Chapter 171 A clue from a top hat
Li Qihan's pupils suddenly constricted: "Where did you find it?"
"It's in a sandpit at a nearby abandoned children's playground." The officer's voice tightened. "The report was from a few college students who were out exploring."
Li Qihan turned and left Room 704, drawing a sharp arc in the air: "Let's go there now."
It was almost noon and the sun was shining brightly.
In the abandoned amusement park, faded swings stood crookedly in the weeds.
The yellow color of the cordon is particularly eye-catching.
Xia Lili swallowed unconsciously, and a bitter taste like rust rose in her throat.
She followed closely in Li Qihan's footsteps, her rubber shoes making teeth-grinding crackling sounds as they stepped on the rotten leaves.
Suddenly, Li Qihan turned around and stood in front of her.
In the backlight, his outline was coated with a layer of cold and hard edges: "Are you sure you want to see it?"
His voice was deeper than usual. "This scene might give you nightmares again."
Xia Lili smiled bitterly and shook her head, digging her nails into her palms. "I have to overcome it. I've seen so many terrifying scenes in my hallucinations."
Xia Lili looked behind Li Qihan and her voice stopped abruptly.
In the sand pit, three heads were half-buried in a triangular shape.
The parents' heads are slightly tilted, as if they are playing hide-and-seek with their child.
Xia Lili's stomach cramped violently and acid surged into her throat.
She grabbed Li Qihan's sleeve tightly, her knuckles turning white: "This child is still so young..."
Xia Lili's voice broke: "She's so young, how could the murderer have the heart to do this?!"
"The murderer is not a human being!"
Li Qihan's palm gently placed on Xia Lili's trembling shoulders, but the warmth from his palm could not dispel the chill in his bones.
"The modus operandi is consistent with that of the Demon Butcher. It is highly likely that this is the Demon Butcher's masterpiece."
Li Qihan's reminder suddenly reminded Xia Lili of the key point: "That carpet that the woman who sent the carpet for cleaning sent me, is it possible that the carpet I sent is the one from the murder scene of the Demon Butcher?"
Xia Lili didn't expect that these two things could be connected.
"Then is she an accomplice of the Demon Butcher?"
"It's very likely." Li Qihan stared at the sand pit, his jaw line stretched into a sharp arc.
"I'm reminded of the missing female victim, Kurisumi, from one of the Yangcheng cases."
"Could it be her who delivered the carpet cleaning?"
His voice was soft, yet as if tempered with ice. "From your description, although their builds are different, their heights are very similar."
"It's possible!" Xia Lili immediately revealed a puzzled look. "But this demonic butcher never leaves anyone alive. How could Li Cheng be the only survivor?"
In the distance, a balloon with a broken string suddenly floated up from the bushes, and the bright red smiling face of Mickey Mouse swayed in the twilight, which was very scary.
Xia Lili's whole body stiffened and her face turned even paler. She felt that being a criminal police officer really required strong mental qualities.
Li Qihan pulled his vibrating phone from his pocket. The police officer's report rang out, and the loudspeaker emitted a murmur of electricity. "Professor Li, we've checked. The surveillance camera at the entrance of Room 704 has been interfered with. The picture is full of snowflakes, and you can only barely make out a dark shadow..."
Li Qihan's fingers holding the phone turned white from excessive force.
He reached out and gently touched Xia Lili's back with his palm—even through her uniform, he could feel the shiver running down her spine. "Let's go."
Li Qihan's face was gloomy. "Let's go to Panhu Park."
"The truth and the murderer are not far away from us."
Two o'clock in the afternoon, Panhu Park.
Panhu Park is very large, covering an area of about 23 hectares. It is an irregular strip, long from east to west and narrow from north to south, like a rusty sickle lying across the edge of the new district.
Three-quarters of the park is occupied by an artificial lake, while the rest is overgrown wetlands and sparse tree forests.
Because they were afraid that a large-scale search would disturb the murderer, the police traveled in plain clothes and searched for clues in Panhu Park.
Xia Lili and Li Qihan play a couple who go fishing.
The surface of the lake was glowing with a lead-gray light. The reeds on the shore were taller than a person's head, and the withered and yellow reed stalks rustled in the wind.
Several wooden plank walkways wind through the area, most of which are rotten and deformed, making dangerous creaking sounds when stepped on.
Xia Lili was fiddling with his fishing rod, but his sharp eyes noticed the row of European-style villas hidden in the woods on the other side of the lake.
The red-tiled roofs were faintly visible in the dense forest, most of the windows were dark, and some houses didn't even have balcony railings installed.
Xia Lili asked calmly, "Captain Li, what is that place?"
"I checked. It's the Panhu Villa District." Li Qihan lowered his voice, pretending to adjust his fishing line. "The occupancy rate in the villa district is less than 20%. After the third phase of the project was abandoned, the developer absconded."
"The villa... is very expensive." Xia Lili suddenly remembered something.
The wide-brimmed hat worn by the woman who came to pick up the carpet in the illusion costume.
Xia Lili didn't know the value of the hat and didn't pay much attention to it.
Now that I think about it, the wide-brimmed hat looked very straight and wide, and the material looked like wool, which gave people a different feeling from the hats that cost dozens of dollars.
Xia Lili quickly pulled out colored pencils and a sketchbook from her backpack, and with just a few strokes, she sketched out the outline of the woman's khaki wide-brimmed hat, even the details of the piping were clearly visible.
She opened her WeChat address book and paused her fingertips on the name "Pei Qinyue" - she wondered if this great designer of the Pei Group could be of any help.
Xia Lili took a photo of the sketch she had just completed and clicked send without hesitation.
"Master Designer Pei, please help me take a look. Is this wide-brimmed hat from a luxury brand?"
Pei Qinyue responded quickly.
He quickly identified the hat as a new product from a luxury brand, selling for a price he paid when it was released. "This hat is out of date. It's a year old model."
"Why? You want me to give you this hat?"
"With all due respect, I didn't expect your taste to be so bad."
"This is generally the aesthetic taste of middle-aged men, and they use it as a gift for their partners or mistresses."
Pei Qinyue and the chatterbox kept spouting messages one after another.
Xia Lili could almost imagine the other person's arrogant expression when he spoke through the screen.
She twitched her lips helplessly and replied perfunctorily: "Thank you!"
"I'm busy now, let's talk later."
Xia Lili immediately told Li Qihan this important clue: "Could this carpet cleaning woman live in the villa area?"
Li Qihan's eyes were bright: "Very likely!"
He spoke rapidly, "At this expert meeting, our police conducted a criminal psychology profiling analysis of the 'Devil Butcher' case."
"Their modus operandi showed obvious ritualistic characteristics and a morbid aesthetic tendency. At the same time, the traces at the scene were handled professionally and thoroughly, and they had a strong anti-detection awareness."
"Combined analysis of the suspect's behavioral characteristics shows that he likely has a good material foundation and certain social resources."
Xia Lili listened to the long string of professional terms and curled her lips: "So it means the murderer is very rich and well-connected?"
"So, this woman is most likely the Demon Butcher's partner?"
Li Qihan nodded in agreement with Xia Lili's conclusion: "The hat you drew has been a great help to us."
A barely perceptible softness flashed across his stern brows.
Even he himself did not realize the admiration in his eyes as he looked at Xia Lili.
Xia Lili was completely baffled. "Why didn't she just throw the carpet away or hide it, instead of sending it to a remote laundry?"
"What a risky approach!"
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