Ji Feng was so rude that he had to make the sixth, seventh, and eighth calls.

After a series of calls, he finally explained the third case.

Let's review the knowledge points: On December 29, 2002, the third corpse burning case occurred in Heping City. It snowed lightly that day, and the murderer left a tire mark of a car.

The body of the deceased was burned and unrecognizable, but the forensic doctor still extracted DNA from the internal organs. At the end of December this year, Liu Meng's cousin was arrested for negligent homicide. After collecting DNA, it was found that he matched the unidentified female corpse No. 3 in the database.

Ji Feng first went to see her cousin and got some fragmentary information.

"My third uncle's daughter is indeed missing. We only heard about it later. Her mother died early. My third uncle is a gambler who plays cards every day and never cares about children. During the Chinese New Year in 2008, my mother asked him where Xiao Meng went and why she didn't come home. He said she went to Taiwan to be a concubine of a rich man and didn't care about him anymore." The cousin

explained: "Our father didn't care, so of course we didn't take it seriously. Although we haven't seen her since, we thought she despised us poor relatives and didn't want to have anything to do with her gambling father. Police comrade, if you hadn't told us that she was dead, we wouldn't have known."

The family couldn't find out, so they had to go to her hometown to ask.

Liu Meng's father was still alive, and Ji Feng went there at a coincidence. The man was detained for drunk driving, so he was questioned directly in the detention center.

"That girl? How would I know where she got rich?" Old Man Liu spitted, with a look of disdain on his face, "She has always been against me since she was little. After her mother died, she was always sulking me. I'm her father! I told her to stay home and get married, but she ran off to fool around. I don't know which stinky man she ran off with, and she never gave me a penny. Damn it, I should go to court and sue her for being unfilial and not giving me child support."

Ji Feng: "Around 2007, what was Liu Meng doing, and who did she know? Do you know?"

Old Man Liu: "How would I know? Anyway, she didn't tell me anything."

"Does anyone know more about her situation?"

Old Man Liu: "Did this girl commit a crime?"

Ji Feng: "Liu Meng was murdered and burned in late December 2007."

Old Man Liu was silent.

After a moment, he said: "She has a cousin who seemed to have taken refuge with her. You can ask her."

Ji Feng went to find his cousin again.

His cousin was married and opened a nail salon. She was also surprised when she heard about Liu Meng's murder.

"I thought Xiao Meng left with her boyfriend, but it turned out to be..." Her eyes were red. "Who did it?"

Ji Feng asked: "Were you in close contact with Liu Meng at the time? Who did she usually associate with?"

His cousin told him that Liu Meng ran to Heping City and had a hard time at first. She only had a junior high school education and could not find a good job. The most she did was handing out flyers on the street and playing dolls in amusement parks. She lived in a shared apartment with more than a dozen people and her life was a mess.

Fortunately, she met an agent who, although demanding and fussy, found her a modeling job.

Liu Meng was tall and thin, with a pretty face, and worked hard. Soon she got some opportunities, her life gradually improved, and she even got a boyfriend.

"In 2007, she told me that her boyfriend wanted to go to Vietnam to develop his career, saying that there were many opportunities there and wanted her to go with him. She was a little hesitant. Officer, Xiao Meng had a bad life. Her mother died early and her father was a bastard. She especially wanted to have her own family. She was moved when the man was willing to marry her."

My cousin sighed and said, "At the end of 2008, I went back to my hometown and wanted to ask her if she would come back, but the phone was no longer connected. I thought she had gone abroad and didn't contact us because she was afraid that her father would find out and catch up with her to ask for money."

Ji Feng found out the boyfriend's identity from her.

Then he went to find her boyfriend.

This person had indeed been to Vietnam, made a small fortune, and lost it all. In 2018, he returned to China and recruited people to commit telecommunications fraud. When Ji Feng came to the door, he was in the limelight. Seeing that he was alone, they immediately attacked him ruthlessly.

Then he was arrested.

The remaining accomplices ran into the mountains and forests, hoping to hide from the limelight. Who knew that Ji Feng was coming for him, and followed him all the way into the mountains to arrest him.

Liu Meng's boyfriend was successfully arrested.

He said, "I don't know where Liu Meng is. We were together in the early 2000s. It's been almost 20 years now. If you want to ask, you shouldn't ask me."

"Liu Meng is dead. She died at the end of 2007." Ji Feng said this lightly, and frightened him, "Do you think I should ask you?"

Boyfriend: "It's not me! I didn't hurt her!! She dumped me."

Then, without waiting for Ji Feng to ask, he confessed everything like a bamboo tube pouring beans: "I asked her if she wanted to go to Vietnam to make money, and she said no. If she didn't go, we would break up."

Ji Feng laughed: "How can you know whether you want to make money or run away."

The boyfriend realized that he was in trouble, and continued to confess: "It's really not me. I had an agreement with a few friends. I talked about this in October. If you don't believe me, go and ask. I didn't run away. Besides, why would I kill her?"

"Don't you two have any conflicts?"

"No, Liu Meng is pretty good." This was an unexpected answer.

"She's capable and kind. When I worked in an Internet cafe for a few years, she often came to see me and cooked for me. I was reluctant to leave her, but a real man has to do something. I can't be a network administrator for life, right? It just so happened that a classmate of mine was doing well in Vietnam and asked me to go over there to help him, so I was tempted."

Ji Feng thought to himself, your career is quite "special."

"I wanted her to go with me, but Liu Meng was very hesitant. She just got on her feet. It's not easy to be a model. The agent always took advantage of her. She suffered a lot and didn't want to give up halfway. I understood her. Later, she didn't contact me, so I made a decision and bought a ticket and left."

