Chapter 417 A Word to Awaken the Dreamer
"I originally didn't want to bring it up. I was thinking I'd wait and see the results of the investigation into Xiao Bing's relationship situation. But since Brother Yan mentioned it just now, I'll say it."
Zhou Yi said, "That is, we cannot rule out the possibility that Xiao Bing's girlfriend is missing or murdered."
This sentence shocked everyone, and finally made Xiang Jie feel enlightened.
"Is there any logic behind this?" he asked.
"It's like this. When Brother Yan and I finished investigating Xiao Bing, we discussed our suspicions about him. He did show unusual concern for Lu Xiaoshuang, and Brother Yan suspected that Xiao Bing might have some mental problems, possibly schizophrenia."
Chen Yan nodded beside him.
Zhou Yi continued, "The medicine box found in the basement later also proved this."
"Brother Yan just mentioned that Xiao Bing's split personality might not be directed at Lu Xiaoshuang, but at the girlfriend who hurt him in the past. I think this possibility is far greater than Lu Xiaoshuang."
"Because Lu Xiaoshuang only started college last September, it's impossible for her to have had any contact with Xiao Bing before that. But the basement in Xiao Bing's house was obviously not dug in the past year."
At this time, a large group of people added: "Well, we asked the residents nearby, and they all confirmed that Xiao Bing's house was renovated about seven or eight years ago. Since demolition and reconstruction are not allowed in that old city area, the only way to improve the living environment is to do interior renovations. The exact time of the renovation is still being investigated, and the neighbors can't remember the exact time."
"But we already have some clues. We're looking for information on a foreman who might be the person in charge of the construction team that did the renovations for Xiao Bing. As long as we find this person, we'll know the exact timeline of the renovations and Xiao Bing's requirements for digging this basement."
Xiang Jie nodded: "Thank you for your hard work. Zhou Yi, please continue."
"Okay. In other words, Xiao Bing used the renovations as a cover to dig out this basement at least seven years ago, before 1990. At that time, Lu Xiaoshuang was still living with her parents in the northwest, a twelve-year-old child. So, neither this basement nor the women's clothing and medicine inside it actually have anything to do with Lu Xiaoshuang."
Everyone nodded. Indeed, the time difference was so huge that it was impossible to connect them.
"And I wonder if you noticed at the time that the ceiling of the basement was soundproofed, and the bed, welded on an iron frame, was attached to ropes to restrain people's hands and feet. Add to that the TV and tons of books for entertainment, and it looked like a prison cell, didn't it?"
Some people nodded frantically, obviously having thought of this possibility.
"I also suspected at the time that this basement was used by Xiao Bing to kidnap and imprison young women, and Lu Xiaoshuang was his next target."
Qiao Jiali asked, "Then why didn't you mention it to your boss?"
"Sister Qiao, didn't our Hongcheng specifically comb through the missing persons records for the previous Searchlight Project? I did a quick mental match. But I didn't find any missing women with matching features, especially a young and beautiful girl like Lu Xiaoshuang."
Zhou Yi's memory wasn't particularly impressive in his previous life. He didn't possess the photographic memory that had been bestowed upon him since childhood. It was purely developed during those eight years in the archives. During those eight years, although he was alone, without external distractions, he could immerse himself in reading the archives, gradually forming a memory habit.
After his rebirth, his young brain and body were more useful, and recording the missing persons files was a piece of cake for him.
"Really?" Qiao Jiali was a little surprised. It was true that they had sorted out a lot of information, but Zhou Yi didn't have much free time. After all, the number of cases in the past two months had been like a blowout. On the contrary, she had been in contact with more cases because she was mainly responsible for and coordinated the clerical work of the Third Brigade.
But to be honest, she couldn't quickly go through the information in her mind and match it up.
However, she knew that Zhou Yi was not the type to brag, so she was even more surprised. She didn't expect that he actually had this ability.
Zhou Yi continued, "Since there are no missing persons who match the missing persons, I think it's best not to cause more trouble. After all, we're short-staffed and exhausted. Besides, the technical department almost bathed the basement in luminol, but they didn't find any blood."
Zhou Yi’s guess is no small matter.
Because if the imprisonment of young women really existed, it would inevitably be accompanied by murder to silence them. If Zhou Yi brought it up in the absence of any clues and based only on speculation, it would inevitably divert some of the investigative forces to investigate this possibility.
And if Xiao Bing deliberately dug a basement in order to commit crimes such as kidnapping and imprisonment.
That means that in addition to killing to silence witnesses, there is also the possibility of repeated crimes.
This kind of case had been encountered before in the previous life. Usually, the targets of the crime were hostesses and the like, because these people were highly mobile and were less likely to call the police after disappearing.
The purpose of the crime is to rob people of their money and rape them, and to keep them in captivity as tools for sexual gratification.
