Chapter 394 Motive, Alibi, Physical Evidence

"The surveyors discovered some of Lu Xiaoshuang's footprints about 140 meters away from the cave entrance."

Wu Yongcheng's words meant that Lu Xiaoshuang should have begun to collapse from exhaustion at about 140 meters away.

In other words, in order to survive, she crawled nearly a hundred meters in the mine.

This is not comparable to the outside world. The boundless darkness and suffocating unknown environment have a huge psychological oppression on human beings.

Many times, when in a dangerous environment, it is not the body that gives up first, but the spirit.

Lu Xiaoshuang's strong desire to survive allowed her to save herself successfully. She crawled and shouted for help, and was finally heard by the little boy who was picking up coal slag.

Suppose she didn't fight to save herself, or climbed in the wrong direction and went deeper.

Zhou Yi couldn't believe the consequences.

Not only would she disappear from the face of the earth, she would even be considered the victim of this life's dismemberment case. After all, the fried meat slices could no longer be used to confirm DNA.

If this is true, then who knows when the bodies in the abandoned mine will be discovered.

By then, Lu Xiaoshuang, who had long since turned to bones, would be reopened for investigation, and the huge dismemberment case that had never been solved would also be restarted.

But how much sense does that make?

At least for Zhou Yi, it no longer makes sense.

Zhou Yi was terrified, as this made him realize that even though he was reborn, he was still not omnipotent.

The murderer of every unsolved case is hiding in the dark. All the victims in the previous life, including Lu Xiaoshuang, may be in danger at any time and anywhere.

Zhou Yi couldn't tie everyone to his belt.

Wu Yongcheng put out his cigarette and cleared his throat when he saw Zhou Yi was lost in thought.

Because he was about to start talking about the real focus of the mine exploration. Not to mention that Zhou Yi would be shocked when he heard it, he himself was also shocked beyond words by such a result.

In fact, he has always been very conflicted and torn about whether to reveal the case information to Zhou Yi.

Because before this, he had always been a man of principles and discipline.

Telling Zhou Yi about the situation would mean not only violating the task force's confidentiality regulations, but also going against the principles he had always adhered to.

But deep down, his own voice was telling him that there was something fishy about this case, very fishy.

The fact that Zhou Yi was reported is extremely abnormal.

But if he wanted to break his principles, he needed a reason.

Zhou Yi's initial sophistry did not convince him, but the following few sentences did help him find loopholes in the system.

Because strictly speaking, all these things happened before the task force was officially established.

What's more, Zhou Yi also found an insurance for himself.

With Qin Beihai's status and reputation, they could rest assured knowing he was protecting Zhou Yi.

But he couldn't understand why Old Qin was willing to help him when Zhou Yi had only met Qin Beihai once before.

"After discovering Lu Xiaoshuang's footprints, our colleagues who went down into the mines searched about twenty meters further along the tracks and discovered something."

Zhou Yi asked hurriedly: "What is it?"

"A travel bag."

Zhou Yi's heart skipped a beat: "What kind of travel bag?"

Wu Yongcheng was slightly stunned, because he didn't expect that Zhou Yi would first ask about the appearance of the travel bag. Shouldn't a normal person ask what's in the travel bag first?

"A navy blue travel bag, a size smaller than the one salvaged from the Nansha River. It's equally old, with significant signs of wear and tear. There's a faded five-pointed star mark on the front of the bag."

Sure enough! Zhou Yi found that he was right. This travel bag was the second travel bag that the murderer used to dispose of the body in the previous life. It was found in the abandoned well at the construction site on Huahe Road in the previous life.

The coordinates of the travel bag have changed in this life, so has the content inside also changed?

"Captain Wu...are they also filled with slices of meat?"

Wu Yongcheng shook his head: "No, there is a head inside, Xu Liu's head."

Chen Yan had revealed on the phone before that the deceased was confirmed to be Xu Liu. Zhou Yi was not surprised by this as he had already had a vague suspicion before.

But there is problematic information here.

He asked, "Captain Wu, I want to confirm whether the contents of the travel bag are complete human heads or damaged ones that have been processed?"

Wu Yongcheng's response was: "The head was intact, with no obvious surface trauma and no damage to the facial features. However, it had also been fried, making it impossible for the medical examiner to determine a precise time of death."

Is the head complete?

This is unreasonable!

If, whether in the previous life or this life, the purpose of dismembering and slicing the body is to facilitate disposal, then that is understandable.

