Author: Iclynn

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The two guards went out and closed the door from the outside.

The room was silent for a while, only the light on top casting on the man’s facial features on the opposite. Su Hui felt the figure in front of him was blurry, the two eye sockets were sunken deeply like a skeleton in hell.

Looking at Su Hui, Song Rongjiang smiled cruelty, his two tiger teeth were sharp. “You shouldn’t let them remove the shackles.”

Su Hui raised his head, there was confusion in his eyes as he looked at the other party. “Why do you say that?”

“The shackles can’t trap me.” Song Rongjia smiled, he stuck out his tongue, licked his teeth, snapped his fingers, and hummed a sound lightly. “Before those waste prison guards rush in, I can strangle you easily just like strangling a bird.”

Su Hui indulged him by listening with his right ear. The interrogation room was very quiet. He successfully captured Song Rongjiang’s words, thus he asked, “The same as when you strangled those women?”

Half a year ago, Song Rongjiang killed at least two women. They both got beaten and strangled to death, the method was extremely vicious.

Su Hui lowered his head, still sorting out the information. He said indifferently, “You can have a try. It will be difficult to strangle a man who has an Adam apple with hands.”

When Su Hui said this, he took the mini recorder out from the backpack and pressed the record button in front of the man.

He didn’t take the other party’s words as a death threat. It was as if he was giving a suggestion and discussing it politely with the man.

Song Rongjiang stared at the thin figure in front of him with bloodshot eyes. “Aren’t you afraid?”

For ordinary people, facing a murderer who had killed several people, they would show some emotions, either anger or fear. However, Su Hui was different, Song Rongjiang couldn’t see anything at all.

Su Hui replied, “There is nothing to be afraid of even if it’s death. After the first death, there is no other.“

The person in front of him was a pervert murderer, fierce, cruel, hysterical, and moody. Su Hui had seen this sentence in the man’s belongings, it was copied on a sticky note. Besides, this sentence was also very suitable for Su Hui himself.

He had already died once, thus he had no fear of death.

“You’ve seen what I left…” Song Rongjiang was stunned for a moment, his heart moved, then he nodded. “Yes, they can’t give me the death penalty again.”

Su Hui said, “I see you copied a lot of poems, many of which are about death, and I like them very much. For example, And death shall have no dominion.“

The man finally smiled, he looked at the person in front of him. “Dylan Thomas…”

These two poems seemed to suddenly shorten the distance between them. Song Rongjiang’s strong sense of rejection involuntarily faded.

Before becoming a killer, Song Rongjiang had some good feelings for literature and art. He would copy the poems of famous poets into his notebooks and sticky notes.

Those things had long been merged into his life and became a part of his soul.

“Hello Song Rongjiang, my name is Su Hui.” Su Hui made a simple opening, he clasped his hands together as if chatting with a friend. “I don’t know you well enough, hence I’m here to have a chat with you.”

Song Rongjiang sat upright and finally willing to talk, “Interesting, I’ve been locked for a few months already but my parents haven’t been here. You’re the first person who came to visit me. Say, who are you? What do you do? Reporter? Police? Lawyer? What are you here for?”

Before Su Hui could ask, he had already started asking as if he was checking the household registration.

Su Hui looked at him with those beautiful eyes. “I’m a criminology teacher, I’m here just to have a conversation with you.”

“Teacher? Conversation?” Song Rongjiang laughed until he was out of breath. “What? You want to educate and persuade me before I’m executed? It would be more useful to send a priest or a monk.”

Su Hui shook his head, then lowered his head. He covered his mouth with his hands and coughed a few times. “No, I’m not here to persuade you, but to understand you. I think your criminal behavior is a typical case, so I applied for authority. I want you to be my research object, that’s why I’m here to have some chat with you.”

There was nothing better in getting to know the murderer by meeting him in person.

Today’s meeting was approved by the police, the prison supervisor, and the Criminology Department.

The police and the prison supervisor approved it rather quickly. On the contrary, it was the academy that Su Hui wasted some time in order to go through the process. Now there was still half a month before the man was executed, which meant he had at most two more chances to meet the other party.

He must fully understand the man in front of him in this short period of time.

“Research object?” Song Rongjiang stared at Su Hui and sneered in contempt. He felt like he was being treated as a white mouse. “I’m already a dying person, why do you think I’ll cooperate with you?”

Those things were still in his mind, whether it was torture to extort a confession or sweet words, it wasn’t useful. He looked at the handsome young man in front of him, wondering where the other party got this confidence from.

Su Hui responded to the question, “I’ve read your information, the news reports, as well the confession typed by the police and the interrogation record before…”

Song Rongjiang said with resistance, “Then you can look at those. It’s written in great detail, and I’ve confessed everything, there is nothing to talk about.”

Su Hui didn’t speak, he spread out the newspapers in front of the man. Shocking titles were written in each of the newspapers.

“A Woman was Killed in Huadu.”

“Perverted Murderer Killed Two Women in a Row.”

“Another young lady is missing, suspecting the murderer is committing another crime.”

“Taxi Murderer Song Rongjiang Has Finally Arrested.”

“Huadu Taxi Murderer received a Death Penalty in the First Trial.”

“Song Rongjiang will be executed within a month.”

The newspapers were sorted by Su Hui long ago and were arranged in chronological order. Song Rongjiang picked up those newspapers, he gulped unconsciously while his hands were slightly trembling, not out of guilt but out of excitement.

At first, Song Rongjiang paid no attention to these newspapers.

Once he came across a news report about his crime, he felt completely different at that time. Reading those pieces of news, he seemed to get double pleasure. Since then, he consciously began to search the news related to him and checked other people’s judgment about his behavior.

Every paragraph was written in the report describing the process of his crime as well as analyzing made him quiver with excitement.

Song Rongjiang had carefully read the first few reports before, he had also cut them and collected them. He was so familiar with those reports that he could almost recite them. The latter ones were published after he was arrested.

Su Hui waited quietly for Song Rongjiang to look at the news reports. He couldn’t see the other party’s expression clearly, but he could rule out that Song Rongjiang was extremely focused.

Song Rongjiang glanced up for a moment and said, “So, they wrote it like this…” He frowned. “However…”

“However, you think they didn’t write enough, it was short, the page layout is small and it’s also different…” Su Hui mercilessly exposed Song Rongjiang’s inner thoughts.

The latest news reports were about the rule of law, there were only a few lines about Song Rongjiang’s matter, mentioning that he would be sentenced to death, and the missing girl Pei Weiwei was still being searched.

The media loved to forget and chased after the site traffic, whether it was the stars or those perverted murderers, it was the same.

Su Hui revealed Song Rongjiang’s desire again. “You want a bigger page and more attention.”

Song Rongjiang listened without saying anything. That was the pride he still maintained even though he was in prison.

He had always been mediocre in his life, but he was unwilling to accept this mediocre life. He had never thought he would become famous for murder, it was a pity that it’s an evil reputation.

Then, Song Rongjiang saw a pile of photos on the side, which were taken by the police at the scene where the body was thrown. He stretched his hand, wanting to take them, and looked over carefully.

Su Hui reached out and held down the photo with an emotionless face. “If you cooperate with me, I can say hello to the prison guard and leave you a physical evidence photo.”

Song Rongjiang wanted those photos to ‘reminisce’ about his crime. He withdrew his hand, still hesitating. In the end, he folded his arms and said, “What do you exactly want to talk about?”

“Talk about your story and your growth experience. You are a serial killer, and a very special representative, studying you is important for criminology.” Su Hui stated indifferently, “From the information I have so far, your confession isn’t very detailed, the person who wrote these reports didn’t understand your behavior and inner world.”

Song Rongjiang smiled silently, without denying, he lowered his head and played with the mini recorder that Su Hui had placed on the table.

Su Hui became serious, his eyes that could confuse people’s minds were like a magic power. He whispered, “They haven’t touched the real you yet. If you just die like this, I think it’s a pity for you.”

“Touch my inner world?” Having said this, Song Rongjiang seemed to become a little interested. “Then, do you think you can do it?”

Su Hui nodded. “I want to give it a try. I will write about you in my thesis, analyze your behavior, and let more people know about you…”

Also, let more people beware of this beast.

He needed to talk to this murderer by exploring the dark place where the light hadn’t yet reached through.

Song Rongjiang lifted his chin. “If you can get me a pack of cigarettes, I will have a talk with you.”

This was already expected by Su Hui. Therefore, he drooped his head, showing a faint charming smile on his calm and delicate face.

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The author has something to say:

And death shall have no dominion—“And death shall have no dominion” —Dylan Thomas.

After the first death, there is no other. — “A Refusal to Mourn the Death, by Fire, of a Child in London” —Dylan Thomas.

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Poet.

A romantic profession.

In the history of mankind, many outstanding poets have emerged. Some were also great philosophers, thinkers, and writers.

Before the criminal psychology subject had appeared, Western poets began to explore the related themes in a form of poetry.

From Aristotle, Dante Alighieri, to Shakespeare, Goethe, Shelley, Dickinson, these great poets continued to write with pen…

Crime was the eternal theme for their writing, life and death, love and hate, crime and punishment, sacrifice and revenge, light and darkness, law and order…

Poets were sensitive and intelligent. They experience the world from their unique perspective, integrate their understanding of good and evil into words, and turn them into works of art one by one…

On the summer afternoon in Huadu, Su Hui sat in a rickety bus, taking time to read the information in his hand.

