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

Chapter 430 Two Personalities (Day 10,000 words)

On the way back to the Municipal Bureau, Xiang Jie drove, and Zhou Yi sat in the passenger seat.

Liang Wei sat in the back row, flipping through a stack of documents.

It's a photocopy of the communication records that was just exported from the telecom operator.

"Are you already investigating the origin of these numbers?" Liang Wei asked.

Xiang Jie said, "Yes, I'm checking."

Liang Wei nodded and continued to look through the long communication records.

Just now in Liu Baoguo's office, before leaving, Zhou Yi asked Chen Gengyun a question: Why are Dong Lu's responsibility confirmation letter and withdrawal application not kept with the files, but instead kept separately by Dean Chen?
Chen Gengyun explained that Dong Lu is a graduate student in the School of Sociology, and he himself is the dean of the School of Sociology.

If something happens to a student in his own college, he definitely has to step in and resolve it, after all, it's his responsibility.

Zhou Yi then asked: "Before this, Dean Chen, had you met Dong Lu?"

Chen Gengyun gently shook his head and said that he was not her graduate advisor and had no chance to meet her, but he had heard from her advisor that she was a very beautiful girl.

Chen Gengyun sighed deeply. "Heaven is not on our side. It has brought such a great calamity upon such an outstanding young man."

Zhou Yi then pressed Chen Gengyun for details about Dong Lu's mentor, as this person was a very important person directly related to her.

Unfortunately, Chen Gengyun said that Dong Lu's graduate advisor passed away from cancer last year.

Just when all the people involved in this incident were unable to speak, Dong Lu herself was found.

In fact, if Qiu Zhiyong hadn't wanted to go back to Xiao Bing's house to check, he probably wouldn't have found Dong Lu hiding in the basement anytime soon.

Because, based on subsequent visits and investigations, no one in the vicinity noticed anyone entering the Xiao family's home.

The person probably went back late last night.

Although opening the door would inevitably break the seal, the torrential rain that started early this morning must have washed away the seal on the door as well.

This way, the traces of the seal being broken will be gone, and no one will notice anything unusual in a short period of time.

It's possible that by the time Dong Lu is found in the basement, she may have already met with some misfortune.

Given Dong Lu's condition, if no one takes care of her for a long time, she might not be able to survive.

When they got in the car, Xiang Jie said that Qiao Jiali had gone to pick up Director Sun Hao from the Third Municipal Hospital because she was worried that Dong Lu's condition was unstable and that a professional should be present.

Liang Wei handed the communication records in his hand to Zhou Yi and said, "Take a look."

Zhou Yi quickly accepted it and said okay.

Then I started flipping through it.

The communication records were earlier than expected. As Jie mentioned earlier, operators can currently only keep records for a maximum of one year.

The earliest call record was from September of last year, and judging from the prefix of the phone number, it belonged to Huaixing.

The timing coincides with Zhang Wenhua's account of their first phone call after Xu Liu came to Hongcheng for university. They had two more calls at the end of September, which should be about arranging a secret rendezvous during the National Day holiday.

The calls in October, November, and December all came from Huaixing's number.

However, the number was different each time, just as Zhang Wenhua confessed. In order to prevent Xu Liu from taking the initiative to contact him, he used a different number each time.

The last time was in early December, which matches the time of the last meeting between the two that Zhang Wenhua gave.

Prior to this, all the numbers calling this pager were from Huaixing.

In other words, from September to December 1996, this pager was indeed a private, targeted communication tool between Zhang Wenhua and Xu Liu, without a doubt.

After Zhang Wenhua last contacted Xu Liu in early December, the pager was never used again until February of this year.

The call came again on February 14th of this year.

Judging from the prefix of the number, it's a landline from Hongcheng. This number definitely needs to be investigated carefully. And, whether it's a coincidence or not, the date is far too sensitive.

February 14th, Valentine's Day.

Four days later, another call came from a number in Hongcheng, but it wasn't the same number as the previous one.

After that, roughly every three to five days, an unfamiliar number would call, all from local Hongcheng.

Zhou Yi compared the numbers and found that there were some duplicates, but at most one duplicate appeared, and there were no repeated duplicates.

