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

Chapter 422 Director Sun's Assistance (Seeking monthly votes, a long chapter of 10,000 words)
"Brother Biao, do you remember which case I joined our Third Squad because of?"

"Of course I remember. Wasn't it the murder case in Shangyang Lane? You almost became a suspect back then."

"Do you remember when Captain Wu asked you to search for the murder weapon?"

Jiang Biao nodded.

Zhou Yi asked, "Did you find the murder weapon later?"

Jiang Biao shook his head vigorously: "No, Zhang Xinli didn't throw away that murder weapon at all, where would I go..."

Before Zhou Yi could speak, Jiang Biao suddenly had a look of sudden realization: "Wait...you mean...Xu Liu's bones are the same as Zhang Xinli's murder weapon, so the murderer didn't even dispose of the body?"

Zhou Yi nodded slowly: "If you've gone to such lengths as to snatch bones from a dog's mouth and still can't find a single bone, then it can only mean that the murderer probably didn't even dispose of the body. If the body wasn't disposed of, then naturally it's impossible to find any bones."

Jiang Biao nodded, then suddenly said, "That's not right. They threw away the body parts and the head, so why did the murderer keep the bones?"

“The situation regarding personnel is rather special.” Zhou Yi briefly explained some of the analyses he had made at the meeting earlier, because Brother Biao had been traveling around and, apart from the plenary meeting that Director Xie attended on the 8th, he hadn’t been called back for the subsequent meetings, for fear of affecting his work.

Therefore, he doesn't know much about many things.

"Oh, that girl surnamed Lu is alright now?" Jiang Biao asked happily.

Zhou Yi nodded: "Yes, I sent him to Qian Hongxing's house. Their villa area is safer. He can't stay with me forever."

“That’s true. Very good, very good. For this girl, it’s been a close call. She’s bound to have good fortune after surviving such a calamity.” Jiang Biao urged, “Come on, continue.”

"Okay. Brother Biao, let me ask you, why were the body parts deep-fried?"

"Is that even a question? It damages DNA."

"How is the DNA in the bones destroyed?"

Jiang Biao thought for a moment: "Frying won't work, there's no fat on the bones, so you can't fry them. I've got it, let's boil them in water, just like making bone broth."

"Are you sure that boiling water can destroy all the DNA information in bones? There's bone marrow inside bones. How long do you have to boil it, and to what extent, to destroy the DNA? Do you even know, Brother Biao?"

Jiang Biao grinned and said, "How would I know? To be honest, if I hadn't heard you guys talk about DNA, I really wouldn't have known about it. Although I don't understand the principles behind it yet, it's a very powerful thing."

Zhou Yi spread his hands and said, "Yeah, Brother Biao, you don't understand the principles of DNA either. Do you think the murderer could know the principles behind it?"

Jiang Biao didn't speak, but shook his head.

"The reason why the provincial department can set up a DNA laboratory is because they have recruited some of the best scientific research experts in the province. In other words, whether the DNA tissue inside the bone marrow can be destroyed by high-temperature boiling is a question that probably only those few scientific research experts in the provincial department can answer."

Zhou Yi thought to himself, "Let alone you, me, and the murderer, even if you asked several experts about this issue in 1997, they might not dare to give you an answer."

In scientific research, accurate answers are derived through repeated experiments and by summarizing experimental data.

"It's not difficult for the murderer to know about DNA, nor is it difficult to know that DNA can be used to solve cases, after all, foreign countries are far more advanced than us in this technology. But unless the murderer is a top professional in this field like those experts, do you think the murderer would dare to take the risk?"

Jiang Biao shook his head repeatedly: "Of course I wouldn't dare. What if it doesn't work? Wouldn't all his previous efforts have been for nothing?"

"That's right, the killer is also uncertain, so naturally they don't dare to take any risks."

"If things go according to the killer's ideal scenario, and it's unclear whether the body parts outside belong to Xu Liu or Lu Xiaoshuang, our police investigation will be distracted. Whether the bodies and heads in the mine are discovered months or years later, they can disrupt our investigation again," Zhou Yi said with emotion. "The only thing the killer probably didn't expect was that Lu Xiaoshuang would actually survive."

Jiang Biao couldn't help but say, "This girl is great."

"And even if the murderer thought of boiling the bones in water, Brother Biao, do you know how long the longest human bone is?"

“I actually know that. I specifically consulted forensic doctor Song about the Zhang Hui case last time. The longest part is the femur. If we calculate based on Xu Liu’s height of 1.6 meters, her femur should be 40 centimeters long.”

