Quick Transmigration: What to Do When the Male Supporting Character You Saved Becomes Obsessed with

Chapter 364 Obedient and Clingy Younger Brother (75)

Often, when one spouse has an accident, the other is automatically considered a potential suspect.

Even with an alibi, just to be on the safe side, someone was still asked to investigate the relationship between Mr. Wang and Zheng Qingping.

The couple has been married for over 20 years and are a childless couple.

Both sets of parents passed away a few years ago. The two were colleagues, but Zheng Qingping has now retired.

Those who know them both say they have a very good relationship. They are both very mild-tempered, and over the years, almost no one has ever seen them argue.

Moreover, her colleagues at the school said that before Zheng Qingping retired, she said that she and Mr. Wang planned to buy a house in a warm place in the south to retire, and that they would leave after Mr. Wang retired.

Both of their accounts are clean, with nothing unclear, and they have lived off their salaries for many years.

After witnessing his wife's tragic condition, Mr. Wang remained in a daze and was taken to the hospital for observation by medical personnel who arrived at the scene.

Have any valuables been stolen from the house?

Upon entering the room to investigate, Wu Qidong noticed signs that the bedroom and study had been ransacked.

The drawer was roughly opened, and many things were carelessly thrown on the floor.

"We haven't confirmed with the victim's husband yet, but it seems..." The forensic investigator squatted on the ground, trying hard to collect fingerprints.

"The prisoner must have been wearing shoe covers when he entered."

"Shoe covers?"

"Yes, there is snow and melted mud in many places outdoors in Pucheng now. The murderer probably didn't want to leave any traces, so he brought shoe covers himself."

"Deputy Captain, does this constitute an escalation of criminal methods?" Chen Mingkang asked in a deep voice.

Ten years ago, when the first case occurred, they collected the killer's shoe prints at the crime scene.

Although no complete shoe prints were collected in the second case, traces of the perpetrator breaking into the house could still be found.

The third and fourth incidents were likely because the roads outside were clean at the time, so no useful information was collected.

The fifth incident... was not in the same season as the previous four; it was raining outside that day.

However, the crime scene was destroyed.

When Jin Shuhe ran out of the room, there were people passing by in the corridor. The location of the incident was an old, dilapidated building where most of the residents were construction workers.

Perhaps due to concern for Jin Shuhe, or a lack of common sense in this regard, no one was aware of the need to protect the crime scene.

When the police arrived, there were countless different sets of muddy footprints inside the house, and even next to the body.

They were piled up on top of each other, completely contaminated, and no longer of any investigative value...

In these cases, the perpetrators did not leave any DNA or fingerprints, suggesting they might have been wearing gloves while committing the crimes.

However, there were no traces of shoe covers.

"This murderer has always been very aware of counter-surveillance techniques. He hasn't committed a crime in all these years, but he should also know that current investigative methods are much more advanced than they were ten years ago, so he has become much more cautious..."

Wu Qidong frowned.

Jin Shuhe looked at the preliminary investigation report.

In several files, one word appeared repeatedly: "excessive killing".

Excessive killing means that the perpetrator uses excessive violence beyond what is necessary to cause the victim's death in order to vent their emotions or intentionally torture the victim.

He was able to successfully infiltrate the victim's home and subdue the victim single-handedly.

The fact that none of the victims had obvious signs of resistance or defense indicates a significant disparity in strength, thus confirming that the perpetrator was male.

Even when the victims were completely unable to resist, his violence did not diminish, especially in the third case, where he stabbed the victims a total of eight times.

According to forensic examination, his first stab wound was fatal, and the victim should have immediately lost the ability to struggle.

However, the murderer then stabbed the victim seven more times.

In some impulsive homicides, the perpetrator may commit excessive killings due to excessive tension or high mental stress, but this was not the case with this serial killer.

He committed the crime premeditatedly, and in some ways, he was even quite calm.

From the moment the crime was committed until the moment they left, they perfectly timed it to the time when the victim was home alone, even when there were very few people in that building at that time.

The investigations of the previous cases all mentioned that, due to the Lunar New Year, the neighbors were not at home at the time of the incidents.

The sixth case is the same.

The old building where Zheng Qingping and Mr. Wang lived had three households per floor. Their apartment was number two, which was directly opposite the stairwell. The apartments next to them, number one and number three, were empty when the investigators knocked on their doors that morning.