This operation is quite familiar.

This is exactly the same approach Zhang Wenhua used before.

In other words, the patron behind Xu Liu, like Zhang Wenhua, is also someone who cannot be brought to light.

If someone like Qian Hongxing were a businessman or a big boss, there would be no need for such secrecy.

Just look at Zheng Guangming in the Anyuan case to see that the real bottom line for wealthy people in relationships is illegitimate children and issues involving the division of property.

The anomaly occurred on April 13th. From that day until yesterday, different local numbers in Hongcheng were calling every day.

They receive anywhere from seven or eight phone numbers a day to dozens, which is why their call logs are so long.

In just one month, there were hundreds of call messages.

This is very unusual. Even if Xu Liu's pager were extremely private, it's impossible for a pager in normal use to receive so many calls in a month.

Unfortunately, the operator's backend only retains call records and not the call content, otherwise we would know exactly what happened.

Zhou Yi turned around, pointed to the paper and said, "Captain Liang, I think this number from February 14th is very suspicious. We need to investigate it thoroughly."

Suddenly, he noticed that Liang Wei's brows were furrowed.

"Captain Liang, have you made any discoveries?" Zhou Yi asked.

Liang Wei took out his phone, handed it to Zhou Yi, and said in a deep voice, "Put it on speakerphone and call this number now."

Zhou Yi didn't understand what was going on, but he still did as instructed immediately.

With a series of beeping sounds, Zhou Yi pressed the call button.

"Beep-beep-beep-"

"Click."

"Hello!" A man's voice came from the other end of the phone, and Zhou Yi thought it sounded familiar.

The next second, the man said, "Captain Liang, is there something else?"

Liang Wei said, "Oh, I'm sorry, I dialed the wrong number. I apologize, Principal Liu."

Zhou Yi's eyes widened instantly. This number was actually Liu Baoguo's office number!
"it's okay no problem."

"Then I won't disturb your work any longer."

"Okay, thank you for your hard work, Captain Liang."

"Goodbye."

"Goodbye."

The phone hangs up.

Zhou Yi finally understood why Liang Wei had given her that look earlier.

Because he had already recognized the number that had called Xu Liu on February 14th.

Liu Baoguo, the vice principal of Hongda, could he be the sugar daddy that Xu Liu found behind the scenes?
"Captain Liang, what should we do?"

Based solely on this call record, the task force could bring Liu Baoguo in for questioning. However, the other party was, after all, a school leader, specifically the one responsible for liaising with the task force. What to do depended on the leader's decision; he couldn't just speak recklessly.

After pondering for a moment, Liang Wei said, "Arrange for two people to keep an eye on Liu Baoguo secretly. Go back to the bureau and interrogate Dong Lu first, then I'll discuss this matter with Director Xie."

"it is good."

"Have Chen Yan check Liu Baoguo's personal household registration information with the internal affairs team. Just check the household registration information for now, don't bother with the school."

"clear."

"Remember, have Chen Yan do it secretly, and don't let the news leak out."

Zhou Yi nodded: "Understood."

This is probably to guard against Ni Jianrong, after all, judging from the hints Chen Gengyun inadvertently revealed earlier, Ni Jianrong should have a relationship with those two.

Liang Wei was still very cautious; checking the vice principal's detailed information would inevitably alarm many people.

Moreover, even if an investigation is conducted, a single call record is useless, because the content of the call is unknown. Liu Baoguo could easily deny that he dialed the wrong number, since the number only appeared once on February 14th.

Doubts must also be based on sound logic.

The task force certainly has the right to request Liu Baoguo to cooperate with the investigation and to be questioned.

In fact, this was also done in the previous life. In the previous life, many school leaders took the lead and, in order to prove their innocence, they took the initiative to apply to the special task force to investigate them in the subsequent large-scale peripheral investigation.

There were too many records to remember them all; Zhou Yi only knew that the records showed no problems.

That means that Liu Baoguo and Chen Gengyun were both investigated and cleared of suspicion in their previous lives.

