Madness of the Heart

Chapter 1: Demon Hunt (01)

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The city center was crowded on Sunday. In the MES shopping mall with the best location, every shop is crowded with men and women hanging out on weekends. Even Shuhan Cafe, which is usually deserted and depressing in a corner of the mall, is full of people.

Shuhan Cafe sells not only books, but also coffee and tea. It is a chain-type beverage store that plays cultural and sentimental cards. It entered Dongye City a few years ago and has opened around ten years in office buildings and residential buildings. As a direct-seller, the book does not sell much, and it relies on high-priced drinks to maintain operations.

In Shuhan, the cheapest cup of coffee costs 50 yuan, and the solar terms drinks launched a few months ago are as high as 70 yuan. Customers can take a book to the consumption area to sit around after buying a cup, and no one will come to urge them from opening the door early in the morning until closing at night.

It is rare in Dongye City to sell coffee in the 60s or 70s. Shuhan’s relatively high personal consumption drives away some potential customers, and the full store of books attracts customers who like to read. Therefore, compared with other coffee shops, the consumption area of Shuhan is extraordinarily quiet. Even if people want to talk, they will subconsciously lower the volume.

But this is only the case on weekdays.

Once the weekend is full of people, Shu Han is bound to receive uncontrollable guests.

There is a large indoor play area for children on the negative first floor of MES mall, and Shuhan Cafe happens to be the nearest drink shop to this play area.

Young parents are more inclined to bring their tired children to Shuhan to drink a milkshake, eat a plate of dessert, and pick up a few children's books on the shelf.

The quiet consumption area has a child, and instantly becomes a noisy "hardest hit area".

She Qun was preparing for the postgraduate entrance examination this year. She set up a membership card in Shuhan, and came early to occupy the best position. The table was full of study materials. She could focus on revision in the first few hours, but she could beat a few noisy children to rush. Once in the store, he could no longer focus on the exercises.

The children were eager to learn and asked loudly while flipping the book: "Mom, what is this? Mom, why are we sitting here?"

She Qun's train of thought was interrupted, and he repeatedly turned his head to stare at the father, son, mother and son who were making noise without anyone else. What made him even more headache was that the children who asked "why why" were the most "quiet" type in the bookstore.

Even more terrifying are the "little madmen" who scream and run around and howl.

She Qun scratched his head irritably, feeling that he was about to be driven crazy by these "little lunatics".

He raised his eyes from the thick stack of documents and observed the customers who were disturbed just like him, and found that everyone was sullen, frowning, clenching their teeth, and one of the men frequently straightened his back and was heavy and heavy. sigh.

This man is very familiar to him. He is in his thirties. He has a membership card like him. He often sits in the northeast corner of him, ordering a cup of mint tea and holding a book every time. It looks like a whole day.

Half a month ago, he was curious for a while, and when the man left the store to relieve himself, he secretly looked at the books on the other side's table, and found that they were all suspense and horror novels.

As a preparatory candidate who cherishes time as gold, he really does not understand why this taciturn man can spend so much time reading "Xianshu".

The man is about 1.7 meters tall, with triangular eyes and prominent cheekbones. He wears a pair of black-rimmed glasses, a long-sleeved T-shirt and well-washed jeans. He walks with his head down and has a hunchback. He is probably a failed social person. Maybe it was because he lost his job that he came to Shuhan to kill time.

Thinking of this, She Qun couldn't help but let out a "tsk".

A young man of his age, who has not yet experienced failure at work, has boundless enthusiasm for both studies and careers. He is usually the most despised social person who is willing to degenerate.

After a while, the man returned to the consumption area, and She Qun hurriedly put the book in his hand back. The man obviously noticed his actions, but he didn't show the doubts and dissatisfaction he should have. When the two passed by, their eyes met briefly, and She Qun saw anxiety, depression, and mediocrity in each other's eyes.

Useless man - She Qun thought so at that time.