Zhou Yi nodded and said, "That's right. This is just the length. There's also the human hip bone. The width would be around 26 centimeters. Under normal circumstances, how big of a pot would it be to hold all of this and then continuously boil it for a long time? Pots of this size can only be found in specific places such as restaurants and food processing plants. It's not possible to have this in normal environments."

Jiang Biao nodded repeatedly: "That makes sense! That makes sense! Moreover, bones are incredibly hard and cannot be handled in ordinary conditions. If they are violently broken, it will inevitably be accompanied by continuous knocking noise, which would be too risky for the murderer."

"That's right, it has to be Brother Biao. He makes a good point."

Jiang Biao scratched his head, feeling a little confused. Why was Zhou Yi praising him just like Captain Wu?
"If what you're saying is true, it's quite possible that the murderer didn't even dispose of the body bones. Then all my work these past few days has been for nothing?"

"That's not true. Brother Biao, you can't confirm this without investigating thoroughly. I'm just speculating on the possibility, but you're verifying it."

The most important point of this statement is that it did not deny the efforts of Jiang Biao and a large number of peripheral police officers, and did not judge the value based on the results, which made Jiang Biao feel very comfortable.

He stood up abruptly and said, "No, I have to go and report this to Captain Liang."

Zhou Yi grabbed him and told him to sit down first.

"Brother Biao, there's no rush. It's fine for you to report to your superiors, but you need to figure out the next steps and how to allocate police resources. You can't just give a conclusion without providing solutions for your superiors. Do you expect your superiors to figure out what to do next for you?"

"After all, the other leaders aren't Captain Wu."

Upon hearing the last sentence, the towering man nodded vigorously, saying that it made sense.

"Brother Biao, how's the investigation into the rapeseed oil going?" Zhou Yi asked.

"Sigh, it's a real headache," Jiang Biao said, looking troubled.

The oil used to fry the corpse has been confirmed to be rapeseed oil after testing.

This type of oil was the most commonly used vegetable oil in daily life in the 1990s.

Back then, bottled branded oils, such as Golden Dragon and Fortune, were frequently featured in television commercials. They were generally quite expensive, and most people wouldn't buy them.

In the early days, oil and rice were controlled by the state, and you had to use oil coupons and grain coupons to buy them at state-run grain stores.

However, after 1995, oil coupons and grain coupons were basically no longer used in cities, and the market economy was shifted.

Apart from state-run grain and oil stores in the city and grain stations in the suburbs, many people buy oil directly from farmers' markets, bringing their own buckets to have it dispensed on the spot, dispensing only the amount they need.

The task force analyzed that the murderer used rapeseed oil not because it was cheap, but because more people buy rapeseed oil, the environment is more complex, and it is not easy to be remembered.

Conversely, bottled branded oils are primarily sold through supermarkets.

In the late 1990s, supermarkets were considered relatively upscale consumer venues. Although there was a considerable flow of customers, the overall number of supermarkets in the city was not large. In addition, the specific act of buying bottled oil made it much more likely to be remembered.

Therefore, when Jiang Biao was investigating, he mainly investigated the oil vendors in the farmers' market, and then investigated the grain and oil shops and grain stations, and paid special attention to people who bought more than five kilograms at a time.

However, farmers' markets have a huge flow of people, and you don't need to register to buy oil. In addition, the exact date of buying oil cannot be determined.

If the murderer had premeditated the killing and frying the body parts, he would have prepared the items for the crime in advance.

This inadvertently increased the difficulty of Jiang Biao's investigation.

So far, no useful clues have been found.

"Not even one?" Zhou Yi couldn't help but ask.

“Hey, it’s just buying some oil. I’ll pay and leave. We can’t all be suspicious just because they’re not regular customers.” Jiang Biao scratched his tangled hair. “Oh, I remember now. There’s something I don’t know if it’ll be helpful. Can you help me analyze it?”

"Brother Biao, you say it."

"An oil vendor at a farmers' market in Qingshan District said that on the morning of the 29th, an old man came to buy oil, saying he wanted to buy three jin (1.5 kg). But the old man came empty-handed, so the oil vendor asked him where his container was. He said the old man was clearly stunned when he heard this, and then said that he had left in a hurry and forgot, and that he would go home to get it."

When Zhou Yi was a child, he would go to buy oil with his parents, and he would usually bring the empty bucket with him.

