Chapter 61: Case Analysis

  It's raining.

  Logically speaking, it rarely rains in winter, but this unusual rain is indeed falling.

  The wind was blowing with rain, as if searching for something on the ground, bumping around in all directions. As soon as pedestrians found a place to take shelter from the rain, it started pouring down, first just a few drops, then gradually getting heavier and heavier, until it was like a deluge! A gust of wind blew by, and the dense rain was blown away like smoke, mist, or dust. On the rooftops and streets, a layer of white fog rose up, like a veil of white silk. Then another strong gust of wind came, and the white veil floated away, with raindrops hitting the accumulated water on the street surface, splashing up flowers of water.

  The small conference room on the third floor of the Municipal Public Security Bureau is holding a case analysis meeting.

  The cold and bitter safety has returned, the investigation work in various places has ended, but the case has not been cracked, and the real culprit behind the scenes has not been caught. Moreover, now that five more people have died, the nature of the case has escalated, and there are even more questions: Who died? Were they the kidnappers or innocent civilians? How did they die? Were they killed accidentally during the rescue process or were they murdered intentionally to silence them? Will the trail go cold...

  The criminal police brigade's investigation work did not stop. Last night, as soon as they returned, they immediately conducted a sudden interrogation of the only survivor of the kidnappers, Ah Long, and also made detailed inquiries about the entire situation on their way back home in the cold wind.

  Originally, Leng Yun was unwilling to let Leng Bing Han accept their inquiry at this time, fearing that Leng Bing Han would recall those unhappy things again and leave a psychological shadow. Fortunately, Leng Bing Han remained calm and composed, seemingly unaffected by the shock, and cooperated with them very well, allowing them to successfully achieve their goal.

  The small conference room that can accommodate up to 40 people was packed. In addition to the leaders of the bureau, including the director, political commissar, and deputy directors, as well as the criminal police squad, there were also relevant personnel from the armed police, garrison troops, and other police forces. As for the kidnapping of the mayor's son and blackmailing the government, although Leng Yun did not give many instructions, as a public security agency, it was like touching the dragon's scales - if they didn't crack the case and catch the real culprit, how would the municipal leaders view them?

  Song Zuyun sat on the podium, rubbing his bloodshot eyes, looking at everyone present, and said coldly: "The kidnapped Leng Binghan was safely rescued last night, which is good news, but unfortunately it's not the credit of our public security police. The case has not only failed to be cracked, but has become even more severe and complicated. The government needs us to crack the case in time, and the people also need us to crack the case in time. Time is of the essence. Everyone present is an elite, I hope you can work together, pool your wisdom and strength, and give full play to your elite abilities, don't disappoint the party, the government, and the people's expectations."

  After a brief mobilization, Song Zuyun said: "Now start announcing the case last night, Captain He Yunsheng, you report the case!"

  "Yes!" He Yunsheng stood up.

  He Yunsheng was about thirty years old, not very robust, with a thin face, sunken eyes, sharp and agile eyes, serious expression, not talkative, naturally giving people a sense of majesty. He was a scout who retired from the army and entered the public security system, and he had a good set of skills in criminal investigation, and he also got along well with Song Zuyun, and could be considered his trusted subordinate.

  He stood upright, and although he had been out of the army for many years, he still had not lost any of his military demeanor and behavior. He spoke to everyone in a very concise manner: "Yesterday afternoon at around 5:50, Mayor Leng's ten-year-old son was kidnapped by four thugs in Yongxing Alley. The kidnappers used a bread truck, which was later confirmed to be a stolen vehicle from the Changfu Food Factory. At around 6:30 yesterday afternoon, Mayor Leng received a phone call from the kidnapper in his office, claiming to be responsible for the kidnapping of Leng Bingxuan and demanding that the government not interfere with the steel factory's affairs. Mayor Leng immediately reported it to the police. These details were basically all told to everyone yesterday, so I won't repeat them here."

  "What we want to emphasize is the following new situation: At around 9:50 in the evening, there was a major development in the case. Mayor Leng received a phone call from someone claiming to be the 'Black Knight' at his office, saying that Leng Bingxue had been rescued and asking the family to hurry to a designated location to pick her up. We arrived around 10:37 in the evening and retrieved Leng Bingxue safely. However, we also discovered five corpses at the hideout of the kidnappers."

