Qin Feng turned on the bathroom light and peered inside, finding nothing. "Maybe I saw it wrong," Lin Fan hugged the blanket. Qin Feng glanced at her and said, "Go to sleep." He entered the bathroom, closing the door behind him. Lin Fan buried her face in the blanket, covering her ears, and soon fell asleep.
Qin Feng stayed in the bathroom, scrolling through his phone to check on the town ghost symbol. After a while, he came out to see Lin Fan kicking the blanket to the corner, clutching a pillow in the corner. On the other bed, two people snored loudly. He picked up the blanket and covered Lin Fan, shaking his head. The thing he dreaded most about business trips was sharing a room with these two people. It gave him a headache.
The next day, Lin Fan was the last to wake up. She opened her eyes to find the room empty and confusing for a moment. The phone kept ringing, and she found her phone to answer.
"Why such a sudden request for leave?"
"There's something at home."
"For how many days exactly?"
"Three days, is that okay?"
There was silence on the other end of the phone for a moment before the manager said, "It's hard to find replacements now. Three days can't be considered leave."
"I understand."
"Alright then," the manager agreed, "Finish your business and come back to work quickly."
After hanging up the phone, the door was pushed open, and Lin Fan looked up to see Qin Feng stepping in briskly. He looked at Lin Fan and said, "We need to go check out the scene. Are you coming?"
Lin Fan quickly got out of bed and put on her shoes. "Are we going now?"
Qin Feng raised his wrist. "I'll wait for you downstairs for five minutes."
"Okay," Lin Fan nodded.
Qin Feng grabbed his coat and left, while Lin Fan hurried to freshen up and grabbed her bag before stepping out.
On the ground floor, she saw Qin Feng standing at the door, smoking. Two men in police uniforms were talking opposite him.
With her bag on her back, Lin Fan ran out, and Xiao Wang saw her and spoke, "Captain Qin."
Qin Feng turned around and saw Lin Fan, pointing to a car not far away. "Sit in the back."
Lin Fan got into the car, and Qin Feng stubbed out his cigarette, ending the conversation, and walked away.
The weather was good, but hot and humid.
Qin Feng sat in the back, Xiao Wang drove, and Liu, the forensic doctor, was not present.
"Where's Uncle Liu?" Lin Fan asked.
Qin Feng took out a small bun from his coat pocket and handed it to Lin Fan. "Autopsy."
"Thank you."
Lin Fan tore open the packaging and swallowed the bun. Qin Feng handed her a water bottle and said, "Don't wander around later, stay with me."
Lin Fan nodded.
Xiao Wang chuckled up front, and Qin Feng gave him a stern look. "Investigating a case is not a joke; it involves people's lives."
Lin Fan drank half the bottle of water. "Mm."
Qin Feng picked up the crime scene photos and started flipping through them.
The homicide occurred in Wangjia Village, an hour's drive from the county town.
The murder was discovered on the afternoon of the 23rd. The person who reported it was Wang Jianwei, who lived behind the village and was the brother of the deceased. Originally, the deceased had promised to lend him money, and he went to collect it the next day. However, on the morning of the 23rd, he found his brother's house tightly closed, feeling upset. He thought his brother didn't want to lend him the money and went back home for lunch, but still couldn't calm down. He returned to knock on the door, but no one answered. As he was about to leave, he felt too aggrieved halfway through and came back, climbing onto the pile of bricks around the wall to look inside.
At first glance, he was terrified. His brother was lying across the threshold, and when he jumped in, he found that the entire Wang family had died.
Wangjia Village was flat and connected to a reservoir. The houses still had the appearance of a new rural area, each with a surrounding wall.
No wonder no one discovered their deaths. Lin Fan assessed the terrain while Qin Feng handed her gloves and shoe covers. Lin Fan put them on and withdrew her gaze as she walked inside.
The house was filled with a heavy gloom, and even in the height of summer, she shivered upon entering.
"This is the first victim, Wang Jiankui, lying on the doorstep. Based on the evidence at the scene, it is speculated that he struggled to crawl to the door after being poisoned."
Xiao Wang collected evidence at the door while Qin Feng entered.
"Woman Xie Cuihua is lying on the floor, right here."
Lin Fan wrinkled her nose at the stench and followed closely behind Qin Feng.
"The youngest son, Wang Hao, is on the bed, with vomit present."
The smell inside the house was a mixture of vomit and feces, very unpleasant.
"This is the second bedroom." The police led them to another room, which was small and poorly lit. Half of the room was cluttered with miscellaneous items, while the other half contained a small bed and a desk.
There was vomit on the bed.
