Chapter 1754: Summer in Fool

After parting ways with Cobblepot, Shiler began to think on his way back to the office.

Starting with the motive, who would want to go against the gang families?

First, rule out the police. After Gordon became the police commissioner some time ago, he was, to a certain extent, a stakeholder with the gangs. The gangs transitioning to the surface was also beneficial for Cat Getan's security situation.

Besides, other police commissioners might have accidents, but Gordon was known as Cat Getan's last conscience; it was unlikely he would use despicable means like poisoning.

Previously, the city government was also an enemy of the gangs. Although gangs often bribed officials to obtain a protective umbrella, political power struggles could indeed affect the gangs.

However, Cat Getan's current city government structure was very stable. Luo Yi had no opponents, and the gangs also recognized his transition strategy. The two sides had been at peace for so long; even if there were conflicts, Luo Yi would definitely be more inclined toward communication rather than direct action, so the city government was also ruled out.

Businessmen and entrepreneurs also had motives. The gangs' overbearing style of doing things had offended quite a few people, but the most influential entrepreneur in Cat Getan City right now was the Wei En family. Even if Bruce were to kill someone now, he had no need to kill gang members.

Now was a period of development, and the major forces in Cat Getan had finally reached a consensus. Even if the Wei En Group lacked money, he couldn't be so short-sighted as to let the situation become chaotic again; that would be beneficial to no one.

Then, could it be Falcone acting personally? That was indeed the most likely possibility. But if the death of the Fanas family's heir would weaken the next generation of the Fanas family, what about Old Mrs. Spencer?

Old Mr. and Mrs. Spencer had already stopped managing affairs years ago, and the family business had long been handed over to their son. Moreover, Old Mrs. Spencer was a dying person; even if no one took action, she wouldn't live much longer, so why add such an accident?

After analyzing the motives, Shiler found there were still no very useful clues. Then he began to consider the method: who had the ability to kill these two people?

The scope of the answer to this question was too broad; anyone who had contact with them was a suspect.

Thinking of this, Shiler paused his steps, took a turn, and didn't continue walking toward his office, but instead changed his route to the library. He needed to look up some information, especially medical data related to acute poisoning and the urinary system.

Not every psychologist needed to learn internal and surgical knowledge. If Shiler had any shortcomings in medicine, his knowledge of internal medicine was indeed not as deep as his knowledge of surgery and psychiatry.

In daily life, poisoning patients were not uncommon. The most common was food poisoning. Even so, the danger of poisoning was still very high. Then there were snakes; some snake venoms required corresponding antivenom to treat the symptoms.

Symptoms of full-body edema usually came from urinary system problems—accurately speaking, kidney problems. Urinary system manifestations were also common in the symptoms of poisoning patients; usually, toxins triggered kidney problems, leading to the body's inability to smoothly discharge water, resulting in edema.

These manifestations all had quite professional pathological analyses. Shiler only read a few articles roughly before he discovered where the problem lay.

Simply put, if it were intentional poisoning, then drugs that would cause kidney problems were not the best choice. Firstly, a small amount wasn't fatal enough; secondly, the onset of the poison was relatively long, leaving plenty of room for rescue and treatment.

If the urinary system manifestation was only incidental, then there must have been more obvious symptoms appearing before this. But Cobblepot emphasized that apart from full-body edema, the patient had no other manifestations, so he could only wait for the forensic report.

However, logical deduction could be made from this: the murderer clearly had better choices but didn't use them, instead adopting this clumsy method that was both troublesome and high-risk. There must be an intention behind it.

This inversely indicated that the possibility of the other party killing for profit was not high, because if it were a struggle for profit involving hiring a killer, the killer would only kill based on existing experience. Even if it were poisoning, it would be the kind of poison with strong lethality and low possibility of cure.

A killer working for money had no need to create a unique method of killing. Generally, those who would do this were serial killers with their own special purposes.

Was full-body swelling the key? Shiler thought, did the murderer use this poison to kill the victims just to make their corpses present this effect? Or to make them experience a special kind of pain?

Shiler's mind instantly listed many possibilities. He believed the correct answer must be included among them, but now he had to go to the multimedia classroom to receive the autopsy report Cobblepot had sent via email.

In front of the computer, Shiler clicked on the email to browse Young Fanas's autopsy report briefly, and then looked at the photos. The one that exceeded his expectations the most was the photo.

The corpse in the photo didn't look like a young person at all. The whole body had swollen into a state resembling a "giant appearance," to the point where even the facial features couldn't be seen clearly. If one couldn't imagine it, one could completely compare it to the Michelin Man, but much more disgusting and terrifying.

Shiler didn't feel the corpse was disgusting; he just felt it was a bit strange. Certain motive deductions in his mind were gradually ruled out, while some were highlighted.

Shiler first examined the condition of the corpse from the perspective of an ordinary person, finding that apart from disgust and terror, he couldn't derive any feelings. Then he observed it from his own perspective and saw a kind of ridiculous idiocy within it.

People had a mocking psychology toward things that were huge, bloated, and clumsy. The corpse was presenting a similar state. Did the murderer want the audience to mock the victims?