But the situation here is obviously not suitable. Which criminal would imprison a young lady and make her watch art films and foreign literature every day?
These labels are obviously more suitable for female college students like Lu Xiaoshuang.
But if a female college student went missing, her family and the school would definitely call the police, so there would be no way there would be no record.
Moreover, we must see the person alive or the body dead. Even if the person is killed to be silenced, what will happen to the body?
The most important thing is that in Zhou Yi's memory, there is no case with similar characteristics in Hongcheng.
Zhou Yi said, "But the investigation information just now, and what Brother Yan said, reminded me, what if Xiao Bing dug that basement back then just to imprison the girlfriend who hurt him?"
"Maybe it was betrayal, maybe it was abandonment, or maybe he just couldn't stand Xiao Bing anymore and wanted to break up normally. But the problem is that Xiao Bing is a man with nothing. He must have placed all his emotions on this woman, so no matter which situation, he can't accept it."
Chen Yan said, "I understand. You mean this might have triggered Xiao Bing's mental illness, leading him to decide to kidnap and imprison his ex-girlfriend?"
Zhou Yi nodded. People who have suffered great psychological trauma may not have an immediate attack. Many psychological problems are hidden.
However, if a person suffers similar harm or stimulation, it may lead to psychological abnormality and serious extreme behavior.
"If that's the case, then this ex-girlfriend might have been murdered?" Xiang Jie said. This was also the hypothesis of disappearance or murder that Zhou Yi initially proposed.
After all, it has been so many years, it is impossible for this person to still be alive, and any normal person would resist fiercely against being imprisoned, and then the murderer would be stimulated and kill to silence the witness in order to avoid being exposed.
"But there's a problem here. Zhou Yi just said he matched with missing persons in Hongcheng, but couldn't find a match. Didn't anyone call the police when Xiao Bing's ex-girlfriend disappeared?"
"Maybe he is an orphan like Xiao Bing?" someone said.
Xiang Jie shook his head. "Even if she's an orphan, she should have a school or a job, right? Unless Xiao Bing's ex-girlfriend is a social idler like a hostess. But that kind of person probably wouldn't suit Xiao Bing's tastes, and there's no explanation for those videotapes and books in the basement."
As expected, the people coming from the provincial department have strong professional capabilities. Xiang Jie directly pointed out the problems that Zhou Yi had thought of before.
And it did indeed express Zhou Yi's doubt. Except for idle people in society who do not follow the right path, it is impossible for a normal person to disappear silently.
Or maybe Zhou Yi and the others guessed wrong.
Or maybe something else happened that Zhou Yi didn't know about.
Xiang Jie made the final decision, "Anyway, Zhou Yi's speculation is quite bold. We should keep an eye on it in our follow-up investigation, especially looking to see if there are any female classmates from Xiao Bing's high school and college who we haven't contacted in years. From the information we have so far, Xiao Bing doesn't seem like someone who would develop feelings for strangers, so we should focus on investigating his past social relationships."
Everyone nodded in agreement.
"If we don't find anything in this direction, we can expand the scope of the investigation to include students in the same grade, or even students from the next grade or above."
After the tasks were divided, Zhou Yi and Chen Yan were responsible for investigating Xiao Bing's university roommates. They had Hongda prepare the list of names and contact information tonight, and they would check each one tomorrow. Those who were in Hongcheng would be questioned in person, and those who were not would be questioned by phone.
This is the most common way of surveying, expanding from point to surface.
This is what I did in my previous life, but the previous life revolved around Lu Xiaoshuang’s social relationships.
In this life, they became Xu Liu and Xiao Bing.
The memories in Zhou Yi's mind were no longer useful.
Xiang Jie began to assign work to everyone, and everyone shared a share, striving to make progress as soon as possible.
Zhou Yi looked at the sunset outside the window and couldn't help but sigh. Another day had passed.
Tomorrow is May 10th, and the second ten days of the grand case are about to begin.
Zhou Yi didn't know how long it would take to solve the case.
"Zhou Yi, you and Chen Yan should take turns to rest tonight. You haven't had a rest for almost thirty-six hours." Qiao Jiali's voice brought his thoughts back to reality.
Zhou Yi shook his head: "It's okay, I can still handle it."
"It's not a question of whether we can hold on. This case is a protracted battle. We must maintain our strength. Otherwise, what will happen if we collapse before the murderer is caught?"
After Qiao Jiali finished speaking, Zhou Yi was stunned.
He asked, "Sister Qiao...is this what Captain Wu said?"
Qiao Jiali smiled and said, "Well, it was Captain Wu who suggested the rotation."
Zhou Yi couldn't help but laugh and said, "Sure enough, these words have a daddy vibe to them."
…
After the meeting, Chen Yan looked at Zhou Yi, and Zhou Yi looked at Chen Yan.
