Chapter 243: A balaclava over pantyhose—aren't you afraid of the heat?

"You mean he's analyzing the case?"

The one asking was Xia Bin.

He had met Yu Dazhang back in Songhai, and at their very first meeting had accepted a carton of Hua cigarettes from him.

So his impression of Yu Dazhang was not bad.

It was just that this method of analyzing a case was the first time he had ever seen it.

"Whether he's analyzing the case or not, I don't know," Ma Jian said in a tone of certainty:

"But every time he enters this kind of self-forgetting state, within a few days he'll crack a major case."

His words prompted Ye Zhiyu and Xia Bin to think.

After a moment, Ye Zhiyu said, deliberating:

"This is a kind of illness he has."

"From a psychological standpoint, this is self-hypnosis—forcing himself into the other party's thought patterns."

"Once or twice is fine, but if he does this regularly, it's very easy to develop a split personality."

"In my view, get him to a hospital fast. You didn't see it—his smile just now was way too creepy."

Ma Jian knew he was joking.

If Yu Dazhang really had a psychological problem, Ye Zhiyu wouldn't just sit by and do nothing.

Then Ma Jian made a "shh" gesture at them, signaling them not to disturb Yu Dazhang.

Once a person enters thinking mode, they forget their own situation, and even lose track of time.

At such times it's best to keep them in a quiet environment—only then can the continuity of thought be maintained.

At this moment Yu Dazhang hadn't noticed at all that the three people across from him were staring at him.

His brain was running at high speed.

Constantly putting forward hypotheses, and knocking them down one by one.

If you asked what Yu Dazhang's greatest strength was?

The one at the top of the list would surely be: enough respect for his opponent!

Does using the word "opponent" for a suspect feel a bit awkward?

In everyone's eyes, cops catching thieves should be like a cat catching a mouse—that's the proper way.

If the police think that way too, then they've made a logical error.

In any line of work, underestimating the enemy is fatal.

Only by treating the suspect as an equal opponent can one better understand them.

Understand the suspect's thinking, understand the suspect's behavior, understand the suspect's next plan…

Why was the preparation time before the crimes getting longer and longer?

After a round of deduction and hypothesis, Yu Dazhang arrived at two possibilities:

1. The suspect's health had developed a problem.

Everyone eats the five grains, getting sick is normal—this falls under factors beyond human control.

After all, no one can guarantee they'll never get sick.

If one keeps committing crimes while ill, one's actions will naturally be affected.

The extended preparation time would then make sense.

2. The number of victims was fixed.

This one is easy to understand.

Suppose the suspect only intends to take revenge on ten people.

Then at the very start, he has ten targets to choose from.

At this stage he can prioritize and screen them by difficulty.

As the targets dwindle, the choices shrink, and the difficulty naturally rises.

It's already been proven that this case isn't a random crime of passion, so this possibility is very high.

No—both of these possibilities are very high!

If the suspect's health was fine, he had no need to rush like this.

With his IQ, the longer the interval between crimes, the safer it would be.

Rushing like this makes it easy to expose flaws, yet he chose to take the risk.

Such behavior doesn't match his IQ.

So it must be because of some objective reason that he had no choice but to act this way.

Poor health, dwindling targets…

If both of these deductions are spot on, the suspect should complete his revenge very soon.

Or rather, he has already completed it.

So annoying… Yu Dazhang irritably scratched at his scalp.

Why did he always end up running into these brainy criminals?

Pulling his thoughts back, he swept his gaze across the desk, then frowned and asked:

"Why wasn't a computer assigned?"

Right now Xia Bin was the only provincial bureau staff member in the room, so Yu Dazhang's question was effectively directed at him.

"They probably meant to equip us with brand-new computers," Xia Bin explained:

"You know too, the existing computers all have data on them."

Computers inside the system can't just be used casually.

Even the ones being phased out will undergo specialized processing.

Hard drives especially need to be handled with confidentiality.

"That would be too slow." Yu Dazhang said as he took out his phone and dialed:

"Come to my office."

Soon, Captain Xu knocked and walked in; judging by his breathing rhythm, he must have jogged over.

"Go ask when the computer will be delivered, push them on it, I need it urgently."

"Got it, I'll go right away." Captain Xu agreed, then hurried off.

This is the downside of working on someone else's turf.

If they were at Hongkou Branch, Yu Dazhang could just walk into any office and use a computer.

But here, that won't work.

Not knowing the place or the people, he naturally couldn't casually walk into strangers' offices.

While waiting, Yu Dazhang didn't continue reading the case files.

!

He felt there was no need to fully digest the contents of the case files.

Because Ding Feng had already done this work for him, and had marked the places worth noting.

The reason he was pushing for the computer was that he wanted to look at the surveillance footage on the disc.

"Xia Bin, you don't need to be so uptight in this room. If you want to smoke, go ahead and smoke, don't worry about anyone else."

Yu Dazhang noticed that this sketch artist was quite introverted, barely communicating with anyone.

Ever since coming into this office, he hadn't smoked inside the room.

"Oh, alright."

Xia Bin, hearing that smoking wasn't prohibited indoors, immediately took out a cigarette and lit it, taking two deep drags.

Judging by the look of him, the nicotine craving had long since kicked in; he had only held back because of the office environment.

Seeing this, Ye Zhiyu and Ma Jian also took out cigarettes and lit them.

Without Yu Dazhang saying anything, the two of them had also been holding back.

In no time at all, the room was filled with the rich smell of cigarettes.

Yu Dazhang didn't mind either; he was all too familiar with this kind of environment. After all, in his previous life he had been a heavy smoker.

After Xia Bin took another two drags, he then opened his mouth to ask:

"You must have done composite sketches of suspects before, right?"

Nine cases have already occurred; logically the suspect should have let some slip-up, it's not like there isn't even a composite sketch.

"Conditions aren't sufficient." Xia Bin shook his head, looking somewhat helpless:

"The suspect wears a hood every time he commits the crime, and inside the hood he also wears a layer of pantyhose."

"Forget the appearance, you can't even see his eyes or mouth."

Double insurance!

Wrapped up pretty tight… Yu Dazhang couldn't help but frown.

With conditions like these, there's really no way to do a composite.

Even the cleverest housewife can't cook without rice.

To have a sketch artist composite the suspect's appearance, at the very least there needs to be some rough description.

With the suspect doing this, neither the surveillance video nor eyewitnesses can see his true face.

Physical characteristics, though, there are.

By comparing footprints and surveillance video, his height and weight can be determined.

But these can only be used for reference, not as evidence.

"Can you observe changes in a person's physique?" Yu Dazhang asked again.

"Changes in physique?" Xia Bin was caught off guard and didn't understand:

"What exactly do you mean?"

Yu Dazhang patiently explained:

"Subtle changes in body shape, the posture when walking and standing, mainly referring to the body's posture and state."

Some friends asked.

Can ordinary people not see such changes?

Very difficult.

Especially when wearing clothes and a hood.

Yu Dazhang also admitted he couldn't do it himself, which was why he was consulting Xia Bin.

"No problem."

Xia Bin nodded very affirmatively, a gleam flashing in his eyes:

"As long as I have two or more images to compare, I can tell them apart."

He wasn't bragging… Yu Dazhang noticed that at this moment, there was something indescribable about Xia Bin.

It made people involuntarily want to trust him, rely on him.

This feeling was oddly familiar.

He was dazed for a moment, and quickly found the answer.

Qian Cheng, who examined the scene, and Ye Zhiyu, who hypnotized people…

They had all given people this feeling before.

This is a fanaticism for the profession!

(End of this chapter)