Later, through contact, it was learned that both families had returned to their hometowns before the Lunar New Year.

At 8:30 p.m., the Municipal Public Security Bureau held a case discussion meeting.

When people from other departments saw Jin Shuhe coming over, some were slightly taken aback, while others patted Jin Shuhe on the shoulder, but no one said anything.

I didn't know about this before, but I found out after reading the case file today.

Once everyone had arrived, the heads of each department involved in the investigation took turns sharing the findings.

“After the first few cases, we considered whether there was some connection between the victims. According to the data, most serial killers have some similarities in their crimes, rather than committing random crimes that are completely unrelated.”

Team Leader Xie said with a frown.

"As of today, all six victims are women. What do these women have in common, or what kind of connection do they have with each other? This remains the focus of the investigation."

Jin Shuhe was very familiar with this question. Wu Qidong had asked him many times back then: "Xiaohe, does your mother have any friends in Pucheng? Have you met... the other victims?"

Even today, Jin Shuhe can still answer firmly: "No."

"You remember it so clearly?"

In the office, Lü Chun spun around in her chair and turned to ask Jin Shuhe.

Jin Shuhe had already told them that they didn't need to take care of him at all, and that they could ask him anything they needed without having to consider their own feelings.

"Yes, my mother... rarely even goes out."

At that time, their family had only been in Pucheng for a short time.

Jin Shuhe's mother only has a junior high school education, and she and his father come from a rural area in the south, a very remote place.

Jin Shuhe came to Pucheng because his father came here to work.

His mother was mild-mannered and shy. Because she didn't speak Mandarin very well, she tried to speak as little as possible when she went out. Apart from buying groceries and picking up Jin Shuhe, she rarely went out, let alone made friends or got to know the other victims.

In Jin Shuhe's memory, apart from going to school, his mother was almost always by his side...

“No evidence of connection was found for the victims in the other cases either,” Jin Shuhe said, pointing to the summary in the case file.

"Sigh—" Lü Chun rubbed his head: "Where do we even begin?"

"Let's continue visiting Zheng Qingping's associates tomorrow, and also revisit the families of the previous cases." Jin Shuhe's expression was calm, but his eyes were fixed on his phone screen.

Lu Chun had good eyesight and didn't intend to peek, but he only glanced at it and saw that it was the WeChat interface on his screen.

He sent a long string of messages in a row.

The profile picture on the other side... looks like it should be Xiao Lu?

At the same time, almost instantly, Jin Shuhe sent several more messages.

What is this for?

Lü Chun found it a bit strange.

Less than three minutes later, Jin Shuhe suddenly stood up.

This startled Lü Chun: "What's wrong with you? Why are you so easily startled?"

"It's nothing, I'm going out... to make a phone call." Jin Shuhe's expression was not good.

"Oh, go ahead." Lü Chun thought he had something urgent to attend to.

Once inside the safety passage, Jin Shuhe's face betrayed his anxiety, and he quickly dialed a phone.

No one answered.

He hit again.

While waiting, he unconsciously bit his lower lip until it tore and hurt.

"Hey."

Just as the call was about to automatically disconnect, it was finally answered.

"Xiao He? What's wrong? Why are you constantly messaging and calling me?"

Li Ruan's warm voice came through the receiver, and Jin Shuhe felt as if he had been taken out of the refrigerator and thawed, and the difficulty in breathing disappeared.

"Sister Li Ruan, why didn't you reply to my message?" Jin Shuhe tried to keep his voice as normal as possible.

"I just went to take a shower."

Cola's voice came from the other end of the phone: "You need to call me urgently?"

"No, I just finished a meeting and I have another one later. This is the only time I have to talk to Sister Li Ruan," Jin Shuhe lied.

"So busy? What time is it? Have you eaten yet?" Lu Liruan didn't notice anything unusual about him.

"Yes, I ate. What did Sister Li Ruan eat for dinner?"

"I ate out with Xiaoyou tonight, I'm too lazy to cook. I'll make you something delicious when you get back~"

"Okay." Jin Shuhe leaned against the wall with his head down. The emergency exit had motion-activated lights, and his voice was too soft to turn them on.

The entire corridor was pitch black except for the faint glow of the green signs.

"Xiao He, they're ordering late-night snacks, do you want anything?" Lu Chun's voice came from outside.

"I'm calling you, hurry up! I'm going to sleep after I finish this script, or I'll be done for!" Lu Liruan said with a smile.

