Chapter 1122

Shiler returned to the room. He did not touch the windowsill with his hands, but signaled to Gordon with his eyes. Gordon stepped forward, took a look at the windowsill, and said, "The hygiene at Wei En Hospital is quite good, but this is just a regular hospital room. The windowsill is a bit too clean, isn't it?"

Shiler nodded. Gordon walked a bit closer, leaned his head out to look down, and discovered that the sunshade downstairs had a frame. Although the frame was made of wood, the wood was nailed into the wall.

Clearly, the sunshade had been built during the construction of the building. The quality of any building by the Wei En Group was extremely solid, so even though it was just a sunshade, it could support the weight of an adult male.

Gordon recalled the process he had just seen, and then, as if suddenly enlightened, said, "I know why there were no wounds on the arms. Dr. Richard's arm was grabbing the window handle at the time and hadn't been pulled back yet. When the dagger was inserted into his heart, it wasn't that he didn't want to resist, but that he simply didn't have the time."

Shiler nodded and said, "Detective, you can take another look at his wound, especially the edges of the wound. You should make some different discoveries."

Upon hearing this, Gordon immediately walked to the side of the body, knelt down halfway, put on gloves, and carefully examined the wound. He frowned and said, "The edges of the upper part of the wound seem to be a bit different, but I'm not very proficient in forensic medicine..."

"You don't need to be proficient in forensic medicine. Have you noticed that the tearing on the upper edge is deeper than the lower part? Guess why that is?"

While Gordon was still thinking, Bruce spoke up.

"To prevent too much blood from dripping onto the windowsill. When the deceased was facing the window, the killer did not pull out the weapon, but only pulled it out after turning the deceased around."

"But at that time, the killer was standing outside the window, and the body had already slid below the windowsill. The killer had to lean his upper body into the room, reach over the body's shoulder with his hand, and only then could he pull out the weapon."

"When pulling out the weapon, the force was applied from above and behind the body, not from directly in front. That is why the upper edge of the wound suffered a deeper degree of injury."

Gordon shook his head and said, "How on earth did you two deduce so much in such a short time?"

Shiler did not come in, but stood outside the window, looked down at the windowsill, and then said, "Next, we can talk about the killer's personality."

"You even deduced the killer's personality?!"

Gordon raised his voice and asked.

"After this series of actions, I think you should be able to see that this was a premeditated murder. The killer was well-prepared; perhaps he had practiced it countless times."

"Since that's the case, he didn't pull out the weapon immediately, and the movement to flip the body was fast enough that blood might not have dripped onto the windowsill, yet he still wiped the inside and outside of the windowsill."

Shiler gently touched the window frame outside the stairs with his hand and looked at Bruce, saying, "If the patient hadn't returned so quickly, you would have had a free window cleaner."

Gordon touched the side of his cheek and said, "What does this mean? Does he have a cleanliness obsession?"

"It means he lacks confidence." Shiler shook his head and said, "It also means he is actually a novice, and it's even very likely his first time committing a crime."

"Why?" Gordon asked. His thinking was actually fast enough, which is why he was able to figure out this case, which actually involved some techniques, in such a short time.

But the current Gordon was not yet good at probing the psychology of criminals, because the vast majority of cases in Gotham were gang wars or vendettas; there was no complex psychology to understand.

"Detective Gordon, are those theoretical concepts you learned at the Police Academy always applicable in reality?" Shiler asked.

Gordon thought back for a moment and said, "Regarding criminal investigation, there are quite a few that are applicable, but in terms of civil mediation, they are almost completely inapplicable and can only be adapted to local conditions."

"Then, when you left the Police Academy, did you realize the difference between theory and reality?" Shiler asked again.

"At that time, I was still relatively naive, thinking that since my grades were good, my practice should also be good." Gordon thought about it and said, "However, I did indeed have doubts, but this is actually common sense, right? Ordinary people know that theory cannot be one hundred percent the same as reality."

"This is precisely the contradiction of this killer." Shiler tapped the window frame lightly with the side of his finger and said, "Murder itself is an act that violates morality and the law, and creating such a premeditated murder case with deceptive qualities—from investigation to planning to practicing—must involve a longer process than a crime of passion."

Gordon nodded, feeling that what Shiler said made sense. A crime of passion is nothing more than being impulsive, and when driven by anger, it is hard to think about the law and morality.

But for this kind of premeditated crime, it might take months just to scout the location. If the killer had even the slightest bit of struggle, he wouldn't have been able to persist for so long and put this plan into practice.

In ordinary premeditated murder cases, the killer will also try to cover up the truth to escape punishment, but to do it so seamlessly without any mistakes, it is clear that it requires practice.