"The fourth victim, eleven years old, died in bed."
There were exercise books on the desk, and Lin Fan flipped through them, finding one with a composition.
"Lin Fan!"
Lin Fan quickly put down the exercise book. Qin Feng and the other two police officers had already left. This room felt oppressive, filled with a strong sense of sorrow. Lin Fan's nose felt sore; she had been affected.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
The house had an old-fashioned layout, with three bedrooms and a living room.
The room to the east was occupied by the elderly. The old lady died on the floor, also after struggling.
Next was the time for evidence collection. Lin Fan witnessed the detailed process of the police handling the case for the first time. Amidst the nausea, there was also some curiosity. The nausea was real, especially when extracting vomit and feces.
Feeling suffocated inside the house, Lin Fan stepped outside and stood in the yard for a while. Suddenly, her gaze fell on a small girl at the door. She was very young, about two years old.
Her bright eyes stared at Lin Fan, exceptionally large and clear.
Lin Fan walked away, and the girl turned to go in another direction.
She was wearing a red cotton jacket, and it was very strange for a two-year-old child to be walking alone outside. Lin Fan followed. The child walked towards the village entrance, leaving wet footprints on the ground.
Lin Fan clenched her fists and followed the footprints.
The sky seemed to have darkened at some point, as if it was going to rain. They maintained a distance, not too close or too far. Lin Fan's palms sweated, and she wiped them on her pants.
After about twenty minutes, they reached the riverside at the village entrance, and the child walked into the water.
The water gradually submerged her tiny body, and Lin Fan's eyes widened. Suddenly, she shouted, "Hey! Stop, you'll drown!"
She ran towards the water, but her arm was suddenly grabbed, and she was pulled back abruptly, bumping into something hard. Lin Fan looked up and met Qin Feng's dark eyes. She stared at him, tears streaming down her face.
Qin Feng grabbed Lin Fan's shoulder, his expression grim. "What are you doing?"
It was then that Lin Fan realized how cold she was and blinked.
Qin Feng lifted Lin Fan out of the water, took off his coat, and draped it over her. "What were you doing jumping into the water? Are you crazy?" He roughly wiped Lin Fan's face and asked in a stern voice, "Why are you crying?"
In the blink of an eye, he lost sight of Lin Fan. He chased after her and found Lin Fan running straight towards the village's reservoir. Was she trying to kill herself?
Lin Fan snapped out of it, realizing she had lost control.
Lin Fan gave herself a hard pinch, and Qin Feng couldn't help but smile wryly. He ruffled her hair and his tone softened a bit. "What's wrong?"
"I saw a little girl in the yard just now, about two years old," Lin Fan wiped her face and hurried to catch up with Qin Feng. "She jumped into the water, and I just wanted to stop her, but I didn't see the water."
Qin Feng frowned at Lin Fan. "A child?"
"Yeah."
"Is it one of the children who died in that family?"
Lin Fan shook her head, her shoes all wet, leaving footprints on the road.
"It's a girl, two years old, wearing a red cotton jacket."
Qin Feng took off his gloves and stuffed them into his pants pocket. "Who wears a cotton jacket in this weather?"
Lin Fan was speechless.
"Unlikely."
A chill ran down Lin Fan's spine. "A water ghost?"
"There's a legend of water ghosts looking for substitutes, but in broad daylight, with so many people around, why pick on you?" Qin Feng tilted his head, giving Lin Fan a sideways glance. "What kind of fate do you have?"
Lin Fan: "..."
She didn't know what kind of fate she had either. She rubbed her ears and wrapped Qin Feng's coat tighter around herself.
"Sorry for causing you trouble."
"Those things seem to have a liking for you; be more careful."
Lin Fan nodded, but she couldn't shake off her doubt. Who was that child?
At noon, they ate at the village head's house. Qin Feng wasn't picky about food; he ate whatever was given to him.
He handed a steamed bun to Lin Fan and whispered to Xiao Wang, "Stay back later and ask about Wang Jiankui's situation."
"Okay."
Lin Fan wrapped herself in Qin Feng's coat, which was too big and looked like a robe.
She ate quietly, attracting no attention.
Qin Feng's gaze slid past her, and the village head approached, sighing, "Who could have been so ruthless? Five lives lost just like that."
Lin Fan hastily swallowed the bun and asked, "Sir, since we're so close to the reservoir, is it easy to have accidents here?"
"Indeed, every year, several lives are lost to the reservoir." The village head sighed.
Qin Feng sipped his porridge, lost in thought.
"Wasn't there a two-year-old child?" Lin Fan asked again.
