Jiangcheng is divided into two by a river called Jiang, which is quite representative. Several elderly winter swimming enthusiasts prefer to swim back and forth in the river in the early morning when it is about to dawn.

On April 10th, at six o'clock in the morning, Jiang Guoguo arrived at the riverside. The sky was heavily overcast, as if it were going to rain. He warmed up his body and took off his clothes.

The weather this year is unusually strange. It's already April, yet it's still very cold.

A young man who was jogging stopped. "Swimming here?"

Jiang Guoguo glared at him. "What's wrong? Can't swim?"

The young man smiled and saw the sign prohibiting swimming by the river.

"The water isn't clean."

"It's much cleaner than what you eat. Before we had tap water, we Jiangcheng people relied on this river for a living."

The young man, also having had enough to eat, wiped the sweat from his forehead and stood with his hands on his hips, watching Jiang Guoguo by the river, wearing only swimming trunks. "Aren't you cold?"

"You wouldn't understand. People who winter swim have good health. I started winter swimming five years ago. I used to catch a cold once or twice a year, but now..." He patted the exposed flesh in the cold wind. "My health has improved. I haven't taken any medicine in the past two years."

The young man draped a towel around his neck. "Well, then, be careful."

None of Jiang Guoguo's old winter swimming buddies had come; they were probably afraid of this weather. Jiang Guoguo jumped into the water, and the bone-chilling cold water engulfed his body instantly. He struggled for a moment, his teeth chattering.

Once he started moving, he felt warm. He comforted himself in this way.

As he swam to the center of the river, thick fog suddenly rose around him.

Although Jiang Guoguo talked tough, he was actually quite timid. He stopped in the middle of the river for a rest and then turned back to swim. Suddenly, he felt something slippery under his feet, icy cold to the touch.

His head buzzed, filled with tales of water ghosts.

He shouted desperately, struggling to swim back to the riverbank, but his feet felt heavy, entangled more tightly with each stroke. The chilling sensation was like the skin of a dead person, tightly wrapping around his feet.

"Help! Help!"

On the morning of April 10th, at seven o'clock, the Jianghe Police Station received a report of someone drowning in the river while winter swimming.

They quickly dispatched a diving team and after several hours of searching, around noon, they pulled out two bodies.

Qin Feng got out of the car and walked quickly towards the riverbank, hearing the wailing from afar, feeling a bit of a headache.

"Two bodies, one is the morning drowning victim Jiang Guoguo, fifty-two years old."

The coroner Liu interrupted, "Wasn't the river closed off long ago? Swimming isn't allowed."

"We can't control it. People in their fifties are very stubborn. We've caught them a few times before, but they'd protest and go to the newspapers with banners to complain about the police. There's nothing we can do. Now, look, trouble has found them."

"Get to the point, where's the other body?" Qin Feng glanced at Xiao Wang. "Also winter swimming?"

"It's a woman, with bricks tied to her feet. Probably a murder."

While they were talking, they had arrived at the scene of the incident. There were quite a few people outside the cordon, causing a commotion.

"Why are so many people gathered around? Do they think this is some spectacle?" Qin Feng frowned.

"It's human nature for people to love watching excitement. Can't help it."

There were too many onlookers at the scene, making it impossible to conduct a proper autopsy. There were two bodies in total, and the middle-aged man's feet were stuck in the neckline of the woman's clothing.

Observing the surroundings, patrol officer Xiao Zhang stepped forward and said, "They're stuck together tightly. The bodies were retrieved simultaneously."

Qin Feng put on gloves and squatted down to inspect the bodies. The middle-aged man's death was typical of drowning, with his arms outstretched and his body leaning forward. The woman had been dead for some time; her body was swollen, and rigor mortis had set in severely.

"Take the bodies back first."

A woman rushed forward and was stopped by the police. She was crying hysterically. Qin Feng asked, "Who is she?"

"The deceased's wife."