His eyes fell on a photo of a note, the information was not very clear, and Su Hui’s eyesight wasn’t good either. It took him some effort to recognize the small letters on the note— “Had I not seen the Sun, I could have borne the shade, But Light a newer Wilderness, My Wilderness has made.”

These sentences came from the famous American poet, Dickinson’s work— “Had I not seen the Sun.”

The bus swayed without warning, giving out a clattering sound, then the driver stepped on the accelerator. Su Hui gathered his thoughts, turning his eyes from the information to the bus. The bus began to go up the mountain, and for safety purposes, he put away the information.

“Are there any stops in the next three stations? If not, we will go straight up to the Baihu Mountain.” The driver shouted.

Everyone on the bus agreed tacitly without answering. The people who took the bus here basically went to Baihu Mountain, and the several stops on the way were useless.

The driver said, “Alright!” Then he sped up, almost throwing away the bag in Su Hui’s hand.

Su Hui hadn’t driven for a long time, plus with his current vision, he could only bid farewell to the driver seat.

He originally wanted to take a taxi. However, when the driver heard it was the Baihu Mountain, he was unwilling to come over. The place was far from the city center, so the driver didn’t have time to wait for him.

Another reason was that those people felt unlucky and unsafe.

After all, this was the place where prisoners were locked up.

Inside were devils that had committed various crimes, and although they were now in prison, they were still scary.

Su Hui hesitated for a moment, yet in the end, he chose to take a bus.

The bus drove very fast nowadays, and the driver was also accustomed to this road. He didn’t slow down on the edge of the steel cliff. From time to time, he would make a sharp turn, it was as if the window would break off at any time without pulling the handrail.

The tires clashed against the road, and occasionally, there would be a car passing by their bus swiftly. Nevertheless, the driver was incredibly calm while the passengers broke out in a cold sweat.

The people’s hearts hadn’t calmed down when another winding road appeared.

Su Hui was sitting in the back, having motion sickness. He clenched the handrail in front of him until his knuckles turned white.

Su Hui tried to maintain his balance, he felt suffocated in his chest, making him cough a few times. The car shook so much that he felt his soul and internal organs would be thrown out of his body.

Su Hui had long been used to not seeing things clearly. This situation exacerbated the motion sickness. Everything seemed to have fallen apart, which was completely different from ordinary people’s world, just like Picasso’s abstract paintings.

His hearing wasn’t clear, and the time to time conversations in the bus sounded far away, like water in the pot that was about to boil.

The senses were separate from the body, Su Hui felt like he was in a fish tank glass that was filled with water. The fish tank was transparent, but there wasn’t any fish in it, only him.

He watched the outside world quietly across the glass.

All the people in front of him have become actors. He seemed to be in a TV series, and he was one of them trying to adapt to his role.

“Are you here for the first time?” A voice beside Su Hui pulled him back to reality.

Su Hui turned his head, looking for a moment, did he notice an old aunt sitting on the seat next to him by the window.

The aunt was in her fifties, with permed hair and a slightly fat body. She was obviously very familiar with the whole journey. There were two bags in front of her, one was full of melon seeds, while the other bag was filled with melon seed shells. Sitting on this rickety bus, she cracked the melon seeds to kill time.

Su Hui nodded politely. “This is the first time.”

Seeing his pale face, the aunt handed him a plastic bag kindly. “No wonder, it’s almost there, hold on for another ten minutes.” Then she said, “It’s fine to go up the mountain. You’ll know once you go down the mountain, it’s like a roller coaster, the speed is twice faster than this, it’s very exciting…”

Su Hui couldn’t think that far, he only hoped to get through the current situation. He thanked the aunt and took the plastic bag, holding it tightly in his hand.

The aunt asked him, “Do you want to eat melon seeds?”

Su Hui waved his hand and thanked her again.

The aunt obviously had a good impression of this handsome and polite young man, thus she asked, “Come to see your friend?”

Su Hui was too dizzy to speak, his Adam’s rolled, yet he couldn’t throw up now, but after a while, it was hard to say.

The aunt took his silence as an acquiesce answer, and continued to chat with him, “I’m here to see my son, that damn boy injured someone after getting drunk. It has been three years, and it will take about four years. He has now improved, and maybe will come out sooner. What kind of penalty does your friend get? Just have been sentenced? How long?”

Su Hui pursed his lips, finally took a breath and said, “Death penalty.”

The aunt cried out, covered her mouth with melon seeds and didn’t dare to ask more, just looking at him with sympathy, a bit scared, and somewhat…curious.

This bus led to Baihu Mountain Prison in Huadu. In addition to mountain people, there were also several of them coming to visit the prisoners.

The prison only received visitors on the fifth and tenth day of each month, and if you missed it, you wouldn’t be able to visit.

After a thirty minutes journey, the bus finally stopped in front of several gray buildings. At last, he had arrived at Baihu Mountain Prison.

The air conditioner in the bus was a bit low, hence as soon as the door opened, a wave of heat drifted in from the outside.

The people on the bus got off one after another. Su Hui got out of the bus, carrying his backpack, and stood still with his scepter for a while before the dizziness dissipated.

He gazed at the gray buildings in front of him from a distance, followed behind other people into the gate of the prison.

After passing through a small yard, he entered the office building of the prison. The prison guard was in charge of registering names one by one. When it was Su Lian’s turn, he asked, “Have you registered in advance?”

Su Huai paused for a second, he had already regained his usual indifference. He stretched out his hand, handed over the ID card that he had prepared ahead of time, police authorization, various procedures and an explanation letter that was sealed by the academy.

The other party took a look at it, and quickly bent at the waist. “Oh! Teacher Su, Supervisor He said repeatedly that you will come. Please follow me.”

The little prison guard took a few steps and turned back. “In fact, you can call us when you arrive at the foot of the mountain, we can pick you up.”

Su Hui had recovered from motion sickness. He waved his hand and smiled mildly. “Don’t bother, you guys are very busy with work. It’s convenient to go up the mountain by bus.”

The prison guard had obviously experienced the roller coaster on the way as well. After chatting with Su Hui for some time, he explained to him about the situation here and led him to the administrative area.

During the afternoon, it should be time for free activities in prison. There was some noise outside. Su Hui couldn’t hear it well, he could only hear some chaotic and sharp whistle sounds.

The prisoner guard took Su Hui to a road where only the interior guard was permitted. There were fewer people here, the building was spacious and empty. Su Hui’s scepter touched the ground, producing a faint echo sound.

Su Hui was quickly ushered into a one-way mirror interrogation room. The guard poured him a glass of water and said, “We’ll bring the person here right away.”

Su Hui nodded, placing his scepter aside, then remembered something. “Has anyone come to see him?”

The little prison guard shook his head. “Such a notorious and cruel murderer, all relatives probably want to avoid, so no one comes to visit him.”

Su Hui asked again, “His parents never come?”

The prison guard nodded. “He had no father since he was a child. His mother seemed to be ill and couldn’t take care of him.”

Su Hui nodded when he heard this. He touched his pocket and realized that he had forgotten something. He lifted his head and asked, “Can I buy something from you?”

The prison guard asked, “What does Teacher Su want to buy?”

Su Hui: “Cigarettes and lighters.”

Hearing this, the little prison guard took out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter from his pocket, and handed it over. “Teacher Su, you don’t have to be polite. Supervisor He said to take good care of you. If this isn’t enough, I’ll find another pack for you.”

Su Hui replied, “Thank you so much. This is enough, I came here in a hurry, so I forgot to buy it.”

The prison guard went to take the person, Su Hui put the cigarette and lighter into the backpack, then he took out a thick stack of information from the backpack. 

Among the information were newspapers as well as the stamped file, photos, and also the photocopy information from the police.

Su Hui lowered his head, struggling to recognize. He arranged the information and placed them on the table in different positions. The recorded file name was: Song Rongjiang.

That was the reason he came to Baihu Mountain Prison today.

A little while later, the prison guards brought a man in his thirties in. The man’s hands and feet were shackled. He was obviously a criminal.

He was a little thin, with sunken eyes sockets, and short hair. However, he didn’t look weak, the muscle lines could be seen on his arms, like a swift and powerful leopard. There were still some bruises on his elbows as well as scratches on the side of his neck, which should be the result of a recent fight.

The prison guard pressed the man on the seat opposite Su Hui. For a short while, the interrogation room was filled with a bloodthirsty aura.

It’s the kind of aura that a serial killer who killed many people had.

Su Hui looked up and said, “Remove the shackle.”

The prison guard was flabbergasted. He hesitated for a moment. “But…”

Su Hui coughed twice. “It’s okay, you guys are watching from the outside. Besides, his ankles are still shackled, I just hope he relaxes a bit while we talk.”

This was the core of the entire prison. There were several prison guards with guns guarding on the outside of the one-way mirror. The prisoners couldn’t escape. Su Hui hoped that when he was in this room, he could have a calm conversation with the other party.

Only then did the prison guard remove the shackle on the man’s hands. As if facing the enemy, he didn’t forget to warn him, “Behave yourself later!”

Song Rongjiang leaned sideways on the chair, shaking his wrists, raising his head, looking curiously at the handsome man in front of him…

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The author has something to say:

Note: “Had I not seen the Sun, I could have borne the shade, But Light a newer Wilderness, My Wilderness has made.”