However, Xu Liu's pager number had been silent for three months, and the first call he received was from Liu Baoguo, which made people suspicious.

The car stopped, and the three of them immediately got out and hurriedly walked into the municipal bureau's office building.

In a detention cell, Zhou Yi met Dong Lu.

To be precise, it was a person dressed in all black, cowering in a corner in fear.

When the door to the detention cell was opened, Zhou Yi saw that the other person was visibly startled and began to tremble, burying his head under his arms.

However, judging from the exposed skin on the back of her neck, it is certain that it is Dong Lu, who suffered burns.

Her skin was a sickly grayish-brown, its surface resembling parched, cracked earth.

I simply can't connect her with the pretty girl in the photo.

And this is just the tip of the iceberg; she was curled up in a ball, making it impossible to see her face.

Liang Wei glanced at it and asked Qiu Zhiyong in a low voice, "Is it always like this?"

Section Chief Qiu nodded: "She was like this when we found her, hiding under the metal bunk bed in the basement like a kitten. It took a lot of effort to bring her back. We didn't dare to handcuff her, afraid that we would hurt her if we got too emotional. And she just stayed like that, refusing to sit down, refusing to drink water, just hiding in the corner."

Zhou Yi knew that, judging from all these signs, Xiao Shuang was currently in a closed-off personality.

Liang Wei cautiously walked in, then bent down and asked softly, "Are you Dong Lu?"

The other person didn't answer, but just started shaking even more violently.

Liang Wei asked a few more questions, but received no response. He could only shake his head helplessly at the people at the door.

In this situation, let alone questioning, the only option is probably to send him to a mental hospital.

Zhou Yi whispered, "Captain Liang, how about... I give it a try?"

Liang Wei nodded with some skepticism.

Then Zhou Yi waved to Xiang Jie and Qiu Zhiyong at the door, signaling them to come in.

The two didn't understand what it meant, but they still went in.

After entering, Zhou Yi immediately and gently closed the door.

Just as they were wondering what he was going to do, Zhou Yi suddenly turned off the lights.

The detention cell had no windows, plunging it into complete darkness.

At that moment, Zhou Yi's voice rang out in the darkness.

"Are you Xiaoshuang?" Although it felt strange to him to ask this, he still asked it after figuring out Dong Lu's current state of mind.

The dark interrogation room was deathly silent; Liang Wei, Xiang Jie, and Qiu Zhiyong didn't even dare to breathe loudly.

Just when Zhou Yi thought it was hopeless, a kitten-like voice suddenly answered from the corner with a single word: "Mm."

Zhou Yi was secretly delighted, and the others understood his thoughts at that moment.

He was using the darkness to create a sense of security for Dong Lu.

Dong Lu has two personalities: one is her original personality, which likes to go out but suffers from schizophrenia; the other is her closed personality, which likes to hide alone in the basement, reading books and watching movies.

Zhou Yi was unsure how Xiao Bing and Dong Lu's two personalities usually interacted, especially since Director Sun had said that after being controlled by medication, the dominant personality now was the closed-off Xiao Shuang personality. He wondered if Xiao Bing could approach her and communicate with her.

But he knew that this closed-off personality must really like that dark and cold basement, where she could feel safe enough, otherwise she wouldn't have run back.

So he wanted to try to communicate with the other party in this dark environment.

Although it worked, the results were still very worrying.

This reminded him of how Dong Lu had lived like a rat underground for ten years, which was utterly unbearable.

If she hadn't been raped, if she hadn't been burned, she would probably be a wife and mother by now, and she and Xiao Bing could be living a happy life.

Two orphans with tragic pasts can form a happy family.

Zhou Yi held his breath and asked in a low voice, "Xiao Shuang, where is Xiao Bing?"

After a long while, Dong Lu's voice began to tremble with soft sobs, her words muffled between sobs. "Brother... Brother is gone... He doesn't want me anymore... Waaah..."

In other words, in Xiao Shuang's eyes, Xiao Bing is not a lover, but an older brother, or more like a father figure.

But how could Xiao Bing possibly abandon Dong Lu?

"Xiaoshuang, do you know why your brother took you away?"

There was only sobbing, no answer.

