The days of being a spiritual mentor in Meiman.

Chapter 4127 When the Pumpkin Ripens (9)

Chapter 4127 When the Pumpkins Ripen (Part 9)

Kidnapping cases are notoriously difficult to handle because the safety of the hostage must be constantly monitored. In most cases, there won't be the kind of standoff between kidnappers and police depicted in TV dramas. Such standoffs are usually crimes of passion, where hostages are randomly apprehended on the street. In premeditated kidnappings, however, most kidnappers will choose to hide the hostage.

Or rather, they wouldn't have chosen this method of crime if they didn't have a foolproof place to hide the hostages. After all, a grown adult isn't necessarily easier to hide than a vault door, let alone multiple adults. Even children, being smaller and less capable of resisting, aren't so easy to hide.

In this situation, the old method of using violence to retaliate is ineffective, or even if the murderer is found, they cannot be killed directly because hostages must be found first.

I'd seen a similar case in Barry before, where a couple kidnapped a backpacker and demanded ransom from his family. When they refused, they called the police, and local police shot and killed the couple outside their house.

They initially thought the hostage was hiding in her house, but after demolishing the entire building, they still couldn't find her. About two months later, they found the body in an abandoned water tower in the community. The couple had locked the body inside the water tower and fed it water and food intermittently.

The most devastating thing was that the couple had left him enough water and food for about a week, and for that week, he ate, drank, and relieved himself in the cramped water tank. When he was finally found, half of his body was submerged in excrement, and the victim ultimately died of dehydration.

Therefore, Barry knew that in cases like this, the killer had to be a second priority, and one couldn't expect anyone to fight evil with evil. Killing someone might feel satisfying, but if the hostages couldn't be found, that would be a huge problem.

But this guy, of all people, chose the path of hell over the path of heaven. The area was sparsely populated, making the chances of him falling into Schiller's hands extremely high. And Schiller might not even know it was a kidnapping; if he actually killed the person, not only might the victim be lost, but the trail to the criminal organization behind him might also be cut off.

Thinking about this, Barry felt he still had to visit the professor. Even if the person was dead, as long as Schiller had been in contact with the murderer, he should be able to find out where the victim was being held.

Barry reluctantly knocked on the door, only to find two identical people sitting on the sofa. He felt like the sky had fallen. This murderer must have spent countless hours consulting the almanac to choose an auspicious day for his funeral and a beautiful burial plot.

Good evening, Professor, Doctor. How have you been lately?

“Not bad, come in, Barry. It seems you’re not here for natural forest conservation.”

"Yes. To ensure people have enough firewood, Brainiac relaxed tree protection regulations, so cutting down a few trees is no big deal. However, the suspect, a suspected child kidnapper, may be active in this area. The police should have already informed you; I just wanted to ask if there are any other leads."

“Come sit down.” Arrogance poured Barry a cup of hot tea, then said, “A case that even Brainiac couldn’t handle must be very difficult. You must be having a tough time lately?”

“It’s alright, after all, I’m practically a Gotham resident, much better than being on the West Coast,” Barry said, resting his elbows on his knees. “This kidnapper abducted three children under the age of 10, and there’s still no news. We’re all very worried.”

Upon hearing that there were three victims, Arrogant's brow furrowed. He said, "We did observe some suspicious activity in the woods, but we didn't encounter any suspicious individuals. If the killer was alone with three children, it should have been difficult for him to hide."

"That's the problem. The perpetrators in the three kidnappings were not the same person, which means this is not a series of kidnappings, but an organized crime."

His arrogant brow furrowed even deeper. There's a big difference between one person kidnapping three and three people kidnapping three. So he asked again, "Were they kidnapped at the same time?"

"The time difference is not significant; the interval between the incidents is no more than 48 hours."

Arrogance understood. In the past, these three cases might not have been considered related. However, after Brainiac took control of the world, such heinous crimes no longer occurred. Therefore, the sudden appearance of three similar cases in a short period of time would be very noticeable and easy to determine that they were committed by the same group of people.

Barry arrogantly described in detail the flashlight beams he had seen in the woods, then said, "You mean, Principal Sivana also went into the woods with a flashlight and chopped wood for over an hour?"

Arrogance nodded. He knew, of course, that something was amiss, but Sivana was a magician, and he probably wouldn't be chopping down small trees with an axe like an ordinary person. With his magical abilities, he could easily chop down large trees, or even split them into firewood on the spot, though that would take much longer, so lingering for over an hour was normal.

Arrogantly shared his thoughts, but Barry frowned and said, "The police didn't find any signs of trees being cut down in the woods. We'll probably have to confirm with the headmaster for more details. I won't bother you any longer; I'll be going now."

The moment the door opened, a gust of wind swept through the room. Greed saw Barry out, closed the door, and stood at the gate, saying to Barry, "Do you know the Cardinal?"

