Chapter 214 The Murderer is Waiting~ According to Ling Li, ...

According to Ling Li, this group of level eight fortune tellers were specially trained by the police department.

Other normal level eight fortune tellers can predict the direction of mountains and rivers and the future of a place.

But they can only look at a person's fate line; beyond that, their calculations are not as accurate as those of a few first or second-level experts.

“I see…” An Wen nodded thoughtfully.

"So the police department is planning to operate independently, bypassing the fortune-telling agency?" Red Rabbit always cuts to the chase.

Ling Li didn't answer her question, but an awkward expression appeared on his face.

The moment he showed that expression, the others understood what was going on.

So they tacitly changed the subject: "Just how much hatred do you think the killer in this case had for these people?"

"These people died in different ways, and all of them knelt down in repentance. So it seems that the murderer believed they were all guilty. Moreover, gouging out their eyes, cutting off their hands, and severing their tongues all have concrete meanings." Zero looked at this one and then at that one, and finally chose to whisper his guess.

“Contact the local branch office and see if you can find any information about that village from more than twenty years ago,” An Wen said after thinking for a moment.

"I'll ask a friend if we can find local newspaper articles from twenty years ago." Uncle You nodded, picked up his phone, and started dialing.

"Yes, thank you for your help. The village is called Lianjia Village. Yes, yes, twenty years ago. Thank you for your help."

After making about three or four phone calls, Uncle You finally found a friend who knew the truth.

Meanwhile, Zero also retrieved the branch office's data and sent it to everyone's mobile phone.

"A village-burning fire?" An Wen frowned as he looked at the documents in his hand.

"Hmm." Zero responded softly and said, "The branch office said that twenty years ago, Lianjia Village suddenly caught fire. Because it was a summer night and there was a strong wind that day, the fire spread very quickly, and the entire village was gone overnight."

"The household registration department said that at the time, a village primary school took its students to the town to participate in an activity, so thirteen families avoided the disaster and later changed their names and left."

"Are these the ones who died from these thirteen families?" An Wen tapped his phone screen with his fingers.

"Mmm." Zero licked her lips and responded softly.

The phone suddenly rang, and Uncle You glanced down at his phone before quickly answering it.

"Oh, I see... Okay, I understand, thank you. Please send it to me, thank you for your help." He thanked the person on the phone repeatedly before sending the information to everyone.

"XX Daily News: On the 20th anniversary of the founding of Qinghe, a great fire destroyed Lianshan Village..."

"XX Daily News, 18th Year of Qinghe: The Red Moon and Bright Sun, The Tragedy of Lianshan Village..."

"XX Daily News, 17th Year of Qinghe, Red Moon and Bright Sun, Lianshan Village: One Woman Fights Ten Men..."

"XX Daily News, on the fifteenth anniversary of the founding of Qinghe, a red moon and bright day, a man was killed in Lianshan Village due to human trafficking..."

An Wen frowned as he looked at the newspaper compilation in his hand, until he saw the earliest news about Lianshan Village, which was dated the thirteenth year of Qinghe, on a red moon and a bright sun.

"XX Daily News, 13th Year of Qinghe, Red Moon and Bright Sun, The Mystery of the Bride in Lianshan Village..."

"Is this all the news I can find about Lianshan Village?" An Wen looked up at Uncle You.

Uncle You nodded: "These are all the records of Lianshan Village in the local news. The latest one is the fire in Qinghe 20 years ago."

He paused, then continued, "Since then, there have been no news reports related to Lianshan Village."

"Because of the patriarchal tradition in the area, by twenty years ago there were very few women of marriageable age left. As a result, the cost of finding a wife was very high, and local young men had no choice but to go out to work, hoping to find a wife elsewhere..."

Uncle You rubbed his temples: "Lianjia Village is a special place. Young people there not only don't need to go out to work, but they can even get married as soon as they reach a certain age."

“Trafficking?” An Wen’s voice was somewhat cold and hard.

Uncle You sighed deeply and nodded in agreement: "Yes, but in the past, human trafficking was because fortune tellers served the nobility and rarely cared about the survival of ordinary people."

"So in the past, even though people had the ability to tell fortunes, there were still quite a few women with weaker abilities who were trafficked to the deep mountains."

"But after the founding of the People's Republic of my country, the country launched a crackdown, and human trafficking has been completely eliminated in our country."

"Even more than 20 years ago, when there was already a well-established system for fortune tellers to take responsibility, how were they able to hide people from the eyes of the local fortune-telling bureau and fortune tellers?"

An Wen frowned, somewhat puzzled.

Uncle You's expression was somewhat gloomy, and his voice carried a hint of murderous intent: "Because they have fortune tellers helping them, money can be a powerful motivator..."

Upon hearing this, An Wen pursed his lips and remained silent.

Everyone in the criminal investigation team knows that Uncle You had a younger sister who was abducted and has not been found to this day.

