“The victim’s name is Yang Shijin. Eighteen years old, high school dropout. She was reported missing after a part time job in the harbor in the outskirts of city B. The one who made the report was her brother, Yang Shiluo.” Jin Renguang, Captain of the Special Crime Investigation Unit, pointed the laser toward a girl’s formal photo on the screen.

It was a slender built, oval faced girl with grey eyes. She had shoulder length hair, and her eyes stared straight, looking very much like a good student. Alas, in the dark meeting room, her face was the only one illuminated through everyone’s eyes, as if she was looking at them squarely. It was kind of hair-raising.

Especially when such a photo was being paired with the gory photograph which contained only half a leg. That’s right, it was only a slender, bloodstained leg which was severed below the knees.

Jin Renguang continued, “She is the second victim this year, and this one is found in the parking lot of Jiang Park Mall. Someone saw a bag on the ground and brought it to the lost and found station only to discover heavy stench coming from it. After that, the mall’s security guard contacted us.” He pursed his lips, his face solemn and grave. “Tang Wei.”

“Here,” A bespectacled man replied, his head lifted a bit from the notes in front of him.

“Tell us the progress of the case.”

“So far, this is the 13th victim. From last year, we have identified 11 victims and found all the scattered body parts throughout the entire City S, City H, and City T. As we found a suspicious point which gave us clues to find him, he had already run away to City A. We lost track of him afterward.” He pushed his glasses up and frowned.

“And then, on 15th September, we received a missing person case but it was only handled by the local police department. 23rd December, the missing person was found buried under the landslide, and clutched on her hand was a torn note that had a butterfly drawing on it. The same pattern was found on all the body pieces on the victims. That’s why we concluded that this was the same case.”

Jin Renguang pondered, “If she is killed, then we will have 12 victims last year.”

“That’s right,” Tang Wei replied and pressed on the remote control and the slide in the screen changed, showing the photograph of a girl’s face and the scene where she was rescued. “But the medic secured her life at last, the victim’s name is Shi Nian, and so far, she was the only one that somehow escaped alive. However, currently she suffered from PTSD and lost her memory of the accident.”

The screen changed again to show another person. “The first victim this year, Su Bina was a twenty two years old office worker, because she had been absent from work for three days straight, her colleagues called her to inquire only to find that she hadn’t been home at all.”

“We discovered torso, left leg, left hand and head spread throughout numerous busy places in City A. So far, no information about the remaining pieces could be found and we are still searching. The forensics matched the DNA with the database and found that it belonged to Su Bina who was reported missing on 28th March. This time, we found a right leg and thought that it was Su Bina’s but turns out the DNA was completely different which leads to this discovery.”

Even though the room held eight people, the sound of Wang Chengbing typing on the laptop was the only sound heard.

Tang Wei concluded his remarks. “Thus, 12th April, we found another victim, Yang Shijin.”

Jin Renguang grinned darkly. “This bastard is getting more and more fearless. But at least, we can confirm that he is still in City A and he will not kidnap more than one person at the same time.”

Xu Binchen sneered, added. “And by the time we find three or more parts of this girl’s body, everything will start all over again.”

Jin Renguang’s face turned dark. Not only him, but everyone also. They had been chasing this man for a year with no avail. It was truly vexing! How frustrating! Every time they thought that they could finally catch him, he would always slip away like an eel, slippery and tricky.

“The surveillance systems around the area?”

“She took a shortcut around the narrow alleys. There aren’t any CCTVs there.”

“Have you interrogated Yang Shijin’s family?”

“Yes.” Another detective answered. “But there’s a little problem. Yang Shijin only has her mother and little brother. Her brother is truly ignorant, stupid, he doesn’t even care about her sister’s job. While her mother was diagnosed with stroke last year, her motoric function is degenerating each day. Now she can’t walk and talk anymore. Similarly, she has no clear idea about her daughter’s job. Truly…” The man sneered. “A very harmonious family.”

“Another broken family…” Jin Renguang muttered under his breath.

“Captain.” Tang Wei called out. “Then, can we conclude that the serial killer only targets people with incomplete family?”

Xu Binchen frowned at his remarks. It was indeed true, so far, the only connection they investigated between the victims was the fact that they came from broken families, either one of their parents had passed away or divorced.

But in this world, there were so many people who had broken families, how could they investigate them one by one?

There ought to be another relation, another string that they weren’t aware of yet…

Jin Renguang shook his head. “Even though it’s true, we can’t use this one clue. It’s practically useless.”

What he said was exactly Xu Binchen’s thoughts. “Captain, how about the victims’ interpersonal relationships and social relations?”

“There aren’t any relations at all.” The victims came from all walks of life and occupation, the only boundary was their age which was around 20s with Shi Nian being the youngest one and the only anomaly.

The room sank into heavy silence.

Except for the fact that there were victims and they knew the murderer was a man, they almost didn’t know anything else beyond that. He kidnapped people, killed them brutally and dumped their bodies. All was done without leaving any trace.

How could such a person exist in this world?

“First, from now on, we will take over all of the missing person cases in City A.”

Came a frustrated whine. “Captain! There have been almost thirty cases of missing people just in the last two months!”

Jin Renguang barked out. “Then investigate them one by one!”

Everyone in the room groaned in annoyance. There came another week of sleepless nights…

Jin Renguang rubbed his face roughly. “Search around the perimeter of the parking lot in Jiang Park Mall. Xu Binchen and Wang Chengbing, I trust you with the surviving victim.” Xu Binchen and Wang Chengbing nodded. “Tang Wei, how about the help we’re requesting?”

“Yes,” Speaking of it, Tang Wei’s eyes lit up. “We have received a response from the main headquarters. Aside from someone in forensics, they will also send a criminal psychologist.”

“A criminal psychologist?”

“Yes, it’s her!” Tang Wei’s hands shook from excitement, his face flushed pink.. His fanboy aura was leaking out miles away. “The youngest criminal psychologist in our country who worked for the FBI to solve the recent terrorist case, Ru Meiqi!”