"Yes, she's very cute, why?"

"Their calls are very varied; sometimes they sound like a stream, sometimes like a whistle, and they can produce more than 20 different sounds. I just heard them singing."

Greed finished speaking and turned to leave. Barry stood there, somewhat bewildered. But then the wind picked up, and he had to quickly climb into the police car, drink a sip of hot coffee, and slowly recover.

But he couldn't wait there; he had to go into the woods with his colleagues to collect evidence. He carried his coffee toward the woods, first standing by the lake to look around, then entering the woods, and then constantly looking up.

"What's wrong?" a policeman asked, looking at him. "What's up there?"

Barry shook his head, remained silent for a moment, and then asked, "Are there any animals in this forest?"

"Probably. There are pine trees here, so there might be pine cones, and there might also be small animals like squirrels."

"Where's the bird?"

"Just the usual kinds of birds, like warblers, sparrows, crows, and so on." The policeman thought for a moment and said, "So you're looking for a bird's nest?"

Barry didn't deny it. He looked up and did find some bird nests, but they were all small, and because they were too far away, he couldn't see what kind of birds they were.

Dr. Schiller doesn't bring things up for no reason; he must be hinting at something.

Barry sighed inwardly. He didn't know why Schiller wouldn't just say so. It was clear the professor was disgusted by child kidnappers, but since they hadn't had direct contact with them, they couldn't know what they were thinking, and therefore couldn't speak frankly.

“North American cardinals…” Barry murmured softly.

"Oh, look here!" someone suddenly shouted. The shout snapped Barry out of his thoughts, and he rushed over, where he found what appeared to be half a footprint, the one the policeman had reported as a child's footprint.

It looked short and thin, and there seemed to be half a bear pattern on it, a pattern unique to children's shoes. Soon after, his colleague came over with his phone and said, "We've confirmed with the parents that seven-year-old Paul Austin was indeed wearing children's shoes with a bear pattern on them the day he went missing."

"It seems I was right, the murderer is in this area."

“I don’t quite understand,” one policeman said. “Kidnappers usually tend to hide hostages, right? What is he doing wandering around in the woods with a child? What help could they possibly be?”

This forest doesn't connect to any mountains or caves; it's practically an isolated place. If one wanted to cross this area, they could easily avoid the forest altogether. Therefore, it's unlikely the murderer was leading the children on a journey; it seems they were simply leading the victims in circles.

Barry recalled their earlier discussion and said, "Kidnappers can be tempted to do something irrational in order to establish their authority. I think that's it."

Everyone looked down at the half-footprint on the ground.

Half an hour later, in the BAU office, Barry stared blankly at the footprint template. Some of his colleagues were analyzing soil samples, while others were examining photos of trees one by one.

"Hey, Barry, what are you doing?" The blonde walked up and patted him on the shoulder.

“It’s nothing, I was just thinking that maybe we’ve missed some clues,” Barry said, frowning.

They did find footprints, a lot of felled trees, and eyewitness reports from Schiller, but these clues couldn't be put together; the most important link was missing.

With that thought in mind, Barry grabbed his car keys and said, "I'll go take another drive; I might find something new. Don't wait for me to have dinner."

After saying that, he left in a hurry. His colleagues only glanced at him before going about their own business.

But in reality, Barry didn't drive. Partly because running would be faster, and partly because he was worried the noise of a car engine would alert the suspect. With so many police officers present during the day, the suspect certainly wouldn't show himself; going alone at night might yield some unexpected discoveries.

He ran quickly to the woods, then focused his gaze on the bird's nest overhead. He even climbed a tree to check inside, but found nothing.

He began to carefully consider what Greed had said. The other person's focus should have been on the birdsong, but what was so special about birdsong?

Barry circled the area without finding any clues, but he wasn't giving up. He decided to expand his search area and began walking around the streets from east to west, checking house to house. Most of the houses were uninhabited and could be seen from one end to the other, so there wasn't much to check. Soon he arrived near Schiller's house.

Just as Barry was about to run in that direction, he suddenly heard birdsong in the wind. He turned around and saw a huge chestnut tree, with chestnuts scattered all over the ground.

“Perhaps it’s these chestnuts that are attracting the birds to sing,” Barry thought. “Greed is probably hearing these birds singing.”

Then, he suddenly felt a chill rush straight to the top of his head.

How could birds possibly sing against such strong winds?!

"The call of the cardinal..." Barry muttered to himself as he ran quickly toward the house where the chestnut tree was.

Barry realized that the cardinal has many different calls, so wherever cardinals are found, those sharp, shrill cries are often mistaken for birds singing.

Moreover, the chestnuts attract rodents and various birds that make noises, enough to mask the screams of children that might accidentally escape from a closed room.