But at this moment, it was the mediocre man who stood up and walked towards the bar with his chest raised and asked the staff to remind customers with children to pay attention to the volume.

She Qun was quite surprised, propped her chin and watched the man return to his seat.

Soon, a male staff member smiled and pointed out the sign "Don't disturb others to read" to the young parents, and the consumption area became quiet.

She Qun breathed a sigh of relief, secretly saying that this "waste middle-aged man" is not completely useless.

However, the good times didn't last long, and the silence lasted for just five minutes. The children cried and cried, and the parents seemed helpless.

She Qun slapped the pen on the table with a "pop", unable to bear it any longer, and complained to her friends on the phone: "Fuck it!" A place like a bookstore shouldn't let children in! It's not McDonald's, it's not KFC! What books do they read? Do you understand? I haven't finished my question for today!

The man stood up again, this time instead of going to the bar, he went directly to the direction of the noise.

She Qun heard the man say in a harsh and blunt tone: "Please take care of the children, they are too noisy!"

The parents apologized in a low voice and taught their ignorant children in a fake manner.

The tranquility that the man gained lasted for two minutes, and the consumption area was frying again. Some parents symbolically made "shush" gestures to their yelling children, while many didn't care at all, even playing cartoons on their tablets.

She Qun had been numb to the noise, so she simply gave herself a vacation, put on headphones and "opened the black" with her friends, Yu Guangsao saw the man and reminded the parents at least five times.

"Damn, you really have perseverance!" There was a lot of sarcasm in his tone, but also a bit of watching a good show.

"Why don't you come back and go to any bookstore on the weekend." The friend said, "Isn't our library quieter than the bookstore?"

"It's not going to be too quiet, I need the right amount of white noise."

"A child's voice is called 'black noise', isn't it? Tsk tsk, those who reason with children and their parents are stupid. Who the hell listens? Really quality parents are reminded to take their children with them once or twice. I’m gone, and I’m still here tossing about it, most of the time, I don’t have a muscle in my head!”

After a few rounds, She Qun wiped his face and realized that today is really a waste. He was about to pack up and go back to school. He was about to go to the library when he saw that the table that was the most troubled had a new trend - wearing The woman in the navy blue dress stood up, holding a pack of tissues in her hand, as if she was going to the bathroom. A boy like a monkey hugged her leg tightly, his voice was hoarse, and he was reluctant to keep his mouth shut.

"Mom! Where are you going? Don't go! Watch cartoons with me!"

The woman comforted her for a long time, but "Monkey" refused to let go. Instead, she shouted more and more vigorously, as if "people are crazy". The woman was also angry, said two or three heavy words, threw the "monkey" on the spot, and walked straight to the bathroom outside the bookstore.

He was usually used to being pampered. "Monkey" stayed there for a few seconds, and suddenly burst into an earth-shattering cry, which attracted everyone in the consumer area to look at him.

She Qun subconsciously looked at the man who stood up several times and felt a murderous aura without warning.

In his perception, the man should not even have grievances, let alone murderousness.

He almost thought he was delusional.

At this time, the books stacked on the man's desk, the top one just had a row of large characters written on it - they are all damn!

She Qun swallowed her saliva, her pupil light shrank slightly. In the line of sight, the man's face was sullen, he took out an object from the backpack he was carrying, and held it in his hand. Like the previous few times, he slowly walked to "Monkey".

Except for She Qun, no one noticed the danger. And She Qun was already standing beside his seat, his heart beating wildly, dumbfounded.

"Monkey" was still yelling, even grimacing at the man, with a voice like a little monster: "I just want to make trouble! I just want to make a noise! My mother bought me water, I—"

The words behind him stopped abruptly as the man stabbed his right hand forward.

When the man inserted the dagger in his hand into the boy's throat, the consumption area was as silent as a grave, and everyone stood there, as if they didn't understand what was going on.

Blood gurgled from the boy's neck artery, and the smell of blood changed from thin to strong, like sharp needles piercing people's numb nerves.