"This is not practicing recitation or dancing. Every time he corrects a movement, the killer would think that he is killing someone. No normal person could endure such immense moral pressure," Shiler concluded.

Gordon's expression became increasingly serious. He had to admit that Shiler was right.

In fact, he could see that the flipping movement Shiler just performed wasn't very practiced either, and one hand had used too much force. If there really had been a knife stuck in Bruce's chest, blood might have already splashed onto the window frame.

And the gap in the side window frame had no trace of blood at all, which meant the killer performed this action perfectly. This undoubtedly required practice, and every time he practiced, wouldn't he think about the fact that what he was holding in his arms would be a corpse?

Never mind moral values; anyone with a shred of humanity would feel repulsion, disgust, and fear toward this. This is a human instinct, yet the killer still resolutely practiced this action to perfection.

"Such a cold, ruthless, and terrifying person," Gordon sighed. Shiler immediately took over his words and said, "Or, we call them 'natural-born killers'."

When Shiler spat out the last few words, Bruce glanced at him but said nothing. Shiler continued.

"The biggest characteristic of this group of people is that they are cold-blooded. They do not feel sad for the disappearance of life. They take pleasure in harming and controlling others, and are addicted to the thrill of wantonly depriving their own kind of life."

"In the process of practicing a certain step to prepare for a murder, not only will they not feel guilty or afraid, but on the contrary, the fantasy of depriving others of their lives will provide them with a great deal of pleasure."

Gordon shuddered, as if he couldn't accept that such humans actually existed in this world.

Suddenly, Shiler changed the subject and said, "And when I said he wasn't confident, that's exactly why. He had already practiced so many times, yet he still didn't believe that his perfect movements wouldn't leave any traces on the windowsill."

"Usually, the biggest basis for us to judge the degree of perversion of a natural-born killer is the degree of his arrogance. The more arrogant and narcissistic he is, and the more he has an arrogant confidence in his evil actions that no one else can understand, the harder he is to deal with."

"I understand." Gordon thought for a moment and said, "So, some serial killers like to return to the scene to watch the police being led around in circles by them, just because they are confident that they won't be discovered."

Shiler shook his head and said, "All killers who return to the scene are unconfident."

Gordon's eyes widened. This view of Shiler's was contrary to the current mainstream view. The criminal investigation community still believes that serial killers return to the scene to toy with the police.

"They return to the scene because they are not confident enough in their modus operandi. As long as they confirm that they haven't left any extra clues, it's like a student who, after finishing an exam, goes to check the answers because they are worried about their score."

"Or rather, as long as they do this, it proves that their method has flaws. It's like how all top students who know they calculated correctly won't go to check the answers; those who don't know if they are right or wrong are the ones who are unsure."

Gordon looked at Shiler sideways. He seemed a bit unable to understand why this professor described such a brutal murder case as a daily exam. Although the metaphor was very apt, the understated tone was chilling.

Shiler revealed a smile, carrying a bit of coldness and neurosis. Whenever he revealed this kind of smile, even Bruce would not meet his eyes.

Shiler touched the windowsill again with the tip of his index finger and said, "This killer is like a bad student who is not confident in his own answers and adds dozens of extra steps, wanting to make up for it with quantity."

A trace of disgust appeared on Shiler's face, and he continued, "Only mediocrities would want to use the exhaustive method to commit a crime."

Subsequently, Shiler restrained his expression, looked at Gordon, and said, "Fortunately, he is that type of unconfident killer, so as long as you stake out here, you should still be able to see his figure."

Gordon was about to walk out immediately, but Bruce stopped him. He said, "You cannot set up a defense outside the hospital room door, otherwise, everyone will know the police are here. You take your people and pretend to be surveying the environment in the hospital, and I will be responsible for watching this place."

"You aren't planning to install surveillance cameras, are you?" Shiler asked Bruce directly for the first time today. Bruce was momentarily distracted, then shook his head and said, "Even if the killer is bold, he couldn't possibly step into this room again. I plan to set up a defense on this entire floor."

"He might be even bolder than you imagine." Shiler suddenly sneered, then said, "I forgot to say, there is another kind of student who, although not confident in their own answers, is very confident in their ranking. They suspect they didn't do well on the test, but they suspect even more that the test questions were hard and that everyone else did poorly too."

"So..." Bruce slowly narrowed his eyes.

Just then, a noisy sound came from outside the window. Bruce rushed to the window, Shiler stepped aside, and Bruce heard a riot break out downstairs.

As Gordon and Bruce both rushed toward the door, they heard Shiler say in a low voice:

"Perhaps he isn't planning to return, but never left in the first place?"

Just as Shiler returned to the hospital room, he heard the head nurse screaming from the hospital room downstairs.

"Harley! Little Harley!

What's wrong with you?! Why is there so much blood on you?!

!"