But in this life, the murderer fried and cooked the meat slices, wasn't it just to cover up the deceased's DNA?

But the previous corpses were handled so carefully, why is the human head so complete?

Human heads are difficult to deal with, so it is understandable that they are thrown into abandoned mines.

But even the facial features were not processed, the whole body was just oiled. Doesn’t the murderer know that the basic appearance should be retained?

Even if the murderer thought the mine was remote enough, the head would have been severely decayed by the time it was discovered.

Could it be that the murderer thought that frying the entire head would destroy all the DNA?

As long as the inside is not cooked through, can DNA still be extracted?

Did the murderer make a mistake?

Zhou Yi shook his head, thinking that this possibility should not exist. The murderer's methods in this life were obviously more advanced than those in the previous life.

But why would they behave in such a contradictory way?

Moreover, when Lu Xiaoshuang was rescued, there were no signs of ropes or binding on her body.

Instead of killing Lu Xiaoshuang, he threw her head and Xu Liu's head into the mine. It seemed that he was using Lu Xiaoshuang as a scapegoat.

But based on this alone, it is impossible to directly designate her as a suspect. That would be too far-fetched. How could the task force make such a low-level mistake right from the start?

"Captain Wu, are there any other discoveries?" Zhou Yi asked quickly.

Wu Yongcheng reached out to grab the cigarette box on the table, but found it empty.

So he stood up and walked to the side, took out a new pack from a drawer, tore it open and lit one.

"A kitchen knife was found about two meters away from the travel bag."

"Is it the murder weapon used to kill Xu Liu?" Zhou Yi asked.

Wu Yongcheng nodded, his nose smoldering. "The body parts had been distorted by the frying, so we couldn't compare them to the knife wounds. We could only compare them to the cut surface of the head, and preliminary results confirm a match. The bloodstains left on the knife and those extracted from the head have all been tested."

Wu Yongcheng took another puff and said, "They're all type A, the same as the blood sample extracted from that hairband earlier. After the task force was established, all these blood samples were sent to the provincial capital laboratory for DNA testing and comparison, but the results are not yet out."

Zhou Yi suddenly remembered Xiang Jie's words and Chen Yan's words. He seemed to have guessed why Lu Xiaoshuang became the suspect in the murder of Xu Liu.

He asked in a trembling voice, "Captain Wu...don't tell me Lu Xiaoshuang's fingerprints were found on the kitchen knife..."

Wu Yongcheng knew that Zhou Yi would definitely be able to guess it at this point, so he nodded.

"There's only Lu Xiaoshuang's fingerprint on it. Also... half a fingerprint was found on the metal zipper of the travel bag. After technical comparison, it was confirmed to be Lu Xiaoshuang's."

"Also, there's Xu Liu's student ID card, which was found on Lu Xiaoshuang. On it were the fingerprints of Xu Liu, Lu Xiaoshuang, and the police officer from the police station. Judging from the order in which the fingerprints overlap, the police officer's fingerprint is on top, followed by Lu Xiaoshuang's, and finally Xu Liu's."

Zhou Yi didn't know what to say for a moment. He thought about various possibilities, but he didn't expect that the truth was actually a frame-up.

Xu Liu and Lu Xiaoshuang had a conflict, and Xu Liu suspected that he had cut his sweater, which led to the conflict. There were a lot of witnesses to this incident.

This is a criminal inducement and motive!

Lu Xiaoshuang has been missing since she left school at noon on April 30th, and this period of time may have been the time when the murder, dismemberment and disposal of the body occurred.

This is a case of having no alibi!

Lu Xiaoshuang appeared in the mine where one of the bodies was dumped, and her fingerprints appeared on the travel bag containing the human head and the murder weapon.

This is valid physical evidence!

With these results presented to the task force, it would be difficult for them not to consider Lu Xiaoshuang as the suspect in the murder of Xu Liu.

But this is fucking bullshit! How could Lu Xiaoshuang be the murderer? She was the victim of this case in the previous life!

And that navy blue travel bag is irrefutable evidence! This bag contained Lu Xiaoshuang's body parts in her previous life!

But he couldn't say this, because if he did, people would think he was crazy.

"Captain Wu, it's impossible to form a complete chain of evidence based on just these few points. How can you directly identify Xiaoshuang as a criminal suspect?" Zhou Yi was really anxious.

Because these situations are very unfavorable to Lu Xiaoshuang.

Wu Yongcheng did not express his opinion.

