Madness of the Heart

In Silin Town, it was snowing heavily.

This is a small town hidden in the low hilly area in the north. The traffic is extremely inconvenient, the land is barren, and there is a lack of resources. People outside are unwilling to go in, and people inside have no awareness of coming out. Some surrounding villages and towns that have been radiated by big cities have developed. And because of its own constraints, it was gradually forgotten.

Xiang Tao's feeling in Silin Town is that this place is really poor.

None of the townspeople can speak Mandarin. Older townspeople hide at home when they see outsiders, while younger men stare at outsiders, and some even follow them all the way, with shovels and sticks in their hands that can hurt people. Tool of.

Xiang Tao saw a lot of young boys who were wearing worn-out cotton-padded clothes, making snowmen and having snowball fights in the snow. Because the clothes were too thin to keep warm, they generally wore layer after layer of clothes, wrapped like a bird. A plump onion.

Compared with the little boy, there are almost no little girls, at least Xiang Tao didn't see much.

However, there are quite a few pregnant women in the town. They are doing some work within their capacity in their own yard with big bellies, and their faces look very haggard.

Xiang Tao settles down in the town as a riding "donkey friend".

Silin Town has probably never had any "donkey friends" pass by, and the townspeople are very wary of them and their group.Xiang Tao originally wanted to inquire about the "Master Craftsman". If he was lucky, he might meet people like Huang Yan and Cai Xinyue who came to buy "ghost cards".But the timing was too unfortunate. There were no pregnant women in the town giving birth in the cold winter months, and the "master craftsman" seemed to have left temporarily.The bloody crime here seems to be washed away by a pure white snow, and when the ice and snow melt in the coming year, and the white snow is the same color as the mud, the crime will spread like weeds again.

Those pregnant women who are pregnant, if they are boys, can live, if they are girls, they will probably be made into lifeless "joker cards".

Looking at those numb eyes, Xiang Tao suddenly had an extremely absurd thought - there are so many pregnant women here, could it be...

·

Because of the clues provided by Wen Ling, the Serious Crime Squad formally participated in the investigation of Huang Yan's case.

"Cai Xinyue, who went to Silin Township with Huang Yan to buy the 'ghost cards', has now quit her job out of fear and locked herself at home. She believes that Huang Yan was backlashed by the 'ghost cards'." Conference room , only Mingshu stood alone, "The superstitious statement of 'backlash' is of course not credible, but it cannot be ruled out now that someone is targeting people who buy 'monster cards'. There are 17 people on this list, Each of them needs to be verified. Captain Li, how is Xiang Tao doing now?"

Li Chicheng, the deputy captain of the Criminal Investigation Detachment of the North City Branch, also came to the serious crime team for a meeting. Compared with the self-willed Wang Hao, Li Chicheng was much easier to get along with, and his judgment on the case was more accurate than Wang Hao.Mingshu was somewhat relieved that he was in charge of Huang Yan's case at the sub-bureau.

"Silin Town is very backward, with many boys and very few girls. Xiang Tao told me his opinion." Li Chicheng said: "There are too many pregnant women in the town, which is abnormal. Get organized to get pregnant. The conditions in Silin Town are too bad, and there will be a lot of trouble in giving birth in winter. Judging from the condition of their stomachs, the expected date of delivery will be March next year at the earliest, when the temperature has already risen."

"That is to say, there is indeed a 'ghost brand' industrial chain there." Mingshu took a few steps beside the table, "But Dongye City alone has at least 17 buyers, and Silin Town should not be the only one that is a 'craftsman'." Shifu' villages and towns that deliver baby girls."

Li Chicheng said: "The 17 people on the list, we will go to verify it. However, the Ming team, the sub-bureau has a lot of restrictions, and I have to trouble you to find a way."

Mingshu nodded, "Leave it to me."

·

A small iron mine in Dongye City.

At 10:[-] in the morning, the school gates opened, and students lined up in a long line to trot to the plastic playground outside the school gate under the leadership of their teachers, to carry out the routine fitness activity every winter——hundred-day long-distance running.

This kind of activity should be carried out on campus, but not every elementary school has the conditions.The iron mine is next to the iron mine middle school, and the two schools share a 400-meter standard playground.

The playground is not only open to the two schools, but also to the public. Although the teachers have posted notices at several entrances and exits, hoping that residents will not enter when the students need to use the playground, this hardly acts as a restraint.

In the past few years, there have been incidents of harming elementary school students all over the place. The teachers are all nervous, and the long-distance running activities cannot be canceled. The children are running hard on the playground, and the teachers are like bodyguards. Anyone who is suspicious immediately follows closely.

It is not easy for a teacher to do this.

Standing on the edge of the playground, Ming Shu noticed a bunch of vigilant eyes, turned sideways, and saw a female teacher in her twenties looking at him carefully.