Of course, you can buy a bucket separately at a grain and oil store, but if it's not your first time buying oil, you usually won't spend money to buy a bucket and will choose to go home to get it.

So this doesn't seem so strange, after all, her father had done it before and was scolded by her mother.

But Jiang Biao added, "And then the old man never came back."

"Didn't anyone else come to buy anything?" Zhou Yi asked hastily, noticing something amiss.

"Probably not. I'm the one who went to this farmers' market, so I have a vague recollection of it." Jiang Biao asked expectantly, "So, is there anything wrong?"

If you say no, then it really is a very trivial matter, and it doesn't sound suspicious at all.

However, if things continue to be abnormal, then there might be a problem.

It's normal not to have brought a container to buy oil. People are forgetful, or they might have come to the market to buy something else and remembered when they saw the oil vendor, but they didn't have a container with them.

But if someone says they'll go back to get it, but then doesn't actually come to buy it, that's called a series of anomalies. It means that something keeps going against the normal logic of development, and there must be a reason behind it.

"Brother Biao, how many oil vendors are there in this farmers' market?"

"Two, one at the east end and one at the west end."

"Does the other one remember this old man?"

Jiang Biao thought for a moment and said, "The other one wasn't mentioned. Should we ask again?"

Zhou Yi nodded: "It's best to ask him if the old man came to buy oil later, to rule out any suspicion, including checking the small shops selling oil around the farmers' market. People usually buy oil when they're almost out of it at home, so even if they were busy that day and didn't come, they would probably buy it in a couple of days. Besides, the old man ordered three jin of oil at once, which isn't heavy, but it's not light either. Normally, he's a resident who lives nearby, and even if he didn't buy it from this shop, he would have bought it from somewhere else."

"Okay, I'll go in a bit."

"By the way, does the oil dealer remember this old man's height, build, and physical characteristics?"

Jiang Biao shook his head: "I do remember, but the information the oil dealer gave was too vague. He was around sixty years old, about 1.7 to 1.75 meters tall, neither fat nor thin, and wearing a gray-brown baseball cap."

"Wearing a hat?"

"Yes, the oil vendor was very certain, saying that he was wearing a hat, and there was a black English label on the hat."

"What did you write?" Zhou Yi asked hurriedly.

"I asked, and the oil dealer said he couldn't even recognize all the Chinese characters, let alone English..."

"Alright, at least it's a clue, better than nothing." Actually, Zhou Yi himself was also having doubts, thinking that the clue might not be very valuable.

After all, the direction of the murderer is still very unclear.

Although Xiao Bing is on the run, he is currently identified as "one of the murderers" or "a person who knows the identity of the murderer".

Because it has been clearly confirmed from Lu Xiaoshuang's confession that the murderer was strong and capable of completely overpowering her; the murderer had a car, which enabled him to move quickly and transport and hide the items involved in the case.

Based on these two points alone, Xiao Bing already fails to meet the requirements.

So although the clue about the old man buying oil was unusual, Zhou Yi didn't have much hope for it.

Because it would be difficult for a 60-year-old man, who is just over 1.7 meters tall, to physically overpower 19-year-old Lu Xiaoshuang.

Unless, besides Xiao Bing and the old man, there is another murderer in this case.

However, it is not impossible for a gang to commit a crime, but the more people involved in the gang, the easier it is to be exposed and problems will arise.

Especially considering that the task force spent three whole months investigating Hongda before leaving in the previous life, if it was a group of people committing the crime, it would be impossible for them to leave no clues at all.

Even the strongest relationships between murderers—husband and wife, father and son, brothers—can develop cracks under the pressure of the law and the suspicion of human nature.

Therefore, even if there is a possibility of gang-related crimes, it is almost impossible for such cases to involve more than three perpetrators.

However, for Jiang Biao, who has lost all confidence, having a lead is better than leading so many people around like headless flies.

After all, if Jiang Biao were to fall, no one else could shoulder the pressure of this matter.

"Brother Biao, don't worry. This case isn't like Long Zhiqiang's case back then. There's no point in rushing it."

Jiang Biao nodded: "I understand. Talking with you makes me feel much better. Otherwise, I wouldn't know who to talk to about this frustration."

"Is there no progress at the first crime scene either?" Zhou Yi asked.

Jiang Biao shook his head: "We've thoroughly investigated all the restaurants and food processing plants around Hongda, but haven't found anything suspicious. We've checked almost everything in the Nanming District. Now we're checking Qingshan District. If we don't find anything in Qingshan District either, then we'll have to check the suburban counties."

