Sweeping Mouse Ridge – Prologue : 7

The sacrifice of Fang Zhifeng, Director of the Chunliu Subdistrict Public Security Office, not only brought an end to the “Western Suburbs Serial Murders” incident but also completely exposed the vicious serial killer to the police.

Fang Zhifeng, 48 years old, was originally a security officer at a municipal cement company. He had taken early retirement due to hepatitis. Coincidentally, Chunliu Subdistrict responded to the call from higher authorities to rejuvenate and professionalize its grassroots cadres, so the former director of the Public Security Office voluntarily retired and recommended Fang Zhifeng to succeed him.

Fang Zhifeng had suffered from illness for many years, becoming thin and always appearing sallow. However, after assuming the position of director of the Public Security Office, he devoted himself wholeheartedly. He not only established a well-trained joint defense team and developed patrol routes and schedules based on the specific circumstances of the community but also invited teachers from China Police University to conduct legal education and safety awareness training for residents, greatly improving the community’s security situation and earning praise from the district government. If the second case involving the “Western Suburbs Serial Murders” hadn’t occurred in Chunliu Subdistrict, the district would have been prepared to award him the title of “Advanced Community Worker.”

This case put him under immense pressure. Aside from the fact that the suspect had escaped the pursuit of the joint defense team, resulting in a severe scolding from Du Jianping, some residents also subtly mocked his efforts in maintaining community security, calling it all “paper tigers.” This disheartened him, and he repeatedly offered to resign to the subdistrict leaders: “For the past six months, I’ve been running around doing nothing but thankless work. I’d rather go home and cook for my daughter!”

Fang Zhifeng divorced his wife long ago and raised his daughter, Fang Mei, alone. Fang Mei was seventeen years old and in high school. Perhaps traumatized by her parents’ arguments as a child, this seemingly sickly girl was quiet and reserved, always shrouded in a gray aura, as if living in shadow, which greatly worried Fang Zhifeng.

After repeated requests, the street leaders agreed to let him go home once the case was solved, saying, “We’ll keep an eye on things for a while longer.” Fang Zhifeng reluctantly muttered, “Lately, I feel like someone’s watching our family… As the head of the public security office, I can’t let things get so bad that I’ve neglected everyone else and ended up losing my own family too.”

It wasn’t until after the incident that people realized how ominous his words were.

Around the time Li Ziyong was sitting at the entrance of Old Gu’s Barbecue Restaurant, vomiting uncontrollably, the 110 emergency hotline received a frantic call from an elderly woman reporting a murder in her neighbor’s house. The husband had been killed, and his daughter had locked herself in her room and wouldn’t open the door no matter how much they called… Given the recent series of murders in the western suburbs, the city police had opened a special internal hotline; any suspected connection to the case was to be immediately reported to the Special Task Force.

The Special Task Force team was gathered in a specially designated office in the district detective team, eating Lihua Fast Food while assigning tasks to investigate suspicious orders at the headquarters of Dangdang.com and Joyo.com. Upon hearing the message and crime scene address relayed by 110, Chai Yongjin, holding a piece of braised ribbonfish, paused midair: “Isn’t that Old Fang’s house?” Du Jianping was still a little confused: “Which Old Fang?” Lao Chai replied: “Which other Old Fang?”

Du Jianping’s head buzzed. He threw his lunchbox on the table, jumped up, and ran downstairs. Several young detectives followed behind, almost unable to catch him.

The crime scene investigation and forensic pathologist’s examination results were as follows: the crime scene was located in Room 302, Unit 4, Building 3, Fourth Community, Chunliu Street. The deceased was identified as the homeowner, Fang Zhifeng. The scene of death was located in front of the TV cabinet in the living room. The body was lying face down, head to the north and feet to the south. Several parts of his clothing were torn. Clear fingerprints were found on a torn button, and a mixture of Fang Zhifeng’s shoe prints and other shoe prints was found on the floor. The sofa, dining table, and chairs in the living room were either moved or overturned, and a large number of tableware and glassware were broken, indicating a violent struggle had taken place. The deceased’s skull showed multiple arc-shaped, steplike fractures and circular fractures, clearly the result of blunt force trauma. Comparison of the wounds suggested the use of the same hammer as in previous cases in the “Western Suburbs Serial Murders” case, but no weapon was found in or near the scene. The door locks in the scene showed no signs of forced entry, and the windows were closed from the inside, showing no signs of forced entry.

