Chapter 30: 30 From raising the butcher knife against the perpetrator to raising the knife against the victim...
"What do you mean?" Faced with Xu Nian's sudden words, Qi Bai tried his best to analyze it, but the more he thought about it, the more confused his mind became.
Jiang Yingyao easily followed Xu Nian's train of thought. He looked at Xu Nian and asked, "You're saying that before Luo Shun killed Jiang Chuntao's ex-husband, Jiang Chuntao was already preparing to kill him. It's very likely that during her planning, she discovered that Luo Shun was stalking her ex-husband, so she simply used him as a tool to kill him?"
Qi Bai finally understood. Just as he was about to speak, Wang Yu spoke up, "Brother Jiang, are you saying that Luo Shun was indeed the one who initially disposed of the body parts, but then they were discovered by Jiang Chuntao, who was following him, and she took them away and buried them elsewhere?"
Everyone stared in silence at the deep pit that had taken who knows how long to dig. After a long moment, Qi Bai sighed, "I take back what I said. Jiang Chuntao is much more ruthless than Luo Shun."
As the forensic team and the technical team loaded all the body parts and recovered evidence into the truck, Xu Nian glanced at the sun rising higher into the sky and said, "Let's go. We've found everything we need. It's time to go back and have a good chat with the two suspects."
Back at the police station, Xu Nian led his men to the interrogation room without stopping. This time, he took Qi Bai in with him.
Jiang Chuntao is 44 years old this year, but she looks younger than her actual age. She has a slightly plump figure. Although her face has fine wrinkles due to age, her complexion is rosy, and it can be seen that she has lived a good life in recent years.
At this time, Jiang Chuntao was handcuffed and sitting on the interrogation chair. Although she no longer lowered her head, her expression was calm. She was neither panicked about her current situation nor showed hatred or fear when facing the police. It was as if she was sitting in a very ordinary place.
Xu Nian and Qi Bai sat down. Xu Nian looked at Jiang Chuntao silently without saying a word. Qi Bai glanced at Xu Nian, opened the interrogation book and started questioning.
"Name."
"Jiang Chuntao."
"gender."
"female."
"age."
"44 years old."
Qi Bai wrote a few words vigorously, and then said: "Tell me, why did you kill Liang Xinhua, and why did you help Luo Shun bury the body."
Jiang Chuntao still had no expression on her face. She spoke calmly, "If you want to kill him, just kill him. As for helping Luo Shun bury the body?"
Jiang Chuntao suddenly laughed sarcastically, "Come to think of it, now that Yu Hong is dead, you still have Luo Shun to thank."
Qi Bai couldn't help but reveal an absurd expression as if he had heard a huge joke, and then said angrily, "What the hell are you talking about..."
Qi Bai was interrupted by Xu Nian before he could finish his last word.
Xu Nian looked at Jiang Chuntao and asked, "What did Yu Hong do that made you decide to kill him?"
Although her ex-husband Yu Hong has been dead for ten years, Jiang Chuntao is still filled with disgust and hatred when she mentions him.
"He's a scumbag," Jiang Chuntao took a deep breath, as if trying to calm down, but obviously failed. She spoke through gritted teeth, "I'll never forget that night. He got drunk and beat me up, then proudly boasted to me about having sex with a teenage girl. He told me how delicate her skin was, and how beautiful her cries were when she struggled and resisted. He also told me that instead of my daughter meeting a scumbag like him in the future, I might as well give him my virginity. Such a scumbag, why is he still alive? Why doesn't he just die?"
After Jiang Chuntao finished yelling the last two sentences, she took a deep breath and said word by word after a few seconds: "He should die."
After Jiang Chuntao finished speaking, Qi Bai paused, then lowered his head and quickly wrote down what he had said in the interrogation book.
Xu Nian asked again, "Now that Yu Hong is dead, you can start over. Why did you deliberately approach Luo Shun? Did you think this knife was useful and could help you do things you couldn't do?"
Jiang Chuntao sneered, but did not say anything. She returned to her previous state and looked at Xu Nian with a calm expression, but did not utter a single word.