Zhou Yi waved his hand: "Brother Biao, I think that although the restaurant and the food processing plant have the conditions to commit the crime, they do not have any connection with the victim."

“Think about it. If Xu Liu is the only victim in this case, then the possibility of itinerant crime and impromptu crime cannot be ruled out. For example, a cook or restaurant owner saw that Xu Liu was young and beautiful, had a sudden urge to do something wrong, and killed the other party in the end, and then took the body back to dispose of it.”

What Zhou Yi was referring to was an investigation direction proposed by the task force in the previous life. In the previous life, there was only one victim, Lu Xiaoshuang. Although Lu Xiaoshuang was not raped, it could not be ruled out that the murderer intended to rape her, but accidentally killed her during the argument. In the end, he was so frightened that he only thought about disposing of the body quickly.

After all, even among murderers, someone who still thinks about sex after committing murder is extremely perverted.

"But now there is not only Xu Liu as a victim, but also Lu Xiaoshuang who almost lost her life in the mine, so it can be basically confirmed that the murderer is inside Hongda and is someone who has some connection with both of them."

"Furthermore, restaurants and food processing plants are places with many people and eyes. It's okay to do some small things secretly, but the risk of exposure is too great if you want to carry out such a complicated crime. So I suggest that some of the police force that was used to investigate restaurants and food processing plants be transferred out later."

Jiang Biao nodded and said, "I am now using the local police stations to convey information to the neighborhood committees of various streets, mobilize the masses, and look for anything unusual."

Hongcheng has a permanent population of two million, with more than 70% residing in the urban area. It is unrealistic to check every household in residential communities, so this kind of spider web-like mobilization of the masses is the best option, after all, it was an era without surveillance.

However, this type of survey has two obvious flaws.

First, it's about taking it slow. The longer it drags on, the more time the murderer has to clean up the scene and remove any traces of the crime.

Secondly, not everyone in the public is highly conscious. During normal investigations, you will encounter all sorts of uncooperative people, people who are hostile to the police, and people who vent their dissatisfaction with life everywhere, let alone those who are willing to provide clues.

Therefore, this approach was a last resort, since there was no clear scope for the investigation. As long as someone could circle a specific area on a map for Jiang Biao, Zhou Yi knew that Jiang Biao would definitely dig deep within that area.

After all, he had been a criminal investigator for most of his life in his previous life, and he had never seen a policeman who could snatch a bone from a dog's mouth to investigate.

"Zhou Yi, actually I have a question here. I originally wanted to tell Captain Wu, but Captain Wu was reported by some bastard." Jiang Biao was still furious when he thought about Wu Yongcheng being reported.

Zhou Yi quickly said, "Brother Biao, let's not swear yet."

I wonder if Wu Yongcheng's eyelids twitched while he was at home.

"Tell me your questions first."

"Well, last time Chen Yan and I escorted Meng Dahai and the others to the provincial capital, we attended a lot of meetings with Captain Wu. One of those meetings was about exchanging and analyzing cases of major dismemberment crimes that had been solved. Then someone summarized some rules for dismembering bodies, called 'distant dumping, nearby burial,' and... the boss..."

Seeing that he hesitated, Zhou Yi continued, "Distant dumping and nearby burial, head far and body near, small and near but large and far, and multiple dumping points?"

"Yes, yes, that's right. Oh, I remember you didn't go."

Zhou Yi replied dismissively, "I read it in a book."

In professional terms, this is known as the five principles and one rule of dismemberment cases, among which the most famous is the method of throwing the body far away and burying it nearby.

What Jiang Biao heard was not complete, because he missed a principle and a rule.

In Zhou Yi's memory, these theories were first summarized gradually through the investigation of cases in grassroots criminal investigation work in the 1990s.

Not every dismemberment case may conform to these five principles and one rule, but these six points are certainly the most common among all dismemberment cases.

However, in the 1990s, much of the criminal investigation work was not systematically theoretical; most of it was based on the experience of front-line criminal police officers.

This theory of dismemberment and body disposal was not systematically developed in the field of criminal profiling until around 2010, because these principles were derived from analyzing the criminal psychology of the perpetrator.

In this day and age, it can be called the crystallization of wisdom to put it nicely, or it can be called a traditional method or old experience to put it bluntly.

"Brother Biao, besides the four points you mentioned, there's also the principle of crime scene selection and the law of the common center."

Jiang Biao said, "Wait a minute, let me take notes. I didn't listen carefully at the time and was too sleepy. Now I know what it means to regret not having studied enough when you need it."