When the police arrived, Fang Zhifeng’s daughter, Fang Mei, remained locked in her bedroom and refused to open the door. The police had to break down the door. Inside, Fang Mei was alone, disheveled, dazed, and huddled in a corner, tears streaming down her face, trembling. An examination revealed a hammer wound to her left shoulder. The police questioned her several times, but she remained silent. Considering the possibility of post-traumatic stress disorder, the police did not press her further and took her to the hospital.

According to the elderly woman who reported the incident, around 9:30 p.m. that evening, she was watching the TV series “The Grand Mansion Gate” at home when she suddenly heard shouting, fighting, and loud noises of furniture being kicked over and dishes being smashed coming from the room across the hall. She was puzzled because they were longtime neighbors and knew each other well; the house belonged to Fang Zhifeng, the director of the neighborhood security office, and his daughter, and the father and daughter were always quiet…

Soon, everything quieted down. The old woman opened the door and peered through the security door for a long time. She noticed both doors to the Fang family’s house were ajar, not fully closed. Although the lights were on inside, there wasn’t a sound. She called out “Old Fang” several times, but no one answered. She called out “Xiao Mei” several times, but still no one answered. Becoming frightened, she forcefully pulled her son, who was playing computer games, from his chair. “Go check across the street!” she said, and that was when she discovered the murder.

Two other important details were quickly uncovered by the police during their subsequent investigation.

One was that that evening, the district government convened an emergency meeting with the directors of the public security offices of various streets. They proposed actively cooperating with the police, focusing on four aspects: public awareness campaigns, mobilizing the masses, strengthening joint defense, and conducting door-to-door visits, to increase the deterrent effect on the “Western Suburbs Serial Killer,” ensuring he “wouldn’t be able to escape and would be caught if he tried.” The meeting ended at nine o’clock, and it took thirty minutes by bicycle to get from the district government to Fang Zhifeng’s home in Chunliu Street.

Another source, an elderly man who rode an exercise bike in the outdoor fitness area of ​​the Fourth Community in Chunliu Street, said that between 9:30 and 10:00 p.m., he saw a young man running frantically out of the fourth entrance of Building 3. He described the young man as having a broad face, square jaw, triangular eyes, a fierce appearance, and a small, fuzzy mustache. “If I see him again, I’ll recognize him,” the man said.

Based on the above information, the police’s preliminary conclusion regarding Fang Zhifeng’s murder was that on the night in question, the culprit of the “Western Suburbs Serial Murders” broke into Fang Zhifeng’s home and attacked Fang Mei, who was home alone, attempting to sexually assault her. Fang Zhifeng happened to return home from work and engaged in a fierce struggle with the criminal, tragically dying in the process. Her father sacrificed his life to buy time, allowing Fang Mei to hide in her bedroom and lock the door. The criminal, fearing the noise of the struggle had attracted the attention of bystanders and called the police, hurriedly fled.

However, Du Jianping noticed a crucial difference: this time, the criminal’s modus operandi was distinctly different from previous cases. He didn’t strike from behind the moment the target opened the door but instead entered the house before launching the attack. More importantly, there were no signs of forced entry on the security door or interior doors and windows, indicating that Fang Mei had deliberately opened the door to commit the crime.

“Fang Mei likely knows the criminal,” Du Jianping concluded, immediately dispatching Chai Yongjin and others to the hospital. “Regardless of Fang Mei’s condition, we must make her tell the truth immediately! Every second of delay gives the criminal more time to escape!”

But before Chai Yongjin could even set off, unexpected news allowed the Special Task Force to identify the true culprit ahead of time.

After receiving the police’s request for assistance, the relevant departments of Dangdang.com and Amazon China actively cooperated, retrieving all orders for the Japanese mystery manga series purchased in the western suburbs. This manga series was incredibly niche; only three sets were sold in the western suburbs over the entire year: one by the district library, one by a fairly well-known domestic cartoonist—a girl with severe autism—and the third by a buyer named Zhou Liping, whose home address happened to be just across the street from Chunliu Street on Dongqing Street.

After contacting the local police station, the Special Task Force team learned even more exciting information: Zhou Liping was seventeen years old and a classmate of Fang Mei at the same high school. His family situation was rather unusual; his parents divorced when he was in elementary school and remarried, neither willing to care for him. His aunt adopted him, but he didn’t live with her family; instead, he lived in a semi-basement apartment in the same building. This person was withdrawn and eccentric. He had previously received a disciplinary record from school for molesting female students. Notably, the ID photo retrieved from the local police station showed that his appearance perfectly matched the description of “wide face, square jaw, triangular eyes, and a small, fuzzy mustache”!

