Madness of the Heart

In the town of Silin, heavy snow flies.

This is a small town hidden in a low hilly area in the north. The transportation is extremely inconvenient, the land is barren, and the resources are lacking. People outside are unwilling to go in, and people inside have no sense of coming out. Some surrounding villages and towns that are radiated by big cities have developed. And because of its own conditions, 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. Younger men look at outsiders, and some even follow them all the way, with shovel, wooden stick, etc. in their hands that can hurt people. Tool of.

Xiang Tao saw many little boys who were a few years old. They were wearing shabby cotton-padded clothes, making snowmen and playing snowball fights in the snow. Because the clothes were relatively thin and could not keep warm, they generally wore layer after layer, wrapped like a one. A plump onion.

Compared with the little boy, there are few little girls, at least Xiang Tao didn't see much.

However, there are quite a few pregnant women in the town. They are doing what they can in their yard with their big bellies, and their faces look very haggard.

Xiang Tao settled down in the town as a cycling "allier".

Probably no "allies" have ever passed by in Silin Town, and the residents of the town are very wary of them and their group. Xiang Tao wanted to inquire about the "master craftsman". If he was lucky, he might be able to meet people like Huang Yan and Cai Xinyue who came to buy "ghost cards". But the time was too bad, no pregnant women in the town gave birth in the cold winter, and the "master craftsman" seemed to leave temporarily. The **** evil here is like being washed away by a pure white snow, and when the snow melts in the coming year and the white snow and the mud are the same color, the evil will spread like weeds.

Those pregnant women who are pregnant in their belly can live if they are boys, and if they are girls, they will probably be made into lifeless "ghost cards".

Looking at those pairs of numb eyes, an extremely ridiculous idea suddenly poured out in Xiang Tao's heart-there are so many pregnant women here, could it be...

·

Because of the clues provided by Wen Ling, the crime team formally participated in the investigation of Huang Yan's case.

"Cai Xinyue, who went to Silin Town with Huang Yan to buy the'ghost card', has now quit her job because of fear and locked herself at home. She believes that Huang Yan was backlashed by the'ghost card'." Conference room , Only Ming Shu stood alone, "Of course the superstition of'backlash' is not credible, but it is not ruled out now that some people have targeted the purchase of'ghost cards'. There are a total of 17 people on this list. Each of them needs to be verified. Team Li, how about Xiang Tao now?"

Li Chicheng, the deputy captain of the Criminal Investigation Detachment of the Beicheng Sub-bureau, also came to the serious crime team for a meeting. Compared with Wang Hao, who is self-contained, Li Chicheng, who is also on the front line, is much easier to get along with, and his judgment of the case is more accurate than Wang Hao. It was him who was in charge of the Huang Yan case in the sub-bureau, and Ming Shu was somewhat relieved.

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

"In other words, there is indeed a'ghost brand' industrial chain there." Ming Shu walked a few steps at the table, "but there are at least 17 buyers in Dongye City alone, and Silin Town should not be the only one who is a craftsman. Master's villages and towns that provide girls with infants."

Li Chicheng said: "We will verify the 17 people on the list. However, the Ming team is subject to a lot of restrictions on the sub-junction. I have to trouble you to think of other things."

Ming Shu nodded, "Leave it to me."

·

Dongye City Iron Mine is a small.

At 10 o'clock in the morning, the school door opened, and the students lined up to trot under the leadership of the teacher to the plastic playground outside the school door to carry out a routine fitness activity every winter-a 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 ore school is next to the iron ore middle school, and the two schools share a 400-meter standard playground.

This playground is not only open to the two schools, but also to the public. Although teachers have posted notices at several entrances and exits, hoping that residents will not enter when students need to use the playground, but this has almost no restriction.

In the past few years, incidents of hurting elementary school students have occurred everywhere. The teachers are all nervous, and the long-distance running activities cannot be cancelled. The children run **** the playground. The teachers stare at the adults close to the playground like bodyguards. The suspicious, immediately followed closely.

It is really not easy to be a teacher to this point.

