The fifty thousand yuan New Year's money given to Zhang Yanhua by her children, along with her own savings of forty thousand pension money, were all swept away, and then the perpetrator left without a trace.

At that time, Zhang Yanhua's hands and feet were tied, her mouth was gagged, and she was unable to call for help.

She was an elderly woman living alone, as her husband had already passed away, and her children worked in other cities, so it wasn't until the next day when a neighbor noticed something was wrong and called the police that Zhang Yanhua was finally rescued.

According to police statistics, Zhang Yanhua's losses were at least over one hundred thousand.

Given the heinous nature of the case, Lu Jianfei immediately launched a meticulous investigation.

However, the report was filed too late, missing the best golden time for pursuit. Additionally, Zhang Yanhua's residence was an old community without property management or surveillance, so the police had limited clues, leading to the case being shelved.

It wasn't until July 19 last year that the murderer struck again.

This time, the victim of the home invasion robbery was a 40-year-old power company employee named Xu Jun, who was also divorced and living alone.

It was evident that the murderer deliberately chose specific targets for their crimes.

However, this time the victim wasn't as fortunate as Zhang Yanhua; not only were his belongings stolen, but he was also shot and killed by the murderer.

Although the murderer once again vanished without a trace, and there was no sight of him in the surrounding surveillance, the police found a receipt for a laptop purchase at the crime scene.

Upon investigation, they ultimately determined that the receipt belonged to a young man named Guo Jing, who had just completed the college entrance examination.

Thus, Guo Jing came under police scrutiny.

Through a covert investigation of Guo Jing's recent activities, it was discovered that Guo Jing, who was always strapped for cash, had purchased a particularly expensive computer, and during the time of the incident on July 19, he happened to be unaccounted for.

Based on experience, Lu Jianfei immediately judged Guo Jing to be highly suspicious of committing the crime and proceeded to arrest him, searching Guo Jing's house in the process.

Sure enough, they found a gun under Guo Jing's bed, and upon examination, it matched the one used to kill Xu Jun.

Armed with this evidence, Guo Jing was successfully detained for investigation.

However, when interrogated by the police, Guo Jing consistently refused to admit any wrongdoing, repeatedly claiming that he didn't commit the murder.

Luo Fei listened intently and then thoughtfully asked, "These pieces of evidence indeed suggest Guo Jing is highly suspicious, but they don't necessarily prove he is the murderer, right?"

"Relying solely on this evidence wouldn't be enough, of course, but we also extracted several footprints of the suspect from the homes of both Zhang Yanhua and Xu Jun."

"Based on these footprints, we concluded that the murderer wears size 40 shoes and is a male adult with a height of 178-180 cm and a weight not exceeding 130 pounds, which perfectly matches Guo Jing. So if he's not the murderer, who else could it be?"

In fact, what he couldn't figure out all along was why this situation arose.

Although he hadn't interacted much with Lu Jianfei, he could still tell that the other party wasn't lacking in capability; it didn't seem like he would make a false accusation. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been a captain of the criminal investigation team for over ten years.

It wasn't until he heard Zhang Wei's explanation that he finally understood where the problem lay.

So much solid evidence pointed to Guo Jing, without the Eye of Sin, even he would be bewildered.

He determined that there must be some overlooked detail in all of this.

"Then how did Guo Jing explain his innocence?"

"He simply refused to admit it, insisting he didn't know, that he didn't do it."

Zhang Wei paused and then gossiped, "But you really can't deny it, that kid really has a steady mindset!"

"When Captain Lu was interrogating him, I snuck a look several times. His demeanor and manner each time he denied the crime were genuinely convincing, such that even a criminal psychology expert would find no flaw."

"I really don't know how a just-graduated high school student managed to have such a calm composure and exceptional acting skills."

"Indeed, I also find it quite puzzling."

"This kid is truly remarkable, too bad his intelligence was misused..."

Both Lin Jie and He Xin chimed in.

Only Luo Fei knew in his heart that Guo Jing wasn't calm but truly innocent.

"What about the stolen goods and money? You've found the weapon, but have you found the stolen items?"

He asked the most crucial question.

In such cases, the stolen money is often the most critical evidence linking the suspect.

He refused to believe they would also manage to dig out the stolen money from Guo Jing.

Fortunately, this time Zhang Wei shook his head, "This might actually be the one and only doubt in the case."

"Aside from the purchased computer, we searched Guo Jing's whole house, but couldn't find the remaining stolen money."

"Moreover, we also reviewed the financial transactions of Guo Jing and his father Guo Donglai from February to August, but didn't find any unexplained large funds coming in."

Thankfully, things didn't turn out to be so ridiculous after all.

Luo Fei saw a glimmer of hope and quickly asked, "Without the stolen money, how did you eventually settle the case?"

"Because at the time, all the evidence pointed to Guo Jing, and on top of that, he was uncooperative, so during our discussions, we concluded he either hid the money or squandered it secretly."

"And even though we couldn't find other stolen assets, we investigated that the high-spec laptop he bought wasn't purchased by Guo Donglai. It would be very unlikely for him to have bought it, being a student without an income source. So what else could he have bought it with but the stolen money?"

"Then how did Guo Jing explain this?"

"He said it was money he saved up... that laptop cost over ten thousand. Though technically possible to save, we leaned towards believing he was lying."

"We also asked Guo Donglai, and it turns out Guo Jing only started getting pocket money in middle school, and even then it was just a few hundred a month. At this rate, how could he save over ten thousand."

"While he always refused to disclose where the stolen money was hidden, due to the laptop, we succeeded in convicting him."

"But it was a bit of a hassle; the case was sent back for retrial several times by the prosecutor's office, costing us quite a bit of effort."

"So that's what happened, I see..."

After learning what he needed from Zhang Wei, Luo Fei didn't waste any more time.

Finding an excuse, he took his leave.

Once outside, he headed straight for Guo Tianlai's house.

Guo Tianlai and his son live in the same community as the first victim of the case.

This is also one of the reasons why Lu Jianfei and his team believed Guo Jing was the murderer.

It's an old community with only six-story buildings.

Following the address given by Zhao Donglai, Luo Fei knocked on the door of unit 502.

Guo Tianlai wasn't very educated and usually worked as a loader at a nearby logistics company, earning over six thousand a month.

But a few years ago, his wife was diagnosed with cancer. To pay for her treatment, they not only spent all their savings but also accrued a significant amount of debt, so the father and son had been living a tight life.

Since Guo Jing's incident, he resigned from his job.

Apart from running around for his son's case, he spent most of his time sitting idly in his son's room.

When he heard the knock, he was curious about who had come. Upon recognizing Luo Fei when he opened the door, he was surprised and pleased.

"Officer, why are you here! Please come in, come in..."

Having received Luo Fei's reassurance earlier that morning, he had gone home.

But upon returning, he was filled with anxiety, worried one moment that Luo Fei might just be humoring him with empty promises, and the next moment fretting that after seeing Guo Jing, Luo Fei might conclude, like the other officers, that Guo Jing was indeed the murderer...

"Officer, please sit down, let me pour you a cup of tea."

Despite having run around so much, this was the first time an officer had come to his home.

With excitement and gratitude, Guo Tianlai invited Luo Fei in and busied himself with pouring tea.

"No need to trouble yourself, Uncle Guo."

Luo Fei stopped him, "I came just to let you know that I met with Guo Jing this afternoon."

Guo Tianlai immediately became nervous, wringing his hands as he listened to Luo Fei continue.

"After talking to him, I believe there are indeed some doubts in the case, and I wanted to stop by to learn more from you."

"Officer, do you really believe my son is innocent!"

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