Looking at the "suspicious man", the female teacher became even more nervous, but she didn't turn around and leave, instead she took two steps forward.

Mingshu can understand the other party's mind at a glance.

This thin and frail female teacher regarded him as someone who had mischievous intentions towards the students. If he made any dangerous moves at this time, the female teacher might pounce on him desperately.

"This gentleman." The female teacher summoned up her courage and said, "What's the matter with you?"

Mingshu wore a leather jacket that has become popular again in recent years. He didn't look like a policeman. He stood outside the playground for a long time. No wonder the female teacher misunderstood him.

"I want to find a student named 'Xu Yin', she goes to school here." Mingshu took out his ID.

When the female teacher saw that it was a policeman, she immediately relaxed, patted her chest and whispered, "I was scared to death."

Mingshu smiled gently, "Thank you."

The female teacher didn't react for a while, "Huh?"

Mingshu said: "Your students are very lucky to have a teacher like you."

The female teacher blushed from the compliment, "Are you looking for Xu Yin, she is my student, I will call her right away. But can I ask, what is your business with her? Is it about her parents? You are a policeman, you should know, she has some mental problems, she just went back to school recently."

Mingshu nodded, "I know her psychological problems. I came to her this time because I wanted to ask her some questions about the case."

The female teacher was a little worried, but she didn't continue to ask, and soon brought Xu Yin over.

Long time no see, the little girl's energy is much better than before, she laughed when she saw Mingshu, "Captain!"

The long-distance running was still going on, Mingshu took Xu Yin to a nearby McDonald's, "Are you going to take the final exam? How are you doing?"

Xu Yin's previous school status was not in the No. [-] Iron Mine School, so he registered for it, but basically he didn't go to school.After discovering Wu Zhen's body, she was taken to the City Bureau for psychological counseling.There is only one old man left in her family, and she cannot take care of her, but she cannot stay in the city bureau forever.A while ago, she was in better condition and was arranged to study in Iron Mine Elementary School.In the new environment, although she didn't make friends immediately, the teacher knew her situation and took good care of her.

"Captain, you must not come to see me because you care about me." Xu Yin's eyes were less gloomy and weird, and he looked like a normal child when he was not speaking, but the demeanor and tone when he spoke were still easy to distinguish. It turns out that she is different from other children.

Mingshu inserted French fries into the ice cream, stirred it twice before taking it out, "You are very smart."

"You are perverted." Xu Yin said.

Being scolded for no reason, Mingshu couldn't laugh or cry, "Me? Pervert?"

"You ruined the beauty of the ice cream." Xu Yin said: "You use French fries to stir the ice cream, just like cutting a corpse with a knife."

"Hush..." Mingshu said, "Can you stop talking about the corpse when you eat?"

Xu Yin lowered his voice: "French fries should be dipped in ketchup."

"You don't need to keep your voice down." Mingshu moved the ice cream cup forward, "ketchup is good, but you can also try ice cream."

After all, it was a child, Xu Yin dipped in the ice cream suspiciously.

Mingshu asked, "Is it delicious?"

Xu Yin answered with actions.

"Let's chat after eating." Mingshu said.

"Ask whatever you want." Xu Yinxiao said like an adult, "I will cooperate."

Mingshu took out two photos of Chi Xiaomin, one was a ID photo (forged) that the police had long ago, and the other was a sneak photo provided by Wen Ling.

"You said last time that this person is the sister you saw. She once appeared outside your window at night, looked at you without saying a word, and then died in Yisi Alley near your home." Ming Shu I clicked twice on the photo with my finger, "Now I want you to think about it again, is it really this person?"

Xu Yin bit the spoon and stared at the photo seriously.

And Mingshu has been observing her expression.

"I..." Xu Yin raised his head, his eyes were a little dazed, "I don't know."

Mingshu frowned: "What does 'don't know' mean?"

"If you don't know, you just don't know." Xu Yin suddenly became irritable. She was holding the spoon in her right hand, but she threw the spoon on the ground at this moment.

Mingshu felt very strange.

Although he didn't have much contact with Xu Yin, he generally knew Xu Yin's character.Before this, Xu Yin had never had such a reaction.

Was it Chi Xiaomin's photo that stimulated Xu Yin?

But the last time he saw Chi Xiaomin's photo, Xu Yin was very calm.

Could it be that something happened to Xu Yin during this period of time?

"When I saw her, my head hurt." After a few minutes, Xu Yin calmed down, "I don't know why."

Seeing Xu Yin like this, Ming Shu couldn't continue to ask, so he had to send him back to school temporarily, and before driving back to the Criminal Investigation Bureau, he sat in the car and called Xiao Yu'an.

After listening to Mingshu's description, Xiao Yu'an asked: "Then does Xu Yin remember or not?"

