The Evil White Nightmare (7)

Early the next morning, Meng Siqi rushed to Tang Xiaochuan's surveillance location, which was a small hotel. Tang Xiaochuan booked a room with a window that faced diagonally towards the entrance of Building 11 of Xinghai Community and the area in front of the building. One could also see the garden and the window, which was a very good surveillance point.

But the actions here are still covert to prevent criminals from gathering information nearby.

As soon as Meng Siqi walked into the room, Feng Shaomin immediately closed the door and said in a low voice: "Xiao Meng, let's go back to the bureau immediately. We have discovered a major secret."

"What is a master?" Meng Siqi's heart instantly rose.

"It may be closely related to a case five years ago." Feng Shaomin said, "You will know when you return to the police station."

"Okay." Meng Siqi responded immediately.

In the room, there was a policeman guarding the window. The curtain was only slightly drawn, and Tang Xiaochuan was lying on the sofa, snoring.

Feng Shaomin said: "Xiaochuan slept less than three hours yesterday, and the Korean team returned to the bureau early in the morning. Xiaoxiang, we'll leave first. You've worked hard here." He greeted the person sitting by the window.

"Brother Feng, Xiao Meng, take care."

The two of them got a taxi outside the hotel and went straight to the police station. There was a driver in the car, and the two did not talk anymore. But Meng Siqi knew that not only was Tang Xiaochuan defending his position, but Chen Jierong and a female forensic doctor named Tong Qingqing were already serving as doctors and monitors at Zhou Yingjun's home. If the kidnappers made any movement, it would surely be reported to the Korean team immediately.

The secret mentioned by Feng Shaomin may be a major breakthrough in the kidnapping case.

The car quickly arrived at the police station, and the two hurried to the office. Zhao Leiting was the only one in the office. Zhao Leiting waved and said, "Brother Feng, Siqi, come and have a look. I have found all the files from five years ago."

"Where is the Korean team?" Feng Shaomin asked.

"I went to Director Liu's place."

Feng Shaomin nodded, and when he picked up the file on the table, Zhao Leiting handed him a photo.

Meng Siqi still doesn't fully understand what the current "secret" is. Since the Korean team has been called over by Director Liu, it means that the case may have escalated again.

Feng Shaomin handed the photos to Meng Siqi, and Zhao Leiting introduced them, saying, "The photos were brought back from the newspaper by the technical department. The suspect sent many photos to different newspapers, and a few of them reported them."

Meng Siqi took the photo. It was exactly the same photo as the one in the newspaper. The only difference was that the newspaper was in black and white, so many details were not clear. Although the pixel of this color photo was not very high, the basic details were clear.

At least Xu Zhouyi's face was clearly visible, and her skin was clean, not looking like she had been abused by the kidnappers. Her clothes were also relatively intact, with no signs of being torn, indicating that the kidnappers did not use violence against the girl after controlling her.

But this does not mean that Xu Yizhou's life is safe. Her eyelids are closed, her hair is messy, and it is not certain whether she is alive or not.

What surprised Meng Siqi the most was that the lotus leaf Xu Zhouyi was lying on was not a huge lotus leaf, but a lotus leaf made of gold foil. The lotus leaf was not green, but a golden color.

Simply put, Xu Zhouyi was lying on a golden leaf. The golden lotus leaf easily reminds people of Buddha, so at first glance, it seems very strange.

When Meng Siqi was feeling uneasy, Zhao Leiting placed the photos in the file on the table. Meng Siqi hurriedly looked at the table. There were four photos on the table. At first glance, they were all photos of children lying unconscious.

From left to right, the first photo shows a little girl, about six or seven years old, lying on her side on the dry mud. Her posture is similar to Xu Yizhou's, but she is not curled up in a circle. She is more like a random pose, not deliberately designed. From the face of the little girl, it is not certain whether she is dead.

The second photo is also of a girl, about the same age, but in a more tragic state. She is lying in a shallow stream with her face in the pebbled water. She appears to be dead.

