Gu Huai: "You're fierce, so am I."

Wang Weiguo turned to look at Gu Huai, thought for a moment, and said, "I remember you. I've seen your picture. You're a top student at the Handong Police Academy, right? You're Gu Huai, aren't you?"

"Yes, Wang Zhi," Gu Huai replied quickly. "I just arrived in Pengcheng today to report for duty, and we happened to run into each other."

Wang Weiguo nodded slowly, stopped exchanging pleasantries, and turned to look at Wu Feilin.

Wu Feilin glanced at Gu Huai, then explained to Wang Weiguo, "Gu Huai was the first person to contact the victim's family. He's quite familiar with the case. I only contacted him because he's still a newcomer..."

"Alright, no need to explain." Wang Weiguo waved his hand, interrupting Wu Feilin.

"Since you've been involved in this case from beginning to end, what are your thoughts?"

"Yes."

Gu Huai got up and walked towards the blackboard.

As he passed by Wu Feilin, he whispered a reminder to Gu Huai, "Behave yourself later, and don't say anything out of line."

Gu Huai nodded slightly without replying.

Although he understood that Wu Feilin's words were merely a reminder and had no other meaning.

Unfortunately, he couldn't do it his way.

Walking up to the blackboard, Gu Huai picked up the chalk and began to write on it.

[Acquaintance? Taxi driver, body dumping location, secondary act.]

"Firstly, judging from the cutting method, the murderer's crime was not a spur-of-the-moment act, but most likely a habit."

Wu Feilin originally thought that Gu Huai would come up and draw a conclusion directly, just like before.

He never expected that he would start analyzing things in such a serious manner.

Thinking about how his team members had just shown weakness in front of the team leader, Wu Feilin thought for a moment and then decided to cooperate with Gu Huai.

"You mean, this killer is a repeat offender?"

"Yes." Gu Huai nodded. "The fact that Zhang Zhenhua's genitals were removed proves this point."

"The culvert at the first crime scene had a significantly raised water level due to the intermittent rain over the previous few days. Under such adverse conditions, the suspect still stubbornly cut off Zhang Zhenhua's genitals, indicating that the object had special significance to the murderer."

This could mean it's a trophy, or it could be some kind of ritualistic act; however, I'm more inclined to believe it's a collectible.

The moment the word "collect" was uttered, the already oppressive atmosphere in the meeting room became even more tense.

Wang Weiguo nodded in satisfaction. In his opinion, it was truly remarkable that a newcomer could analyze a case to this extent.

"That's good. Is there anything else you'd like to add?"

"Yes." Gu Huai nodded. "The problem with this case now is the direction of the investigation."

"This case is quite different from ordinary robbery and murder. The murderer did not steal the car; the taxi keys were still in the ignition, and the change inside the car was not missing. This indicates that the murderer was not after money, at least not this time."

At this point, Gu Huai glanced at Wu Feilin.

With just that one glance, Wu Feilin immediately sensed something was wrong.

He had seen Gu Huai's gaze before in his office, and after that gaze appeared, Gu Huai made a solemn pledge.

Upon seeing that look, he almost immediately wanted to interrupt Gu Huai's next sentence.

However, at this moment, Wang Weiguo was watching Gu Huai with great interest. If Gu Huai were to speak, he might be stopped by Wang Weiguo.

Left with no other choice, he could only lower his head in anguish.

Why are they all such troublesome guys?

Seeing that Wu Feilin did not stop him, Gu Huai said, "Therefore, I initially speculate that this case may not belong to the same series as the situation reported by the taxi company."

He didn't want to rule out any possibility, so he changed the subject and added, "Of course, this is just my hypothesis, and further evidence is needed to support it."

"But if my hypothesis is correct, there's a real possibility that two groups of serial killers are currently lurking in Shenzhen!"

Upon hearing Gu Huai's words, Wu Feilin painfully covered his eyes.

Here we go again, making shocking judgments without any evidence.

He even suspected that Hou Hao's words were influenced by Gu Huai.

Wang Weiguo pondered for a moment, then asked with a serious expression, "What's the basis for your judgment?"

"No..." Gu Huai shrugged nonchalantly.

To date, Gu Huai has no evidence to prove his judgment.

The only useful thing is the memory that has always been in my mind.

In his memory, a large portion of the carjackers and murderers were women, and they would never commit a crime involving cutting off one's genitals.