  He Yunsheng walked to the slide projector, picked up a prepared slide and put it on, pointing at the image projected onto the wall serving as a screen, saying: "Everyone look, this is the house, 14 kilometers northwest of Changfu County town, located at the intersection of Anning and Taihe Township, far from the main road, with sparse population, very remote, not easily discovered. It seems that the kidnappers have put in some effort to choose this location."

  He Yunsheng switched to a few more slides, and the screen displayed the specific circumstances and positions of several deceased persons at the time of their death. The scene was not too bloody, but the deaths of the two women were quite gruesome. They were naked, with no clothes on, and their bodies were covered in bruises. The mother's abdomen had been cut open, revealing her pale ribcage; the ten-year-old daughter's face was dark and swollen, her teeth were knocked out, her mouth and nose were bleeding, and her belly had been ripped open, with her intestines spilling out. The lower bodies of the two women were a mess, making people feel a sense of pity and look away in dismay.

  What kind of devil would do such a thing? The police officers handling the case were not inexperienced, but seeing this situation also made them indignant and extremely angry, with an unusually heavy mood.

  He Yunsheng continued: "According to the preliminary investigation and forensic examination at the time, among the three dead men, two have been identified as the main culprits of the kidnapping case. The other man and the man who was taken back by us after being found unconscious at the scene are their accomplices. The time of death is not long, the body has not stiffened, it should be no more than two hours. In addition, the two women in the woodshed died from knife wounds, the time of death should have exceeded 24 hours, and they were sexually assaulted before they died."

  According to the interrogation of the surviving kidnapper and the cold questioning of the parties involved, it was learned that there were four kidnappers in total, all from Changfu County, Shaowu City. The leader was named Pei Qiang, the one brought back was Zheng Long, and the other two were Huang Jianguo and Li Changsheng. They had no legitimate occupation, wandering around committing crimes, including robbery, kidnapping, murder, and rape, with a total of ten cases, making them wanted fugitives by the provincial authorities. This time, they were hired by someone surnamed Li for 200,000 yuan to carry out the kidnapping, but Zheng Long was not clear who this person surnamed Li was, as it was all handled by Pei Qiang. However, Pei Qiang is now dead, and this lead has been temporarily cut off.

  The two dead women were a mother and daughter, Chen Chunmei, 33, and Xu Jing, 10, who owned the house. According to Zheng Long's confession, they were raped by Huang Jianguo and then brutally murdered by Li Changsheng. This was inadvertently confirmed by Leng Yichang when he overheard their conversation.

  "Huang Jianguo and Pei Qiang died from knife wounds, while Li Changsheng's chest bone was crushed, with a broken rib piercing the thoracic cavity, suspected of being killed by blunt force trauma. According to Zheng Long's confession, at that time they discovered Leng Bingxue was nowhere to be found, just as they were about to search for him, they encountered a shadowy figure. This shadowy figure was very formidable, bare-handed and facing the four of them, not only unscathed but also broke Huang Jianguo's wrist with a kick in the blink of an eye, and killed Li Changsheng. Afterwards, he was knocked unconscious, didn't move until we arrived and took him to the station, after that he knew nothing about what happened next, nor did he get a clear look at the shadowy figure's appearance, only knowing that he acted very quickly, from appearing to being knocked out, all within less than a minute."

  Everyone present was moved, in one minute, facing four kidnappers with sharp knives, one died, one injured and another stunned, and he didn't even see his appearance clearly. Those present thought they were well-trained elites, but they also knew that it would be impossible to do so, even if there were several more people, let alone just one person.

  He Qiongsheng continued: "And Leng Bingxue also said that at the time he was locked in the inner room, it was the person who claimed to be Hei Xia who broke through a hole in the wall and rescued him, took him to a safe place hundreds of meters away from the house, left for a while, but didn't know what happened afterwards. He only heard that person say that the bad guys got their due punishment. After that, the person who claimed to be Hei Xia left before we arrived."

  He switched to another slide and pointed at the image on the screen, which was very similar to the character of Black Knight played by Jet Li in the future. "This is a portrait drawn based on Cold Ice's description. However, since the person had disguised himself beforehand, we couldn't gather more information. According to our judgment, the person is a middle-aged man between 30-40 years old, about 1.7 meters tall, suspected to be a martial arts expert, and may have had military experience."

  Dark Knight? In this era, there are still people who have such an old-fashioned and strange idea of pretending to be a hero and upholding justice. It's truly a legendary wonder. Everyone couldn't help but whisper to each other, and the order on the scene also became somewhat chaotic.