The third photo is the first to become strange. It is a little boy, the same age, curled up in a round nest made of branches, or a bird's nest that can accommodate a child. The bird's nest is not perfect, it should be built randomly, because it is round, so the posture of the little boy has been designed to form a circle similar to Xu Yizhou.

In fact, seeing this, Meng Siqi felt a little creepy in her heart. Not only creepy, but also an inconsolable resentment. She couldn't imagine what kind of person would do such a thing to children.

The fourth photo is also of a little boy, about the same age, but this time he is lying on the ground with his legs bent. His face looks peaceful, his eyes are closed, and his clothes are intact. However, there is a burnt fire next to him. The combination of the ashes and the motionless child reminds people of death.

Meng Siqi's emotions took a long time to calm down. If these four photos were taken out from the files, it is very likely that they are no longer alive. She felt like a knife was stagnating her heart.

Five photos, five living lives, five lovely children, two boys and three girls. Currently, only Xu Yizhou’s whereabouts are unknown. But if we think about it in a worst-case scenario, perhaps he will have the same ending.

"Master, they all..." Meng Siqi said heavily and did not continue.

"Yes, these are four cases of child kidnapping that happened five years ago, almost in the same year. The situation was the same as now. The kidnappers demanded a ransom, but they only made one phone call and never made another. After we found the children, we took these photos. They were all dead. The forensic doctor examined them and found the cause of death to be the same: respiratory failure. In fact, they were suffocated to death."

When Meng Siqi lowered her eyes, there was a kind of uncomfortable moisture in her eyes. Even though Feng Shaomin's description in just a few words had made her feel sad, how did the child's parents feel at that time? She didn't dare to imagine it at all.

"The murderer has never been found..."

"No, we haven't caught any yet."

Meng Siqi placed the photo of Xu Yizhou in the middle of the four photos and asked, "So Master, do you think this was done by the same person or the same criminal gang? They never really got the ransom money. What was their purpose?"

Feng Shaomin sighed and said, "This is also something I was very confused about. Not only me, but the entire police station was confused. When this case happened, I remember that Zhao Leiting had not yet joined the second team."

"Yes, Brother Feng, I was not there at that time." Zhao Lei Ting responded.

No matter what, it must have been an incident that shocked the entire city at the time. Moreover, five years ago, Xiang Jie also died at the same time. At that time, the Jinyang City Public Security Bureau was undoubtedly shrouded in a huge haze.

Feng Shaomin said: "After the fourth crime, the murderer did not commit another crime, so we have not found any trace of the murderer. Xiao Meng, can you see any connection between these photos?"

Meng Siqi had indeed not paid attention to the connection between them just now. After being reminded by her master, she looked over the five photos again.

She suddenly realized that these five photos were related to the five elements. She looked up and asked, "Master, gold, wood, water, fire, and earth?"

Feng Shaomin nodded. Zhao Leiting was stunned. He looked at the photo again and said in surprise, "It seems to be true."

Meng Siqi has already determined that this is the use of five elements. The golden lotus leaf under Xu Yizhou represents gold. The other four photos are elements. The first one is soil, the second one is a shallow stream, the third one is a bird's nest on a tree branch, and the fourth one is ashes after burning. These four elements are easy to think of: earth, water, wood, and fire. Isn't this gold, wood, water, fire, and earth?

So the kidnappers' real purpose was not money. They seemed to be holding a ceremony, a ceremony related to gold, wood, water, fire and earth. They were like totems in the five rituals, but in this ceremony, the sacrifices were children around six or seven years old.

Perhaps for some reason, this ritual did not end five years ago. After five years of silence, the murderer committed a crime again. This is also the last link of this "Totem Case". As long as this link is completed, perhaps the murderer will achieve a certain goal.

