Chapter 1026

After Huang Qiangmin finished the meeting and returned, he went to Building 9 at the first opportunity.

After greeting Liu Jinghui, Huang Qiangmin asked: "Is someone really provoking the police? Are they that desperate to die?"

"It's not exactly fresh news anymore. Several major cases in our country have involved provocations against the police. It's just like that one case, which even escalated into killing police officers..." Liu Jinghui stopped at a shallow point, then added: "The killer's psychological issues can indeed be explored thoroughly. For many serial killers, one might really need to deduce clues from a psychological level."

"Isn't it based on deduction?" Huang Qiangmin joked half-heartedly.

Liu Jinghui was expressionless: "Isn't that what I'm doing right now? And I've deduced the need for clues."

"Criminal psychology? Nobody uses that stuff anymore, right?" As a former frontline police officer, Huang Qiangmin could only say he "takes a look" at things like criminal psychology, criminal profiling, and lie detection; he couldn't speak of trusting them.

Liu Jinghui smiled and spat out a name: "Li Haochen."

"He's from the Ministry." Huang Qiangmin had thought about managing upwards, but he hadn't thought about going that high.

"Criminal profiling—he wouldn't encounter it even if he stayed at the Criminal Investigation Bureau. How rare it is."

"Then shall we look for him?" Huang Qiangmin looked at Jiang Yuan.

Jiang Yuan spread his hands: "I'm fine with anything."

When one's own case requires external help, one can only say that a sense of responsibility is a good thing.

As for Li Haochen's criminal profiling, Jiang Yuan wasn't very sure if it would be useful or not.

As the saying goes, ten profiles, eighty angles; in the end, profiling is always like looking at a mountain from the side—it looks like a ridge from one angle and a peak from another. If one treats a dead horse as a living one, it's not impossible.

Huang Qiangmin didn't make the call immediately and asked Liu Jinghui again: "So now, what are your thoughts and direction?"

Liu Jinghui hesitated for a moment and said: "To be honest, I don't have a direction for now. If my deduction is correct and the killer's purpose in killing is indeed to provoke the police, then his behavioral patterns and methods of doing things are different from ordinary killers."

"And it's even harder to investigate." Huang Qiangmin let out a sigh, fully understanding what Liu Jinghui meant.

This actually involves some deeper things. For example, murder investigations have relied on interest relationships and interpersonal relationships for a long time.

This is easy to see in early British detective novels; the so-called detective's deduction is based on the interest and interpersonal relationships of normal people. Assuming someone has no relationship with you, you wouldn't kill them.

Killing for no reason is something that detective novels or deduction itself finds hard to accept.

Normally, this is indeed the case. The risk of killing is so high and the punishment so severe—who would kill for no reason?

A lunatic!

When a lunatic kills, they don't follow common sense, making it very difficult to deduce or judge. Of course, modern society's technical means are very advanced; fingerprints, DNA, surveillance video, mobile phones, etc., have all bypassed these deductive means. But if one faces a well-prepared lunatic, the difficulty of solving the case becomes very high.

"This case needs to be communicated with both the Provincial Department and the Ministry." Liu Jinghui raised his eyebrows and said: "Regardless of whether we can eventually solve it, the fact that a killer is using such brutal means to provoke the police is itself unacceptable."

Huang Qiangmin understood as soon as he heard it. Indeed, with the case being so complex, there was no need for them to struggle on their own. Fundamentally, this case wasn't just a Ningtai County case, nor was it just a Taihe working group case; it was a byproduct of the reputation Jiang Yuan had accumulated over many days.

To be specific, the funding for this case couldn't be borne entirely by Ningtai County; otherwise, it would be too unreasonable. One cannot let a hero bleed and cry at the same time.

As for whether the case is as Liu Jinghui said, they would know once the Provincial Department and the Ministry sent people down to take a look.

Counting it up, Liu Jinghui is from the Provincial Department and Li Haochen is from the Ministry, but that's still not enough.