"She doesn't seem to want to think about it at all." Mingshu said: "Chi Xiaomin must have something to do with her, otherwise her reaction would not be the same as before. When we were dealing with Wu Zhen's case, she took the initiative to find me , said that apart from Wu Zhen, she had found a corpse, and then pointed to the photo in the system and said that the dead person was Chi Xiaomin. It stands to reason that Chi Xiaomin—or be more cautious, the one she looked at at night The woman who came to see her - didn't cast a psychological shadow on her, but the way she looked just now gave me the feeling that she has a shadow."

Xiao Yuan didn't speak immediately, and Mingshu could only hear a very light breathing.

"There is a possibility that after Xu Yin left the Municipal Bureau, someone approached her, interfered with part of her memory, or did something else - I still can't think of the specific operation method and motive for this." Xiao Yuan Said: "But there is another possibility..."

"Huh?" Mingshu asked, "What?"

Xiao Yu settled down, "Go and verify the former possibility first. Xu Yin's current reaction at least shows that she is under the surveillance of someone or a certain group. She is not yet 10 years old, and she has already experienced so much. She is mentally abnormal, and she is easy to be targeted and used, and she is also easy to go astray by herself, and now her life seems to be back on track, but in fact, she still needs help from various aspects of the society."

Mingshu said, "Do you need to bring her back?"

"No, don't disturb her unless it is absolutely necessary. For her, the school is a more suitable place than the police station." Xiao Yu'an said, "But she needs our protection in the near future."

Mingshu nodded, "Okay, I understand."

After the call ended, Xiao Yu'an stood in the corridor for a while.

When the phone was vibrating, he was having a non-important meeting. When he saw that it was Mingshu's call, he came out to answer it. It doesn't matter if he goes back now or not.

A few minutes later, he walked to the floor where the crime squad was located.

"Xiao Ju, what's the matter?" Yi Fei asked.

Xiao Yu'an said: "I remember that you were the first to contact Xu Yin?"

Yi Fei knew that Mingshu went to the iron mine to find Xu Yin, so he was not surprised to hear the little girl's name, "Yes, it's me."

Xiao Yu'an said: "At that time, she only said that she liked the smell of corpses, and she liked to follow the smell to find corpses?"

Yi Fei thought for a while, and said with certainty: "Yes. We only found out about her family background later."

Xiao Yuan said "Yes", "Tune Xu Yin's inquiry records, all of them."

·

The Beicheng branch completed the current situation check on the 17 people on the list. Unexpectedly and as expected, besides Huang Yan, 2 other people died and 1 person's whereabouts are unknown.

Qiao Xuehua, female, 57 years old, partner of "Dongjifu", left Dongye City in November last year and returned to her hometown of Puzhi County, where she died in a car accident.

Li Sijia, male, 41 years old, owner of the "Huanxi Chicken" food company, committed suicide by lighting gas in his villa in February this year.

Lu Chao, male, 30 years old, self-employed, the main income is stocks, started hiking in May this year, his family and friends could not get in touch with him.

The photo of Qiao Xuehua was appearing on the projector. From the outside, she was not significantly different from the women of the same age who lived in the city all year round, and her appearance was not distinctive. "Dongjifu" is a financing platform that walks in the gray area between legality and crime.In big cities, there are quite a few such platforms. Whether a partner can make money depends on luck and connections.

Qiao Xuehua is obviously a person with both luck and connections. "Dongjifu" has not been online for a long time, and it has already brought Qiao Xuehua quite a lot of income - of course, this was before November last year.

Qiao Xuehua divorced at an early age, and her only son lived with her husband. She has done clothing business, opened a restaurant, and even worked in the cultural industry. With her flexible mind and hard work, she gradually became a successful female entrepreneur in the eyes of others.

Before Qiao Xuehua returned to her hometown, "Dongjifu" was in good operation, with a clear upward momentum. It was the time when she was needed. The people in the company still don't understand why she suddenly put down such a big business. "Dongjifu" was fully overtaken by competitors after her death.

At that time, the Puzhi County police investigated the cause of Qiao Xuehua's death, not without suspecting some commercial conspiracy.But after checking again and again, there was no sign of any commercial retaliation.The driver who caused the accident and the witnesses of the accident also said that Qiao Xuehua rushed out from the side of the road by himself.

There were very obvious brake marks at the scene, and the background of the driver and family members, the flow of water before the accident, and the interpersonal network had long been clearly felt. It was confirmed that there was no possibility of intentionally killing Qiao Xuehua.

Qiao Xuehua's return to her hometown for no reason is the biggest doubt. There are no relatives in Puzhi County. She lives alone in the house left by her previous generation and hardly interacts with the neighbors around her.

The case was finally classified as a traffic accident, and Qiao Xuehua's funeral was handled by his son Mi Zheng, whom he had not seen for many years.Mi Zheng also said that he did not understand what his mother had experienced over the years.

