Anti-gang campaign: Female bureau chief

Qiao Xiaoyue lay on her back on the floor in the center of the living room, wearing a plain cotton lounge dress, barefoot, with her hair disheveled behind her head.

Her hands were tied behind her back with a white nylon cable tie, which was so tight that it left a dark purple bruise on her wrists.

A white towel was stuffed deep into her mouth, stretching her lips so much that they were slightly split open.

There was a clear ligature mark on the neck, but unlike those who had been strangled by ropes or wires in the past, this ligature mark was irregular and discontinuous, as if it had been left by something pressing down repeatedly.

Her face was bruised, and there were numerous pinpoint hemorrhages under her conjunctiva, typical signs of death by mechanical asphyxiation.

Forensic pathologist Lao Zheng was squatting next to the body, conducting a preliminary examination.

He carefully lifted the deceased's chin, shone a flashlight on the details of the ligature marks on the neck, and said without looking up:

"The ligature marks are unusual. They weren't caused by a single, forceful tightening, but rather by repeated, repeated strangulation, somewhat like being suffocated by a knee pressed against the neck, or by repeated pressure on the neck blood vessels with a blunt object. An autopsy is needed to confirm this. There were no signs of self-defense on the deceased's body, and her fingernails were clean, but there was a faint abrasion mark on the back of her right hand, possibly from struggling while being restrained. The time of death was approximately 4 PM yesterday."

Old Zheng then flipped up the deceased's collar, exposing his chest.

A piece of paper was placed in the center of his chest, neatly folded and pressed below his collarbone, in the same position as the Shen Wangshan business card that Cao Shouyi had on his chest half a year ago.

The note contained only one number: 273.

"273".

Jiang Ruolan held the evidence bag up to the spotlight and carefully examined the note.

The note was made of ordinary A4 printing paper, with neatly trimmed edges. The numbers on it were written in black pen, in a handwritten style, with neat and strong strokes, without any signs of trembling or hesitation, as if it had been written in a hurry.

It is not an ID number, not a phone number, and not a bank card number.

She turned the note over to the back, which was completely blank.

This number could be a page number, a serial number, a date, or a code known only to the murderer and the victim.

Suddenly, she remembered something, clutched the evidence bag, turned and walked to the door, calling Lao Tian over:

"Old Tian, ​​you said the old lady came into the house because she smelled something burning. What kind of pot was burning dry on the gas stove? What was cooking in it? Does the gas stove have a timer function?"

Old Tian was taken aback, clearly not expecting her to ask such detailed questions.

He flipped through his notebook and looked it up for a while before answering:

"It was a small stainless steel saucepan, and it seemed to be cooking red date and white fungus soup. There was also half a bag of unopened red dates on the stove. The bottom of the saucepan had been burned through, and the kitchen walls were covered with soot. The old lady said that Qiao Xiaoyue rarely used the gas stove; she usually ordered takeout or cooked instant noodles in the evenings. The gas stove was an old-fashioned rotary switch type without a timer function, meaning the fire was manually lit. The white fungus soup in the saucepan wasn't even finished cooking when she was murdered. No one turned off the fire; it burned until the bottom of the saucepan burned through, and the smell of burning reached the neighbors before it was discovered."

Jiang Ruolan stood in the center of the living room and slowly looked around.

A young woman was murdered in her home around 4 p.m.

The murderer tied her hands behind her back, gagged her with a towel, and repeatedly pressed on her neck until she suffocated to death. Then he placed a note with the number "273" on her chest and locked the door from the inside.

As Lao Tian just mentioned, the landlord used a spare key to open the door, and the door was locked from the inside.

If the murderer doesn't have the key, he'll have to leave the scene by other means.

She walked to the kitchen window, opened the window, and peered out.

The kitchen window on the third floor faces a narrow fire lane behind the building, which is filled with all sorts of miscellaneous items, such as abandoned bicycles, empty cardboard boxes, and construction waste.

Below the windowsill is a thick drainpipe with obvious signs of climbing. Several pieces of rust have been rubbed off at the pipe joints, revealing the silver-gray metal underneath.

Jiang Ruolan pulled herself back from the window and said to Lu Zheng:

"The killer climbed out of the kitchen window. He lit the fire to create a time-delayed smoke alarm; it takes time for the pot to dry out, and it also takes time for the neighbors to smell the burning and knock on the door. This time difference is enough for him to run a long way."

She paused, her gaze falling once again on the note that read "273".

"He didn't act randomly. He knew Qiao Xiaoyue, knew she lived alone, knew she was home in the afternoon, and knew there was a drainpipe outside her kitchen window that she could climb. He brought cable ties and a towel, but no weapon; he killed her with his knee and his palm. This method shows that he was very confident in his ability to control his victims."

While inspecting the laptop on the desk, the technician found an open document page.

It was a Google design proposal, and the autosave timestamp at the end of the document was for 3:40 PM yesterday. This means that Qiao Xiaoyue was still working twenty minutes before she was murdered.

Jiang Ruolan asked the technician to carefully review all her work documents and client emails from the past week to see if there was any content involving sensitive topics or that had offended anyone.

Zhao Rui was then instructed to contact Qiao Xiaoyue's company and landlord to investigate all of her interpersonal relationships over the past six months, especially her male suitors or ex-boyfriends.

In the duty room of the forensic center, Lao Zheng handed over a newly printed autopsy report. He hadn't even taken off his gloves yet, and the rubber still smelled faintly of disinfectant.

His expression was more solemn than when he was at the scene.

The autopsy report was very detailed, showing that the deceased had multiple focal bleeding points in the soft tissue under the skin of his neck, concentrated on both sides of the Adam's apple and above the clavicle, with each bleeding point corresponding to one instance of external pressure.

The carotid intima showed a slight tear, but the hyoid bone and thyroid cartilage were not fractured, indicating that the assailant's force was precisely controlled.

This was not a one-time act of violent strangulation, but rather repeated, intermittent pressure, pressing down until the victim was nearly unconscious, then releasing her, only to press her down again after she regained consciousness, repeating this process for a considerable period of time. The perpetrator enjoyed the process.

"The child in Qiao Xiaoyue's belly is not hers."

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