The coroners, Liu and Zhang, put the bodies in body bags. Qin Feng walked to the edge of the river and observed the terrain. The middle-aged man's clothes were by the riverside, with signs of being in the water.

"Where exactly were the bodies retrieved?"

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"That spot." A police officer pointed to Qin Feng. "Probably right there. Some witnesses said he was swimming in that area."

"Were there any witnesses?"

"Yes, people who came for morning jogs."

"Take them in for questioning."

Qin Feng walked down and jumped onto the rescue boat. "Let's head to where the bodies were retrieved."

With the wind at their backs, the boat briefly paused at the center of the river before drifting downstream with the wind. Qin Feng stood up and looked out over the river.

"Let's head back."

Two deaths at once. Lately, there have been quite a few homicides in Jiangcheng.

There was nothing on the female victim's body that could identify her. Estimated time of death was five days ago. After checking recent missing person reports, they narrowed it down to one person.

Dong Miao, seventeen years old, a student at Jiangcheng First High School, in her senior year.

Four days ago, her mother reported her missing. The clothes on the body matched, and the DNA matched as well.

Notifying the family of the deceased, Qin Feng extinguished his cigarette and tossed it into the ashtray. "Jiangcheng First High School?"

"Yes."

Qin Feng immediately thought of the girl like a bean sprout, Lin Fan.

Standing up, he said, "I'll go to the morgue."

Forensic examiner Liu peeled back the wound and said, "The assailant stabbed the victim's heart from behind with a sharp weapon. There were three fatal wounds, all on the back."

Qin Feng observed the surface of the body; there were clear knife wounds on the back, the wounds were chaotic.

Liu turned the body over, and Qin Feng saw the bruises on her neck, followed by varying degrees of abrasions on her body, with the knees being the most severe.

He gestured, "First, the assailant strangled her neck, the victim struggled violently, trying to escape. The assailant then stabbed her heart. She fell, and the assailant stabbed her twice more. It's a crime of hatred, a crime of passion." Qin Feng's gaze fell to a scratch on the victim's clavicle. "What's this?"

"A scratch."

Qin Feng used forceps to peel the skin of the victim. "Looks like it was scratched with nails. Could the assailant be a female?"

"It's possible. There are binding marks on the ankles, post-mortem injuries."

Qin Feng shifted his gaze. "When the body was retrieved, there were two bricks tied to her feet. That's why the body wasn't discovered until five days after the incident." Reorganizing the clues, Qin Feng said, "Was the victim sexually assaulted?"

"No," said forensic examiner Liu, "Fibers from clothing were found under the victim's nails, likely from the assailant."

Qin Feng looked at the body again and said, "Then the other body was just unlucky."

Forensic examiner Liu nodded. "The body was partially floating on the water's surface, and his feet happened to be entangled in the victim's clothing."

Qin Feng said, "With the heavy fog this morning, he probably died from fright, drowning."

"If only he hadn't gone winter swimming in the wild, none of this would have happened."

Qin Feng observed the body with his arms crossed. "Dong Miao isn't particularly fat or tall. The fact that she could resist her assailant indicates that the assailant isn't particularly strong, at least not very muscular."

The door was pushed open, and Qin Feng turned to see Xiao Wang panting as he ran in. "What's going on?"

"Dong Miao's mother called the police. She says Dong Miao was killed by a classmate."

Qin Feng frowned, removed his gloves, and headed outside. "Let's go take a look."

"It's that hick transfer student, it must be her! She's jealous of our daughter. First, she splashed hot soup on my daughter, and now she's killed her! My daughter is good at studying and beautiful. She should have been torn to pieces!" She sobbed uncontrollably. "My poor baby, how could she be so unlucky, killed by that wicked person?"

"In investigations, evidence is crucial. We police won't wrong any innocent person, nor will we let any guilty person go free. Please stop crying for now. Tell us what happened."

She was crying so hard she couldn't catch her breath, unable to speak. The man accompanying her spoke up, "The transfer student was Dong Miao's classmate, just transferred from the countryside."

