Chapter 6 - Chapter 6 (1/2)
The sun was shining brightly on Lin City this weekend. The warm spring breeze washed across the city as if it could not wait to warm up every inch of the place.
However, the people of the City Criminal Police Force were too preoccupied to enjoy the beautiful spring breeze. This was because two more razor injury incidents occurred just three days after the Ye Zixi case. The City Criminal Police Force was now leading the investigation on the four incidents.
It was important to note that apart from Ye Zixi, the other victims were not very badly injured. One of them only got a small cut on his hand where the victim did not even think about reporting the case. They would not have known about the case if not for the police who called each and every one of the parks. Furthermore, there were no serious casualties nor extensive harm that came as a result of this series of crimes. Therefore, it did not cause any public panic.
Nevertheless, the police still took it very seriously. The station chief had specially requested additional police patrols around the parks to help track down the criminal.
However, two days had gone by and they had found nothing. This was not just because the criminal did not leave behind any clues, but that the criminal had stopped planting razor blades altogether.
On this particular Sunday afternoon, Xu Xu sat in the Criminal Police Force conference room. She was staring at the pictures spread out over the large whiteboard and was lost in her thoughts as she frowned to herself.
Since Ji Bai was on a vacation, the station chief instructed him not to involve himself in the case. Instead, he was told to leave it to his colleagues. Yao Meng, in turn, had followed her instructor, Officer Wu, out for an investigation. Meanwhile, Xu Xu had told the team that she wanted to attempt to create a profile of the criminal. Thus, she had been working alone.
Xu Xu was playing with the pen in her hand as she stared at the photos and maps on the whiteboard. It wasn't long before she began muttering to herself.
Ruiying Park, Fangting Park, Chaoyang Park, Yumin Park... these parks were all around the residential area where she lived. These were parks specially built by the government for the CBD. Moreover, the parks had been funded via donations from many financial groups. Fangting Park in particular, had been built to be tall and magnificent. Therefore, it was known as the symbol of the CBD.
The razor blades used by the culprit were very common. A large packet of it could be bought on the internet for a little under ten dollars. These razor blades had been combined to form a five-pointed star in every one of the incidents.
The blades had been buried under the grass twice. Even the green paint used was very common. However, colleagues from the Forensics Department found that there were other trace components in the paint. One of these was water that was shown to have been taken from the city's river. Moreover, they also found a very strange component in one case. After an investigation, they found that it was actually from a spicy hotpot soup. They found that the soup had been made with common ingredients found in the market. Spicy hot pot soup was very famous in Lin City and the number of ingredients sold daily was very large. Therefore, this clue likewise led to nothing.
In addition to this, the timing of the incidents did not seem to follow any distinct pattern. Some of them occurred on working days whilst others occurred on rest days. They happened in the morning, afternoon, as well as evening.
Xu Xu was lost in her thoughts when she suddenly heard a gentle voice behind her. "Officer Xu?"
It was Ye Zixi.
It was almost evening as the sunlight painted the empty office a light auburn. Ye Zixi wore a spotless white dress and stood gracefully in front of Xu Xu. The smile on her face was mild yet friendly.
In all honesty, Xu Xu did not pay attention to her appearance during their last encounter. She could only recall that she was a relatively thin and calm woman. Even though there was blood splattered all over the ground at the time, she did not panic. Instead, she maintained her composure throughout the entire time she was receiving first-aid treatment.
Now that Xu Xu was looking at her face to face, she finally had an idea of what she looked like.
She had a slender figure and thin eyebrows. However, because her gaze was extremely clear and sharp, she seemed to have a cold temperament.
Xu Xu nodded and waited for her to speak.
She smiled and shook Xu Xu's hand. "Xu Xu, I've come to thank you in person for saving my life. Thank you." She said very slowly. The speed at which she uttered those words also made her seem very sincere.
Xu Xu smiled. However, she was not used to having physical contact with other people. Thus, she quickly withdrew her hand. "There's no need for that. Has your wound healed?"
Ye Zixi nodded and showed Xu Xu the scar on her wrist.
"Do you have time to spare tonight? I want to treat you to a meal." Ye Zixi asked gently.
Xu Xu shook her head. "I'm sorry, I'm not free at the moment. Thank you though, I appreciate your offer."
Ye Zixi knew that Xu Xu had work to do after spotting the wall full of photos and notes. She put her hands on Xu Xu's shoulder and sighed dejectedly. "Please give me a chance to treat you to a meal when you are done with this case."
Xu Xu was once again disturbed by her intimacy and tried to free herself with exaggerated movements. Ye Zixi stared at her for a moment before smiling. "I will not bother you then, good luck."
Xu Xu walked her to the door before going back to the whiteboard to ponder. After a while, she received a text message on her phone. "Someone asked me for your contact information, but I didn't give it to him. If he wanted to see my savior, he should have to go through some trouble, right?"
Xu Xu glanced at her phone then threw it to one side so that she could continue focusing on the case. It wasn't long before she completely forgot about the message.
During dinner time, someone sent food to the Criminal Police Force addressed to Xu Xu. It was exquisite food from a restaurant based in Guangzhou. Xu Xu figured that her brother was being considerate, so she did not pay it too much attention.
However, her brother had remarked to her that he had been in a meeting the whole afternoon over the phone. Therefore, he did not have time to act as a caring brother.
Xu Xu instantly understood and muttered to him, "Then it was Ye Zixi."
Xu Juan seemed to be surprised and asked her, "Which Ye Zixi?"
"That Ye Zixi."
"Tsk-tsk-tsk… Why did she order take-out for you?"
Xu Xu explained to him how she had saved Ye Zixi a few days ago whereby Xu Juan gasped in shock. "Are you okay?"
Xu Xu rolled her eyes. "Of course I am okay."
"What about Ye Zixi?"
"It was quite serious at the time, but she's alright now."
Only then was Xu Juan relieved. He went on to joke about how the first lunchbox his sister ever received was sent by a woman. Then he went on to say that he heard that Ye Zixi was a famous intellectual and asked Xu Xu about her opinion on her. Xu Xu frowned before making an excuse that she was very busy and hung up.
However, who would have expected Ye Zixi to actually order fine lunch and dinner to be delivered to Xu Xu for the next two days as well? In addition to this, she sent her a huge box of fresh fruits that was large enough to feed the entire Criminal Police Force.
This alarmed even the station chief. He soon paid the Criminal Police Force a "special visit" to eat a few mangosteens in the afternoon.
Xu Xu did not like to be in the limelight, so she made a call to Ye Zixi. However, Ye Zixi brushed her off and told her gently but resolutely that she wanted to show her gratitude after seeing Xu Xu work so hard. Moreover, she had already paid for food and fruits for the entire month which could not be refunded.
Xu Xu's focus was on the case, so she shrugged it off and let her be.
However, there still had not been any breakthroughs in the case.
In addition to the increased patrols around the parks, the force planned to begin an investigation into the city's unemployed citizens as well as high-risk groups with criminal records.
Xu Xu had likewise decided to return to the crime scene to examine it further.
During the afternoon of a working day, there were very few people in the park. A few elderly pensioners were the only visitors. They sat there quietly playing chess in the gazebo. Xu Xu walked to the lakeside slope where Ye Zixi had been injured on that day. However, she soon saw a man sitting under the blazing sun smiling at her.