The village head was about to light a cigarette but looked up in surprise at her question. "Yes, there was a two-year-old child. Did you find out something? He's the second child of Jiankui's family. Two winters ago, he somehow fell into the water and his body wasn't found even after several days of searching. Probably, the river god found the child cute and took him to be a water deity."
Lin Fan pursed her lips, breaking off a piece of the steamed bun. "That's quite pitiful."
Wang Jiankui had another daughter? Qin Feng finished his porridge, set down his chopsticks, and said, "I'll go to the scene first—"
Lin Fan also hurriedly put down her chopsticks, swallowing the rest of the steamed bun whole, and caught up with Qin Feng. "I'm coming too."
In the afternoon, the sun reappeared. Lin Fan jogged to keep up with Qin Feng. "Shouldn't we look for that child's body? To lay it to rest?"
"Don't meddle in unnecessary matters."
"Any leads on the mass murder case?" Lin Fan asked.
"It shouldn't be too difficult. The poison was put in the dinner, so just this clue alone should help us narrow down the suspect to someone familiar," Qin Feng replied.
Lin Fan furrowed her brow, sorting through the clues. Qin Feng discussing the case with her was beyond her expectations.
"The people in the village are different from those in the city. Anyone from the village could have entered Wang Jiankui's kitchen, so the scope is quite broad and difficult to investigate," Lin Fan remarked.
"Wang Jiankui's mother was known as a shrew in the village. Only a few households had dealings with their family, while others avoided them," Qin Feng added.
The cause of death for the five victims was poisoning, with the poison being commonly known as rat poison. There was quite a lot of this poison available in the village, and its source couldn't be traced. Qin Feng returned to the scene to search for more clues. If it was a murder, there would always be some oversight. Soon, Qin Feng found a fingerprint at the door, while Lin Fan entered the master bedroom. The smell was strong, and Lin Fan imagined the victims struggling after being poisoned and falling off the bed. Her gaze fell on a red lacquer box placed on the bedside table, covered with a piece of red cloth. Lin Fan lifted the cloth and noticed a corner tucked into the crevice of the box. Turning to look at the neatly arranged furnishings in the room, Lin Fan approached the box to examine it.
"What are you doing?" Qin Feng's sudden voice startled Lin Fan, and she quickly turned around.
Qin Feng approached quickly. "There's nothing in the box."
"Did the couple just return from out of town?" Lin Fan asked.
Qin Feng nodded. Lin Fan looked at the lock on top of the box. "Was a fingerprint extracted here?"
A wooden box like this was very likely to retain fingerprints.
"Do you think it's for money?" Qin Feng prepared his tools to try to extract fingerprints from the box. He had checked the box many times but found nothing suspicious.
"It's hard to say," Lin Fan shook her head, "but it's a possibility. I just feel that the owners have slight OCD and wouldn't have put the cloth in the crevice of the box."
"Our people have already checked the box," Qin Feng said.
"Where's the key?" Lin Fan asked.
Qin Feng reached into the bedside drawer and pulled out the key. Lin Fan took it and smelled a peculiar odor, similar to paint. Holding the key, she opened the box, finding clothes and new bed sheets inside. Lin Fan carefully moved the clothes around.
"Found a fingerprint," Qin Feng's voice sounded surprised.
Lin Fan took out a piece of cloth, pinched it, and turned around. "Brother Qin, there should have been money inside, but it's gone."
The cloth was new, tied with a rope on the outside and left hollow in the middle. Qin Feng frowned, "Why would there be money inside? It could be something else."
"I smelled it; there's a paint smell on the key, but there's no need for paint anywhere in this house."
"Wang Jianwei." Qin Feng placed the fingerprint into an evidence bag and called the police officer outside. "Arrest Wang Jianwei and take him back to the county."
After comparison, both fingerprints belonged to Wang Jianwei. He was the younger brother of the deceased Wang Jiankui. Sixteen years old, he had been sentenced to ten years for causing a death in a fight, which had led to their father's death from anger. After his release from prison, Wang Jianwei had been working outside the village. A year ago, he returned home and built a house in the village. Currently, the house was in the decoration stage, with paint inside. He had borrowed money from Wang Jiankui with the intention of marrying a widow from the neighboring village. However, according to neighbors, Wang Jiankui was not very willing to lend him money. On the 20th, they had argued at the village entrance over the loan, and both were quite emotional.
"How did you poison them?" Qin Feng asked.
"Are you kidding me? Could I kill my own mother? She's my real mom!" Wang Jianwei's emotions were getting a bit out of control, as he slammed his hand on the table. "You should go find the real murderer instead of framing innocent people. This is unfair."