Could it be Lin Fan?

"When Dong Miao went missing, we went to the school to ask. The teacher said the day before, that transfer student had a heated argument with Dong Miao, and she didn't attend evening self-study."

"Who are you?"

"I'm Dong Miao's uncle."

---

Lin Fan didn't go to dinner; she was exhausted and fell asleep on the desk. Groggily, she heard the classroom door being pushed open, and a person in police uniform walked in.

Lin Fan squinted, sat up, and smoothed her bangs, unable to suppress a yawn.

Qin Feng pulled out a chair and sat across from her. "Lin Fan."

"Mm."

Lin Fan's pale face was adorned with heavy dark circles under her eyes as she looked at him.

"How did Dong Miao die?"

"I don't know."

Qin Feng figured it was another consecutive case, his beard had grown out again, giving him a stern appearance.

"You're saying you don't know again?" Qin Feng grabbed her hand and looked at her nails. There were fresh nail breaks on her ring finger. Qin Feng took out handcuffs. "I suspect you're involved in Dong Miao's murder."

He had a strong grip, rough fingers, and Lin Fan winced in pain. "I didn't kill her, but I know she's dead. Let's talk somewhere else."

Lin Fan had been chased by ghosts for several days. Dong Miao's ghost was different from the others; she was exceptionally powerful. First, she beat Aunt Xiong to tears, then chased Lin Fan to kill her. Lin Fan couldn't run fast enough and was killed by the ghost long ago.

She was also very distraught; Dong Miao died for no reason. Dong Miao was difficult to deal with when she was alive, and she wasn't a good ghost when she died. Lin Fan had never spoken a word to her, yet almost died at her hands.

Lin Fan didn't dare go back these days. At night, she would find a spot near the 24-hour bank ATM with homeless people to stay.

Dong Miao was probably looking for her all over the world now, trying to kill her.

Qin Feng didn't handcuff her; instead, he looked down at her from a higher vantage point.

"On the morning of the 6th, she appeared at my place. I didn't recognize her at the time, but almost got strangled by her when I got home at night. She's more powerful than an ordinary ghost. I'm afraid of dying, so I didn't dare go back these days. If I weren't dead, I wouldn't have been in that house. Can you let me go? Are you afraid I'll run away?"

Qin Feng released her hand, and Lin Fan unzipped her down jacket, revealing her neck. Her skin was very pale, with alarming handprints on it. "She choked me."

There were marks on her neck, but they didn't necessarily indicate anything. It could also be that she was injured by Dong Miao while Dong Miao was killing her, indicating resistance from the victim's side.

After a moment of contemplation, Qin Feng asked, "If you're not the killer, why didn't you call the police?"

"I was going to call you, but I hesitated."

"Why?"

Lin Fan zipped up her jacket. "If I called the police, I would definitely be attacked. That day, I fought with her boyfriend, the day you came to the school to find me." Lin Fan packed her books into her backpack and stood up. "That night, she insulted me, tore up my books, and threatened to kick me out of school." Lin Fan tried to force a smile, but it didn't quite reach her lips. She looked at Qin Feng. "Given these circumstances, if she died, what do you think would happen to me? How would they treat me?"

Qin Feng didn't speak. Lin Fan continued, "The exams are coming up soon. Regardless of the outcome, I'm going to be in trouble."

Qin Feng's gaze passed over Lin Fan and landed on the countdown to the college entrance exam behind her. "You're a major suspect. The injury on your neck only proves that you had a struggle with Dong Miao."

Lin Fan sighed. "Can I not wear handcuffs on campus? I want to study."

Qin Feng stood up. "I'll wait for you outside the school."

Lin Fan smiled. "Thank you."

Qin Feng got up and walked to the door. As he reached the doorway, he glanced back, sharp eyes resting on her. It seemed like he wanted to say something, but after a half-minute pause, he briskly left.