Until then, someone screamed in shock—

"Ah! Killed!"

The crowd, centered on the man, receded like a tide. The man pulled the dagger out of the boy's neck with a "ho", and the boy fell to the ground like a piece of dead wood that had been hollowed out. His limbs twitched violently, and his throat made a dry and terrible breathing sound.

She Qun's pupils were almost pressed to the tightest, his eyes stared at the man without blinking, his lips trembled unconsciously, and blood rushed straight to his forehead.

The mediocrity in the man's eyes has disappeared, replaced by madness and cruelty, and it seems that several blood lights burst out. The tip of the dagger dripping with blood pointed directly at the crowd. For a time, the air solidified with fear, squeezing the witnesses' hearts like a boulder. Several children whose parents were not present were crying in a low voice, while the adults at the scene, from the staff to the customers, were frightened or timid, but no one came forward.

The boy whose throat was pierced finally stopped moving. The man let out a grim smile, and immediately grabbed the child closest to him at a very fast speed.

The frightened cry of the child was like a horn to flee. She Qun was the first to rush out of the consumption area, followed by the escapees who were scrambling for their lives.

Many people shouted: "He has a knife on him!"

With a strange smile, the man threw the child in his hand to the ground, and the tender head collided with the cold and hard ground, making a penetrating muffled sound...

There has never been any vicious incident in Shuhan Cafe, until the second killing had occurred, and the staff on duty did not inform the security of the mall with trembling.

It's too late.

The man's eyes were red, and he grabbed another child who had no resistance. Like a beast in human skin, he finally shredded its disguise, revealing its foul-smelling fangs.

The consumption area was a purgatory on earth. People rushed out, but only a tall woman broke into it against the crowd.

Three days later, Ming Shu finished his one-year backbone training in the Special Action Team of the Ministry of Public Security and returned to Dongye City.

When he was called up by the special action team, he was already the head of the serious crime team of the Criminal Investigation Bureau of Dongye City Public Security Bureau.

The two words "Ming Shu" can be regarded as the golden signboard of the Winter Ye police circle.

The training of the special operations team is not as easy as the task force of the case team. "Training" is only an external statement. Those who have experienced it have a more vivid explanation - purgatory.

Mingshu ripped apart his bones and remodeled his skin in "Purgatory". He applied for a week's vacation before he came back.

At this time, he was fully asleep and was shopping for new men's clothing at the MES mall alone.

This first-class expert of the Criminal Investigation Bureau is 28 years old this year. With a height of 1.85 meters and a deep and three-dimensional face, he can support any unique new clothes. It just so happens that although he is a serious criminal policeman, he doesn't ignore his appearance like most criminal policemen do. Instead, he pays great attention to how he dresses. When he is not handling a case, he is flamboyant and assertive, and he is always the coolest and most eye-catching one in the crowd.

When the accident happened at Shuhan Cafe, Mingshu had just put on a short thin leather jacket and was standing in front of the full-length mirror looking left and right. Before he could pay, he heard exclamations from below.

A group of security guards hurriedly ran through the corridor outside the men's clothing store. He stopped one of them and asked sharply, "What's going on?"

The security guard looked like a novice. He had never dealt with emergencies before. His face was pale, frightened and frightened.

Ming Shu frowned, and his expression changed instantly.

He has a very aggressive appearance, with a straight nose and deep eyes and arched lips. He is beautiful and handsome. When his eyes are smiling, he looks casual and easy-going.

The security guard broke down in a cold sweat, his teeth chattering, "Just, it's the book below, the bookstore!"

Mingshu glanced down and saw more and more people gathered downstairs. He took the time to push the security guard away, quickly overlapped his two long legs, ran to the stairs and jumped, avoiding the crowd, and went straight to the door. Jump downstairs.

Shuhan Cafe is like the eye of a typhoon, maintaining a suffocating calm. A six-year-old girl was kidnapped by a man who was negotiating with the woman in grey who had entered the wrong way not long ago.