Perhaps the other party shook their head, but unfortunately Zhou Yi and the others couldn't see it in the darkness.

In other words, the escape should have nothing to do with Xiaoshuang's personality.

That's quite normal. She has a closed personality; she's like a frightened hedgehog. The person who followed Lu Xiaoshuang on the 30th was definitely Dong Lu's original personality.

Zhou Yi took a deep breath. He felt that this closed-off personality not only couldn't communicate normally, but also likely had some psychological issues, possibly remaining at a teenage age, before any danger occurred.

In short, it doesn't seem to match Dong Lu's biological age.

After all, Dong Lu has a mental illness, but not an intellectual disability.

Director Sun didn't mention this before, probably because Dong Lu herself hasn't been going for follow-up appointments much in the past two years.

In other words, communicating with Xiaoshuang's personality may not yield any useful information.

We must communicate with Dong Lu's original personality.

However, Zhou Yi had no experience in treating mental illnesses and did not understand psychology.

He could only tentatively ask, "Xiao Shuang, can you let Dong Lu come out?"

Unexpectedly, there was an immediate reaction this time. A voice from the corner said in a somewhat frightened tone, "No... Brother said Sister is very fierce... He won't let her out..."

As expected, Xiaoshuang's personality and mind are not mature enough, which can be seen from these words.

Moreover, Xiao Bing and Dong Lu's two personalities interact in a very strange and bizarre way.

In a sense, there are actually three people living in Xiao Bing's family.

“It’s okay, we won’t hurt her… We just want to know where your brother is right now?” Zhou Yi said softly. “Is that alright?”

A moment later, Xiaoshuang's personality responded with a sobbing "Mmm".

Zhou Yi didn't know what had happened, but gradually, he heard Dong Lu's sobbing in the darkness slowly fade away.

Suddenly, Dong Lu's voice rang out again.

But the same voice, but the tone was completely different from before.

Dong Lu shouted in a voice filled with fear and wariness, "Where is this? Who are you?"

Zhou Yi knew that this was Dong Lu's original personality.

It's amazing. If Director Sun hadn't previously confirmed that Dong Lu had multiple personality disorder, Zhou Yi would have even suspected that she was faking it.

"Are you Dong Lu?" Zhou Yi asked.

"Who are you? Where is Xiao Bing? Where is Xiao Bing?" Dong Lu asked urgently.

"Dong Lu, calm down. We are police officers. You are in the police station now. You are safe. No one will hurt you," Zhou Yi quickly reassured her, because he noticed that Dong Lu's breathing was becoming increasingly rapid.

She may not have taken her medication for several days, and her mental state is on the verge of collapse.

"I need to find Xiao Bing! I need to find Xiao Bing! He's gone, he doesn't want me anymore."

Zhou Yi could sense that Dong Lu had stood up; indeed, the two personalities had different behavioral patterns.

But strangely, both personalities said that Xiao Bing didn't want her anymore. Why?
"Dong Lu, calm down first. We'll help you find Xiao Bing, okay?" Although he said this, Zhou Yi knew that Dong Lu was ill and couldn't calm down on her own.

As soon as he finished speaking, Zhou Yi suddenly felt a hand touch him.

The hand had barely touched him when it abruptly withdrew, and then Dong Lu screamed hysterically, "Get away from me! None of you are good people! You are all devils! Die! Die!"

As Dong Lu yelled and screamed, Zhou Yi heard the sound of her body hitting the wall.

He was immediately horrified. Dong Lu had lost control of her mind and started self-harming!

Liang Wei shouted, "Turn on the lights!" At the same time, he and Zhou Yi rushed towards the direction where Dong Lu had crashed.

Xiang Jie, who was near the door, turned on the light with a snap.

As the lights came on, Zhou Yi and Liang Wei grabbed Dong Lu's arms.

But Dong Lu's thin body burst forth with astonishing power, and Liang Wei was so caught off guard that he lost his grip.

Zhou Yi, being young, was quick-witted and nimble. He grabbed her arm tightly with one hand and pressed down on her shoulder with the other.

