Criminal Investigation Notes

Several computers were running, scanning the fingerprint database throughout the night. On the second day, there was finally good news.

The veil of this mysterious woman was lifted, and her real name was Chen Xuexian. She was 28 years old and originally from Xin County but later worked in Huadu.

After obtaining her identity information, they quickly traced her real phone number. The Major Crimes Unit followed the lead and found her rented address in Huadu.

The house had a quarterly rental payment plan, and the landlord was unaware that their tenant had gone missing. After contacting the landlord, the police were able to enter Chen Xuexian’s residence for a search.

Today, Lu Junchi personally led a team to conduct the search.

It was an older residential complex with imperfect surveillance for entry and exit, making it difficult to investigate who came and went.

The house was a typical two-bedroom apartment, not large but well-organized. Some areas had small decorations, instantly bringing life to an otherwise ordinary room, showing the tenant’s artistic touch.

They first took a general look around and then began searching for details. Su Hui had poor eyesight, so Lu Junchi took the lead in the search.

He noticed some Blu-ray pirated discs under the TV. These items were outdated, rarely used nowadays, but Lu Junchi still flipped through them. Among the discs placed on top were some foreign movies. He called out, “Su Hui.”

Su Hui walked over and leaned down to take a closer look. The top disc was “Memories of Matsuko,” and as Lu Junchi continued flipping, there were two films by Shunji Iwai, “Swallowtail Butterfly” and “Dreams for Sale.”

Then they continued searching in other parts of the house. Su Hui put on gloves, opened a cabinet, and coughed a few times. Lu Junchi walked over and looked inside the cabinet. It contained several items arranged like photo frames, filling the entire cabinet.

He reached in and took one out. They were specimens, various insect specimens.

The collection included almost every form of insects, from the ugly to the beautiful, with a majority of them being butterflies with spread wings.

Many of the specimens were exquisitely crafted, silent and still.

As Su Hui flipped through, there was one specimen of a giant blue butterfly. The butterfly’s wings displayed various shades of blue: deep blue, azure, light blue, and some white patterns.

It resembled white clouds in a blue sky and waves breaking on a deep blue sea.

When you change angles under the sunlight, the butterfly’s body reflects a unique radiance, which is incredibly beautiful.

Su Hui remembered reading about it in a book, the scientific name of this butterfly was “Goddess of Light,” also known as “Helena Flashwing.” Some say this butterfly is the most beautiful in the world.

This butterfly species is extremely rare in Huadu, and Chen Xuexian’s butterfly specimen was likely purchased.

The butterfly was exceptionally beautiful, except for a small notch on its right wing.

If not for this notch, the butterfly specimen could have been worth a fortune. But with this imperfection, the butterfly was no longer flawless, and its value was not as high or hard to come by.

Su Hui shifted his gaze away from the butterfly specimen and looked at the table in front of him.

The table displayed some simple skincare products, clearly belonging to Chen Xuexian.

On the shelf were books, mostly literature works, along with some biographies.

In the bottom row, there were some reference books: “Win People Over as Soon as You Open Your Mouth,” “Microdesire Psychology,” and “Is Love an Emotion or Desire?”

Individually, it seemed like normal hobbies, and everything appeared to be part of daily life. But considering Chen Xuexian’s bizarre behavior in the previous video footage and the testimonies of several people, Su Hui concluded that this woman was pathological.

As he continued searching, Su Hui’s gaze suddenly fell upon a photo frame on the table. It contained a picture of Chen Xuexian. During the course of the investigation, he had seen Chen Xuexian’s blurred photo, a simulated portrait of her, her identification photo, and video footage.

However, his eyesight was poor, and those materials lacked clarity.

Now, looking at the photo in front of him, Su Hui suddenly felt that this woman was very familiar. He felt like he had seen her somewhere before but couldn’t recall.

Chen Xuexian…

He silently repeated her name.

Lu Junchi, wearing gloves, searched through Chen Xuexian’s desk again. Inside the top book, there was something tucked in between the pages. He picked it up and opened it, revealing a memory card.

“Qiao Ze! Bring the computer and card reader!” Lu Junchi called out, turning back.

Qiao Ze immediately ran in and sat down, opening the laptop.

The memory card contained some ordinary photos, but mostly it was filled with video footage, dozens of them.

They opened the first video, which was secretly recorded and very short, consisting of just a few sentences that indicated two men arguing.

In the second video, the scene changed, but it was still two men quarreling. One of them turned and walked away, and the person recording got up to chase after him.

The third video still showed the scene of the two men arguing. One of the men cursed and splashed a cup of water in the direction of the person recording.

These were just minor conflicts, mostly fragmented scenes, with shaky footage lasting only a few seconds. Occasionally, they captured glimpses of men, ordinary-looking faces, indicating that their actions were escalating.

