Fuhua City has developed well in recent years, with new real estate projects springing up one after another. At first glance, it seems that it is not far behind compared to first-tier cities.
However, this is just a superficial illusion. Under the shiny shell, there are still many backward, dark, and tried-to-cover areas in this city.
Old cities, suburbs, near garbage stations, abandoned industrial areas...
These places are found in almost every city in the same situation, and most managers have made the same choice - in the face of municipal performance, backward places are intentionally hidden and forgotten.
However, when the case of cutting throats became fermented, they reappeared in people's intoxication and were remembered again in a daze.
Because the four victims of the throat-slitting case were all killed in remote, inaccessible places where surveillance was scarce.
No one knows why these handsome young men who live in prosperous neighborhoods go to these places. People only know that when they reappear in the public eye, these young people who were supposed to have a bright future have turned into cold corpses.
…
In the suburbs of a city far away from the bustling center, night comes earlier than most people think.
This old town in Fuhua City is not only remote, but also sparsely populated. The houses to be demolished were almost half a year ago. As a result, there was something wrong with the project. No one has bothered here for a long time, leaving a large and unsightly area.
of ruins.
Under normal circumstances, people who don't live here will never go to the ruins of the old city alone at night unless they are crazy.
Zhang Yu thought the same thing before setting foot here.
He held an umbrella in his left hand and held his mobile phone tightly in his right hand. On the screen that was not turned off, the text messages from the contact [Ran Ran] were particularly dazzling.
Zhang Yu, I am Ran Ran.
-I was kidnapped. She seemed to want to kill me and locked me up in a dangerous building in the old city. I finally hid this phone. Now that she is having dinner outside the room, I can ask you for help. You
Come and save me!
-[Positioning information]
-I'm here!
- Call the police quickly and let the police know
The above messages were all sent out at a very short interval, clearly showing the urgency of the sender. But when it came to the three words "come and save me", everything came to an abrupt end, and even the pinyin was not finished.
The next message appears at 7:15.
-Zhang Yu, hello.
-I'm not Ran Ran, but I'm with her now ~ I didn't expect that she actually hid her cell phone, which almost caused trouble [laughs]
-I guess you know who I am, right? Mr. "Good-looking".
-I didn’t want to come to you so soon, but now that you know my crime, there’s nothing I can do about it. It’s such a pity (^_^)
-She even sent you the location! How decisive. Then, Mr. Zhang Yu, you only have one option: "Come".
-Come on, alone. If you come, I will let Ran Ran go. If you don't come, as a punishment for disobedience, she will not survive tonight.
-Remember, I don’t want to see the police, so you must come alone. I look forward to seeing you again, and I’ll give you my thoughts~
-Don't play tricks, I can see you.
After that, no matter what Zhang Yu replied, there was no movement from the other side.
Zhang Yu was at home after get off work at the time. After receiving the news, he actually felt a sense of relief that "it's true."
The only person who would call him good-looking sir was the substitute female clerk whose name he didn't ask.
The female clerk claimed to be Ran Ran's friend that day, but he never saw Ran Ran again after that. Instead, he was threatened by the woman who scrawled words on the bookshelf.
Zhang Yu has been guessing the truth of the matter these days. Today, he finally confirmed that the woman is not a good person, and he breathed a sigh of relief.
There is no ambiguous unknown tormenting people when it comes to recognized dangers.
He gave a wry smile, hesitated for a moment between calling the police or going to the location alone, and chose the latter.
It's not that he doesn't trust the police, or that he wants to die and is confident that he can rescue Ran Ran by himself, it's just that... he also has what he wants to do.
Just when Zhang Yu tried to call an acquaintance to leave himself a way out, he found that his phone could no longer communicate with the outside world. The data jumped on its own for a while and then calmed down again.
"Has it been hacked?"
Zhang Yu suspected that the phone had been hacked by the person on the opposite side using hacking techniques, which was also consistent with what was written in the last text message - "I can see you."
Presumably at this time, his every move was under the surveillance of the other party.
In fact, he can throw the phone somewhere else and find an excuse to leave and call the police. For example, going to the toilet is a good excuse. After all, the other party is a woman, so it is not easy to monitor him peeing through the phone.
But he didn't do that. He just got up calmly, took his mobile phone and car keys and went out.
"Click."
After being lost in thought for a while, Zhang Yu accidentally stepped on a broken brick under his feet. He stabilized his body that almost fell forward and brought his attention back to reality.