If it had been half a second later, Dong Lu's head would have slammed hard against the wall, splattering blood everywhere.

Because at this moment, there were already bloodstains on the wall from the impact.

Suddenly pulled, Dong Lu turned around sharply to look at Zhou Yi.

Her face stunned Zhou Yi.

Dong Lu had no hair on her head, and the skin on her face was like cooled charcoal, with not a single piece of good flesh.

Her forehead was cut when she hit the wall, and bright red blood covered her entire face.

Even a criminal police officer would be terrified if they saw a face like that.

But what shocked Zhou Yi even more than that terrifying face was the unfathomable despair in Dong Lu's eyes.

Her eyes were devoid of light, like a stagnant pool that had long since stagnated and decayed.

Suddenly, tears streamed down Dong Lu's face, mixing with the blood on her forehead to form a shocking sight of blood tears.

She screamed hoarsely, almost frantically, "Why did you hurt me... why, why, why... ahhh..."

The force was so great that Zhou Yi could no longer control it, and Liang Wei shouted, "Help me!"

Xiang Jie and Qiu Zhiyong rushed over, and the four of them pinned down the deranged Dong Lu.

Just then, the interrogation room door suddenly opened, and Qiao Jiali appeared in the doorway, her face full of confusion and tension.

Behind her stood a bespectacled, refined-looking middle-aged man, presumably Director Sun Hao of the Third Municipal Hospital.

Upon seeing Dong Lu pinned to the ground by four adult men, Director Sun immediately understood what had happened.

He quickly pulled a medicine box from his backpack, opened it, and took out a syringe and medicine bottle. At the same time, he shouted to the others, "Find something to stuff in her mouth, or she'll bite her tongue!"

While being pinned down, Dong Lu screamed and struggled frantically, disregarding her physical condition, with a strong intention to escape even if it meant breaking her bones.

Zhou Yi looked around, but there was nothing that could gag her.

Without hesitation, he gritted his teeth, bent his left thumb, and then stuffed it, along with the outside of his palm, directly into Dong Lu's mouth.

The next second, a huge and excruciating pain came from his palm, making Zhou Yi grit his teeth.

It was as if the burning pain that had spanned eight years was being transmitted back to me.

With the combined efforts of several adults, Director Sun successfully administered a sedative injection.

Soon, Dong Lu stopped struggling, and her body slowly went limp, lying on the ground like a lump of mud.

She slowly released her grip on Zhou Yi's hand, mumbling incoherently, "Fire...it hurts so much...someone save me...save me..."

……

In the infirmary, Zhou Yi sat in a chair, looking down at a row of deep teeth marks on his left hand.

The bleeding has stopped, but the wound is deep.

Strangely, Zhou Yi felt excruciating pain when he was bitten, but now he only feels numb.

Even when the on-duty doctor was disinfecting and cleaning the wound, he only felt a slight stinging sensation.

Xu Nian was passing by the door when she saw Zhou Yi inside, so she stopped.

"Why are you here?"

She had barely asked a question when she noticed the wound on Zhou Yi's hand, frowned, and asked, "How did you get this?"

Zhou Yi smiled and said, "It's nothing, just a minor injury."

"Where's Sister Sun?" Xu Nian asked. The Sister Sun she was referring to was the on-duty doctor at the Municipal Bureau's medical clinic. She was a woman in her forties, and her husband worked at the Qingshan Branch Bureau, where she was in the same profession as Zhou Yi and the others.

"They said they were out of gauze and went to the storeroom to get some."

Zhou Yi looked up and noticed the toolbox on her back. His heart tightened, and he asked, "Are you... going to the scene?"

Xu Nian nodded solemnly and said, "I just received a notification that a floating corpse has been found downstream of the Nansha River."

"What..." Zhou Yi's mind went blank for a moment. He didn't remember any murders happening at this time.

Or was it just a case of someone who accidentally fell into the water and died?
"If this rain had continued for another half hour, this floating corpse would have been washed out of Hongcheng territory." Xu Nian checked the time and said, "I have to go now, otherwise Teacher Song will be worried."

He patted Zhou Yi on the shoulder and said, "Be careful, don't keep getting injured."

