After staying in the hospital for a week, Jian Jing returned home. Her wounds had not yet fully healed, so she couldn't go to work. As soon as the case files for the Jian family massacre arrived, she started going through the details of this serial murder case from the beginning.
The Jian family case happened on August 2, 2014, Qixi Festival.
Prior to this, the murderer had already sequentially killed three other families:
On May 13, 2012, Mother's Day, three members of the Guo family died in their home – the mother was 32 years old, the older son was 8 and the younger son was 6.
On September 12, 2011, Mid-Autumn Festival, three members of the Cai family died in their home – the father was 35, the mother was 34, and the daughter was 10.
On October 26, 2009, Double Ninth Festival, three generations of the Zeng family died in their home – the grandfather was 60, the grandmother was 56, and the grandson was 9.
Adding the Jian family on August 2, 2014's Qixi Festival, three members of the Jian family died in their home, and the 14-year-old daughter Jian Jing was taken away.
All of the families had three members. According to interviews with neighbors and relatives, they were harmonious families. The parents and elders had no bad habits, and the children were also obedient and sensible. There were almost no enemies.
Choosing these types of families to commit crimes, there must be something wrong with the murderer's mind.
But Ji Feng was not very interested in the murderer's personal journey. He was more concerned with any clues left at the crime scenes.
However, if there were any traces, the police would not have shelved these cases until now.
There were almost no traces left at the scenes. The locks were not pried open – he must have had a key, or tricked the homeowners into opening the door.
The victims did not suffer too much torment. They either died unconscious, or were killed instantly without much pain. Finally, the bodies would be placed together in the same space, like the bedroom or living room. This kind of reunion seemed to be the ceremony the murderer wanted.
Fingerprints, footprints, personal belongings...nothing useful was left behind.
The murderer was restrained and calm, not leaving too many useful clues. The chosen families were also scattered across the country. With poor information sharing at that time, it was difficult for local police to connect the cases in a timely manner.
Joint investigation started after the 2012 case, but the murderer immediately vanished again. With no new clues for two years, the trail went cold.
Initially, the Jian case was not included, because the murderer had never previously left survivors before. But the clean scenes and special timing ultimately led the police to identify the same person.
Jian Jing's safety also became the most urgent topic at the time.
But she seemed to have vanished from the face of the earth. She could not be found anywhere. Many people thought she was already dead.
No one expected that a few months later, she returned home by herself. Her body was weak with persistent low fever, and her mental state was extremely poor, unable to communicate normally.
The psychologists believed she had suffered severe mental harm, could not cooperate with the investigation, and needed proper treatment.
So the Jians sent her abroad for treatment, and she only returned in late 2015.
The police visited again, but she no longer remembered anything, not even the case itself.
Considering her age and special circumstances, the police had no choice but to suspend the investigation.
Until today, the case has been reopened.
Ji Feng felt it was very interesting – not just that the murder case was interesting, Jian Jing was even more interesting. Just looking at her performance, who would have thought she had such a terrible experience?
He couldn't help but recall the first time he saw her.
In the hospital, she sat dazedly on a bench, mechanically clutching an IV bag. The nurses had looks of lingering fear and relief on their faces.
"Luckily she was found by that patient, otherwise..."
"Such a young girl, to have such courage."
"She really is amazing."
He wasn't being biased towards his sister, but hearing these remarks, the image that came to mind was someone like Ji Yunyun – lively, outgoing, reckless. But when he looked closely, he had guessed wrong.
At that time, she was curled up on the bench, confused and at a loss, with deep perplexity in her eyes.
Delicate, helpless and pitiful, like a lost little white rabbit that had stumbled into a wolf's den.
However, he knew human courage had nothing to do with outward appearances. Weak people could be fearless and heroic, while strong people could be timid as mice.
She was of course a brave girl.
There was nothing strange about that. While the massacre of her family was certainly tragic, kind people would not become disillusioned or misanthropic because of it. On the contrary, they would remain upright and courageous, perhaps even more determined.
But Jian Jing's situation was different.
After being taken away by the murderer for several months, her mental state was extremely poor when she returned, clearly greatly affected. But according to his observations, Jian Jing's mental state seemed completely normal, never revealing anything unusual.
Why was that? What exactly was going on with her?
At 5am, the insomniac Jian Jing went for a morning run by the deserted riverside park.
Vigorous exercise after staying up all night – in ten years it would be asking for death, but for a 21-year-old body with above average physique, it was merely recklessness at most.
Besides, she wasn't just out for a run, she also drew cards while exercising to get a higher chance of strengthening cards.
She had saved up some courage previously, and now drew cards without hesitation.
[Strengthening Card - Physique (1 pt)]
[Skill Card - Pancakes (Beginner)]
[Strengthening Card - Agility (1 pt)]
[Skill Card - Tai Chi Sword (Beginner)]
[Strengthening Card - Stamina (1 pt)]
[Knowledge Card - Dog Training (Beginner)]
Yes, she could tell from the cards that she had accidentally run into morning exercisers like grandpas walking their dogs and pancake street vendors.
She used up three strengthening cards to level up her stats.