Zhou Yi waited for him to take out a pen and paper before he began to explain, not for any other reason than to hope that he could help Brother Biao.

The first principle is the selection of the crime scene: in order to ensure that the crime is not discovered, the perpetrator will usually choose a place without interference as the crime scene.

Zhou Yi told Jiang Biao that this was also why he had said earlier that restaurants and food processing plants, although possessing the necessary conditions, might not be a good match.

The more people can enter an environment, the less safe it is for the murderer. This is because, in principle, the murderer doesn't know exactly how much time they will need to dispose of the body.

Even a professional forensic doctor like Song Yiming has to conduct repeated experiments with pork to provide reference data. Moreover, when providing the data, he emphasizes the differences between humans and animals, so the data will still have some bias.

Moreover, the perpetrator was under great psychological stress when committing the crime, which would have taken a greater toll on his physical strength.

Therefore, the more independent and private the place, the easier it is to carry out such complex criminal methods.

This is why, when Zhou Yi saw that Xiao Bing's house was not adjacent to anyone else, his first reaction was that it was very suitable for disposing of a corpse.

The second is the well-known principle of "distant disposal and nearby burial," which mainly analyzes the distance between the body disposal site and the crime scene.

Simply put, after dismembering a body, the murderer has two options for disposing of it: burying the body or dumping it.

Of course, there is another possibility: that the body was frozen instead of thrown away.

In my previous life, there were quite a few cases like this: murdering wives, husbands, and mothers, and then stuffing them into freezers afterward.

The reason it's described as "later" is because this approach requires technological advancements to provide the necessary conditions.

In 1997, only about half of the families could afford a refrigerator, and those were mostly family-style upright refrigerators with very small freezer capacity—not even enough to fit half a person, let alone a whole person.

Of course, there were freezers in 1997, but at that time, freezers were mainly used for commercial purposes, and less than 10% of ordinary households had one.

Buying an expensive freezer to avoid disposing of a body would easily arouse suspicion from those around you.

This is also why the perpetrator chose to dispose of the body in the major case; the circumstances at the time did not allow the perpetrator to freeze the body for long-term preservation.

The act of burying and disposing of the body is a result of the killer's two psychological states.

Burying a body usually involves burying it close to one's residence, workplace, or other familiar and controllable areas. This facilitates concealment, observation, or subsequent handling, and more importantly, it fulfills the criminal's psychological need for security and control.

Those who dispose of bodies will choose to throw or discard them in places far from the crime scene or their main activity area. The purpose is to obstruct the investigator's view, divert the police's attention, and increase the difficulty of finding physical evidence and linking it to themselves. Essentially, like burying the body, it also stems from a sense of security in the criminal's mind.

After listening, Jiang Biao said, "So there's a contradiction here. You see, you just said that the murderer was most likely someone from Hongda, but about half of the body parts are within a five-kilometer radius of Hongda, with the closest being less than five hundred meters away. But the characteristic of dumping a body is that it has to be far away, the farther away, the safer it feels. Isn't that a contradiction?"

Zhou Yi hadn't really thought of this logic before, probably because he hadn't sat down like this before to calmly organize his thoughts and analyze the problem.

He frowned, deep in thought.

A minute later, he suddenly spoke up: "Brother Biao, what if..."

"what?"

"What if the murderer's psychology aligns with both throwing the item far away and burying it nearby?"

Jiang Biao didn't understand: "How can it meet both the requirements for long-distance throwing and short-distance burial? I can't figure it out."

"Let me ask you a question first: what do you think are the chances of a body being buried in the city?"

Jiang Biao shook his head and said, "It shouldn't be too big. There are many concrete areas in the city, so you can't bury a body there. Green belts and other areas are regularly maintained, so the chances of it being discovered are very high, unless there just happens to be such a wasteland."

Zhou Yi then asked, "So, if we don't consider the method of dismemberment, do you think it's easier to bury the body or to dispose of it?"

“It’s definitely easier to dispose of a body; you can just throw it away when you pass by. Burying a body requires digging a pit and staying at the burial site for a long time,” Jiang Biao added after thinking for a moment. “And you also need the right tools to bury a body.”

"Snap!" Zhou Yi snapped his fingers and said, "Brother Biao, you've hit the nail on the head. You've got the key point: why the killer didn't choose to bury the body, but instead disposed of it!"

"A long stay?" Jiang Biao asked in confusion.

Zhou Yi shook his head and said, "No, it's a handy tool!"