Zhou Yi looked up and smiled at her.

As Xu Nian left, a thought that had crossed Zhou Yi's mind before suddenly popped back into his head.

Dong Lu's Xiao Shuang personality ran back to the Xiao family and kept saying that Xiao Bing didn't want her anymore.

But Xiao Bing couldn't just abandon Dong Lu after they escaped together.

Unless it was on the night of the 10th, when Xiao Bing was almost discovered by patrolling police officers and fled, he might have lost contact with Dong Lu.

Unable to wait for Xiao Bing, Dong Lu could only return to the Xiao family.

What about Xiao Bing? Will he become despondent and take his own life because he can't find Dong Lu?
His personality, characterized by unwavering forbearance for ten years, makes him prone to extremes.

Especially... his parents died by jumping into the river.

Please don't, Teacher Xiao. As of today, Xiao Bing is practically innocent.

The only thing that remains uncertain is why he ran away with Dong Lu.

But it's probably hard to know the answer to that question now.

Because Dong Lu's original personality developed an illness as soon as it emerged, and her mental illness was truly terrifying to him. She had extraordinary strength, and he really couldn't control her on his own without hurting her.

After Director Sun gave Dong Lu a sedative, Dong Lu entered a dazed and disoriented state. She calmed down, but she was no longer able to ask questions.

After learning about the specific situation, Director Sun believed that it was likely caused by the long-term lack of medication to control the condition; otherwise, it would be unlikely that the person would lose control of their emotions so easily.

His suggestion was to immediately force the patient to be hospitalized for treatment to control the condition.

This is awkward. Xiaoshuang's personality is stable, but she seems to know nothing.

Dong Lu's original personality definitely knows a lot of things, especially the few words she uttered when she was having an episode, which contained some information.

First, when she said Xiao Bing didn't want her anymore, it shouldn't refer to the separation during the process of evading capture, because at that time it should have been Xiao Shuang's personality.

So why did Xiao Bing say he didn't want her? Judging from the facts, that's not true, so it was most likely just something said in anger during an argument.

According to the information provided by Director Sun, Xiao Bing is wholeheartedly devoted to Dong Lu and has a very high level of tolerance.

Putting everything else aside, just take Dong Lu's case as an example. Xiao Bing supported her for eight years.

It is said that there are no filial sons at the bedside of a chronically ill patient, let alone two people who have no legal or blood relationship.

So what exactly were the circumstances that made Xiao Bing say such hurtful things?
Only the two parties involved know this.

Secondly, when Dong Lu was screaming, she mentioned the line, "Why did you hurt me?"

Zhou Yi doesn't believe that the "you" refers to Xin Yunfei, the principal who raped her. Dong Lu's ability to take the postgraduate entrance exam shows that she has moved on from that experience.

The incident occurred in June of 1988. Hongda's postgraduate entrance exam was held between the end of December and the beginning of January, which was half a year later.

Therefore, the use of "you" indicates that her burns were caused by human intervention.

She might even know who set her on fire.

However, Dong Lu lacks full capacity for civil conduct, so her words cannot be used as evidence.

But it can certainly serve as a clue.

Given Dong Lu's current state, it's uncertain when she will be able to speak effectively.

But if Dong Lu knows, then Xiao Bing should know too.

Therefore, finding Xiao Bing is the key now.

Regarding the issue of admitting Dong Lu, Zhou Yi discussed it with Director Sun along with Liang Wei.

Hongcheng does have a mental hospital, but due to municipal funding issues, it is small in scale, has outdated facilities, and the treatment level is not good.

It's less of a mental hospital and more of a prison for the mentally ill.

The main idea is to lock people up and control them, preventing these mentally ill patients from contacting society; that's all there is to treatment.

Jiang Hu's mother, Yang Xiujuan, was imprisoned there.

Zhou Yi went to see it once, and it really does look like a prison, with the main theme of being isolated from the world.

Most of the time, the families have no other choice but to send the animals over because they can't manage them themselves.

After all, the consequences of letting it go unchecked are severe, posing a threat to social stability and public safety.

