I Play Dungeons in the Police Station

Chapter 433 - 261: Case Simulation

Li Xiang arrived at the office in the morning, pushed open the door, and found out that the office lights were still on.

He was just about to ask in the group chat who was the last to leave yesterday when he noticed people waking up one after another at their desks.

"Did you guys stay up all night?"

Li Xiang was a bit surprised. Did they just nap on their desks?

"Captain Li, you’re here? I’ll go wash my face."

Lan Huina squinted her eyes, feeling sleep in the corners, and quickly ran to the restroom to wash up. Song Yingwen got up and explained to Li Xiang:

"We’re having a crime analysis meeting today. Everyone was worried there might be some oversights, so we worked overtime a bit, reviewed the case from start to finish, and before we knew it, it was dawn."

"Why don’t you get some more sleep?"

Seeing everyone’s eyes red like they had conjunctivitis, Li Xiang felt empathy for them.

They were already outstanding, and working this hard made him, as the captain, feel quite burdened.

"No need, we’ll be fine after a face wash."

Just then, Sun Zhidong arrived late, greeted everyone quickly when he saw they were all there.

"Everyone arrived so early!"

"Early? Everyone pulled an all-nighter going through the files while you went home to sleep soundly!" Seeing Sun Zhidong’s nonchalant expression, Li Xiang felt it was necessary to put some pressure on him. He shouldn’t just mix idly in the team, he was almost thirty after all, given this platform, he needed to show his worth.

Sun Zhidong was bewildered hearing Li Xiang’s words first thing in the morning.

"Me?"

We left the dorm together, had breakfast together, and just because I went to the restroom one more time, I get such insult???

Sun Zhidong’s spirit was crushed. I just said hello, how did it lead to such disaster?

You can’t compete with others, so you’re taking it out on me.

"Go to the cafeteria and see if there are any steamed buns, bring some buns and soy milk over."

Li Xiang saw everyone was just waking up and probably hadn’t eaten, so he asked Sun Zhidong to pack some breakfast from the cafeteria.

This was the only contribution he made to the team so far.

"Oh, okay."

Sun Zhidong retracted his right foot stepping into the office, returned to the cafeteria, and packed breakfast for everyone.

The cafeteria lady recognized Sun Zhidong as one of the team members, and as per the leader’s instructions, the team could do what they needed. If he wanted to pack, he could pack any amount.

After packing the breakfast, Sun Zhidong returned to the office, calling everyone sister and brother as he distributed the breakfast.

"Thank you, Xiaodong."

"No thanks needed, it’s my duty."

Everyone returned after washing their faces and ate breakfast, feeling refreshed.

"Now, let’s begin, Qi Liyan, you start first."

Qi Liyan was good at organizing information and noticing details. Li Xiang let her speak first, clearly valuing her a lot.

"Okay, I’ll start with something preliminary. If there are any mistakes, please feel free to correct and criticize."

Everyone present was an elite in various fields, so Qi Liyan remained humble and didn’t grandstand.

"Everyone has gone through the files, so I won’t elaborate. I have a few questions, which I’d like to bring up for discussion."

"First, Xiao Mei just graduated from a junior college and interned in 2012, working in the electronics factory for less than a year, and she had a route she’d take every night after her night shift. But when the incident occurred, she wasn’t on her usual route. Similar patterns are seen in subsequent cases. The victims on their way home, or off their usual route, this is puzzling. What happened in between?"

"Second, the killer didn’t leave any traces at the crime scenes. The police didn’t find hair that didn’t belong to the victims at any location, which is puzzling. During those acts...." Qi Liyan was a wife and a mother, and speaking on such topics, especially in front of Captain Li, who was still a bachelor, made her blush a bit with shyness, but she continued, "There are always a few hairs that naturally fall out, yet there weren’t any at the scene. This isn’t logical, unless..."

She’s handled many rape cases, and in most cases, the police found the suspect’s hair on the scene. Even if they wore protection, DNA could still be detected from the hair.

But in this case, despite occurring so many times, the police failed to extract even one DNA sample of the perpetrator. Why?

This case has become a mystery, despite the advanced criminal investigation techniques today and various databases available.

Unless he shaved.

She didn’t verbalize it but everyone understood.

"Third, the killer must know the crime scenes very thoroughly, including knowing when fewer people pass by for his convenience. How does he know this? Why did the victim not take her usual route and instead go with him to the crime scene?"

"Based on these three points, I speculate boldly."

"Firstly, this isn’t a crime of passion; he must have done substantial preparation, including picking targets, surveying locations, and even planning post-crime actions in detail. Secondly, he must be acquainted with the victims to lure them to secluded places. Of course, coercion still can’t be ruled out, this is just my speculation."

Qi Liyan went on to present several other points, some of which aligned with previous task force speculations, while some included her distinct insights, delving into the case details to create a profile of the criminal suspect.