—Dickinson “Had I not seen the Sun.”

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Su Hui’s words were different from what Lu Junchi had expected.

Therefore, he glanced at the man in front of him suspiciously.

He didn’t know what Su Hui had learned and experienced in the past. In Su Hui’s words, he faintly sensed the other party’s dispute about the criminal psychology portrait.

Lu Junchi regretted bringing up this topic, but he still wanted to justify that type of criminal investigation method. “Teacher Su, you’ve been in the academic field, so you might not be clear about it. Criminal psychology portraits are very important to our police, it also gives us great help.”

Su Hui shook his head with a serious expression. “I can’t explain my viewpoint in a short time. Profiling is to used the profiler’s thinking to infer the murderer’s thinking. Different profilers will draw out different conclusions, among which a lot of it is useless information, and sometimes, the information is wrong.”

Lu Junchi tried his best to wrangle calmly, “Teacher Su shouldn’t cover the entire thing like this. I’ve witnessed the magic of profiling. A good profiler is like a key that can solve the case.”

“No one can make sure that the profiling result is 100% correct. With limited knowledge, the profiling accuracy is even more difficult to guarantee, and wrong profiling will lead you into confusion.” Su Hui picked the water glass and took a sip, then placing it down, he asked, “Captain Lu, have you ever been in touch with the Behavior Analysis Team that was disbanded?”

Lu Junchi nodded.

Su Hui leaned his back against the sofa and continued, “The police in many cities used to have profiling teams, but they are called differently, some known as the Criminal Psychology Research Teams, and some are called Behavior Analysis Teams. However, combining the theories when putting the criminal psychology portrait into practice has always been the most difficult point. Huadu’s Behavior Analysis Team helped the police to solve the case, yet at the same time, also revealed a big problem. In my opinion, it’s not a bad thing for the Behavior Analysis Team to disband.”

Maybe it’s because Su Hui was a teacher. He spoke clearly in a polite and reasonable tone. His voice was slightly hoarse, but his words carried the kind of intolerance that couldn’t be questioned.

Lu Junchi realized that after the Behavior Analysis Team disbanded, some conservative people in the police also had this same idea.

Nevertheless, he couldn’t imagine the criminology teacher in front of him was so traditionalist.

Su Hui knew he was here to ask Director Liao for advice, but the other party kept on pouring cold water on him.

The most crucial thing was Su Hui’s words were just mentioned casually, yet it was as if some people had been exploring and struggling throughout their life…

Seeing Lu Junchi’s eyebrows wrinkled deeply, Su Hui gathered his words back. “Captain Lu, don’t take offense. Profiling can still be used as a reference within a certain range. However, compared to this, I think the police need evidence and realistic ideas to solve the case.”

Those words could be regarded as pertinent. Lu Junchi felt Su Hui probably had some prejudice against criminal profiling. What’s more, this Teacher Su didn’t know the predicament that Lu Junchi was facing now. If there were other directions in investigating, he wouldn’t have come here.

Thinking about this, Lu Junchi pushed the information forward. “If Teacher Su has signed the confidential agreement between the General Bureau and the academy, you can also learn about the case we are encountering right now, and give some advice on how to find a feasible idea to solve the case.”

Su Hui didn’t hesitate to pick up the information in front of him and flipped it over carefully.

Lu Junchi said, “We found the dismembered limbs in different scrap cars. The murderer is very careful without leaving any evidence behind, let alone a witness, and the identity of the victim hasn’t yet been determined.”

“There is also foot?” Su Hui blinked, then explained, “I saw a post on the internet before, but it only said a pair of dismembered hands was found…”

“What the media knows isn’t entirely everything.” Lu Junchi said, “At present, these limbs belong to different victims.”

Su Lin took those photos and looked at them one by one, each of which paused for a moment in front of his eyes as though the camera was focusing. When he saw the surroundings of the photos, his expression changed slightly. “The murderer makes full use of the city scrap cars. Have you done an investigation?”

“It’s done. In addition, a microchemical test has been applied for the dismembered limbs, and I hope to find some clues.”

Su Hui listened quietly and nodded. “Victim study, the more we understand the victim, the better we understand the murderer. This idea…” He then asked, “Has the white powder been tested?”

“A mixture of boric acid, alum, and camphor. It’s quite easy to obtain.”

Su Hui put down the information and said, “Rough antiseptic powder.”

He began to arrange the three photos that were hands and a foot with his slender fingers, then he looked down carefully.

As could be seen from the photos, the dismembered limbs have been abandoned in different periods, and the level of decomposition was also different.

Those scrap cars…what did they represent?

The two fell into silence, and the room was awkwardly quiet.

Lu Junchi felt that Teacher Su seemed to be at a loss what to do. Furthermore, he had already made an appointment with Director Liao. And if Teacher Su couldn’t analyze it, the other party would be embarrassed.

He was thinking about how to end the conversation when he heard Su Hui ask, “You said, the cars where the limbs were found are very clean?”

Lu Junchi made a sound as a response.

Su Hui frowned, thinking this was a bit unreasonable. He pondered for a while and looked at several other photos, those scrap cars were in groups…

Su Hui’s brows smooth out. “Although I can’t help Captain Lu with the profiling process, I still hope to provide you some help.”

Lu Junchi paused, looking sideways at the man’s beautiful eyes. Facing the sunlight, his eyelashes were obvious.

Su Hui squinted his eyes slightly, his right-hand swirling around the scepter. “I discovered that the dismembered limbs you found in several scrap cars are used as a ‘showroom’ but you didn’t check the other scrap cars on the scene. I suggest you bring the physical evidence and carefully search for all the scrap cars within the same location.”

City scrap cars were also known as zombie cars. Many car owners would rather throw their car away than send it to the Department of Motor Vehicles because of its age and the incomplete procedure.

Like the Broken Window Theory, those scrap cars didn’t appear alone all the time. As long as a person abandoned the car in one place, a new scrap car would soon appear as if they had increased on their own.

The same was true for other scenes. At each scene, there were a few scrap cars parked around, and it was the police force problem that they only searched one among them

What Su Hui said was the place where the physical evidence hadn’t been investigated, and it was also the police blind spot.

Listening to Su Hui’s suggestion, Lu Junchi nodded thoughtfully, then he said, “Thank you, Teacher Su, I will ask my colleagues to check those cars again and collect all the evidence.”

Su Hui nodded. “You have to hurry, the murderer may commit another crime sooner.”

When the words were said, the door of the office opened as Director Liao walked in.

Director Liao’s full name was Liao ChangEn, he was in his forties this year. He wore glasses, looking like an amiable middle-aged man. When he laughed, a dimple appeared on one side of his face. He smiled upon seeing Su Hui and Lu Junchi. “You two have been waiting for too long. After class, there are still one or two students asking me some questions.”

Lu Junchi said, “It’s fine, it’s not too long.”

Su Hui stood up. “Director Liao, I came to get the stamped document.”

“Wait a moment, Teacher Su. I’ll take it for you right away.” Director Liao waved his hand to the inner room. “Captain Lu, we will go in and talk.”

Liao ChangEn rummaged through the things on the table and took out a document with a red stamp on it, then he walked out while handing it to Su Hui. “Teacher Su, this is what you want.”

Su Hui reached over to take it.

Director Liao was not in a hurry to give it to him, he retracted his hand and warned, “Teacher Su, don’t say that I didn’t persuade you. This is a bit dangerous, although you are doing research, you don’t have to work so hard. What’s even more serious is this matter has overstepped the boundary, our academy is at most assisting the police.”

Su Hui’s eye color appeared very light under the sun. He turned his head and frowned slightly as if he didn’t hear clearly. “What?”

Director Liao wanted to beat this obedient teacher on the spot. However, he felt stifled, and couldn’t tell whether Su Hui did it on purpose or he really didn’t hear clearly.

He didn’t want to be like Lu Junchi, lowering himself to a deaf person. Besides, he didn’t have the patience to say those long words again. In the end, he gave the thing to Su Hui. “I said…forget it. Teacher Su, take care of your own safety.”

Su Hui took it and thanked him. He folded it over in layers and put it in his pocket before walking out of the door.

Lu Junchi turned his head, looking at Teacher Su. When he was thanking him earlier, the other party’s body turned to the right involuntarily. Perhaps, his hearing on the right ear was better than that of the left.

From Director Liao’s assistant and Director Liao’s reactions, it could be seen that there was some problem with his hearing.

Only Lu Junchi and Liao ChengEn were left in the office, hence Lu Junchi started the conversation, “Director Liao, that Teacher Su…”

Liao ChangEn forced a smile without concealing. “He’s a bit strange, isn’t he? He looks quite docile, but…” Director Liao hesitated a second, probably thinking that Lu Junchi was an outsider, yet he still couldn’t help complaining a few words.

“Young teachers nowadays don’t know the ways of the world. His experience isn’t high, yet his eyes already notice heaven. He didn’t care much about teaching and always used his crooked brains every day. To be honest, I’ve taught for many years but I’ve never met such a teacher…Recently, he insisted on going to the Baihu Mountain Prison, saying he was doing a thesis project. He doesn’t teach criminal psychology, isn’t this equivalent to asking for danger? I kindly reminded him. However, he pretended to be deaf and dumb…”

Lu Junchi was quite surprised. He didn’t expect Director Liao’s impression about Teacher Su was like this, and unexpectedly, this Teacher Su even went to the Baihu Mountain Prison, which was the place for the heavily sentenced criminals. Lu Junchi himself had sent a lot of criminals there, the light punishment would be at least five years, and the severe one would be executed with a death penalty.

