Chapter 54: The Case of the Hammer Demon (Part 23)

Li Rui stood beneath the eaves, gazing at the rolling mountains in the distance. He knew the killer was lurking in some shadowed corner, watching it all like a bloodthirsty beast, waiting for the next opportunity to hunt.

Yet this time, they would not let the demon escape. The flashing police lights pierced through the curtain of rain, illuminating the resolute faces of every officer. On this sleepless night, the hunters of justice had cast a inescapable net.

"Based on our investigation, these footprints belong to two different people," Li Rui said to the others under the eaves. "The spot where Liu Zhihua, the elder brother of the homeowner, landed when he scaled the wall, almost exactly coincided with the killer's landing point. His prints nearly overlapped the killer's, which blurred the killer's originally distinct footprints."

"After eliminating the prints left by Liu Zhihua, we discovered a residual footprint. This footprint is incomplete, showing only the forefoot touching the ground, but it is unusually large and wide," Li Rui continued. "This is because the killer wore socks over his shoes, which matches our earlier profiling of the suspect's characteristics."

In the distance, the siren of an ambulance wailed, its red and blue lights flickering faintly through the rainy veil. Little Wang stood outside the cordon, his face as pale as paper. The smell of blood hanging heavy in the air churned his stomach. Yet when he saw Li Rui's focused back, he suddenly straightened his posture.

Lei Chen nodded and said, "Our next priority will be the nearby villages and towns. We will include five townships and fifty-six villages within a five-kilometer radius in our investigation scope, and screen every male between the ages of twenty-five and forty."

Li Rui remained noncommittal. "You can handle looking for a needle in a haystack. What I care about right now is where the killer's next target will be."

"What do you mean by that?" Lei Chen's eyes widened.

Without a word, Li Rui lowered his head and walked straight out into the rain.

"Hey, what do you suppose he..." Lei Chen looked over at Wen Rou.

Wen Rou shook her head, signaling him to say no more.

It rained for three consecutive days.

Beside the muddy rural road, the three red-brick tile rooms of the Liu family already appeared somewhat dilapidated, and the livestock pen in the courtyard had collapsed on one side. This family, once full of life, was now unrecognizable, filled with utter desolation.

Han Junshan personally drove to the Liu family home. He intended to apologize to the victims' family for this "misstep" by the special investigation team.

"Department Chief Han, we have screened a total of 5,924 villagers, had 4,816 people check the sock-clad footprint molds, conducted targeted screenings and background checks on individuals with past misconduct among them, and shortlisted thirty-eight primary suspects..."

As they walked toward the Liu residence, Lei Chen reported the progress.

"Get straight to the results!" Han Junshan said with displeasure.

"They've all been cleared," Lei Chen said somewhat dejectedly.

Han Junshan stopped in his tracks and glanced at him. "Lei Chen, what am I going to do with you? Our situation is already extremely passive. Can we possibly win if we keep following conventional methods?"

"I..." Lei Chen was momentarily at a loss for words.

"You really should take a page out of Li Rui's book. You can't solve cases by brute force alone; you have to use your brain!"

With that, Han Junshan walked into the Liu courtyard alone.

No one knew what he said inside. In less than ten minutes, he came back out. From beginning to end, none of the members of the Liu family came out to greet or bid him farewell.

Perhaps resentment still lingered deep within their hearts.

Later, Lei Chen stood once more at the entrance of the Liu home, bowed deeply, and silently departed.

Li Rui, however, did not leave with them. He looked at Little Wang and asked, "Are you scared?"

"Huh? Scared of what?" Little Wang asked, bewildered.

"Getting beaten up."

"This..." Little Wang's face twitched with reluctance. "Surely it won't come to that?"

Wen Rou stepped forward. "Stop trying to scare Little Wang. I'll go in first. If everything is fine, you guys can come in after me."

"Why are you people back again? Leave already, my mother-in-law doesn't welcome you."

The speaker was Liu Zhiming's sister-in-law. Currently, she, Liu Zhihua, and their eighty-year-old mother-in-law lived here.

Seeing that no word came from inside for the moment, Li Rui turned his attention to the next-door neighbor.

"Older sister, are you busy? I'd like to ask you about a few things," Li Rui said.

"Who are you..."

Li Rui replied, "We're police officers."

Xu Xiangqin's attitude was cold. "Oh, haven't I already told you everything I know? What else is there to ask?"

"Just a casual chat," Li Rui said awkwardly. "I heard you were the one who discovered that the Liu family had been murdered?"

"At the time, I was walking past the front of Liu Zhiming's courtyard and noticed the gate wasn't open yet, and a chorus of pigs was squealing from inside," Xu Xiangqin nodded, recalling the event. "In the countryside, gates are never opened this late. I wondered if Liu Zhiming might have accompanied his wife to the hospital, because his wife, Wu Jing, was eight or nine months pregnant with their second child and due any day."

"By around eight o'clock that evening, I saw that Liu Zhiming's house was still pitch black, and the squealing of the pigs in the courtyard was even louder. So I turned back and went to his parents' house to tell them that nobody had been home at Zhiming's place all day."

Seeing that Wen Rou refused to leave, Liu Zhihua came out. He was relatively polite and asked, "You can tell me whatever you need to. My mother is getting old and can't handle any more shocks."

"Are you the first witness at the scene?" Wen Rou asked.

Liu Zhihua nodded. "Seeing that the courtyard gate wasn't open, I scaled the wall. But strangely enough, the front door of the house was already cracked open. I took out my flashlight, pushed the door open, and entered their bedroom. The scene that suddenly appeared before my eyes shocked me speechless, and I rushed out to get help."

"My niece was lying on her back on the floor with blood on her head, Zhiming was slumped over the bed, and Wu Jing was still covered with a quilt," Liu Zhihua recalled. "When I touched him, Zhiming's body was already cold and rigid."

"They were dead!" Liu Zhihua mentioned his most direct impression at the time. "I thought they had taken poison to commit suicide after a domestic dispute. I never imagined it was a homicide. It wasn't until a neighboring villager suggested calling the police that we dialed 110."

"When the police were moving bodies, I heard Wu Jing let out a groan, and everyone present heard it," Xu Xiangqin said. "Although Wu Jing was rescued, the child in her belly was lost. I heard from her sister yesterday that Wu Jing's mental state isn't very good now; she often bursts into laughter alone in her hospital room."

Li Rui's expression turned grave. "I'm sorry, our work wasn't thorough enough..."

"Sigh, you can't really blame the police either. You had already warned us back then. The village loudspeakers had made announcements, and both the village and township had organized night patrols in groups of ten. It was our own fault for not taking it seriously," Xu Xiangqin softened her tone slightly. "After the murders happened, almost every household in Maozhuang Village started rushing to install iron security gates."

With tears in her eyes, Wen Rou said "I'm sorry" to Liu Zhihua. Liu Zhihua shook his head, indicating that he did not blame the police. Just then, his elderly mother walked out with trembling steps and sat silently by the door, her eyes filled with sorrow.

"Such a tragic family!" Liu Zhiming's sister-in-law choked up as she spoke, taking the headscarf from her shoulder to wipe away her tears.

Wen Rou comforted her, saying, "We will definitely catch the killer. You must grieve gently and find a way to carry on with life."

To her surprise, the sister-in-law said desolately, "With everyone gone, what is left to carry on for?"

Witnessing the utter devastation of Liu Zhiming's family in the aftermath, and listening to the sister-in-law's heartbreaking words of grief, how could Wen Rou not feel profound sorrow and regret for a family annihilated by such a catastrophe?