However, these are the biggest secrets buried in his heart, and of course he could not tell anyone else.

Now he needs to convince these veteran police officers by relying on the existing, incomplete evidence.

Fortunately, Gu Huai's business experience in his previous life gave him good speaking skills, so he didn't show any fear in this situation.

So, before Wu Feilin could finish his reprimand, Gu Huai spoke up first: "However, I have some immature ideas that you seniors can consider."

Regardless of whether others wanted to listen, he drew a horizontal line under the words "acquaintance" and "body disposal location" on the blackboard.

"The culvert where the body was dumped is very remote; non-locals wouldn't even know about it. Furthermore, we didn't find any other signs of a struggle on the deceased or inside the taxi. Therefore, I boldly guess that the murderer was likely someone the deceased knew or was acquainted with."

"At least, the victim was completely unprepared before the murderer committed the crime."

"Then what does this have to do with the two groups you just mentioned?" Wu Feilin asked preemptively.

"Because the other group was after money," Gu Huai explained. "We learned from the taxi company manager Zhu's confession that after the other missing persons disappeared, their vehicles would appear in other cities in the province, and the fate of those missing persons is still unknown. If this was done by the same group, there shouldn't be such a big difference between the two."

Gu Huai's analysis may be somewhat far-fetched in terms of the chain of evidence.

For example, Gu Huai's analysis cannot rule out the possibility that the murderer committed the crime in the heat of the moment.

Moreover, so far, the general consensus is that the other taxi drivers are only missing, and they would never so easily believe Gu Huai's statement.

But Gu Huai's words just now undoubtedly planted a seed of doubt in everyone's hearts.

However, the first principle for police officers, especially criminal investigators, is to be suspicious of everything.

Once this seed of doubt is planted, a qualified criminal investigator must prove it false.

Wang Weiguo pondered for a moment before saying, "Alright then, Lao Zhou, your Second Brigade should send some people to the taxi company to investigate and review unsolved missing persons cases in the city and surrounding areas over the past six months, especially taxi driver disappearances, to see if there are any similar cases."

"Yes," Zhou Shouzhen replied.

"Xiao Li, your Third Brigade should go to the market and find those taxis that have already been sold. Make sure to find the source. While investigating, contact your colleagues in other places and ask if there have been any cases of genital mutilation in their jurisdictions. I suspect this case may be a mobile crime."

"Understood!" Li Feng answered crisply as he stood up.

"Old Wu, your team is specifically in charge of Zhang Zhenhua's case. Find out his social connections and whether he has any enemies, and give the victim's family an explanation as soon as possible."

"learn."

Seeing that the detachment leader did not blame him, Wu Feilin secretly breathed a long sigh of relief, and then looked at Gu Huai with a complicated expression.

By now, he seemed to have grasped some of the meaning behind Gu Huai's actions.

"Before we conclude, I'd like to say a few final words."

As soon as he finished speaking, the entire conference room fell silent.

"Today is the second day of the Lunar New Year. I know you're resentful because I called you back from the dinner table, from the mahjong table, and from your beds."

Wang Weiguo's voice was not loud, but every word he spoke was powerful and resonant.

"But what I want to tell you is that while we were having our New Year's Eve dinner and our families were reunited, a taxi driver had his manhood cut off and was left in a culvert to bleed to death."

His wife just gave birth, and the baby was born without a father. His elderly mother lies in bed waiting for her son to come home, still unaware of the truth!

He paused for a moment, his gaze sweeping over everyone present.

"For this case, the brigade has set up a special task force, with me personally serving as the team leader and Fei Lin as the deputy team leader. All personnel in the brigade, from myself down, have had their leave canceled and are required to return to their posts."

"clear!"

After assigning their respective duties, Wang Weiguo finally looked at Gu Huai.

"Xiao Gu, although you haven't officially started working yet, you've been following this case from the beginning. You'll continue to work on it, and Captain Wu will be your mentor."

Gu Huai straightened his chest and answered crisply, "Yes!"

Wang Weiguo didn't say anything more, picked up his military overcoat, put it on, and strode out of the conference room.

After he left, the others in the conference room also stood up and left the office one after another.

After most of the people had left, Wu Feilin let out a long sigh of relief, and then glared fiercely at Hou Hao.

Hou Hao was so frightened that he took half a step back.

Then he turned to look at Gu Huai and said in an annoyed tone.

"Don't just stand there, let's go!"