Standing on the edge of the playground, Ming Shu noticed a vigilant gaze, half-sideways, he saw a female teacher in her twenties looking at him cautiously.

When the "suspicious man" met her eyes, the female teacher became more nervous, but she didn't turn around and left. Instead, she took two steps forward.

Ming Shu understood the other's thoughts at a glance.

This thin and weak female teacher regards him as a person who has bad intentions towards the students. If he makes any dangerous actions at this time, the female teacher may rush forward desperately.

"This sir." The female teacher plucked up the courage and said: "What's the matter with you?"

Ming Shu wore a leather jacket that had 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.

"I want to find a student named'Xu Yin', she is going to school here." Ming Shu took out her ID.

The female teacher saw that she was a policeman, her expression relaxed, and she patted her chest and whispered, "I was scared to death."

Ming Shu smiled gently, "Thank you."

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

Ming Shu said: "Your students are lucky to have a teacher like you."

The female teacher blushed at the compliment, "You are looking for Xu Yin, she is my student, I will call her right away. But can I ask, what happened to her? Is it about her parents? You are a policeman, you should know that she has some psychological problems and only recently returned to school."

Ming Shu 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 did not continue to ask, and soon brought Xu Yin over.

After a long time no see, the little girl's energy is much better than before, and she laughed when she saw Ming Shu, "Captain!"

The long-distance running is still going on, Mingshu took Xu Yin to a nearby McDonald's, "Is it going to take the final exam? How is your study?"

Xu Yin used to be not in the iron ore elementary school, and was reported by his name, but basically did not go to school. After Wu Zhen's body was found, she was taken to the city bureau for psychological counseling. There is only one old man left in her family, unable to take care of her, but she cannot stay in the city council forever. A while ago, she was in better condition and was arranged to study at the iron mine. In the new environment, although she did not 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 are less gloomy and weird, and he looks like a normal child when he doesn't speak, but the manner and tone of voice are still easy to distinguish. Out, she is different from other children.

Ming Shu inserted the French fries into the ice cream and stirred it twice before taking it out. "You are very smart."

"You are abnormal." Xu Yin said.

Inexplicably scolded, Ming Shu couldn't laugh or cry, "Me? Abnormal?"

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

"Shh..." Ming Shu said, "Can you not talk about the corpse when you eat?"

Xu Yin lowered her voice: "Fries should be dipped in tomato sauce."

"This sentence does not need to be whispered." Ming Shu moved the ice cream cup forward, "Ketchup is good, but you can also try ice cream."

He was a child, Xu Yin dipped his ice cream suspiciously.

Mingshu asked, "Is it delicious?"

Xu Yin answered with action.

"After eating, let's talk." Ming Shu said.

"Just ask what you want." Mr. Xu Yin said like a small master: "I just want to cooperate."

Ming Shu took out two photos of Chi Xiaomin, one of which was an ID photo (forged) that the police had long known, and the other was a secret photo provided by Wen Ling.

"You said last time that this person is the elder sister you saw. She once appeared outside your window at night, looking at you silently, and then died in Yisi Alley near your home." Ming Shu He tapped his finger twice on the photo, "Now I want you to think about it again. Is this really this person?"

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

And Ming Shu has been observing her expression.

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

Ming Shu frowned: "What does'don't know' mean?"

"I don't know, I don't know." Xu Yin suddenly became irritable. She had originally held the spoon in her right hand. She threw the spoon on the ground at this time.

Ming Shu felt very strange.

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

Did Chi Xiaomin's photos stimulate Xu Yin?

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

Could it be that during this period of time, what happened to Xu Yin again?

"I saw her and my head hurts." A few minutes later, 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 the person back to school temporarily, and before driving back to the Criminal Investigation Bureau, he sat in the car and called Xiao Yu'an.

After hearing Ming Shu's description, Xiao Yuan asked: "Does Xu Yin remember or not?"

