Twenty years ago, a heinous murder case occurred in Hao Kou Village. A family of six, five were killed, and the murderer was the only surviving member, the male head of the household, Lian Muping.

When the police arrived, Lian Muping confessed to the crime without any hesitation. Combined with the testimony of an eyewitness, it was certain that he was the culprit.

However, on the way back to the town's police station, an unexpected event occurred. Lian Muping seized the opportunity to escape, and his escape lasted for twenty years.

My father was one of the police officers investigating this case.

At that time, I was still young and was so frightened by the news reports on TV that I couldn't sleep.

During that period, almost everyone was on edge.

Why would such a monstrous fugitive risk exposure to burn incense for my father?

Why did he choose to turn himself in on the same day he burned the incense?

His contradictory behavior made me feel strange.

As I pondered, I categorized the relics and found a notebook in the inner layer of a briefcase.

The notebook was wrinkled, as if it had been soaked in water, and there was a piece of waterweed inside it.

Opening the notebook, the first page recorded the details of the Hao Kou Village murder case, and the following pages were also filled with related clues.

I flipped through it casually until I saw the traces of torn pages near the end, and then I became serious.

Lian Muping, 28 years old, witnessed his wife's infidelity and learned that the child she was carrying was also the paramour's. In a fit of rage, he killed his entire family. The eyewitness was Hu Ke, a 15-year-old girl from the same village who had no prior grievances with him.

Later, the villagers also provided testimony. On the day of the incident, everyone had gathered in the ancestral hall. When they noticed that Lian Muping's family was absent, they sent Hu Ke to call them. Shortly after, they heard screams.

When they arrived, they saw Lian Muping holding an axe, covered in blood.

After Lian Muping's case, a missing persons case was recorded.

In 1995, a woman named Li Lijuan went missing. In those days, a missing person largely meant they had been abducted, and it usually became a cold case.

At the end of 1999, my father took over this investigation and, after numerous visits and inquiries, focused on Hao Kou Village, but multiple investigations yielded no results.

As I flipped further, I saw that my father wrote seven words on an entire page: "Lian Muping is innocent."