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墨書 Inktalez
Six Cases, a thick stack of records. In addition to the case details, there were also transcripts of Witness Testimony, on-site investigations, and autopsy materials included. After we finished reading the case details, Nie Qiuyuan took the evidence materials and began flipping through them page by page.
After finishing, I felt a bit dizzy because these six cases had no apparent connection to each other. However, I understood Bai Qianfan's capabilities; he would never be bored enough to randomly throw six cases at us for amusement.
Therefore, there must be some kind of connection between these Six Cases; I just couldn't see it yet.
Nie Qiuyuan glanced at the supplementary evidence for a moment before looking up and asking a sharp question that left me in awe.
“Who was it that compiled these Six Cases together?”
“It was me.” Guilin, who was sitting nearby, replied calmly. “That's why Lord Bai instructed me to personally deliver the confidential report.”
I felt a chill in my heart as I immediately understood what kind of character this Guilin, the recorder from Zhongshu Province, truly was.
Anyone selected for the Jade Balance Bureau must be among the elite in investigation and case handling. Given the current situation, Guilin was clearly an expert in logical case consolidation, able to pull together six seemingly unrelated cases from a vast sea of unresolved cases.
Consolidating cases for investigation is a significant challenge even for Modern Investigators. It requires rich experience and knowledge, strong logical reasoning and analytical skills, and even sharp intuition and a sixth sense.
When a series of cases occur within a certain period or in adjacent areas with similar methods, on-site conditions, and patterns of activity, detectives usually combine these cases for investigation; this is known as logical case consolidation. In fact, this approach has considerable advantages.
Cases that are consolidated often share many substantial similarities. If one believes these cases were committed by the same person, then stripping away these similarities can reveal many characteristics that the perpetrator might possess. At the same time, each case will have its unique aspects that provide valuable information about the perpetrator's personality.
In other words, experts in case consolidation are like weavers in the shadows. They may not charge into battle but can skillfully weave seemingly fragmented clues into a complete net.
As for experts in logical case consolidation, I have one right beside me: Teacher Zhang.
I realized his exceptional skills in case consolidation last year when I assisted him during a clearance operation. I witnessed firsthand how he combined over sixty cases of nighttime break-ins and sexual assaults that occurred within two years in our city. Those days of relentless research nearly exhausted me as his assistant, but I truly learned so much from that experience.
After the cases in "Over Sixty Cases" were pieced together, a turning point emerged in the situation. The evidence from all the fragmented cases began to connect, and the portrait of the perpetrator gradually came into focus.
We marked the locations of the "Over Sixty Cases" on the map, forming a curve that coincidentally connected several remote roads. At both ends of this curve lay the areas where the incidents occurred most densely.
Thus, we believed that the murderer likely traveled frequently between these two endpoints for some reason.
If there was a regular back-and-forth between the two locations, what would be the most probable explanation? It would probably be commuting to and from work.
At the midpoint of this curve, one particular case stood out as especially valuable. One early morning, this murderer entered a hospital, sneaking into the duty room and incapacitating a nurse. Just as he was about to commit his crime, an emergency doctor arrived, causing the murderer to flee in panic. In his haste, he left behind a black cloth shoe and a homemade triangle knife at the scene.
The shoe was size 4, with traces of cotton fiber attached to it. The sole had bits of cotton fluff, and there was an oil stain on the upper part.
As for the homemade triangle knife, its handle was made from a 190-millimeter spinning tube, which was produced from American AB fruit green plastic material by a local textile equipment factory. The blade was modified from a D10 type detachable spindle, with two washers between the handle and blade. The knife had been sharpened using a 000-millimeter grinding wheel.
Therefore, police instructors believed that the cotton fibers on the shoe and the grinding wheel used to make the knife were likely related to the perpetrator's profession. Upon investigation, one endpoint of this curve turned out to be the largest textile factory in the city!
The teachers carefully sifted through victim statements and witness testimonies from over sixty cases and created this portrait of the suspect:
A young man aged between 20 and 25 years old, approximately 166 centimeters tall, wearing size 4 shoes, with a round face and eyes, sporting long hair. His occupation might be within the cotton spinning system, working day shifts with strong climbing abilities, often going out late at night—a seemingly respectable hypocrite on the surface.
When we checked at that textile factory, we indeed found a man who matched these physical characteristics.
After conducting covert investigations, suspicion around this man grew stronger.
His home was located at one end of the curve. Moreover, he worked day shifts and had time available at night to commit crimes.
From the equipment and materials at the Textile Factory, it was evident that he had the means to create a makeshift triangular knife on-site.
During the past two years, he had been temporarily assigned to work in another location for six months, during which no similar incidents occurred.
He often dozed off while at work.
When he was summoned to the police station for questioning, his fingerprints were taken. Upon comparison, they matched those found at several crime scenes. Later, a search of his home uncovered stolen items from multiple cases.
Faced with the evidence, the suspect lowered his head and confessed. Ultimately, after interrogation and investigation, Teacher Zhang had linked him to over sixty cases, only misidentifying three; all others were confirmed to have been committed by this individual.
Reflecting on this incident, I suddenly realized how comprehensive Teacher Zhang truly was. The work done in Guilin indicated that there were indeed specialized case consolidation experts; however, Teacher Zhang managed everything—from consolidating cases to analysis, apprehension, and interrogation—all on his own. Initially, I couldn't comprehend the level of expertise required for such tasks; now I realize I had merely looked up to him with naive admiration.
Once I began working myself and encountered difficulties, I deeply understood how challenging it was for my predecessors and how invaluable their experience was.
Although case consolidation is a significant advancement in investigation, the six cases mentioned in the report occurred in different locations—some in Chang'an and others in Luoyang. Identifying connections between them and merging them is genuinely not easy. At least for several of these cases, I couldn't discern any links to others.
For instance, the Mushui Temple Case and the Hongli Temple Case can be understood as related since both occurred in temples and involved young attendants selected for a Ritual Ceremony. Considering this, the Military Camp General Case could also be tentatively included. But what about the other cases?
Of course, these cases share one commonality: the motive behind each case remains completely unclear.
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