In the blink of an eye, it was already mid-October.

Happy Garden District, Tianzhou City.

Lu Chuan was conducting a crime scene investigation.

Zhao Zhigao, head of the trace examination office of the Tianzhou City Criminal Investigation Team, was personally assisting beside him.

"The scene is chaotic, and the only fingerprints are those of the victim’s family of three."

"We have already conducted footprint analysis and retained footprint models."

"Among the three deceased, the male victim had his throat slit and was beaten and tortured before death."

"The female victim... showed signs of assault, the forensic doctor determined there were three perpetrators."

"Afterwards, she was strangled to death."

"The child... the child was six years old, and was... scalded to death by hotpot..."

Lu Chuan furrowed his brows, carefully listening to the preliminary crime scene analysis by Zhao Zhigao.

Half a month ago, a shocking family murder case occurred in Tianzhou City.

A family of three was brutally murdered in their home by criminals, including a 6-year-old child.

Due to the extremely heinous nature of the case, Tianzhou City’s Public Security Bureau immediately set up a special team to fully investigate the case.

However, half a month later, there has been no substantial progress in the investigation.

The entire Tianzhou City Public Security Bureau has been thoroughly criticized by the leadership.

There was no other option; the case was handed over to the provincial serious crime unit.

The high-ranking officials have ordered that no matter the cost, the case must be solved within a week to bring justice to the victims and restore a safe, stable, and harmonious environment for the people of Tianzhou City.

Home invasion murder...

Not a single family member was spared, including a child.

Moreover, the perpetrator was extremely vicious, described as completely inhuman.

Although half a month has passed, the crime scene was still bloodstained, the brown blood dried on the floor, Lu Chuan could imagine what the scene was like at the time.

Even without the case file, photos, or videos of the crime scene, Lu Chuan could roughly deduce from the traces what kind of scene it was back then.

The posture of the male head of the household at the time of death, hands bound behind his back, was kneeling when his throat was slit from behind.

Such a killing posture would cause the blood to spurt out like a fountain.

Looking from the position of the deceased male, the wall three meters in front was completely covered with blood spray marks.

Moreover, there was a blank area on the wall opposite the male victim.

This indicates that when the male victim’s throat was slit, there was an obstruction opposite him, judging by its shape, it was a person.

From the height of the obstruction, it was also kneeling on the ground.

Zhao Zhigao pointed at the dining table: "We detected bodily fluids on this table... the female victim was assaulted here."

The direction of the dining table faced directly opposite the male victim.

That is to say, at that time the perpetrators should have assaulted the female victim in front of the male victim.

Then, in front of the female victim, they killed the male victim.

"Revenge killing."

This was the conclusion reached by the Tianzhou City Criminal Investigation Team.

The two adult victims both suffered torture and humiliation before being killed.

The perpetrator’s methods were extremely cruel; unless it was someone with a peculiar compulsion, it wouldn’t have been so brutally done.

"Where was the child found?"

"In the kitchen."

Zhao Zhigao led Lu Chuan into the kitchen, the pots and pans on the stove had been put away, but the traces of the murder were still there.

"When we arrived..."

Zhao Zhigao’s face was grim, unwilling to recall the situation at that time.

"When we arrived, the child was already... already dismembered."

"Parts of the body were placed on the kitchen floor, just next to the refrigerator."

"And some parts... some parts were made into hotpot..."

Hotpot?

Lu Chuan looked around, the kitchen walls covered with dark marks.

Especially on the stove tiles, where a thick layer was present.

"Is the cause of death of the child determined?"

"Scalded to death."

"Scalded to death?"

Zhao Zhigao nodded: "The perpetrator poured boiling hotpot broth down the throat, scalding them to death."

"And from the condition of the scene, it appears the child was alive when placed into the pot..."

Zhao Zhigao’s voice was hoarse, unable to continue.

As the head of the trace examination office of the Tianzhou City Criminal Investigation Team, over the years, what situation had he not seen?

What case had he not seen?

What crime scene had he not seen?

However, this case...

Truth be told, Zhao Zhigao could not imagine what deep-seated hatred the perpetrator harbored towards the victims to act so ruthlessly!

Outside the room.

Wang Chuanmin, captain of the Tianzhou City Criminal Investigation Team, was also briefing Li Donglin on the case progress.

"Our judgment is that it’s a revenge killing."

"The perpetrator’s murder method was extremely brutal; if it was just for killing, there was no need to go to such extremes."

"But the problem is, we’ve investigated the victims’ social networks and found no evidence of this."

Before Li Donglin arrived, he had thoroughly reviewed the case files.

To be honest, Tianzhou City’s Criminal Investigation Team is among the top three in the province in terms of capability.

Li Donglin himself came from the Tianzhou City Criminal Investigation Team.

He was well aware of this fact.

However, as Wang Chuanmin mentioned, after half a month, there had indeed been no progress.

They have thoroughly investigated the victims’ relationships, going back three generations, but found no one with deep-seated hatred towards the victims.

Colleagues, relatives, friends, even the child’s classmates, all were checked by the Criminal Investigation Team.

There were no suspects.

Not a single lead.

As for motives of robbery...

Although there were signs of the house being ransacked, it is still unclear what valuables might have been stolen.

Since the entire victim’s family was deceased, their parents were unaware if something valuable or cash was kept in the house.

So it’s unknown what, if anything, was stolen.

But considering the victims’ financial situation, one a public servant, the other a teacher...

How much savings could they have?

The mortgage wasn’t even paid off, making the idea of large sums of cash at home unlikely.

Thus, the probability of robbery as a motive is indeed low.

Then there’s the possibility of a crime of passion.

This possibility...

"The female victim’s social connections are very clean."

"The perpetrators did not dispose of the victims’ cell phones; after technical personnel unlocked them, we checked their call logs and social media chat history."

"The male victim had a few instances of suspicious behavior, but all were over a year ago, while the female victim had no illicit social relations."

"A crime of passion... is basically not a possibility."

"Additionally, from the analysis of the scene traces, there were three perpetrators, making the crime of passion hypothesis even less likely."

Three people...

The final conclusion given by the Tianzhou City Criminal Investigation Team is that the case was either committed by traveling criminals or was an act of revenge by someone with a vendetta.

But regardless of which it was, the current problem is that half a month has passed without any leads.

Li Donglin’s brow furrowed, finding the situation quite troublesome.