Fishing

  I raised an eyebrow, and he saw through my thoughts without finding it strange. From the Public Security Bureau all the way back to where I lived, I indeed had a lot of doubts in my heart waiting for him to come and dispel them, so just now I also let him scold me. After thinking silently for a moment, I looked at him quietly and asked: "Isn't behavioral crime psychology used to make judgments about suspicious signs that appear in cases?"

  "Wrong! People can't be too dependent on academics, or they'll become shackled and trapped in that framework. Simple example: you, me, or most people, under certain circumstances, conditions, or stimulating factors, may exhibit abnormal psychological states, but would you kill someone because of it?"

  I was taken aback for a moment, and before I could think much about it, he asked in a cold tone: "Let me put it another way: suppose your father wasn't killed by drunk driving, but instead was killed by a drunk driver. Would you be angry enough to want to kill that driver?"

  Everything came too suddenly, like a dull knife stabbing towards my heart, but not piercing the skin. All I could do was ask him in a daze, "How did you know?" I couldn't react in any other way. The matter seemed so distant that it wasn't even in my memory, and yet he laid it bare like this, only to find that there was no pain, just a dull, faintly sour feeling.

  Gao Cheng's gaze was fixed on me, with a profound meaning hidden beneath the surface. "When I see news about drunk driving, I involuntarily frown, without feeling angry, and quietly pay attention to follow-up reports on the injured. This is circumstantial evidence, not enough to serve as proof of a psychological profile. The direct evidence is... after you became my apprentice, the police department had already conducted a thorough investigation into your personal background, and that report was sent to my email inbox. True academic application should be like this, it can be used for reference, but cannot be relied upon."

  He forced a wry smile and took me as an example.

  "Let's talk about the case of Little Tong's sister, have you figured it out?" I decided to change the subject, but Gao Cheng said: "Wrong again! There is no direct evidence to confirm that the charred female corpse is Little Tong's sister. The identity documents left at the scene, Little Tong identified her through the steel nail in her left leg, including the forensic doctor's judgment based on bone age, can only be considered as circumstantial evidence to prove that this female corpse is very similar to Tong Ziqi."

  I stopped talking and stared at him silently, was he intentionally going against me?

  He slowly and elegantly picked up the teapot to pour himself a full cup, taking small sips as if he was really enjoying the tea. I looked at him with growing anger, it seemed that tonight he had made up his mind not to speak, considering how to give me the cold shoulder.

  I didn't think I could still live under the same roof with him. In fact, I had taken a closer look at the house next door that day, and except for the kitchen being unusable, the house was habitable after some cleaning. But then I heard a chilly voice from across the way: "Don't even think about it, don't think about driving me out to the house next door until everything is back to normal."

  "It seems," I said patiently: "Next door is your home, this is my house. If you want to restore it to its original state, contact the decoration company, they will definitely help you with the fastest speed."

  "There are two possibilities." Gao Cheng suddenly changed his tone, "Tong Ziqi wanted to kill the man, luring him up the mountain and planning to push him off the cliff. Unexpectedly, the man's prosthetic steel arm was incredibly strong, and as they rolled down the cliff, he grabbed her left hand and refused to let go. To save herself, she cut off her own arm."

  He finally agreed to discuss the case, and was about to ask what the second possibility was, but instead said: "Isn't it that currently there is no conclusive evidence that the female corpse is actually Tong Ziqi, Xiaotong's sister?"

  A hint of annoyance flashed in Gao Cheng's eyes: "You should be asking about the second possibility, not this meaningless question. Do I have to tediously say 'that charred female corpse' every time I mention it?"

  He almost couldn't help but laugh, still not following his train of thought. "Why did Tong Zi Qi want to kill that man? She's just a woman, how could she possibly take down a man? You say she cut off her own arm, what kind of tool would she need for that? That takes a lot of guts!"

  "Revenge, love and profit disputes are all motives for murder, you should ask the police. A woman's physical strength may not be as strong as a man's, but she has the advantage of being unexpected. The courage to cut off one's own arm is indeed not something ordinary people have, but compared to life, it can still be sacrificed. As for the tool, that's something you should ask Tong Ziqi himself." Gao Cheng furrowed his brow as he finished explaining and coolly reminded: "You haven't asked me about the second possibility yet."

  Disregarding what he said next, I asked: "If Tong Ziqi is dead, how will we ask him? Will the forensic doctor get the answer from the autopsy?"

  "Xia Zhu." The name seemed to be squeezed out from between his teeth, and although he didn't gnash them, the gaze that pierced through me was intimidating. "The answer is I don't know. I'm human, not a god. In a situation where there's no obvious clue, not even her severed arm has been found, it's impossible to make a judgment. You might as well ask about the second possibility."