"Think about what tools are involved in dismembering a body. A kitchen knife, a pot, and oil are all readily available under normal circumstances. Even if there isn't enough oil, the number of people buying oil is certainly high, making it difficult to attract attention. But burying a body requires digging a hole, which at least requires a shovel. How many ordinary households in the city keep shovels at home? The number of people buying shovels is far, far less than the number buying oil. If the burial of the body is discovered, then following the path of tools, the risk of the murderer being exposed is much higher."

"Hmm, that makes sense, so it's definitely more convenient to dispose of a body than to bury it. But I still don't understand how to satisfy both disposing of a body far away and burying it nearby."

"Whether the murderer disposes of the body or buries it, their core purpose is to get rid of the body as quickly as possible to avoid it being discovered due to decomposition and thus being caught. There is also a normal human mentality involved here: whether disposing of the body or burying it, deep down, the murderer will definitely hope to remain undiscovered, because this is in their best interest."

"But whether it's thrown far away or buried nearby, it's all out of the murderer's desire for a sense of security."

"Brother Biao, can I borrow your pen?"

Jiang Biao handed the pen and notebook to Zhou Yi.

Zhou Yi wrote down two letters, A and B, that were far apart on the paper.

“Let’s say point A is a vast area, the area where the murderer mainly spends his/her days. Since burying the body is not feasible, burying it nearby becomes throwing it away nearby. The essence is the same: the murderer wants to be able to observe and confirm whether the body parts have been discovered by the police.” Zhou Yi said, drawing a circle on the letter A.

“Then there’s point B. If point B is the first crime scene,” Zhou Yi said, drawing a circle on the letter B and then drawing a line connecting the two circles. “If the distance from B to A is far enough, wouldn’t that fit the logic of a long throw?”

Zhou Yi looked up and said, "So does this mean it fits the logic of both long-distance throwing and short-distance burial?"

Jiang Biao was surprised: "Wow, now that you mention it, it's true. It seems that our thinking was previously constrained by grand ideas. What you said makes sense."

Jiang Biao pointed to point B and said, "When the murderer disposed of the body, he was far away from the first crime scene. At the same time, he was afraid that he would not be able to confirm whether the body parts were exposed, so he disposed of some of them in his daily activity area. As for us, because of the identity of the deceased and the location where the body was disposed of, we instinctively looked for the first crime scene with Hongda as the center."

Jiang Biao poked at the line segment between point A and point B and said, "But in reality, the first crime scene is actually quite far from Hongda. The murderer deliberately misled us!"

This analysis not only gave Jiang Biao a sense of sudden enlightenment, but even Zhou Yi himself felt enlightened.

Jiang Biao patted Zhou Yi on the shoulder and said, "It has to be you, kid! If you ask me, the stupidest thing Director Xie ever did was kick you out of the task force."

Zhou Yi quickly reminded Jiang Biao, after all, this was inside the bureau.

Jiang Biao wanted to complain some more, but Zhou Yi quickly changed the subject.

He then explained three other principles and the law of the common center, bringing the topic back to the case itself.

The point about the head being far away and the body being close is very relevant to this case, because the head was indeed thrown to a very far place. However, in this case, the role of the head is more complex than simply concealing the victim's identity.

After his discussion with Zhou Yi, Jiang Biao's spirits improved significantly.

Physical fatigue was not absent for him, but it was certainly minimal, given his background as a member of the People's Armed Police, whose physical fitness was unmatched by anyone else in the entire organization.

The main impact is the mental despondency and exhaustion.

Jiang Biao stood up, stretched, and said to Zhou Yi while moving his arms and legs, "Your suggestions are great. They've really opened up my mind. I'll sort out how to adjust things next, and then I'll report to Captain Liang."

“Brother Biao, if there’s anything you find strange or can’t figure out, feel free to come to me anytime. Maybe I can help you clear your mind.”

Jiang Biao waved his hand and said, "Of course, it has to be because you're smart."

Jiang Biao patted Zhou Yi and said, "Once this case is over, we have to have a good drink together."

Zhou Yi laughed and said, "Alright, once this case is solved, I'm going all out and I'll drink with you until we drop, Brother Biao!"

Jiang Biao laughed loudly: "That's great!"

No sooner had he finished speaking than Zhou Yi's phone rang in his pocket.

It was Qiao Jiali calling. Zhou Yi thought to himself, "Could it be that she has found Lulu's file?"

"Sister Qiao."

"Zhou Yi, aren't you with the task force?"