For suspects or individuals involved in cases who have undergone psychiatric evaluation, the general rule is to order their families or guardians to strictly supervise and provide medical care. Only if the family members fail to comply will compulsory medical treatment be initiated.

It's not that Dong Lu can't be sent there, it's just that if she is sent there, she would be locked up and given medication regularly.

But that's not what the task force wanted. They hoped she could regain her senses as soon as possible and speak up to provide useful clues.

So, after discussing it with Director Xie, Liang Wei decided to hand the person over to Director Sun for treatment, with the city bureau covering the costs.

Director Sun was quite happy to agree, since Dong Lu was originally his patient.

However, Dong Lu is currently involved in a case, and the normal wards at the Third Municipal Hospital cannot guarantee her personal safety.

The only option was for Director Sun to arrange a private ward, and then the Municipal Bureau would send police officers to guard the patient 24 hours a day.

Director Sun said that they would be notified as soon as Dong Lu's personality stabilized.

By the time all the objections were dealt with, it was already dark.

Liang Wei inquired about Zhou Yi's hand injury and suggested that he go to the hospital with him to get a tetanus shot.

Zhou Yi did not refuse and went to the hospital with him.

Dong Lu was carried onto the ambulance on a stretcher, with Director Sun personally accompanying her, along with two colleagues from a seconded team.

Qiao Jiali drove her own car, with Zhou Yi sitting in the passenger seat.

On the road, the night was deep, and the air was particularly humid because of the rain.

"Is your hand alright?" Qiao Jiali asked with concern.

Zhou Yi looked down at the bandage wrapped around her hand and said, "It's nothing, just a minor injury."

"By the way, I was planning to go back tonight and ask my husband, Lao Zhang. But he called me at noon and said he had to go on a business trip that night, so I asked him to help me find out about the anonymous tip."

Zhou Yi knew there was a result, and quickly asked, "Did Director Zhang agree?"

Qiao Jiali nodded: "Yes, he asked around this afternoon and just called me. He said the anonymous letter appeared in the Municipal Party Committee Policy Research Office on the morning of May 2nd. No one was in the office at the time, but when someone went in, they saw an envelope on the floor with three words written on it: 'Letter of Information.' The people in the Policy Research Office didn't dare to open it and sent it directly to the Supervision Section. The Supervision Section opened it, read the contents, and then reported it to the city leaders."

"That's about it."

Zhou Yi was puzzled because there were two strange things about this.

First, the whistleblower letter appeared on May 2nd?
I had always thought it happened before or during the time of the incident.

Unexpectedly, it was May 2nd. The first bag of body parts was discovered on the night of April 30th, and many more body parts were found during the large-scale search on May 1st.

By the evening of May 1st, Lu Xiaoshuang had been rescued from the mine.

With the case fully unfolding, why would the murderer only send out the anonymous tip on May 2nd?
This is so weird.

Secondly, the whistleblower letter was not sent to the municipal party committee office by mail, but appeared in the office of the municipal party committee policy research office in a strange way.

It's worth noting that in the previous case of Long Zhiqiang, in order to investigate the photos sent out by driver Liu Jianshe, they had to confirm with the post office that ordinary mail is anonymous.

Moreover, there were plenty of mailboxes on the streets in 1997. If you were worried about being locked out by a mailbox later, you could just go a little further away and find any mailbox.

Why not send it by regular mail?
Are you afraid that the goods won't reach the right people who need them?

That doesn't make sense either; this letter appeared in the Municipal Party Committee Policy Research Office.

What kind of department is this? It's a department specifically responsible for drafting important speeches and reports for leaders, organizing investigations and research, and compiling and synthesizing written materials.

It's the department that writes speeches and reports.

Reporting these things isn't under their jurisdiction.

How did they end up in their office?

"Do you have any ideas?" Qiao Jiali asked.

“I have two ideas,” Zhou Yi said. “First, the whistleblower probably didn’t use regular mail because they were afraid it would be too slow or get ignored, thus failing to achieve the desired effect. After all, regular mail goes through many people, which increases the uncertainty.”