People have already called the police, but neither the film police from the nearest Jiangzhan Road police station nor the special police from the Beicheng branch can arrive immediately.

The man's dagger pierced the girl's neck, tearing out a shocking bloodline. The woman in gray, who was only three steps away from him, had a solemn expression, but her voice trembled indistinctly, "Let her go, I'll tell her Instead, I'll be your hostage."

The man brandished a dagger, his nostrils spewed turbid air, his expression was extremely abnormal, and he said to himself, "I've already killed someone! It's the same as killing one more and one less! Get out of the way!"

"Give her to me." The woman took a deep breath and slowly stretched her delicately trimmed fingertips towards the man.

The police car has driven close, and the siren stimulates the man's nerves. I saw that his facial features became more and more distorted, and gradually did not look like a human face. He howled wildly, the dagger about to pierce the girl's windpipe.

Shuhan Cafe has a total of two passages, one is the main entrance for customers to enter and exit, and the other is the side entrance for employees to enter and exit. Mingshu separated from the crowd, went around to the staff passage, showed his credentials, and sneaked into the store silently.

At this time, the girl was too frightened to cry, and tears fell down in large drops. And the woman in gray who confronted the man didn't seem to be able to find a way out of the situation.

"They're all trash! They're all monsters! Damn it!" the man screamed, "I warned them! They didn't listen at all! They're not human! I'm fighting for the people!"

The woman shook her head, "They're just ignorant, if you also have children..."

"Fart!" the man interrupted roughly, incoherently, "They're monsters! They're demons! Shouldn't they be punished for their mistakes?"

The dagger pulled another bloodline on the girl's neck. The woman clenched her fingers, realizing she couldn't wait any longer, and immediately leaned forward and stabbed the man sharply!

The man's jaw was about to split, and the hand holding the girl was loosened for a moment.

At a critical moment, the woman slammed into the man's arms and just pushed the stunned girl out.

The man was furious, strangled the woman's snow-white neck, and spit out evil, "You fucking seek death! You saved the devil! You are also the devil! I killed you!"

The woman tried her best to appear calm, "I said, I'll change her."

Because of the limited viewing angle, most of the people outside the store could not see the scene that happened between the lights and flints. They only saw the girl with a circle of blood around her neck stumbled out, as if for a moment, the head hanging on the neck was all over the place. to fall.

Only Mingshu, who had entered the store through the staff channel, witnessed this. His figure was like wind and electricity, disguised as a bookshelf and sofa, and quickly moved to the blind spot of the man's line of sight.

The man seemed to be aware of the abnormality, and the hand that grabbed the woman's neck was even harder.

In the almost solidified air, there seemed to be a few sounds of dislocation of bones.

Mingshu didn't wait any longer, and swept from the bookshelf to the man's back. Before the man turned around, a sharp knife had already slashed down!

"Woo-woo-woo-"

The siren blared, and when the special police from the Beicheng Branch broke into the Shuhan Cafe, Mingshu was lifting the man who had dislocated his wrist and elbow from the blood on the floor.

"Brother Ming?" The special police officer at the head shaved his hair close to his scalp, and his eyes changed when he realized who had captured the thugs, "Why are you here? Are you back?"

"Pull the security belt immediately and evacuate the crowd." Mingshu didn't continue, although he was still wearing a rather coquettish short and thin leather jacket, his demeanor was more professional than all the SWAT officers who came.

His gaze stopped briefly on the two children who had already been killed, and his already dark eyes suddenly darkened.

Beicheng Branch, interrogation room.

Inside the one-way glass wall, the criminal suspect Lu Kun was wearing handcuffs, his face was as pale as paper, and his hands were shaking uncontrollably. Opposite him sat three criminal police officers, one recorded and the other two were in charge of interrogation.

