Chapter Seventy: Mysterious and Confusing

  The power came back for four hours last night, then stopped again for a day, and didn't come back until after 6 pm today. The electrical wires downstairs are being replaced, don't know how long the power will be on this time. It's 36 degrees Celsius outside, no fans, it's like boiling in a pot! Can only update once today.

  It's high noon, with the sun shining brightly.

  In the vast blue sky with no clouds, there is only one red sun, hanging high in the air, tirelessly releasing that scorching heat.

  Thirty-five or six degrees of high temperature, reminding all living things that the scorching summer has arrived. Even on a small path between the mountains and surrounded by orchards, it feels abnormally hot.

  In rural areas, unlike in cities, people work from morning till night. In the countryside, farming tasks are busy, and lunch is eaten relatively late, usually around 1:30 to 2:00 pm. Villagers who are busy with farm work or those who go out to market will only return home for lunch.

  When Yang Jie arrived at the scene again, it happened to be the rural people's meal time. The site that was previously crowded with people now had only a few police officers from the police station standing guard outside the warning line, preventing anyone from damaging the scene.

  The detective auxiliary system was always on, and Yang Jie walked along the way, searching for the subtle clues hidden in the small roads and fruit forests.

  After systematic strengthening, Yang Jie's keen sense of smell, comparable to that of a police dog, and his visual memory, similar to that of a photocopier, allow him to find differences in the ordinary and discover clues from minute details.

  The small path next to the winery is a must-pass route for both the winery workers and the villagers of Yangjia Village, who walk through it every day. With more people walking, the trail becomes harder to find.

  Especially after the body was found, many villagers came to watch, and even people from nearby villages came. So, not to mention outside the police line, but even inside the police line, I'm afraid many clues were destroyed.

  All the way, looking at the small path and the fruit forest, Yang Jie quickly analyzed in his mind that Wang Guixi left the winery after the night shift last night and walked along the small path back to Yangjia Village when he encountered the murderer.

  When the winery is busy with production tasks, it will be divided into three shifts: morning, noon and night. The other day, the Huanghe Winery was invested by foreign businessmen, its reputation increased greatly, and its products were in short supply. Therefore, the winery recently added a night shift, and the end of the night shift is at 12 o'clock at night.

  That is to say, Wang Guixi left the winery alone after 12 o'clock at night. At that time, the gatekeeper Yang Shoubing can testify. It can be initially determined that Wang Guixi was killed on a small path between 12 and 1 o'clock.

  In the past few days, there has been no rain in Qujiang County. The sky is clear and sunny, with not a cloud in sight. Last night, the bright moon hung high in the sky, illuminating the earth. Walking on the small path, you don't even need to use a flashlight.

  So the murderer, in order to avoid the brewery workers who got off work earlier, would definitely not be lurking by the side of the path. After all, the moonlight was bright, and he was hiding relatively close, so it's possible that he could have been discovered by people returning home from work.

  Yang Jie thought of this, jumped down from the small path, came to the Wumei forest, looking at a row of neatly planted Yangmei trees, Yang Jie took the scene as the center, and went around the fruit tree forest to the distance.

  To track down the murderer, one must first put themselves in the shoes of the murderer and think from their perspective about how to find a favorable location to lie in wait.

  The murderer stabbed Wang Guixi thirteen times, each of which was fatal, and lay in wait on the small path where the visual blind spot was located. From this, it can be seen that the murderer is very familiar with the small path and the surrounding terrain, and even more familiar with Wang Guixi's work schedule at the winery.

  The murderer was not acting on impulse, but had premeditated the murder. Since it was a premeditated murder, he must have gone to the nearby area to choose an ambush location. That ambush location was definitely not the place with many cigarette butts that Deng Xiancheng and others had discovered earlier.

  Because it's too close to the path, if it's a dark night where you can't see your hand in front of your face, hiding there might still be safe from detection. But on a clear moonlit night with excellent visibility, the killer would definitely be discovered hiding there.

  Far away from the warning line, Yang Jie carefully looked at the small path where villagers irrigated and fertilized in the orchard.

  Yangmei is picked once a year. As long as it's off the tree, there will be fewer people walking around inside. If the murderer has been lurking around recently, they must have left some clues behind.

  The detective auxiliary system is not only for criminal investigation, but also for special reconnaissance. With the help of this system, Yang Jie has become a special soldier with rich jungle tracking experience. He can quickly detect any clues in the forest.