The third video still showed the two men, but this time, they started physically fighting, pushing and shoving each other.

The fourth video, the fifth video…

As the videos progressed, they became increasingly clear, and the duration became longer.

It was evident that these were real-life recordings, and no amount of acting could replicate the authenticity of the words and actions.

Lu Junchi gradually realized that Chen Xuexian was documenting the fights that occurred between men for her sake.

Suddenly, he thought of the animal kingdom he had seen as a child, where male animals fought fiercely to establish mating rights with females. It was a law of nature. From insects and birds to deer and lions, it was the same. Animals would go to great lengths, even getting injured or dying, to compete for their counterparts, just like the contents of these videos.

By the tenth segment, the files became noticeably larger. The environment was a shopping mall, and two men were arguing outside the frame. Due to the distance and background noise, not everything could be heard clearly, only fragments of their conversation.

One of them said, “I spent so much money on her, and she kept saying she loved me! Now, she’s pretending not to know me…”

“Stop talking nonsense. She got together with me only after she broke up with you. You tell her, who is her real boyfriend…”

Amidst the mix was the sound of a woman sobbing, which didn’t sound genuinely sad but rather fake. However, to the men arguing in front of her, it was the sound of heart-wrenching sorrow.

“…Don’t you know what kind of woman she is? She’s just a slut who has slept with countless men!”

“She is my girlfriend, and it’s not your place to say anything about her!”

The other person was provoked and lunged forward, and the two engaged in a violent fight, attacking each other until blood was drawn.

Lu Junchi frowned. “This is the fight between Shao Changqing and Qiu Jiarong at the mall.”

Only this segment of the video was shot from a closer distance, allowing them to hear some of the conversations. The fight erupted because of their competition for Chen Xuexian.

At this point, Chen Xuexian had evolved from her initial naivety to becoming skilled and composed.

She knew how to arouse men’s desires and understood which words and actions they cared about the most.

She could easily provoke them into fighting, causing them to fight to the death for her, with injuries and bloodshed.

Su Hui interjected, “Just like some serial killers document their murder process, this woman records these fights to replay them repeatedly. She’s analyzing and improving herself.”

Lu Junchi skipped a few segments and opened the largest video in the entire folder.

The file opened, revealing the crime scene in a private dining room of a home-style restaurant.

The footage was shaky, the sound was noisy, and it contained a woman’s voice pleading, “Please, stop fighting…”

“I’m telling you, I’ve done everything with her! Do you want to see the photos we took together? It’s your own incompetence…”

Before the sentence was completed, a man’s furious roar erupted from the camera. It was followed by the sound of a blade piercing flesh, and the footage shook violently.

“Guo Chengfeng! You’re crazy!” A man’s painful groan came from the footage. Then, the wounded man ran from the private room into the courtyard.

With a bang, the camera fell to the ground, and the lens cracked open.

The shooting angle changed, but it continued. Through the screen, the brutal scene could still be seen from a distance.

The sound of piercing screams filled the air, and the footage showed the body of the man falling down. A burly man was pinning another man down, relentlessly stabbing him, and the splattering blood dyed the ground red.

At first, the man cried out in pain, “Help! Help! You’re insane…” He kicked and struggled, then convulsed, until finally, he became motionless…

No one responded, and in the instant the burly man turned around, it could be clearly seen that he was Guo Chengfeng.

The voices gradually quieted, and Chen Xuexian appeared on the screen. Tears streamed down her face as she cried, but there was a faint smile, as if she was watching a beloved and touching movie.

She seemed to notice the still-recording camera and walked towards it.

The final frame froze on her satisfied expression…

Everything was just as Guo Jinqiu had confessed earlier, and it completely matched their previous deductions. It seemed that Guo Chengfeng was indeed the murderer who killed Wu Chenguang and disposed of the body, and the motive behind the killing was Chen Xuexian.

Qiao Ze’s fingers were still trembling, and he took a deep breath, saying, “This is simply sick… She kept a record of the process of killing…”

This video segment was transcribed from the camera, so it was the clearest, largest file, and had a slightly different format from the others.

At that time, when Guo Jinqiu said she didn’t know where the camera was, it was probably taken by Chen Xuexian.

After watching it twice, Lu Junchi said, “Let’s see the last segment.”

The last video was in this room as well, captured from a hidden perspective, and it was still two men arguing.

One of the men said, “…you can’t give her happiness at all!”

The other man was even more agitated, “I’ve done so much for you! I’ve fucking killed people, I don’t mind killing one more!”

Then there were sounds of fighting mixed with a woman’s cries.

“Madman! Call the police! Call the police!” the other man shouted.

This video segment was very short, with only this much content before it stopped.

