Chapter 281: Let You Reconstruct the Scene, Not Surpass It

In this world, things never go quite as one wishes. Just like now, everyone was hoping Chen Fan would discover something new, but the forensic examiner's findings were the same as before.

Apart from Chen Fan noticing an additional trace of the skin having been wiped, there was nothing else.

'Did this person slip up this time?'

Old Song asked from the side, but none of the forensic examiners in the room gave him an answer, because everyone knew very well that even if they did, it wouldn't mean much.

Li Tian arrived and said: 'Old Song, you ask too many questions. These people are forensic examiners, not us police.'

"Sigh, but I've been under too much pressure for too long. I just can't rest easy — how did this person keep on committing crimes?"

"Who knows?"

Chen Fan said: "There's something I want to do on my end. Will you allow it? If you allow it, I'll do it; if not, forget it."

Li Tian said: "You want to reconstruct the crime scene, don't you?"

Chen Fan said: "You've got a sharp head — you do the reasoning, I'll do the reconstruction. Can we?"

"Sure, go ahead. Old Liu over here shouldn't have any objections."

Old Liu nodded.

Chen Fan began taking a towel and, step by step, wiping down these people's bodies. Then he found Xiang Qinqin and slowly applied makeup to these women, making their skin look better.

Afterwards, Chen Fan went off to find things — lots and lots of things: paper, plaster, a few chairs, some flowers and plants, and the like.

Looking at the first photograph from before, Chen Fan compared it, positioned the woman properly, and then slowly placed these items down.

Chen Fan thought for a moment and laid the sheet over the woman's body.

A vivid, lifelike scene appeared before the onlookers' eyes.

Li Tian said: "Exactly the same. You really are impressive."

Chen Fan shook his head and said: "No, completely wrong. I feel it's not quite right."

Not quite right?

Everyone looked at Chen Fan. At that moment, Chen Fan reached out, slowly shifted the woman's body just a little bit. Then the sheet was torn apart by Chen Fan, and piece by piece draped over the woman's body.

"Mm, this way it's much more beautiful."

What does 'this way it's much more beautiful' even mean?

Li Tian couldn't make heads or tails of it. Chen Fan said: "Mm, Qu Yiling — you should be able to look that up, right?"

'I know. It's a work by a foreign master — "The Injured Woman," depicting how a raped woman collapses. That master painted it. To be precise, he wasn't really a master — that person was arrested.'

Chen Fan said: 'Mm, that's the work. But I didn't know that person was arrested.'

"Actually, not many people know about this piece. The metaphor really does represent rape. It's just that the way you've done it, compared to the original killer, is more — how should I put it — more artistic in feel. That guy, it seems, seems like —"

; Li Tian and Old Song said in unison: "Pretending to be cultured, isn't it?"

The moment those four words came out, Li Tian instantly knew the answer.

He shot Old Song a look. Old Song found an excuse, pretending to go to the restroom, but in reality had already begun his investigation.

Chen Fan moved on to the second body and continued arranging it. On the second body, the sheet had been placed over the woman's face, but Chen Fan only took a strip of cloth and laid it over the woman's eye area.

This time, the onlookers were once again stunned. With the same layout, Chen Fan had only made a slight adjustment, yet it elevated the whole thing far beyond the original.

The third woman had been in a posture hugging a doll, but this time, Chen Fan removed the doll.

Instead, he placed the doll at the woman's feet, while the woman's head was turned toward the sky.

The symbolism ran even deeper.

The fourth — the last one — was the most recent victim.

Chen Fan stared for a long while, then placed the woman on a chair.

Afterwards, the sheet was laid over half the woman's body, this time placed vertically rather than horizontally.

But the most immediate feeling the onlookers got was that the scenes Chen Fan created were even more shocking, more utterly captivating.

Meanwhile, Qu Yiling quietly took down these photographs.

Chen Fan lit a cigarette and stood at a distance, looking at the four women before him.

"Mm, this is the art I wanted — art with flavor."

Art is the hardest thing for people to comprehend. Meanwhile, Old Song, who had stepped out, had already begun zeroing in on a suspect.

Li Tian looked at Chen Fan and said: "You really are impressive, I admit it. Honestly, I never expected your artistic cells to run so deep."

"Cut the nonsense. You don't understand art either, do you?"

'I don't, and at the time we also brought in an expert to look. The expert said it was art, and explained what these arrangements were meant to express.'

Chen Fan said: "No, what the expert said was the seven kinds of love."

'Holy crap — you even know that?'

Chen Fan said: "The expert said seven kinds of love, and you were worried there'd be seven victims, right? Actually, it wasn't seven kinds of love at all — it was simply the charge itself. This person never thought about any number."

Li Tian was speechless and said: "Isn't that still reasoning?"

"Reasoning my ass. This is just desire — plain lust, nothing else. That expert you found must be a fake artist, right?"

Li Tian had nothing to say.

At this point, Old Liu coughed and said: "Careful. Saying things like that offends people, and it'll be inconvenient to ask questions later."

Chen Fan said: "It's the truth anyway. People always like to overcomplicate what they see. Li Tian, are you a pig-brain? Are you only getting it now?"

"Get lost. I knew it from the start. That's why during the investigation I never profiled some so-called artist at all. It's just — well, forget it, wait and see. You'll know in a bit."

Meanwhile, Old Song moved fast. Back in the day, an investigation had already been done, because this was art, and in that era art students were extremely few. All it took was taking some statements, checking fingerprints and the like.

But that step was actually wrong, because what they needed to look for wasn't art students, but art students who had failed the exams.

Or rather, fake art students.

But the schools had already been checked, and none existed, so it had to be those who had failed.

Those who had failed were actually few in number — hardly any at all.

Li Tian had sketched out this person's identity and so on, so Old Song quickly locked onto one person.

On this side, at a nearby pharmacy, after inquiring about purchase records and the like, they quickly investigated that this person had come by.

What remained was simple: just grab the person directly.

Enter the house, grab the person, and the photos placed inside the house were those of the women.

The murderer was caught, and the reason he was caught was actually very simple — it was because Chen Fan felt that these things weren't artistic enough.

And at this moment in the interrogation room, the art student looked at Old Song and said: "I don't want to talk to you, I want to communicate with Chen Fan."

"Fine."

Chen Fan was invited over, and along with him came a camera. Chen Fan said: "If you're willing, I'll livestream it; if not, then hold it in."

The man wore a smile, looked up at Chen Fan, and said: "How did you find me?"

"I'm not a detective, I'm just a forensic examiner. A forensic examiner naturally uses forensic methods — fingerprints, for example, DNA, for example, or drugs, for example. Actually, you didn't even need to arrange those women; just on the drugs side, I could find you."

"You know how to compound, don't you?"

'You haven't watched enough livestreams. A lot of people know I can compound. Ever heard of flower-snatchers? It's just that I haven't used it much lately. Kid, watch more livestreams, watch more of my livestreams — you can pick up quite a few criminal techniques.'

?????

Li Tian coughed, and Chen Fan quickly shut his mouth and said: "Uh, no, hurry up and surrender yourself."