Mingshu stood outside the glass wall with his arms folded. He had already taken off the thin leather jacket that had not removed the sign. He frowned and looked at Lu Kun silently.

The murderer who brutally murdered children in front of everyone's eyes was dead, and the madness and ruthlessness in his pupils had disappeared when he committed the crime. He lowered his head slightly, not daring to look at the detective, his shoulders, backs and arms were shaking, the upper half of his face was covered by shadows, and he looked cowardly and gloomy.

"They shouldn't be noisy..." Lu Kun's voice was hoarse, "I reminded them nine times in total, but they didn't listen..."

"So you killed them?" The detective who spoke was clearly angry.

"Otherwise, what can I do? I have nowhere else to go. I arrived first, and I paid! Why did they make a mistake and still sit there with peace of mind? Should I leave?" Buried even lower, his hands first hugged his head, then inserted his fingers into the greasy hair. The head, which was extremely large because of the angle, shook frequently, shaking off a few strands of dander-covered hair, "They don't listen, their parents don't do anything! There is a sign at the entrance of the consumer area, 'Don't make noise', None of them did it!"

After a few seconds of pause, Lu Kun suddenly raised his head, red blood rolled in his eyes, as if filled with hatred.

In a moment, he trembled even more, burst into tears, and overturned his previous words, "I was wrong, I shouldn't have killed! Can those two children be saved? I... I was just on impulse, I didn't mean it! Everyone has impulses. When confused, right? I'm not the murderer! I'm not!"

Ming Shu let out a sigh of relief, noticed that the door not far away opened from the inside, and turned around.

The first person to come out was a female criminal policeman, and then the woman in gray who was brave enough to do justice also came out.

The routine transcript has been completed. The woman's name is Yu Caixin, 32 years old, a partner of a headhunting company, and was waiting for candidates at Shuhan Cafe before the incident. Unexpectedly, the candidate did not arrive, but he witnessed the whole process of Lu Kun getting up frequently to remind children and parents not to make noise, and finally going crazy to kill.

Compared with when he was in the coffee shop, Yu Caixin was a lot less mentally ill—this is a normal reaction after the extreme tension has passed.

Mingshu stood there, looked at her briefly, and then bowed his head to show his gratitude and respect.

It was unimaginable that before the police arrived, Yu Caixin, who was wearing a slim professional skirt and high heels, was the only one who prevented Lu Kun from committing the murder.

She deserves the compliment of an elite detective.

Yu Caixin was stunned for a moment, then shook his head regretfully, with a gentle voice and a sad expression, "The child is innocent. Sorry, my response is still slow."

The female criminal police accompanied Yu Caixin to leave, Mingshu leaned against the wall in the corridor, rubbing his eyebrows with his fingers.

Beicheng District is the most economically developed and most stable place in Dongye City, and the frequency of criminal cases is relatively low.

At that time, Lu Kun was in a crowded downtown area and had already killed two children and held a woman hostage.

The video of Lu Kun committing the crime has been leaked online, and panic has spread rapidly among families with children.

However, although the social impact of this case is bad, the case itself is not complicated. Lu Kun belongs to a typical passion crime. After killing a boy, he was influenced by extreme psychology and began to kill indiscriminately.

Psychologists from the cooperative unit have arrived and are about to conduct a preliminary psychiatric appraisal of Lu Kun. Mingshu read Lu Kun's confession word by word, his beautiful lips were straight, and the side looked sharp and lacking emotion.

Lu Kun’s personal information is clear at a glance—a native of Chushan Town, Dongye City, 35 years old, graduated from a low-level university, and was a river monitoring programmer of a water conservancy company four months ago. Unemployed, unmarried, with a house and no car, he has been appearing in Shuhan Cafe frequently in the past two months, borrowing almost all crime novels.

Wang Hao, the deputy captain of the Criminal Investigation Detachment of the Beicheng Branch, walked quickly, followed by three criminal policemen.

Mingshu raised his eyes and met the angry gaze of the other party.

