Chapter 497: Chen Shi's Hypothesis

Translator: Azza

Editor: Conspiracing

Lin Dongxue said, "I’m listening."

Chen Shi picked up some meat with his chopsticks. "I found that Zhang Jinlei was a little paranoid and extreme after our contact with him. He has always wanted to dominate his romantic relationships. Although he complained about his family, his family had left a deep mark on him. He’s very competitive and is a control-freak. It’s reasonable to attribute ‘the hatred born from love’ motive to him."

"Hatred because of love... Can you be more specific?"

"I don't know. When the murderer confronts the police, he will hide or be vague about the parts of the testimony that will be disadvantageous to him, so we won't get this piece of the puzzle from him."

"Won't get it from him?" Lin Dongxue thought, "In other words, you can find out from others."

"So smart!"

"I seem to understand. Based on Zhang Jinlei's character, if he knew that his beloved was selling herself, he would probably have taken extreme actions. So even if he knew about this matter, he wouldn’t tell us, but..."

"But what?"

"Forget it, forget it. I won’t say it. You can continue."

"Just say it. Make a bold assumption."

Lin Dongxue smiled with embarrassment. "My opinion is relatively shallow. I think he’s very infatuated. I don’t think how he behaved in front of us was an act."

"Emotion-based opinions are sometimes more reliable than analysis. I think so too."

"What about the other two?"

"With Xiao Ran, I noticed that she had some nervous little movements in front of us. Was it because she was facing the police? But when she talked about Yan Qilin selling herself, she was very relaxed. If she was the murderer, what would the motive be? Hatred over Yan Qilin snatching Zhang Jinlei away? It seems to be justified. Although she said that she prioritized her studies, her results turned out to be unsatisfactory. After many years, she’s gotten together with Zhang Jinlei and is living with him as a ‘nanny’. This shows that her generosity was an act and that she still likes the boy very much."

"I think that whether she is the murderer or not, she has to pretend not to care. After all, the previous policemen, like us, would think of this motive."

"This is an assumption anyway and it’s still missing some pieces of the puzzle."

"What about Yue Chao?"

"Yue Chao is not highly rated by the other two. What I want to know is how Yan Qilin thought of him. Could he actually be the one that Yan Qilin really liked? Yue Chao is a straightforward person. He didn’t seem to be lying. I don’t think that he has the ability to put up an act either. It’s just that he concealed some things so that we had no way of knowing the real relationship between them. If we’re talking about the motive, I have a hypothesis. He had always silently done things for Yan Qilin, but Yan Qilin betrayed him in order to go to a band 1 university, so he was consumed with jealousy."

The meat on the iron griddle sizzled and the two of them realized that they had been talking for too long and the meat was almost burnt. Lin Dongxue quickly picked the meat off with her chopsticks.

Lin Dongxue said, "What I’m most puzzled by right now is what kind of person Yan Qilin was. Was she an angelic girl? She had been selling herself and seems to have been two-timing. I’ve read her diary and she wrote down all the smallest things that happened in her day. It can be seen that she was an attentive and sensitive girl, but it feels a little pretentious. It’s so unclear. Really unclear."

"Let me ask you, since I’m also curious. Are there angelic women in the world?"

"Well... What is an angel like? Having no desire and needs? Being pure and kind? If so, I don’t think so. Beautiful things are only beautiful from a distance. Everyone has selfish desires and when they look at themselves, they will see imperfections... If you have to say that there’s such a woman, I think she must have had a loving family, be materially wealthy and raised in a sheltered environment since she was a child. She will feel that everything in the world is beautiful and her heart would be extremely simple and kind."

"Wouldn’t that be like being a fool?"

"Yes, she will be a fool." Lin Dongxue smiled. If they thought of things that way, considering Yan Qilin’s family background, she would not have been such a girl.

"Actually, I think most men use ‘angel’ to describe a very obedient girl with a very sweet look.”

"By the way, are you planning to use all three days to investigate the first case?”

Chen Shi put a piece of beef tongue in Lin Dongxue's bowl. "Rice needs to be eaten bite by bite. I'll figure out the first case first, and then think about the others."

"But we only have three days! One day has already passed."

"I'm not a policeman. I don’t care if it’s three days or thirty days. If I’m interested in this case, it will be fine even if I have to spend a month investigating it."

"Are you interested then?"

"Well, it’s a bit interesting."

Lin Dongxue's cell phone rang and her expression suddenly changed when she answered. She informed Chen Shi, "A body was found."

"Is there anything special about it?"

"This murderer did it again! This year they killed two people!"

"But I’ve already drank..."

"Call for a taxi. Hurry!"

The two hurriedly paid the bill and went out to take a taxi. After getting into the taxi, Lin Dongxue said, "You just drank? Were you not planning to send me home?"

"My sinister intentions were seen through." Chen Shi laughed mischievously.

The place where the body was found this time was in a building slated for demolition in the city. When they arrived, Chen Shi saw that Lin Qiupu and the others had arrived quite some time ago. There was a female corpse in a red dress lying inside the cordoned-off area. The characteristics were exactly the same as the previous bodies. Moreover, the cause of death was a slashed throat this time.

Chen Shi said, "I already wanted to ridicule the patrols last night. You said that you had to transfer so many policemen to patrol last night, but what’s the use? Driving police cars all over the streets, the murderer must have hidden away when they saw that. Serial killers wouldn’t be caught like this.”

Lin Qiupu replied with a straight face, "When we were patrolling, we also caught a burglar, two robbers, and sent a lost old man home."

"Okay, they had some results."

Peng Sijue had completed the preliminary autopsy and stood up. "The time of death was around 9:00 last night. The cause of death was suffocation due to the slashed throat. The blood on the body had been washed away with alcohol by the murderer. The clothes should have been put on after death."

"Do the clothes fit?" Chen Shi asked.

Peng Sijue immediately understood his intention in asking this question and said, "The fabric is elastic, the dress can be worn as long as she’s not too fat... It’s exactly the same as the clothes worn by the body found this morning."

The face of the female body was serene, as if she was in a deep slumber. Chen Shi saw the shadow of Yan Qilin in her face. Some of the characteristics were very close. Sure enough, the "prey" selected by the murderer was a copy of Yan Qilin.

He became more and more convinced that the first case was of paramount importance, and it was likely that all the problems would be solved once everything in that case became clear.

Xu Xiaodong came running over excitedly, "Captain Lin, the supermarket across the street has a security camera facing this side!"