Chapter Eleven: Self-Abasement

  When Wu Hui and Guo Yining saw Liu Chong, it was indeed as Wu Hui had written.

  Liu Chong, 45 years old, is a native of this city and teaches at Lincheng Normal University. He lives only two streets away from the university in the university town. Liu Chong is an extremely elegant person with refined speech and behavior that shows good breeding.

  Wearing a gold-rimmed glasses, big eyes with double eyelids, high nose bridge, full lips. Although he is over 40 years old, his figure is still well-maintained. He wears a camel-colored coat of medium length, with a scarf in the same color and pattern wrapped around his neck. His leather shoes are polished to a shine. A man like this should be quite popular among women, shouldn't he?

  When he found out that Wu Hui and Guo Yining were police, the look of surprise on his face was fleeting. If someone is really surprised, their expression won't last more than 1 second. He seemed genuinely surprised by the arrival of the police.

  "Hello, we've come to ask about Fan Ze's case." Guo Yining didn't ask about the prostitution scandal at Lincheng University, but instead asked about the missing persons case 15 years ago.

  "It's because of my sister, I suppose." Liu Chong used his left hand to press the middle and index fingers together, supporting the bridge of his nose - a habitual gesture. "Back then, my sister Liu Hui and Fan Sai did have a romantic relationship, but that man dumped my sister. I think you've all investigated this clearly already."

  When Liu Chong recalled the things about Liu Hui, there was still sadness on his face. "Please grieve, but there are some things we want to ask you. After your sister Liu Hui passed away that year, have you ever seen Fan Sai again?"

  "No, he didn't even attend my sister's funeral that year." Recalling the past, Liu Chong was indeed somewhat indignant. "At that time, I was really angry, but so many years have passed, and it's time to let go. Life must go on."

  "What's your take on Fan Ze's disappearance?" Wu Hui sat on one side, constantly observing Liu Chong, thinking that this person was extremely deep and good at hiding his emotions.

  "I'm not really clear about this, I think he was worried that we would bother him, so he resigned and left." In response to Wu Hui's question, Liu Chong thought for a moment and then shook his head, not wanting to recall past events.

  "Does Vance have another girlfriend?"

  "This is hard to say, but I've heard that he seems to have some kind of relationship with the former principal's daughter. As for whether they're in a romantic relationship or not, I'm not really clear about it. You can go investigate, sorry, I really can't help with this."

  "Alright, thank you then. If there's anything else, we'll come find you again." Guo Yining felt that she had asked enough and stood up to leave.

  "Good, let's go." Seeing the two stand up and leave, Liu Chong also stood up, preparing to send them off.

  Wu Hui walked to the door and suddenly turned around, "What does Teacher Liu think about the prostitution at Lincheng University?"

  "Ah?" Liu Chong was startled by Wu Hui's sudden question, and he was slightly stunned. Then he reacted and said, "There is such a thing, I really didn't know about it. Although the two universities are very close to each other, I'm not very familiar with their school affairs."

  "But I heard that Teacher Liu's mother and wife are both teachers at Lincheng University. Haven't they ever mentioned anything about Lincheng University?"

  Liu Chong smiled and said, "We never discuss work-related things when we go back home. Home is not a place for work."

  "Alright, stay here, goodbye." Wu Hui didn't continue asking questions and turned around to leave Liu Chong's office.

  "Liu Chong is not a simple person." Guo Yining said while walking down the stairs.

  "Ah, it seems he's very reluctant to talk about his mother and wife. Let's go back and investigate the cause of his mother's death again." Wu Hui said: "Liu Chong must know about the prostitution case, I suddenly asked him just now, he was a bit tense, although he hid it well, but his shrinking pupils still told us the truth."

  Wu Hui and Guo Yining returned to the team when Fang You and Yang Rong also arrived, they reported the investigation of the day to Guo Yining.

  It just so happened that Wu Hui had some questions about Liu Chong's mother's cause of death, so he asked the two to stay and listen together.

  "Liu Chong's mother hanged herself, what's wrong with that?" Guo Yining put the file of Liu Chong's mother's suicide case on the table, and the two decided to study it again.

  "I used to think that Liu Chong's mother was a typical suicide case, who killed herself out of shame for having an affair. But I never understood why she was naked when she died. Now I understand." Wu Hui took out the photos from the case at the time, yellowed with age and stuck on a notebook, showing a woman hanging naked from the beam in her own home.

  "Right, if she wants to kill herself, then let her do it. But why did she have to take off all her clothes? Did she think that she came into this world naked and would leave without any attachments?" Yang Rong looked at the photo and thought that this woman's behavior was quite strange.