Zhou Yi added, "If Xiaoshuang was held hostage, it would be easy to wipe off the murderer's fingerprints on the murder weapon and the travel bag, and then deliberately leave fingerprints on Xiaoshuang's fingers."

Wu Yongcheng still didn't say anything, just smoked silently.

"Captain Wu, even if we take a step back, you've all seen Xiao Shuang. How could she possibly be capable of such a thing? Killing, dismembering, cooking, and then dumping the body? Even an adult man wouldn't have the physical and mental strength to pull off these crimes. How could a female student with a clean record possibly be capable of such a complex series of crimes?"

Zhou Yi spoke faster and faster, and became more and more excited.

"Besides the murder weapon, there's also the primary crime scene. If they haven't found the primary crime scene, how can we say Lu Xiaoshuang is a suspect? Murder and dismemberment require certain conditions. How could a young girl like her, living in an attic less than three square meters, dismember and cook a corpse?"

At the end of his speech, Zhou Yi was so excited that he couldn't help but slap the table, and the canned glass bottle that Wu Yongcheng used as a water cup on the table was shaken and made a clinking sound.

"Calm down." Wu Yongcheng said lightly.

"I'm sorry, Captain Wu. I'm not targeting you. I'm just mad."

"Do you think the task force hasn't considered the doubts you mentioned?"

These words made Zhou Yi stunned.

Wu Yongcheng continued, "Everyone is not stupid. Of course, they will have doubts about this matter. These few points alone are indeed not enough to form a complete chain of evidence."

"All evidence must be able to corroborate each other, eliminating reasonable doubt and leading to the sole conclusion that the suspect committed a crime. Only then can it be said to form a complete chain of evidence sufficient to convict a person."

"Zhou Yi, you understand this, right?" Wu Yongcheng asked.

Zhou Yi nodded. Of course he understood. This was a requirement for forming a complete chain of evidence. Only in this way could the public security organs formally submit a case closing report and enter the next judicial procedure.

Wu Yongcheng asked again: "Then tell me, what are the requirements for changing a 'suspect' to a 'criminal suspect'?"

Zhou Yi replied hoarsely, "After a criminal case is filed, preliminary evidence must be collected to prove the suspect's possible involvement. Then, an internal review process is conducted before a summons or detention warrant is issued."

"Then tell me, do the presence of a motive, an alibi, and key evidence in the case constitute prima facie evidence?"

Zhou Yi nodded helplessly. Of course, forget it. In terms of procedures, there is no mandatory requirement that the preliminary evidence must meet the conviction standard in order to identify the suspect.

Wu Yongcheng's meaning is very clear. The physical evidence discovered so far has constituted reasonable suspicion of the suspect. It is a reasonable and legal procedure for the task force to identify the suspect and investigate.

It is abnormal not to check just because you think it is impossible!

After all, they are not Zhou Yi, even the people from the Third Brigade are the same.

"Zhou Yi, you and Lu Xiaoshuang are close, and I can understand your feelings. Not only you, but also me, Xiao Qiao and the others, do not believe that Lu Xiaoshuang is the murderer. But in criminal cases, you cannot be emotional, you cannot just think what you think. Maybe it is true, but it is definitely not true at the legal level, because legal principles only talk about objective facts." Wu Yongcheng said earnestly.

"And you have to understand that identifying Lu Xiaoshuang as a suspect isn't about turning her into the murderer, but about conducting a targeted and comprehensive investigation to rule out the possibility that she's the murderer."

"Since the murderer deliberately framed her, we have to clear her name, don't you think?"

Zhou Yi sighed deeply, wanting to cry but unable to. He actually understood what Wu Yongcheng said.

But the law is unforgiving and only considers facts. At present, there is no other clear suspect in this case except Lu Xiaoshuang. In the presence of physical evidence, Lu Xiaoshuang is naturally the biggest suspect in this case.

If the person being suspected today was not Lu Xiaoshuang, but someone who had nothing to do with him, Zhou Yi, he might also agree to continue the investigation in this direction.

It’s a pity that he is not a saint and cannot ignore his feelings for Xiaoshuang.

What's more, he is the only person in the world who knows that Xiaoshuang is actually the original deceased in this case.

But for the first time, the development of events far exceeded his expectations.

This was a challenge he had never encountered since his rebirth.

Lu Xiaoshuang has become a chess piece in the game between him and the murderer.

Moreover, he had deeper concerns.

He was afraid that although Lu Xiaoshuang would not die in the Hongda case in this life, she might still be destroyed by the Hongda case!