When Du Jianping, leading a team of detectives, kicked open the door to Zhou Liping’s semi-basement apartment, they found it dark and eerily quiet. For a moment, they assumed Zhou Liping had fled. However, when the yellow beam of their flashlights shone on the worn-out single bed, all the detectives were horrified. Zhou Liping lay motionless on the bed, covered by the blankets like a zombie—in his decades of service, Du Jianping had never encountered such a terrifying individual. Even ordinary citizens would tremble with fear if their door was banged on in the middle of the night, yet this man, after committing numerous crimes, could sleep soundly, completely disregarding the police’s pursuit!

So, when Chai Yongjin and the others rushed forward, yelling, cursing, and tearing at Zhou Liping, dragging him off the bed and handcuffing him behind his back, Du Jianping suddenly felt a strange sense of absurdity.

Zhou Liping offered no resistance, not even uttering a sound of pain from his twisted arms; he merely winced.

Du Jianping found the light switch on the wall by the door, pressed it with a “click,” and the overhead bulb hummed twice before illuminating the room with a “pop.” The room was tiny, about eleven or twelve square meters, and filthy everywhere: a sock with a hole in the big toe lay under the single bed; the zipper of the simple green checkered wardrobe was wide open, and the clothes inside were piled up like an overflowing garbage can; an old Lenovo 586 computer sat on a gray computer desk, the edges of the keyboard and mouse covered in mortar; various CDs were stacked haphazardly beside it, including “Romance of the Three Kingdoms” and “Civilization II,” as well as various Japanese AV actresses’ adult films…

The room reeked of the pungent stench unique to teenage boys, and the large blackened walls around the radiator seemed to tangibly visualize this stench, making it even more nauseating. A row of glass windows stood atop the north wall. Through the filthy glass, one could see drainage grates resembling prison bars. A row of shoes lay on the windowsill, the mold on the soles so thick it almost glued the shoes to the windowsill like a dark green blob…

“Do you know why we arrested you? Do you know what you did? Where is the murder weapon? Are there any accomplices?” Faced with this barrage of questions from the police, Zhou Liping remained silent, sitting on the floor in a vest and shorts, appearing completely submissive. His acne-covered, broad face was expressionless, his cold gaze seeming to freeze every question, never to thaw.

The search of Zhou Liping’s room yielded both regret and discovery. Unfortunately, the crucial evidence—the hammer that had claimed four lives—was not found. However, a pair of sneakers was found under the bed. It was immediately apparent to the naked eye that the pattern and wear on the soles perfectly matched the shoe prints left by the criminal on Fang Zhifeng’s floor, even containing a few shards of glass! More importantly, the fingerprints taken from Zhou Liping’s hand were immediately sent to the branch bureau’s criminal technology center. The computer comparison concluded that the fingerprints were from the same person as those extracted from the torn button on Fang Zhifeng’s clothes!

When Chai Yongjin arrived at the hospital and told Fang Mei about the situation, encouraging her “not to be afraid of retaliation, to tell the truth,” Fang Mei raised her uninjured hand, covered her face, and cried for a long, long time, tears streaming from between her fingers. Only then did she admit that Zhou Liping was her classmate, and they often exchanged comics. On the night of the incident, Zhou Liping came to her house to retrieve a set of Japanese mystery comics he had lent her.

Suddenly, he struck her on the back of the head with a hammer. She dodged, but the hammer struck her shoulder, causing her excruciating pain that nearly made her faint. Zhou Liping then viciously lunged at her to rape her. Just then, her father returned home and, while fighting with Zhou Liping, told her to go back to her room and lock the door. She rushed into the room, locked the door, and froze in fear. Even after the living room fell silent, she remained curled up, holding her breath, like a living fetus trapped in the womb of a mother who had died in childbirth.

The case was solved!

The detectives, who had worked day and night for nearly two months on the “Western Suburbs Serial Murders,” embraced each other in excitement, some even weeping with joy. When Li Ziyong sobered up and learned the news, it was already the next morning.

Unlike the other police officers, he didn’t cheer or feel dejected for failing to capture Zhou Liping. He simply stood in the corridor of the detective team’s office building, smoking one cigarette after another. In the evening, a colleague returning from the cafeteria found the corridor empty; Zhou Liping was nowhere to be seen, and a pile of cigarette butts, stubbed out like a grave, lay on the ground…