The stalemate lasted for more than ten minutes. No matter what Xu Nian and Qi Bai asked, Jiang Chuntao seemed not to hear them. The two had no choice but to leave the interrogation room.
As soon as he left the house, Qi Bai couldn't help but sigh, "This Jiang Chuntao, I thought she was willing to cooperate since she even told me where Yu Hong dumped his body, but who knew she was as stubborn as a clam. But speaking of it, Captain Xu, this Jiang Chuntao is really strange. It's come to this, why is she still refusing to cooperate? Is she hiding something?"
Jiang Yingyao suddenly said, "Perhaps she doesn't want to communicate with us. Judging from her resistance and contemptuous attitude during the interrogation, she has no trust in our police."
Wang Yu said: "Jiang Chuntao is different from the wives of the other four deceased. She called the police several times about domestic violence before Yu Hong's death, but because the injuries were minor, they only managed to mediate."
The four of them were silent for a moment. After a moment, Xu Nian said, "It seems that Jiang Chuntao has revealed everything she wanted to reveal. She won't say anything else."
"I'm going to interrogate Luo Shun." Jiang Yingyao took two steps and called Wang Yu, and the two quickly disappeared outside the door.
Qi Bai flipped through the interrogation records and looked up at Xu Nian. "Captain Xu, tell me, could it be that Jiang Chuntao is the mastermind and Luo Shun is the accomplice?"
Xu Nian said: "Six people were killed, and there is so much solid evidence. No matter which of these two is an accomplice, they will be sent away."
Qi Bai thought for a moment and said, "That's true, but if these two die, what will happen to Luo Xiaoyun? I've checked. Jiang Chuntao married far away in Yongquan City and has relatives in Guanglin Province. Her parents are gone, but she still has two brothers. I don't know if they will adopt Luo Xiaoyun. But seeing that Jiang Chuntao has been abused for so many years, she would rather plan to kill Yu Hong than go find these two brothers. I think their relationship must be bad."
Thinking of that eleven-year-old girl, Qi Bai's expression was a little complicated, but then he thought of something else and asked Xu Nian, "Captain Xu, Jiang Chuntao just said that Yu Hong had raped a girl at least ten years ago, and it was very likely that she was underage. Should we follow up on this clue?"
"It's a case from ten years ago," Xu Nian pinched his brows with a headache, "Let's notify the local police station and see if there are any similar reports."
Qi Bai agreed and walked aside to make a phone call.
It was almost lunchtime when Jiang Yingyao and Wang Yu returned to the office.
"How is it?" Qi Bai asked hurriedly when he saw the person, and handed over the thermos cup of warm water in a flustered manner.
Jiang Yingyao took a few gulps before saying, "Although he's also a tough talker, he's much easier to deal with than Jiang Chuntao. Luo Shun confessed to killing and dismembering five people, including Yu Hong, Tian Shaohui, Tan Yongfu, Pang Zhiye, and Pang Wenze. He also provided a dumping location for Yu Hong's body parts, a garbage station six kilometers from Xingguang Community. This doesn't match the location Jiang Chuntao pointed out. Clearly, he was unaware of Jiang Chuntao's separate disposal of the body parts."
"So, Jiang Chuntao not only helped Luo Shun cover up the murders, but later married him, deliberately getting close to him." Qi Bai slammed the table. "I never thought that the serial killer who killed five people and dismembered their bodies was just a knife in someone else's hand."
Wang Yu said, "According to Luo Shun's confession, he did meet Jiang Chuntao before he killed Yu Hong in July 2014, but they never spoke. They were completely strangers. In the year after Yu Hong's death, they only met a few times while selling vegetables. It wasn't until February 2016 that they began to interact more frequently, and they got married at the end of 2016."
Qi Bai sighed, "A year! This Jiang Chuntao is really patient. She observed for a year before getting close to him."
Xu Nian said: "Although Jiang Chuntao didn't kill Yu Hong, her previous plan and her act of helping Luo Shun bury the body unlocked the criminal's guilt in her."
Wang Yu was puzzled. "But if Jiang Chuntao was really so cautious and used someone else's knife to kill someone, why did she kill Liang Xinhua herself in the end? If Liang Xinhua didn't die, even though she was Luo Shun's wife, there's no evidence to prove her involvement. Maybe she was just guilty of harboring someone."
