Chapter 7: The Struggle in the Graveyard Below

  When Tan Shuai heard Liu Li's words, he was stunned: "You counted all those shoe prints and then inferred my moves based on the number of shoe prints?"

  Upon hearing this, Liu Li nodded: "That's right, it is indeed like that. The scene of the crime was a piece of barren land, surrounded by soil on all sides, and since there were fewer people who went there, the shoe prints were preserved relatively clearly."

  After daybreak, I went to the scene to investigate the footprints left by Lin Na and found that many of them were overlapping. Although the shoe size was the same, the stride length was inconsistent.

  So I inferred that at that time someone wearing the same style of shoes as Nina was chasing her, and that person was the murderer.

  The perpetrator was wearing a pair of shoes identical to Nina's at the time of the crime. Since it is possible to know the size and style of the shoes worn by the deceased, this suggests that there is some connection between the perpetrator and the deceased, which is how they were able to obtain this information.

  The murderer chose to disguise Wang Jie as a suicide by hanging, and after the incident, Lin Na died in front of Wang Jie's grave. Moreover, the murderer disguised himself as Wang Jie, making it difficult for Wang Jie's friends to distinguish between true and false at first.

  All these indirectly suggest that the murderer is extremely familiar with Wang Jie, to an unthinkable extent. The purpose of the murderer's crime may be to help the deceased Wang Jie vent her grievances or avenge her death.

  With a direction of suspicion, I had someone investigate with Wang Jie as the lead, and finally, I learned of your existence, knowing you were Wang Jie's boyfriend. Later, due to Lin Na's involvement, you couldn't face Wang Jie and left without saying goodbye. After Wang Jie found out what happened from Du Yan, she couldn't accept everything between you and Lin Na, so she chose to hang herself.

  After knowing this relationship, I had a bold speculation that you came back and learned the news of Wang Jie's hanging herself, you attributed all the responsibilities to Lin Na and Du Yan.

  If it wasn't for Lin Na taking advantage of your drunken state and having a relationship with you, you wouldn't have lost face in front of Wang Jie. And if Du Yan hadn't told Wang Jie about this matter, Wang Jie wouldn't have committed suicide. So you chose to use Wang Jie's name to take revenge on Lin Na and Du Yan.

  "You know the three people's off-duty time, and you also know their habits when they return home. By timing it accurately, on the road that the three must take to return to the village, if you scatter some thin iron wires and glass fragments in advance, you can puncture their car tires."

  When Liu Li said this, Tan Shuai interrupted him: "Officer, you say that the iron wire and glass fragments were laid down by me in advance. I have a question about this. Even if I knew their time of getting off work and going home, I couldn't determine the direction they would ride their bikes."

  The road is so wide, what if I scatter the iron wire and glass bottles in the wrong place? How do I know that when the three of them ride their bikes, they won't run over those thin iron wires and glass fragments? That day, I scattered the iron wire and glass fragments on the right side of the road, but they were riding their bikes from the middle or left side of the road. Didn't I just waste my effort?

  "Besides, when I was preparing to kill Nina, I had already disguised myself and wore the same style shoes as hers. What made me determine that her tire would definitely be punctured? If at that time her tire hadn't been punctured and she didn't stop the car, what should I do?"

  At this time, Tang Shuai was asking himself in reverse, and Liu Li said faintly: "If it's usual, you'll scatter thin iron wire and glass fragments on the right side of the highway. They may avoid those iron wires and glass fragments by choosing the middle or left side of the highway when riding a bike."

  However, that night, the three of them would definitely be riding together. First of all, they were affected by traffic rules. To avoid accidents, pedestrians and cyclists had to ride on the right side.

  However, there was another reason why the three of them drove carefully to the right that night, because it was two days before the traditional Ghost Festival. According to superstition, during the day ghosts yield to humans, but at night humans yield to ghosts.

  It means that during the day, ghosts give way to people, but at night, people have to give way to ghosts. When walking, they will unconsciously walk along the edge of the road. As the Ghost Festival approaches, Du Yan and the three others were born in rural areas and are influenced by this idea, subconsciously accepting the sayings about ghosts and gods. So when returning home at midnight, they would definitely drive on the right side.

  That night, Du Yan and the other two people were driving on the highway, but whenever they reached this section of road next to the tomb, they would subconsciously drive towards the right side.

  This is the human subconscious fear at work, just like when a person walks alone in the deep night, originally advancing slowly and not feeling tense at all, but if there are tombs or stationary vehicles and pedestrians with unknown identities around.

  Then the person's subconscious mind will replace the brain and forcibly give orders to the limbs, "caution, specification, carefulness, quick departure." This is because the person's subconscious mind has produced fear. Don't doubt it, this is the conclusion drawn by some boring foreign scientists after experimentation.

  She knew that she had to pass by the cemetery ahead, and due to her subconscious fear, when Du Yan rode her electric bike past the cemetery, she would automatically steer to the right. As a result, their bikes would definitely run over the thin iron wires or broken glass shards that you scattered on the side of the road."

  He said here, Liu Li paused for a moment, then continued: "As for whether Linna's car will be punctured by the thin iron wire and cause the tire to burst, it doesn't matter at all. As long as one of Du Yan's three cars has a flat tire and stops, your goal is achieved."

  The three of them were together, so no matter whose tire was punctured, they would all stop to help check the situation. In other words, even if Linna's tire wasn't punctured, as long as one of the other two people's tires was punctured, Linna would still stop her electric bike.

  When they stopped the car, you appeared in front of the three people with Wang Jie's face. With the help of the tomb next to it, it can make Lin Na and others feel fear in their hearts. The girls were originally timid, and soon it was the Ghost Festival, so when they saw Wang Jie who had been dead for a month standing in front of them, they immediately lost their way and started running around.

  Your target at that time was Nina, and the shoes you were wearing were also of the same style as Nina's. So when the three of them split up to escape, you would give up on Du Yan and chase after Nina relentlessly.

  You originally wanted to chase Linna to the grave of Wang Jie and kill her with your own hands, but unexpectedly, Linna was scared to death. However, this way, it's even more in line with your wishes.

  After scaring Linna to death, you left from the east side of the tomb, and since you have a grudge against Du Yan, you will definitely take action against her, and the best opportunity is tonight.

  Because tonight is the day of worshiping ancestors, according to superstition, if someone is haunted by a ghost, they must go alone to its grave to offer incense, light cigarettes and burn paper money. In order to get rid of Wang Jie's entanglement, Du Yan will definitely choose to burn paper money for Wang Jie tonight.

  If I were the murderer, I would definitely choose this moment to make my move. This way, I can kill my target in front of the deceased's grave and use the ghost as an excuse to put myself above the law. That's why I've been waiting here for you, and now you're finally here.

  There was also a point, that is the glass fragments left on the side of the road. I spent an entire day, barely piecing together the glass left at the scene and restoring it. It was an ordinary household flat-bottomed water cup.

  Afterwards, I asked the technical department to help identify it. Surprisingly, three fingerprints were found on it. After screening the fingerprint database, it was finally confirmed that they were your fingerprints. It must have been a water cup that you casually picked up from home before carrying out the murder plan.

  You smashed the water cup and scattered it on one side of the road, then mixed in some thin iron wires. As a result, as long as an electric vehicle presses down on it, its tires will be punctured. And the time you scattered the glass and iron wires was just when Du Yan and the others were about to ride their electric vehicles here.