Chapter 41: The Case of the Hammer Fiend (Part 10)

"Seal off all major exits from the city immediately, and focus on searching the budget guesthouses in the suburban-rural fringe!" Han Junshan's voice boomed through the conference room like a thunderclap.

Police sirens pierced the night sky, and red and blue lights flickered in the rain. Rainwater snaked down the car windows, looking eerily like the bloodstains on a victim.

Li Rui sat in the car, his fingertips trembling slightly. Wen Rou instinctively grabbed his wrist, feeling his pulse racing violently.

"Forensic Doctor Li, if the perpetrator is truly on foot," Lei Chen said while driving, "his speed shouldn't be this fast. How could he have reached Luo City so quickly?"

Qi Wei was typing rapidly on her laptop in the back seat: "From Xiao Li Village to Di Jia Village, the straight-line distance is over 100 kilometers. Apart from one provincial road, the terrain between them is nothing but rugged, treacherous mountain paths. Even if he were fast, he would have had to walk without a single moment of rest."

"Unless..." Her voice suddenly trailed off. "He took the main road!"

"The main road? That’s impossible. We notified the Luo City police in advance, and they have set up checkpoints at every entrance to the city," Lei Chen countered.

Li Rui’s pupils constricted. He recalled the shocking injuries in the autopsy report and the young girl who had committed suicide while wearing a red dress. His gaze remained fixed on the window, and he suddenly said, "He didn't just take the main road—he has a vehicle!"

"What? A vehicle?" Lei Chen’s voice trembled with excitement. "That can’t be. If he were driving on the main road, our surveillance cameras would have captured his car!"

The police car took a sharp turn in the rainy night, the tires screeching against the asphalt. The neon lights of the car ahead blurred into a pool of blood-red in the rain.

"Not a motor vehicle—a bicycle!" Li Rui said.

"That makes sense!" Qi Wei’s eyes widened. "A bicycle's speed is roughly between 12 and 20 kilometers per hour. If that’s the case, the perpetrator would have had enough time to cover the distance and take breaks along the way."

"More importantly, he wouldn't have to worry about being tracked by surveillance," Lei Chen added. "Because if he were driving a motor vehicle, our smart platform could analyze all traffic between the two locations during the time of the crime; finding him would just be a matter of time."

Qi Wei remarked with a hint of regret, "Back in university, I worked with my professor to develop a big-data-based facial recognition tracking system. As long as it’s connected to the 'Sky Net,' we could precisely lock onto any target we're looking for."

"It’s just a pity that the system is still in the testing phase, otherwise this guy would never have escaped my grasp!" she sighed.

"Don't worry, Xiao Qi, we'll get our hands on him sooner or later!" Lei Chen encouraged. "Everyone hold on, we’re entering the mountains!"

Ahead, the mountain road wound and twisted like a sheep's gut. The higher they climbed, the rougher the road became, filled with potholes and difficult to navigate.

Whenever the car took a sharp turn, the passengers in the back were squeezed together. When Wen Rou leaned against Li Rui’s shoulder, it felt as though they had returned to years ago. Once, she could lean into his embrace without reservation, and each of them had only eyes for the other.

But it seemed those days were gone forever.

The car jolted violently on the mountain road, and Li Rui’s temples throbbed. A sour, rotting-fruit sensation churned in his stomach. He gripped the handle above the door so hard that his nails left crescent-shaped indentations in the leather.

"The 'Devil’s Sorrow' bend is coming up!" No sooner had Lei Chen spoken than the car tilted sharply to the right.

Wen Rou tumbled into Li Rui’s arms, the faint scent of jasmine in her hair mixing with a rush of familiar memories.

"Stop the car!" Li Rui suddenly slapped the window.

The tires screeched against the gravel near the cliff edge as the car came to a halt. He stumbled out and leaned against the rock wall, dry-heaving violently. Rainwater mixed with cold sweat dripped from his chin, leaving dark spots on the moss-covered rocks.

"What’s wrong with Forensic Doctor Li?" Qi Wei asked, startled.

Lei Chen looked at Li Rui outside and said, "He’s carsick."

"Huh?" Qi Wei was incredulous. "Forensic Doctor Li gets carsick?"

"When a person is under extreme mental stress, their physical functions decline, making them prone to motion sickness," Lei Chen explained. "Simply put, he’s exhausted."

Wen Rou chased after him with an umbrella, the canopy flapping loudly in the mountain wind. Just as her hand was about to touch his back, she caught sight of a pale pink scar on the nape of his neck—a mark left by an explosion three years ago, looking like a dead centipede against his pale skin.

"Here," she said, handing him a thermos. She watched as his trembling fingers struggled to grip the cap. "Maybe you should sit out the scene..."

"The victim is waiting for us." Li Rui gulped down a mouthful of bitter tea, his white coat, soaked through by the rain, clinging to his spine.

As they rounded the ninth sharp turn, he saw the mountain road below winding and twisting like a giant python moving through the hills.

Di Jia Village was now within sight. The small mountain village was picturesque, every view telling a story of nature’s gentleness and romance. The overlapping green mountains and babbling streams made it look like a scene from a painting.

Lei Chen pulled up in front of a farmhouse. It stood alone in the mountain hollow, its faded spring couplets fluttering in the wind and rain like two unhealed wounds.

Li Rui’s face was deathly pale, but his hand was already pressed firmly against the door handle.

He opened the door; the raindrops stung his face, but his eyes were locked onto the faint light inside the farmhouse. There, a twisted soul was waiting for salvation—or destruction.

"Be careful," Wen Rou tugged at his sleeve. "The road is slippery."

Li Rui glanced back at her, rainwater dripping from his chin. "I know."

His voice was soft, yet possessed an unquestionable resolve. "It's fine, I can handle it."

The crime scene investigation lights bathed the main room in a ghastly white.

"Captain Lei, you're here?" The local precinct's forensic examiner had already conducted a preliminary survey. "Based on our initial investigation, the perpetrator is skilled and cruel. He targeted a house without a perimeter wall, and there are signs of a significant struggle."

Li Rui paused at the threshold; his surgical mask could not hide the thick scent of blood. The female victim lay with her head to the north and feet to the south, face-up. Her upper body was covered by a green blanket, her legs spread, feet touching the floor, and a pair of pink plastic sandals lay on the ground between her legs. Fourteen-year-old Liu Feifei lay face-up on the bed, her floral dress pushed up to her waist. Her right fingernails were completely torn back, and there were five bloody scratch marks on the wooden floor.

"The victim was violated, likely more than once. Time of death is less than six hours ago," his voice sounded muffled behind his protective gear. "It hadn't stopped raining when the killer left, the footprints should..."

Before he could finish, a thunderclap exploded outside.

A flash of lightning illuminated the footprints in the mud of the backyard—size 43 rubber-soled work boots, the tread on the soles serrated.

Wen Rou knelt beside the boy’s body, a cotton swab gently brushing his bruised corners of the mouth. "There is severe damage to the oral mucosa; it appears to have been pried open by a blunt object."

Her gloved hand suddenly