Diary of a Criminal Investigator

Lu Chuan stood up and walked to the side of the projector.

"Once the identities of the five bodies were confirmed, I marked the areas where these five individuals lived and worked on the map."

Wang Song watched intently, as this was the task he had also been working on after identifying the five bodies, and he had gleaned some clues.

Could Lu Chuan’s discoveries overlap with his own?

"The work location of Body No. 1 changed quite frequently. Based on current information, their actual residence was a rented apartment near the South Suburban Bus Station."

"However, when the person disappeared, the workplace was at the Good to Come Again Massage Shop, located specifically at No. 18 Second Lane, Northern Avenue."

Lu Chuan pointed to the first red dot: "This is the location."

"Next, look at Body No. 2, who was killed eight months ago. His rice shop was in West Third Lane, Northern Avenue."

"As for Body No. 5, who died two months ago, his bun shop was also on Northern Avenue, located specifically within East Sixth Lane."

Lu Chuan continued: "I have a thought, although no direct interpersonal relationships were found among these three victims, considering their work or living locations..."

"Could the killer possibly be near Northern Avenue?"

"Moreover... regarding the soil inside the boxes with these three bodies... I suspect it might be from Northern Avenue."

Lu Chuan’s idea...

Upon hearing it, everyone couldn’t help but nod; there was indeed such a possibility.

"I agree!"

Wang Song was the first to express his opinion, showing approval: "After confirming the identities of the five individuals, I also conducted a comparative analysis of their residential and living locations on my end."

"Lu Chuan just mentioned the recent cases of victims No. 1, 2, and 5, so I’ll discuss the situations of bodies No. 3 and 4."

"Victim No. 3 was a taxi driver, murdered eight years ago, with the disappearance occurring ten kilometers away on Nanshan Road."

"His home wasn’t in Nanshan, but he often went there for car repairs. At the time of the incident, No. 3 had called the repair shop, saying he was coming for repairs, but he never made it there and disappeared since."

"As for Body No. 4, he was murdered fourteen years ago. Back then, he was repairing bicycles at the intersection of Nanshan Road and North Lake Road."

"These two individuals lived or worked near Nanshan Road. Is it a coincidence?"

"The special soil collected in the boxes of bodies No. 3 and 4 by Lu Chuan is likely from Nanshan Road."

Li Donglin’s expression was serious. Wang Song and Lu Chuan, without prior coordination, showed different geographical characteristics of the five bodies across two time periods.

Moreover, based on Lu Chuan’s earlier analysis, the murderer might have moved house during the entire period of continued offenses.

"Additionally," Wang Song stood up and walked to Lu Chuan’s side, "while investigating the backgrounds of these individuals, I discovered something interesting."

"The first victim, Su Mo, although a native of Haizhou City, grew up in Sichuan Province with her grandparents and later returned to Haizhou City, then moved to Tianzhou City for work."

"The second victim was a native of Sichuan Province, moving to Tianzhou City for business ten years ago."

"Victim No. 3 was a local of Tianzhou City, but his wife was from Sichuan Province."

"Victim No. 4 was local, but his wife was also from Sichuan Province."

"Victim No. 5 was a local of Tianzhou City; his parents were born and raised there, but his grandparents relocated from Sichuan Province."

"All five individuals... had some kind of connection to Sichuan Province!"

Honestly speaking, this commonality... is a bit strange.

Several unrelated people all somehow had a link to Sichuan Province.

Is it a coincidence?

Li Donglin’s many years of criminal investigation experience tell him that there are no coincidences in cases; if there are, they are absolutely clues.

The murderer killed across a vast time span, selecting victims randomly regardless of profession, gender, or age.

But now, it seems that there could indeed be some underlying pattern.

Sichuan Province...

Why?

What is the murderer’s connection to Sichuan Province?

Did he know in advance that the victims had connections to Sichuan Province?

Or, for some reason, did he choose to kill people with a Sichuan background?

"Wang Song’s discovery... is quite interesting. Please feel free to share your thoughts, everyone."

Present were all members of the major crimes unit, and it wasn’t their first collaboration in handling a case. Naturally, everyone spoke freely, and especially during a case analysis meeting, it is a time for open discussion.

"Let me speak."

Song Mingguang took two puffs of a cigarette and pointed to the map highlighted by Lu Chuan with red dots on the projector.

"I think the afternoon’s investigation should focus on two areas: Northern Avenue and Nanshan Road."

"Especially to investigate those who moved from Nanshan Road to Northern Avenue from eight years ago to now, focusing on those cases."

"I believe the murderer should now be residing on Northern Avenue, having once lived on Nanshan Road."

"Moreover, look, whether from Nanshan Road or Northern Avenue, both places are on either side of Wang Family River, near the locations where the bodies were discovered, at a comparable distance."

"We could say the murderer never left their ’comfort zone’ for committing crimes; dumping bodies in both locations is the same for the killer."

"Let me add: we should scrutinize all individuals in these two places with a Sichuan origin, or those who lived, worked, or had spouses from Sichuan."

"I agree with this; let’s cover everyone."

"It’s understandable if one or two of the five victims had ties to Sichuan, but it’s not acceptable if all five do."

"As for what’s characteristic about Sichuan, it’s mainly the spicy food and the dialect."

"While we don’t know if these were factors in the murders, it feels worth investigating."

"Much like the Red Dress Serial Murder Case from a few years back, where the killer targeted women riding bicycles in red dresses at night, not because he specifically wanted that, but because this particular scenario triggered the urge to kill."

"It’s like a power switch; turn it on, and it activates."

...

The discussions were intense, everyone sharing their points of view.

But mostly, they were expanding and refining Lu Chuan and Wang Song’s ideas.

An hour later, as the case analysis meeting was about to conclude, Lu Chuan went out to answer a phone call.

Returning shortly after, Lu Chuan walked straight to Li Donglin.

"Director Li, it was a call from the Tianzhou City Geological Department. The comparison results are in: the two types of distinctive soil collected in the five boxes are indeed from Northern Avenue and Nanshan Road!"

"Good!"

This comparison result validated the speculations everyone just discussed.

At least, the murderer disassembled the bodies in those two places before putting them into boxes.