Chapter 1: The Mysterious Death Method

  Wu Hui always felt that this year's winter in Lincheng was particularly cold. When several people came out of the warm house, a gust of cold wind blew over, mixed with winter rain, and hit their faces like a knife cut.

  The gloomy sky, even in this economically underdeveloped third-tier city, was shrouded in haze.

  Look up and see, rain falls from the sky, just like the threads in the hands of a weaving girl, weaving this world.

  Although Lincheng is small, it is an independent city, and things that happen in Lincheng seem to have no connection with the outside world.

  For some reason, Wu Hui felt as if he was trapped in an iron box, and fate was like the person holding the iron box, watching his every move inside the box, just like watching a clown perform.

  This oppressive feeling made him very uncomfortable. As the saying goes, "doctors don't heal themselves", although he understood a lot of psychological knowledge, but he still couldn't get out of this iron cage.

  On the way to the scene of the case, Wu Hui didn't say a word, perhaps due to the weather, he always felt very depressed.

  The body was found at the moat of Lincheng, which is a place where bodies are easily discovered. However, due to today's rain, few people went to the moat, so it wasn't until this afternoon that it was spotted by an angler.

  The informant was a middle-aged man in his 40s, slightly fat. Due to boredom today, he went fishing alone by the city moat. Just as he was preparing his fishing rod, he saw a white plastic sheet in the small woods. Out of curiosity, he took a look.

  Under the white plastic sheet lay a woman in her twenties, neatly dressed, with her hands clasped to her chest and her legs tightly closed, lying there serenely. If it weren't for the color of her face being different from that of a normal person, he almost thought she was alive.

  Wu Hui squatted down to carefully examine the deceased, whose body had multiple bindings, indicating that he had been held captive somewhere. The clothes were a good fit and should have belonged to the deceased himself. Looking at the fabric and label of the clothes, they were high-end brands, suggesting that the deceased was a relatively wealthy person.

  There is an obvious strangulation mark on the neck, which should be the fatal injury.

  "What's the time of death?" Wu Hui asked the forensic doctor while collecting evidence.

  "Based on the liver temperature, the time of death should be between 2.5 hours to 3 hours ago. Preliminary determination is asphyxial death, and the murder weapon should be something like a rope. There was no sexual activity before death. To know more clearly, we have to wait until I get back and finish the autopsy." The forensic doctor was a young female forensic doctor, and there were very few people in Lincheng who worked in this field, let alone a female one.

  "En." The female forensic doctor was young, but still quite professional. Wu Hui took a deliberate extra glance at her.

  "The identity of the deceased has been verified." Fang Yu arrived at the scene and immediately called back to the bureau, checking from recent missing persons reports, "Three days ago, a graduate student in his third year at Lincheng University reported that his roommate Liu Xilei had disappeared three days ago after leaving the dormitory and could not be contacted by phone, so he reported it to the police."

  "It's students again, what's going on lately?" Having just cracked the Liu Hao serial murder case, another homicide occurred, and it was a student again. Guo Yining felt that this winter was really not easy to get through.

  "Wu Dage, I saw on TV before that there are criminal profiles. Can you do it?" Yang Rong remembered watching some FBI dramas before, those American Federal Bureau of Investigation had a department specializing in profiling criminals.

  When Yang Rong spoke, Guo Yining and Fang You also looked over, they were also very curious about the criminal's profile.

  "The offender profiling in our country is not yet mature, and it's inevitable that there will be deviations." When Wu Hui studied criminal psychology before, he also studied offender profiling. However, the current technology is still immature, and he doesn't dare to guarantee the accuracy of profiling because last time, when profiling Liu Hao, an error occurred. He inferred that the killer was between 20 to 25 years old, so although he had some suspicions about Liu Hao at first, he didn't consider him a suspect.

  Guo Yining was also curious about the side writing, having heard before that Wu Hui's psychological side writing was quite powerful. He didn't know why he now had doubts about side writing, whether it was because he didn't trust himself enough. So he said: "It's okay, just tell us and we'll consider it, anyway, there's no lead for now."