Mingshu stepped aside to make way, but stopped him, "How do you plan to handle this case?"

Wang Hao has heavy eyebrows and heavy eyes, and his facial features are the common roughness of criminal police. He said in a bad tone: "This case has not been handed over to your serious crime team."

The meaning of these words couldn't be clearer - this is the site of the Beicheng Branch. How to deal with the crime is not necessary to explain to you, the little head of the serious crime team of the City Bureau.

Mingshu stared at Wang Hao for two seconds, but he didn't get angry.

In the year he just graduated from the Public Security University, he stayed in the Beicheng branch and had some unpleasantness with Wang Hao. Over the years, he has been in the serious crime team. The wider his field of vision and the higher his horizons, he has long forgotten the friction in the past, and he is too lazy to care about it, but Wang Hao clearly refuses to forget it.

At this moment, the phone rang, Mingshu picked it up and took a look, the aggressive eyebrows instantly showed a gentleness that should not appear on his face.

"If I remember correctly, the Ming team just came back from the capital, right?" Wang Hao simply said, "I am in charge of this case at present. If there are other instructions from the above, the Ming team will not be too late."

Mingshu didn't insist, Wang Hao thought he was going to answer the phone, but saw that he hung up directly and put the phone back in his trouser pocket.

When passing by Wang Hao, Mingshu patted the other party's shoulder, his words were not serious and not long, but with an unignorable power—

"You didn't dispatch the police quickly enough, and the newcomer's on-the-spot response was not mature enough. If the murderer this time did not commit the crime with passion, but planned it, the consequences would be more serious than now."

Unexpected events are the old enemy of the holiday. Mingshu just walked out of the branch building when he saw a tall man in the dark raising his right hand.

He paused slightly in his footsteps, brushed his forehead with his right hand, and walked towards the man.

The car drove away from the Beicheng Branch, merged into the main road, and galloped towards the direction of the Municipal Bureau with the traffic.

"Your vacation is over early." Lu Yanzhou held the steering wheel, the back of his hand showed a strong cyan meridian, "Go back and report."

Mingshu rested his elbows on the car window, and the neon lights on the streets reflected his pure black eyes into flickering amber, "Why are you here?"

"I can't come here yet?" Lu Yanzhou tilted his head and gave him a sideways look, "I happen to be doing errands here, so I'll take you on a ride to save your brothers from running back and forth."

"I haven't seen you for a year, I'm more thoughtful and considerate." Mingshu took out a bottle of drink from the car bucket, and rudely, he looked up and poured most of it, "How about you come to my team next time you rotate?"

"It's beautiful." Lu Yanzhou smiled and parked his car outside the zebra crossing. "I can still take a job rotation at my level? There are several new recruits with good qualifications in my place. If you really need someone, just pick them yourself."

Lu Yanzhou is the backbone of the city bureau's special police corps. He is not under the control of the Criminal Investigation Bureau at all, but he is the same age as Mingshu and has always been on good terms. In the past few years, the serious crime team lacked field workers who could fight. Mingshu tried to dig people over several times. Neither nodded.

In Lu Yanzhou's words, that is-"I can't bear the pain of your serious crime team".

There was some traffic jam on the road, Mingshu was dozing off, and Lu Yanzhou suddenly said, "By the way, have you seen your new leader?"

Mingshu half opened his eyes, the dark light in his eyes floated, and it was fleeting, and his voice contained a bit of laziness, "Xiao Yu'an?"

The author says:

The city is overhead, and the characters are younger. The general municipal-level criminal investigation team is called the Criminal Investigation Detachment, the provincial department and municipality is called the Criminal Investigation Corps or the Criminal Investigation Bureau, and the Ministry of Public Security is also called the Criminal Investigation Bureau. My setting here is that Dongye City is a big city similar to a municipality directly under the Central Government, so the concept of the Criminal Investigation Bureau is used, but it is not any municipality directly under the Central Government in reality!

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