Lu Junchi examined it and said, “The person who claimed to have killed someone might be Guo Chengfeng. But who could be the other man? Could he be the killer of Guo Chengfeng that we’re looking for? I feel like the voice sounds a bit like Shao Changqing, and also like Qiu Jiarong.” He recalled and said, “The voices of those two men are somewhat similar…”

Lu Junchi said, “Let’s do a voiceprint analysis on it.”

Even if it couldn’t be discerned by human ears, everyone’s voice has a distinct waveform. They had already recorded the testimonies of the two men before, so by comparing them, they should be able to determine whose voice was in the footage.

Unfortunately, this final video segment was too short. In this segment, Guo Chengfeng was clearly alive, and the murder had not taken place.

As they were discussing this, the forensic team shouted from the kitchen, “Captain Lu, we found some wiped bloodstains outside.”

Lu Junchi walked over and took a look. Although the bloodstains had been cleaned, there were still faint traces left. He nodded and said, “Good work, investigate thoroughly. This might be the crime scene of the second victim.”

He Wei pointed to several marks and explained to Lu Junchi, “The killer wielded the knife here in the restaurant, directly stabbing the victim’s chest, then pulled out the knife and stabbed again.”

Su Hui was organizing his thoughts on the side.

Based on the case, it could be inferred that after Guo Chengfeng killed Wu Chenguang, he might have had a honeymoon period with Chen Xuexian. However, soon after, Chen Xuexian became dissatisfied, and Guo Chengfeng sensed that something was wrong. After getting drunk, he went to confront her and happened to see Chen Xuexian with another man.

After the scuffle, Guo Chengfeng was killed instead. Chen Xuexian and the other man then carried away the body and, following Guo Chengfeng’s previous method of disposing of bodies, they also put his body in an oil drum.

After this incident, Chen Xuexian may have been afraid and escaped from there.

Although the identity of the second killer is still unknown, the case suddenly became clear.

At this point, Su Hui frowned slightly. Could things be that simple? Where did his familiarity with Chen Xuexian come from? Had he seen this woman before?

Qu Ming also searched around and reported to Lu Junchi, “Captain Lu, it seems that Chen Xuexian has fled. I checked, and all her identification documents are missing. There are fewer personal belongings, and the skincare and makeup products are almost empty. This woman took her makeup with her.”

Lu Junchi pondered for a moment, feeling that there were still some doubts. “The second murder occurred twenty-eight days ago, but Chen Xuexian cut off contact with those men half a month ago. When did she escape? Half a month ago?”

The timeline doesn’t quite match up. He turned to Su Hui, who was sitting beside him, and asked, “Professor Su, what do you think is her motive for starting all this conflict now?”

Su Hui looked up at him and replied, “I suspect… it’s love.”

He fell silent for a moment and continued, “I feel like she craves extreme excitement in her love life. What normal people consider ‘I love you’ is not enough for her. She wants those men to express their love through actions. For example…”

Images of men fighting in a shopping mall flashed through Lu Junchi’s mind as he said, “For example, a fight to the death…”

Then Su Hui analyzed further, “I think Chen Xuexian, despite her beauty, lacks extreme self-confidence. In her personality, she seems to lack the ability to feel love. It is because of her inability to empathize and her lack of confidence that she constantly seeks to prove her charm. She goes to various places and uses various methods to meet those men and provoke them. Male rivalry is her way of proving her attractiveness, and the more brutal their fighting, the happier she becomes.”

For Chen Xuexian, she is extremely deprived of love, and love is like an essential nutrient for her life.

Considering Chen Xuexian’s eerie smiles in the previous videos, this explanation seems plausible.

She revels in being the center of attention for others.

But what she seems to focus on is the process of this conflict. She doesn’t care about the outcome, whether it’s death or injury. She rewards the winner, but the rewards are short-lived. Soon, the excitement fades, and she goes off to seek her next lover.

If it weren’t for extreme individuals like Guo Chengfeng, perhaps she would have continued to enjoy the pleasure of maneuvering between several men.

In Su Hui’s understanding, Chen Xuexian is not a cruel killer; she is the person standing beside the killer.

It might have started with a word, then a few drops of blood, followed by a photograph, some encouragement, arguments, madness, and then murder.

In this case, she repeatedly manipulated the jealousy between men.

She consciously magnified those jealous feelings.

These people were like parasites nurtured by Chen Xuexian. After they fought over her, they began a frenzy of killing.

Just as they would fight fiercely in a shopping mall for a woman, men gradually became mad and lost control.

Chen Xuexian, holding a lantern and wearing a white gown, guided them step by step toward hell.

She was like the cunning fox in collusion with the wolf, constantly encouraging the wolf to move forward and capture its prey.

People say that collusion between a fox and a wolf is terrible, but Su Hui couldn’t figure out whether it was the cunning fox inciting the conflict on the side or the blood-stained claws of the wolf that were more terrifying.