Yu Hanjiang and Xiao Lou reached the following conclusions after conducting the autopsy.
First, the time of the crime is determined to be around 4:30 PM. She committed the crime immediately after they left, probably fearing that delays would lead to her being caught by the police. She definitely fled in a car after the crime; currently, we need to contact the property management of the residential complex to check the vehicle entry and exit surveillance footage at the gate.
Secondly, the killer's obsession with ice, burying the bodies with ice at the crime scene, seems to carry a strange connotation, almost like a "curse." She murdered Lin Yiyan and Xu Kai, and then, in a fit of rage, desecrated their corpses. Currently, Qiao Xuening is the prime suspect with the strongest motive.
But which one is the real Qiao Xuening? Yu Hanjiang and Xiao Lou exchanged a glance, both feeling somewhat confused.
Yu Hanjiang said in a deep voice, "Conduct a thorough search of the entire villa. I don't believe she won't leave any clues."
The two searched from the basement all the way to the attic on the balcony, collecting all the fingerprints and hairs found in the villa. They also found a plum blossom -shaped earring in the attic, which Xiao Lou sealed in sterile bags and brought back.
That evening, Xiao Lou temporarily borrowed the town's Forensic Identification Center to authenticate the evidence collected at the scene, while Yu Hanjiang went to the property management to review the surveillance footage in detail.
The two went about their separate tasks until they met up at the police station at 3 a.m.
Xiao Lou compiled all the identification results and showed them to Yu Hanjiang: "The long hair found in the bathtub, after being compared with the gene bank, belongs to a girl named Lin Dandan."
Li Xinyang said, "I know this Lin Dandan. She's a hostess at a KTV in our town. She's very pretty, has long hair, and she probably dated Xu Kai for a while."
Xiao Lou then asked, "What about Liu Qi and Yue Qingqing?"
Li Xinyang said, "They are all Xu Kai's girlfriends."
He rubbed his temples with a wry smile and gave the two of them a detailed account of Xu Kai's situation over the past few years. According to Li Xinyang, Xu Kai was still unmarried, in his thirties, quite handsome, and, being the owner of an internet cafe and two hot pot restaurants, extremely wealthy. He had become a local tyrant in this small town.
Xu Kai is considered a highly eligible bachelor, with a long line of girls pursuing him. He changes girlfriends roughly every six months and gives them a lot of money when they break up. So, although his private life is chaotic, it's unlikely that any girl would kill him because of a breakup.
Li Xinyang said, " Xu Kai's reputation isn't very good, but he's quite generous when it comes to dealing with The Lover. Many people in our town know that he gives each of his girlfriends enough money when they break up, and they always take the money and leave without hesitation. Professor Xiao, the three of you you just mentioned are all girlfriends he's dated in the past year."
Xiao Lou said, "It seems I guessed right. The hair and fingerprints found in the basement, kitchen, and bathtub all belonged to Xu Kai's girlfriends. Obviously, he would bring his girlfriends home for the night."
Yu Hanjiang frowned slightly: "It wasn't these people who killed him."
Li Xinyang paused for a moment, then asked, " Captain Yu, how can you be so sure?"
Yu Hanjiang said, "He's connected to the murder case we're investigating. The ice at the crime scene is exactly the same, the method of killing is the same, and even the murder weapon is the same. So, this must be a series of murders committed by the same killer. The girls in your town who dated him aren't very suspicious. Call them all over tomorrow for questioning. If they can provide alibis, release them."
Li Xinyang breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Okay."
Yu Hanjiang patted the young captain on the shoulder: "You've worked hard. Go back first, we'll talk again when it's light."
After leaving the Police Station, Yu Hanjiang and Xiao Lou drove back to the hotel together.
It was already 4 a.m. when Yu Hanjiang returned to his room. He rubbed his temples and said to Xiao Lou, "I've reviewed all the security footage from the complex. Between 4 p.m. and 10 p.m., a total of 30 vehicles entered and exited the complex. I've recorded all the license plate numbers. Also, I haven't found any suspicious individuals who resemble Qiao Xuening."
Xiao Lou said, "Let's get some sleep first, and we'll go to the Traffic Police Detachment to check again tomorrow."
The two went to bed separately, and got up after only a few hours.
The next morning at seven o'clock, Yu Hanjiang first called Qu Wanyue and instructed her: " Keep a close eye on Qiao Xuening and don't let her get away. When Xiao Lou and I return, we will find out her background."
Qu Wanyue said, "Don't worry, I'll find an excuse to tutor her in dance moves and spend the whole day by her side watching her film."
Yu Hanjiang hung up the phone and went with Xiao Lou to the Traffic Police Detachment to check the vehicle owner's information.
After 4 p.m. yesterday, none of the vehicles leaving the villa area were suspicious. All the car owners could be identified as residents of this small town. Li Xinyang, the town's Criminal Police Detachment Chief, also checked their information one by one.
