380: Chapter 380 A Short Hair Left at the Crime Scene

The flowerpot was moved aside, and beneath it was indeed a slip of paper.

Everyone was stunned for a moment, and then they all looked delighted.

This could be an important clue!

Qin Chuan gestured, and immediately a criminal investigator wearing white gloves used tweezers to pick up the slip of paper. He unfolded it to reveal a few printed words.

"This is the 18th one!"

Seeing these words, everyone grew furious. This had been left intentionally by the murderer, yet another provocation against the entire Northwest Province police system.

Taken literally, he had killed 17 people before; this was the 18th, and there might be a 19th, 20th, or even more in the future.

Secretary Wang Dafei was so angry that he slapped the balcony railing with a "bang." "Damn it, we must solve this case! We must catch the killer!"

Qin Chuan was much calmer and reminded them, "Take a look at this slip of paper. See if it has any value or if we can find any useful clues."

Several experienced criminal investigators examined it closely and shook their heads one after another.

Obviously, it had been torn from an ordinary sheet of A4 paper, and the words on it were printed rather than handwritten.

Nevertheless, they still placed it inside a transparent plastic bag and sealed it for preservation.

Qin Chuan said, "Everyone, search carefully again to see if there are any other discoveries."

The message pushed by the system had indicated that there was a short hair dropped by the killer on the edge of the balcony, so they had to look for it thoroughly.

A tiny short hair was such a small target that it would be difficult to find. However, there is strength in numbers; if everyone searched together, the probability of finding it would be much higher.

Qin Chuan's eyes were the sharpest, and he soon made a discovery. Pointing to the edge of the balcony, he said, "Everyone, come and look. There's a short hair here; it might have been accidentally dropped by the killer."

Really?

Everyone looked over in surprise. Two quick-reacting criminal investigators immediately walked over and, following where Qin Chuan was pointing, saw the short hair, which was only two or three centimeters long.

One investigator picked it up with tweezers, examined it, and deduced, "It should be male hair, belonging to a middle-aged man."

Secretary Wang Dafei became a bit excited. "Arrange for an inspection immediately. Use every technological means available."

Qin Chuan reminded him, "Especially the DNA from the hair. Once the testing is complete, run it through the DNA database for comparison."

Watching the investigator put the hair into a transparent plastic bag to take it for testing, Secretary Wang Dafei grasped Qin Chuan's hand.

"Comrade Qin Chuan, you truly have eyes like a hawk. With this discovery, I have a premonition that it will be a major breakthrough."

"Yes, I have a premonition too," Qin Chuan said. "It's very likely that this will be the breakthrough for solving the case."

Afterward, they surveyed the scene for a long time but found no other valuable clues.

The entire Xizhou City Municipal Public Security Bureau became busy. This murder case became the top priority among priorities, and everything revolved around it.

The news also spread like wildfire. Many local citizens knew about it and were discussing it quietly, their words filled with worry and panic.

"I heard another one was killed—a young girl only twenty-seven years old, murdered in a rental house!"

"This is already the 18th one, and the case still hasn't been solved. What are we going to do? Who will be next!"

"The police just restarted the investigation into these serial murders, and the killer went and murdered someone else. This is too arrogant!"

"..."

As panic spread among the public, the police were under great pressure. The entire Xizhou City was on edge, especially the young women.

Although the police increased their patrol efforts, it was very obvious that as soon as night fell, the number of young women seen out and about decreased significantly.

The DNA test results from the hair came back and entered the database comparison stage. Other than that, the case reached another stalemate, with almost no valuable clues.

After extensive interviews, checking numerous vehicles and suspicious individuals, and reviewing a large amount of surveillance footage around the crime scene, the police essentially came up empty-handed.

Before they knew it, 48 hours had passed.

While there was no progress on this case, another bank robbery that had gone unsolved for many years made a breakthrough under Qin Chuan's guidance. The identities of the suspects had been confirmed, and the police were already making arrests.

Inside the office.

Qin Chuan, Secretary Wang Dafei, and others sat on the sofa, drinking tea while discussing these long-standing cold cases they were supervising. When they mentioned this serial murder case, every one of them felt it was extremely thorny.

"Comrade Qin Chuan, it's fortunate that the bank robbery case you guided has made a breakthrough. It's a bit of a consolation prize; otherwise, we'd have nothing to show for our efforts."

Qin Chuan consoled him, "These are all cold cases. We solve what we can. I didn't demand that every single one be solved; solving half would be an excellent result. It's only been two days, so there's no rush."

While they were chatting, Secretary Wang Dafei's phone rang; someone from below was reporting in.

After taking the call, a look of joy clearly appeared on Secretary Wang Dafei's face. "Comrade Qin Chuan, good news! All three suspects in the bank robbery have been caught."

Hearing this, Qin Chuan gave a thumbs up. "Not bad. It's a good start. Within 48 hours of starting the 'storming the fortifications' operation, the first cold case has been solved."

This bank robbery occurred over ten years ago. A County Credit Union was robbed by three men; over a million yuan in cash was stolen, one bank employee was killed, and three others were injured.

The case had remained unsolved, and almost all the police officers believed that after so much time, it would never be solved. Who would have thought that under Secretary Qin Chuan's guidance, they would peel back the layers and solve the case step by step, with all three suspects now in custody.

His mood finally improved a bit, but what Secretary Wang Dafei hoped for most was the successful resolution of this serial murder case. The criminal was so arrogant that he had to be captured.

Furthermore, the public discussions were causing significant panic in society.

"Comrade Qin Chuan, do you think we can solve this serial murder case?"

Qin Chuan said with full confidence, "It can definitely be solved. I have a premonition that in three to five days at most, it will certainly be solved."

Secretary Wang Dafei added, "It's basically certain that the short hair left at the crime scene belongs to the killer. Will there be a result from the DNA database comparison?"

A moment later, Secretary Wang Dafei's phone rang again. After answering it, his expression became visibly solemn, and the slightly better mood he had just now vanished.

"Comrade Qin Chuan, some bad news. The DNA data comparison is complete, but no person was found whose DNA matches the short hair from the scene."

Qin Chuan nodded; this was within his expectations.

Northwest Province has a population of thirty to forty million, but fewer than ten million people have their samples in the DNA database—only about seven to eight million, or roughly one-fifth.

Finding the killer through the comparison would have been luck; not finding him is quite normal.

It didn't matter if they couldn't find him that way; Qin Chuan still had other methods, and he didn't feel as disappointed as Secretary Wang Dafei.