  Seeing this situation, Song Zuoyun coughed lightly twice, and everyone stopped whispering to each other. Order was quickly restored to its original state.

  The whole room fell silent, and Song Zuyun said, "Alright, Captain He has just briefed everyone on the current situation. Does anyone have any thoughts? Just say whatever you want to say, don't hold back or feel pressured."

  But unlike the lively scene of everyone's self-initiated discussion and exchange just now, everyone present was silent, maintaining silence.

  The scene was a bit cold, and Political Commissar Wu Xiongfei took a sip of tea to clear his throat before speaking: "Since no one wants to speak first, I'll take the lead. The appearance of this so-called 'Black Knight', although it accidentally rescued Mayor Leng's son and helped us out, is still a kind of mockery for law enforcement agencies like ours, and even more so, it's contemptuous of national laws and regulations. If everyone does things this way, what's the point of having law enforcers like us? Wouldn't society be turned upside down?"

  He frowned and said in a severe tone: "If it can be confirmed that this person is the murderer, he should receive severe punishment under the law. Even if the victim was a notorious criminal who deserved to die nine times over, he should still face justice. I think a special task force should be set up immediately to investigate this case and bring him to justice as soon as possible, or else similar vicious incidents may happen again."

  He Yunsheng looked at Wu Xiongfei, then at Song Zuyun, and slightly furrowed his brow. "The political commissar makes sense, but we know too little about this person. What does he look like? Where is he from? What's his background? Why did he disguise himself as a black knight? Was the murder and rescue a coincidence or premeditated? Does he really have such incredible abilities? Is he alone or are there other accomplices? All these questions are mysteries, making it extremely difficult to crack the case. Moreover, the kidnapping case has yet to be solved. If we establish another special task force, I'm afraid it will hinder the investigation of this case."

  The deputy captain of the criminal police brigade, Wang Fei, took a deep drag on his cigarette and slowly exhaled as he said: "We conducted a thorough investigation at the scene and did not find any traces left behind by anyone other than the victimized homeowner, the four kidnappers, and Leng Binghan. The knife that killed Pei Qiang and Huang Jianguo only had the kidnappers' fingerprints on it. In other words, apart from what we heard from Leng Binghan and Zheng Long's descriptions, we don't have any evidence to prove that such a person was present at the scene and committed murder. Therefore, even if we really find this person, there is no evidence or reason for us to make an arrest."

  Seeing the two subordinates opposing his views in different ways, Wu Xiongfei seemed to be somewhat embarrassed, and his hand tapped lightly on the table in front of him, his face sinking into gloom. "Don't we still have Zheng Long's testimony? He personally saw that person kill Li Changsheng with one blow."

  He Yunsheng smiled, with a hint of disdain in his eyes, and said: "As the defendant, Zheng Long's testimony can only be used as supplementary evidence for reference, not as the main evidence. Moreover, I have consulted experts, and it is impossible to cause such injuries with a force of less than 1,000 kilograms. Currently, Li Xiaolong's heaviest punch in the world is only about 360 kilograms, or 720 pounds. Do you think the court will believe that Li Changsheng was killed by that black knight at a distance of less than 20 centimeters? I still have great doubts about this matter."

  Wu Xiongfei, this political commissar, also returned from the troops, but in the army he was doing political work, all day long nagging and not understanding professionalism, likes to give orders blindly, with a personality that is vengeful, narrow-minded, not like the usual straightforwardness of those who come from a military background, everyone doesn't really look up to him.

  The atmosphere became somewhat tense, with a hint of swords being drawn. Song Zuyun hastily said: "Alright, everyone has their reasons, I think this way, the two cases will be investigated together, and the criminal police team will take charge. All aspects will fully cooperate. As for the kidnapping case, we will thoroughly investigate based on the current clues, and must crack the case within a week, arresting the true culprit behind the scenes. As for this Black Knight, there are many suspicious points, first collect more information and data about him, and wait until the situation becomes clearer before considering the next step."

  His decision seemed to take into account the opinions of both Wu Xiongfei and He Yunsheng, saving face for both parties, but in reality it was a refutation of Wu Xiongfei and support for He Yunsheng. On the surface, he spoke eloquently and reasonably, leaving Wu Xiongfei speechless, only able to sit aside, smoking silently, not uttering a word.

  "Yes, I guarantee to complete the task." He Yunsheng stood up and replied loudly, his eyes glanced at Wu Xiongfei sitting beside him, and he couldn't help but feel a slight joy in his heart, his eyebrows slightly raised.