao Bing's house was renovated about seven or eight years ago. Since the old town area doesn't allow demolition and reconstruction, the only way to improve their living conditions is through interior renovations. We're still investigating the exact time of the renovations, and the neighbors don't remember the exact date either."

"However, we already have some clues. We are investigating the information of a contractor who may be the head of the construction team that did the renovation for Xiao Bing back then. Once we find this person, we will know the specific renovation time and Xiao Bing's request to dig this basement."

Xiang Jie nodded: "Thank you for your hard work. Zhou Yi, please continue."

"Okay. In other words, Xiao Bing used the renovation as a cover to dig out this basement at least seven years ago, before 1990. At that time, Lu Xiaoshuang was still living with her parents in Northwest China and was a twelve-year-old child. So neither this basement nor the women's clothing and medicine in the basement actually have anything to do with Lu Xiaoshuang."

Everyone nodded; indeed, with such a large time difference, it was impossible to connect them.

"And I don't know if you noticed at the time, but the ceiling of that basement was soundproofed, and the iron-framed bed was connected to ropes binding people's hands and feet. Add to that the television and a large number of books for entertainment, and it looked like a prison cell."

Some people nodded frantically, clearly having considered this possibility as well.

“I also suspected at the time that Xiao Bing used this basement to kidnap and imprison young women, and that Lu Xiaoshuang was his next target.”

Qiao Jiali asked, "Then why didn't you mention it to your boss?"

“Sister Qiao, we in Hongcheng did a detailed review of missing persons records because of the previous Searchlight Project, right? I did a quick mental match at the time. But we didn’t find any missing women with matching characteristics, especially young and pretty girls like Lu Xiaoshuang.”

Zhou Yi's memory wasn't particularly outstanding in his previous life, nor did he possess the photographic memory that comes with childhood. It was purely honed during the eight years he spent in the archives. During those eight years, although he was all alone, the lack of external interference allowed him to immerse himself more deeply in reading those files, gradually forming a memory habit.

After his rebirth, his younger mind and body were even more efficient, and memorizing those missing persons files was a piece of cake for him.

"Really?" Qiao Jiali was a little surprised. Indeed, they had sorted out a lot of information, but Zhou Yi didn't have much free time. After all, the number of cases had exploded in the past two months. On the contrary, she had more contact with the cases because she was mainly responsible for and coordinated the clerical work of the Third Brigade.

But to say that she can quickly process this information in her mind and then match it, frankly, she can't do that.

However, knowing that Zhou Yi was not one to boast, she was even more surprised, never expecting him to have such abilities.

Zhou Yi continued, "Since there are no matching missing persons, I think it's best not to cause trouble for now. After all, we're short-staffed and everyone is exhausted. Besides, the technical department has practically used luminol to clean the basement, but they haven't found any blood."

Zhou Yi's guess is no small matter.

If the imprisonment of young women truly exists, it would inevitably be accompanied by murder to cover it up. If Zhou Yi brings this up without any clues and based solely on speculation, it would inevitably divert some investigative resources to investigate this possibility.

Furthermore, if Xiao Bing specifically dug a basement to carry out crimes such as kidnapping and imprisonment.

That means that, in addition to murder to cover up the crime, there is also the possibility of repeat offenses.

I've encountered this kind of case before in my previous life. The targets are usually sex workers, because these people are highly mobile and less likely to report a disappearance to the police.

The motives behind these crimes are always robbery and sexual assault, keeping the victims as sex slaves.

But clearly, the situation here is not suitable. What criminal would imprison a prostitute and then let her watch art films and read foreign literature every day?

These labels are clearly more suitable for female college students like Lu Xiaoshuang.

But if a female college student goes missing, the school and her family will definitely report it to the police; there's no way there wouldn't be a record.

Moreover, we need to see the person alive or dead. Even if someone is killed to cover up their crime, how is the body disposed of?

Most importantly, Zhou Yi does not recall any case with similar characteristics in Hongcheng.

Zhou Yi said, "But the information from the investigation just now, and what Brother Yan said reminded me, what if Xiao Bing dug that basement back then to imprison the girlfriend who hurt him?"

"Perhaps it's betrayal, perhaps it's abandonment, or perhaps he simply can't stand Xiao Bing anymore and wants a normal breakup. But the problem is that Xiao Bing is a person who has nothing. He has definitely placed all his emotions on this woman, so no matter what the situation is, he can't accept it."

Chen Yan said, "I understand. You mean this might have triggered Xiao Bing's mental illness, leading him to decide to kidnap and imprison his ex-girlfriend?"