"She doesn't seem to want to think about it at all." Ming Shu said: "Chi Xiaomin must have something to do with her, otherwise her reaction would not be the same as before. When we dealt with Wu Zhen's case, she took the initiative to find me. Said that besides Wu Zhen, she had found a corpse. Later, she pointed to the photos in the system and said that the dead person was Chi Xiaomin. It stands to reason that Chi Xiaomin—or be more cautious, that she watched at night The woman who arrived-did not give her a psychological shadow, but the way she was just now gave me the feeling that she has a shadow."

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

"There is a possibility that after Xu Yin left the city office, someone approached her, interfered with part of her memory, or did something else-I still can't think of the specific operation method and motivation." Xiao Yu'an Said: "But there is another possibility..."

"Huh?" Ming Shu asked, "What?"

Xiao Yu settled down, "You go to verify the first possibility. Xu Yin's current reaction at least shows that she is under the surveillance of someone or a group. She is less than 10 years old and has experienced so much. She’s psychologically abnormal. It’s easy to be targeted and exploited, and it’s easy for her to go down the wrong path. Now that her life seems to be back on track, she actually needs help from many aspects of society."

Ming Shu said, "Do you need to bring her back again?"

"No, as a last resort, don't disturb her. For her, the school is a more suitable place than the police station." Xiao Yuan said: "But she needs our protection in the near future."

Ming Shu nodded, "Okay, I understand."

After the call, Xiao Yuan stood in the corridor for a while.

When the phone vibrated, he was having an unimportant meeting. When he saw that it was Mingshu's call, he came out to answer it. Now it doesn't matter if he goes back or not.

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

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

Xiao Yuan said, "I remember you were the first to contact Xu Yin?"

Yi Fei knew that Mingshu had gone to the iron mine to find Xu Yin, and he was not surprised to hear the girl's name at this time, "Yes, it's me."

Xiao Yuan 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 investigated her family background later."

Xiao Yuan said "Um", "Adjust Xu Yin's inquiry record, all."

·

The Beicheng Sub-bureau completed a recent check of the 17 people on the list. What was unexpected and what seemed to be expected was that in addition to Huang Yan, 2 people had died and 1 was missing.

Qiao Xuehua, female, 57 years old, a partner of "Dongjifu", left Dongye City in November last year and returned to his hometown of Puzhi County. She was killed in a car accident.

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

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

What is appearing on the projector is a photo of Qiao Xuehua. From the outside, she is not significantly different from a woman of the same age who has lived in the city all year round, and her appearance is not distinctive. "Winter Jifu" is a financing platform, wandering in the gray area between legal and illegal. In big cities, there are many such platforms. Whether a partner can make money depends on luck and the way.

Obviously, Qiao Xuehua is a person who has both luck and access. "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 had been in the clothing business, opened a restaurant, and even worked in the cultural industry. With her flexible mind and diligent hands and feet, she gradually became a successful female entrepreneur in the eyes of others.

Before Qiao Xuehua returned to her hometown, "Dongji Pay" was operating well and its upward momentum was obvious. It was when she was needed, the people of the company still don't understand why she suddenly left such a big stall. "Winter Jifu" was completely overtaken by competitors after her death.

At that time, the Puzhi County police investigated the cause of Qiao Xuehua's death, and it was not that they had suspected some commercial conspiracies. However, after repeated investigations, no signs of commercial retaliation were found. The driver and witnesses of the accident also said that Qiao Xuehua rushed out of the road by himself.

There were very obvious signs of braking at the scene. The background of the driver and family members, the flow of water before the incident, and the interpersonal network had long been traced. It was confirmed that there was no possibility of deliberately hitting and killing Qiao Xuehua.

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

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

Ming Shu said: "'Ghost card'."

Li Chi nodded, "No one cared about the'ghost card' at the time. Now we have found four yuan in Qiao Xuehua's property."

Pictures of these four "ghost 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 behavior before his death was somewhat similar to Qiao Xuehua's.

Li Si Jia can be regarded as a successful SME manager. "Huan Xi Ji" was only a small restaurant specializing in chicken soup more than ten years ago. After Li Si Jia's development, it is now a mid-range home-style restaurant popular with young people. Li Sijia’s wife Xu Nan said that Li Sijia had always been suspicious at home and always felt that others wanted him to be harmed, so when Li Sijia continued to say similar things before his death, she did not pay attention.