  Wu Hui saw several people looking at him and decided to give a brief introduction, "The FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) is the behavioral science unit of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. John Douglas was the former head of the BAU, a renowned FBI agent who specialized in criminal profiling and handwriting analysis, and was responsible for selecting and training profilers for the FBI. In 1990, John Douglas became the chief of the Behavioral Science Unit, which was officially renamed the Investigative Support Unit."

  "Can offender profiling really accurately profile a murderer?" Fang had always been skeptical of offender profiling.

  Wu Hui nodded and continued: "The side writing of criminals has the support of multiple disciplines such as philosophy, biology, psychology, sociology, and traceability, and is scientifically sound and feasible."

  "How can we do a good side writing?" Guo Yining is also interested in this topic, since Wu Hui is willing to talk about it, he also wants to understand it thoroughly.

  Wu Hui originally just wanted to say a few words, but didn't expect these people to be so interested in this topic, so he had no choice but to continue speaking.

  "There are three aspects, first is to analyze the crime scene, based on direct or indirect information to recreate the crime scene in one's mind. Second, analyze the victim, why did the perpetrator choose him, what was the process of being harmed? Suppose you were the victim, what kind of reaction would you have made at the time of being harmed, this way you can deeply understand the perpetrator's behavior. Third is to analyze the criminal, think from the perpetrator's perspective, plan and understand the perpetrator's sense of satisfaction."

  Yang Rong shrank her neck, thinking of those murderers made her get goosebumps. "It's so complicated, and I have to think from the perspective of a criminal, but I'm not like them, how could I possibly know what they were thinking when they killed?"

  There is a sentence that Wu Hui likes very much, "John Douglas said that if you want to understand Picasso, you have to study his art. If you want to understand the personality of a criminal, you have to study his crimes."

  She had been listening carefully to Wu Hui's explanation, and then said according to her own understanding: "Your meaning is that first we need to determine what kind of case this is and its nature, then think about why the criminal used this method, why there were these behavioral details during the crime, what significance they have for the criminal, and finally infer what kind of person committed the crime and reflect on what kind of personality the criminal has, is that right?"

  When Wu Hui heard Fang You's words, he was somewhat surprised. He had never paid attention to Fang You before, but after hearing his words just now, he had another idea about him, "That's right, you're absolutely right."

  "Wow, Fang You're so good! I didn't expect you to be this skilled. Have you been secretly practicing behind our backs?" Yang Rong slapped Fang You's shoulder hard, no wonder she thought he was acting strange these past few days.

  Yang Rong's slap was not at all restrained, and the force was truly not that of an ordinary woman. Fang You rubbed his somewhat sore shoulder, "What's going on? I just said what Wu Da Ge told me, according to my own thoughts."

  Guo Yining knew that Wu Hui had some understanding of the crime scene, so he wanted to hear his opinion. "So based on this current scene, what can you infer?"

  Wu Hui pushed his glasses and looked at the scene where the body was abandoned. "So let's analyze it from three points. First, analyzing the crime scene, from the traces of the corpse being tied up, we can see that it has been tied up for many days. The murderer must have a place to keep the victim for a long time without being discovered by others. This is not the first crime scene, obviously just a body abandonment site. The murderer knew it would rain today, so he made a simple canopy with white plastic cloth for the victim, in order not to let the victim get wet in the rain. It can be seen that the murderer has a sense of atonement for the victim."

  "Well, no wonder." This was what Guo Yining thought when she first saw the body.

  Wu Hui crouched down in front of the body, carefully observing the ligature marks on her neck. "Second analysis of the victim: the victim is a young woman. Why did the killer choose her? It can be seen that the female role played a certain role in the killer's life, that is to say, the killer's mother, wife or girlfriend, sister must have done something to make him produce psychological distortion. Although there were multiple bindings on the victim's body, there were no other external injuries, indicating that the victim did not suffer from other external forces when bound, and the fatal injury was only one on the neck."

  "In other words, the murderer isn't a deranged killer who enjoys the process of killing?" Yang Rong thought to herself that the victim hadn't suffered much external torture before death, so this killer must have had another idea.