The atmosphere became a bit embarrassed for a moment, thus Lu Junchi said, “Perhaps, capable people are generally a little arrogant.”

“Capable?” Director Liao chuckled. “I hope he can at least have one article to publish for the core journal this year. Otherwise, the teachers’ reports during the summer vacation might not be easy for him. However, the person himself isn’t at all in a hurry while I’m the director worrying about him.”

The academy had always required the teachers’ teaching and research results, and the annual meeting would be held to do reviews. The rigid rule was to publish three average journal articles every two years. The teachers would voluntarily raise the requirement to a high level as they struggled to get the core journal.

There weren’t many professional journals in China. Only nine in total, which was also known as the Nine Journals. The teachers could be said to have sharpened their minds and were striving to go through it.

As far as Director Liao knew, the name Su Hui had never appeared in those journals.

From Director Liao’s tone, Lu Junchi seemed to hear him gloating over other people’s misfortune. Looked like this academy wasn’t a pure land, and there ought to be no less struggle.

“Let’s not talk about it.” Director Liao took off his coat and hung it on the back of the swivel chair. He then turned around and said, “Xiao Zhang had told me about it. Captain Lu, please show me the information.”

Lu Junchi handed over the information in his hand but he was still thinking about what Teacher Su had said before. Furthermore, he was also worried about Teacher Su’s safety.

Director Liao put on the glasses and looked through the information. His expression gradually became solemn…

An hour later, Lu Junchi was hungry when he came out of Director Liao’s office. He unlocked the car and received a call from Qiao Ze.

Qiao Ze’s voice was very loud. “Captain Lu, I’m investigating the scene with the physical evidence.”

Then he lowered his voice. “Three scrap cars have already been checked. The physical inspector said they didn’t find anything new. All the information was left by the car owner, and they are now a little impatient…”

The information that the physical inspector found were fingerprints, bloodstains, footprints, and so on. This was a physical and technical task.

It was already very troublesome to check one car. And now they suddenly had to check several cars without knowing exactly what to check, so it was natural for them to complain.

Lu Junchi wasn’t there and Qiao Ze was too young to keep them under his control.

“Is Old Han leading the team?”

Qiao Ze made a sound as a response.

Lu Junchi told Qiao Ze, “You try to persuade them, buying some drinks, cigarettes, and alcohol or maybe invite them to a meal together at noon. I’ll pay you back later.”

Qiao Ze took a few steps to the side. He asked in a low voice, “Right…Captain, is this the result you obtained from Director Liao? Are you sure that we can find something?”

What Qiao Ze was most afraid of was when Lu Junchi came back empty-handed…

“No, it was a suggestion from a criminology teacher…” Lu Junchi suddenly thought Teacher Su didn’t explain to him the specific reason for doing this.

“Captain Lu, is there any helpful information from Director Liao?” Qiao Ze asked.

Lu Junchi was a little disappointed by the conversation just now. “I had a careful chat with Director Liao, and felt some of his suggestions were a bit idealistic and not easy to implement.”

The conversation earlier was very long. However, there weren’t many useful results. Lu Junchi had already deduced what Director Liao had said since the beginning.

Director Liao also analyzed that the murderer may have been abused and bullied in his childhood. There was a possibility that his family was terrible, which made him like to be alone. This sounded reasonable but it didn’t allow the police to pull out helpful information, let alone help them catch the murderer.

There was also some data about these groups of people related to the academic thesis…

Lu Junchi became more helpless. Those data couldn’t help them screen out the man among millions of men his age.

At the end of the topic, Director Liao seemingly mentioned casually about the Major Crime Unit selecting an adviser…

Although Lu Junchi respected Director Liao, he felt Director Liao wasn’t a good candidate, so he hurriedly changed the topic.

Just as he was recalling this, Lu Junchi heard the physical inspector’s voice come through the phone. “Officer Qiao! This is the last car that hasn’t been checked.”

Qiao Ze quickly responded, “Leader Han has worked hard. I’ll come over right away!”

Lu Junchi thought about it again and felt his previous decision was a bit arbitrary.

If he couldn’t find anything this time, everyone’s search was wrong, he estimated that he had to go to the physical identification center to apologize.

According to ordinary thinking, it wasn’t easy to find a scrap car that had something inside. How could the murderer be related to the other cars? However, a moment ago, it was unreasonable for him to believe Teacher Su’s words…

Facing Teacher Su, Lu Junchi had an inexplicable sense of familiarity and trust. It was as if what the other person had said was reasonable…

Lu Junchi was in a daze when he heard a commotion coming from the other side of the phone. Qiao Ze said in a hurry, “Captain Lu, I’ll talk to you later…”

The commotion on the opposite side suddenly became noisier, yet it was vague, and he couldn’t hear what was being discussed.

Lu Junchi faintly felt something was wrong. He became nervous, sat up straight, and then tightened the phone in his hand.

Soon afterward, he heard Qiao Ze’s voice trembling with excitement. There was a hint of disbelief in his tone.

“Captain! We found a lot of traces on the last car!”

It turned out what Teacher Su had suggested was right.

The scrap car they found before was the showroom while the one next to it was the playground…

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In the corridor of the Huadu Police Academy, in front of Director Liao’s office, everything happened so suddenly, and the posture of the two people falling was somewhat ambiguous.

Lu Junchi wrapped his arms around the man’s waist, the information and photos in his hands fell to the ground while he was also dragged down along, and sat directly on the ground as a human cushion.

Lu Junchi was a little helpless. Although there weren’t many lights in the corridor, it wasn’t very dark. He was about 1.8 meters tall, and it was impossible to ignore him, who had stood there. Before the collision, he had already slowed down his speed. Being able to bump into him like this, also required some ability.

Then, Lu Junchi smelled something, the scent was like peppermint.

He realized that the scent was coming from the man.

The man wore a long-sleeve white shirt. He wasn’t short but very thin. Lu Junchi didn’t feel much weight that was pressed on his body.

The two were a bit stunned for a moment, then the man lowered his head, and apologized, “I’m sorry, it’s too dark here, my eyesight isn’t very good, I can’t see clearly.” His voice was low and slightly hoarse.

“Sorry, I was distracted.” Lu Junchi’s hands were still on the man’s waist, thus he could feel the other party’s body temperature. He hurriedly let go of his hands, grabbed the man’s wrist, and lifted him carefully.

Afterward, Lu Junchi took a step back gently, widening the distance between them.

He rubbed his fingers nervously. The touch earlier was still there. The man’s body was warm, but his hands were cold as if he had just come out of an extremely cold place.

The man still bowed his head. Looking at this person’s figure, made people feel refined in manner, even a gust of wind could blow him down.

Lu Junchi took a deep breath and calmed himself.

He crouched down, began to pick up the photos and information that had scattered all over the ground. At this moment, Lu Junchi discovered a scepter had fallen on the ground, the thin scepter was about half a person tall with a silver cat’s head on top of it.

Apparently, holding a scepter was like finding a path with a white cane. However, a white cane was unlikely to be this grandiose.

Could it be that this person was really blind?

Lu Junchi felt guilty for a while. He was about to apologize sincerely again, yet he saw the man bent down, picking up the scepter on the ground accurately, then holding it in his hand before picking up a few photos for him without much effort.

Lu Junchi: “…”

The man didn’t seem to notice Lu Junchi’s strange gaze. He held the photo with his slender fingers and brought it about ten meters away from his eyes. He squinted and carefully identified. “A woman’s hand is sawed off?”

Lu Junchi made a sound as a response, gathering up the messy photos and information on the ground. He stood up and introduced himself. “My name is Lu Junchi, the captain of the Major Crime Unit of Huadu Police Station.”

Hearing his words, the man withdrew his eyes from the photos and stared at him fixedly.

Those eyes were extremely focused, making Lu Junchi puzzled for a second, whether he had seen this person somewhere, or if the other party knew him. However, he quickly dismissed this idea, no matter where he saw such a man, he should have some impression.

The man was very good-looking. His skin color was snow-white, he had exquisite facial features, slender neck, looking extremely delicate and pretty. Especially his pair of eyes, which appeared hazy. There was also a tiny tear mole under the right corner of his eyes. Such a pretty appearance didn’t match with his slightly hoarse voice.

Similarly, the man introduced himself, “I’m the teacher here, Su Hui.” His lips were slightly pale, there was no trace of blood. The whole person was very thin, so thin that the lower jawbone was visible, which didn’t seem to be in good health.

The commotion at the door finally alarmed the people inside the room. The door of Director Liao’s office opened, the teaching assistant, Xiao Zhang stuck his head out and looked around.

“Captain Lu, Teacher Su, you two are here? Director Liao will be back soon. You can come in and wait for him.”

Only now did Lu Junchi know that this Teacher Su also came to find Director Liao. Therefore, he went in the direction of the office door, resulting in the two people bumping into each other, which was a little coincidental.

Director Liao’s office was large. It was divided into two rooms: the inner and the outer rooms. The inner room was an independent office with several bookshelves, plus a huge desk, two green plants, and a comfortable swivel chair.

The outer room was the living room and the assistant’s office. There was a small coffee table and sofas.