So this is the big secret that Feng Shaomin mentioned. This case must have caused a lot of uproar at the time. People's memories may be limited, but the memories of these fears must be profound. Now many people have seen the newspapers and will definitely think of the child kidnapping case five years ago. Therefore, the Xu Yizhou case has become a major social event.

Because no one knows how many more children will become sacrifices in this ceremony. Is gold, wood, water, fire and earth the final outcome?

Feng Shaomin said: "The case has escalated. Five years ago, the murderer did not release the photos. These photos were taken when we found the child. At least at that time, the panic was still controlled. Of course, the media is omnipresent and they have dug up some scraps. But today, what is the murderer's purpose? Why did he release the photos? I really don't understand."

Meng Siqi also didn't understand that the murderer was not after money. He painstakingly designed a ritual and then made it public. His purpose was obviously not that simple.

She calmed down and asked, "Master, what's our next direction? Or should we continue to wait for news from Xu Zhou's family?"

Even though we know that this information is relevant, it was already cracked in a round of intensive investigation five years ago, and it is unlikely that we will find any effective clues if we investigate it again.

"Let's discuss this with the Korean team later. You can take a look at the file first."

Meng Siqi felt that this was the only way now. While waiting, she carefully read all the files on those kidnapping cases.

More than half an hour later, Han Changlin returned from the director's office with a heavy expression on his face. As he walked, he asked, "Old Feng, do you have any direction?"

Feng Shaomin put down the file and shook his head.

"In this case, we can only continue investigating Xu Zhouyi." Han Changlin said somewhat unwillingly.

"Captain Han, Master, there is one thing in the file that I don't understand." Meng Siqi discovered a special point. She had not yet fully sorted out the results and could bring it up for discussion.

Han Changlin and Feng Shaomin immediately came over, as if they had found hope, with anticipation in their eyes. Zhao Leiting asked loudly: "Siqi, did you find any important clues?"

Meng Siqi was slightly embarrassed. "No, I just think it's weird."

"Tell me quickly, Xiao Meng." Han Changlin asked expectantly.

Meng Siqi replied: "Captain Han, usually in serial crimes, the suspect's first crime can reflect his true psychology, or criminal motive. The subsequent crimes may become rational and be able to make up for the loopholes of the first crime." She also slowly summarized these theories by studying criminal psychology and crime books.

Feng Shaomin nodded, "Yes, Xiao Meng is right."

Meng Siqi became more and more confident about the recognition given by her master. She picked up the first file and said, "Master, the murderer committed a crime for the first time. The victim was a girl who was lying on the mud after death. So this is also the 'earth' in the five elements of gold, wood, water, fire and earth that we speculated. The first crime is a little different from the subsequent cases."

"Hmm?" Han Changlin was looking forward to her presentation even more, because an expert from the province had come to assist with these details back then and had raised similar questions.

Meng Siqi said: "After the first crime, the murderer made the ransom call half a day later than the next three crimes."

Han Changlin still remembers clearly that the murderer's modus operandi and the way the victims died in the four cases five years ago were all the same. The only difference was that, judging by the time of death of the victims, the murderer made these ransom calls about half a day before the deaths of the victims. However, the ransom call from the murderer in the first crime was made very close to the death of the victims.

Because the time of death could not be accurately determined, no one paid much attention to the details of the time at that time. However, Meng Siqi discovered it. He was a little surprised. He felt that Meng Siqi's ability to read details might have become perfect.

He asked expectantly, "Xiao Meng, if you have any ideas, please speak up."

Meng Siqi was not sure whether his inference was completely correct. After all, this was a case five years ago, and he was not sure whether there were any deviations in the records at that time.

But she remembered what her master said, "Make bold guesses and verify carefully." Amid everyone's expectant eyes, she had to make the boldest guess: "Captain Han, Master, in the first case, the time of the little girl's death was judged to be between 10 and 11 p.m., and the murderer called to demand a ransom at around 9 p.m., but the family did not wait for the second call, and the murderer killed the victim. These time records are very close, and I want to make a bold guess. Is it possible that the murderer called the family after the little girl died?"