  Footprint!

  Yang Jie's eyes swept over a two-meter-tall Yangmei tree in front of him, and suddenly he felt something was off, his gaze froze.

  It's been nearly two months since the time for picking yangmei passed, and now the small paths in the orchard are all overgrown with weeds. It can be seen that during this period of time, the owner of the yangmei trees hasn't come to weed.

  Along the way, there were no footprints by the trees, except for this one tree. This tree had lush branches and leaves, making it a good hiding spot at night. People on the small path in the distance would have a hard time discovering it. The footprints looked new, likely left recently.

  Standing near this Yangmei tree, looking towards the distant path, Yang Jie found that the view here is extremely good, not only can see people coming from the direction of the winery, but also can see people coming from the direction of the village entrance, it's an excellent observation point.

  After initially determining that this was the killer's hiding place, Yang Jie crouched down and looked at the several shoe prints on the yellow soil. He stretched out his hand to compare them and found that they were 38 cm long sports shoes. The heels of both feet had worn-out outer edges, and the sole patterns had disappeared. It was judged that the killer walked with an outward eight-character gait, wearing down the outer edges of the heels.

  According to the shoe print analysis, it is not a common rural villager's liberation shoes, but rather a higher-end sneakers. Based on the depth of the shoe prints and the shoe size, the perpetrator's height is approximately between 1.62 meters and 1.67 meters, weighing around 65 kilograms, with sturdy muscles and quick movements.

  Found the correct location of the killer's ambush, Yang Jie took this yangmei tree as the center and began to look for other traces left by the killer.

  Within a hundred-meter radius, Yang Jie carefully searched every inch and found some traces that had been deliberately erased. The technique used to erase the traces was very skilled, leaving almost no useful clues behind.

  Yang Jie couldn't understand why the murderer, who was able to erase all other traces, didn't also erase the footprints under the Yang Mei tree, but instead left a few clear shoe prints behind. Was he forgetful or trying to interfere with the investigation?

  Although there were many doubts and few clues, Yang Jie still found a thread of clue from the way the murderer cleared the traces.

  The perpetrator's method was seasoned, ruthless and cunning, extremely familiar with the surrounding terrain, and the chosen observation point was excellent, just like a reconnaissance soldier who is proficient in jungle warfare.

  Thinking of the scout, Yang Jie's heart moved involuntarily. In terms of reconnaissance skills and actual combat experience, who in Xunhe County could be more formidable than his father, Yang Xinhu? If this person was indeed a scout, he would definitely not escape Yang Xinhu's sharp eyes.

  Wang Guixi's body had been taken away by the forensic doctor, so Yang Jie couldn't find any other clues on Wang Guixi. Since no other clues could be found at the crime scene, Yang Jie didn't waste any more time and turned to head in the direction of the winery.

  Deng Xiancheng is the captain of the criminal police team, with rich experience in criminal investigation. Yang Xinhuais an old detective, with a pair of sharp eyes. They may have different views on the murderer. Yang Jie wants to hear their opinions and then make a comprehensive analysis.

  Walking into Yang Xinhua's office with ease, he saw that County Bureau Criminal Police Team Captain Deng Xian was indeed in the office.

  "Captain Deng, how's the investigation at the scene? Have you found any new leads?" Yang Jie called out to Yang Xinhua as he entered, then looked over at Deng Xiancheng sitting on the sofa.

  "After a thorough investigation and analysis, we found that the murderer is extremely cunning. He created many fake clues near the crime scene in an attempt to interfere with our investigation. The hiding place we discovered earlier was also a deliberate fabrication by the murderer." Deng Xiancheng didn't hide anything from Yang Jie and directly told him about the latest situation.

  Yang Xinhua furrowed his brow, sitting across from Deng Xiancheng, seemingly deep in thought. Yang Jie saw this and said: "Dad, Captain Deng, I just went back to the crime scene again and found some fresh shoe prints under a bayberry tree thirty meters outside the police cordon. It's probably left by the killer."

  I then carefully examined the nearby orchard and found that some traces had been cleared by someone, with a very skilled technique, like a special forces soldier who was proficient in jungle warfare. So I also suspected that the killer might be a retired scout with actual combat experience, such as a veteran of the Vietnam War.

  Thanks to old friend 'Less nonsense' for 100 starting coins reward and 'Lonely Bamboo Rain Sword' for 200 starting coins reward support! Thanks!