It's now 7:49.
He only hesitated for a moment before driving over without stopping. Since he couldn't get into the ruins, he walked instead.
Walking cautiously on the bumpy road, Zhang Yu kept his eyes on the location and text messages. The patter of rain in his ears and the dark sky above gave him a strong sense of suffocation.
He was at a loss.
Every step I take, there is a little man with a sarcastic tone talking to himself deep inside my heart.
This is ridiculous, what am I doing now?
I knew I was going to die if I came here, so why should I give up my life so generously?
slowly……
Ran Ran will obviously be fine, right? She and that woman are in a cooperative relationship, right?
These text messages were all sent by Ran Ran. From beginning to end, in every one of them, the woman was sitting next to her, reading the content of the text messages sentence by sentence, and letting Ran Ran type them, leaving only the fingerprints of Ran Ran as a "victim".
This is the truth, right?
Zhang Yu's heart felt like being pricked by a needle, painful and sour.
He is not a fool, nor is he someone easily fooled.
He graduated from a prestigious university, loves reasoning, and reads a wide range of things. To put it bluntly, he is very smart.
Smarter than most people in the world.
In short - he was not fooled by this trick.
On the surface, Ran Ran was kidnapped by a woman and asked for help, and was accidentally discovered by the woman. The woman took the opportunity to threaten Ran Ran's life and went to the old city. On this dark and rainy night, this was the same place where the bodies of the four victims in the throat-cutting case were found.
The other party almost told him clearly: "I am the murderer of the throat-cutting case, and you are my next target. Come on, come and save Ran Ran. If you don't come, the girl you like will die~"
But Zhang Yu saw a higher level.
Ran Ran should have been with the woman from the beginning to the end. Now, the woman is using Ran Ran to lure him into the bait, and I am afraid she also got Ran Ran's consent.
The reason why he came here was not to save Ran Ran's life, he just wanted to know why Ran Ran wanted to help the tyrants do evil, and what Ran Ran had gone through before she chose to live in the darkness.
Zhang Yu wanted to know the truth, the whole truth.
It was getting closer and closer to the location. Finally, at 7:53, Zhang Yu arrived in front of a half-razed residential house in the ruins.
There was a missing wall on the second floor of the residential building, and one could clearly see the deep darkness inside, as if a black hole was about to swallow him up, leaving not even a single bone left.
In the deep darkness, he saw Ran Ran as he wished.
Ran Ran was wearing a set of casual clothes of an indistinguishable color, with her hair down and no makeup. She couldn't be said to be very good-looking, but her temperament was very superior.
She held a flashlight and stood leisurely on the broken wall. The rain curtain made her figure hidden in the darkness hazy and unreal. Only the light passed through the illusion and shone on Zhang Yu who was holding an umbrella.
Zhang Yu's breathing was stagnant and he didn't speak. He also used the flashlight he carried to shine back.
Ran Ran didn't seem to be surprised by his actions. A pair of eyes that always shone with vitality in his impression were now only indifferent.
Sure enough, she was not kidnapped at all.
The two looked at each other in silence, slowly lowering their heads, while Zhang Yu raised his head and looked at each other quietly.
A few seconds later, Ran Ran turned around, leaving only Zhang Yu's back. A few seconds later, the back also disappeared.
Zhang Yu pursed his lips and heard a noise coming from beside him. He turned around and saw the strange woman approaching in the rain.
"You love her more than I thought." The woman said, not indifferently, nor as lively as in the text message, but in the weird tone that had tortured Zhang Yu for several days.
Zhang Yu looked down and looked at the woman's hand. Sure enough, the woman was holding something in her hand.
It's a knife, right? A knife used to cut throats.
He couldn't help but take a step back and then stopped.
Things have come to this point, and there is no need for him to regret: "Wait, before you kill me, I have a request."
"Huh?" The lady tilted her head.
"I want to talk to Ran Ran... I want to know why she chose this path!" Zhang Yu's voice trembled.
However, the woman did not agree to him.
He only saw the woman raising her hand, and then his eyes went dark and he didn't know anything anymore.
…
In the office, Yu Jiaming was stopped by Yu Xing.
"Han Zhiyong is not the murderer, who could he be?" Yu Jiaming wiped his face with his hands. After hearing Yu Xing's words, he also knew that he had been hasty and could only hold his breath and search for other possibilities in his mind.
.