Qi Bai also realized, "Yes, of the five deceased, except for Yu Hong's body parts, which were buried by Jiang Chuntao, Luo Shun did the rest. He didn't even know about the other body parts. If she hadn't killed Liang Xinhua in the end, she really might have gotten away with it."
"Do you remember what Jiang Chuntao said in the interrogation room just now?" Xu Nian suddenly asked.
Qi Bai immediately recalled, and Wang Yu reacted very quickly: "He should die. Captain Xu, is he referring to what Jiang Chuntao said?"
Xu Nian hummed, and Jiang Yingyao said, "So it seems that although Luo Shun killed and dismembered all five victims, except for Yu Hong, Jiang Chuntao most likely guided Luo Shun in selecting the other four. Since she chose them, she certainly wouldn't allow Liang Xinhua to live."
"Then Luo Shun went to kill Ye Lan?" Wang Yu and Qi Bai exchanged a look, somewhat puzzled. "Was it Jiang Chuntao who also decided to kill her?"
Jiang Yingyao said: "Luo Shun confessed that he wanted to kill Ye Lan, but no matter who made the decision, from the moment they decided to kill Ye Lan, their criminal mentality changed fundamentally."
"From raising the butcher knife against the abuser to raising the butcher knife against the victim. If we don't catch them this time..." Wang Yu imagined it and shuddered.
The four of them were silent. Compared to Qi Bai and Wang Yu's complicated expressions, Xu Nian and Jiang Yingyao were much calmer.
"Captain Xu," a technician walked into the office carrying documents, "The DNA comparison results are in. The DNA from the fifth person's blood found in the trunk is related to Luo Xiaoyun."
Xu Nian took it, looked at it, and asked, "Have all the physical evidence from the first scene of Liang Xinhua's murder come out?"
The technician said, "We've found some results. The murder weapon used to kill Liang Xinhua only had Jiang Chuntao's fingerprints on it. We also found the wig and women's clothing we found at the scene, and through testing the stratum corneum removed from the skin, we've only found Luo Shun's DNA so far."
After the technician left, Qi Bai said, "It seems that from kidnapping to killing to dismembering the body, Luo Shun did everything by himself."
"This Jiang Chuntao..." Wang Yu only said a few words and then stopped talking with a complicated expression.
The atmosphere in the office fell silent for a moment. Suddenly, Jiang Yingyao's phone rang. After answering the call and exchanging a few words, he looked at Xu Nian and said, "Captain Xu, we've received a response to the investigation we sent out to Tadong City. They've found two cases, both of which occurred on April 12th and 13th of 2009. Both victims had a long history of domestic violence, but unlike ours, they were both struck in the back of the head with a wrench, resulting in skull fractures. They died despite medical treatment. The murder weapon was found on the afternoon of the 13th in a green belt two kilometers from the scene of the second victim's crime. Our colleagues from Tadong City are already on their way with the case files and physical evidence."
"April 12th and 13th," Xu Nian recalled. "I remember Luo Shun returned to Yongquan City in April 2009."
Qi Bai nodded, "Yes, I took the train on the evening of April 13th and arrived in Yongquan City in the early morning of April 14th."
"He's incredibly brave," Wang Yu said. "He killed two people and still dared to take a train. He wasn't afraid of being held down on the spot."
"That means there were other murders before this," Xu Nian said. "Other cities haven't responded yet, so I guess they're still searching."
"Then let's..." Qi Bai glanced at Xu Nian cautiously and asked tentatively, "Just wait like this?"
Jiang Yingyao slapped Qi Bai in annoyance and said, "Just say what you want to say. Captain Xu is not a cannibal." Then he looked at Xu Nian and said, "Our colleagues from Tadong City drove here. They won't arrive until around 8 or 9 in the evening at the earliest. Why don't we take a break in the afternoon?"
Xu Nian looked at a few people, then looked at himself.
Indeed, I have been staying up all night for several days, and it has been three or four days since I last washed my hair and took a shower. It is indeed not appropriate to meet colleagues from other units in this state.