"it is good."

No hanging.

"Mua~" Lu Liruan kissed him loudly over the phone.

"Is it done?"

"Oh, I miss Li Ruan..."

"I missed you too, stop being so cutesy, or someone will find out!" Lu Liruan urged him.

When Jin Shuhe exited through the emergency exit, Lü Chun was waiting for him there: "What happened to Xiao Lu?"

"No, I... I'll ask her if she's gone home."

“She’s home alone, so she needed to let you know she’s safe.” Lü Chun nodded.

She always felt that Jin Shuhe's mood was off, and it wasn't just because of investigating his mother's case. But Jin Shuhe's work attitude was perfect; he was very calm and professional.

"Let's go, Sister Lü, aren't we going to order some late-night snacks?" He walked ahead.

"Among the six cases, two victims were teachers. Does this count as a connection? Did the perpetrator have some preference for the teaching profession?"

Jin Shuhe asked Qin Wen.

“Team Leader Xie also said that… but a vocational school teacher and a high school teacher, these two don’t seem to have anything to do with each other.” Qin Wen stuffed a mouthful of noodles into his mouth and showed Jin Shuhe the work records of the two victims on the computer.

Jin Shuhe looked at it intently.

"Most serial killers have a cooling-off period before committing a crime. The previous few cases were separated by about a year, which was probably his cooling-off period. But why was there such a long interval for the sixth case?"

It went on for so long that people almost thought he would never commit another crime.

"Hmm?" Qin Wen gestured for him to continue.

“Something must have triggered him to commit another crime. I think… the sixth case and the first case are more likely to be related to the perpetrator himself.” Jin Shuhe wrote down his thoughts in his notebook.

"Yes, Sister Xia said the same thing." Qi Silang listened to their discussion and came over with his roujiamo (Chinese hamburger).

"Sister Xia said that the knife used to kill the sixth victim still had the old bloodstains from the first victim preserved very well..."

He frowned, seemingly unable to eat any more: "You could say it's been almost never wiped clean; it's been deliberately left there, preserved, or rather... treasured."

"What a fucking pervert!" Qi Silang cursed under his breath.

"Many serial killers consider their crimes as their glory, and they often keep evidence of their crimes to relive them. Didn't we all learn that in school?" Qin Wen smacked him on the head.

"Go away and eat somewhere else, you've got crumbs on my clothes!"

"Oh, give me a bite of the hot and sour noodles!" Qi Silang said to Jin Shuhe.

"You eat." Jin Shuhe pushed the untouched bowl towards him.

“I also think this is the most reliable approach right now. Tomorrow, you and Lü Chun, and Si Lang and I, will go and visit Zheng Qingping’s associates. Don’t worry about the smallest details, just ask them all!”

In the latter half of the night, everyone gradually went back to the rest room to sleep.

Jin Shuhe was lying on the lower bunk, and Chen Mingkang was lying on the lower bunk opposite him.

I thought I wouldn't be able to sleep, but I had been up for so long that I fell asleep without even realizing it.

then……

"Swish-swish-swish-"

"call!"

Jin Shuhe opened his eyes with a cold sweat on his forehead. His heart was pounding and his ribs were aching. He felt like he was being paralyzed by a ghost. He couldn't move his limbs but they were trembling.

That sound again!

A faint yet incredibly clear rustling sound, like a ghost.

That day, I was lying under the bed when I heard the sound.

Getting closer...

Jin Shuhe stared at the upper bunk, not knowing how much time had passed before the rumbling of her own heartbeat subsided slightly.

He turned over and sat up.

Chen Mingkang snorted twice and turned over, while Jin Shuhe pushed open the door and went out.

He went to the washroom and washed his face with cold water; his appearance in the mirror was frighteningly ugly.

Looking out the window of the water room, it was still completely dark outside.

But it was already past five o'clock.

Jin Shuhe returned to his office, turned on the light, and opened the case file once again.

Although he had read it countless times, Jin Shuhe still reread it word by word, trying to hear something related to sound from the numerous interview records.

but no.

Only his own.

I heard the sound of footsteps, "rustling—rustling—".

Jin Shuhe can still recall the expression on Wu Qidong's face when he said those words.

In the years that followed, he repeatedly asked himself, "Is it that rustling sound?"

"Yes, my hearing is very good, and at that time, I couldn't see, I could only hear."

What exactly was that sound?!