"This is just a speculation. I can’t guarantee it. The basis of my speculation is also grounded on the clues currently hypothesized by the police. Just now, Captain Cao raised a question: if it’s a crime of passion, how did the victim and the killer know each other? I think they should have met at the girl’s location. Where there are people, there are traces; where there are birds, there are songs. If the victim and the killer met in Luo Family Village, it’s impossible that the villagers haven’t seen her."
The crowd nodded in agreement. This makes sense, but is there a direct connection to finding the victim’s location?
Everyone kept their doubts to themselves and continued to listen patiently.
"My method could be considered a simple one. Since we suspect the killer might be a local, we can investigate who among the local young adults went out to work fourteen years ago. Did they return to the village during the time of the victim’s death? If they did, then they would have had the opportunity to commit the crime. By backtracking where they worked, we may find that the victim met the killer at such a place."
Bang~
Hearing Li Xiang’s method, Cao Gang slammed the table, suddenly feeling enlightened: "This is a good idea."
All this reasoning is based on the premise that the killer is a local. If, from the beginning, they had speculated that the killer was not local, then all investigation directions would have been wrong.
But for now, without new clues, they can only continue along this direction of investigation.
Cao Gang, enlightened by Li Xiang’s words, immediately said to Mao Ji: "You and Li Xiang go to Luo Family Village again. After the incident, Luoyang Police Station also conducted a detailed investigation of the entire village, focusing particularly on the young adults who went to work elsewhere. Their Director, Jiang Zuofu, also participated in the investigation back then and is familiar with the case. You should seek his assistance in your investigation."
"Yes."
"Coach Su, I’ll leave the victim’s DNA comparison to you. Check as many clues as possible, and we’ll filter through them one by one."
"Yes."
The meeting ended, and everyone went down to prepare.
Mao Ji called Jiang Zuofu, the director of Luoyang Police Station, and explained the purpose of their visit.
Upon hearing that the criminal investigation team had reopened the unsolved case from fourteen years ago, Jiang Zuofu felt as if a lifetime had passed. In the pure and honest Luo Family Village, murder cases were extremely rare. The Luoyang Reservoir murder was the only unsolved murder in his career. Hence, on learning about Mao Ji’s purpose, he immediately expressed his full cooperation.
"Let’s go, I’ve already coordinated with Director Jiang; we’ll head over now."
Mao Ji drove, taking Li Xiang to Luoyang Police Station, where they were going to start sorting out the specific investigation direction.
Half an hour later, the two arrived at Luoyang Police Station and met with Director Jiang in the office.
"Hello, Director Jiang. We’re here to bother you again. This is Li Xiang..."
"I know him; I was impressed by him at the commendation ceremony. He’s moved up to the criminal investigation team so quickly. Truly talented for his age."
Jiang Zuofu had seen Li Xiang at last month’s commendation ceremony, where he bagged several medals and delivered a speech on behalf of the auxiliary police. He was hard to ignore. At that time, Li Xiang was just an auxiliary policeman, but today, he wore a third-ranked police inspector’s uniform. The promotion speed was astounding.
He did not doubt the authenticity of the situation. After all, in the public security system, no one would dare to fake this kind of thing, especially since his unit was the criminal investigation team.
"Hello, Director Jiang, sorry for the trouble."
"No trouble at all. As long as this case isn’t solved, we can’t find peace of mind."
The Luoyang Reservoir case hasn’t just been reopened this year; it’s been revisited every year. Therefore, those who originally handled the case can still remember its details even after fourteen years.
"We’ve come this time with a shift in thinking. Previously, everyone believed that as soon as we identified the victim, we’d have a 90% chance of solving the case, so the focus was on identifying the victim. But so far, DNA comparisons have yielded no matches. So, this time, we want to investigate all those who went to work out of town fourteen years ago."
"The male workers who went out of town fourteen years ago? Back then, we conducted thorough investigations on everyone in the village. We also investigated these out-of-town workers, but without new clues, this line of inquiry was abandoned. What are we checking this time?"
Jiang Zuofu participated in the visits back then. They went around the village on foot, visiting every household, but ultimately found nothing valuable, leaving them a bit disheartened.
"This time, we’re mainly checking their work locations and any unusual behavior after the incident. It would be best to also flag those with criminal records."
Those who could commit murder are inhumane individuals who disregard the law and lack reverence. The likelihood of such people reoffending is higher, so Li Xiang plans to start with those who have a criminal record.
"Alright, we’ve kept the records from back then. I’ll arrange for someone to bring the materials out for screening."
Soon, Director Jiang called over Luo Rongbing, a policeman familiar with the situation in Luo Family Village, to assist Li Xiang with their investigation.
Luo Rongbing, 33 years old, is from Luo Family Village. When the case happened, he was still in school. After joining the police department, learning that the case remained unsolved, he proactively requested to participate in the case’s investigation. He has a strong say in the situation concerning his own village.