Not only Han Changlin, but Feng Shaomin was also stunned. He remembered that it was not long after Xiang Jie's death and he was in a very low mood. But he knew about this case. At that time, Lu He was handling the Xiang Jie case, which was also a difficult and urgent case. Lu He had no time and energy to investigate this case.

After Feng Shaomin resigned as captain, Han Changlin was appointed to take over the case. It was also the first time for him to take over a case as captain, but his performance in solving the case was not ideal. Four children suffered one after another, causing chaos in the city and people were in panic.

The provincial department sent an expert to assist in the investigation, which actually replaced Han Changlin. The expert sent by the province at that time was named Shen Xiangming. It was said that he was Lu He's classmate when he was studying at the Haijiang Provincial Police University. He was one year older than Lu He. He was once a famous figure in the police school. After graduation, he entered the provincial department. His ability to solve crimes was outstanding, and he was quickly promoted to the deputy captain of the provincial criminal police team.

When Shen Xiangming came to Jinyang Municipal Bureau for assistance, he was the deputy captain of the Provincial Department's Criminal Police Team. However, today he is the captain of the Provincial Department's Criminal Police Team. Shen Xiangming also made a similar inference to Meng Siqi at the time, believing that the first time, the murderer made the blackmail call after the child's death.

Feng Shaomin still remembers that he was sent by Director Liu to study in the province during that time, and he did not fully follow the progress of the case. In fact, Director Liu deliberately asked him to stay away from the police station for a period of time to relieve the pressure brought to him by Xiang Jie's death.

However, even if he knew the exact time when the murderer made the ransom call, he could not confirm the murderer's true criminal intention. He remembered that when Shen Xiangming came to assist in the investigation, he had already been assigned abroad, so he did not remember much about the subsequent details.

But Meng Siqi's next words made him slightly stunned. Meng Siqi said: "Is it possible that the murderer's behavior of extorting ransom was to hide his criminal intentions? He may not have originally intended to kidnap and extort, but for some reason he killed or accidentally killed the little girl. His original intention was not to extort, but the little girl died. In order to conceal his criminal motives and confuse the police, he made a ransom call."

Feng Shaomin was slightly startled. He felt that Meng Siqi's speculation might be the truth. This could easily explain why the murderer only made one call and did not make any new calls to extort money. In fact, everyone generally believed that the murderer canceled the new phone calls because he was worried that the police would discover his whereabouts.

However, Meng Siqi interprets the problem from a completely different angle, and her vision is broader.

Because, the ransom calls from the four children were all made before their deaths, and on the surface they did appear to be kidnapping and ransom calls.

However, the time of the child's death in the first case and the time of the ransom call were very close. If, as Meng Siqi inferred, the kidnapping and ransom call was made after the child's death, then the murderer's first crime motive was not necessarily kidnapping and ransom. He still insisted on making ransom calls in the next three crimes, which was to hide his criminal motive.

The murderer's criminal motive is often the key to solving the case. Meng Siqi directly identified the internal cause of the criminal motive when she first read the case file. Her ability and vision are already outstanding.

At this time, Han Changlin said affirmatively: "Xiao Meng, you are right, Shen Xiangming also guessed this step at that time."

Meng Siqi didn't know the name Shen Xiangming and hesitated for a moment. Han Changlin seemed to notice her doubts and explained, "Shen Xiangming was the deputy captain of the provincial department's criminal police team at the time. He came to the municipal bureau as an expert to assist in the case."

Meng Siqi understood. She had learned from Zhao Leiting that five years ago, Feng Shaomin and Han Changlin had job transfers. Feng Shaomin should have resigned from the position of team leader because of the Xiang Jie case, and Han Changlin should have just taken over the position of team leader.