"I was in the office of our Third Brigade. I just got back to the bureau to check some documents and ran into Brother Biao. We chatted for a bit. Did they find Lulu's file?"

Qiao Jiali said, "We couldn't find the information, but we just contacted Director Sun Hao of the Department of Psychiatry and Psychology at the Third Municipal Hospital. After looking at the photos that were faxed over, Director Sun confirmed that he knows Xiao Bing. He has some other things to attend to, and he will call us back in about twenty minutes."

Zhou Yi immediately replied, "Okay, I'll be right back!"

……

As soon as Zhou Yi parked the car, Qiao Jiali waved to her from the balcony of an office on the second floor.

Zhou Yi immediately ran upstairs to the second floor, where Qiao Jiali, Xiang Jie, and Chen Yan were.

The call has been connected, and Xiang Jie is communicating with the other party.

Zhou Yi quickly whispered to Qiao Jiali, "Has it started?"

Qiao Jiali answered in a low voice, "At the beginning."

On the other end of the phone, a slightly hoarse voice said, "Officer Xiang, Officer Qiao, I've read the fax you sent."

Zhou Yi had never met this Director Sun before, but judging from his voice, he should be a man around fifty years old, speaking slowly and steadily.

“I didn’t know the name of the person in the photo before. This is the first time I’ve learned that his name is Xiao Bing, because the person who came to see the doctor wasn’t him, but a family member of the patient.”

"What?" The four of them were immediately startled.

Zhou Yi was the least surprised, ever since Chen Yan reminded him that Xiao Bing might have been kidnapping "Lulu" for a long time and that this woman might suffer from Stockholm syndrome.

Zhou Yi then realized that perhaps Xiao Bing hadn't lied to him when they first met.

The medicine Xiao Bing prescribed was probably really for a "family member," and it was indeed a "chronic ailment."

He just didn't specify that this "family member" was the one who had injured him and was eventually kidnapped and imprisoned at his home.

Qiao Jiali hurriedly asked, "Director Sun, who is that patient?"

On the phone, Director Sun said, "The patient's name is Dong Lu, Dong as in chairman and Lu as in dew. I remember she was born in 1966, so she should be thirty-one years old this year."

"Dong Lu?" The four exchanged excited glances, it seemed that the previous clues were correct.

Fortunately, Director Sun has a clearer lead.

"Could you please tell us more about Dong Lu's situation? The more detailed the better, such as her height, weight, physical characteristics, etc.?" Xiang Jie said.

"Hiss... How should I put it..." Director Sun's next sentence startled the four people on the other end of the phone.

"This Dong Lu, she is a severe burn patient with burns covering more than 80% of her body, so I'm sorry I really can't describe her appearance."

This time, Zhou Yi was also shocked, because before this, there had never been any clues or signs related to the severe burns.

Chen Yan couldn't help but exchange a glance with Zhou Yi, and the two of them suddenly understood at the same time what the frequently appearing man in black was all about.

Wearing long sleeves and trousers, a hat, a mask, and glasses, completely covered from head to toe, doesn't that perfectly match the characteristics of severe burns?
When Zhou Yi was a child, he had seen a person with severe burns. She was a female worker at the No. 2 Steel Plant. It seemed that she had a safety accident at work and her whole body caught fire. Although the fire was extinguished in time, she still suffered burns to more than 50% of her body.

Even though he survived, the scars on his body could not be healed.

Although skin grafting techniques for burn repair gradually matured in domestic hospitals during the 1980s and 90s, the high cost deterred the vast majority of patients.

Take this female worker, for example. The factory paid for her burn treatment and also provided compensation. However, if she wanted to have skin grafts for repair, she would have to go to a first-tier city, which would probably require an ordinary family to empty their savings.

When Zhou Yi was a child, he saw what the female worker looked like after being burned. Most of her face was uneven and wrinkled, which was very creepy. Her body was also covered with pits and large patches of ugly skin.

Zhou Yi was traumatized when he first saw it on the street as a child.

However, the mother, Zhang Qiuxia, was very calm and chatted with the other party as if nothing had happened.

Afterwards, Zhou Yi asked his mother what had happened to the person, why he had become like this, and Zhang Qiuxia told him what had happened. She also taught him that he shouldn't laugh at others because of their suffering.

Although my mother is talkative and gossipy, she is a person with very sound values ​​at heart.

However, the poor female worker's family did not show her the same understanding as Zhang Qiuxia, an outsider.