Mingshu said: "'Ghost card'."

Li Chicheng nodded, "At that time, no one cared about the 'ghost cards', but now we found four yuan in one of Qiao Xuehua's properties."

Photos of these four "monkey cards" appeared on the projector.

The cause of Li Sijia's death was completely different from Qiao Xuehua's, but some of Li Sijia's behaviors before her death were somewhat similar to Qiao Xuehua's.

Li Sijia can be regarded as a successful manager of small and medium-sized enterprises. "Huanxi Chicken" was just a small restaurant specializing in chicken soup more than ten years ago. After Li Sijia's development, it is now a mid-range home-cooked restaurant popular among young people.Xu Nan, Li Sijia's wife, said that Li Sijia had always been suspicious at home and always felt that others were trying to harm him, so when Li Sijia continued to say similar things before her death, she did not pay attention.

From the surveillance outside the villa, before and after Li Sijia's death, no one approached the villa, and the technicians did a comprehensive inspection. There were no fresh footprints in the villa other than Li Sijia, and Li Sijia's fingerprints were on the gas switch , indeed he chose death himself.

There is a voice inside "Happy Chicken", that Xu Nan and Li Sijia have been at odds for many years. Although they have not divorced, they have already lived their own lives. So Boyfriend Xu sympathized with others and killed Li Sijia.

The police suspected so too, but found no evidence.

As for the "ghost card", the police who were in charge of investigating the case at the time said that no similar items were found.

None of the relatives and friends of Qiao Xuehua and Li Sijia knew that they had bought "monster cards", let alone how the "monster cards" were made.

The missing person, Lu Chao, was born in a "highly educated" family. His parents were both doctors. Lu Chao started trading in stocks when he was in college and made a lot of money. Later, he made a living by trading in stocks and traveled abroad many times. From his update on social media It can be seen from the photos that he went to places that normal tourists would not go.

Wherever it is dangerous, he will go there, taking pride in taking photos that others cannot take.

His parents have long been accustomed to his "disappearance". When they couldn't contact him at first, they didn't think about "accident". Until more than two months later, he still didn't go home, nor did he update his status on any social media , before calling the police.

After investigation, as early as when he first set foot on the journey, his mobile phone and credit card had never been used again.

In his home, the police found seven "ghost cards."

"Missing for such a long time, Lu Chao may have been killed." Ming Shu propped his cheeks, "I have seen the surveillance of Qiao Xuehua when she was in a car accident, and it was obvious that she was running for that truck. Both she and Li Sijia It was suicide, but before they killed themselves, a hand pushed them. Lee team."

Li Chicheng turned his face, "Huh?"

"Did anyone else mention that they have encountered some unusual things recently?" Mingshu asked, "For example, intimidation and being followed. The missing Lu Chao will not be discussed for the time being. Qiao Xuehua and Li Sijia both behaved abnormally before their deaths. Where, what caused their insanity? I suspect they were threatened."

Li Chicheng shook his head, "Our police force has been used to investigate the two dead and one missing person. I haven't investigated the point you mentioned in detail yet."

"It's okay." Mingshu said, "Go and verify the details first."

After the meeting ended, Xiao Yuan beckoned to Mingshu at the door.

Mingshu ran over with his notebook, "Ju Xiao."

"Is Xu Yin safe now?" Xiao Yu'an said, "How do you understand her experiences in recent months?"

There were team members running past in the corridor, Mingshu took two steps away, "It looks normal, the teacher of Iron Mine No. [-] said that no suspicious person has approached her. But it's hard to say, someone really wants to do something to Xu Yin, It shouldn’t be in front of many people. I went to see Xu Yin again later. After seeing Chi Xiaomin’s photo, she didn’t react so much, but as long as I asked her, she saw Chi Xiaomin standing in front of her window. What happened to her, and what she saw the dead body in Yisi Lane, she just talked about him and didn't give me a clear explanation. But if we talk about other things, she will immediately return to normal. "

Xiao Yu'an said: "So the possibility that someone interfered with her during this time cannot be ruled out."

With that said, the two had already reached the door of the deputy director's office, Ming Shu turned his head, "Ju Xiao, didn't you say there is another possibility last time?"

"Yes, and then I checked Xu Yin's original inquiry records." Xiao Yuan opened the door and let Mingshu in before saying: "I found a very noteworthy place."

Mingshu quickly asked: "What?"

Xiao Yu'an said: "Let me ask you first, do you remember when Xu Yin told you that she saw a mysterious woman standing in front of her window in the middle of the night?"

Mingshu frowned and thought for a while, but he really didn't remember.At that time, he was investigating the Wu Zhen case and the Sha Chun case, so he let go of such trivial matters as soon as he could.

"Just after we brought her back?"

"To be precise." Xiao Yu'an said, "After sending her to the Psychological Research Center."