  "This is not necessarily the case, as torture is not only inflicted by external forces, but also by internal psychological destruction. You can see that there are many abrasions on the bound areas, indicating that the victim struggled constantly while being tied up. From the third point of view of the perpetrator, what kind of satisfaction did he want to achieve by doing this? First, let's look at the corpse, with both hands clasped in front of the chest and legs together, which is a self-protective state. The clothes are also intact and have not been damaged, indicating that the killer wanted to cover up the victim's body to prevent it from being exposed outside. There was no sexual activity before death, suggesting that the perpetrator should be trying to let the female victim protect herself."

  "What about a profile of the perpetrator?" Having heard Wu Hui say so much, Guo Yining thought he should have a general idea of the criminal's profile.

  Wu Hui hadn't done a profile in a long time and was worried about its accuracy. "The perpetrator, male, between 35 to 40 years old, with higher education, good living habits, relatively affluent life, mother, wife or sister was hurt because they couldn't protect themselves, should be an extramarital affair, investigating this aspect will narrow down the scope. Right, this kind of harm usually doesn't start now, it's already formed since childhood."

  Yang Rong was somewhat incredulous, her mouth agape, "Really? Can you infer so much information just from the scene?"

  "Now we know too little, and need to go back to do an autopsy to get more information, the accuracy of my side writing will be higher." Wu Hui looked at the body being carried away, and always had a bad feeling in his heart, "This may not be the first case."

  Others didn't hear what Wu Hui said afterwards, but Fang You did. Could it be that this won't be the first time, nor will it be the last? What's going on in Lincheng, is it going to become a slaughterhouse?

  The rain kept getting heavier, as if it had no intention of stopping. On rainy days, people tend to lose their spirit. Wu Hui and Guo Yining still had to make a trip to Liu Xilei's school to understand the situation before she went missing.

  The school has received a call from Guo Yining and also contacted Liu Xier's parents, but since Liu Xier is not a local resident, her parents will only arrive in the evening. Therefore, Liu Xier's instructor and dormitory roommates stayed behind to cooperate with the police investigation.

  The informant was Zheng Jiahui, a roommate of Liu Xilei's, who attended the same university as her. She was a publicly funded graduate student, while Liu Xilei was self-funded. The two didn't have much interaction during their undergraduate years, but became close after becoming roommates in graduate school.

  The interview was conducted in Liu Xilei's dormitory. The graduate student dormitory is two people per room, with a 40-square-meter room having an independent bathroom and kitchen. The two rooms are opposite each other. Unlike Liu Xilei, Zheng Jiahui's room price is basically undecorated, with only some books and simple clothing, the room is simple and clean.

  Liu Xilei's room is very flashy, the room is decorated in a pink tone, it can be seen that she is a very romantic person. The closet and the floor are all clothes, the dressing table is filled with various skin care products and makeup, and the bed is also messy. The whole room gives people the feeling of being looted, Zheng Jiahui said Liu Xilei's room has always been like this.

  Liu Xier is a very outgoing person, and she is also very good at communicating with others. She has many friends, and most of her time every day is spent outside socializing with them. As for studying and doing research, she doesn't pay much attention to it.

  "Was there anything different on the day Liu Xile disappeared?" Guo Yining stood in Liu Xile's room, looking around.

  "No, it was just like any other peaceful day. I said I was going out to see a friend and didn't come back at night." Zheng Jiahui recalled the events of that day, which seemed perfectly normal, without anything that made her feel suspicious.

  "What's up, friend?"

  "I don't know, she has many friends that I don't recognize. I'm not good at socializing with others, so I don't know any of her other friends." Zheng Jiahui is from the countryside and it's already impressive that she made it to graduate school, making her family proud, so she focuses all her energy on studying.

  "Is this Liu Xilei's computer?" Guo Yining pointed to the Apple laptop on the bed, and saw that there were still residual cosmetics on the mouse, probably from when she was surfing the internet while putting on makeup.

  "It's hers." Zheng Jiahui glanced at the computer, knowing that Liu Xile had been using it to surf the internet.

  "Does Liu Xilei have a boyfriend?"

  "No, there were many boys in school chasing her, but Liu Xile said those men are too immature, they are just little kids in her eyes. She would only ask them out to eat or watch a movie when she was bored. As for boyfriends, she didn't have any." Zheng Jiahui seemed to be hiding something when talking about boyfriends.