Zhou Yi nodded. People who have suffered great psychological trauma may not necessarily show symptoms immediately; many psychological problems are latent.

However, if one suffers similar harm or stimulation, it may lead to psychological abnormalities and result in serious and extreme behaviors.

“If that’s the case, then this ex-girlfriend is probably already dead, right?” Xiang Jie said. This was also the initial hypothesis that Zhou Yi had put forward regarding her disappearance or death.

After all these years, it's impossible for this person to still be alive. Moreover, a normal person would fiercely resist being imprisoned, which would provoke the murderer to kill him to avoid being exposed.

"But there's a problem here. Zhou Yi just said he matched his data with missing persons in Hongcheng, but there were no suitable matches. Does that mean no one reported Xiao Bing's ex-girlfriend missing?"

"Maybe he's an orphan like Xiao Bing?" someone said.

Xiang Jie shook his head: "Even if someone is an orphan, they should still have a school or a job, right? Unless Xiao Bing's ex-girlfriend is a prostitute or some other unemployed person. But that kind of person shouldn't fit Xiao Bing's tastes, and there's no way to explain the videotapes and books in the basement."

Sure enough, the person from the provincial department was highly capable; Xiang Jie directly pointed out the issues that Zhou Yi had thought of earlier.

And indeed, it raised Zhou Yi's question: apart from unruly social idlers, it is impossible for a normal person to disappear without a trace.

Either Zhou Yi and the others guessed wrong.

Or perhaps something else happened that Zhou Yi was unaware of.

Xiang Jie concluded definitively, "Regardless, Zhou Yi's speculation is quite bold. We can keep an eye on it in the subsequent investigation, especially to see if there are any female classmates among Xiao Bing's high school and university classmates who have lost contact for many years. Based on the information we have so far, Xiao Bing's personality doesn't seem like that of someone who would meet strangers and develop feelings for them, so we still need to focus on investigating his past social relationships."

Everyone nodded in agreement.

"If we don't find anything in this direction, we can expand the scope of our investigation to include students in the same grade, or even students in the grades above and below us."

After the tasks were broken down, Zhou Yi and Chen Yan were responsible for investigating Xiao Bing's college roommates. Tonight, they asked Hongda to prepare the list and contact information, and they would check them one by one tomorrow. Those in Hongcheng would be asked in person, and those not in Hongcheng would be asked by phone.

This is the most common method of investigation, expanding outwards from a single point.

That's what I did in my previous life, except that in my previous life it revolved around Lu Xiaoshuang's social relationships.

In this life, they became Xu Liu and Xiao Bing.

The memories in Zhou Yi's mind became useless.

Xiang Jie began assigning tasks, and everyone divided the work among themselves, striving to make progress as soon as possible.

Looking at the sunset outside the window, Zhou Yi couldn't help but sigh; another day had passed.

Tomorrow is May 10th, the second ten days of the grand case are about to begin.

Zhou Yi didn't know how long it would take to solve the case.

"Zhou Yi, you and Chen Yan can take turns resting tonight. You two haven't rested for almost thirty-six hours." Qiao Jiali's voice pulled him back to reality.

Zhou Yi shook his head: "It's okay, I can still handle it."

"It's not a question of whether we can hold on or not. This case is going to be a long battle. We have to conserve our energy. What if we collapse before we catch the murderer?"

After Qiao Jiali finished speaking, Zhou Yi was stunned.

He asked, "Sister Qiao... did Captain Wu say this?"

Qiao Jiali smiled and said, "Yes, the idea of ​​taking turns resting was also suggested by Captain Wu."

Zhou Yi couldn't help but laugh and said, "Sure enough, those words have a fatherly feel to them."

……

After the meeting, Chen Yan looked at Zhou Yi, and Zhou Yi looked at Chen Yan.

"Are you planning to go back?" Chen Yan asked.

Zhou Yi shook his head: "What about you, Brother Yan?"

"If you don't reply, I won't reply."

"Alright, let's get back to work."

Chen Yan pointed outside and said, "What if Sister Qiao comes back and scolds us..."

“It’s okay, I’ll just say I’m too lazy to go home and I’ll just find a place in the task force to sleep for a while.” Zhou Yi said, standing up and stretching, pointing to the conference room and saying, “Look, it’s right here. We can just put some chairs together and sleep.”

“Zhou Yi, I have a question,” Chen Yan suddenly said. “I don’t know if you’ve forgotten or what.”

Zhou Yi was taken aback. Had he forgotten?