"Are you ready to go back?" Chen Yan asked.
Zhou Yi shook his head: "Brother Yan, what about you?"
"If you don't reply, I won't reply."
"Come on, let's get back to work."
Chen Yan pointed outside and said, "What if Sister Qiao comes back and says about us..."
"That's fine. Let's just say we're too lazy to go home and find a place in the task force to sleep for a while." Zhou Yi said, standing up and stretching, pointing to the conference room and saying, "Look, right here. Just push some stools together and you can sleep."
"Zhou Yi, I have a question." Chen Yan suddenly said, "I don't know if you forgot or what."
Zhou Yi was stunned. Forgot?
"What?"
"It's the size 37 footprint found at Xiao Bing's house."
As soon as Chen Yan said this, Zhou Yi was instantly shocked.
Yes, how could I have forgotten about this!
In addition to Xiao Bing's footprints, there is also a woman's footprints in his house.
After this clue was discovered, the main direction was to extract the complete footprints and match them with Xu Liu and Lu Xiaoshuang's footprints to see if they matched.
Strictly speaking, most footprints are actually shoe prints, left by shoes.
Xu Liu's clothes have never been found, so we can only use her other shoes to compare the size.
Therefore, this job belongs to the technical department, and it was not mentioned in the meeting just now.
But although the work belongs to the technical department, the clues belong to everyone.
Zhou Yi actually forgot this clue, fortunately Chen Yan reminded him.
This is why it is necessary for two people to handle the case. In addition to ensuring fair law enforcement, it also prevents one person's investigative thinking from getting stuck in the mud.
After all, as long as you are a human being, it is impossible for you to be right about everything.
"Brother Yan, I really forgot..." Zhou Yi admitted generously.
"Oh, it's okay, it's rare." Chen Yan smiled.
"If I add this information about the footprints, I'm afraid my previous speculation is wrong..." Zhou Yi murmured, "Could it be that the woman imprisoned by Xiao Bing is still alive?"
If this is true, then some of the doubts that I hadn't figured out before can be explained.
If the person is not dead, there is no need to deal with the body, and there is no murder case.
Naturally, there will be no matching archival information from the previous life in my mind.
"That's not right. She was imprisoned but still lived safely for so many years. Did she give up resistance and accept the situation calmly?" Zhou Yi said.
Chen Yan said, "When I was in college, I read about a special psychological disorder called Stockholm syndrome in a foreign professional book."
A word can wake a person up from his dream.
Zhou Yi immediately understood what Chen Yan meant.
"You mean, after being imprisoned by Xiao Bing, this woman developed a rare mental illness and developed an emotional identification with Xiao Bing, the perpetrator?"
Chen Yan asked in surprise, "You also know about this disease?"
"I've heard a little bit, but I don't know the details."
Chen Yan immediately explained that Stockholm syndrome, also known as hostage identification syndrome, is mainly caused by the victim's emotional identification with the perpetrator due to the psychological protection mechanism when facing extreme threats, which leads to a harmonious relationship between the two parties.
Zhou Yi nodded, pretending to understand, "Oh, it's the hostage falling in love with the kidnapper's trick."
Chen Yan said, "Well, I think it's very likely. If Xiao Bing had kidnapped and detained his girlfriend seven or eight years ago, and kept her in the basement for a long time, then there are only two possible outcomes for this woman."
"Either they kept resisting and trying to escape, and were eventually killed by Xiao Bing. Or, in the process, they developed a mental disorder in order to survive, suffering from the rare Stockholm syndrome, and have been living with Xiao Bing ever since."
"I'm more inclined to the latter. This would explain why Xiao Bing's family has double quantities of daily necessities, indicating that Xiao Bing and this woman live in peace. And as you mentioned before, this woman might be an orphan like Xiao Bing, so no one would necessarily call the police. To the world, this woman has effectively vanished from the face of the earth."
Zhou Yi scratched his head because there were still some things that didn't make sense. There were so many mysteries surrounding Xiao Bing that he needed to grow another brain.
There have been several rounds of speculation about Xiao Bing's personal situation, and what Chen Yan puts forward now is a newer view.
And it's even more bizarre.
It was already suspected that Xiao Bing was mentally ill, and now there is a female mentally ill person who fell in love with Xiao Bing after being imprisoned. This case is too confusing.
Zhou Yi gasped and said, "Even if this woman has a mental problem, in those seven or eight years, didn't the neighbors know there was such a person in Xiao Bing's house? And can a normal person stay at home for seven or eight years? Oh, no, that's not normal."
Chen Yan confidently said three words: "Men in black."
"What?" Zhou Yi was stunned, but immediately understood what Chen Yan meant.
The two people said almost in unison: "The man in black!"