Serial killers generally had two lines of thought: letting the victims experience what they themselves had experienced, and letting the victims experience what humans could not experience.

The former was like revenge, the latter was like sublimation. The former focused on showing the world their past, while the latter was the murderer wanting the audience to see the future they wanted.

In many cases, the posture of the victims contained the murderer's mockery. The process of the murderer killing them and all the handling of their corpses were to humiliate them, and this time was the same.

The murderer was publicly humiliating the victims to the world, letting them present a bloated and ridiculous posture that they would never have presented while alive.

This proved that the murderer had very likely been mocked like this before, and it was very likely that they had been mocked by these two victims.

Instantly, the answer in Shiler's mind was highlighted.

He immediately turned and walked toward the phone, dialed Cobblepot's phone number, and before Cobblepot could speak, he said quickly:

"I've read the autopsy report you gave me. I know who the murderer is. Go find the unpopular fat person among the Twelve Families."

Shiler hung up the phone quickly without further explanation. And when he returned to his office, Anna and Victor were both still there.

Shiler now had time to ask about the specific situation of Victor's student, so he walked to Victor's desk and asked, "How is your student? Is he okay?"

"Fortunately, he survived," Victor let out a long breath and said, "You have no idea how dangerous it was. He collapsed in the laboratory. Fortunately, two female students in the lab next door discovered him, and they hurriedly called both me and the infirmary."

"But in just over ten minutes, his whole body was swollen like a tire. We hurriedly sent him to Wei En Hospital. The doctor said if we had been one minute later, his kidneys would have completely failed."

Shiler's movement of reaching for a pen suddenly stopped. He frowned, looked at Victor, and said, "What did you say? That student was swollen all over?"

"Yes, it was terrifying," Victor fiddled with the fountain pen in his hand and said, "It's not like I haven't seen terrifying crime scenes, but according to those two girls, Osk was like a balloon that had been blown up, expanding in just a few minutes..."

Shiler immediately turned and walked toward the phone stand. Victor looked at him, somewhat confused, and asked, "What's wrong? Is there a problem?"

Shiler made a "hush" gesture at him. After dialing the phone, he said to the other side: "Wait a moment, Cobblepot. My answer just now might be wrong. Have you already taken action?"

"What? You've already caught the murderer? But... tell me your current location. I'll come over. Yes, don't touch the murderer for now. Let me see him."

Shiler walked behind Victor's seat, patted him on the shoulder, and said, "Drive me over. I need to think about some things."

Victor didn't say anything, picked up the car keys, and followed behind Shiler. The two came to the front of Victor's car, opened the door, and sat in.

"What exactly is going on?" Victor asked while starting the car.

Shiler briefly explained the incident and his line of thought, then said: "The entire process of a murder case is like a complex and precise machine. Motive, method, and result—not one can be missing, and there is a very subtle interaction between all elements."

"If one link changes, it means all subsequent deductions might be wrong."

"The state of the corpse after the victim died proves that the murderer wanted to humiliate them, and this humiliation was directed."

"Making them bloated means the murderer wanted the world to see their bloated side, wanting them to be mocked for their ugly, pot-bellied image. This means the murderer had very likely been mocked like this by them, and he wanted them to experience the same taste."

"The previous two victims were both members of the Twelve Families, and Old Mrs. Spencer was already bedridden. The people who could have contact with them were very limited, almost certainly all members of the Twelve Families."

"There aren't many members of the Twelve Families with abnormal body types. Just gather them and interrogate them one by one. The murderer isn't the kind of serial killer with great artistic pursuit. The motive for killing is more about revenge. It's very likely he acted out of a fit of rage, and he will definitely feel regret and fear afterward. A little questioning will reveal the truth. Cobblepot definitely understands this principle."

"But why did you change your mind?"

"Because your student also had the same problem, and he is still alive." Shiler tapped his fingers on the car door handle.

"What does that prove? That he is actually clumsier than you imagined, and even left a fish that slipped through the net?"

"The murderer's motive isn't anything fresh, but the method is quite brilliant. Even Mrs. Spencer, who never left her bedroom in the Spencer family residence, couldn't escape, and Young Fanas didn't lack guards around him, yet he still fell for it. Do you think your student would have luckily escaped?"

"Then why..."

"A serial killer with revenge as a motive won't kill randomly. He acted against your student, proving that your student very likely also mocked him. So, he could kill important gang figures, yet had an accident with an ordinary student. There must be some hidden story in this, which is why I want to go and see."

The car stopped. Shiler said while pushing open the car door: "What's more, being able to formulate a drug that makes people swell into tire men can be considered a talent in chemical pharmaceuticals. I have to find a student for Jonathan to keep him quiet."

The two walked into Cobblepot's manor together. Cobblepot was sitting on the sofa, with two burly gang thugs pressing down on a fat man in front of him.

Shiler walked forward. After Cobblepot shook hands with him, he pointed at the fat man.

Shiler paused the moment his gaze fell on the fat man, and then he asked.

"Are you sure it's him? He hasn't killed anyone at all." ===== CHAPTER 1755 =====