Huang Qiangmin was extremely familiar with this aspect; after communicating a few words with Jiang Yuan, he went to make the call.

Liu Jinghui turned his head to look at Jiang Yuan and said: "Looking at it this way, the killer does indeed have some professionalism in it?"

"En..." Jiang Yuan had actually been considering this question over the past few days. With Liu Jinghui there to discuss it, he said: "His modus operandi cannot be determined yet, but I think he must have carefully selected the victims, or at least studied them in depth."

For serial killer cases, if the modus operandi can be analyzed, the probability of solving the case is very high, and the information required for this is also very extensive.

Furthermore, when encountering a serial killer case, the first thing to attempt is to analyze the modus operandi.

And what Jiang Yuan mentioned about selecting victims is, conversely, a relatively obscure area.

Liu Jinghui became interested instead: "Why do you say that? How does he select victims?"

Jiang Yuan organized his language and said: "Because among the three corpses, the information exposed by the first and second corpses... how should I put it? We discussed the second corpse; it only had five fingers, and there was no need to discard it. Although the hands of the first corpse were severely decomposed, after obtaining the fingerprints, they didn't match. This is very special, because the time the corpse drifted in the water is uncertain, and the killer wasn't sure if we could obtain fingerprints. Why didn't he cut off the fingers of the first corpse?"

"Perhaps it was the first corpse, and he hadn't noticed this point yet?"

"But the time of death for the first and second corpses only differs by 3 days. The killer must have thought it through before he started killing, right?"

"You're right. His handling of the first corpse shouldn't have had too much deviation in essence. So, do you think the killer was certain the fingerprints of the first corpse couldn't be matched, which is why he deliberately left the fingers of the first corpse?"

Jiang Yuan thought for a moment and said: "He might have had his own thoughts about leaving the fingers, but I think that by leaving the fingers of the first corpse, he must have confirmed that the fingerprints of the first corpse wouldn't leak any information."

Liu Jinghui's expression became serious: "Your theory is interesting... If this is a ritual, then the killer likely determined to leave the fingers of the first corpse first, and then confirmed that the fingerprints of the first corpse wouldn't leak information..."

"But the second corpse only had fingers, and the result was that the fingerprints could still be matched..." Tang Jia was very interested in this case and had been thinking while taking notes.

Liu Jinghui nodded: "The only information for the second corpse was the fingerprints. From the mindset of a serial killer, doesn't it seem more... intentional?"

Tang Jia couldn't help but frown: "If the killer was certain the first corpse wouldn't leak fingerprints, and the second corpse's fingerprints would definitely be matched... what kind of conditions does he need? Could it be... a peer?"

Liu Jinghui was silent for a few seconds, then looked at Jiang Yuan and said in a low voice: "Not excluded. But this idea is just an idea for now. Before there is conclusive evidence, I suggest not discussing this topic."

"The killer's identity will directly determine the investigation route, right?" Tang Jia was naturally in the know.

"We'll investigate it ourselves; don't make a big fuss about it. It's best to notify within a small circle. Furthermore, anyone who can access the internal network could potentially find relevant information." Liu Jinghui paused, then added: "Also, one must consider it from the victim's perspective. If the victim themselves hasn't been processed administratively or criminally and hasn't left traces in the police system..."

"Then the killer must know the victim?" Tang Jia's eyes lit up.

Liu Jinghui coughed twice and said: "It doesn't necessarily mean they must know each other. After selecting the candidate, just investigate secretly. Buying information on the dark web isn't too difficult."

Tang Jia wasn't discouraged and pursued: "But since the killer can contact the victim offline, wouldn't it be simpler to have some understanding and then verify it secretly? Lower intensity than a secret investigation—this should also be advantageous, right?"

"Your point also has some merit." Liu Jinghui didn't deny it anymore and switched to saying: "But if we want to investigate through the victim, we first have to know who the victim is."

Both looked at Jiang Yuan simultaneously.