The rain, though not heavy, brought considerable trouble to the investigation.
Wang Qinqin bore no fingerprints left by the killer.
When Wang Qinqin's family arrived, two elderly people with white hair nearly fainted from grief.
Unlike Li Mulan, Li Mulan had no one to care for her or love her.
Wang Qinqin was the only daughter. Her mother had her late in life, in her forties, making her an "old child."
Her family doted on her.
To ease her parents' burden, Wang Qinqin took on various part-time jobs.
The reason she agreed to go to the party with Li Mulan before was that Li Mulan told her she might get some tips.
Watching Wang Qinqin's body being carried into the car, Zhao Yan stood up from the ground.
She searched the vicinity but found no trace of Wang Qinqin's soul.
Even using two soul-summoning talismans yielded no results.
Either the crime scene wasn't here, or the killer from 1996 had a way to deal with souls.
Li Mulan was terrified by the sight of Wang Qinqin's body. She flitted around, trying to find Wang Qinqin.
The soul that Zhao Yan couldn't find with her talismans, Li Mulan naturally wouldn't find either.
"Miss Zhao, it's time to go," Jiang Yu said to Zhao Yan.
Zhao Yan quickly followed and got into the police car.
No one in the car spoke.
Everyone's expression was unusually serious.
Zhao Yan sat by the window, looking through it at the vehicles ahead.
"Old Qin, I want to go to the scene of the first murder in 1996."
Old Qin turned to look at Zhao Yan, whose gaze remained fixed outside.
"I'll take you tomorrow."
Back at the police station, the body was quickly sent to the autopsy center.
Zhang Yi was already waiting at the autopsy center.
As the body was brought in, he glanced at it and said, "Could this be another copycat crime!"
"No," Old Qin said gravely.
He was most familiar with the murder cases that began in 1996.
In his years on the force, this case had become his recurring nightmare.
He sometimes dreamt of the killer.
For him, the killer's continued existence for every second meant failing the victims and their families every second.
No matter how perfectly Zhou Ning mimicked, Old Qin still felt a sense of unfamiliarity.
This murder case, however, made him recall 1996.
The body was wheeled onto the long table at the autopsy center.
Old Qin said seriously, "Absolutely do not let the media know about this, or public opinion will run wild."
Jiang Yu shook his head. "Master, the news is already out."
With the internet being so developed, it was impossible to keep secrets.
Especially for murder cases like this.
By the time they arrived, a crowd had already gathered.
Zhang Yi conducted the autopsy with great seriousness.
Wang Qinqin had been tightly clutching something in her hand.
When they pried her hand open, they found a small, exquisite gift box, only about two thumbs in size.
Inside was a silver pendant.
The pendant was immediately taken for examination.
Time was too short, and it was so late, so they could only conduct the autopsy for now, with other procedures to follow.
Looking at Wang Qinqin's body, Zhao Yan developed a thought.
It seemed as if the killer wasn't committing murder, but creating their own artwork.
When their "artwork" was replaced by something inferior, they would surely not agree.
To prove they were the true killer, to prove their "artwork" would not be replaced by others, the killer struck again after so many years.
After the autopsy, Zhang Yi was frustrated for the first time.
There was no evidence left on the victim's body.
"The victim was handled differently this time," Zhang Yi said gravely.
"The previous victim was killed by the perpetrator, and then the method of forced feeding was used."
"This victim, however, was subjected to this method while still alive."
"The difficulty is a hundred times higher than the previous victim. Someone experiencing extreme pain would inevitably resist fiercely, yet Wang Qinqin's fingernails and other areas showed no evidence of struggle."
"This is why her face was filled with terror at the time of death."
It was hard to imagine what Wang Qinqin had endured before her death.
"Captain Jiang, the people who were with the victim have been brought here."
"I'll go see them," Jiang Yu said softly.
Zhao Yan also went along.
Three girls, filled with anxiety, sat on blue chairs.
Jiang Yu approached and asked them for some details.
They said they had been distributing flyers and working part-time with Wang Qinqin.
They finished their work together at 7:13 PM.
They arrived at the 306 bus stop at 7:28 PM. Wang Qinqin said she needed to buy a birthday gift for her mother and was going back.
They waited for Wang Qinqin for one stop. Seeing she hadn't returned, they had to go back. During that time, Wang Qinqin had replied to their messages, but then stopped responding.
The last reply was at 7:32 PM.
Zhao Yan recalled the small gift box Wang Qinqin had been clutching during the autopsy; it was likely the birthday gift for her mother.
Due to the pain, Wang Qinqin had crushed the small gift box.
As they spoke, the three girls became increasingly self-reproachful. If only they had gone back to look for Wang Qinqin, perhaps if the three of them had gone together, she wouldn't have met this fate.
Wang Qinqin's incident had left them with psychological trauma.
Seeing that no useful information could be extracted, Jiang Yu had them sent back, and provided them with some psychological counseling.
"Based on the timeline, walking from the 306 bus stop to the crime scene would take about 7-8 minutes."
"And Wang Qinqin's last reply was at 7:32 PM."
"Only four minutes have passed since then."
"This killer deliberately targeted Wang Qinqin; it was not a random event."
Zhao Yan voiced her thoughts and pulled out her phone, searching for news about Li Mulan's murder.
A reporter had filmed this murder case, and in a segment at 3 minutes and 6 seconds, Wang Qinqin was captured.
The killer had been closely watching this murder case.
It had been investigated before: the killer in 1996 was extremely arrogant.
His arrogance prevented him from tolerating being a substitute for someone else.
No matter how perfectly Zhou Ning mimicked, in his eyes, it was an inferior imitation.
When Zhou Ning was caught, everything was done in secret.
Therefore, the killer did not know that Zhou Ning had been apprehended.
The more she thought about it, the more Zhao Yan felt a headache coming on.
Seeing Jiang Yu's even more troubled expression, Zhao Yan said, "Officer Jiang, let's cooperate with Zhou Ning."
"Since Zhou Ning mimicked so perfectly, she must understand this killer. Perhaps she knows something."