Chapter 223: How to Drive Someone Crazy Fast

"May I ask you something?" Yu Dazhang asked with a straight face:

"How do you get useful information from a mentally ill person?"

He had assumed his question would leave the other man speechless.

He never expected Ding Feng to answer very seriously:

"You can investigate the victim's social relationships, see if he has any enemies, and then further analyze who among the people he knows would want to harm him."

"Also, even if the victim has gone mad, he'll still say some crazy things — maybe within those ravings, you can dig up some useful information."

Damn, what he said actually made sense… Yu Dazhang found that Ding Feng was not only rigid, but also pretty good at talking nonsense.

Still, from the man's words one could tell that he really did have real ability.

The fact that even his nonsense followed logic showed that Ding Feng's deductive and analytical abilities were very strong.

"Alright." Yu Dazhang nodded and replied:

"Tomorrow I'll go investigate the victim's side of things. It just so happens that I'm the type who likes looking into unimportant people and matters."

Ding Feng assumed he was speaking out of spite and didn't mind, nodding as he said:

"Then it's settled."

They left the branch bureau.

The three of them — Yu Dazhang and the others — looked at each other and couldn't help laughing.

"This case has really worn them down." Ma Jian said with a smile.

Yu Dazhang was also grinning:

"Yeah, look what it's done to Captain Ding — guarding against his own people like guarding against thieves."

He understood why Ding Feng did it.

This serial finger-chopping case had already caused an enormous stir two months earlier, with news even crossing provincial lines to reach Songhai.

After all this time, not only had the case gone unsolved, new victims had continued to appear.

That alone had the experts in Province S in charge of the case at their wits' end.

Their desire to crack the case as soon as possible could only be described as urgent.

But more important than that was not letting other colleagues beat them to it.

Just imagine.

A case your side had been chasing for months without a lead, suddenly solved by someone else.

What do you think everyone would think?

Most likely, the first thing questioned would be the provincial bureau experts' ability to handle cases.

And along with it, the entire Provincial police force of Province S would lose face.

So Ding Feng was also in a painful position.

He now both needed the help of the Hongkou branch bureau and couldn't let their people take part in the investigation.

"So are we still going to investigate the victim tomorrow?"

The one asking was Liu Miao; he had also seen the catch in it.

They were all in the criminal investigation world — this bit of scheming wasn't hard to guess, and they understood it.

"Investigate."

Yu Dazhang wiped the smile off his face and said in a low voice:

"Since we've already promised them, we have to follow through. Besides, the victim's side really is a valid line of investigation."

Ma Jian and Liu Miao exchanged a glance, each seeing helplessness in the other's eyes, but still nodded.

In their view, there was nothing left to investigate on the victim's side.

The case had now reached nine victims.

If there were clues to be found from this angle, they would have already been found from the previous eight.

"I estimate this case is very likely a crime of passion."

Ma Jian analyzed:

"The perpetrator picks targets at random to satisfy his twisted psychology — or rather, his twisted fetish."

He had grounds for saying so.

What kind of case is hardest to crack?

Crimes of passion are definitely among them.

Most of the country's unsolved cases are related to crimes of passion.

This type of crime makes it very hard to find a motive, and the victim and perpetrator don't know each other.

Trying to lock down the perpetrator through the victim is almost impossible.

Even finding fingerprints at the scene is of little use.

Our country hasn't done a full fingerprint database entry yet.

Only those with criminal records or who have been registered have fingerprint records.

So the usual procedure is to catch the person first, then do fingerprint comparison, and use it as direct evidence.

"I figure Ding Feng and his people think the same way." Yu Dazhang said thoughtfully:

"But I just feel something's off — haven't you noticed how professional this perpetrator is?"

Ma Jian and Liu Miao fell silent at his words, both lost in thought.

After a moment, Ma Jian frowned and said:

"It really is like that. The vehicle the perpetrator drove didn't even have its license plate covered. The first brigade's investigation found that the car had been stolen just a few days earlier."

Stealing a car isn't exactly honorable, but you have to admit it really is a skilled job — not only do you have to know how to pick locks, you also need a certain understanding of vehicle knowledge.

Yu Dazhang and the other two all know how to drive, but if it comes to stealing a locked car, the three of them combined still couldn't manage it.

"It's not just that," Liu Miao added:

"When we were watching the surveillance video, I noticed that the criminal's fighting style resembled a comprehensive, unrestricted combat system."

"The purpose of such training is to subdue enemies quickly."

"Moreover, there is only one place where this kind of fighting technique can be learned..."

At this point, Liu Miao paused, as if considering whether to continue.

Meanwhile, Yu Dazhang and Ma Jian had already guessed what he wanted to say.

"The military!" the two said in unison.

"Exactly," Liu Miao looked at the two of them:

"I came into contact with this kind of training when I was in the military, though it was only some superficial training items."

No mistakes, one chapter, one release, one content, all in one place!

"The criminal in the surveillance video was obviously subjected to complete systematic training."

After hearing this, Yu Dazhang made no comment, simply nodding his head.

He had long seen that the criminal's skills were extraordinary, he just hadn't expected them to come from the military.

These were only the most superficial aspects.

What truly made Yu Dazhang feel terrified was the method the criminal used on the victims.

All nine victims had gone mad!

Is it that easy for a person to go mad?

And all of them within just a few short days.

From ancient times to the present, many people have suffered severe torture; how many were beaten into madness?

Moreover, apart from severed fingers, these nine people had no other obvious external injuries.

That is to say, they did not undergo continuous torment.

Under such circumstances, how could one drive a person mad?

Yu Dazhang was very curious about this, and it was also what he most wanted to know.

The next day.

Inside a hospital in Hongkou District.

Yu Dazhang and the other two arrived at the ward where the victims were located early in the morning.

"We are from the Criminal Investigation Team of the Hongkou Branch."

After showing their identification to the family members, they entered the room.

The victim's name was Li Yong, male, 34 years old, operating a high-end equestrian club in Songhai.

At this moment, Li Yong, with one hand bandaged in gauze, was lying in bed, his eyes tightly closed.

What made Yu Dazhang feel strange was that Li Yong was not restrained in his movements.

He was lying in the hospital bed just like an ordinary patient.

Wasn't he mad?

Shouldn't he be tied to the bed with restraint straps or something similar?

Considering the family's emotions, Yu Dazhang held back from asking, instead approaching the bedside to carefully examine Li Yong.

"Has he been in a state of unconscious sleep all along?" Yu Dazhang turned to ask the family member.

This family member was Li Yong's wife.

Very young, appearing to be only in her twenties, with an internet celebrity face, currently looking haggard.

"He should wake up soon," she sighed:

"He was tossing and turning until past ten o'clock last night before sleeping."

"Um..." Yu Dazhang quickly formulated his words in his mind, asking as tactfully as possible:

"What are his specific symptoms?"

He didn't even know if one should ask about symptoms for mental illnesses.

But at this moment, there was no time to worry about such details; as long as the other party understood, it was fine.

"You'll know once he wakes up."

The woman seemed unwilling to answer this question, as if the real reason was somewhat difficult to bring up.

Yu Dazhang and the other two exchanged glances.

Immediately, he spoke in a consultative tone:

"Then shall we wait here for him to wake up?"

The woman nodded, tacitly approving his approach.

Just as she had said, only ten-plus minutes passed before Li Yong on the bed opened his eyes.

There was no shouting or fuss as imagined, nor any extreme behavior.

He just stared blankly at the ceiling, saying nothing.

After a moment, he sat up very calmly, then lowered his head and spoke his first words after waking:

"I am not human, I am guilty, I am a beast..."

(End of this chapter)