Arnold nodded. "Yeah. No doubt about that. 2 families have been killed in a week. I have seen the bodies of the victims and I am pretty sure that it's him."

"If that's the case, we have five days to catch him before he disappears for three months again." George peered at the files of the recent victims.

The killer in their case was known as the Family Killer. The men in the family were tied up and in front of them, the killer would **** their wives before he kills them. As for the children, they were cruelly dismembered. After he was done with them, he would let the fathers bleed to death.

As for the motive of the killer, it was yet to be found out by them but they already have guessed that the killer came from a broken family.

The killer was an intelligent person. He knew how to hide his tracks so that the police wouldn't be able to identify him. He wore shoes that we're two or three inches bigger than his to throw off the detectives from snagging him.

"Windows of the victim's places were tampered so he knows how to get in and out of the place undetected," Jeremy mumbled. "MO said that this guy is good at hunting. He must have grown in a family of hunters."

"No wonder." Loise sighed. "What is this about the face paint in each member of the families?"

"His ritual could be a forensic countermeasure?" Nian Jiezhen suggested.

"It is traditionally used by the clowns but if it applied to resemble a Pulcinella... then there must be something important about it. Back in the 16th century, actors wear masks to resemble their characters. Pulcinella is the trickster character, he usually doesn't have a voice. Instead, he uses horns to use funny languages." George explained.

"Maybe the victims tricked him? And now he's going after them for revenge?"

"But why the family? He could only go directly after the person who tricked him."

Nian Jiezhen closed her folder, "This is going to make the unsub hard to profile."

Sophia was searching in her laptop for any information she could use from the families that were killed when she suddenly came into something. "Guys, I have found something."

She turned to them, "The fathers of each family once joined a Chess compet.i.tion when they were 6-8 years old. That was like 40 plus years ago. It was a capital Chess compet.i.tion so kids from different places were gathered. The unsub could have been one of the children. The fathers were actually included in the top 20."

"All five of them?"

"Yes., all of them."

"If that is true then his next victim could be one of those top 20."

Sophia gasped, "Oh no..." She turned her laptop to them. "Ten of those partic.i.p.ants are still in this country. Six of them are men and four of them are females and all of them have their own families."

Sophia's words made the room deathly silent.

Ten? It was so many! If he was going to kill three families in every other three months, then the killer won't be stopping soon.

Nian Jiezhen broke the silence by saying, "We should not rule out the female partic.i.p.ants. His next target could be any of them. For now, we should check on those families. If the unsub is really after those who trick him, then one of these partic.i.p.ants must know something." She turned to Sophia. "Sophie, look unto the partic.i.p.ants who came from a family of hunters."

"I did that earlier but... none of the partic.i.p.ants came from it, even their parents are clear."

"How about farmers? Anything related to hunting?" Dale suggested.

"I'll look into it."

Dale nodded, "Okay." He stood up from his seat, "Let's going. We have limited time with us, we need to stop the unsub before he disappears again."

...

Ren s.h.i.+yuan was in his hotel room, thinking of what happened earlier.

He suddenly felt sorry for himself. If Nian Jiezhen didn't really like him then he has no choice but to give up on her.

When he thought of giving up on her, he suddenly felt uncomfortable. If he gives up then that means that he won't be able to see her again. She might even start avoiding him like he was a stranger!

What if she falls for someone else?

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Just then he felt his phone vibrated. He took it out and was surprised to see a message from Nian Jiezhen.

He was suddenly filled with excitement but that feeling was soon gone when he read her message. "I'm currently working on a case. I won't be going home for a few days."

Was that her way of rejecting him? He was planning to visit her tonight but it looked like that it needed to be canceled.

Another message popped out on his screen. "I will give you my reply once I come back."

Reply? Reply to what? Ren s.h.i.+yuan was confused for a short while but when he realized what she meant, he ended up smiling.

It was a reply to his confession!

Ren s.h.i.+yuan messaged her back, "If you're going to reject me, don't bother giving me a reply. I have already taken too much damage. >:("

He waited for her reply but when he didn't get one, he started to get anxious. He started typing, wanting to tell that it was a joke but before he could press the send b.u.t.ton, a reply came from Nian Jiezhen.

"I'll make it up to you once I return."