From the monitoring outside the villa, before and after Li Sijia's death, no one was close to the villa, and the technicians have also done a comprehensive inspection. There are no fresh footprints other than Li Sijia in the villa, and there is Li Sijia's fingerprint on the gas switch. , Indeed he chose to die.

There is a voice in "Huanxiji", that is, Xu Nan and Li Sijia have been at odds for many years. Although they have not divorced, they have already lived their own lives. On the surface, they are only husband and wife. Xu Nan's lover's investment has failed and he urgently needs a sum of money. So the man Xu sympathized with him and killed Li Sijia.

The police had also suspected this, but did not find evidence.

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

Qiao Xuehua and Li Sijia's relatives and friends didn't know that they had bought "ghost cards", let alone how to make "ghost cards".

The missing Lu Chao was born in a "Kochi" family. Both parents are doctors. Lu Chao started trading in stocks when he was in college and made a lot of money. Later, he has been trading stocks for a living and traveled abroad many times. He updated on social media. It can be seen from the photos that he goes to places that normal tourists would not go.

He will go wherever it is dangerous, taking pride in taking pictures that others cannot take.

His parents were accustomed to his "disappearance" for a long time. When they were unable to contact him at first, they did not think about the direction of "the accident". Until more than two months later, he still did not go home and did not update his status on any social media. Before calling the police.

After investigation, as early as when he first embarked on a journey, his mobile phone and credit card had not been used.

In his home, the police found 7 "ghost cards".

"Lü Chao has been missing for so long. It is very likely that Lu Chao has been killed." Ming Shu put his cheek on his face, "I have seen Qiao Xuehua's surveillance when he was in a car accident, and it was obvious that she rushed to the truck. She and Li Sijia, both It was suicide, but before they committed suicide, one of the two hands pushed them. Team Li."

Li Chicheng turned his face, "Huh?"

"Has anyone else mentioned that you have encountered some unusual things recently?" Ming Shu asked: "For example, intimidation and being tracked. The missing Lu Chao will not discuss it for the time being. Qiao Xuehua and Li Sijia both behaved abnormally before their deaths. Where, what caused their disorder? I suspect that someone has threatened them."

Li Chicheng shook his head, "Our police force is used to investigate the two dead and one missing. What you said has not been specifically understood yet."

"It's okay." Ming Shu said: "Check this detail first."

After the meeting, Xiao Yuan beckoned to Ming Shu at the door.

Ming Shu ran over with the notebook, "Xiao Ju."

"Xu Yin is still safe now?" Xiao Yuan said, "How do you understand her experience in recent months?"

There were team members running by constantly in the corridor, and Ming Shu stepped aside two steps. "It seems normal. The teacher at the Iron Mine No. 1 Primary School said that no suspicious person has approached her. But it’s hard to say. There are people who really want to do to Xu Yin. It shouldn’t be in front of many people. After that, I went to meet Xu Yin again. After seeing Chi Xiaomin’s photo, she didn’t react that much, but as long as I asked her to see Chi Xiaomin standing in front of her window She didn’t give me a clear explanation as far as she was concerned when she saw the corpse in Yisi Alley. If we talked about other things, she would immediately return to normal.”

Xiao Yuan said: "So it cannot be ruled out that someone has interfered with her during this period of time."

After speaking, the two of them had walked to the door of the deputy director's office, and Ming Shu looked back, "Xiao Ju, didn't you say that there is another possibility last time?"

"Yes, then I checked Xu Yin's original inquiry record." Xiao Yuan opened the door and let Ming Shu in, saying, "I found a very noteworthy place."

Ming Shu asked quickly: "What?"

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

Ming Shu frowned and thought for a while, but really didn't think of it. At that time, he was investigating the Wu Zhen case and Sha Chun case, and he could let go of such minor matters.

"Just after we brought her back, right?"

"To be precise." Xiao Yuan said: "After sending her to the Psychological Research Center."