Assistant Xiao Zhang greeted them in the outer room, Lu Junchi and Su Hui sat face to face on the sofa.

Xiao Zhang poured two cups of hot water and placed them on the table while slightly apologizing to the two, “Director Liao will be here in ten minutes. I made an appointment to pick up something for the director before, and the driver had already arrived at the school gate, I might have to go there now…”

Lu Junchi understood. “It’s okay, you can go. I’ll just wait for him here.”

Upon seeing this, Xiao Zhang picked up his bag. His voice was a little higher as he said to Su Hui, “Teacher Su, I will withdraw first, see you later.”

Su Hui, who was sitting on the opposite side, nodded with his pointed chin. “See you later.”

When Xiao Zhang went out, the room fell into silence for a moment.

Being in the same room with a man, who he just met and had unexpected physical contact with, Lu Junchi suddenly became a little troubled and awkward.

He didn’t want to look at the other party, but he still couldn’t help looking at that person.

Honestly, this Teacher Su was indeed a rare beauty, he looked very in line with Lu Junchi’s aesthetic. He rarely thought a man would be this good-looking, yet this Teacher Su made him feel that he could only use the word good-looking to describe his appearance.

When he wasn’t talking, Su Hui was a little cold, the whole person was made of ice and snow, making people difficult to approach.

At this time, Su Hui turned his head sideways, played with the scepter in his hand, and stroked the cat’s head repeatedly as if he was stroking the metal animal fur. He then leaned over the scepter, using his white cheek to rub against the cat, as though there was nobody else present.

Su Hui narrowed his eyes slightly, his expression was a bit similar to a cat, yet his beautiful eyes were out of focus, no one knew what he was thinking.

From Lu Junchi’s point of view, this Teacher Su looked like a painting. Everything was fine except for one small defect, his collar was a little untidy, and the collar on the right side was a bit folded, making people want to reach out to help him straighten it.

Lu Junchi suppressed the urge to remind the other party to tidy up his clothes, lowered his head, took a sip of water, thinking about how to solve this embarrassment, then he heard Su Hui speak first.

Teacher Su straightened his body, supported himself by holding the scepter, and greeted formally, “Nice to meet you, Captain Lu.”

Lu Jun nodded slowly. “Nice to meet you”

The two were silent again…

Lu Junchi glanced at his phone, it had only been a minute. They probably still need to be idle a bit more. He tried his best not to focus on Su Hui’s appearance.

Sitting still was boring anyway, thus Lu Junchi decided to start with the topic that related to work. “Teacher Su, what course did you teach?”

Su Hui replied, “I’m in Criminology Department, teaching the sociology of crime.”

Lu Junchi finally found the topic. “Then, Teacher Su must have some understanding about criminal psychology, right?”

Su Hui nodded. “I have some superficial understanding.”

Until now, influenced by his family and some work experience, Lu Junchi upheld a type of yearning spirit to explore criminal psychology and criminal psychology portraits. He didn’t have a talent in this area but he had a deep favorable impression for people who had this ability.

Lu Junchi said sincerely, “I’m very interested in criminal psychology, and I once wanted to come to the academy for an audit, but unfortunately, I’m too busy with work. Can Teacher Su give me some advice, such as which course I should attend so that I can understand more?”

Su Lian said, “Criminology is an analysis of the criminal situation. Courses that are offered by the academy are criminology, criminal justice, sociology of crime, and various circumstances of criminal psychology. Among them, criminal psychology is used as a fundamental principle of psychology. It is an interdisciplinary subject that studies the main part of the criminal mind. Our academy has many teachers that specialize in criminal psychology, there are some who are quite experienced. For example, Director Liao, and if you want to listen to the related course, you can find Director Liao.”

“But…” Su Hui turned around and looked at the door, paying attention to the movement outside the door. He coughed a few times, lowering his voice, and continued, “Compared to many other courses, the development time of criminal psychology is still very short. Especially in China, which is only more than 30 years, the relevant theories aren’t perfect either. In the coursebooks, there are all kinds of hypothesis styles in each academy that even the publishing houses are different, the teaching materials are different, the definitions are different, and the focuses are also different. It can be said, at present, the knowledge about criminal psychology in the country seems to be limited.”

Having said this, Su Hui turned his head and asked Lu Junchi tentatively, “Are you…coming here to ask Director Liao for advice about investigating the case?”

Lu Junchi nodded, stating the purpose of this trip, “A case in our Major Crime Unit encountered recently is really difficult. The murderer might be a serial killer, so I want to ask for help, hoping that Director Liao could give me a criminal psychology portrait.”

Lu Junchi heard his words carried an implicit meaning, hence he continued to ask, “Does Teacher Su have any suggestions?”

“Criminal psychology portrait merely used for criminal psychology. You can listen to the course if you want to…” Su Hui paused and said, “But the current domestic criminal psychology portrait isn’t mature enough. Although Director Liao has a lot of teaching experience, he hasn’t been involved in many cases so far…”

Lu Junchi glanced at Su Hui, this was also what he worried about before he came.

Su Hui placed the scepter aside, crossing his fingers as he raised his eyelashes and said with a serious expression, “Furthermore, I suggest that in the early stage of the investigation, Captain Lu shouldn’t be too partial to the unsubstantiated profiling results.”

Hearing this sentence, Lu Junchi’s heart stalled for a while, and he somehow could hear a trace of déjà vu in Su Hui’s tone.

A person suddenly appeared in his mind.

However, that person’s voice was completely different from the person in front of him. Besides, that person would never say such a thing.

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Early in the next morning, three boxes of different sizes were placed side by side on the transparent glass observation table in the physical inspection room of the Huadu Police Station.

This was what Huadu Chenyang sub-bureau had found yesterday after an all-night investigation.

Those city scrap cars were placed on the side of the road with countless people passing by every day, yet no one would have thought such a terrible thing was hiding inside.

Today, Lu Junchi brought Qiao Ze to the identification center. As soon as he entered the door, a young female forensic doctor stood up, handing them gloves, masks, and goggles.

The identification center was airtight and somewhat dark with a strong ventilation installation inside. The illumination relied on both large and small sizes of light. Besides, different lights had different effects and various traces could be illuminated.

Lu Junchi put on the equipment and attached himself to see.

The boxes were marked with No.1, No.2, and No.3 according to the time when it was abandoned. The first box they found was box No.2.

The other two boxes looked similar, containing white powder inside and buried with some parts of women’s dismembered limbs.

The biggest was box No.1 which included one foot. Inside box No.2 had hands, and box No.3 had another woman’s hand.

Three hands, all of which belonged to young women, plus one foot, so there was a possibility of having at least two or three victims.

The situation at hand was intractable.

Qiao Ze stood by and watched for a while before he took out his notebook to write down.

Xing Jing, the female forensic doctor of the identification center. Just by listening to her name, she was already expected to be a member of the criminal police.

Xing Jing had a pair of phoenix eyes, combed with a high ponytail. She wore a white coat and explained to them on the side, “We have examined the three boxes, and there is no completed fingerprint of the murderer left behind. We have done the laboratory tests, the DNA results aren’t the same, so there should be three victims. The hand in box No.3 is still fresh, the victim might have just been killed.”

Lu Junchi looked over carefully for a while, then he straightened up and asked, “What are those powders?”

The three boxes apparently had antiseptic drugs, but he didn’t know what they were. Seemingly, the three boxes could be purchased on the market, and those drugs were also one of the directions that needed to be investigated.

Xing Jing gave a simple explanation. “It’s a mixture of camphor, alum, and boric acid.”

Qiao Ze bit the pen cap and said vaguely, “Sister Jing, make it clear, I’ll write it down…”

XIng Jing handed him the report. “The report is written clearly, including the specific content, you don’t need to take note.”

Qiao Ze flipped through the report with an inquisitive expression. “I’m just curious, what are the effects of these drugs? How come those dismembered limbs won’t decompose when they are placed inside?”

Xing Jing explained, “Among them, camphor’s role is to remove the unpleasant odor and maggots, while alum absorbs oil, bacteriostasis, and coagulation protein. Lastly, the purpose of using boric acid is for antiseptic.”

Lu Junchi seized the key points and asked, “Is this the common formula?”

Xing Jing nodded. “This is the antiseptic drug protection for specimens, but it is not as popular as formalin, and it is not as effective as the mixture antiseptic of arsenic trioxide. However, this method is safer and it’s also easier to obtain the raw material. It can be produced by most people at home.”

Lu Junchi pressed his eyebrows with his hand. It was easier to buy and created, that was to say; it was difficult to track down the murderer through the medicine channel.

Xing Jing pointed to the box in front of her. “From the proportion of it in these three boxes, we can see that it is not made for the first time. The murderer is developing, becoming more skilled. He has been adjusting the formula. As you guys can see, the first hands still show some sign of rottenness, but the new one is very well preserved.”

Lu Junchi asked again, “Except for the stored drugs, what other information can we get?”

“Director Sheng went to the field.” Xing Jing brought another examination report. “He had seen it in person, fingerprints, DNA, blood type, and the shape of the wounds had also been studied. The tool is suspected to be a sharp chainsaw. All the victims are around 25 years old. Director Shang also said…”

Xing Jing looked at Lu Junchi with her beautiful eyes, then she pursed her lips and said, “He said the victims’ blood contained a certain amount of animal anesthetic, and there was a life response, which means these limbs might have been cut off when the victims were alive. After the murderer controlled the victims, he cut their hands and feet. The process was carried out until he embalmed them. Also, the dosage of anesthesia is not often, and Director Shang suspected the victims were in semi-conscious states.”