"Does Liu Meng have any familiar friends besides you?"

"She had a cousin who was nice to her and often invited her to dinner. She didn't have a good relationship with her roommate and they always quarreled over trivial matters. And then there was the agent. It must be him. He fell in love with Liu Meng and tried to force her, but she refused. So he ended up hurting her."

In order to clear himself of suspicion, the boyfriend racked his brains and thought about it for a long time. He finally dug out Liu Meng's agency from the depths of his memory. He also said that the agent's surname was Li, which was definitely not wrong.

Ji Feng wrote it down.

He actually didn't suspect the boyfriend. First, according to the visa, this person went to Vietnam in January 2008, which had nothing to do with the fourth case in February. Second, this person wore size 43 shoes and got his driver's license only after returning in 2018.

In 2002, he probably didn't know how to drive at all.

Is the broker a suspect?

Ji Feng said, "This person is in Beijing. I'll go over there and tell you the answer after I find out." He

paused and said, "Answer the phone. Don't hang up on me."

"You don't have to." I couldn't see through the phone, but Jian Jing's eyes were almost rolling up. When I asked him before, he didn't tell me. Now he's talking so straightforwardly, but he just won't listen. You'll be so angry.

Ji Feng: "I know you're curious."

"I'm not curious."

"Three victims have come out from five cases. Do you have any ideas?" he asked, without waiting for her to answer, and said to himself, "I think the murderer didn't randomly choose the victims. He must have had contact with these people and knew their situations."

Jian Jingqing couldn't help but join in: "Li Xiaonuan is very strange."

Wang Zihui, Liu Meng, and Li Xiaonuan are not locals in Heping City, but Wang Zihui and Liu Meng are both working here. Although they are about the same age as the first two, their parents won't care even if they can't contact them for a while. Li Xiaonuan

is a student. If she doesn't show up for a long time, her roommates will be surprised and the counselor will also ask about it.

"After five years, something must have happened." Ji Feng asked, "What do you think?"

Jian Jing looked down at her notes and said, "I am very concerned about one thing."

"Why did the murderer choose winter?" She said bluntly, "In the cold winter, it must be too cold to take off your pants? Several girls were not dressed revealingly, and it is too tempting to say that they were attracted by their beauty."

Ji Feng: "No signs of sexual assault have been found so far."

"Asking for money is even more unreliable." She said, "It is obvious that they don't have much money."

Ji Feng agreed.

In this case, the murderer's psychological motivation has always been difficult to define. Whether the burning of corpses is due to hatred or pure destruction of evidence, everyone has different opinions.

He first ruled out robbery. The economic conditions of the victims were not good. He tended to hate women, but he was not sure.

"Actually, I didn't really think about the motive." Jian Jing pondered, "I just think winter is a strange time. Is it appropriate to burn a body in such a cold weather?"

Ji Feng pondered: "Indeed, although the weather is dry and the fire burns quickly, the clothes will burn together... It's not easy for a coat to burn, and there is a smell."

Summer clothes are mostly cotton and linen, with little odor, while winter clothes are thicker, whether wool or synthetic, the smell must be stronger.

Isn't the murderer afraid that the smell will attract passers-by and discover the body in advance?

"The frequency of the crime is also wrong." He said, "It's dense in the front, but it's longer in the back."

Jian Jing sighed.

This case is weird in every way, but looking left and right, it's like a turtle shrinking into its shell, and I can't find any flaws.

Annoying.

She was annoyed and stubborn. She didn't care to fight the monsoon anymore: "I must dig this guy out."

After hanging up the phone, she walked to the window and looked at the gray sky in the distance.

Why are all the cases on winter nights like this?

Jian Jing was still thinking about it until she went to bed. As a result, she had a messy dream all night. When she woke up, she felt exhausted but couldn't remember anything. There

was a fine snow outside.

The house was heated, so it was warm, but Jian Jing couldn't stay and decided to take the rider downstairs for a walk.

The snow was light, so there was no need to hold an umbrella. She took a leisurely walk along the riverside path.

Her thoughts were scattered again.

The winter in Heping City is usually around zero degrees, and sometimes it can drop to minus seven or eight degrees. It is so cold and damp that it is unbearable without heating. There

is not much rain, but it snows a few times every two or three years. Occasionally, there is a very strong cold air, and snow is also common.

The temperature difference between inside and outside is large, and the time of death found out can differ by several days depending on whether the body is kept indoors or outdoors.

Jian Jing thought that temperature is the most critical.

But cremation adds another step.

She frowned.

"Swish", the knight walked in front, his claws stepped on the thin snow, leaving muddy footprints.

Wheel tracks.

Footprints.

Snow.

Time of death.

Time... She stopped suddenly and immediately took out her cell phone to make a call.

Beep, the call was connected immediately.

Ji Feng asked: "I just wanted to call you, what's wrong?"

Jian Jing said: "I have a guess."

"You tell me."

"The murderer chose to kill in winter, probably to interfere with the time of death."

Ji Feng had thought about this and was not surprised: "It's very likely."

"Incineration of corpses not only destroys the body and the traces, but also has another function." She said, "to create an alibi."

He repeated: "Alibi?"

"Have you ever thought that maybe Li Xiaonuan didn't die in the evening." Jian Jing's thoughts opened up instantly, "Her time of death depends entirely on the stomach content and the heavy snow."

On the other end of the phone, Ji Feng said "hmm" softly in his heart, and two words popped out in his mind.

Trickery.