  Wu Hui pulled out the autopsy report and placed it in the middle of the table, so everyone could see it together. "Take another look at the autopsy report," he said. "There are multiple ligature marks on her neck, which the forensic doctor believes were left behind because she attempted to hang herself multiple times but failed. Now I understand what these marks mean."

  Fang You looked at the autopsy report, "What does it mean?"

  "Autoerotism, self-abuse."

  Guo Yining heard this term for the first time, "What does it mean?"

  Wu Hui quickly wrote on the notebook, "Auto-erotism is a term proposed by Havelock Ellis, referring to the self-arousal and self-satisfaction of sexual desire without a sex partner. In addition to **, there are four other types, the most common being autoeroticism hanging, followed by aquaeroticism, chemical eroticism, and self-suffocation. Aquaeroticism refers to inducing a near-death state in water to enhance sexual pleasure."

  He hastily pulled out his notebook, this was a learning opportunity for him. "Does the medicinal type refer to inducing hypoxia with drugs?"

  Wu Hui nodded, "That's right, like fluorine. The commonality of these four types is to enhance the hypoxic state of sexual arousal and the accompanying masturbation."

  "There are still such perverts in this world, it's really hard to imagine." Yang Rong shrugged her shoulders, somewhat incredulous.

  "That's right," Ronald Holmes pointed out, "there may be a nationwide autoerotic asphyxiation organization called the 'Olenspeigel community.'" Wu Hui sat down and continued: "In some cases, the method of self-strangulation leads to death, such as self-asphyxiation and hanging strangulation. Dougs said that in about one-third of self-strangulation deaths, the victim is naked/bare-bodied."

  "Are you saying that Liu Chong's mother died from hanging herself?" Guo Yining said, looking at the professional terms written on Wu Hui's notebook.

  Wu Hui continued: "That's right, when Liu Chong's mother committed suicide that year, Liu Chong was only 7 years old and didn't take any action. So in his later murder cases, he adopted a compensatory behavior, where the perpetrator tries to psychologically compensate for the murder already committed, such as bathing the victim, dressing them up, or putting the victim's body on the bed and covering it with a quilt. This is because it happens in those crimes that are extremely painful due to the death of the victim, which also explains why the deceased were all dressed neatly."

  "If that's the case, then Liu Chong must have seen his mother's strange behavior back then and it must have had some impact on him. He can't possibly have normal sexual behavior." Guo Yining speculated that Liu Chong definitely had a hidden side to him.

  "That's right, this kind of behavior is generally hard for family members to accept. If you want to know whether Liu Chong has developed a twisted psychology, his wife should be the clearest. This also explains why the victim was not sexually assaulted but strangled with a rope, which for him was already a form of sexual assault."

  "If it's really like that, he should have strangled himself instead. How could he have strangled the other person to death?" Fang had some doubts about this part.

  Because when Liu Chong saw his mother hanging herself, he thought it would give the other person a sense of pleasure, so he strangled the victim to death. When he saw the victim he had strangled, he thought of his own mother, who died naked and in pain. Ashamed and pained, he then dressed the victim neatly. Wu Hui spoke out his speculation.

  "That's right, that makes sense. But what about Fan Ze? Do you really think Fan Ze is dead and was killed by Liu Chong?" Guo Yining and the others now need to find Fan Ze's remains in order to capture Liu Chong.

  "Yes, a person's psychological structure is basically formed and stable by the age of 4 or 5. The death of Liu Chong's mother had a profound impact on him, leaving a deep psychological shadow. Later, his sister's death made him start to release his anger, so I can be sure that Fan Sai was killed by him. As for why the body has not been found yet, this is what we need to focus on." The death of Liu Hui must have had a great impact on Liu Chong, and his anger must have been released, with Fan Sai being the outlet. It's certain that Fan Sai is already dead.

  "Liu Chong is an archaeology teacher, I think he should be good at handling corpses. Under what circumstances would a corpse disappear?" Yang Rong thought of Liu Chong's profession and felt that it should be easy for him to handle a corpse.

  "If it's dismembered, the body parts will be found. If thrown into a river, the corpse will eventually float out. If buried in a remote place, it shouldn't be discovered." Fang You thought that Liu Chong must have buried Fan Sai's corpse in an extremely remote location.

  "There is one thing that can make a corpse evaporate and disappear, highly concentrated hydrofluoric acid." Guo Yining recalled a case he had seen before.

  "Not bad, the environment is suitable, and if there's enough time, it can be done. Liu Chong is a university teacher, and stealing some hydrofluoric acid from the school chemistry lab should be feasible." Hydrofluoric acid is a controlled substance, but the school lab will definitely have this stuff, and Liu Chong should be able to get his hands on it if he wants to.

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