  I thought back to when I fell off the cliff and saw that severed arm, because it was hidden in the bushes, all I could see was a human hand, which scared me so much my heart was racing. And afterwards, things took a sudden turn, confirming that I hadn't seen the stump of the severed arm. Suddenly, a light flashed through my mind, and I stared intently at Gao Cheng's eyes, "I wonder if it's possible... the arm I saw under the cliff might not be Tong Ziqi's?"

  He remained silent, but my mind began to churn and turn. Based on his previous argument, I hadn't completely seen that arm, only subjectively judged it because the female corpse was missing an arm. So is there another possibility: had Tong Ziqi's arm been severed before arriving at the crime scene, so no murder weapon could be found?

  Subconsciously going to see Gao Cheng, he found that his face had already sunk like iron, and could only ask according to his will: "What is the second possibility?"

  But as soon as I asked, he immediately lost his gloomy expression and curled up the corners of his mouth: "Go get it." I was confused and asked: "What thing?" He threw a cold glance over, "You packed it yourself, did you forget?"

  It took me two seconds to react, and I realized he was talking about the thing I had thrown into the next room earlier. The topic came back again, and he threw out a bait on the case, intending for me to take half of it, hiding the other half unless I compromised and agreed to let him stay here, only then would he bring that half out.

  "My reaction was to get up and collect the teapot and tea cups, without looking at him, and say in a low voice: 'It's late, tomorrow the police station will have evidence and witnesses come out, they'll definitely call you early, go back and wash up and sleep.'"

  I won't fall for his tricks anymore, otherwise he'll take advantage of me bit by bit.

  Just as I turned around, Gao Cheng suddenly threw out a sentence: "The arm is not the key." He paused and ignored him walking into the kitchen. From behind, his voice came again: "The key is the third person."

  Look back at him! He must be well-versed in the art of fishing, and one bait didn't work, he would use a heavier one, especially when he had many baits hidden up his sleeve that you couldn't think of, there was always something that could move your heart. At this moment, he smiled like a fox.

  Back and forth between the two doors, I tried not to think about anything else, my thoughts revolved around that "third person", was Gao Cheng referring to the person marked at that moment? Just now he mentioned the first possibility with a big loophole, without mentioning the "third person" who made the mark on the tree, was this person not present at the scene, or was this possibility wrong?

  He didn't put on that proud and arrogant look, but instead looked at him with a gaze fixed on his chin and said, "Can you say it now?" But he heard him say, "I'm tired, I'll wash up and sleep early."

  "Chu Gao Cheng!"

  "With a voice eight degrees higher, articulate and clear enunciation. In this emotional state, when it comes to academic fields, there can't be any slackness or stagnation." Looking at him quietly closing his eyes, with an uncontrollable smile on the corner of his mouth, I really want...to punch him.

  And he opened his mouth after a moment of contemplation: "The 'third person' I mentioned does not actually refer to anyone, but rather a kind of connecting link. Whether it was present at the scene or not is unimportant; what's important is that it connects people and things that were previously unrelated in a way that bridges past and future. The same markings, the lost evidence - the cleverness lies precisely here. So you are correct: the arm you saw in the bushes could not have belonged to the female corpse... because it will be the next link."

  I stared at him in shock, "You mean... there will be another murder?"

  He smiled thinly, his eyes sharp as a knife: "To be above the psychological layer, to control the overall situation and advance step by step, this kind of pleasure has already tasted the marrow, how can it bear to stop here?"

  "We must catch him. He left a mark at the scene, and I don't believe there's no clue at all."

  "You still don't understand, I'm saying that this 'third person' isn't necessarily the one who left the mark, but rather a person existing in the void. It might be the marker, or perhaps...the mastermind who has never shown themselves to people."

  Lying in bed at midnight, unable to fall asleep for a long time, all that was turning in my mind were those words of Gao Cheng. After the "third person" theory, he refused to discuss anything else and only said that he would make a conclusion after relevant evidence came out. Moreover, he once again spoke with a straight face: "I must be responsible for behavioral logic and criminal psychology. Before conclusive evidence appears, I won't speak again."

  But before I compromised and went into the bedroom, I heard him muttering to himself: "The best fisherman is Jiang Taigong."

  It took a moment to realize that he was comparing himself to Jiang Taigong, and I was the fish willing to take the bait. The "fishing theory" I had suspected earlier seemed to have been guessed by him, but did the other meaning of Jiang Taigong's fishing imply that the bait couldn't be put down all at once, or else the fish would be fed and wouldn't bite again?