Such a murderer was too cruel.

Lu Junchi asked, “After the limbs were cut off, is there any chance for the victims to survive?”

Xing Jing shook her head. “With such a large wound will cause severe blood loss and infect the wound. Even if they go to a professional hospital, they might not be saved, so we can basically determine that the victims are already dead.”

After listening to what Xing Jing had said, a strange scene appeared in Lu Junchi’s mind. In the dim room, in front of a simple bed, a man in a raincoat cut off the woman’s hand who had laid in front of him with a gloomy face. The room was filled with the buzzing sound of the chainsaw and the weak woman’s crying voice, calling for help but to no avail…

Qiao Ze was taking note on the side, thus, after hearing this; a trace of fear flashed in his eyes, and his teeth trembled involuntarily.

Lu Junchi turned to ask Qiao Ze, “Have the fingerprints and blood type been compared?”

Qiao Ze said, “When it was sent yesterday, I ran the database all night but it hadn’t been found in the file.” That was to say, the fingerprints and blood type had not entered their system yet.

After finishing all the explanations, Xing Jing handed over various examination reports and a pile of photos to Lu Junchi. “Captain Lu, that’s all the information we can provide. What else do you think we need to inspect?”

Lu Junchi hesitated for a moment and said, “I want to apply for the microchemical test to check what is inside the finger, and see if this can help determine the deceased’s profession.”

They could only determine the time when the victim’s hand was cut off and the information they obtained was too little to confirm the deceased’s identity.

Without knowing the deceased, it was impossible to find out how the murderer chose the target and the motive of the crime.

“Microchemical test?!” Xing Jing looked at Lu Junchi with a smile at the corner of her mouth. “The method that Captain Lu has said, there is indeed a lot of information hidden in people’s fingers, which can’t be washed away after repeated washing. I know this technology, and it seems like the specific method can only be carried out after spectral measurement. However, we can’t do it here, we need to send it to the laboratory of the Huadu Police Academy.”

After speaking, Xing Jing took out the note and wrote. “I’ll write it down first, and discuss it with Director Shang when he returns. I will let you know as soon as there is news, trouble Captain Lu to wait.”

Lu Junchi nodded, expressing his understanding.

The identification center of the Huadu General Bureau had a heavy workload. They were not only responsible for various laboratory tests for each criminal police team but also sometimes cooperated with the sub-bureau for inspection and testing. All kinds of laboratory tests took time.

Those trace inspectors, experimenters, and forensic doctors couldn’t wait to live in the identification center every day.

All the data of the Major Crime Unit was regarded as the highest priority. Therefore, the results could be obtained quickly.

The work here was almost over, Lu Junchi and Qiao Ze walked out.

The Huadu General Bureau was very modern, especially the identification center. The first floor was the storage center, the second floor was the forensic department, and the third floor was the physical evidence laboratory. The whole building had a continuous temperature, constant oxygen. The corridor was installed with large French windows, and the scenery could be seen through the glass.

Now in midsummer, looking out as far as the eyes could see, it was lush green.

Lu Junchi took a few steps, holding the information in his hand, he turned to ask Qiao Ze, “What do you think about this case?”

Qiao Ze crossed his arms and answered frankly, “This murderer is a big pervert! But he is too cunning and experienced. We have searched so much, yet we know nothing about this murderer.”

“Not really nothing. The murderer should be a man who acted alone” Lu Junchi inferred in a low voice. “The murderer has a channel that he could purchase chemical products and drugs. He has relevant knowledge with not too low educational background, he should have more time to deposit than work, plus an independent office, and along with a place to dismember the corpse…”

Lu Junchi paused, then he said softly, “But why did the murderer put those dismembered limbs in the car?

He wasn’t able to explain this issue yet. Lu Junchi felt his analysis was a little messy. With this information, he could not visualize the murderer.

He had no clue of what to do next. Furthermore, he still had many questions and puzzles in his heart.

Lu Junchi had received a good education related to a modern criminal investigation. He was accustomed to the process and the procedure of solving cases, step by step, fast and quick with the best method.

But the current case was different from ordinary cases. As a normal person, he was not good at analyzing the psychology of a pervert.

Qiao Ze asked, “Right…Captain Lu, has any adviser been selected for our team?”

Lu Junchi shook his head. “Several people who had submitted their CV recently aren’t very suitable.”

Qiao Ze bowed his head for a moment, and said out of the blue, “It would be best if the Behaviour Analysis Team is still here.”

Hearing his words, Lu Junchi’s expression changed slightly.

The Behavior Analysis Team started as a special department under the FBI in the United States, referred to as BSU, and it was this group that carried forward the concept of ‘criminal profiling’.

The technology of criminal profiling and criminal psychology portrait was easy to say but it was actually difficult to work and interpret. In this regard, China had always been far behind the Western countries.

Under such a domestic environment, the Huadu General Bureau had always been at the forefront of trying various criminal investigation methods.

More than ten years ago, Huadu introduced criminal profiling to the police force and did the training for the police officers.

Unfortunately, criminal psychology was not a subject that everyone could master. Hence, it didn’t seem very effective at that time. Nevertheless, this behavior was to sow a seed for the future.

After criminal profiling became more and more popular, it finally had some results in Huadu.

Eight years ago, a criminal profiler named Yu Yan solved a several-year unsolved case for Huadu, which established Yu Yan’s identity and status. He was also known as the first profiler in Huadu.

The discovery of the unsolved case made the senior police officers in Huadu truly see the power of the criminal profiler, and they had paid more attention to this.

Five years ago, the Huadu General Bureau planned to form a professional Behavior Analysis Team led by the first profiler, Yu Yan.

Ten of thousands of criminal police officers along with the students from the police academy in Huadu took part in this huge selection and submitted their profiling answers.

In the end, Yu Yan selected four people as the first members of the Behavior Analysis Team.

During that period, Yu Yan died unexpectedly, and everyone thought there was little hope for the establishment of the Behavior Analysis Team.

However, Chief Tan still overrode all the objections and set up the Behavior Analysis Team according to Yu Yan’s last wish.

In order to not let the tragedy repeat itself, the senior police officers decided to protect several profilers by setting them as anonymous, and their identities weren’t known to anyone in the General Bureau.

The code names of the four profilers in the Behavior Analysis Team were: Poet, Moonlight, Robin, and Prophet.

The team provided profiling assistance to the General Bureau and all various sub-bureau. As long as they uploaded numerous materials and detailed information of the case to the intranet platform, they would get the analysis of the suspect from the criminal profilers.

Although every report would write: non-scientific evidence, for reference only. Yet, those profilings were regarded as imperial edicts by grassroots police officers.

Fact had proved that criminal psychology portraits weren’t metaphysics, and the accuracy rates of those top profilers were relatively high.

The use and extension of profiling had a certain positive effect, which greatly shortened the time for the Huadu police to solve the cases and improved the efficiency of solving the cases.

Especially the profiler Poet, someone in the police force had made the report and his profiling accuracy rate was 87%. With the help of his profiling analysis, the Huadu police had solved many major cases continuously, and some unsolved cases in which the murderer hadn’t been caught for a long time were also unraveled.

The extremely mysterious profiler, Poet, was also known as Yu Yan’s successor. Some people even thought his talent and achievements had surpassed Yu Yan since the beginning.

Some people said Poet was the one who had the best understanding of the criminal’s psychology and he was the closest to evil.

All of this, until two years ago…

The fine sand explosion occurred, the Behavior Analysis Team was disbanded without warning, and Poet had never appeared again.

Many people speculated that Poet was dead.

Everything caught the Huadu police, who had been relying on criminal profiling, by surprise.

It took a long time for a person that used to be helped, to walk independently again.

But these days, when they encounter those difficult puzzles, they still think of the mysterious group and those legendary people.

After Lu Junchi took over the Major Crime Unit, he solved numerous major cases constantly. Moreover, he clearly felt there was a lack of a criminal psychology portrait, so Lu Junchi thought of recruiting an adviser.

However, the candidates had not been decided yet.

Under the ray of light, in front of the French window of the Huadu General Bureau, the two were silent for a moment.

Then, Qiao Ze suddenly recalled something. “Captain Lu, I remembered something. Do you remember our cooperation with the Criminology Department of the Huadu Police Academy?”

After this reminder, Lu Junchi remembered. “That’s the one…the teacher of the academy provided us with case consultation. And the Major Crime Unit had to submit the criminal record file for them as cooperation in the academic research?”

The cooperation began a year ago. Both parties signed a confidentiality agreement, deciding to provide details for each other. In fact, during these years, the Major Crime Unit had a one-way conclusion that didn’t get an actual consultation.

Qiao Ze applied for a serious nod from his boss. “Yes, the Criminal Justice Department, that is the hidden dragon, crouching tiger^[1]. I have also taken Director Liao’s class, they have a criminal psychology class there, and there is also some profiling analysis. You might as well go there, perhaps there will be some different opinions.” Qiao Ze reminded, “Captain Lu, you might be able to find an adviser there too.”

_{[1] T/N: Hidden dragon, crouching tiger means concealing one’s talent.}

Lu Junchi pondered for a minute. “I’m afraid there will be a gap between the academic and us who are the criminal investigators. Anyway, since there is a way, I’ll go over and ask.”