“This case of human trafficking resulting in death is very strange.” Hongtu couldn’t help but say as she flipped through the documents in her hand. “The news said that an elderly couple with a child tried to abduct a girl from the village under the pretext of getting lost while traveling. After being discovered, the villagers accidentally beat the couple to death. The child was chased into the deep mountains and rolled off a cliff.”

"If the wives of Lianshan Village were abducted, are these three abductors or are they looking for their wives?"

"Do you know the name of the girl who was almost taken away?" An Wen asked after pondering for a moment.

Red Rabbit shook its head.

"What is this tragedy? The news only said that a family in Lianshan Village died overnight, and they were suspected of abusing their daughter-in-law and getting revenge. Do you think it's possible that this daughter-in-law was also abducted?" Lingxia said, pointing to a news article.

“From trafficking to combating human trafficking, then to scandals, tragedies, and the annihilation of villages, I feel like there’s a thread running through all of this…” Red Rabbit rubbed her fingertips together, biting her lip, and frowning as she pondered.

Fifth Uncle, standing nearby, raised an eyebrow and couldn't help but tease, "He can't be alone, that would be too tragic."

Upon hearing this, An Wen, who was sitting in the front, brightened up and quickly turned to look at everyone: "Do you think if the victims of these news stories were the same person who had suffered so many tragedies, would they seek revenge against their past perpetrators?"

"That person must be in their forties or fifties by now, right? Does she have the strength to take revenge?" Uncle Wu shook his head repeatedly, feeling that this idea was not very reliable.

"Did that child really die back then?" Cat's barely perceptible voice rang out from the corner.

"If it's true, then it's too..." Red Rabbit couldn't help but gasp.

A silence filled the carriage as everyone looked at each other, unsure of what to say.

Should we say that everything they just said was just speculation?

The current clues all point to their speculations, and it seems that only such a horrific experience could have sustained the murderer who harbored such deep hatred for the victim.

However, at that moment they hoped that all the speculation was just speculation, and that the dead were simply killed by a bloodthirsty serial killer.

"We've arrived." The car slowly came to a stop in front of the talent apartment building amidst the silence of the crowd.

"Thirteenth floor, room 1306," Ling Li said, flipping through the notebook in his hand.

An Wen looked up at the window, which was completely covered by curtains, and gestured to his fifth uncle and the others.

Uncle Wu darted into the building entrance like a cheetah and then quickly disappeared at the other end.

Red Rabbit shrugged and slowly walked forward: "I'll go guard the other side."

"How many exits are there?" An Wen asked Ling Li.

Just as Ling Li was about to retrieve the notes from his notebook, Uncle You silently performed a few steps.

The construction blueprints for the talent apartments were sent to everyone's mobile phones.

"How about Red Rabbit and Uncle Five guard the elevators at both ends, and Zero and Uncle You guard the two staircases?"

Uncle You rubbed his aching lower back and sighed helplessly, "Fine, what else can we do?"

Just as he was walking forward, the cat suddenly silently stretched out its hand: "I...I'll guard the stairs."

An Wen looked at her in surprise, observing her slender limbs, the hair that covered her eyebrows and eyes, and the black-rimmed glasses. He simply couldn't believe that someone with her appearance could guard the stairs.

The cat swallowed hard, pursed its lips, and pulled a walnut-sized iron ball from its pocket.

Then, in front of everyone, he gently shook hands.

An Wen's pupils dilated instantly, while Ling Li and Uncle You subconsciously took a step back.

The three of them swallowed hard, filled with barely suppressed astonishment, as they watched in disbelief as the iron ball, shaped like dough, was kneaded onto the cat's thin body and in their palms.

"I think it's fine for the cat," Uncle You said, licking his lips.

An Wen nodded silently and stepped aside.

The cat, clutching its laptop, silently climbed the chosen staircase.

An Wen looked at Uncle You, then at Ling Li: "Let's go from the middle."

As she spoke, she subconsciously glanced at the window again, vaguely sensing that the curtains seemed to have moved.

But in the blink of an eye, calm returned, as if nothing had happened.

An Wen couldn't help but rub her fingers together, feeling that everything was going too smoothly, which made her feel a little uneasy.

Upstairs in the room, Mingyue lowered the curtains, silently walked to the dressing mirror, and changed into a tea party-style Lolita dress.

Wigs, pins, hairpins, hair clips, necklaces, sleeves, bracelets, gloves...

From top to bottom, inside and out, it was as if they were heading to a royal banquet from the Rococo era, carrying both the importance they placed on their rivals and the anticipation for the event.

The lipstick is applied to the lips, and the colored contact lenses are gently inserted into the eyes.

Pick up an ornate folding fan, carry a Rococo-style handbag, and put on a pair of delicate high heels.

She sat in the middle of the room, on a magnificent European-style high chair, silently looking at the closed doors and windows.

The messy snacks and trash in the room were gone, and even the dolls and cushions that were scattered around the room when Ling Li and his group came last time were nowhere to be found.

The room was empty, containing only the most basic furniture and a lone computer on the desk.

A program on the computer is running slowly, and the data on the desktop is disappearing little by little as the progress bar advances...