"Furthermore, the date May 2nd is very intriguing. Logically speaking, the body parts should have already been discovered by this time, so we shouldn't have taken the risk of doing this. I haven't figured this out yet, unless there's some special reason."

"Secondly, the reporting channel is also strange. If you don't want to mail letters, there are actually many other ways to report. There should be a complaint mailbox at the entrance of the municipal government compound, as well as the petition office and the discipline inspection commission, where you can directly mail your complaint. Why would you throw it into a completely unrelated policy research office? Are you afraid that this reporting channel will be easily exposed?"

Upon hearing this, Qiao Jiali suddenly sighed helplessly.

Zhou Yi immediately realized something was wrong and hurriedly asked, "Sister Qiao, what's wrong?"

"I don't know about the petition office and the discipline inspection commission. I heard about the complaint mailbox in the municipal government compound from my husband. It seems that someone had been making malicious and anonymous complaints for a long time, fabricating a lot of unfounded and false information, which affected the work. So later, some registration requirements and other measures were added."

Zhou Yi nodded and said, "I understand." No wonder the murderer didn't send it through the mailbox; it was to avoid witnesses.

There was one more issue he didn't mention. That was the municipal government compound, which isn't a place just anyone can enter, especially since dropping a letter into the research office indicated that the whistleblower had gained access to the municipal party committee office building.

Alternatively, the murderer may have a certain background or identity.

Alternatively, he cleverly used his personal connections to get someone inside the municipal party committee office to do it for him.

Zhou Yi immediately thought of someone.

The person who paged Xu Liu on Valentine's Day was Liu Baoguo.

Given his status, he should be able to accomplish this.

Could he be the murderer?

The problem is, he has no relation to Lu Xiaoshuang at all.

Lu Xiaoshuang was just a freshman, while Liu Baoguo was the vice principal; the two had absolutely no connection.

It's possible that he might have been Xu Liu's later financial backer.

But Lu Xiaoshuang had nothing to do with him. Why did he kill and dismember Lu Xiaoshuang in his previous life? And why did he frame Lu Xiaoshuang in this life?

This puzzled him a lot.

Soon, the car arrived at the Third Municipal Hospital.

Qiao Jiali accompanied Director Sun to escort Dong Lu to the hospital. She told Zhou Yi to go get a tetanus shot as soon as possible and they would meet in the car later.

Zhou Yi felt a mix of emotions as he watched the medical staff carry the semi-conscious Dong Lu off the stretcher.

He prayed silently in his heart that Xiao Bing would be alright.

If something really happens to Xiao Bing, not only will the case's leads be cut off, but more importantly, what will become of Dong Lu in the future?

Who exactly caused all of this?
Thinking of this, he couldn't help but angrily smash the car's hood.

Suddenly, a thought flashed through his mind, because for a moment, the image of Dong Lu before she was injured overlapped with the image of Lu Xiaoshuang in his mind.

Based on Dong Lu's hysterical screams earlier, it can be basically confirmed that the burns were not self-immolation, but rather arson.

No! It wasn't arson, it was murder!

Is it possible that the person who set fire to Dong Lu eight years ago, intending to burn her to death, was the same person who killed Lu Xiaoshuang in her previous life eight years later?
After all, Dong Lu and Lu Xiaoshuang look so alike. If someone has a morbid possessiveness towards Dong Lu, they could easily develop that morbid mentality again because of Lu Xiaoshuang, who looks very similar to Dong Lu.

Although I haven't figured out yet what the connection is between Xu Liu's death in this life and Dong Lu's situation.

However, if we analyze it in this direction, the Hongda case may not be an independent case that occurred in 1997, but a continuation of the arson and murder case that occurred in 1989!

This idea sent chills down Zhou Yi's spine.

If that were true, Lu Xiaoshuang would have died a very unjust death in her previous life.

Every husband is not guilty, and he is guilty of his crime.

Suddenly, his phone rang in his pocket. Zhou Yi picked it up and looked at it, a sense of foreboding washing over him.

Because the call was made by Xu Nian.

"Hello, Xu Nian, it's me."

Xu Nian said six words on the other end of the phone: "Zhou Yi, Xiao Bing is dead!"

(End of this chapter)