Chen Yan nodded. "That's right. You said before that on the 1st, you saw a man in black on Daguan Street. He was wearing a mask, sunglasses, and a hat. I was wondering, if this person was Xiao Bing, why would he dress like that? What was his purpose in going out dressed like that?"
Zhou Yi clapped his hands and said, "Yes, nothing was found in the sewers of Daguan Street in this life."
"And when you were chasing the man in black, Xiao Bing suddenly appeared and interfered with your pursuit. Hats and masks are easy to take off, but clothes shouldn't be changed so quickly, right?"
Zhou Yi nodded.
"So this woman doesn't stay at home, but she only goes out after wrapping herself up tightly. This shows that she doesn't want to reveal her identity and doesn't want to be seen. Naturally, every time she wants to go out, she will pay attention to her surroundings to avoid being discovered."
"You know the location of Xiao Bing's house. As long as you're careful, it won't be difficult to avoid being seen. Besides, she's wrapped herself up like that. Even if someone occasionally sees someone coming out of Xiao Bing's house, who would know who it is? People would instinctively think it's Xiao Bing."
Chen Yan said with certainty: "Therefore, it can be confirmed that this woman has been completely tamed by Xiao Bing."
Zhou Yi didn't expect that Chen Yan's observation and case analysis abilities were so good. After all, he was a top student, and his progress was indeed rapid.
He vaguely remembered the conversation between him and Wu Yongcheng after he came out of Zhang Xinli's house when he was handling the Du Xiaolin case, and Chen Yan couldn't get a word in.
"Brother Yan... your words have really enlightened me. And through your analysis, I've come up with another clue."
"What clue?"
"Do you remember? Xiao Shuang said during the interrogation that when she took the No. 68 bus from near the school to my house, she said that the person who got on the bus behind her was a tightly wrapped woman."
Chen Yan nodded.
"What if this woman is the one Xiao Bing imprisoned?"
"You mean, Xiao Bing and this woman are in collusion?" Chen Yan didn't expect this.
"If this woman really has psychological problems as you said and has been completely tamed by Xiao Bing, then we cannot rule out the possibility that she assisted Xiao Bing in committing the crime."
"I understand. What he's saying is that Xiao Bing might have reverted to his old ways and has taken a fancy to your Lu Xiaoshuang. So he wants to use his old tricks again and capture Lu Xiaoshuang as well, so that she can become his plaything like that woman."
Zhou Yi held his head in his hands and thought, "That doesn't make sense. If that's the case, then it doesn't match the current case. Then how did Xu Liu die? The murderer clearly wanted to frame Xiao Shuang."
These two questions left Chen Yan speechless. His speculation about the motive for the crime didn't match the actual circumstances of the case. There was also Xu Liu's story involved, and Zhou Yi's previous analysis had suggested that both Xu Liu and Lu Xiaoshuang were the murderer's targets.
"Well..." Chen Yan scratched his head and said, "How about we think about it again..."
Zhou Yi nodded: "Well, think about it again, think about it again..."
"Wait." Zhou Yi suddenly came to his senses and asked, "Brother Yan, whose Lu Xiaoshuang were you talking about?"
Chen Yan pointed at him and said, "Your home, yes, your home!"
Zhou Yi curled his lips and didn't dare to refute.
After a while, Zhou Yi changed the subject and said, "Brother Yan, there's nothing to worry about for now. We have to wait for the school to provide information about Xiao Bing's roommates. How about we go to Xiao Bing's home and investigate?"
"You mean to ask about the man in black?"
"Well, what if there are any clues?"
At this time, Qiao Jiali passed by the conference room and asked in confusion, "You haven't gone back to rest yet?"
The two men stood up and said in unison: "Let's go now."
Qiao Jiali looked at the two of them strangely and left.
The two drove to Xiao Bingli again. At this time, the doors and windows of Xiao Bing's house had been sealed, and the surroundings had returned to their former tranquility.
But occasionally when someone passed by nearby, they would involuntarily quicken their pace and leave. After all, so many police officers came last night, all wondering if someone had died in the Xiao family.
In order to improve efficiency, Zhou Yi and Chen Yan decided to act separately, since it was just a routine visit anyway.
However, the attitudes of the surrounding residents towards the police coming to their homes to investigate the situation varied.
After all, every household in the surrounding area was questioned last night, and the police came to question again today, so there are still some people who are emotional.
However, most people's attitude is still to cooperate actively, but at the same time, they will also try to ask Zhou Yi what happened to the Xiao family.
After asking more than a dozen families, I found out that someone had indeed seen a man in black dressed in a similar manner in this area, but most of the time it happened at night.
Zhou Yi came to one of the families where five people were having dinner. After Zhou Yi asked, several adults shook their heads, indicating that they didn't pay attention.
Zhou Yi thanked them and was about to leave when he suddenly heard the little boy quietly ask his mother, "Mom, are you talking about that monster?"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