Some went to the supermarket to buy groceries, while others went out to eat with their families...
There were even other people in all the cars who could testify that none of them were driven away by a driver alone.
Yu Hanjiang frowned thoughtfully: "She didn't leave by car? It seems she was very cautious, afraid that we would find her real information by checking the license plate number. It's very likely that she left the villa area on foot."
Xiao Lou agreed: " In the Lin Yiyan case, she was driving Lin Yiyan's car, so her vehicle couldn't be found. This time, she didn't drive at all, but if she left on foot, there's only one exit from the complex, so they should be able to take pictures of her, right?"
Yu Hanjiang said, "But none of the people who entered or left the community yesterday afternoon looked like Lin Yiyan."
After thinking about it carefully, Xiao Lou said, "Could she have escaped by climbing over the wall?"
Yu Hanjiang nodded: "Possibly"
"Although the walls around the villa area are quite high, if she can climb trees, there are many places she can get over them. I've already asked the property management to provide me with surveillance footage from all locations in the complex. Let's continue checking today."
Yu Hanjiang and Xiao Lou went to the Police Station together.
Li Xinyang invited Xu Kai's ex-girlfriends over early in the morning.
All three have solid alibis: one was singing karaoke with someone, another was getting her hair permed at a hair salon yesterday afternoon, and the third had gone shopping with three girlfriends yesterday afternoon—all of which can be confirmed.
After taking a brief statement, Li Xinyang released the three men.
When Yu Hanjiang and Xiao Lou arrived, he told Captain Yu the result. Yu Hanjiang had expected this, so he wasn't disappointed. After all, the Xu Kai case and the Lin Yiyan case were linked, and the hair of these girlfriends found in the villa couldn't help the case's progress at all.
Xiao Lou said with some regret, "It seems that all the hair and fingerprints we found were just distractors."
Yu Hanjiang frowned and said, "The murderer has become quite experienced in committing crimes. She was probably completely covered up and wearing gloves, so she wouldn't leave any information that could be verified by fingerprints or genetic data. Those ice cubes of hers must have been made on the spot."
Clearly, the murderer broke into Xu Kai's room beforehand, made a lot of ice in the freezer compartment of his refrigerator while Xu Kai was sleeping, then unexpectedly killed Xu Kai, buried the body with the ice, and took the containers from the refrigerator.
This also explains the ice in the Lin Yiyan case. The killer had also been lying in wait in Lin Yiyan's house beforehand, making a large amount of ice on the spot using her refrigerator. After killing Lin Yiyan, she also took the box used to make the ice, raising questions about the origin of the ice for the police.
Yu Hanjiang said, "Let's check the surveillance footage first."
Team leader Li Xinyang also volunteered to help, calling his colleagues to access the surveillance footage of the entire villa complex provided by the property management company. Each person was responsible for a section of the footage and reviewed it in detail.
Everyone worked hard all day...
However, no one was found to have climbed over the wall to get out of the residential area.
Li Xinyang looked puzzled: "They didn't leave by car, nor did they climb over the wall. Could the murderer fly? Or burrow underground?"
Xiao Lou looked at Yu Hanjiang with a puzzled expression: " The same goes for the Lin Yiyan case. We checked the surveillance footage from beginning to end over those days, and no suspicious vehicles entered. Unless she parachuted in or crawled into the community from the ground, how do you explain that?"
In the Lin Yiyan case, since Lin Yiyan rarely returned to Yuehu Villa, it would be difficult to detect the perpetrator breaking in two weeks prior, even with surveillance footage. The perpetrator left in Lin Yiyan's car.
But the Xu Kai case is different.
Xu Kai comes home every day, so the murderer couldn't have stayed in his house for long. At most, the murderer would have sneaked into the villa last night when Xu Kai went out for drinks, made all the preparations to kill him today, and then left. The surveillance footage, which lasts no more than 24 hours, makes the investigation very convenient.
However, the surveillance footage showed no trace of the perpetrator entering or leaving the residential area.
How did the murderer enter the villa complex where Xu Kai lived? And how did he leave?
Could the killer really fly?!
This isn't a martial arts story; the murderer can't possibly use their Lightness Skill to fly out, can they?
Xiao Lou was completely baffled when Yu Hanjiang suddenly said, "I'm afraid we've fallen into a cognitive trap from the very beginning."
Xiao Lou looked at him in confusion: " What does Captain Yu mean?"
Yu Hanjiang said, "The murderer didn't hide; she walked in openly and walked out openly."
Xiao Lou was very surprised.
"Plastic surgery." Yu Hanjiang looked at Xiao Lou and whispered, "Since someone can get plastic surgery to look like Qiao Xuening, then Qiao Xuening can also get plastic surgery to look like someone else."
Therefore, Qiao Xuening cannot be found in the surveillance footage.
Because she's had her face changed!