Qiao Ze said, “Yes, doctor a dead horse as if it were still alive^[2]. If there is no help, just don’t listen to them.”

_{[2] T/N: doctor a dead horse as if it were still alive means making every possible effort; not giving up for the loss.}

Lu Junchi told Qiao Ze, “When you go back, let them check the missing people records first and see if they can find anything. In addition, No.1’s and No.3’s places were searched yesterday, in the middle of the night, so there shouldn’t be anyone who had been disturbed. Let the criminal police team over there set up a hidden sentry post to continue monitoring and see if there are suspicious people waiting to approach the cars.”

Qiao Ze responded and walked in the direction of the Major Crime Unit.

After arranging the work, Lu Junchi phoned Director Liao. Because Director Liao was still teaching, the phone was answered by his assistant. He said Director Liao finished teaching at ten o’clock and they could meet in the office.

Lu Junchi glanced at the time, it was 9:30. Hence, he went down and drove directly to the Huadu Police Academy.

The Huadu Police Academy was eight kilometers from here. Lu Junchi had been to Director Liao’s office several times already, it was on the third floor of the teacher’s office building.

Lu Junchi parked his car under the office building and walked all the way upstairs when his phone made a sound all of sudden.

He looked at it and saw that Xing Jing had replied to him, saying Shang Qinghan agreed to his request and the microchemical test evidence analysis would be carried out.

Lu Junchi breathed a sigh of relief.

Having the information in his hand, he lowered his head and sent it out. Lu Junchi walked quickly to the corridor where he was about to reach Director Liao’s office.

Suddenly, a figure walked out of the office from the opposite side. From the corner of Lu Junchi’s eyes, he could see that the other party was a tall and thin man. Lu Junchi immediately slowed down his pace, then he dodged, wanting to make way.

The corridor was very wide, enough for eight people to pass side by side. If it was an ordinary person, it must be safe and sound. Even if the response was sluggish, it’s estimated that the people could still pass by safely.

However, when Lu Junchi dodged to his right, the man also dodged to his left side, almost bumped into Lu Junchi’s direction.

Afterward, the man stumbled directly on top of him, seeing that he was about to fall forward, Lu Junchi reluctantly let go of the information in his hand and stretched out his arms to hold the other party, allowing the man to fall firmly into his embrace.

---

The author has something to say: 

Does it feel good, Captain Lu?

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All creatures will kill, there seems to be no exception, but of all creatures, only humans kill for pleasure—Mark Twain.

During July, the weather was very hot in Huadu, especially toward noon.

The blazing sun was shining, while the tarmac was burning, accompanied by the distorted air.

It was lunch break, and the open space next to the sand factory was a bit calm. Occasionally, only the cicadas chirping in the trees could be heard. The insects seemed to be tired which made the sound not too loud.

Five vigorous children brought the football and occupied the open space, driving the tranquility away.

Those children had just finished their final exams. They were like prisoners waiting for the judgment while having the party before the result was out.

They were undergoing exuberance, thus regardless of how hot the weather was, they simply took off their shirt after running sweaty, venting all their nervousness and depression caused by the exam.

The tallest one among the children passed the ball with a little force, making the spinning football hit the scrap car parking beside them with a bang, followed by some noise.

The front windshield of the car had long been cracked. Such a blow made the tempered glass shatter, and the glass shards fell onto the front seat.

The children were stunned for a moment.

“Brother Xuan…what now?” A skinny guy realized that they were in trouble, thus he looked back at the tall boy who had caused this with fear.

The tall boy was the oldest among them. His name was Yang Zixuan, and he was also the leader of this group of children.

Yang Zixuan glanced around, there were no others here except for the few of them.

He was no different from an adolescent boy. However, he wasn’t yet aware of how complicated things were at this age. Yang Zixuan calmed down, and said to the other children, “Don’t be afraid, it’s just a scrap car. The owner of the car is long gone, so we’ll pick up the ball and go play elsewhere.” After thinking about it, he added, “You must not tell anyone about this!”

The children quickly reached a tacit agreement and walked to the front of the car. This car was indeed old and worn out, layer after layer was covered with dust, and there was also a trace of it used to be drenched by the rain. The original color of the car had already faded away. The tender grass had even grown in some crevices, which added a little life to the old abandoned car.

The broken windshield allowed the children to see the inner part of the car. Although the inside was obsolete, it was far less messy than the outside. Several seats were still clean. Yang Zixuan pointed to the thinnest kid. “Grasshopper, we will carry you up, and you go inside to pick the ball.”

The thinnest kid called Grasshopper nodded.

They quickly took advantage of the fact that the adults weren’t here and immediately began to take action. Grasshopper was carried by several older children onto the front cover of the car and then he climbed neatly to the inside.

“Be careful not to get scratched by the glass.” Yang Zhixuan reminded him. The other children were a little nervous. If Grasshopper was injured, they might have to be responsible for this matter.

Grasshopper responded with a low voice. He lowered his body cautiously, and soon found the ball in the back seat.

Grasshopper’s surprised voice could be heard from the car. “Hey, there is a wooden box under the back seat of this car.”

“What box?”

“How can such an old car still have a wooden box?”

“What’s in the box?”

The children began a lively discussion.

Grasshopper approached the box, his noise moved. “This box is slightly big, and it smells…a bit strange…” He couldn’t tell what it smelled like, it was fetid but not so. It had a strange moldy smell. Yet again, it was covered by an unpleasant fragrance similar to the mothballs that his mother put in the wardrobe.

Grasshopper wanted to open the box. However, after shaking a few times, it couldn’t be opened. “This box is locked…”

The scene in front of them greatly aroused the children’s curiosity. They felt as if they had discovered a treasure left by the owner.

Yang Zixuan made a quick decision. “Let’s take the box out and have a look.”

The skinny guy beside him hesitated a little. “This…isn’t good, right?”

“It’s a scrap car without an owner anyway. I remember that this car has been placed here for several years already. Even if we take something away, no one will know.” Yang Zixuan said, “Besides, what’s there to be afraid of, we only check it and put it back later.”

Grasshopper wavered for a while. He first threw the football out before taking the box. 

Yang Zixuan took the box. The skinny guy and the others pulled Grasshopper out again.

As his name suggested, Grasshopper was like a flexible insect. He jumped off the front cover of the car lightly.

Yang Zixuan looked down at the thing in his hand. It was a heavy wooden box. It appeared larger than the wooden box that contained top-grade red wine, and there was a small lock on it as well.

Yang Zixuan also noticed the strange smell of the box. He shook it, and some white powder leaked out from the crack of the wood.

“It’s not that…thing, is it?” A kid asked timidly.

“It doesn’t look like it…” Yang Zixuan shook his head. He had seen it on TV, that type of thing was very soft, but the white powder in front of him was a bit rough, reflecting under the sunlight, like some kind of chemical reagent.

“Brother Xuan, just forget it and put the box back. We should go.” The skinny guy felt that the box was strange, and whispered, “I’m a bit scared.”

“What a coward! There can’t be a ghost inside. Can it have the ability to eat you?” Yang Zixuan was unwilling to give up. He picked up the rock from the side and smashed against the lock a few times. 

The wooden box couldn’t withstand the weight, and after a click, it quickly unlocked. Yang Zixuan hurriedly reached out to open it. Then, he couldn’t help covering his nose when a stronger smell wafted out.

The other children leaned over and showed some disappointment. The box was filled with white powder, they didn’t know what chemical product it was.

“I thought it was a valuable thing!” Yang Zixuan felt like he had lost face. He threw the box onto the ground and kicked it.

The box overturned, revealing something from the white cover.

“There seems to be something inside…” Grasshopper said with a frown. He stretched out his hand daringly and pulled out a long-shaped thing. It was long and soft to touch, there was a nail on it as well…

Yang Zixuan also crouched down and pulled the white cover away. At this moment, all the children finally saw the thing clearly.

Covered by white foam, it was a pair of hands. To be precise, this was a pair of overlapping pale human hands, which looked like a Halloween horror prop, but no prop could be this real…

Although the cut part no longer bled. The flesh and bone at the edge of it could still be seen.

Ah, ah, ah!!!!!!!

Oh my God!!!!

The children screamed in horror, they all fled from the scene.

Half a minute later, the pale-faced Yang Zixuan ran back bravely from the other side of the road, stretching out his foot and picking up the forgotten football.

An unexpected discovery broke the calmness of the summer afternoon.

The children’s parents quickly called the police. Such a case had attracted the attention of the sub-bureau. Afterward, the captain of the Sub-Bureau led the team to investigate the scene, then they quickly judged that the case was unable to solve and applied for the Major Crime Unit’s assistance as soon as possible.

Several police officers from the Sub-Bureau set up the police cordon and waited for the member from the Major Crime Unit of the General Bureau so they could hand over the case and the hot potatoes could also be thrown out by then.

Under the bright and blistering sun, several scrap cars were singeing without a place to shelter. If one stayed a little longer, one would probably get heatstroke.

Two police officers were sent to wait at the scene. There was nothing to see at the scene, the people in the neighborhood felt terrible and unlucky when they heard about the incident. Not even a person could be seen within a hundred meters, they all hid a hundred thousand miles away.

The two policemen were bored. They squatted not far away and chatted, one was the young intern police officer that had just graduated, while the other was the grassroots criminal police who had been bold for ten years. There was a clear generation gap in the gossip.

