Chapter 820: Framing and Shifting Blame
So this killer held a grudge over the matter. As time passed, the suffocating anger in his heart grew heavier. Every time he saw his rival and the woman he liked being all lovey-dovey at work, or clinging to each other as they left together after their shifts, the bitterness and resentment festered inside him.
Especially when that young man who worked the night shift knew the killer also liked her.
So he would often flaunt right in front of the killer, deliberately showing off that he had won the love and body of that female colleague.
Finally, the killer couldn't take it anymore.
One day, while scrolling through his phone, he came across news about the serial cases happening in Nancheng City. That's when he decided to impersonate that murderer.
Kill the young night-shift man and frame the real killer.
And so, he went and did exactly that.
When the police heard all this.
They were stunned for a moment. Although it sounded perfectly reasonable, they still didn't believe it.
Because there was one crucial detail.
The real serial killer always carved a bloody name on the victim's stomach after each crime — the name of a famous person from this world.
Only the police investigators working on this case knew about this common victim characteristic. It had never been made public, precisely to prevent copycat killers. And that was exactly why this proved the sixth victim was also killed by the same murderer.
If not for that shared victim characteristic, then even if this killer murdered the young night-shift man and tried to frame someone else, the police would never have bought it.
Because the real killer's first five victims were all young women who worked at nightclubs.
So why would the sixth one suddenly be a young man coming off his night shift?
At this, the police continued interrogating the killer, asking him: since you killed that young night-shift man, how did you know about the victim characteristic that only the police and the real killer were aware of?
The killer answered at that time.
He was also an eyewitness.
He had personally witnessed the real killer raping and murdering a young woman at a nightclub.
After the real killer finished and left, he walked over and saw the name carved on the dead young woman's belly.
Based on that, plus his own judgment.
He left that victim characteristic to mislead the police.
At this, the police were naturally half-convinced and half-doubtful. They had to continue investigating, not taking a one-sided story at face value.
After a thorough investigation, countless results ultimately confirmed that this killer wasn't lying. He was indeed a copycat murderer. As for the so-called sixth victim, that young night-shift man.
He simply didn't belong to this series of rape-and-murder cases.
And so, this series of cases.
Only had six victims.
After that, the progress on this case hit a dead end, and it stayed stuck until now.
The real killer had no intention of committing more crimes, leaving no new breakthrough points.
The police could only keep investigating the six victims, digging into their lives.
Desperately trying to find a crack.
After finishing reading about the entire process of this series case up to the present.
Jiang Ran had also finished his duck leg rice.
He took out his own napkin, wiped his mouth, and left that Sha County snack joint.
Walking down the street, he recalled that he had once prayed no new victims would appear.
His prayer had been answered — no new victims showed up. But it was because the killer had stopped, not because he'd been caught.
"I remember... the White Streak Serial Killer Case that shook the whole country... that killer was pretty much the same way."
Jiang Ran opened Doubao and searched for that case.
After searching, he found it was exactly as he thought. That killer stopped for six years after his first crime before striking again.
After the second crime, another four-year gap.
After the third strike, he quit completely.
That spanned fourteen years.
All victims were female, eleven in total.
And all of them were young women.
As for why he stopped three times.
The first two times, it was fear, terror — afraid of getting caught.
He planned to wait until people gradually forgot, then strike again.
As for the final time, quitting for good after fourteen years.
That was due to several reasons.
First: he was old, his physical condition deteriorating. Committing crimes would be too risky.
Second: his son had gotten a government job. He was afraid his actions would affect his son.
Third: he might still have been afraid of getting caught. The police had never given up on the case.
"All these sick perverts... getting caught and sentenced to death is still too good for scum like them!"
Jiang Ran shoved his phone back into his pants pocket and cursed angrily.
"Just don't let me run into this killer still committing crimes. If I do, I'm definitely stepping in to save people."
Inside the inner landscape world.
Blue-Haired Jiang Ran was monitoring the outside situation.
He commented sarcastically: "If anyone's a pervert here, it's you who's the real freak."
Smoky Makeup Jiang Ran chuckled: "I hope that when our main personality here, with his innocent memories, finds out what he really is... his Dao heart doesn't completely shatter."
...
Originally, the Nancheng City police wanted to use that killer who murdered the young night-shift man.
After all, he was the only eyewitness who had actually seen the real killer commit murder.
But unfortunately.
From start to finish, the real killer had disguised himself perfectly. He never showed his face.
And it was dark that night.
So the copycat killer couldn't provide any useful information at all.
He could only roughly describe the real killer's height and build.
He took out his own napkin, wiped his mouth, and left that snack joint in Sha County.
Actually, if that eyewitness had immediately called the police after witnessing the real killer commit murder.
Maybe the case would have been solved.
Even if it wasn't solved, at least things would be better than now.
According to the killer's own account.
From the moment he saw the real killer commit murder until the killer left.
He had actually only witnessed the latter half of the crime.
At most, about ten or fifteen minutes.
Of course, ten or fifteen minutes was still enough time to call the police. They could have sent the nearest officers to the scene.
But he didn't call.
He waited until the killer left, then went up to look at the murdered young woman himself.
Still didn't call the police.
When the police asked him why he hadn't called at that time.
His reasoning was simple: if he didn't call while the killer was there, what was the point of calling after? Wasn't it pointless?
Besides, he was afraid of ending up like those unlucky bastards.
People who clearly weren't killers, who only found a crime scene and reported it.
Only to be framed as the murderer, locked up for decades or even sentenced to death.
The Nancheng City police officer interrogating him fell silent after hearing that.
Later, they also asked him: when he discovered the killer, didn't he think about acting bravely? Catching the real killer?
After all, there was a reward.
Then the killer answered with a smile: "My legs were so weak from fear back then, how could I possibly have had the courage to act bravely? I'd be lucky if I didn't end up dead too."