Her husband rejected her because of her appearance and later used the compensation she received from the factory to have affairs with other women.

Her son was also ashamed of her and would avoid her whenever he saw her on the street.

Finally, the woman chose to commit suicide by jumping into the river. Her body was stuck in a drain and was not discovered until five days later.

Her family's first thought was to carry her rotten, deformed body to the factory to demand money.

In the end, they actually managed to extort a sum of money from us, and then we moved away as quickly as possible after the funeral.

As for the funeral, Zhou Yi went with his parents to offer condolences and incense.

They didn't see the body; apparently, it was too bad to look at, so they brought it back from the factory and burned it immediately.

But at that time, Zhou Yi saw the woman's portrait. The photo was taken before the incident, and the woman in the portrait was delicate and beautiful.

Zhou Yi couldn't connect the image with the one he had seen that time.

Years later, Zhou Yi learned about the aftermath of the female worker's husband and son from her gossipy mother.

Her husband was swindled out of all his money by his mistress, leaving him destitute. He also contracted a sexually transmitted disease due to excessive indulgence and debauchery. Unable to afford treatment, he eventually committed suicide by jumping into a river.

Her son dropped out of junior high school because his father was busy fooling around and neglected him. He drifted into society and, at a young age, tried to settle a dispute for someone, but ended up having both legs broken. Now, no one knows whether he is dead or alive.

Everyone says that this is God opening His eyes and avenging her.

If 50% burns are already this severe, then Director Sun said that Dong Lu is a severe burn patient with more than 80% burns, which means that there is not a single piece of good flesh on her body.

Zhou Yi couldn't help but lean closer to the phone and ask, "Director Sun, do you know how Dong Lu was burned? Was she treated at your city's Third Hospital?"

"I'm not sure about that. Although I asked during the initial treatment, Dong Lu's family—oh, the one you're talking about, Xiao Bing—said it was an accident. As for whether the burns were treated at our Third Municipal Hospital, you can check based on the patient's information. I'll call the department later and have them find the patient's medical records for you."

"Okay, thank you, Director Sun. Please continue."

Director Sun said, "Dong Lu did not come to the psychiatric department during her burns. I remember the first time she was brought in for treatment was in 1991, which was six years ago. At that time, judging from her physical condition, it was clear that a long time had passed since the burns, and it did not look like a fresh injury."

“I remember it very clearly. When the young man brought her in, the patient was wrapped up tightly from head to toe, with only her eyes showing. I immediately felt something was wrong because it didn’t seem like the characteristics of a mental illness. Then I learned that the patient had severe burns.”

Director Sun then added that he had been trying to understand the causes and consequences behind Dong Lu's burns, because for mental illnesses, medication alone is not enough; medication can at most control the condition and can only be considered an indicator.

To address the root cause, psychological therapy is necessary; it's essential to understand the patient's inner world and identify the underlying issues.

Therefore, during the treatment process, he tried to establish an emotional connection with the patient and explore her inner world, but his attempts all ended in failure.

The patient is very resistant to psychotherapy and loses control of his emotions once stimulated.

The entire treatment process lasted about six months, with no particularly significant progress. Later, the patient began to develop resistance, and her visits gradually decreased. More often, her family member, Xiao Bing, came to pick up her medication regularly to control her condition.

Director Sun said that he had actually tried to learn about the patient's previous situation several times when Xiao Bing came alone to get the medicine.

After all, the biggest trigger for the patient's mental illness was probably her burns.

Strangely, Xiao Bing, as a family member, also adopted a reticent attitude towards the matter, only saying that it was caused by an accident when questioned.

Director Sun said that the last time he saw patient Dong Lu was about half a year ago.

This was only because he made it mandatory for the patient to be present for a check-up at least every six months, otherwise the medication would not be prescribed.

However, at least in recent years, the patient's condition has been relatively stable, and the medication has been quite effective in controlling it.

When Director Sun revealed Dong Lu's specific condition, all four of them were shocked, as it was the first time they had ever heard of such a complex mental illness.

"To be honest, I did have some selfish reasons for taking on this patient and prescribing medication for her for a long time," said Director Sun. "Because this Dong Lu suffers from schizophrenia and multiple personality disorder."

"Her original personality suffered from schizophrenia and would experience hallucinations, delusions, and mania from time to time."

"Then, in order to escape the onset of schizophrenia and the reality of being burned, an avoidant personality separated out from her subconscious."

"To be honest, in all my years of medical practice, this is the first time I've encountered such a bizarre illness."

(End of this chapter)