The old policeman lit a cigarette and opened his mouth first. “I didn’t expect it’s not peaceful recently.”

The little policeman had never seen much about the world. “Yes, I don’t know who did it. I already feel a chill in my heart just by looking at the hands. Has the forensic doctor of our Sub-Bureau come and check it?”

“Done checking it but didn’t dare to move, saying it’s a woman’s hands. The physical inspector also came. Although it’s a scrap car, it’s very clean. There are few fingerprints, yet it’s later found that the fingerprints are left by the children who found the scene. I think when the people from the General Bureau arrive, they will have to check everything again.”

The little policeman was stunned. “It’s a female victim again? Several major cases have been about female victims recently.”

The old policeman was not surprised. “There are more female victims and more male criminals. The ratio of male and female is more and more out of balance.”

The little policeman became worried. “This case is quite difficult then. There is no name written on the cut hands, and the identity of the victim can’t be confirmed either. No wonder the captain immediately called the Major Crime Unit to come when he saw the scene.”

The old policeman took a breath of cigarette in his hand. “I’ve checked this case. Maybe the Major Crime Unit is unable to solve it.” 

Hearing this, the little policeman couldn’t help saying a few words, “That’s not necessarily true. I heard my senior brother say Captain Lu of the Major Crime Unit is young and he has also returned from abroad. He is smart. Many major cases were solved by him as soon as he was promoted. A lot of old leaders in the Bureau like him very much and they all focus on cultivating him.” The little policeman argued, and then added, “I heard he’s quite handsome.”

“The key to being police is that you can solve the case. There is no use in being handsome.” The old policeman didn’t seem to hear the good things^[1]. “And about those foreign techniques? It might not be able to adapt to the new environment.”

_{[1] The original sentence in here is 外国的月亮圆=The Moon seems rounder in foreign lands. This is a popular sentence on the internet in some people’s minds, which they used to describe a certain beautiful, exquisite, and perfect thing about abroad. So here, the little policeman talked about Lu Junchi who used to live abroad, which LJC’s knowledge and skills can be considered as perfect things abroad. And I didn’t know how to insert this sentence since it doesn’t make sense so I will just go with good things.}

The little policeman felt his concept was getting old. “The criminal has never distinguished the border between the country. Even if the technology is not in place, the idea is the same, such as the criminal psychology portrait is excellent from abroad.”

The old policeman said, “Foreign methods may not be easy to use. Take a look at our General Bureau. A few years ago, it was really difficult to create the Behavior Analysis Team, yet the team was disbanded after two years.”

While the two were talking, a tall and thin curly-haired young man walked over from the opposite side to greet them.

The two policemen hurriedly stood up. The old policeman had just talked about people behind their backs. At this moment, he felt a little guilty. He thought to himself, this person shouldn’t be Captain Lu, right? He looks too small.

The young man introduced himself. “Are you from the Sub-Bureau? I’m Qiao Ze from the Major Crime Unit.”

Just as the old police breathed a sigh of relief, Qiao Ze frowned and said, “Pinch off the cigarette, this is the scene.” Then his eyes swept around the surroundings. “Where is your captain? Is he here?”

When the two policemen heard this, they thought, as expected of the people from the Major Crime Unit.

However, as the saying goes, the first-level official could crush people to death, and the Sub-Bureau felt like they were half a head shorter than the General Bureau, not to mention the other party was from the Major Crime Unit. “Our captain went to investigate, I’ll text him to come back right away:”

Huadu, also known as Flower City, was a city with a population of 25 million people.

There were a total of nine police districts in Huadu, and the highest was the General Bureau. The Major Crime Unit in the Criminal Police Department of the General Bureau often dealt with cases that had very few clues.

At this time, the captain of the Major Crime Unit, Lu Junchi, also arrived at the scene. He parked the car in the parking lot not far and then walked over.

When Lu Junchi walked out of the parking lot, he could already see the police cordon that had been put in the distance, thus he quickly walked through the open space next to the sand factory.

This open space was once used by the sand factory to store the sandy soil. In order to separate from the surrounding space, there was a perimeter wall at the end of the open space.

There was more than one old car here, and the children’s football hit the oldest one among them.

Lu Juchi watched from afar for a moment, before he hurriedly approached.

The case checked by the sub-bureau would be checked again according to the process after receiving it to ensure that there would be no mistake.

Lu Junchi nodded at the police slightly, lifted the police cordon, and walked through the crowd.

Next to the scrap car was a clean young man in his early twenties, holding a notebook, while complaining mercilessly about the criminal police captain of the Sub-Bureau. That person was the youngest police investigator in the Major Crime Unit—Qiao Ze.

“…If this happens again next time, after receiving the report about the situation, just wait for us to arrive and handle it in a low-key way. Look, several people have come here, and you have also visited around, which simply makes things known to everyone. If it hadn’t been discovered by the network monitor, it would have been on the hot search by now…” Qiao Ze spoke quickly and pointed to his mobile phone.

The old criminal police captain of the Sub-Bureau was getting older and rarely used his mobile phone. He was a little confused by what the other party had said, hence he stared at it intently. The phone in the young man’s hand had opened a software interface that he had never seen before.

The old captain apologized lightly, “We will definitely strengthen our network monitor in the future…” 

Qiao Ze put away his mobile phone and sighed, feeling that he and the old captain weren’t in the same thinking at all. “This is not the key point! The murderer had put things here, and also create the antiseptic. Maybe he will come back to check. Originally, after finishing investigating the scene, we can arrange the monitor and wait for the opportunity. And if you make a fuss, the murderer will not come.”

“Qiao Ze!” As the words came to this point, Lu Junchi called the young man’s name in a low voice, reminding him to show some mercy to the old captain.

The young man turned around and immediately understood. He turned back, no longer fired the gun, and said to the old policeman, “Captain Zhang, if you notice something wrong next time after investigating, then protect the scene and contact our Major Crime Unit as soon as possible…”

After saying this, Qiao Ze ran to Lu Junchi’s side and put on an assistant-like expression. “Captain.”

Lu Junchi made a sound as a response. He was tall and stood under the sun with a stern face, wearing only a simple shirt. The collar was unbuttoned, revealing a little skin.

Lu Junchi, as his name suggested, was very handsome, with bright clear eyes, and a straight nose. However, his type of handsomeness appeared to be a bit aggressive, but whenever he communicated, people would always feel that he was gentle, meticulous, and patient.

Lu Junchi was wearing a dark color shirt today. In this summer when the heat gradually subsided, the dark color would absorb heat. But the temperature around him was somewhat lower.

Since the car industry changed human history, there have been some scrap cars in every city. They were placed alone somewhere in the city, like the solitary grave of a small car.

Those old cars were abandoned by their owners for various reasons: old, breakdown, car accident, the car’s owner encountered a mishap….

Once the disposal of a scrap car exceeds its value, abandoning it becomes the only option. There were very few people willing to repair the scrap car. Therefore, many scrap cars were parked on the side of the road, and none of the people would pay attention to them.

Lu Junchi looked at the scrap car, stretching out his hand, rolled up his sleeves to his elbow, put on the gloves, and asked, “Has the case been handed over?”

Qiao Ze said, “The box was found by a few children playing football. They were frightened and the scene was not well protected. After that, the police recorded those children’s statements. This scrap car had been parked here for at least five years, the box was originally placed under the back seat of the car, and they took it out of curiosity, but they didn’t expect to discover a pair of hands after opening it…”

Lu Junchi turned his head, looking at the two hands that had been stored into different bags by the forensic doctor, separated by a layer of plastic film. It could be seen that the fingers were long and slender. The fingerprints and the palm line were quite clear.

It was a pair of a woman’s hands, which had apparently been chopped off for some time, and had come into contact with the antiseptic, showing a pale gray color.

The hands were motionless and vivid, like a fine work of art.

It was clearly something that people had and could be seen everywhere, but now it was evidently strange which could make everyone terrified. The hands were separated from the body by a knife. One could feel pain only by looking at it. Additionally, it also appeared in the place where it shouldn’t be.

Who was the owner of these hands?

Who was the murderer that had harmed her so far?

“Have you found anything else?” Lu Junchi took off the gloves and checked the scene to figure out the situation.

Qiao Ze shook his head. “Only a few fingerprints and footprints of the kid are found in the car. There isn’t any useful trace left on the box. It is estimated that we will have to wait for the further examination results.”

Lu Junchi frowned slightly. It sounded like the scene where the hands had been discovered was too clean. There wasn’t even a sign of looking over again. Did the murderer just put the hands there?

The current priority was to determine the identity of the deceased, but there was very little information that the hands could provide.

There was a sea of people and missing people in the city. Just relying on this pair of hands, fingerprints, blood type, DNA, and scar analysis wasn’t enough to confirm the identity of the deceased.

Qiao Ze continued to report, “Right, I’ve already asked someone to check the identity of this scrap car owner.”

“These hands are definitely not left by the car owner. No murderer would put their own masterpiece in the car.” Lu Junchi suddenly remembered something, he turned around, and said to Qiao Ze, “Apply for the Sub-Bureau to transfer some police force, and look for scrap cars in the city as well as the similar box in the car.”

There were thousands of scrap cars in this city, and Lu Junchi had a hunch that maybe other cars would also have analogous information.

Qiao Ze got the captain’s order and hurriedly responded, “Yes!”

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