"What?" "It's the size 37 footprint that was found at Xiao Bing's house."

As soon as Chen Yan uttered those words, Zhou Yi instantly shuddered.

Oh right, how could I have forgotten about that!

Besides his footprints, there were also a woman's footprints in Xiao Bing's house.

When this clue was discovered, the main focus was to extract the complete footprints and match them with the footprints of Xu Liu and Lu Xiaoshuang to see if they matched.

Since the vast majority of footprints are actually shoe prints, left by shoes.

Since Xu Liu's clothes have not been found, we can only use her other shoes for size comparison.

Therefore, this task falls under the purview of the technical department, and it wasn't mentioned at the meeting just now.

Although the job is in the technical department, the clues belong to everyone.

Zhou Yi had completely forgotten this clue; luckily, Chen Yan reminded him.

This is why it's necessary to have two investigators on duty. Besides ensuring impartial law enforcement, it also prevents a single investigator's investigative approach from getting bogged down in a quagmire.

After all, no one can be right about everything.

"Brother Yan, I really did forget..." Zhou Yi readily admitted.

"Oh, it's nothing, it's rare." Chen Yan smiled.

"If we add the footprint information, I'm afraid my previous speculation might be wrong..." Zhou Yi murmured, "Could it be that the woman imprisoned by Xiao Bing is still alive?"

If that's really the case, then the doubts that I couldn't figure out before can be explained.

If the person is not dead, there is no need to dispose of the body, and therefore no murder case exists.

Naturally, there would be no matching records from one's previous life in one's mind.

“That’s not right. How could she have survived for so many years after being imprisoned? Did she give up resisting and accept the situation?” Zhou Yi said.

Chen Yan said, "When I was in college, I read about a special psychological condition in a foreign textbook called Stockholm Syndrome."

A word to wake up the dreamer.

Zhou Yi immediately understood Chen Yan's meaning.

"You mean, after being imprisoned by Xiao Bing, this woman developed a rare mental illness and developed an emotional identification with Xiao Bing, her perpetrator?"

Chen Yan asked in surprise, "You know about this illness too?"

"I've heard a little about it, but I don't know the details."

Chen Yan immediately explained that Stockholm syndrome, also known as hostage identification syndrome, is mainly caused by the psychological protective mechanism that leads victims to emotionally identify with the perpetrator when facing extreme threats, thus creating a harmonious relationship between the two parties.

Zhou Yi nodded, feigning sudden realization, and said, "Oh, it's the trope of a hostage falling in love with the kidnapper, right?"

Chen Yan said, "Well, I think it's very possible. If Xiao Bing kidnapped and imprisoned his girlfriend seven or eight years ago, keeping her locked up in the basement for a long time, then there are only two possible outcomes for this woman."

"Either they constantly resisted and tried to escape, and were eventually killed by Xiao Bing. Or, in order to survive in the process, they developed a mental illness, contracted the rare Stockholm syndrome, and continued to live with Xiao Bing."

"I'm more inclined to believe the latter. This would explain why Xiao Bing's family always had a lot of household items in duplicate, indicating that Xiao Bing and this woman had a peaceful way of living together. And as you said before, this woman might be an orphan like Xiao Bing, so it's unlikely that anyone would call the police. To the world, this woman is as if she has vanished into thin air."

Zhou Yi scratched his head, because there were still some illogical points. There were so many mysteries surrounding Xiao Bing that he would need another brain to figure it out.

There have been several rounds of speculation about Xiao Bing's personal situation, and what Chen Yan is putting forward now is a newer view.

And it's even more bizarre.

We already suspected Xiao Bing had a mental illness, and now there's this female mental patient who fell in love with Xiao Bing after being imprisoned. This case is too complicated.

Zhou Yi gasped and said, "Even if this woman has psychological problems, how could the neighbors not have noticed that there was such a person in Xiao Bing's house for seven or eight years? And can a normal person stay at home for seven or eight years? Oh no, that doesn't count as normal."

Chen Yan confidently uttered three words: "The man in black."

"What?" Zhou Yi was taken aback, but instantly understood what Chen Yan meant.

The two men said almost simultaneously, "That man in black!"

Chen Yan nodded: "That's right. You mentioned seeing a man in black on Daguan Street on the 1st, wearing a mask, sunglasses, and a hat. I was wondering, if this person is Xiao Bing, why would he dress up like that? What would be his purpose in dressing up like that?"

Zhou Yi clapped his hands. "That's right, we didn't find anything in the sewers of Daguan Street in this life."