At that time, the second team was facing internal and external difficulties. At that time, Lu He and the first team were supposed to be thoroughly investigating the Xiang Jie case. Therefore, for such a major child kidnapping and murder case, Director Liu must have invited foreign aid. Of course, it was also possible that the provincial department took the initiative to appoint experts to seize the time to solve the case.

She was very pleased to have the same idea as the experts from the provincial department, and she asked, "Captain Han, does Shen Xiangming have any other ideas?" If Shen Xiangming proposed that the murderer's blackmail call was fake and the hidden criminal motive was real, then he would definitely come up with a more constructive inference argument.

"Yes," Han Changlin said, "Because the murderer knew the deceased's family number in advance, and the four children's family conditions were all good, Shen Xiangming inferred that the murderer knew the deceased's family, or had conducted a detailed investigation and scouting of the deceased's family in advance. His inference was also recognized by the Municipal Bureau, so we conducted a large number of investigations on the relatives and friends of the deceased's family, as well as people who had contact with the family before the children were kidnapped."

Meng Siqi thought about it carefully. She felt that Shen Xiangming's speculation was incomplete. At this time, she had to put forward her own ideas: "Captain Han, Master, I think the murderer did not know the deceased or his family. He may have just acted on impulse and committed the crime randomly."

Only if he committed the crime on impulse and randomly could the police have spent five years trying to find him in vain and were completely unable to find any trace of him.

"Why do you say that?" Han Changlin's eyes widened slightly, Feng Shaomin and Zhao Leiting also looked surprised.

This answer is contrary to all previous inferences, which means that the original investigation direction was completely wrong!

Meng Siqi replied: "If he knew the family of the deceased or had contact with the family of the deceased, he might not have made the call because the call was risky."

Han Changlin found Meng Siqi's idea more and more interesting, but there was an important question, which was also the reason why Shen Xiangming made another hypothesis back then. He had to raise it: "Assuming that you said that the murderer did not know the deceased's family and had no contact with the deceased's family, but committed the crime on the spur of the moment, then how could he know the deceased's home phone number and contact the deceased's family in such a short time?"

If this reason cannot be explained, then Shen Xiangming's inference is undoubtedly more tenable. However, Han Changlin knows that Meng Siqi's mind is extremely sharp and active. He really wants to hear her opinion. After all, five years ago, the four kidnapping cases all failed, and perhaps they were fundamentally wrong.

Meng Siqi pursed her beautiful red lips and said seriously, "The deceased was an elementary school student. I found from the files that there were school bags at every scene. Is it possible that the child wrote down the home phone number in the book? Because many children are afraid of forgetting it, they will use this method to record their home phone numbers, especially those who are more careful. But in the end, the murderer deliberately used correction fluid, crayons, etc. to erase the number, so we have been focusing our investigation on people the deceased knew."

Because Meng Siqi had this habit when she was a child, she couldn't remember her father's phone number, so she would write it down in her textbook. This is her most sincere reaction. Maybe even the experts sent by the provincial department may not be able to think of these things, because everyone's experience is different, which determines the limitations of thinking.

Especially for people like Shen Xiangming and Han Changlin, they probably didn't even have a telephone at home when they were young, so they must have had this kind of experience.

"Zhao Leiting!" Han Changlin's eyes were filled with surprise. "Go to the evidence room right away and find the deceased's belongings."

Zhao Lei Ting replied excitedly: "I'll go to the Korean team right away." He ran out.

Since the case has not been solved, the deceased's belongings, which are important evidence, have basically not been returned to their families.

Feng Shaomin said with relief in his eyes: "Xiao Meng, I think your speculation is very possible. Maybe we can find clues in the book!"

Han Changlin rubbed his hands and said with emotion: "Xiao Meng, good job! It's been five years. I hope we can find the murderer's secret this time."

Meng Siqi curled his lips and said shyly, "Thank you, Team Han, and thank you, Master."

In fact, she was not completely sure in her heart. She was still nervous, but she was also thinking about the next direction. Even if she knew that the murderer had done this before, how could she find out his true identity?