"Then take a rest this afternoon," Xu Nian decided. "Clean yourself up, have a meal, and have a good sleep. Come back tomorrow morning."
Qi Baigang cheered and said, "See you that night," but then he froze, "Tomorrow...tomorrow morning?"
Xu Nian smiled and said, "When our colleagues from Tadong City arrive tonight, we can only send them to the guesthouse. The physical evidence inspection will also take some time. Everyone has been working hard recently. I can't decide whether to give them a day off, but you can still rest for an afternoon."
Qi Bai and Wang Yu clapped their hands happily, cheered for Captain Xu's wisdom, and rushed out of the office.
Xu Nian and Jiang Yingyao looked at the two men's backs, laughed, and shook their heads helplessly.
…
Guan Xia watched TV series all day long, and only stretched and sat up from the sofa in the evening.
Guan Xia was lazy and ate some noodles at noon. She was originally engrossed in watching a movie and planned to have a meal in the evening. However, she happened to see the protagonist team solve a case. They had a big meal to celebrate. Seeing the protagonists ordering a bunch of main dishes and eating them ravenously, Guan Xia was not only hungry but also very greedy. After only a few seconds of consideration, she opened the food delivery app very willingly.
After ordering several dishes she wanted to eat, Guan Xia finally got her takeaway. She opened them one by one and was about to start eating when the doorbell suddenly rang.
Guan Xia was a little surprised. At first, she thought she had misheard. It was not until the person outside knocked a few more times that she slowly walked towards the door.
After taking a look through the peephole, Guan Xia saw that it was Xu Nian. She opened the door and looked at the person in surprise. "Captain Xu, why are you here? What's going on?"
As soon as the question was asked, Guan Xia looked down and found that Xu Nian was holding a plate of cooked dumplings. It was hard to tell what the filling was, but the skin was thin and the filling was large. The dumplings were piled up in the plate, round and plump, and at least twice as big as the takeaway dumplings Guan Xia usually ordered.
Noticing Guan Xia's gaze, Xu Nian felt a little embarrassed. He pursed his lips and said helplessly, "My mother asked me to give it to you. She said you helped her a lot yesterday morning, and she wanted you to try the dumplings she made no matter what. She also told me to make sure they were cooked and sent to you."
Guan Xia didn't expect that there would be a follow-up to what happened yesterday morning. She couldn't help but feel surprised and embarrassed. "It's just a small matter. Auntie, don't take it to heart. You are too polite."
Xu Nian was also not very good at being polite, and the two of them became increasingly awkward after exchanging a few words.
Xu Nian held out the plate in his hand and said, "Please accept it. If you don't accept it this time, my mother will ask me to come again."
Guan Xia heard the stubbornness in her aunt's words from Xu Nian's words. After thinking for a few seconds, she took it.
After saying thank you, Guan Xia suddenly remembered that the system settlement last night meant that the murderers had been arrested, and Xu Nian, who had moved here and had never been seen before, had also returned home. This meant that even if the case was not over, it must be in the final stage. So if she asked the murderer who he was going to kill in Building No. 7, Xu Nian should tell her, right?
Guan Xia hesitated, and Xu Nian saw that she was hesitant to speak. After a few seconds, he asked, "What do you want to say?"
Guan Xia gritted her teeth. Seeing Xu Nian's calm expression, unlike his previous unwillingness to communicate, she asked, "I want to ask the murderer why he disguised himself as the domestic violence man named Lao Liang and went to Building 7. Is Lao Liang still alive? Who did the murderer go to Building 7 to kill? Why did he kill people?"
Guan Xia originally only wanted to ask one question, but she had so many questions in her mind that she couldn't control herself once she opened her mouth.
Xu Nian was not surprised. He was silent for a moment and then asked Guan Xia, "Is this what we are talking about?"
Guan Xia then realized that one of them was standing inside the door, while the other was standing inside and outside, both holding a plate of hot dumplings in their hands.
Guan Xia hesitated for a moment, then glanced back at the table full of takeout, then looked at Xu Nian, and asked with determination, "Captain Xu, have you eaten dinner yet? I just ordered a bunch of food, why don't we eat together?"
In order to clear up the confusion, Guan Xia felt that he had really tried his best.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
