Chapter 250: The Crazy White Paper Fan

"I really can't remember that clearly."

Liu Jinsong wore a look as if he'd overtaxed his brain, lowered his head and pinched the bridge of his nose; when he looked up again, he said hesitantly:

"I vaguely remember there were quite a few of them — shouldn't be fewer than ten people."

That fits… Yu Dazhang breathed a sigh of relief.

If the number was too small, or rather fewer than nine, then there'd be no point in continuing to ask.

Only when the number is greater than or equal to "nine" could that little group possibly match up with those nine people.

"Next I'm going to say a few names."

Yu Dazhang said, looking at Liu Jinsong:

"If any name rings a bell, you can stop me at any time."

"Okay." Liu Jinsong nodded, listening with full concentration.

Afterwards, Yu Dazhang read out the names of the other eight victims besides Li Yong.

Even after reading the very last name, Liu Jinsong didn't call a stop.

"I don't have the slightest impression of any of these names." Liu Jinsong said, frowning.

Time to switch… Yu Dazhang was at his wits' end too.

Asking someone to recall events from sixteen years ago really is a bit much.

Everything that needed asking has been asked; it's time to let the professional take over.

Yu Dazhang turned his head and said to Ye Zhiyu:

"Your turn."

Then he asked another question:

"Do you want me to step out?"

Ye Zhiyu didn't bother with politeness and answered straight away:

"You'd better go wait outside — that way I can concentrate better."

Can't you save me some face in front of an outsider… Yu Dazhang clenched his teeth, then smiled at Liu Jinsong:

"He's here to help you remember — cooperate with him."

Liu Jinsong nodded, then thanked Ye Zhiyu:

"Sorry for the trouble."

Once outside, Yu Dazhang closed the door of the interrogation room and stood against the wall opposite it.

The walls of prison interrogation rooms are all fitted with sound-absorbing panels and soft padding.

Once the door is shut, even if the people inside shout themselves hoarse, you can't hear a thing.

Don't read it the wrong way.

The main reason is that the content of conversations during interrogation is sensitive and important, so outside interference and information leaks must be prevented.

Yu Dazhang had tried it before — standing outside, you simply can't hear any sound from within.

With nothing to do for the moment, he leaned against the wall, his mind spinning fast as he sorted through and analyzed the information he'd just obtained.

During his conversation with Liu Jinsong just now, he'd noticed one detail.

A detail he'd been overlooking all along.

Inside Li Yong's little team, there was a master.

Or rather, there was someone with very high intelligence who liked to scheme.

It was precisely because such a person existed that those people managed to get away with their crimes.

The reason he'd overlooked it was that, deep down, Yu Dazhang had never looked down on that little group.

In his eyes, a so-called group made up of students was just like kids playing house.

Calling them a rabble would be flattering them.

This was the mistake of underestimating the enemy.

"So I'm just like Ding Feng — both of us had our eyes blinded by what already happened," he murmured softly.

Three months, nine people driven mad in a row.

On the surface, the suspect was formidable, with an extremely strong counter-surveillance ability.

In reality, there was another side to it.

Anyone following this case would inevitably assume those nine victims were stupid.

"If Ye Zhiyu were here, he'd definitely say something about the winner-takes-all effect."

Yu Dazhang gave a self-mocking smile.

From ancient times to the present, people have never been able to shake this bad habit — assuming the loser is foolish and incompetent.

Still, it's not too late to realize this now.

At this thought, Yu Dazhang's eyes gradually lost focus.

Although some things couldn't yet be confirmed, that didn't get in the way of using known information to construct hypotheses and reason. Putting himself in the other person's shoes.

"Suppose I were that planner…"

"To stand out from other little groups, the best way would be to boost team cohesion."

"Unity is strength — students of that era all knew that saying."

"So, how to effectively and once-and-for-all solve the cohesion problem?"

"In the late nineties, hit by both TV dramas and novels, the method I can think of is…"

Murder, framing, gang… combining what these people had done, a wild gleam flashed in Yu Dazhang's eyes.

A blood oath of brotherhood!!

"Right, exactly like that!"

"Use the form of a pledge of allegiance to make the participants declare their resolve and loyalty, and at the same time it's also a means of restraining individual behavior."

"Because a pledge of allegiance isn't just a contract — it's also leverage."

!

"Everyone who enters this group has to go through this procedure, which also means that once you're in, you can never leave."

The more Yu Dazhang thought about it, the smoother it felt.

Then the subsequent developments were easy to understand.

A group formed this way was destined not to have too many members.

A dozen or so people was already the limit.

The earliest murder case was thirteen years ago, the latest sixteen years ago.

Yu Dazhang did a quick calculation in his head.

That meant it took three whole years just to form the group.

Three years to gather only a dozen or so people — this showed there was a threshold to joining their little group.

And that threshold was family background!

Next, then...

He once again put himself in the other party's shoes, examining the situation at that time.

"As I grew older, I realized that if things kept going like this, sooner or later we'd be done for."

"Although everyone getting together was quite glamorous, it was limited to the student days."

"After entering society, interpersonal relationships would become more and more complicated."

"So, to minimize the risk, I made all members sever contact and communication with one another."

"That way, even if one person committed a crime, it wouldn't implicate the others, and at the same time the others could extend a helping hand to them."

"No, that's wrong — they couldn't extend a helping hand!"

Yu Dazhang suddenly noticed a place where the logic didn't hold up.

If the others helped the person who committed the crime, wouldn't that be the same as exposing themselves?

The earlier act of severing contact would become completely meaningless.

So that mastermind must have used some other, more covert and more brilliant method to control this little group.

How to control them while still keeping that cohesion from falling apart?

Yu Dazhang felt he had already brushed against the edge of the truth, but couldn't peel away that final thin veil.

"If it were me, I definitely wouldn't leave this little group to its own devices — otherwise the moment someone committed a crime, they'd immediately rat out the others."

"A group like this looks united on the surface, but it's also the easiest to be wiped out in one go."

"Since that's the case, I have to let them know that even if they commit a crime, this little group will lend them a hand and absolutely won't leave them in the lurch."

"Only this way can the person who committed the crime be made to keep quiet."

"But how exactly to do it..."

At this moment, Yu Dazhang actually found himself somewhat admiring the mastermind's IQ.

If it really was as he had reasoned, that person's organizational and planning ability was simply terrifying.

Not just terrifying — also crazy.

To come up with using a pledge of allegiance to boost the team's cohesion — that alone was enough to prove this person's madness and fearlessness.

Just as Yu Dazhang was thinking, the door of the interrogation room was pulled open from inside, and Ye Zhiyu walked out.

"Sorry to keep you waiting."

He smiled at Yu Dazhang:

"The records go back too many years, so it took a bit longer."

(End of this chapter)