Character Stats (Basic)
Physique: 8 (Your body is great, less prone to illness and recovers quickly)
Strength: 8 (You can subdue an average adult male)
Agility: 8 (Your reflexes are quick and movements agile, better than most people)
Explosiveness: 8 (The crucial few seconds determine victory or defeat)
Stamina: 7 (Mo~re and mo~re~~)
[System: Average stats detected at 78, exceeding human average of 75. Unlocking second stat panel.]
Jian Jing: "Isn't the average 6?"
[System: This is the average for adult females.]
Oh fine.
What was this second panel thing?
Character Stats (Second)
[Locked] Memory: 6 (Ability to remember, recognize and reproduce experiences)
[Locked] Flexibility: 6 (Flexibility and coordination of body parts)
[Locked] Immunity: 6 (Prevent pathogen invasion and timely clear anomalies)
[Locked] Adaptability: 6 (Tolerance for extreme environments)
[Locked] Reproduction: 6 (You know~)
Jian Jing: Cracked.
After painstakingly upgrading the damn stats to decent levels for a whole year, there were new panels unlocked?
This was clearly a money-grubbing system.
[System: Can use 3 beginner cards to synthesize unlocking card, unlocking second panel slots.]
Jian Jing: "What about adding points?"
[System: Synthesize 3 strengthening cards into 1 advanced strengthening card (1 pt)]
Jian Jing was exasperated: "Too troublesome, can I just draw 15 points directly?"
[System: Yes]
[System: New draw pool - Advanced unlocked]
[Spend 15 courage to draw (Advanced)]
[Pool includes but is not limited to: skill upgrade (beginner -> advanced), knowledge upgrade (beginner -> advanced), advanced strengthening (second stats) etc]
[System: Please note, Rome wasn't built in a day. Advanced pool is only to increase levels. Any knowledge or skills still need to be obtained starting from beginner. Please don't bite off more than you can chew.]
"Got it." What a nagging system.
Jian Jing started worrying.
She had originally planned to properly raise her stats a bit before officially encountering Scarface, to have more capabilities when dealing with him.
The extra cards didn't matter, she could synthesize strengthening cards to upgrade other skills.
But now there was an additional second strengthening panel out of nowhere. Should she unlock it?
She agonized for a few seconds before finally giving into the temptation, like when new gameplay unlocked in games.
Of the few strengthening options, Flexibility and Immunity were the most practical. The former allowed completing delicate tasks, while the latter could make her immune to some ingested toxins.
Unlocking both wasn't impossible, but she didn't have enough courage points for unlocking and upgrading!
How stingy.
After weighing the options, Jian Jing decided to unlock "Immunity". This was protection needed at all times.
The three beginner cards from before were synthesized into an [Unlocking Card], opening up the Immunity slot.
[Unlocked] Immunity: 6 (Your immune system is decent, working normally)
"Draw 1 advanced card."
[Drawing card...]
[Finished drawing advanced card]
[Name: Advanced Enhancement Card - Immunity (1 Point)]
[Content Description: Improve immunity, slightly enhance resistance to drugs/toxins]
[Note: Humans are far more fragile than you think~]
[Unlocked] Immunity: 7 (You have gained slight resistance to strange things)
Well done!
She went home feeling satisfied and took a bath before going to sleep.
She woke up at noon the next day to a phone call: "Who is it?"
"You're not up yet?" Ji Feng said in surprise. "Teacher Jian, your sleep schedule doesn't seem too healthy."
Jian Jing cleared her throat: "Why did you call me?"
"Are you free? I want to discuss something with you." Ji Feng replied.
Her: "Go ahead."
"I looked through Scar Man's files earlier, the earliest record was from 2009, but this case was already carried out very skillfully, so I think it probably wasn't his first crime." Ji Feng analyzed.
Jian Jing made an "mm" sound, and curiously asked: "So you want to find the first case?"
"No, I want to reinvestigate the 2009 case again." He said, "Since the previous cases were not included, something must be missing. There must be parts of this crime that were his first attempt."
"How will you investigate?"
Rustling pages could be heard over the phone as Ji Feng said: "Let me tell you about this case first. The victims were the Zeng family, grandparents and a young grandson. In 2007, their son and daughter-in-law passed away accidentally, leaving behind only a young grandson to be raised by his grandparents."
"According to relatives, the elderly couple both had retirement pensions, and the child was still young, so their days were manageable. Grandpa liked to play chess and would often go to the community center to play with other seniors all day long, while Grandma was in good health and very diligent, keeping the house tidy.
"The neighbors all felt that the Zengs were kind people who rarely argued with others, and had no enemies. But some close acquaintances said that the old lady had a flaw - she was prone to being scammed, and had bought several insurance policies despite people advising her not to and to just leave some security for her grandson."
Jian Jing keenly picked up on this: "The insurance salesman is suspicious?"
"Neighbors said that an insurance salesman had visited the Zengs several times in the months prior to the incident." Ji Feng said. "You have to know, there were no signs of forced entry at the crime scene. Other than neighbors and relatives, it could only have been these salespeople that the elderly couple opened the door for."
He paused, then explained his plan: "A resident living across from the Zengs saw this insurance agent before. I want to visit him again to see if I can find any useful clues."
Without hesitation, Jian Jing said: "I'm going too."
"Great." Ji Feng laughed. "It's a bit far, why don't we go today?"