"If Han Zhiyong is not the murderer of the throat-slitting case, then he wanted to kill Han Xinyi with Liu Ping's help because he had a conflict with Han Xinyi. But if so, this is another separate case, and another one who wants to kill himself
The trickster who put the blame on the murderer of the throat-cutting case has nothing to do with the throat-cutting case!"
He said these words out loud. As he spoke, Yu Jiaming adjusted his mentality and forced himself to calm down.
This calmness reminded Yu Jiaming of Yu Xing, who seemed to have everything expected so far.
He looked at Yu Xing, who was leaning against the door frame, and said in a deep voice: "But there is still a possibility that Han Zhiyong is the murderer. Why are you so sure in your tone? You already have an idea... Although it's a bit embarrassing, I'm the only one
The detective doesn't know as much as you do, but now is not the time for me to be pretentious. Yu Xing, I'm asking you to tell me all your speculations."
Yu Xing wanted to applaud Yu Jiaming's decisiveness.
Not everyone has this kind of decisiveness to put aside face, especially someone who has become the captain of the criminal investigation detachment at a young age. It is impossible to say that he does not have arrogance and self-confidence.
The higher you are in a high position, the more accustomed you are to the flattery of others, and the less easy it is for you to put down your dignity and ask others.
Yu Jiaming didn't get a reply from Yu Xing, so he added: "And, I promise you, I will never investigate you after the case is over."
"No matter why you participated in the investigation, what method you used to get this information, or where the source of the information is, I will not pursue it. Yu Xing, I will do what I say, please help me."
After hearing what he wanted to hear, Yu Xing finally stood up straight.
He smiled and said: "Okay."
"I'm not sure who the murderer is." Yu Xing took out his phone and clicked a few times, then raised his lips in Yu Jiaming's expectant eyes, "However, I should be able to provide you with the identity of the next victim.
.”
"What? Do you know who the next victim is!?" Although he was vaguely prepared, Yu Jiaming was still shocked by Yu Xing's amazing efficiency, but the matter was urgent, so he immediately straightened his face and became serious, "Okay
, I don’t ask you how you know, who is next, you tell me.”
Yu Xing turned the phone over and faced Jiaming with the screen. The time on it showed 7:22.
His bony fingers pointed at a location on the map: "Nuo, follow this location to find him. This librarian named Zhang Yu should be the murderer's next target."
Yu Jiaming came over and took a look, and found that this was actually a real-time positioning. The little red dot representing Zhang Yu was in the city, gradually moving towards the old city.
Yu Jiaming: "..." Wait, the old city?
The captain of the criminal investigation detachment quickly rushed out of the office and issued an order. At the same time, he called Gao Changan and asked his deputy to drive to prepare to prevent the crime.
Yu Xing followed him unhurriedly, and at the same time clicked to return to the upper level interface. As a result, the name of the person who sent Zhang Yu's location to him was exposed.
Z.
Hacker Zhu Yan.
…
7:40 minutes.
Yu Xing was sitting in the back seat of the police car, Gao Changan was driving in the front seat, and Yu Jiaming was sitting in the passenger seat.
The trees outside the window kept receding, and the heavy rain beat on the car glass, leaving broken water droplets one after another, gradually connecting into one surface, and it was no longer possible to distinguish one drop from another.
The bright lights gradually faded and became farther and farther away. The drive from the city center to the outskirts of the city was a bit long and boring.
His eyes were slightly closed, and he listened sleepily to the reports that had been coming from Yu Jiaming's cell phone since just now.
"Team Yu, Han Zhiyong is missing!"
"He should be at home today. We specially adjusted the surveillance to make sure he did not go out today. But when we rushed to his house, there was no one at home!"
"Team Yu, I don't think he may have noticed our intention to arrest and absconded in fear of crime. After all, we just learned the inside story just now. It's very likely that he is preparing to commit a crime now and has already gone to the crime location!"
One after another, either urgent or calm, came out. After Yu Jiaming replied one by one, he glanced at the navigation in front of Gao Changan, turned back and said to Yu Xing: "You are right, Zhang Yu's position has moved towards the old city.
He was traveling at a very high speed and was obviously driving. Like the victims in previous cases, we couldn’t find any connection between him and the old city.”
Gao Changan interjected: "...could it be too late?"
"No." Yu Xing rested his head on the back of the seat, releasing a reassuring force.
He actually knew who the murderer was, but in order to prevent himself from being labeled by the police as "Okay, this kid has been using us from the beginning", he planned to let Yu Jiaming see the murderer's face himself.