"And when you said you were chasing this man in black, Xiao Bing suddenly appeared and interfered with your pursuit. Hats and masks are easy to take off, but there shouldn't be time to change clothes that quickly, right?"

Zhou Yi nodded.

"So this woman doesn't stay home all the time; she only goes out after she's completely covered up. This shows that she doesn't want to reveal her identity and doesn't want to be seen. Naturally, she'll be mindful of her surroundings whenever she wants to go out to avoid being discovered."

“You know the location of Xiao Bing’s house. As long as you’re careful, it’s not difficult for her not to be seen. Besides, she’s wrapped up like that. Even if someone occasionally sees someone coming out of Xiao Bing’s house, who would know who that person is? People would instinctively assume it’s Xiao Bing.”

Chen Yan said with certainty, "Therefore, it can be confirmed that this woman has been completely tamed by Xiao Bing."

Zhou Yi was surprised to find that Chen Yan also had such good observation and case analysis skills. As expected of a top student, his progress was indeed rapid.

He vaguely remembered that when he was handling Du Xiaolin's case, after leaving Zhang Xinli's house, Chen Yan couldn't get a word in edgewise during his conversation with Wu Yongcheng.

"Brother Yan... what you said has really enlightened me. And through your analysis, I've thought of another clue."

"What clue?"

“Do you remember when Xiaoshuang said during the interrogation that when she took the No. 68 bus from near the school to my house, the person who got on the bus behind her was a woman who was covered up tightly?”

Chen Yan nodded.

"What if this woman is the one Xiao Bing imprisoned?"

"You mean, Xiao Bing conspired with this woman?" Chen Yan hadn't expected this.

"If this woman really does have psychological problems, as you say, and has been completely tamed by Xiao Bing, then we cannot rule out the possibility that she might assist Xiao Bing in committing crimes."

"I understand. It means that Xiao Bing may have relapsed into his old ways and taken a fancy to your Lu Xiaoshuang. So he wants to use the same trick as before, to capture and imprison Lu Xiaoshuang, and eventually make her his plaything just like that woman."

Zhou Yi held his head in thought, "That doesn't make sense either. If that's the case, it doesn't match the current facts. How did Xu Liu die? The murderer was clearly trying to frame Xiao Shuang, wasn't he?"

These two questions left Chen Yan speechless. Indeed, his deduced motive didn't match the actual facts of the case. Xu Liu was also involved, and Zhou Yi's previous analysis suggested that both Xu Liu and Lu Xiaoshuang were the killer's targets.

"Well..." Chen Yan scratched his head and said, "How about we think about it some more..."

Zhou Yi nodded: "Hmm, let me think about it again, let me think about it again..."

"Wait a minute." Zhou Yi suddenly realized what he meant and asked, "Brother Yan, whose Lu Xiaoshuang were you talking about just now?"

Chen Yan pointed at him and said, "Your house, yes, your house!"

Zhou Yi pursed her lips, not daring to refute.

After a while, Zhou Yi changed the subject and said, "Brother Yan, since we're free for now, we need to wait for the school to provide information on Xiao Bing's roommates from back then. How about we go and do some more interviews and investigations near Xiao Bing's house?"

"You mean you want to ask about the man in black?"

"Hmm, what if there are any clues?"

Just then, Qiao Jiali passed by the conference room and asked in confusion, "Haven't you gone back to rest yet?"

The two stood up and said in unison, "Let's go now."

Qiao Jiali gave the two of them a strange look and then left.

The two drove back to Xiao Bing's house. The doors and windows of Xiao Bing's house were now sealed off, and the surroundings had returned to their usual tranquility.

Only occasionally would someone passing by quicken their pace to leave, since so many police officers had come last night, all wondering if someone in the Xiao family had died.

To improve efficiency, Zhou Yi and Chen Yan decided to split up, since it was just a routine visit.

However, the local residents had varying attitudes toward the police coming to investigate.

After all, every household in the surrounding area had been questioned last night, and the police came to ask again today, so there were still quite a few people who were upset.

However, most people were still cooperative, but while cooperating, they also tried to ask Zhou Yi what had happened to the Xiao family.

After asking more than a dozen people, it was confirmed that some had seen a man dressed similarly in black in the area once, but most of the time it was at night.

Zhou Yi arrived at one of the families, where the five of them were having dinner. After Zhou Yi asked them, the adults all shook their heads, indicating that they hadn't noticed.

Zhou Yi thanked him and was about to leave when he suddenly heard the little boy in the house quietly ask his mother, "Mom, are you talking about that monster?"

(End of this chapter)